" ..Harris was an incredible centrist to so many voters who were center-right or conservative and voted for Joe Biden in 2020—that's just the pure fact."
I would ask on what basis. She was the third most progressive Senator in Congress as rated by Progressive Punch. She supported Medicare for All, Green New Deal, Reparations, and most to the delight of the GOP taxpayer funded transgender surgery for prisoners. She never objected to the Trump immigration/asylum policies that produced a flood of asylum entrants up until June 2024 when they shut it down b/c it was finally apparent that it was political suicide, but she not once distanced herself from the previous policy. When asked on FOX whether she objected to any of the policies of her administration, a golden opportunity to distance herself from some unpopular positions, her answer was "I cant think of anything". That was her biggest problem. Bidens approvals were in the toilet and she couldn't think of any problem with the unpopular Biden. She was more mentally competent and had a prettier smile, but that was it. Biden was elected as a moderate and rather than choosing a VP from his lane, like an Amy Klobuchar, and boxing himself in with restricting himself to a black women, he offered a fig leaf to the progressives. Maybe that helped in 2020, but not in 2024.
"My values have remained the same, but my policies have changed." Her reluctance to dive into specifics left voters with many unanswered questions, which hurt her."
Exactly true. Granted she did not campaign to the left, but just ignoring those things that the public dislikes about Dems does not get that albatross off your neck. Surveys show that on the issues that voters think are most important - inflation, crime, immigration, they favor the GOP.
It was a difficult election cycle given inflation but had she shown some real centrism - consideration that they overstimulated the economy worsening inflation, that the border policy was ill conceived, that taxpayers shouldnt be paying for transgender surgery, and that she supports the police and values public safety and reclaiming the public spaces back to the public, she might have had a better chance.
We caught a typo in our transcript that has since been corrected: Reed noted that, "Harris wasn't a credible centrist" in his response. Thank you for your comment!
Ah, that changes things though I might have wondered what an incredible centrist was, could juggle bowling balls. It is funny because the progressives grouse because she didn't run populist enough, like ranting at the billionaire class in every other sentence. And a little of that might work but not the Dem record on crime, immigration, and inflation. But it is not imo that she ran left but that she didn't distance herself from the left whether her own history or Biden's shift after he got elected.
On the last point—about getting out in the community—I had a conversation with my parents just the other day. My mom is constantly serving the community (food banks, Habitat for Humanity, etc)—she's always raising money for something, and jokes that people are going to run away when they see her coming b/c she's always asking for something (to the contrary, everyone absolutely ADORES her!).
But the point is, one person in the community (someone my parents LOVE) responded to a request for food bank donations in their neighborhood portal — in response to the loss of 900,000 meals due to government cuts (ie Trump/DOGE), to which my mom was trying to help coordinate a response — with "All politics aside, I love what you're doing and will be happy to help."
We had a "lively" (to put it mildly) discussion about this, because (rightfully) my father was incensed that someone could find a way to suggest that politics could be "put aside" in the service of this effort since this effort was necessary PRECISELY AND ONLY because of politics. One day, there were 900,000 meals being served; the next day, due to politicians' actions (which could be debated (not really) but are, fundamentally, political), there were NOT.
I am a depolarizer by nature, and we had a great discussion about how he/they might address this in a gentle, open, curious way (trying to understand the thinking) rather than just ignoring it and moving on with the pleasantries of neighborhood friendship. I believe that doing so can move us closer to mutual understanding, particularly with regard to a clearly lovely human being who cares about helping others, etc.
I'm curious to know the author's thoughts, though, on the best approach.
Has anyone studied what size a slice of the electorate "never trump" Republicans might be? What I'm really interested in is how much a difference a more comfortable fit for that slice like a Shapiro would make versus those further to his left like Harris. Enough to consistently tip swing states?
Great conversation. I really liked it. My big question is just... literally how? I'm a moderate
Democrat in Huntsville, AL. I'm raising money for a local shelter. I'm attending meetings with local liberals and Democrats. But when it comes to "building grassroots support" for moderate candidates literally where am I supposed to start? Our local party is... unhelpful.
