Jen Psaki calls out the 'worst' media training advice given to Democrats
MSNBC host Jen Psaki called the Democrats’ style of pivoting to talking points "the worst media training advice" that could have been given.
"The worst, worst media training advice… people give is 'answer the question you want to answer,'" Psaki said on The Bulwark's "The Focus Group" podcast on Saturday. "That is the freaking worst advice, especially for this moment in time."
She added, "Because, you know what? Who cares if it's you interviewing the person or me interviewing the person? Doesn't matter to us. People sitting at home, if you ask them, or I ask them, 'Hey, what do you think should be done about Elon Musk?' And their answer is, 'We're gonna build roads and bridges and defend the Affordable Care Act.' People at home are like, 'What in the hell?' Right? It's almost disrespectful to them."
Psaki described the style as following the talking points and encouraged Democrats to take a position and push it authentically.
"Rip the talking points up," Psaki said. "Decide what you think authentically. You're going to piss people off out there. Guess who pissed people off a lot when I was there? Barack Obama. He’s not perfect either. I’m not saying that. But piss people off, it’s fine."
She also advised Democrats to "let the quirky flags fly" in a way that reminds voters that they are "human beings who are interesting and funny and quirky and sporty."
Psaki similarly lectured the Democratic Party on how it failed to reach voters while appearing on comedian Jon Stewart's "The Weekly Show" podcast last month. She called out Democrats' elite language and told them to "cross authoritarianism and oligarchy out of every script. Nobody talks this way."
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Earlier this month, the Democratic Party suffered record low approval ratings from CNN and NBC News polls. Only 29% of those polled by CNN and 27% of voters polled by NBC had a favorable view of the party, the lowest number recorded by the polls in more than three decades.