This memo is being sent to Democratic leaders/elites, arguing that directly attacking Trump's deployment of the National Guard in DC is politically unwise. It encourages the use of terms like distraction and stunt. (I am not endorsing this kind of thinking at all. ) www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/bz9d8...
In the interest of understanding What can the reason for not attacking NG deployments be 1.They think it’s justified 2. There is widespread support for it 3. Some other reason Please this is a genuine inquiry
Centrist democrats are unbelievably unpopular and almost no one is listening to them now. @davidhogg.bsky.social @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @aoc.bsky.social @chrislhayes.bsky.social
Kent state?
Indeed
DC may have fared somewhat better under Democrats than Republicans historically, but Democrats have always been willing to throw DC under the bus to get something else they want.
Blue Rose Research, the doc was shared by Will Stancil www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/o...
Open Labs is led by Aaron Strauss who recently is on the record as believing Democrats shouldn’t try and register young people and minorities because it will help Trump: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
I think Blue Rose Research is working for the GOP.
What a bunch of crap
Hakeem Jeffries filming a TikTok behind bars imploring us to not be distracted and focus on the economy
did a republican write this
Who is Blue Rose Research?
According to their website their focus is on attracting what was red blue. In that case I see value in what they say. Republicans believe crime is rampant and troops can help. Focusing on what hits them now will change hearts and minds
No. We don't need Republicans. We need to crush them.
Right. The abolitionists tried that, it was called moral suasion. It didn't work. It won't work here. The Democrats trying to out-Trump Trump is a death spiral, for the party and the nation. Also, Republicans believe crime is rampant because Fox News tells them so. You only cement the lie.
Messages consolidate and set an agenda. Whoever sets the frames wins the debate.
Then "message" the truth, which is Trump is sending US troops to occupy US cities as an authoritarian power grab.
David Shor
The CEO is actually Jon Fromowitz, which was not easy information to find.
And what the fuck is a “web panel?”
It's David Shor and merry little band of Silicon Valley race scientists masquerading as progressives.
Dawg look at my opposition party
I recently read "The Coming of the Third Reich" and one of the many things that stood out was the almost comical fecklessness and ineptitude of the center left Social Democrat Party. Not sure why that just occurred to me.
On the up side, this does give a handy short hand for the Dems who think it's still 2008, the moderates, the centrists, the capitulators, the appeasers, the Whitmers, the Schumers, and the like... Blue Rose Democrats
I don’t think Democratic Governors will pay attention to this edict. I hope not.
FFS! These wimpy-assed "consultants" are why Democrats keep losing! I'm old enough to remember when my party could do LOTS of things at once. Pound ALL of these messages and more!
Donate directly to the candidate(s) of your choice. Don’t bother contributing to the DNC coffers. In fact, I’m not sure if one should donate to any campaign through ActBlue. DNC probably grabs a portion of those donations.
I don't think so, no. Just make sure you're donating to the candidate's own ActBlue and not some PAC using their name.
ActBlue is like Patreon. It's just a platform that candidates use so you can easily send money to them. It's not directly connected to the DNC.
I'm concerned that this is the playbook: to establish Federal thug policing in every heavily Democratic city and then intimidating people into staying home from the polls in the midterms.
Its hard to see this as enabling over complicit.
Keep in mind all of the messages they tested suck ass do measuring the popularity of dogshit just proves dog shit stinks.
Are you saying nobody should be arguing on behalf of home rule? Obviously the reason that statement did worst is absolutely nobody has ever learned about home rule and can’t define what it is. The statement may as well have been translated to Chinese before being proposed for assessment.
