Democratic (Party) Direction

ugh

hopefully he doesn't live long enough (note to feds: because he is super unhealthy) to do that again

Hillary eviscerated Trump in the debates, fat lotta good it did her.

Trump has a bigotry card to play for his base with every single Democrat - his base are not the people to worry about.

exactly. what percentage of Trump voters who will 100% show up again in 2020 are going to change their vote to the Democrat? 1%? less?

it's certainly possible Trump will be so far under water in 2020 that more or less any Democrat could beat him. Trump-as-candidate peaked with the election. granted, there's something to be said for being an incumbent but I still think if the election is tomorrow and a theoretical candidate with the exact same bio as Hillary who isn't actually Hillary (in other words, doesn't have that stink of losing on them) would win. but I acknowledge it's an awfully big risk to take.

Who knows anymore

i have consulted the magic ball of dystopian future, and this is what it says:

trump will start a major war in 2019.
the majority of america will support the war, even though it is a very bad idea.
democrats in 2020 will be forced to either run on opposing the war (and losing the election) or supporting the war but using different tactics
regardless of the 2020 election's outcome, we'll be involved in the war, this time with bipartisan support

what do you mean "this time"

in this hellscape of the future, there is a brief glimmer of hope before the election because some house democrats representing cities are still listening to the anti-war sentiments of their constituents. but afterward, nearly all of the democrats are united against the enemy. one nice thing about this future is that it has a really cool techno soundtrack and there's an anime version of it that is the fucking bomb

but don't worry, this won't come to pass because trump and "the generals" are definitely not going to lead us into a giant ill-advised war

the nice thing is the Dem nominee will v likely be someone who already has their $ multimillion war chest on display, and there's nothing we can do about it. Don't kid yourself.

you mean the Dems that just voted for a bigger defense budget than a Republicans? of course not.

also i dont really find theoretical scary future Trump war any scarier than the real giant ill-advised war we still haven't given a second thought to

I'm unable to find any other sources that back up that defense budget screed from forbes.com that Morbs linked in the Trump thread

are suggesting that Morbz just posts whatever reinforces his existing prejudices regardless of their veracity

how dare u question forbes dot com

nice yer as skeptical of Forbes as of the 'Cept

is a "screed" anything that points out when the donkey takes a dump?

more like morbes dot com

the 'mainstream' bloc here shd take over the DNC

at least you know Russia is no longer Communist, unlike Donna Brazile

(the Forbes story is 3 weeks old btw)

I mean here's the thing, the article links to clerk.house.gov and I looked at the bill on congress.gov and that all adds up but no other outlet took that roll call vote for anything meaningful. The "real" bill which folks have taken to calling a "security bus" and includes funding for the wall on top of the national defense authorization was passed almost exactly along party lines on July 27, five defectors each from either side. So that guy on forbes is just flipping out over a procedural vote to get to the real vote two weeks later, which is why he was also the only one to bother covering it.

too complicated DEMS R BAD etc

People have weird ideas about what the DNC is/does.

mea culpa

Shakey, complicate my asshole

Never underestimate the allure of metonymical shorthand.

people interested in how far-left political theory and the concept of intersectionality can support each other (a little off-topic from the main thread subject, I recognize) might find this piece worthwhile.

Answer as always seems to be 'nearest iceberg'

Depressing institutional obstacles too nauseating to talk about for long:

From Bernie to Biden, anybody who wins the Dem nomination in 2020 is going to be well to the left of the median votes in the House and Senate. Exactly how far is relevant for issues within the purview of the executive branch, but in terms of major legislation the distinction is trivial.

And if the answer to this is “better median votes,” well, given the way the House and Senate are configured, how? You can have congressional nominees in marginal jurisdictions the left of the party will trust more that Cory Booker (who, again, whatever his faults is well to the left of the median Democratic vote in the Senate), and you can have Democratic congressional majorities, but you can’t have both. If people on the left of the party thinks that winning the presidential nomination is most of the ballgame, they’re going to be bitterly disappointed.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/08/breaking-american-institutions-overrepresent-rural-conservatives

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/07/bernie-sanders-democrats-medicare-primaries-241388

House and Senate Democrats have wondered for months whether Bernie Sanders’ supporters might choose to focus their energy on launching primary challenges to party moderates in 2018. They’re about to get an answer.

Sanders has decided the moment is right to launch his proposal for the single-payer health insurance system that helped form the backbone of his presidential message. And Democrats who don’t get behind it could find themselves on the wrong side of the most energetic wing of the party — as well as the once and possibly future presidential candidate who serves as its figurehead.

The Vermont senator himself has not explicitly said he’ll support primary challenges to those who won’t support his push for a so-called Medicare-for-all health care plan. But there are plenty of signs that Sanders and his allies view the issue as a defining moment for Democratic lawmakers.

