The Democrats are continuing their self-examination into why no one likes them very much and have had something of a breakthrough.
It could be a breakthrough. It might be a breakthrough. Actually, it's probably not a breakthrough, but when you're as far down as the Democrats are, any straw that you can grasp is as good as a life preserver tossed your way.
The Third Way, that Bill Clinton-era relic that, at one time, was thought could lead Democrats to a permanent majority, fell out of favor when the Democrats sort of forgot how Clinton won. But they're still out there, dispensing advice to Democrats.
Not that any Democrats today would listen.
"Nearly 10 months after the 2024 elections, and the party is still embroiled in self-recriminations over where they’re talking, what they’re talking about and, now, the actual words they’re using. Or, more precisely: which words they shouldn’t utter," writes Politico's veteran politics writer Adam Wren.
Third Way warns Democrats to be wary "of words proliferating in elite circles that have closed off open conversations and have made it uncomfortable for many people to engage in hard topics," claims a Third Way memo describing 45 words and phrases for Democrats to avoid.
Democrats seem to think they can talk their way out of the political wilderness.
Listen closely and you can hear it through the din of their all-caps Trumpian X feeds, their hourslong “manosphere” podcast interviews and their more frequent swearing.
Here follows the list that The Third Way believes Democrats should avoid at all costs. But can they even talk if they can't use some of these words?
Maybe they should sit down, shut up, and do something they haven't done since Bill Clinton was in office: LISTEN TO THE VOTERS!
Among the blacklisted terms: privilege … violence (as in “environmental violence”) … dialoguing … triggering … othering … microaggression … holding space … body shaming … subverting norms … systems of oppression … cultural appropriation … Overton window … existential threat to [the climate, democracy, economy] … radical transparency … stakeholders … the unhoused … food insecurity … housing insecurity … person who immigrated … birthing person … cisgender … deadnaming … heteronormative … patriarchy … LGBTQIA+ … BIPOC … allyship … incarcerated people … involuntary confinement.
I doubt very much that you can have an intelligent conversation with a liberal about anything, but taking those words away from a leftist effectively silences them. You can't even talk about the weather with a leftist without being buried in climate-speak baloney about the "existential threat" to all life on earth!
Cats and dogs! Living together! Mass hysteria!
“We are doing our best to get Democrats to talk like normal people and stop talking like they’re leading a seminar at Antioch,” says Matt Bennett, Third Way’s executive vice president of public affairs.
Oh my. That's definitely saying the quiet part out loud.
“We think language is one of the central problems we face with normie voters, signaling that we are out of touch with how they live, think and talk. In recent weeks, this has become a bit of a thing, with comedians like Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman highlighting how insane Dems can sometimes sound. Also, elected officials like [Delaware Rep.] Sarah McBride and [Kentucky Gov.] Andy Beshear are begging their colleagues to just be normal again.”
I think Mr. Bennett needs to add "normie" to that list. He's talking like ordinary Americans are a separate species. That's exactly how the left talks about us in flyover country.
“People can’t relate to something unless it has some edge about it,” Lanae Erickson, Third Way’s senior vice president, tells Politico's Playbook. “And we had shaved off all of our edges in an attempt to never make anyone upset about anything.”
It's a shame Democrats won't listen to these people. They're handing them a way to win elections unsolicited and on a platter.
Well, maybe not very many elections. After all, these are still Democrats, and they can't help but sneak in a few idiotic terms like "systems of oppression" and "cultural appropriation" when criticizing people for being unwoke.
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