Such pussy BS.
no, to the tepid urine democrats trying to state this is a "distraction' this was literally the main plot of the event you didn't show up to
Consultant: "Follow this terrible advice" Politician: "It didn't work!" Consultant: "Yeah that's why you need to hire some more consultants" Jeezus man....🤦♂️
Jesus Christ
Was this bad recommendation based on polling republicans using junk methodology? Because it looks like it was
Why don't the stupidass Democrats lose the fucking consultants and speak from the heart?--you see Walz do it; you see Pritzker do it; and Gavin is doing the trolling. Just fucking say what's real and stop with the shit.
blue rose you say...somehow i do not find myself surprised
Why the hell would anyone vote Dem under @kenmartin.bsky.social's surrender to fascism strategies? Instead of encouraging Dems to loudly oppose open fascism or funding voter registration drives this guy is leading the party down the path of repeating failure.
Alternatively: 1) Find and learn from people of principle who are organising and fighting back (they are all around you) 2) Organise and fight back Or Get out the way - this is too important.
I love that if you visit the website of the researchers, you're greeted with the message, "Heard us on the Ezra Klein show?"
The people who wrote it still have absolutely no clue why Democrats lost the election or why their approval rankings are 6 feet under ground.
They aren't even saying what the "distraction" is supposed to be a distraction FROM anymore.
I get a lot of trash. That's where I put it.
The democrats are not willing and they are not able to stand up to fascism. There is no organized opposition.
Utterly infuriating. This military occupation instituted by Trump is one of the practices that was denounced in the DECLARATION OF FRICKIN' INDEPENDENCE!
Live by the directive, die by the directive. How very ‘Current Leadership’. Just do as little as possible and wait for the dust to settle. Cough.
It is not progressive to cower
worthless cowards
You can't criticize troops in the streets? Who comes up with this shit?
This is why I will not give a cent to national Democrats: DNC, DSCC, DCCC. Stop spending money on these consultants and start spending the money on pushing the messages that people like Pritzker and Moore are handing you for free. And, the f..ing ground game!
I'm totally sick of these spineless establishment Democrats. It's time for a massive revolt from the base.
Reading this honestly makes me feel gross. They are trying to keep appeal to MAGA instead of targeting THEIR PARTY TO SUPPORT THEM. That's the difference. GOP doesn't give two leaky poops about what Dems think of their messaging. Just fucking do something.
If they're hearing this from their consultants then we have no choice but to call and complain and I fucking hate it. Ask them to take their lead from Tim Walz and JB Pritzker: both are loud, eloquent, and way, way more popular than whoever you're calling **because they're speaking up**
Who is consulting for the DNC these days, DOGE? Fox News? Bannon?
They're taking donations from the same tech billionaires that are dictating gop policy
Lol that “Unfortunately” is rich.
You know these guys, Perry. Tell them to STFU. It's not a distraction, it's the fucking plan! Love, someone who first registered as a Dem in 1974.
Guys like Newsom and Pritzker understand that you got to call a quacking duck and duck. These Washington Dems can suck it and shut up
He’s like the antithesis of Frank Luntz. Pathetic mealy-mouthed advice, but aimed at ostensibly doing good in the world.
Oh yes. Getting your car window smashed-in and being rendered to a black site is a "STUNT". Maybe they can reboot "Beat The Clock" and do it on TV every week for cash and fabulous prizes. All "centrist" Democratic operatives must be banned for life.
Whoever is making these recommendations is pro-MAGA & working for the Trump Crime Syndicate. DEMOCRATIC PARTY LEADERSHIP: STAND THE FUCK UP AND FIGHT BECAUSE OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT. NO KID GLOVES. ANYONE WHO ADVISES YOU OTHERWISE IS MANIPULATING YOU INTO DEFEAT. STAND THE FUCK UP AND FIGHT.
Really really hard not to believe Dems are controlled opposition
They are. Have been for decades.
Wtf is wrong with Democrats. @davidshor.bsky.social seems to be name behind this memo. I mean, come oooooonnnnn!! 🤬
Who wrote it? Someone from Trumps team?
It says it comes from "Blue Rose Research."
So…continue to show no backbone or take any significant action - yeah, working out great for them so far! We have no leadership right when it’s needed most
I guess Pritzker missed that memo.
