Biden should condemn the behavior and then treat it like a direct result of having a divisive, combative, ineffective president in the White House. Because it is.
Biden’s condemned it over and over and explicitly.
But the message continues to be “He needs to confront this.”
The really sad thing is that after about 24 hours, the media appears to have shrugged about the shooting of Jacob Blake. Other stuff to cover, I guess. And so they’d much rather cover the rioting and protest backlash instead. I think because they sense that it’s how Trump is going to lever away the upper midwest yet again.
Alstein
6811
I don’t think that message will work this time. Public sentiment has changed enough- the key is that now I believe people see the police as the source of disorder, not the protestors. The messaging needs to stay police trampling on the rights on non-looters/non-rioters/other innocents.
You may be right.
But for whatever reason – as simple as fewer people being under lockdown, perhaps – this time around feels different from George Floyd, even though the actions of the police seem every bit as brutal and awful. But this time around there aren’t any national peaceful protests of the scale we saw in May and June. And it feels like the focus is more on the reaction than on the actual event itself.
Edit for some context: This is Doc Rivers, NBA head coach with an emotional reaction to the Kenosha police shooting.
Alstein
6815
I suspect it’s a feeling that nothing is going to matter except voting right now. If voting fails, things are going to get very ugly, and I’m looking for a path out of here- as I suspect the US will collapse into civil war if Trump retains power (not I said retains power, not wins the election)
The Dems have to spin this as Republican terrorism, just flat out call it what it is, and say that Trump’s re-election means this is going to keep escalating , and that suburban America will never get normalcy if Trump retains power, and things will keep getting worse until your life is ruined by violence.
Order above justice crowd is the swing block in most election, you have to convince them that Trump is the disorder. That isn’t hard right now.
the message I would give about how I would respond: “I"d say I’d call in National Guard, to both protect protestors from police riots and other white supremacist terrorists, and to make sure protestors don’t become rioters themselves. Then, we find out who is responsible for this, and make sure they face a jury for their actions.”
Sorry, I was not thinking of any one person or response. Just in general.
Well, I tend to agree with you on one level, but the way politics work, thee is a downside to condemning this stuff as well as a downside to not condemning it. You have to figure out which action will hurt or help your cause the most (or least).
Looks like it was the right wing militia types “defending” a gas station. Cops earlier seen giving them water and supporting them. Video of one of them saying the cops told them they were going to drive protesters their way and let them deal with it. Shooter on video appears to walk right up to and past the cops after the shooting while the cops rush in on the protestors while people are yelling that he just shot people.
LockerK
6819
Yes, it seemed extremely likely to me given the number of people around that if the police “didn’t know” who did it, it was likely them or one of their cosplay cavalry. If they actually didn’t know they’d be blaming protesters as usual.
Timex
6820
What’s the downside to condemning this type of action?
It places the action on an even-footing, rhetorically speaking, with other actions like the right wing murders that happened last night. It gives the BLM protest a weight and importance that aren’t matched by reality. Was that particular BLM protest rude? Yes. Was it helpful from a hearts-and-minds perspective? No. But did anyone die? No. Was anyone even injured? No. So why spend time on it when, you know, the murders?
Timex
6822
None of this is true.
Condemnation of a bad thing does not mean that it’s equally bad to everything else.
You’re using the same logic that people use to defend the police by pointing to random other bad things. “Why care about this when criminals kill way more people than cops??”
You should condemn bad things, period, or else you will be associated with those bad things. Silence is complicity for more than just racism.
You don’t need to go out and march and protest against it.
You just say, unequivocally, that it is wrong and that you do not support it. And then you can move on.
I … just did. I said that it was rude and unhelpful in achieving its goals. Now you just need 59,999,999 more liberals to say the same thing and we can move on. :P
In a boolean-logic universe unconstrained by any limits of time or processing power, you are correct. In the real world, and in the world of rhetoric, what you spend time on does indicate what you are focused on and what is important to you. That’s kind of been one of the main failure modes of the media over the last X years, that it always places equal emphasis on the current Republican atrocity and the current Democratic misdemeanor, such that the low information viewer can then say “well, I guess both sides are the same”.
again, why you all hand wring about the optics of some diners getting yelled at, the right is actively murdering their opposition.
KevinC
6825
Yeah, it seems utterly bizarre to me that the topic of discussion is white diners getting yelled at by some jerks with this shit going on.
EDIT: I don’t mean to sound like I’m playing threadcop or telling what people should be interested in discussing. To me, it just seems like people discussing a molehill when there’s a volcano erupting.
Timex
6826
That’s the thing though, just saying, “That’s obviously wrong” robs the right of their power. They can’t say that you stand for all that stuff.
I’ve used this personally to diffuse right wing talking points. They point to some obviously bad thing conducted by someone on the left, and you just say, “Well yes, that’s obviously wrong.” There’s no need to defend it, or minimize it, or say how it’s not important. You just condemn it, because it’s wrong.
And then they’re left in a situation where they’re the only one defending something that’s wrong.
