@Pluto's Republic

Why does Biden's campaign messaging feel so constrained and over-processed?

Yesterday Biden put out an ad that focused on compassion and other identity politics and I have yet to see one about what issues he is running on. The ad got raving reviews from his supporters so I asked both the campaign and some supporters just how will compassion help my life get better? How will it address wealth inequality, lack of health care for millions of us and other economic issues. And that leads to this:

We are overrun by pushy Biden surrogates patrolling social media

During both primaries people accused Bernie's supporters of being viscous towards other and that Bernie had to tell them to tone it down. Bernie was solely responsible for every one of his supporter's behavior online. Well they were nowhere as vicious as Biden's supporter. Whoboy you should see the vitriol I have been subjected to just for asking what Biden is running on.

I'm guessing one of the Billionaires is waiting in the wings.

Yep. My bet is on Bloomberg. He got the DNC to change the primary rules after giving them millions and he has given them even more money since he has dropped out. What is his end game?

...that is presented in the opinion piece by Axelrod and Plouffe. They are marketing a marketing plan to the Biden campaign, and it is a damn good one. These talented pros have scripted in detail, every surrogate surprise, each entertaining diversion, an array of unforgettable virtual events, controversial reactions and bold statements, jumbo-size framing of issues, and adjustments to Biden's persona that might indicate confident leadership.

Do you see shrill statements by Biden bullies being plastered all over the Internet telling Axelrod and Plouffe to shut the f*ck up, lest they inadvertently cause a Trump victory?

But why isn't a dynamic, compelling, and effective campaign challenge already in place? Are Biden's managers on downers? Were they side-tracked by the Epidemic? In my experience, large-scale publicity projects generate big ideas and ambitions. It can be an incredibly creative time, and now there is ample time to be proactively creative — and yet, they are producing nothing newsworthy. To unify the Party, they made partial concessions on populist demands that Biden had already rejected, not understanding why that would make everyone unhappy. (They should thank their lucky stars that the epidemic saved them from hauling a somewhat confused Biden through a dozen states to dozens of appearances with myriad opportunities for close media scrutiny.)

On an impulse, I asked Google what was happening with the Biden campaign. Google returned four "People also ask" questions at the top of page one, which reflect the most common inquiries. This is the Google version of the Magic Eight Ball, and by no means scientific, but still....

• Why isn't Joe Biden campaigning?
• What has Joe Biden been doing?
• Is Sanders still running for president?
• Did Joe Biden drop out of the 2020 election?

I was impressed how effortlessly Axelrod and Plouffe breezed through their non-stop action list that explains what Joe needs to do to beat Donald Trump. All of their suggestions became obvious the moment I read them. They were solid winners. But in laying out their marketing roadmap to a successful Presidential challenge, Axelrod and Plouffe ended up highlighting something unsettling about the current campaign. Why does Biden's campaign messaging feel so constrained and over-processed? Why are we seeing nothing compelling or preemptive coming from that basement? We are overrun by pushy Biden surrogates patrolling social media and praising the candidates long experience, but we are not hearing any inspiring proposals or big ideas that create real conversations. Challenging an incumbent President requires sweeping goals that extend beyond merely winning the election. All we get is a fuzzy old man in the basement reading a teleprompter.

And that is very suspicious.

Now Zeese thinks that there are forces within the Democratic Party who are hard at work, now, marshaling forces within the party to replace Biden.

There is one overarching fact that is not going anywhere: Joe Biden's thinking is impaired to a significant degree, and he is being used in a disgraceful way. Regardless of the fact that political operatives, surrogates, and media hosts are pretending there is nothing horribly wrong with this candidate — I am certain of what I have seen. The Democratic Party Bosses are stonewalling, but they must be preoccupied with this looming catastrophe. They can't seriously be planning to foist a president with a downwardly-spiraling brain deficit onto the nation at a time like this. That could provoke an Article 25 inquiry by Congress. If they don't swap Biden out at the Convention, that puts the Vice President into play. The Democratic back bench are a bunch of weeds that the American people already pulled. So, what is the Party's next really bad idea? I'm guessing one of the Billionaires is waiting in the wings.

So out of touch with the People they are supposed to serve. So entitled to their privilege. So certain we cannot see what they are doing to enrich themselves and concentrate their power. So confident no one is going to burn their Party down. To the ground.

On another note, this whole 'candidate in the basement' thing would make a great Broadway Play.

[edit = typos]

@Pluto's Republic

They can't seriously be planning to foist a president with a downwardly-spiraling brain deficit onto the nation at a time like this.

First, there is precedent. Ronald Reagan had dementia and the nation just pretended it wasn't there. But secondly, there are reasons why a corrupt elite might want a pure figurehead. After all, the main purpose of elections, now, is to alter the American public's expectations of what is customary, acceptable, and expected. Now it's acceptable and expected to vote for a mentally impaired candidate, or you're a Nazi enabler.