Dems are so scared of actually taking control of a narrative. If people don’t see this as an overreach, it’s because Dems aren’t painting it as one! Leaders need to lead!
This is a terrible sub-VEEP way to determine message strategy.
Hey @democrats.senate.gov @housedemocrats.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social if you follow this “advice”, don’t ever ask for money again. You won’t get it. Notice how people responded to Gov Pritzker. It 👏 is 👏 not 👏 a 👏 distraction. It’s a REAL threat. Act accordingly.
In other words… grow a pair.
Any Democrat paying attention to this is not worthy of my vote
David Shor is useless.
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." (er consultants) William Shakespeare Henry VI
propoganda
Just because it’s been sending out, I don’t think the Democrats are really paying attention to it
📌
Paid to lose. Controlled opposition.
From who? Its both and this strat is myopic if it is actual leadership and not a ploy.
The memo should say there is NO EMERGENCY in these cities. Trump Towers are located in Chicago and New York (and not in MAGA voter strongholds for a reason). TX used taxpayer money to send immigrants seeking asylum to Chicago in the middle of winter! This is another political waste of money stunt.
Blue Rose Research - a team of "40+ passionate and progressive software engineers, machine learning engineers, and social scientists" who refuse to identify any single person associated with the team on their website. Impossible to test their claims since they won't tell the public who they are.
The head of data science is David Shor, the one that helped shape, oh-so-succesfuly, Kamala Harris' messages. Sure this time it will be different
I could care less about who they are than I am in how they structure their "machine learning" research. What are the variables they used? What weight do those variables have when the computer runs the numbers?
And yet though it was, as one might say, 'just one poll' (and questionable even if it was actually that), it closely matched the lines that a variety of Democratic elected leaders gave on the Sunday TV show rounds, including Heitkamp and Jeffries. Can't help but wonder the causal direction here.
Democrats in office aren’t really supposed to deviate from the party talking points. Some do it anyway. Party talking points are decided by consultants and dubious polls so they absolutely got their marching orders based on this memo.
Yes, but which came first, the policy preference or the poll? I think it's quite likely they were *asked* to find exactly this.
Excellent point. I actually don’t know the answer.
The speed of the adoption of the spin suggests it was in the works.
I actually think both are intertwined. Dems employ consultants and strategists in their own bubble that see things similarly to Schumer so they’re completely aligned in how they do strategy and polling. No need to tell them what to find, people in charge of the polling already know the goal.
Personally if I got this memo, I would fire everyone involved but I’m not 70 years old and I don’t live in the DC congressional bubble.
I have beliefs about their polling that my lawyers recommend against me saying out loud
You just don't understand the macaroni-and-cheese issues. www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-pre...
Last night, Gavin Newsom (of all people) ignored this advice and posted: “Trump’s militarization of Los Angeles seems to have been just the start of an authoritarian takeover of American cities. This is not leadership. This is a scary, unlawful grab for power, and we should all be deeply concerned.”
Pritzker said a lot more than that...
Pritzker absolutely did, and I praised him accordingly.
There’s deff a dichotomy between congressional Dems (utterly useless) and state-level Dems (at least paying lip service to the moment at hand).
That's because they're not beholden to the Dems' congressional leadership, and can blow these deadbeats off without thinking twice. Which they have.
That sweet congresswoman from Texas is not useless. Totally took down the hucksterbee the other day.
So this should be interesting!
So who the hell is “Blue Rose Research”? Are they anyone that people pay attention to, or just some dumbass consultants trying to drum up business?
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/17/u...
Thank you!
JFC I cannot believe how brain damaged Dems are acting. I think it's similar to a lifelong abuse victim.
Is it too much to hope some of them think for themselves?
Opposition to ARMED OCCUPATION OF THE CAPITOL is politically "unwise?" Whoever the fucking consultants are need to fired immediately. And by fired I mean that literally -- strapped onto Musk's latest rocket and launched into space (or you know wherever it ends up).
