XPost: alt.fan.states.south-carolina, alt.politics.republicans, sac.politics XPost: alt.politics.liberalism, alt.politics.elections

https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2023/04/08/as-we-predicted-gavin-newsoms- schtick-isnt-going-over-well-with-democrats-in-red-states-n728217

In columns over the years, and on countless media appearances in which I’m asked for my opinion about various California Democrats seeking higher
office, I’ve consistently made the observation that California Democrats
have a very tough time getting traction outside of the state because
they’ve never been challenged on their positions or been held accountable
by the media in any way. They don’t even need to give campaign speeches or long-form interviews because at this point they don’t need to. So, like
Kamala Harris, once the rest of the country gets to see what they’re all
about, they’re not fans.

Gavin Newsom is the latest California political superstar to suffer this
fate, and he hasn’t even declared for POTUS yet. Over the last week or so
he’s been traveling to red states, acting like the savior who’ll be
bringing enlightenment to the rubes stuck there. Unsurprisingly, for
anyone who’s ever lived outside a narcissistic bubble, that doesn’t go
over well, especially in the South.

An article in Friday’s Politico lays it all out: James Carville calls
Newsom’s tour a stunt; Nikki Fried says he should stay home; a leading
Texas activist worries about Newsom’s condescending manner; and Newsom
insiders share that Newsom is obsessed with reading “right wing” news
sites.

Let’s get to it!

We must start with this description:

[L]ike a California cabernet left out on a humid afternoon, the Newsom
brand may not travel all that well. Montgomery is a long way from
Sacramento, and Newsom’s political machine has only been tested in
friendly territory, where his party enjoys a supermajority. Many Democrats
will be glad to spend his money, but it’s far less clear that they’ll want
his advice or his obsessive focus on the culture-war contrasts between Democratic and Republican states.

[T]his strategy bets that the message of a California governor — who made
his fortune in fine wines and has deep ties to elite San Franciscans like
Nancy Pelosi — can resonate elsewhere.

Just like everyone else, Florida Democrats bristle at Newsom’s pissing
match with DeSantis:

State Party Chair Nikki Fried said she’d welcome extra resources “to
highlight the failures of Ron DeSantis,” but there are limits. She also
said Newsom’s favorite California-versus-Florida framing, which resonates
with some West Coast liberals, would backfire in DeSantis’ backyard.

“What would not be helpful is a comparison between the two states,” Fried
said. “Florida is very different from California.”

And Newsom’s extremely progressive and combative style can be a problem in states where the sensitivities are a bit different. Matt Angle of the Lone
Star Project, a PAC committed to defeating Republicans, says:

Democrats [in Texas] need to show the “the contrast between responsible mainstream Democrats and irresponsible, extreme Republicans,” he said —
not “more ‘turn Texas blue’ pep rallies.”

“The resources are needed, and there is some smart money that gets spent
in Texas from outside,” Angle said. “But Texans, even Democrats, resent
people coming in and acting like they’re bringing fire to cavemen.”

Another Southerner, a legendary Democrat strategist, has doubts:

“It just strikes me as a kind of a stunt,” said James Carville, a
Democratic political operative with deep experience in the South. “We’re
not going to carry Oklahoma anyway, or Kentucky for that matter.”

He’s right, and especially if Newsom uses the same schtick in those states
that he does in California. Democrats in North Carolina are making the
same mistakes, as more and more transplants fill the urban areas with
their radically progressive policies and tendencies. Having lived in the
Tar Heel State for 20 years, I know that North Carolinians of any
political stripe violently resent outsiders moving to the state and
telling them how to run it or how they can do things better. What we’re
seeing in that state currently, with the override of Gov. Roy Cooper’s
veto on a bill eliminating pistol permits and Rep. Tricia Cotham (who
comes from a prominent Democrat family) moving to the Republican party,
are examples of what happens when Newsom’s brand of in-your-face,
condescending progressivism takes hold in a Southern state.

Will Newsom or his advisers heed any of these warnings? He’s obsessed with conservative media and has an inferiority complex, and his advisers dwell
in his bubble – and don’t want to get fired – so, that’s not very likely.

The governor is known to spend hours a day absorbing far-right media and
often laments conservatives’ ability to dominate the narrative. “Somehow, Democrats are constantly on the defense,” he wrote in a recent campaign
email. “… That has to end. We have to flip the ‘red state freedom’
narrative on its head.”
…

While Newsom’s advisers comprise the dominant campaign team in California,
they have little experience with the politics of conservative America.

And therein lies the problem. Those of us in California are very happy to
have the rest of America find out just how unbearable and, frankly, not
very smart, Gavin Newsom is.


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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

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