Democrats messaging seems to be gearing up; It's overdue

The Daily Beast writes: 

Democrats Are Ready for GOP to Make Hunter Biden the New Benghazi

It’s not Hunter Biden’s scalp they want. Rather, the House GOP caucus is poised to launch a two-year crusade to tarnish President Joe Biden’s character—and lower his poll numbers—just like they did with Hillary Clinton and the Benghazi hearings prior to her 2016 candidacy.

But things are different this time around—Democrats aren’t going to assume that voters can see through the partisan bluster, and are mounting a war room operation outside the White House. The Congressional Integrity Project (CIP)(a pointed moniker, to be sure) will try to fend off the Republican barrage, and go on the offensive in the information war.

“This is a battle over narratives, and we believe we can win that war,” says [Leslie Dach, senior adviser to the CIP]. “They’re (the GOP) saying it in plain English, they’re trying to hurt Joe Biden. It’s the Trump playbook of personal attacks.”

Kentucky Republican Jim Comer, the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee, didn’t waste any time saying the quiet part out loud. Once the razor-thin GOP majority was confirmed, he said at a press conference, “I want to be clear, this is an investigation of Joe Biden, that is where the committee will focus in this next Congress.” 

Hunter Biden provides the cover for an investigation into “whether the president is compromised or swayed by foreign dollars,” said Comer.

That kind of admission cost Kevin McCarthy the speakership in 2015 when he told Fox News that the House Select Committee on Benghazi was created to lower Hillary Clinton’s polls. His forthrightness was widely seen as a gaffe. Until McCarthy let the truth slip, Republicans insisted the long-running investigation had nothing to do with politics. Rep. Jim Jordan (one of the most bombastic GOP members) had his moment more recently when he said Trump would be the candidate again, “and we need to make sure that he wins.” 

“I think the American people see the hypocrisy, but we’ll be showing it to them,” says Dach, who oversaw the Democrats’ successful messaging on health care that is credited with winning the House in 2018 and 2020. “There’s a simple story to tell, and you have to tell it every day.”  

Hunter Biden’s laptop, which he left at a Delaware computer shop and never returned to retrieve, has become the centerpiece of conspiracy theories about how he was ripping off the taxpayers and trading on his father’s name. The details are murky but like Hillary and Benghazi, it is a scandal that keeps on giving. The difference is that this time around, Democrats won’t be on their heels playing defense. They’re preparing to punch back.

Well, it’s about time. Finally. The Democrats are waking up to the critical importance of ramping up the intensity and aggressiveness of their messaging game. The comment by Dach that “I think the American people see the hypocrisy” indicates to me the Democrats are still are not fully aware of the situation. But at least they understand some critically important things to do, namely, (1) showing and telling Americans the hypocrisy, lies and slanders, and (2) telling it every day over and over and over. 

Golly, maybe the Democrats have finally graduated from the minor league messaging to the majors. 

Hunter’s laptop

The Republican smear machine strikes