Just call it what it is. An authoritarian takeover. Fascism. Followed by definitions for each for the people who don’t know what that means. No distraction, no stunt. It’s tyranny. A coup. Sedition.
“How To Lose”
The Democratic party is not just the lesser evil. They are the evil protecting the greater evil from you
Unforced error. And the reason for this: www.nbcnews.com/data-graphic...
How are they so fucking bad at this still? Newsom is trolling. Pritzker and Moore are defiant. Dems are winning specials. And people do nothing by shit on Jeffries and Schumer. What is wrong with these losers?
I'd tell Blue Rose Research to fuck off.
Whoever wrote and/or sent the memo needs to be fired, along with anybody who follows that advice.
Foxes in the henhouse.
Yup
So they didn’t test the message that the military in our streets means they can grab you or your family at any time
Sent by whom? Do they matter?
Hmm...every democrat that flushes this advice down the toilet suddenly sees their poll numbers and visibility shoot up. Wonder why that is? Maybe the DNC should pull it's head out of its beltway DC consultant class and lobbyist a$$ for a change and, you know, just listen to real people?
They’ll be hauled off to the camps screaming, “This is a distraction!” As the hit teams walk the halls of Congress they’ll yell, “Dinner table issues!”
It ain't a distraction to those of us dealing with it. It IS a lot of fascism theater, but it's affecting people's lives...and anyone on the left who devalues people in DC...well...I'm suspicious of you, ya know.
Nobody's gonna care or pay attention to one stupid memo like this
Do it fucking anyway.
There is a deeply disturbing, yet simple explanation for Dem complicity. AIPAC. The US public hates Israel. The public is sick of Israel corrupting their govt. This is an existential threat to Israel. Israel wants the public silenced/controlled. By authoritarianism, even. Dems are corrupt traitors.
AIPAC loves Republicans in charge because R's will never oppose them and Republican voters love genocide. So they will just pay Dems to throw the game. ez politics.
👎🏻
My advice to all Dems: Read the leadership directives very carefully, then passionately do the whatever your gut tells you is the opposite of that directive.
The people: We are tired of scripted politicians walking on eggshells parroting cautious talking points. Dem leadership: We have analyzed all the data and met with our consultants. We advise to proceed with extreme caution and stick to their talking points.
100% Newsom has and will continue to make all sorts of errors and has a certain slick ick factor, but as soon as he started any semblance of fighting and throwing what ever he and his team could against the wall people started warming to him. Ditch the establishment consultants ASAP IMHO!
Trump Military occupation of US cities is opposed by 87% of Democrats and 52% of independents, and 17% of Republicans that aren’t deluded bigot Maga cult members.
Weimar losers, they’ll wake up on the trains.
^^^THIS^^^
Sounds like Third Way shit.
I feel like the real takeaway is that messages that have a clear moral point about the subject at hand work, and messages that shift the topic don’t. And none of the messages tested were “using armed troops and masked goons against Americans is dictator shit.”
Democrats need to stop listening to cowardly, poll-addicted consultants and do what their constituents want: Fight like hell.
Even the polls out a lie to this bullshit take. They are idiots, cowards, or both. Regardless, it’s a travesty that they are on the pulse of power.
Who polled what? They are just f’ing wrong!
except the Dems don't think Dem voters are their constituents they think their constituents are their rich racist buddies in the MAGA party their purpose isn't to serve the American people, but to act as a bulwark against them as far as they're concerned, WE'RE the distraction from what THEY want
No, they’re actually right. If you directly attack the deployment, then you allow the White House an opening to talk about crime. If you call it a distraction, they have to argue that it isn’t.
You operate under the credulous assumption that the White House needs an “opening“ to talk about “crime”. They just lie lie lie, lie, lie, lie about crime (and everything). No pretext needed. You suggest Dems self-censor calling out illiberalism to avoid attacks that are coming anyway.
No, I don’t.
I am operating under the reality that the news cycle works the way it works.
