Thread by @DoctorVive

OMG it turns out that at his CNN town hall last night, @JoeBiden didn't tie what's happening in Texas to climate change or to his plans to decarbonize the grid.

@TheDemocrats are STILL making the same messaging mistake. They are scared to connect disasters to climate!

THREAD

I argued *three years ago*, after Hurricane Harvey, that the Dems had been essentially bullied by the right into not talking about climate while people were actually suffering and (sociology suggests) most receptive to climate messages.

medium.com/@DoctorVive/po…

This fear and weakness is part and parcel of the Dem's reluctance to discuss climate policy as a political fight with clear stakes and clear antagonists. But are the Repubs reluctant to do this?? Of course not! They say nothing without demonizing their opponents.

Of course I'm not privy to @JoeBiden's internal polling which might well show that people don't like it when you attack your opponents, but I wonder how that attack would poll if it were part and parcel of a narrative of overcoming a threat to give your children a better world?

Drawing on not just sociology & psychology, but also reader-response theory (work on how stories make us believe and do things) & deliberative rhetoric since Aristotle, I argue that effective political speech must include messages about your opponents.

elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/97…