'Meet The Press' panel slams Democratic messaging on 'culture wars': 'Real problem for Democrats' in midterms

A Sunday "Meet The Press" panel slammed Democratic messaging on the "culture wars," with one panelist saying it would be a "real problem" for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. 

Kimberly Atkins Stohr, senior opinion writer at the Boston Globe, Anna Palmer, an NBC News contributor and Punchbowl news CEO, Josh Lederman, an NBC News correspondent, and former Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo joined host Chuck Todd to discuss a wide range of issues they feel that Democrats are not messaging well to their base. 

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Todd first brought up Florida, where he said was "ground zero" for the debate surrounding the Parental Rights in Education law, which critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Todd noted other states, such as Texas and Alabama, were making their own versions of the legislation. 

Curbelo argued Republicans are winning the culture wars.

"That’s just the way it is," the former congressman said. "You look at defund the police, you look at defund ICE. Now in Florida you have this parental empowerment bill, opponents call it the ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill.'"

He added that Democrats were baited by Republicans to "take the position that students who are learning to color and read and write should be taught about sexuality" and about "gender identity" and that the party has "consistently been, or at least perceived to be on the wrong side of this issue."

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"This bill has basically about 50-50 support. It’s not decisive in either direction," Todd said. 

Stohr said the polling on the bill was all over the place and noted that Republicans saw Gov. Glen Youngkin's victory in Virginia and said "take this playbook" and run with it. 

She contended that Democrats were on the winning side of the issue "legally" when it came to "DeSantis facing off with Disney." 

"If a government penalizes someone over what they say, that's anti-First Amendment," she said. 

"This is big government telling people what to do," Todd added. 

Palmer argued Democrats were "on their heels when it came to schools and COVID." She said Democrats still have not figured out how to message on the two issues. 

Lederman said Democrats have allowed Republicans to define their message and that is reflected in their fight over Florida's education bill. 

"If you were to ask the average parent of a first-grader, do you want your kid to be taught about sex in first grade? Most parents would probably say ‘ew, probably not.’ But if you ask, is it okay for your kid to be read a book about Peter the penguin who has two penguin dads, you're not going to have the same kind of response. But Democrats have sort of ceded the argument on this on so many of these cultural issues," he said.

Todd asked the panel if the Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade, if that would "flip the switch" on the culture wars. 

Palmer predicted Democrats would try to get their base out to the polls "if it goes away" but that so far the party has done nothing on several issues important to the base like voting rights and immigration.

"There is a real issue for Democrats in the midterms," she said. 

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on "Fox News Sunday" that Democrats are headed for a "pretty good beating" this election

McConnell said President Biden's policies "have not worked" and that the Afghanistan withdrawal "became kind of a metaphor for the incompetence that’s been on full display during this administration."

"None of the policies they have pursued have worked out well," he said.