Old white dudes are scared by minorities and turned on by blondes so much that the right even started a news channel that’s always doing one or the another
Or to put it another way, Republicans require dog-whistling to win. That’s the finding of research conducted by our guest Anat Shenker-Osorio along with Prof. Ian Haney López with help of Demos Action.
We’ve told you before how focus groups, studies in four states and an online survey have all confirmed something that Shenker-Osorio and Haney López have been arguing for a long time: To beat right wing messaging, you need a message that combines race AND class.
Only by combining the two can you expose how racism is scam—a strategy designed to divide us so Sheldon Adelson can get billions in tax cuts and trillions for a war in Iran for just a few hundred million in campaign donations. But Adelson, like Donald Trump, didn’t invent anything. Richard Nixon pioneered the Southern Strategy which found its passion in fighting to keep Christian schools segregated in the 70s and its mission in denying women control of their bodies.
In their 1991 book, Chain Reaction, Thomas and Mary Edsall explained that “Just as race was used, between 1880 and 1964, by the planter-textile-banking elite of the South to rupture class solidarity at the bottom of the income ladder, and to maintain control of the region’s economic and political systems, race as a national issue over the past twenty-five years has broken the Democratic New Deal ‘bottom-up’ coalition — a coalition dependent on substantial support from all voters, white and black, at or below the median income.”
Demographics won’t save us. By 2040, 70% of Americans will live in 15 states. That means that 30% of Americans will elect 70% of our senators. Figuring out how to deal with the way Republicans have used race as a battering ram isn’t just a trivial fixation for the left—it’s essential if there’s any hope of building sustainable progressive majorities as the conservatives maximize the huge advantages for slaveowners built into the Constitution.
Understanding dog whistling may have helped us avoid Trump, but now that Trump has shown how powerful it can be, we have to confront it strategically for progressives to win. And that’s what Anat Shenker-Osorio does as well as anyone. She’s the founder of ASO Communications and the author of Don’t Buy It: The Trouble With Talking Nonsense About the Economy.
Anat Shenker-Osorio on Twitter: @anatosaurus
Anat Shenker-Osorio’s website: ASOcommunications.com
Anat Shenker-Osorios on Communicating Race-Class:
Prof. Ian Haney-Lopez on dog whistle politics:
The Good — The activists are activated
The Brennan Center for Justice: Voting Rights Restoration Efforts in Florida
Steven Lemongello at the Orlando Sentinel: Poll: Felon voting rights amendment gets huge support
The Bad — WTF Knows???
Jeffrey Toobin at The New Yorker: With Rod Rosenstein Possibly on His Way Out at the Justice Department, Who Will Protect Robert Mueller’s Investigation?
The Shrugly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ — Republicans are lying to cancer patients, pretending they are bipartisan compromisers on healthcare reform
Tim Walberg lauds bipartisanship and Barack Obama:
Amanda Michelle Gomez at ThinkProgress: These Republicans are running ads about their work on the opioid crisis. Here’s what they left out.
Cearron Bagenda at WBAY: Race for the next Wisconsin 8th Congressional District congressman
Paul Blest at Splinter: Missouri GOP Senate Candidate Winds Up Condemning His Own Stance on Healthcare
Wanted to share a little about my family and our journey, and my commitment to protecting people with preexisting conditions — like my son #MOSen pic.twitter.com/g7u9RzN1iO
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 24, 2018
Progressives Everywhere‘s Candidates of the Week (via @JordanZakarin): Maine candidates Janet Mills (ME-GOV) and state senate candidates Erin Herbig (ME-11) & Karen Kusiak (ME-16).
Donate to Janet Mills and Maine Democrats at Progressives Everywhere HERE.
The show notes for Episode 14 of The GOTMFV Show are at http://www.eclectablog.com/2018/09/martin-luther-king-jr-never-gave-an-i-have-a-complaint-speech-with-special-guest-messaging-specialist-anat-shenker-osorio.html
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Music clips
Intro and transition music: You Dress Like an Asshole by Not The 1s
Progressives Everywhere intro/outro: They’re Everywhere by Jim’s Big Ego
Flint Water Crisis Update intro: Unclaimed by Mike Wagner/Total Strangers
Outro music: Complain (from the movie Bob Roberts) by David Robbins & Tim Robbins
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