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House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., told Meet the Press NOW Wednesday that his party needs to be more empathetic in its messaging and cut out the "sloganeering" that can distract from what the party's message.
“I have been saying to all of my colleagues: Let’s focus on people, their families, their communities and stop all the sloganeering," he said. "What can this policy do to make life better for this person, this person’s family and this person’s community? Forget about all the other stuff.”
Clyburn criticized the progressive "Defund the Police" movement after the 2020 election, blaming that rhetoric for the defeat of moderate Democrats like South Carolina Rep. Joe Cunningham.
But he added that he didn't think Tuesday's elections — that saw voters in liberal San Fransisco recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin — was a rebuke of progressive governance. And he disagreed with a moderate colleague, Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, who claimed that progressives were trying to purify the party like the Tea Party movement did to Republicans in the early 2010s.
"There are degrees of everything. There are some people who are farther left than I am but I am left of the spectrum," he said.
"I tell people all the time, it's not just the substance of what you do but style also needs a little something. I don't go around calling people names, I'm trying to talk to people based on what their situations are."