However I would also note that even 6 months ago, Establishment Dems would not approve a message of going after Epstein affiliates.
Which just proves they're cowardly and opportunistic. Hardly evidence of sincerity.
I view the Democratic Party like a disobedient dog in need of training.
I'll spot you the metaphor, but I've been bitten by this dog far too many times to believe a few treats and a clicker are going to change it.
The fact that Democrats have to even consider the population’s opinion is a progressive shift in strategy
It's a shift in messaging... kinda. With the Hillarycrats largely on the sidelines this election, you're stepping on fewer toes when you run ads like this. But compare it to the upsets in states like New York, Michigan, and Ohio. Nobody watching these ads who wasn't already going to vote Dem will care. The issues aren't at the top of anyone's mind. We aren't even seeing Dems put this as "Epstein's War In Iran", because the bulk of the Dem Party agrees with Trump on bombing Iran.
Just like with Obama criticizing Bush or Biden criticizing Trump, the issue isn't the policy but the execution. Trump's just doing a bad job of mass arrests and corporate bailouts and foreign invasions and market manipulations. Democrats (outside of the narrow band of progressives who have been upsetting party-favored campaigns) are running on "we'll do Trumpism better" in the same way that the Obamacrats ran on "we'll do Reaganism better".
The Dem leadership is trying to stay in power by appealing to their left flank.
Democrats can retake the Senate without winning Michigan, Schumer suggests
El-Sayed’s progressive positioning and recent polling showing him narrowly trailing the Republican nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), have raised concerns among Democrats that El-Sayed could lose what many in the party consider to be a must-win state. Some Democratic donors, particularly in the Jewish community, are also now backing Rogers after El-Sayed won the primary.
“A path to winning back the Senate clearly goes through Michigan, but we have a whole bunch of different paths,” Schumer told the Post.
That does not sound like a party leadership tacking towards its progressive flank. Just the opposite.