New flier from Georgia Democrats: You must vote in November to ... prevent another Ferguson

Note that this comes from the Georgia Democratic Party itself, not some no-name outside outfit that’s looking to boost its profile by tossing racial grenades.

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One of the fun subplots of this campaign is watching Democrats, starting with The One himself, feign anger at Republicans for using fear to gain an advantage while they scaremonger in increasingly cartoonish ways themselves. Mark Udall went so nuts with his “Cory Gardner hates women” message in Colorado that the Denver Post finally threw up its hands in disgust and endorsed Gardner. Now, with two weeks to go and red-state Democrats desperate to survive, it’s kitchen-sink time.

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Follow the first link up top for more photos from the flier. What does Ferguson, Missouri have to do with electing Michele Nunn to the Senate and Jimmy Carter’s grandson to the governorship in Georgia? Nothing and everything. The Times previewed the strategy behind this week’s multifront Democratic racial clusterfark on Sunday:

The confidential memo from a former pollster for President Obama contained a blunt warning for Democrats. Written this month with an eye toward Election Day, it predicted “crushing Democratic losses across the country” if the party did not do more to get black voters to the polls…

“Anybody who looks at the data realizes that if the black vote, and the brown vote, doesn’t turn out, we can’t win. It’s just that simple,” said Representative Marcia L. Fudge of Ohio, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, referring to African-American and Latino voters. “If we don’t turn out, we cannot hold the Senate.”

African-Americans could help swing elections in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and possibly Arkansas, a New York Times analysis of voter data shows, but only if they turn out at higher-than-forecast rates. They will also be important in Kentucky, where Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic Senate candidate, refuses to say if she voted for President Obama — a stance that black leaders including Ms. Fudge fear will depress turnout.

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Again, that was Sunday. One day later, the mysterious pro-Kay Hagan “lynching” flier warning about the GOP impeaching Obama appeared in Fayetteville, North Carolina. (As Noah noted earlier, the local NAACP chief defended the imagery as reflecting “what the community feels.”) One day after that, Georgia Democrats are hinting to black voters that their children might very well end up shot by white cops unless they turn out for Nunn and Carter. Wendy Davis’s dopey attack on Greg Abbott over interracial marriage yesterday was also aimed at terrifying minorities, although in that case it’s Latinos who are the target. There’s no reason to think Democrats won’t replicate this tactic for Landrieu, Pryor, and Grimes too in the next 14 days. It’s effective, and the media’s not going to shame them over it. The media agrees with them. If it really is racist to support Republicans, how can it be “scaremongering” to emphasize that point, even in ridiculously demagogic ways?

Time for predictions. Which red-state Democrat will be next to use an over-the-top racial pander to goose black turnout? I’m tempted to say Pryor, just because he’s seemed like a dead duck for so long now, but I’m going to go with Grimes. She’s within a single point in one new poll and can’t rely on DSCC TV ads to help her going forward. She needs a cheap, dependable way to get Democratic base voters excited to vote. Time to pull the pin on another racial grenade.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
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