There’s been a wave of violent crime the last couple of years, and the best way to address the issue is for everyone to pass over it in silence: That’s the implication of the Democratic pushback against the GOP attacks on Democrats as soft-on-crime in the closing weeks of the midterms.
The Democrats are running defensive ads and also passed a police-funding measure in the House, but a big element of their case for themselves — as always — is that it is unfair and racist to call them out on crime.
The Washington Post just ran a piece headlined, “GOP strategy elevates clashes over crime, race in midterm battlegrounds.”
In its own report, The New York Times says the Republican offensive “has swiftly drawn criticism as a return to sometimes deceptive or racially divisive messaging.”
Exhibit A is the advertising barrage against Mandela Barnes, the 35-year-old African-American lieutenant governor of Wisconsin who is running against the Republican incumbent senator, Ron Johnson. The Washington Post relates that allies of Barnes “have derided the attacks as racist messages that feed on stereotypes.”
There are a couple of counts against the anti-Barnes ads. One is that they associate him with the Squad, the group of left-wing House Democrats. But this is hardly dirty pool, since Barnes gladly associated himself with the Squad: He went to an event with Rep. Ilhan Omar in 2019, and said about her in a tweet afterward, “She’s exactly who we need in Congress right now fighting for what’s right.”
The idea is that it is racist to portray Barnes in an ad with an image of the Squad because all its members are non-white. But what’s most notable about the Squad is that it exemplifies out-of-the-mainstream progressive politics. Are attacks on the group supposed to be off limits until it recruits a more diverse membership?