How attacks on Republican voters became the third rail of partisan politics

Source: Semafor
by David Weigel

“Start with the obvious: Democrats would rather be talking about Harris’s closing message and a good GDP report today, but Biden put them on clean-up duty. Harris’s quick response, made as soon as she saw cameras on Wednesday morning, shows how much Democrats learned after the ‘deplorables’ moment eight years ago. Rather than dwelling on what Biden meant, they’re emphasizing they don’t agree with it. Without more oxygen, this whole story could be over by sunset, filed away like Biden telling New Hampshire Democrats last week that they needed to ‘lock [Trump] up … politically.’ (If you’d never heard about this, that’s my point.) If it does last, it’ll be because of one of the great successes in modern conservative messaging: Making Democrats eat their words if they say something insulting about non-Democrats.” (10/30/24)

https://www.semafor.com/article/10/30/2024/how-attacks-on-republican-voters-became-the-third-rail-of-partisan-politics