It’s not about censuring anything. It’s about winning the conversation and preventing a negative outcome. The left loses every time excuse they’d rather yell bold words in people faces than think about persuading people who disagree with them.
basically arguing "don't spray the bear, you'll only provoke him" while the bear is actively gnawing off your arm
No, I am not remotely saying that.
You are saying, the bear is gnawing on my arm, punch him in the face. And I’m saying I’d rather hit that bear with a stun gun.
What they want is unfettered insider trading and a fat pensions as well as free healthcare only for themselves. Truly the "average" American.
What are you doing to punish DOGE? bsky.app/profile/admi...
The more Trump acts like a Nazi, the lower his approval numbers get. So of course Dems want to avoid capitalizing on that.
You can certainly talk about the Epstein files. Or, you can complain about a memo.
The memo suggests Dems engage in avoidance. But we can see in reality what some "machine learning" program created by unknowns wants us to ignore.
One basic issue with this memo is that it doesn't take into account any regional concerns. How would this be useful for any individual Congressional Representative even if the methodology was flawless? Why would you say this as a party leader instead of talking from the perspective of Raskin?
=sigh=
Imagine thinking the President of the US threatening to send troops into your state if you don't fall in line and obey his dictatorial whims is a "distraction". These people are so fucking useless. They should all retire and let someone who actually cares about something take their place.
Trump and his cronies are doing self coup when a legally elected leader consolidates power through controlling the military and using it against the opposition. Call it a coup. If democrats are calling it just a distraction they are complicit.
They are going to looooooose
This is just freaking wrong. We all know it. Is this somebody Ken Martin hired?
Who sent the memo? I’m not downloading Dropbox just to find out.
Blue Rose Research www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/o...
This memo is complete bullshit. It's just like everything else they say and do - the exact opposite of reality. #grandoldpedophiles #trumpisarapist #releasetheepsteinfiles
Hold up...this guy is a Democrat and works for Democrats? Could have fooled me. It sounds like he's been compromised.
Controlled opposition
People get paid to write memos like this.
These people are so unbelievably stupid. Just not meeting the moment at all
Aaargh
fuck that focus group bullshit
never beating the single party country allegations
but nah, I'm sure aggressively pushing for Blue Patrick Bateman 3 years before it matters is gonna fix this
It's really dreadful, DNC party leadership.
Cannot believe I spent all that time reading and reading crap about approval ratings. Concept over reality? @whstancil.bsky.social has a purpose in sharing this Blue Rose Memo. What is it? And who uses the phrase "machine learning" these days? As useful as Grok.
Maybe they just view their job as a distraction and should retire to focus on their passions
All the advice they ever receive can be easily summarizes thusly: Do not annoy the oligarchs; it may hurt their feelings.
telling, and fitting, that Epstein doesn't appear in the memo once
Political malpractice by Blue Rose Research. Amazing that people actually pay for this idiocy.
OMG. Dems are gonna consultant themselves to death.
I will never give the Dems money again until they start actually trying. This is crave weakness that will make them lose makes no sense and makes me completely ashamed of the party.
how un-auspicious it is that the DCDems are so awful that people want to leave the party, and THAT PARTY IS THE ONLY OPPOSITION WE HAVE TO A WANNABE DICTATOR
It was a winning message in CA for the mayor and governor so how can this be?
Yeah, sure guys, just like the Beer Hall Putsch and Krystallnacht were just distractions, just 'stunts'.
Sent by whom?
This seems uniquely designed to scare the shit of elected Democrats and get them to continue cowering instead of trying to persuade anybody
Bingo
Unironically sort of wonder if it's a psyop/social engineering to convince the people who could best resist fascism to tie their own hands until it's too late
Democrats with a working brain will not undertake the cowering posture Blue Rose suggests they take.
Whoever wrote this memo has got to be a GOP plant.
This was my thought- could it be internal sabotage?
It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American. Notice David Shor's merry band of idiots didn't test these types of messages.
We tested a bunch of stupid fucking messages and found that they all suck. Pay us lots of money.
