On Sunday’s This Week, anchor George Stephanopoulos was clearly aware that Democrats are on the verge of being wiped out in the 2022 midterm elections, having witnessed it closely while working in the Clinton White House during the 1994 drubbing. So after having moved from overt Democratic operative for the Clintons in the 1990s to covert Democratic operative for ABC today, it’s no surprise to see him panicking as the elections get closer.
Turning to failed former Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp who was ousted from office in 2018, Stephanopoulos fretted “is there anything Democrats can do to stop the wave in ‘22?”
Referencing a previous panel discussion on the never ending January 6 hearings, Heitkamp thought it would be a brilliant idea to have her party obsess over the riots at the Capitol from over a year and a half ago instead of addressing real issues like inflation and gas prices: “every moment that we're spending here talking about the January 6 commission we're not talking about $5 gas, we're not talking inflation.”
Having thought she meant Democrats should stop wasting time talking about Jan 6 and talk about pocketbook issues that Americans care about, Stephanopoulos jumped in to note “that's not going to help Democrats, talking about $5 gas?”
Heitkamp agreed: “What I’m saying, you don’t want to be talking. You want the airwaves to be talking about this because it reminds the voters why they voted for Joe Biden.”
What she failed to explain is why voters should care more about a riot at the US Capitol than paying over $5 a gallon for gas and forty year high inflation at the grocery store. Everyone knows Jan 6 was a terrible day, but to continue harping on it to score political points instead of explaining to voters how you will solve inflation, is not going to be the winning message Heitkamp and Stephanopoulos think it is. There’s a reason neither of them work in politics anymore.
This tonedeaf segment on ABC was made possible by Fischer Investments. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcript click “expand”:
ABC’s This Week
6/19/2022
9:36:47 a.m. EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Is there anything Democrats can do to stop the wave in ‘22?
HEIDI HEITKAMP: Right now, the one thing I would disagree with you all on, is that every moment that we're spending here talking about the January 6 commission we're not talking about $5 gas, we're not talking inflation.
STEPHANOPOULOS:But that's not going to help Democrats, talking about $5 gas?
[crosstalk]
HEITKAMP: What I’m saying, you don’t want to be talking. You want the airwaves to be talking about this because it reminds the voters why they voted for Joe Biden. The danger that we were in, I think, you know, I remember George about a year ago when we saw the first poll where the President's numbers were really started to go to the negative. We asked the question, what should he do today? He didn't really do enough at that point in time. Right now this is a base play in the midterms. You are not gonna change hearts and minds. And people think that money makes a difference. Always remind them I had plenty of money and I didn't get re-elected. And so at this point the cake’s baked on where you are. The only bright side is when you nominate people like Herschel Walker, when you nominate people like the Republican nominee in Pennsylvania it gives Democrats an opening they wouldn’t otherwise have.
