I change the channel whenever Matthew Dowd is on MSNBC.

[spooky3]

He always says something without basis or simply illogical. Tonight he essentially suggested that Dems have to run on saving the democracy, because inflation and gas prices favor Republicans.

I guess MSNBC feels it’s great to have former Republicans on, for some reason.

[dem4decades]

1. He's not entirely wrong.

[spooky3]

2. In my opinion, he is; and it isn't just this appearance.

The average person may blame Dems for gas prices and inflation, but that’s because they don’t understand why prices are rising and what can and can’t be done by govt. So, pretending that voters don’t care about rising prices doesn’t solve anything. Trying to get them to forget about those and focus on losing democracy INSTEAD is going to fail. It can’t be either-or. Dems have to address what voters care about and try to get them to care about democracy too.

Dems have to develop a clear message to explain the causes of inflation and what limited steps the Pres and Congress could take—and point out that Repubs have voted AGAINST all steps thus far. Ask voters why the Repubs have voted AGAINST constituents’ interests. Ask voters what plans the Republicans have for addressing the issues—none.

[spooky3]

8. Yep. All those "free market" lovers all of a sudden

Want Biden to wave a magic wand to force oil and drug companies, and grocery stores, to drop prices.

[GoodRaisin]

10. House Democrats actually passed a bill to stop the oil and gas gouging.

The Republicans voted “no”.

[spooky3]

16. And that's what they need to say to voters. Nt

[GoodRaisin]

19. Yes they do.

That should be one of the key points they make in response to Republican attacks on inflation.

[comradebillyboy]

3. I gave up on MSNBC a while back. They present almost

no actual news anymore.

[USALiberal]

13. Lol,ok!

M

[tableturner]

5. He's correct.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. I disagree with your assessment

Dowd does a good job on analyzing voters in purple states.

[NCLefty]

7. He feels conservative-y to me. And he's been all over the map with his affiliation:

Democratic (Before 1999, 2021-present)
Independent (2008–2021)
Republican (1999–2007)

[GoodRaisin]

11. I think he is partially right.

Inflation and oil/gas prices favor Rs but I don’t think we should ignore it like he seems to be saying and just go all in on saving democracy. Probably near half the voters think Rs are trying to save democracy, and we can talk about more than one thing. Rs will of course talk about inflation out of the gate. When they do it’s important we talk about it the right way, which is acknowledge it and talk about what has caused it and what steps we are taking to arrest it. Joe Biden has already acknowledged inflation is his administration’s top priority and we’re not going to dodge it or drown it out. People care about inflation and we will need to meet Rs head on on that issue.

[USALiberal]

12. Ahhhhh ok??

[Celerity]

14. inflation and gas prices atm DO favour Republicans, that is hardly a controversial statement

[spooky3]

15. Not necessarily. And he essentially argues that Dems should just ignore

The issue and try to refocus voters on democracy. What evidence is there that that will make people who say inflation is the most important issue then say, “oh, wait, I am not worried about inflation any more?”

I think a better approach is the one in my earlier post.

[Celerity]

17. If gas prices and inflation keep rising from now until the midterms, we are in serious trouble. Even

if they stabilise but remain at their present high levels that likely is still bad news.

The only way it could work in our favour is if they significantly drop, but time is running out. We have around 100-120 days or so to see a significant lowering in time to turn the tide (to a point).

[spooky3]

18. The point is that some voters are giving Trump and Republicans credit

For controlling something that is simply due to their having the good luck NOT to have to control. For example, there was no Russian invasion that led to a world wide disruption in oil supplies. As another example, Repubs allowed the pandemic to spiral out of control, leading to long term (post-Trump) economic as well as health consequences, including pent up demand that is now pushing prices up. These voters mistakenly think correlation is causation.

Dems have to educate voters on why Republicans deserve ZERO credit on this; they should point out (and Biden has been doing this) that the Republicans didn’t control inflation; and, when Dems have tried to take steps to ease it, Republicans have voted No. Republicans WANT inflation to continue so that Dems will be blamed. Where is there any evidence that, once they are voted in, they will do anything to help the average person?

They cannot simply throw up their hands and hope that this issue goes away, because it won’t.