Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Tom Perez spoke at a summit hosted by Demand Justice in Washington, DC on Wednesday. At the event entitled, “The Court In Crisis: What’s Next For Progressives After Kavanaugh” Perez laments that voters are influenced by the pulpit on Sunday.
Watch:
“We all have to make sure we are fluent in what is happening in our ecosystem so that we can come to each others’ defense. Because we need to build a bigger
“They’ve had a big orchestra for some time and they’ve got the megaphones to amplify it. Whether it is Sinclair at a local level, Fox at a national level, I’ve learned this from the outreach we have done at the DNC. ‘Why aren’t we penetrating?’ I ask. And I had someone in northwestern Wisconsin tell me, ‘You know what? For most of the people I know their principal sources of information are Fox News, their NRA newsletter, and the pulpit on Sunday,'” Perez said describing conservatives.
“This should come as a surprise to no one that their message does not penetrate. This should come as a surprise to no one that person has elevated the issue of course to the top because that person in the pulpit is saying, ‘Ignore anything else that this person has done and is doing. We have to focus on the one issue of Roe v. Wade.’ And people buy it because that is their only source,” Perez complained about the pro-life influence in churches.
“So as we move forward, we have to talk about these substantive ideas, and we’ve got to talk about our communication strategies. We’ve got to talk about other forums that will enable us to elect Democrats up and down the ticket that we actually have the capacity to implement it,” he concluded.
Four thoughts…
First, if he thinks liberals don’t live in a silo as well, he is living in fantasy land. Second, it’s quite evident that Perez has not frequented an evangelical church. The vast majority rarely discuss politics, let alone specifically addressed the Kavanaugh hearing. Third, I don’t know of a single pastor who would say to ignore a sexual assault accusation let alone encourage their congregation to ignore it. That’s a moot point because this discussion never happens in the pulpit. Fourth, he complains as though the Democratic message is not articulated. Republicans may have Sinclair and Fox, but Democrats have most of the media. Ultimately, Democrats don’t have a communication problem reaching these voters, they have a moral one. When you drum pro-lifers out of your party it makes it very difficult to expand the tent.
Perez unwittingly demonstrated why Democrats remain tone deaf to most people of faith and why they have difficulty making inroads into Middle America.