And supporters of defund will then say “Candidate X doesn’t support defunding the police. He’s as racist as the rest.”
And newspaper guy, not being able to get Candidate X to chomp down on some red meat on defund the police, decides to write another story entirely without any of the nuanced and thoughtful answer that Candidate X gives.
-“I asked if you support Defund the Police. Yes or No?”
Candidate gives lengthy explanation.
-“So you do support defunding the police?”
The phrase is a dead duck. It needs to die. Today.
Undoubtedly a few will. So what?
That doesn’t really make any sense. I guess it could happen, but in that case the candidate hasn’t been harmed at all by defund the police.
Thrag
5088
Speculation isn’t entirely necessary here. Biden was asked about the defund the police question already and handled it well. It’s in the Trevor Noah interview. There hasn’t been much of a kerfuffle about him saying he doesn’t support literal defunding.
The slogan kinda sucks yes but I don’t think a lot of energy needs to be spent concerned about it when bigger fish need frying.
It’s still not worth hanging a chain around your candidates necks. This election is going to be tough enough, and it’s a must-win.
This isn’t a hill worth dying on. There’s no shortage of intelligent folks in the party. Come up with a phrase that isn’t wildly unpopular even with black people.
Thrag
5090
I don’t know if anyone here disagrees that a better slogan would be useful. However this one is out there already so even if someone pens a better one tomorrow candidates will still be asked about it.
There can’t be much denying the slogan has opened up the conversation and moved the overton window.
remembers all the kvetching about how terrible a slogan “Black Lives Matter” was and how it’ll drag down the cause
jsnell
5093
It would still be useful as the alternative slogan makes it easy to answer the question concisely. “I’m for Replace the Police, not for Defund the Police” or whatever.
Timex
5095
See, this is a better line.
Thrag
5096
Ironically what you are trying to imply with the hyphen is the root meaning of the word. Further demonstrating how literally meaningless it has become.
The party didn’t come up with this. It’s not a party thing. The party won’t embrace the slogan or make the slogan part of any platform. Instead, the party will make bullet points from the many ideas encompassed by the slogan, and some of those will end up in the platform.
There is no one to whom the admonition ‘stop promoting this slogan’ is going to make any difference. It’s just howling at the moon.
By party I meant not the formal organization, but the people who inhabit the party.
Timex
5099
Ultimately, the slogan is just a marketing thing for the idea.
And, as a marketing thing… it’s super crazy bad. Almost everyone hates it.
So it shouldn’t be the slogan. It catastrophically fails at its singular purpose.
Nesrie
5100
This comes up in this topic, a powerful, heart exposing and heartbreaking point of view in this topic. A black man’s perspective and where are we at again… oh yeah, whether or not a cop can do whatever they hell he wants because some white person calls him to whine and which catchy slogan works the best.
It’s just a political exercise to some, to the rest of us… it’s that video, listening to the man from the military talk about being stopped 40 times, watching a man die, listening to others half-ass excuse the police and then explain with cold supremacy why the cops are okay to systemically suppress a people while arguing whether or not we’re asking just right in order to finally get some change. For some it will never be good enough. And we know that because that’s always been the case.
People don’t seem nearly as confused by the slogan “defund the police” as folks seem to think. Even Republicans largely get it, even if they don’t agree with it.
Timex
5102
But whatever they think it means, that earlier poll shows that the vast majority of people do no agree with it.
So it’s a bad thing to say you’re gonna do, because it puts you at odds with the majority of the population. Only 27% of the population supports it.
When only 29% of black people support it… then it seems like it’s a bad slogan.
Again… it’s a freaking gift to Trump and the GOP.
And while we can say that it’s just a silly slogan, and not important, this is how political stuff is done. Having good messaging matters. It’s how you get people to vote for you, and that’s how you get to enact your policy.
Maybe, but it also allows mainstream politicians to contrast their position with the maximalist “defund” position. Democracts get to say “now, I’m not for defunding the police, but here’s a list of 5 serious reforms my government will enact”, etc.
I mean, activists aren’t under the control of the Democratic National Committee, so if you can’t control the message you have to turn a disfavorable slogan into a opportunity to outline your priorities. There’s no denying that the larger shape of public opinion is favorable for serious reform here…people (Republicans, even) are in favor of a real change in policing.
Nesrie
5107
I think it’s great people are engaged. I really do.
But…
BLM has been going on for years now, not a few but several years.And it’s not a group, a singular unit, but a foundation for communities to work with and form the marches, get awareness, and have their voices heard. It does feel like there should be a little more listening from BLM and lot less lecturing of it. I mean we’ve had what 2500 posts since the recent marches and a lot of accusations but not as much actually listening and sharing about what the black experience really is in this country and others.
The defense of the cops systematically harassing the black community which can include brutalization and death but is often much more subtle that that… that’s gross. I don’t know how anyone can claim they give a shit about black lives and defend that.
Nesrie
5113
Raise your hand if you have been stopped by the police 40 or more times since you were about 16 years old.
