Democratic (Party) Direction

This is v v good:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/opinion/trump-corporations-white-working-class.html

WICHITA, Kan. — Is the white working class an angry, backward monolith — some 90 million white Americans without college degrees, all standing around in factories and fields thumping their dirty hands with baseball bats? You might think so after two years of media fixation on this version of the aggrieved laborer: male, Caucasian, conservative, racist, sexist.

This account does white supremacy a great service in several ways: It ignores workers of color, along with humane, even progressive white workers. It allows college-educated white liberals to signal superior virtue while denying the sins of their own place and class. And it conceals well-informed, formally educated white conservatives — from middle-class suburbia to the highest ranks of influence — who voted for Donald Trump in legions.

That man made of straw won’t stop signaling superior virtue and I wish he’d knock it off.

to be fair worzel gummidge does clearly possess superior virtue

such people do exist and are not straw

I confess I have often been wrong in life, but if the rumors are true that Eric Holder will run, I don't foresee that going super great.

What is Eric Holder's natural constituency?

I have no actual idea.

Overachievers

otm

https://splinternews.com/out-with-the-old-1827692070

Mark the date, I’m uncritically sharing a HamNo piece, that’s how pissed off I am this week

What is Eric Holder's natural constituency?

― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, July 19, 2018 9:53 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

biglaw partners who reliable donate to the democratic party

*reliably

Seems like Holder is spending all day every day pushing technical reforms to keep one party from gerrymandering their way out of electoral accountability, which is maybe not the most high-profile thing in the world but is actually really important

No opinion on whether he would be good at running for office

well, not all day every day. he spent most of last year working for uber (writing the big report about susan fowler etc.)

Wow. https://t.co/pModdTI6QR pic.twitter.com/HIImCh3zS5

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 20, 2018

Pelosi unloading on Trump, basically calling him traitor, during presser.

no live TV coverage.

— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) July 19, 2018

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/wisconsin-used-to-be-progressive-dan-kaufman-on-what-happened.html

I thought that part was interesting and otm

What do you think progressives need to do to be more successful? Is it just, in your mind, a more economically progressive message?

One thing, I think, is a long-term plan. I talk about in the book, and Jane Mayer talks about this incredibly well in Dark Money: This is a 40-year, 50-year war of attrition going back to Paul Weyrich and Lewis Powell, a galvanizing, building up of this conservative infrastructure. Conservatives are willing to accept short-term losses or piecemeal gains, but they have a very clear long-term vision. There is not equivalent infrastructure on the progressive left side at all. I don’t think there’s anything close to it. That is one thing where they are different. I honestly think sometimes Republicans are willing to lose on principle for a longer-term gain, whereas somebody like Bill Clinton was willing to triangulate and appropriate certain Republican messages that then undermined the party long-term.

Pelosi unloading on Trump, basically calling him traitor, during presser.

no live TV coverage.

definitely not entirely pelosi's fault (that chart of NYT/WashPo coverage caek posted just above is a big reason why), but this is just another reason that she needs to step down and make way for a new voice.

i would be very curious to know the breakdown of Dem/Republican quotes during a similar period during the Obama administration. maybe they're biased toward the party in power? still, O_O

maybe they're biased toward the party in power?

Josh Marshall's 2009 blog entry about DC being "wired for Republicans" remains true a decade later.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/wisconsin-used-to-be-progressive-dan-kaufman-on-what-happened.html

I thought that part was interesting and otm

What do you think progressives need to do to be more successful? Is it just, in your mind, a more economically progressive message?
One thing, I think, is a long-term plan. I talk about in the book, and Jane Mayer talks about this incredibly well in Dark Money: This is a 40-year, 50-year war of attrition going back to Paul Weyrich and Lewis Powell, a galvanizing, building up of this conservative infrastructure. Conservatives are willing to accept short-term losses or piecemeal gains, but they have a very clear long-term vision. There is not equivalent infrastructure on the progressive left side at all. I don’t think there’s anything close to it. That is one thing where they are different. I honestly think sometimes Republicans are willing to lose on principle for a longer-term gain, whereas somebody like Bill Clinton was willing to triangulate and appropriate certain Republican messages that then undermined the party long-term.

― Van Horn Street, Friday, July 20, 2018 10:23 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, this is really important. But it's also important to understand the structural differences that bring this about. They're not just more disciplined, they have a lot more money. And the big money Democrats are able to counter with (Hedge Funds, Hollywood etc.) also tends to come with major drawbacks that pull the party more in the Clinton triangulation direction that ultimately serves the long-term goals of the right. Which is why you need class politics and working class organization, because the only advantage the left can ever have over money is numbers and enthusiasm.

