Democrats, voting rights, corruption, and stepping on their own message

The Young Turks made a good report and discussion on an important case in which the Democratic House took the unusual-for-them step of passing a bill that is both substantively good and excellent for them politially, an voting and ethics reform package that would counter Republican voter-suppression tactics and put some new limits on corruption through campaign donations. As they explain, all Republicans voted against it. So it gives the Democrats an obvious win by getting the House Republicans on record as being pro-corrupütion and against protecting elections, right?

Mitch McConnell Admits Defeat 03/08/2019:

Ana Kasparian notes that "the media doesn't care" about policy issues. But the panel goes on to discuss the ways that Democrats could use this bill as a way to generate controversy against the Republicans. Because, as Cenk Uygur notes, "if the media doesn't like policy, which it doesn't, they love controversy."

But not only did Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic establishment not take an aggressive strategy for promoting the controversy of Repüublicans being pro-corruption and anti-clean elections. They gave the Republicans and the media the Ilhan Omar flap to crowd out the message the Democrats should have been emphasizing.

The Democrats do something that's not only right but that the Democratic base finds attractive and exciting. But not only to they stumble in setting up the issue against the Republicans. They went did one more favor for the Republicans by publicly bashing Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with concocted outrage over her mild public criticism of the Israel lobby. Which was a controversy against a Democrat which the Democratic establishmenbt in the House leadership headed by Pelosi generated themselves. And, of course, that gave the media a controversy to bloviate over, one that worked against the Democrats.

The wonder is not that the Democratic Party loses so often despite its (official) policies being more popular than those of the Republicans. The wonder is that this Democratic Party ever wins anything at all.

Cenk Uygur also did this interview with Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies on the Omar flap, Ilhan Omar Controversy Getting Out Of Control 03/08/2019:

My favorite weekly political commentary segment to take measure of the state of conventional political wisdom of the moment, the PBS Newshour Political Wrap, illustrates how badly the Democrats fumbled with their mini-jihad against Ilhan Omar, Shields and Gerson on Democrats’ bigotry resolution, Trump investigations 03/08/2019 (transcript here):

They talked about the Omar controversy, Trump's whining over Congressional investigations, and whether Joe Biden would run for President again. The Democrats' impressive bill to protect elections and reduce corruption didn't come up.

Michael Gerson, sitting in for Bobo in this segment, seemed unusually agitated, often speaking in such a weepy-sounding voice that I thought he might go all Meghan McCain on us.

Mark Shields could have been better on the Omar issue. But he was more good than bad, saying things like this:

Well, I guess I think the speaker had a — didn't seek this fight, didn't want it.

And, certainly, it's not something the Democrats — the Democrats had to confront it. There's no question about it. But, I mean, we're talking about a president, Judy — let's be very blunt about it — who, when the white supremacists marched through the streets of Charlotte with torches, saying, "Jews will not replace us," said there's good people on both sides.

I mean, so this is — if you want to see anti-Semitism ...