The Democratic Party is in an ongoing crisis, but most of the national media aren’t interested.
They’d rather talk about the new “rock star,” Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Coretz, and ignore that the party is up in flames.
Both Republican and Democratic voters are turning out in record numbers for their primary elections this year, according to analysis published this week by the Hill.
Democrats have a slight advantage by about a million votes, but that’s only in primaries. And in every general midterm election since at least 1982, Republicans have had an average of 6 percent higher turnout than Democrats.
Democrats swept Congress in 2006, but that was in a year of President George W. Bush, who wasn’t as popular as President Trump is among both Republicans and independents.
Just before the 2006 midterm elections, Bush had an 81 percent approval rating among Republicans and a 31 percent approval among independents, according to Gallup. Right now, the same poll has Trump at 87 percent with Republicans and 38 percent with independents.
And this is Trump who is largely reviled on a personal level among the public at large but whose policy positions and handling of the economy are actually very popular.
That’s not a story you’ve read in the media.
You probably did read, however, about Ocasio-Cortez and her upset win in New York’s Democratic primary, ousting Rep. Joe Crowley, who was so favored to win that his hometown paper, the New York Times, mostly ignored the race in its news coverage prior to Election Day.
But after Ocasio-Cortez won the primary on Tuesday, the paper churned out endless stories and columns about the “Democratic giant slayer,” the “instant political rock star,” and the “spirited, pointed, smart” campaign she led.
This is the coverage afforded to any physically attractive minority in the Democratic Party. It’s why Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey are beaten into our heads as “favorites” for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, despite neither of them having accomplished anything in the Senate, aside from being outraged about the Trump administration on TV.
Blacks in the GOP have to be either a wealthy businessperson, such as former presidential contender Herman Cain, or a literal neurosurgeon, such as Housing Secretary Ben Carson, to get any recognition.
The New York Times on June 21 ran an article that said the Democratic National Committee is rolling out a “new effort” ahead of the midterm elections.
The story said that the program puts “a particular focus on engaging nonwhite communities through new investments in local organizing and a six-figure advertising campaign.”
This is like telling your child you’re making him something special for dinner, then feeding him leftovers.
When has the DNC not put “a particular focus on engaging nonwhite communities”?
Republicans hold the White House and both houses of Congress and they’re heading into a midterm election with a president who is doing fairly well with the public. Democrats now have Ocasio-Cortez, who wants free healthcare, free college tuition, and to get rid of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Democrats are in a mess. But that’s not a story the media will tell you.
