Strategery 2018: Dems unveil crappy new slogan, plan to promote single-payer

Strategery 2018: Dems unveil crappy new slogan, plan to promote single-payer

The lesson Democrats appear to have learned from losing to Donald Trump is that they need to move further to the left.

We see that in the roll-out of a pathetic new slogan focusing on language invoking FDR’s New Deal. As first reported by Jeff Stein at Vox, the slogan is … (I’m embarrassed for the Dems to even have to type it, it’s so bad) …

“A Better Deal: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages”

Stein further notes that the slogan is “the result of months of polling and internal deliberations among the House Democratic caucus.”

Democrat activists/journalists are not loving it:

Yes, really. GQ magazine laments how close it is to Papa John’s slogan, “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa John’s.” The Democrats Unveiled a New Slogan and It’s Infuriatingly Stupid:

Congratulations to those of you who reflexively whispered “…Papa John’s” before burying your head in your arms and sobbing quietly.

Many people are making the Papa John’s comparison, as the Free Beacon documents, including this from Newsweek:

But the real inspiration for the slogan and tagline likely isn’t a late-night pizza order. Ezra Levin, co-executive director of liberal grassroots organization the Indivisible Project, pointed out on Twitter that the new slogan appeared to be co-opted from an op-ed written by Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who was Clinton’s running mate in 2016.

As it stands Thursday, the Democrats have yet to actually unveil the slogan and tagline, so it could perhaps change before 2018. But if “A Better Deal: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages” does stick around for ’18, there’s no word just yet if the Democrats plan to offer complimentary garlic sauce to every American.

Yes. They. Can.

As the Democrats are rolling out the focus-grouped slogan, they also are signaling a move to the left on healthcare, with many Democrats coming out in favor of single payer. The Atlantic reports, Why So Many Democrats Are Embracing Single-Payer Health Care:

Since losing the White House last year, a growing number of Democrats in Congress have embraced the idea of universal, single-payer health care, setting up an inevitable confrontation between the liberal and centrist wings of the party over its future.

Emboldened by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 defeat, and the Republican effort to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law, progressive lawmakers and activists are trying to move single payer into the party mainstream. There are signs the idea is winning traction: For the first time ever, a majority of House Democrats have signed up to support “Medicare for all” single-payer legislation, a threshold crossed in the aftermath of the presidential election. A number of influential Senate Democrats have also expressed support for single payer in the midst of the current Republican health-care push…

Sanders, the most popular figure on the American left, has used his higher post-election profile to advocate for single payer, while progressive firebrand Senator Elizabeth Warren has called single payer “the next step” for the party. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has publicly said that “we should have Medicare for all.” Senator Kamala Harris, frequently buzzed about as a rising star in the party, recently told a crowd in her home state of California that “as a concept, I’m completely in support of single payer,” though she added the caveat: “but we’ve got to work out the details, and the details matter on that.”

Dem Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also went there this morning on ABC News This Week:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed Sunday that Democrats are going to consider supporting the idea of a single-payer healthcare system as they roll out an economic agenda this week.

The New York Democrat told ABC’s “This Week” that while the economic plan will get the attention coming up, they will look at single-payer amid continued chatter from high-profile Democrats about how to attack on the healthcare issue.

“Week after week, month after month, we’re going to roll out specific pieces here that are quite different than the Democratic Party you heard in the past,” Schumer said. “We were too cautious. We were too mamby-pamby.”

“This is sharp, bold and will appeal to both the old Obama coalition … and the Democratic voters who deserted us for Trump, the blue-collar workers. Economics are our strength, and we are going to go at it,” Schumer said before being pressed by host George Stephanopoulos on single-payer specifically.

It’s *almost* like Democrats want Republicans to hold the House and Senate, because single-payer is popular only among Democrats. Who already vote for Democrats.

A recent Pew Survey found:

And then there is the cost. The pro-Democrat Editorial Board of the Washington Post tries to throw some reality on the single-payer mania, Single-payer health care would have an astonishingly high price tag:

The single-payer model has some strong advantages. It is much simpler for most people — no more insurance forms or related hassles. Employers would no longer be mixed up in providing health-care benefits, and taxpayers would no longer subsidize that form of private compensation. Government experts could conduct research on treatments and use that information to directly cut costs across the system.

But the government’s price tag would be astonishing. When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) proposed a “Medicare for all” health plan in his presidential campaign, the nonpartisan Urban Institute figured that it would raise government spending by $32 trillion over 10 years, requiring a tax increase so huge that even the democratic socialist Mr. Sanders did not propose anything close to it….

To realize the single-payer dream of coverage for all and big savings, medical industry players, including doctors, would likely have to get paid less and patients would have to accept different standards of access and comfort. There is little evidence most Americans are willing to accept such tradeoffs.

While the 2018 midterms are still over a year away, it seems like Democrats are struggling to come up with a strategy other than hating Trump and Russia Russia Russia.

That’s not enough according to none other than Chuck Schumer in justifying the rollout of the new slogan:

The rollout comes as Democrats continue to struggle to sell a coherent message to voters. In a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 37 percent of Americans said that the party “currently stands for something,” while 52 percent said it “just stands against Trump.” The same poll found that Trump’s overall approval rating has deteriorated to 36 percent — making him the most unpopular president of the modern era at this point in his presidency.

Those findings resonate with party leaders who are still stunned by Trump’s come-from-behind victory last year.

“When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview previewing the new plan. “So what did we do wrong? People didn’t know what we stood for, just that we were against Trump. And still believe that.”

Republicans are in disarray. Democrats are the best thing Republicans have going for them heading into 2018 midterms.

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