Dem professionals obsessively convinced only policy matters & that voters respond to academic-y statements about it . No emotions, please . We're Democrats .
Primary them all, or replace them with a new party. There is nothing left there to defend, and its only purpose is manufacturing consent for Trump's power grabs (+ defense of Israel) now.
Wondered why they’ve been telling us over and over that it’s a ‘distraction’ from the Epstein case. I finally decided the distraction is the Epstein case.
jeezus, the dnc is actually PAYING people to write this slop. next report will say: as the regime continues to use public execution of its political enemies, we advise that you pivot to how nice the weather has been lately.
bsky.app/profile/menn...
Unfortunately, a general strike is extremely unrealistic in the US. I think we're going to eventually reach the point (may have already reached it, maybe long ago) where the only thing that can change the US's course is a mass movement but i don't see where that's going to start.
Any attempt at that (from anyone to the left of Dick Cheney) in the last 50 years has been crushed into powder, militarily if necessary. The "centrists" and "moderate democrats" (and even the left-leaning Dems) are going to need to wake up to the uncomfortable truth: this won't be polite.
Yep.
Yeah, I made that graphic and first stared posting it in like early February. Sigh.
Vichy Dems
I keep saying - Dem electeds mostly just agree with Trump and like his policies.
What's so stupid is that there *is* a way to use the concept of distraction *and* pull in other criticisms without diluting the danger: "Sending in the NG to militarize and intimidate predominantly Democratic and minority cities is an authoritarian move the likes of which we've never seen. ...
We cannot let it stand and continue to call ourselves a free country. Trump may hope that by terrorizing some of us and playing on the basest fears of others of us he can distract from the damage he's doing to the economy, his failure to lower prices, and his cover-up of the Epstein files. ...
But we will not be distracted! And we will not cede our freedom, ether!" [This is my audition for the Democratic messaging team]
Love how, to the democratic political consultant class, every incredibly horrible thing Trump does that begs for robust counterattack by the opposition is actually just a “distraction” from the increase in cost of hot dogs by 29 cents, which will resonate across the electorate
What the hell? This doesn’t even say HOW it was tested, does it??? This seriously reads like psyop.
"Little Red Riding Hood should focus on the contents of her basket, and not some hypothetical 'wolf,' says the Institute of Wolves"-ass report
This is it.
Feckless is usually an apt descriptor for these geriatric cowards but I'm sadly unable to verbalize the depths of their inadequacy to meet the moment. Opposition party taking notes from Vichy France.
we need to also vote out every single democrat.
Primarily the AIPAC whores like @rephaleystevens.bsky.social
Dude. @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social Enough soft talk. Your restraint is ushering in authoritarianism.
Jeffries is fine with authoritarianism as long as he personally isn't affected, and he won't be as long as the facade of bipartisanship he helps maintain is useful to Trump. That's also why he won't resign.
What could this possibly even be a distraction from? Good to see Dems are still loudly advertising how useless they are, it'd really suck to have false hope right now.
Unwise?? Oh, do I have my Bluesky posting at government officials work cut out for me today.
The problem with the Blue Rose is that they act like messaging can't move polls. They focus on the polls and use that to determine what to message on rather than if the messaging is successful. Polling is a lagging indicator.
A sort of confirmation bias
From whom?
From...Blue Rose Research. So once again I see we've decided that any rando focus group shop's silly memo is evidence that all Democrats everywhere are feckless stupid weak cowardly corrupt shills. Good lord guys get a fucking grip
It wouldn't stick if dems in general werent in fact feckless, stupid, weak and cowardly. There are exceptions, but not many.
Yes I'm sure you need to believe that
I mean Dems are literally calling DC a distraction as we speak.
Jesus H. Christ.
Political malpractice. Idiotic plan that falls flat -- witness Jeffries on the Sunday shows last weekend. Another episode of bringing a water gun to a knife fight.
Jesus
Did the viscous ooze where Hakeem Jeffries' spine should be write this?