It’s almost like “money” is inherently conservative and “justice” and “equality” are inherently liberal

lol

solid theory as to why Lieberman botheres to weigh in on AOC:

So, a big theme in @Ocasio2018’s campaign has been her criticism of the financial industry for trying to fleece Puerto Rico. @JoeLieberman is now publicly deriding her. Left unsaid: Lieberman has represented financial firms in their Puerto Rico litigation. https://t.co/KuwIS9UAQ5 pic.twitter.com/jHH5FxPAFd

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) July 20, 2018

Al Gore sure could pick 'em

whoa, didn't even realize he was at Kasowitz

Depressing: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/21/politics/nixon-black-voter-problem/index.html

Depressing that Nixon hasn't connected with black voters?

Well, yeah, and the disappointing poll numbers. Basically everything about that story?

This might be good.

NEW PODCAST: The labor movement has for years been backing Democrats who then refuse to explicitly support unions once they get elected -- a top labor leader tells me unions are now taking steps to halt the bait & switch & force Dems to deliver https://t.co/a1gw031q6e #copolitics pic.twitter.com/3kgTf28AuI

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) July 11, 2018

i was reading yesterday about the democratic revolution of 1954 in hawaii. i think there's a lot to learn from it. i don't think "getting rid of" pelosi is any better an idea than getting rid of john h. wilson would have been.

lol

Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. This president and his Republican Party are counting on you to do exactly that. America’s great middle wants sensible, balanced, ethical leadership.

— James Comey (@Comey) July 22, 2018

Narrator: America's great middle kept voting for racists anyway

the fact that this big goofy bitch is a hero of "the resistance" tells me all i need to know about "sensible, balanced" democrats

imagine listening to and taking seriously the cop who kneecapped your candidate over some ginned up email controversy

it is still incredible to me that anyone respects him in any way

Y’all murdered Fred Hampton. You’ve got some nerve to call your victims extremists. https://t.co/QIO3LYKrN3

— MK (@some_qualia) July 22, 2018

This week in Kamala Harris is running for president, tax credits for rent-burdened households:

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/07/19/federal-tax-credits-for-renters-sen-kamala-harris-proposes-breaks-for-the-rent-burdened/

I dont know anyone on the left who thinks comey is anything but a foolish asshole

This week in Kamala Harris is running for president, tax credits for rent-burdened households:

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/07/19/federal-tax-credits-for-renters-sen-kamala-harris-proposes-breaks-for-the-rent-burdened/

― devops mom (silby), Sunday, July 22, 2018 8:22 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sorry Kamala, the era of means testing is over

America's great middle = the butthole

also tax credits are not the ideal way to provide assistance for a monthly expense. Any family that truly struggles to pay its rent is not going to be in a position to wait until tax refund time.

Yeah, I guess it's nice that a major non-Bernie candidate is even addressing the rent being too damn high but this is a classic neoliberal technocrat solution

Comey doesn't want us "russian" to the left, get it?

also tax credits are not the ideal way to provide assistance for a monthly expense. Any family that truly struggles to pay its rent is not going to be in a position to wait until tax refund time.

There's a difference between spending more than 30 percent of your income on rent and being on the edge of eviction. The idea of "rent burdened" doesn't necessarily mean you're on the verge of homelessness, it means you're cutting or delaying other things -- dental visits, fixing a broken-down car, etc. So a tax credit would benefit a lot of rent-burdened people. And it would somewhat even the scales with the mortgage interest deduction. It's not a terrible idea on the surface. Housing economics is really complicated, it's hard to address through regulation without having all kinds of unintended effects.

The affordable housing issue gets a lot of things backward, imo. It's focusing too much attention on one side of the equation -- housing costs -- and not enough on the other side, which is wages. The cities with the worst affordable housing statistics in the country aren't New York and San Francisco, they're places like Flint and Detroit. If you can't get a job, or can't get paid a decent wage, no housing is affordable.

I agree it’s not a terrible idea, and at least it’s an attempt to address rent affordability at federal level.

is a tax "credit" in the US effectively the same thing as a deduction? i.e. it doesn't help if you don't have an income, and it helps you less than people who earn more if your income is smaller than the deduction.

A tax credit reduces your tax bill, a deduction reduces your taxable income.

ah, thank u. so they don't help if your tax bill/taxable income is zero.

Unless we introduce the negative income tax at the same time, yeah. Some people with no tax bill are already getting Section 8 housing assistance where rent is fixed to 30% of an adjusted gross income.

Not that section 8 is an ideal program by any means but there are many who are rent-burdened with household incomes way above what would qualify them for direct federal housing assistance.