“Our view is that within the Democratic Party, this is fast-emerging as a litmus test,” said Ben Tulchin, the pollster for Sanders’ White House run.

...

yesssss

sounds good to me

I support it for sure because I think it's the right thing to do, but it won't be easy to get everyone to buy in, and I don't just mean the donor class. From Vox:

And even if average wages do rise, that’s not a guarantee that your wages in particular will rise. This is a particular problem for union workers whose pay and benefits are set in collective bargaining agreements, which in turn is a huge political problem since it’s difficult to imagine ambitious new social welfare legislation being enacted without union support.

I suspect that as someone who works for the state my costs would actually increase because I'm already paying very little for premiums and my deductible isn't too terrible (though it's gone up quite a bit in recent years). Personally I'm willing to take that hit provided it's not too drastic, in order to ensure all Americans have coverage. But I don't know how many of my fellow state employees would agree. And really that goes for anyone currently working at any job where the benefits were a significant enticement in their hiring. I know there are a lot of people in the private sector whose coverage blows mine out of the water.

Thing are going awful for the Dems. They can't even win on ocial issues!!

Iowa Democrats pulled off an impressive and important victory in a Southeast Iowa special election this evening, boosting the party’s hopes that 2018 could be a bounce-back year. Democratic veterinarian Phil Miller of Fairfield comfortably defeated Republican farmer Travis Harris of Davis County, 4,021 to 3,324 (about 55% to 45%), thanks largely to a massive victory in his hometown of Jefferson County. That means Democrats will hold on to a key rural swing district that Donald Trump won in November by 22 points.

Miller will fill out the remainder of Curt Hanson’s term in the Iowa House for District 82, which includes Jefferson, Davis and Van Buren counties. Hanson passed away in mid-June, who himself won the seat in a 2009 special election. He was one of the few Democrats to still represent a rural district in the Iowa Legislature, and today’s special election was seen as an important test for whether local Democratic candidates could still win in Trump-leaning areas of the state.

social issues even!

buncha risible libs and centrist dems mocking Nina Turner today over the Buzzfeed piece mentioned here

http://observer.com/2017/08/bernie-sanders-nina-turner-our-revolution/

"they tried to seduce us with donuts and water" happens to be funny. There's no way around that. Also it sounds like she arguably exaggerated a bit as described in thread below.

How Nina Turner described the DNC police barricades VS reality pic.twitter.com/X5AAcMcq15

— Centrism2020 FanAcct (@Wilson__Valdez) August 10, 2017

It reminds me of the video from the California Bernie delegates at the convention who thought their chants were being cancelled by white noise machines above them and it was shared all over as proof of DNC oppression but literally nothing happens in it and you see no examples of anything they are complaining about.

Turner is a little too invested in casting Dems as villains. And it's a little annoying when people bring up that she wasn't allowed to speak at the convention like that's any kind of transgression when she wouldn't endorse the nominee. People should be madder about that than how she was treated, especially if you're following the news.

A barricade is a barricade and it's sure as hell not a welcome mat. Personally I'd consider it good optics to publicly accept and take seriously a petition with 130k signatories (iirc?) but what the hell do I know

yes, all infomercials require smiling unanimity

Man all those times I had to resist the donuts and water so I could stay pure

whenever possible I try to avoid sharing a sense of humor with Jen "Bernie is a (((Russian plant)))" Kirkman

The DNC didn't put up the barricade, though

But admittedly, it was a barricade that was a barricade, you're definitely right about that

People just use "pure" and "purist" online, right? IRL would present too great a risk of getting kicked up the ass.

(I do mean up and not in)

Yeah Kirkman is completely nuts. I don't know what that has to do with this. Connection her dumb conspiracy to anti-semitism is a stretch though.

But the crowd was welcomed and addressed by the DNC political director. The explanation that barricade was a building security measure for large crowds sounds reasonable (confirmed by Turner herself) and odd to distrust. And no literal welcome mat but they were given refreshments which should probably be seen as analogous to one maybe. Don't you think it's more likely that Turner was going to characterize this as adversarial vs DNC no matter what because that's her always being on brand?

A barricade is a barricade and it's sure as hell not a welcome mat.

barricades are often statutory requirements at places where there might be gatherings - the one in this picture is something you see in any 500+ capacity club, it's there to prevent people from getting crushed. it's up even when turnout is low. this doesn't even pass the smell-test, anybody who thinks THIS BARRICADE IS A HOSTILE GESTURE FROM THE DNC is being v silly.

I would love to see you try to kick my ass, whatever direction or preposition you want to run with, Michael Morbcock

I'm inclined to take Turner and her concerns seriously despite the (pretty standard among politicians) tendency towards hyperbole.

i would pay good money to see Tombot v. Morbz PPV