Someone very close to me said that s/he might be willing to vote for Biden even though s/he knew that actually meant voting for some shadowy cabal--because the shadowy cabal had a good chance of being better than Trump. Put the fear on people and see what you can get them to give up. It's an old game. But since what we're giving up is expectations, once we've given it up, we forgot we ever had it. So it stays gone, forever, unless there is some significant pro-active action where the public can see it, action that reminds the public what they once had.

So, in a way, it's great to race to the bottom with presidential candidates. The worse the candidate you can get the American people to expect, the more you set political expectations for the future ever lower, and the more heinous things you can impose on people without them even registering that you've done something out of the way.

...that is presented in the opinion piece by Axelrod and Plouffe. They are marketing a marketing plan to the Biden campaign, and it is a damn good one. These talented pros have scripted in detail, every surrogate surprise, each entertaining diversion, an array of unforgettable virtual events, controversial reactions and bold statements, jumbo-size framing of issues, and adjustments to Biden's persona that might indicate confident leadership.

Do you see shrill statements by Biden bullies being plastered all over the Internet telling Axelrod and Plouffe to shut the f*ck up, lest they inadvertently cause a Trump victory?

But why isn't a dynamic, compelling, and effective campaign challenge already in place? Are Biden's managers on downers? Were they side-tracked by the Epidemic? In my experience, large-scale publicity projects generate big ideas and ambitions. It can be an incredibly creative time, and now there is ample time to be proactively creative — and yet, they are producing nothing newsworthy. To unify the Party, they made partial concessions on populist demands that Biden had already rejected, not understanding why that would make everyone unhappy. (They should thank their lucky stars that the epidemic saved them from hauling a somewhat confused Biden through a dozen states to dozens of appearances with myriad opportunities for close media scrutiny.)

On an impulse, I asked Google what was happening with the Biden campaign. Google returned four "People also ask" questions at the top of page one, which reflect the most common inquiries. This is the Google version of the Magic Eight Ball, and by no means scientific, but still....

• Why isn't Joe Biden campaigning?
• What has Joe Biden been doing?
• Is Sanders still running for president?
• Did Joe Biden drop out of the 2020 election?

I was impressed how effortlessly Axelrod and Plouffe breezed through their non-stop action list that explains what Joe needs to do to beat Donald Trump. All of their suggestions became obvious the moment I read them. They were solid winners. But in laying out their marketing roadmap to a successful Presidential challenge, Axelrod and Plouffe ended up highlighting something unsettling about the current campaign. Why does Biden's campaign messaging feel so constrained and over-processed? Why are we seeing nothing compelling or preemptive coming from that basement? We are overrun by pushy Biden surrogates patrolling social media and praising the candidates long experience, but we are not hearing any inspiring proposals or big ideas that create real conversations. Challenging an incumbent President requires sweeping goals that extend beyond merely winning the election. All we get is a fuzzy old man in the basement reading a teleprompter.

And that is very suspicious.

Now Zeese thinks that there are forces within the Democratic Party who are hard at work, now, marshaling forces within the party to replace Biden.

There is one overarching fact that is not going anywhere: Joe Biden's thinking is impaired to a significant degree, and he is being used in a disgraceful way. Regardless of the fact that political operatives, surrogates, and media hosts are pretending there is nothing horribly wrong with this candidate — I am certain of what I have seen. The Democratic Party Bosses are stonewalling, but they must be preoccupied with this looming catastrophe. They can't seriously be planning to foist a president with a downwardly-spiraling brain deficit onto the nation at a time like this. That could provoke an Article 25 inquiry by Congress. If they don't swap Biden out at the Convention, that puts the Vice President into play. The Democratic back bench are a bunch of weeds that the American people already pulled. So, what is the Party's next really bad idea? I'm guessing one of the Billionaires is waiting in the wings.

So out of touch with the People they are supposed to serve. So entitled to their privilege. So certain we cannot see what they are doing to enrich themselves and concentrate their power. So confident no one is going to burn their Party down. To the ground.

On another note, this whole 'candidate in the basement' thing would make a great Broadway Play.

[edit = typos]

@ovals49
Dems want to lose because the establishment still wins.
Up is down and red is blue.

a problem they will be unable to solve. Better to let the Clown-in-Chief continue to drive his Clown Car over the precipice than to attempt to seize control, and thereby a major share of responsibility, at a time when reversing the current trajectory is clearly impossible.

Better to let Trump own it fully than to share the blame with him. Democrats surely seem to be doing everything possible to insure Trump’s re-election. If it’s not their stupidity, then it’s their plan.

@Snode

Is several months. They need to have the cash on hand in July to start the fall campaign season. Guess who is the only candidate with that cash? The only Dem candidate with that kind of power has dropped out - and his fund raising was entirely contingent on his message. ByeDone can only get the cash he needs from the likes of Bloomberg and Dimon. That should look real good.

Insert 6 dimensional chess line here. Seriously, I think they don't have the $ we think they do. It's a long slog and the media is going to be carpeted with advertising money bombs Sept./Oct., and the r's are going to force the dems to respond in kind. I am sure there is a lot of juicy info on Biden that can be spun into a John Kerry style flogging by Trump. Meanwhile what more is there to say about Trump that hasn't been said already, and if there was more would anyone be surprised?

It ain't gonna be pretty.