" ..Harris was an incredible centrist to so many voters who were center-right or conservative and voted for Joe Biden in 2020—that's just the pure fact."
I would ask on what basis. She was the third most progressive Senator in Congress as rated by Progressive Punch. She supported Medicare for All, Green New Deal, Reparations, and most to the delight of the GOP taxpayer funded transgender surgery for prisoners. She never objected to the Trump immigration/asylum policies that produced a flood of asylum entrants up until June 2024 when they shut it down b/c it was finally apparent that it was political suicide, but she not once distanced herself from the previous policy. When asked on FOX whether she objected to any of the policies of her administration, a golden opportunity to distance herself from some unpopular positions, her answer was "I cant think of anything". That was her biggest problem. Bidens approvals were in the toilet and she couldn't think of any problem with the unpopular Biden. She was more mentally competent and had a prettier smile, but that was it. Biden was elected as a moderate and rather than choosing a VP from his lane, like an Amy Klobuchar, and boxing himself in with restricting himself to a black women, he offered a fig leaf to the progressives. Maybe that helped in 2020, but not in 2024.
"My values have remained the same, but my policies have changed." Her reluctance to dive into specifics left voters with many unanswered questions, which hurt her."
Exactly true. Granted she did not campaign to the left, but just ignoring those things that the public dislikes about Dems does not get that albatross off your neck. Surveys show that on the issues that voters think are most important - inflation, crime, immigration, they favor the GOP.
It was a difficult election cycle given inflation but had she shown some real centrism - consideration that they overstimulated the economy worsening inflation, that the border policy was ill conceived, that taxpayers shouldnt be paying for transgender surgery, and that she supports the police and values public safety and reclaiming the public spaces back to the public, she might have had a better chance.
We caught a typo in our transcript that has since been corrected: Reed noted that, "Harris wasn't a credible centrist" in his response. Thank you for your comment!
Ah, that changes things though I might have wondered what an incredible centrist was, could juggle bowling balls. It is funny because the progressives grouse because she didn't run populist enough, like ranting at the billionaire class in every other sentence. And a little of that might work but not the Dem record on crime, immigration, and inflation. But it is not imo that she ran left but that she didn't distance herself from the left whether her own history or Biden's shift after he got elected.
This was wonderful.
On the last point—about getting out in the community—I had a conversation with my parents just the other day. My mom is constantly serving the community (food banks, Habitat for Humanity, etc)—she's always raising money for something, and jokes that people are going to run away when they see her coming b/c she's always asking for something (to the contrary, everyone absolutely ADORES her!).
But the point is, one person in the community (someone my parents LOVE) responded to a request for food bank donations in their neighborhood portal — in response to the loss of 900,000 meals due to government cuts (ie Trump/DOGE), to which my mom was trying to help coordinate a response — with "All politics aside, I love what you're doing and will be happy to help."
We had a "lively" (to put it mildly) discussion about this, because (rightfully) my father was incensed that someone could find a way to suggest that politics could be "put aside" in the service of this effort since this effort was necessary PRECISELY AND ONLY because of politics. One day, there were 900,000 meals being served; the next day, due to politicians' actions (which could be debated (not really) but are, fundamentally, political), there were NOT.
I am a depolarizer by nature, and we had a great discussion about how he/they might address this in a gentle, open, curious way (trying to understand the thinking) rather than just ignoring it and moving on with the pleasantries of neighborhood friendship. I believe that doing so can move us closer to mutual understanding, particularly with regard to a clearly lovely human being who cares about helping others, etc.
I'm curious to know the author's thoughts, though, on the best approach.
Has anyone studied what size a slice of the electorate "never trump" Republicans might be? What I'm really interested in is how much a difference a more comfortable fit for that slice like a Shapiro would make versus those further to his left like Harris. Enough to consistently tip swing states?
Great conversation. I really liked it. My big question is just... literally how? I'm a moderate
Democrat in Huntsville, AL. I'm raising money for a local shelter. I'm attending meetings with local liberals and Democrats. But when it comes to "building grassroots support" for moderate candidates literally where am I supposed to start? Our local party is... unhelpful.