Democratic (Party) Direction

@tinyrevolution
Agree or disagree with Cory Booker on drug reimportation, you have to admit he thinks Americans are amazingly stupid

I think the last election proved that point, so

Are they boo-ing me, Smithers?
No sir. They're saying "Boo-ooker!"

Cory Booker 6 Dec 2012
‏@CoryBooker
RT @rr_nyc: Tired of hearing how morbidly obese poor don't have food either. Employment is ennobling, even min wage, get 2 jobs

@DougHenwood
Dem moneybags and think tankers planning to stick with strategy that landed them in a ditch.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/democratic-party-voters-reconnect-233666

so former Labor Secretary / Establishment candidate for DNC chair Tom Perez blurted out

"We heard loudly and clearly yesterday from Bernie supporters that the process was rigged and it was. And you've got to be honest about it. That's why we need a chair who is transparent."

and then the fun began

So in Tom Perez’s conduct, one sees the mentality and posture that has shaped the Democratic Party: a defense of jobs-killing free trade agreements that big corporate funders love; an inability to speak plainly, without desperately clinging to focus-grouped, talking-points scripts; a petrified fear of addressing controversial issues even (especially) when they involve severe human rights violations by allies; a religious-like commitment never to offend rich donors; and a limitless willingness to publicly abase oneself in pursuit of power by submitting to an apology ritual for having told the truth....

One can spend all of one’s time and energy denouncing Donald Trump. But until the systemic causes that gave rise to him are addressed and resolved, those denunciations will do little other than generate social media benefits and flattering applause from those already devoted to opposing him. Focusing on and attempting to counter the fundamental flaws of the Democratic Party is not a distraction from #TheResistance; it is a central priority, a prerequisite for any kind of success.

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/09/tom-perez-apologizes-for-telling-the-truth-showing-why-democrats-flaws-urgently-need-attention/

Oh great

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/obama-democrats-party-building-234820

Ugh I remember OFA trying to pimp the goddamn TPP in the last couple years of Obama's presidency

btw

@JStein_Vox

Voting DNC members tell me that the "anti-Israel" campaign against @keithellison helped derail his candidacy

http://www.vox.com/2017/2/26/14740400/keith-ellisons-dnc-israel

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/02/the-assassination-of-keith-ellison-by-the-neoliberal-coward-tom-perez

"The Manichean alternative history of the DNC race not only ludicrously casts Tom Perez as a Thatcherite, it also apparently casts Chuck Schumer as a left-not-liberal class warrior. It’s incomprehensible on any level."

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C6GBQjBWQAEjfDh.jpg

Chris Hedges:

A genuine populism, one defined and often articulated by Bernie Sanders, could sweep the Democratic Party back into power. Regulating Wall Street, publicly financing campaigns, forgiving student debt, demanding universal health care, bailing out homeowners victimized by the banks, ending the wars in the Middle East, instituting a jobs program to repair our decaying infrastructure, dismantling the prison system, restoring the rule of law on the streets of our cities, making college education free and protecting programs such as Social Security would see election victory after election victory.

But this will never happen within the Democratic Party. It refuses to prohibit corporate money. The party elites know that if corporate money disappears, so do they. The party’s hierarchy, pressured by Obama and the Clintons, elevated Tom Perez over Keith Ellison—whom a major donor to the party, Haim Saban, condemns as an “anti-Semite” because of Ellison’s criticism of the Israeli government—to head the Democratic National Committee. They will press forward repeating the same silly slogans and trying to use the now ineffective Force choke on their political enemies. They may have lost control of the Congress and the White House and hold only 16 governorships and majorities in only 31 of the states’ 99 legislative chambers, but they are incapable of offering any meaningful alternative to neoliberalism and empire. They are devoid of a vision. They can only moralize. They will continue to atrophy and enable the consolidation of an American fascism....

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/donald_trumps_greatest_allies_are_the_liberal_elites_20170305

As much as I'm happy that the Clintons are gone from public life and grit my teeth at their surreptitious string pulling, the criticism of Perez is tiresome at this point.

