If you want to make a 'Papa John's' joke at Democrats' expense, get in line; that's exactly what popped into many people's heads as soon as they heard this poll-tested inanity. I'd genuinely love to know how much money the party spent on focus groups and market research in the process of honing this stinker, which only served to trigger my Pavlovian impulse to crack open a cold one, order a large pepperoni pie, and search for a football game on TV (I'm sure all three actions are somehow socially irresponsible or "problematic"). If history serves as a guide, the Democrats might be on track for significant electoral gains next year, even if their new slogan was something more accurate like, "we can't stand you people." But if they're counting on their latest tagline to inspire support and convince voters that maybe they do have an agenda after all, they're in trouble:

I shouldve corrected this immediately; I've deleted original tweet. Full slogan is "A Better Deal: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages" — Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) July 20, 2017

Another member noted that this is the result of months of polling and internal deliberations among the House Democratic caucus — Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) July 20, 2017





Months of polling and internal deliberations. I'd call it unbelievable, but this is the same crew who stacked the deck to guarantee that this woman would be their presidential nominee. So, totally believable. Let's break this puppy down, line by line. Is the "better deal" bit a jab a Trump, who bills himself as the consummate dealmaker? Probably not, because that would at least emit a faint scent of cleverness. Better skills, eh? Good thing the last Democratic president who left office way back in 2017 focused much of his higher education energy on the flawed 'college for all' model, which many argue reduces Americans' ability to learn and carry out important trade skills. By the way, how's Obama's expanded student loan forgiveness program working out? Surprise:

The spiraling costs of a student loan relief program https://t.co/1XH2YW3BGJ via @delislealleges pic.twitter.com/Q9lu3PBDAj — POLITICO (@politico) July 21, 2017

When Congress created a program in 2007 to forgive student loans of people who work in public service for 10 years, the expectation was that the program would be small. But after the Obama administration made the program more generous in 2012, I warned that the program’s ill-defined terms would forgive far more debt than originally anticipated. And last week the Congressional Budget Office confirmed those fears when it estimated that the program will cost $24 billion over the next 10 years, double what the CBO estimated just two years ago. This is not the first time that the CBO revised its estimates so sharply upward, and it probably won’t be the last.

Better jobs? A brazen assurance from the party whose policies empirically stifle job creation and restrain economic growth, and whose deep-pocketed environmentalist masters wielded veto power over good-paying American jobs during the last administration. Oh, and better wages? Like the ones in Seattle? Or the ones not paid to...Democratic Party workers during the 2016 election? People forget. Well, at least the DNC's "authentic," cussin' chairman is fundraising up a storm:

The Democratic National Committee had a poor month of fundraising in June, only bringing in $5.5 million, according to a new campaign finance filing. The DNC ended the month with $7.4 million in the bank, Politico reports. The DNC's fundraising numbers were poor compared to those of the Republican National Committee, which brought in $13.5 million in June and ended the month with $44.7 million cash on hand. The RNC said it was free of debt, while the DNC is $3.3 million in debt.

Oof. Maybe Democratic mega-funders and small donors alike are hanging onto their cash, waiting for it to be forcibly confiscated from them by their party through taxes, in order to finance a horrible new healthcare program they seem to want -- which would merely require nearly doubling the already-deficit-laden federal budget. Perhaps Americans should vote for a better party, even if that party is still pretty terrible. Better idea: Pass me another beer. And another slice.