"restoring the rule of law on the streets of our cities"

What on earth does this mean?

watchdogging killer cops imho

Pretty tough to argue against such clear, logical thinking

oh, it's absolutely true, i can't see how the democratic party can ever break free from the total control of the guy who brought the world "mighty morphin power rangers".

barring perhaps the unlikely event of eastman and laird going all-out for bernie

oh, it's absolutely true, i can't see how the democratic party can ever break free from the total control of the guy who brought the world "mighty morphin power rangers".

― increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), 6. marts 2017 21:45 (fifty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Perhaps he was the one who taught them to schedule the tv-debates on Saturdays?

What's most annoying isn't even the fact that only 1 out of his 11 sentences that Morbs quoted is a statement of facts instead of an absolutist opinion steeped in the self-assured purist ethos only bestselling Princeton instructors can actually afford, it's that the call to action is to abandon all hope, and then he goes on to quote ol' Dusty-dusty because the next thing is Bolsheviks, dontcha know. Great. Glad we're all in this together, asshole.

that we are

i gave up 32 years ago btw

(when the Dems weren't nearly the whorehouse they are now)

you've made us all so proud

i pretty much have no idea what you hardbitten mainstream realists are talking about anymore (eg Saban and mighty morphin power rangers -- really Fredik, gtfo)

however, i vote for Democrats when it's necessary, so let's shove "purist" up whatever ass fits for the last time.

i pretty much have no idea what you hardbitten mainstream realists are talking about anymore (eg Saban and mighty morphin power rangers -- really Fredik, gtfo)

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius)

what i still can't figure out is if you honestly think political discussion on this board is genuinely dominated by lamestream democrats or if this is just a fundamental part of your schtick now

pointing out the weaknesses in the arguments you quote is not the same as calling you names, dude.

I'd love it if someone could explain to me in nonpartisan, snarkless terms what is actually going on with the party. It's true that the DLC is absolutely the pro-corporate wing of the party, right? Is Perez a member of the DLC?

yes and no

Perez would be the most liberal head of the party in decades if not ever had Ellison not come along

I can't get over that Obama and co. ran him specifically to counter Ellison, followed by Perez's claims that he wants "Ellison to be the face of the party." Well, gee, I can think of one way that could have happened.

The DNC chair is not normally the face of the party.

DLC is no longer around I thought?

We're not fucked because of Perez. We're fucked because people "can't get over" Perez as if he was a former Dubya appointee or some such nonsense

"Obama and co." Jesus Christ on the fucking cross do you read what you write?

What America needs right now is for people to stand strong against that corrupt, two-faced, incompetent, narcissistic, bigoted, hateful "Obama and co."

OTM :http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/02/the-assassination-of-keith-ellison-by-the-neoliberal-coward-tom-perez

And hey yeah DLC closed up shop in 2011, god googling that was hard

you mean the ppl who left Yam all those unconstitutional toys, right

Did the DLC? Wow, fuck those guys.

The problem is not Perez, the problem is the reasons Perez was pushed into the race. This is not really typical, Obama and some other democrats really, really didn't want Ellison to be chair, because there's no other reasonable explanation. Even a lot of the mainstream of the party was backing Ellison - Schumer, teacher's union pres Randi Weingarten, etc. He's a better organizer, has more election experience, is more charismatic, etc. If the argument for Perez is "he's just as progressive," okay, why did we need a second "just as progressive" candidate?

I mean I can basically live with Perez as DNC chair. I think he's a huge improvement over DWS, and his at least ostensible desire to involve Ellison via the new "deputy" position is a good sign. But I think the process that led to Perez entering the race is not a good sign, and if there were really good reasons to not want Ellison as chair I'd certainly like to hear what they are.

I agree with everything you wrote, prefer Ellison, don't ultimately care so long as the chair's progressive.

The matter is not the position but what the machinations portend for the future. The Clinton-Obama-Biden-Debbie people are not going quietly, and they need to gogogo.

ie what manalive said

i gave up 32 years ago btw

(when the Dems weren't nearly the whorehouse they are now)

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, March 6, 2017 3:10 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

gettin' the vibe itt that morbs doesn't like the dem party

thx tombot for being like... a voice of reason

"Liking" any party owned by b/millionmaires is not a good move. They are there to be used when we can use 'em.

they need to gogogo

Victory through subtraction!

Always instructive to remember that the most successful liberal president ever was a plutocrat.