Democratic (Party) Direction

Corey Robin thread / FB post on unions, strikes, Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon

Before Shabbat begins, and the reign of peace takes over, at least for 24 hours, I need to say: this article makes me furious. A two-tweet thread of screen shots explains why. https://t.co/1F3klcj5uy

— corey robin (@CoreyRobin) August 10, 2018

I don't know why it's so hard for people to grasp that this is a giant country with multifarious local conditions, and you can have a DSA-backed candidate lose a primary in Michigan while at the same time a long-time Dem incumbent DA in St. Louis gets knocked off in a primary challenge from the left and in a week Wisconsin will choose a gov nominee from a pool of candidates who do not at all cleave neatly into "Team Left" and "Team Centrist".

Or maybe it's not that people find that hard to grasp, but rather that if you are writing for Politico and your livelihood depends on people linking your piece in a tweet, your tweet kinda has to be "Who won the day: Team Centrist or Team Left" and it can't be "A lot of different stuff happened in different places." But it kind of sucks that that's the way people's Politico pieces have to read.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, August 9, 2018 3:16 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah I was discussing this a few weeks ago on this thread and I came to the conclusion that journalists wedging the dems, playing to our anxiety that they may fuck up again or that the other side of liberalism might win it all, is to be ignored up until the dems take back power.

Think of how that “broadening” would sometimes work. If a majority elected a populist demagogue like Donald Trump—which very nearly happened in 2016 (when he lost the popular vote) and may well happen in 2020—he would preside over not only our government, but also over our social and economic realms. The effect would be to consolidate power, not to disperse it, as the author ahistorically expects.

Every leftist has been arguing for the exact opposite for the what? 50 years? More? And he still doesn't get it? Not a single moment has the DSA proposed more broadened power for the President. How do he gets to that conclusion? Even as a response to the quote it makes no freaking sense. It would just mean more co-ops, more unions, less lobbying from publicly traded companies, and more input from grass root organisations. It means less buybacks of shares, and more control over local concerns like how municipalities are organized, how corporations have an effect on people's lives etc. I understand it might not be your preferred course of action to make a better world. But to be so wilfully ignorant about what the left expects of society is so stupid.

His example with birth control is even more ridiculous. Universal health care means universal health care.

I realize there's a contradiction in my last two posts.

A friend who considers herself liberal shared this thing.

An interesting development in Washington State.

Democratic challenger Sarah Smith surged past Republican Doug Basler in new vote counts Friday, setting up a contest with longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Smith this fall.

Sarah Smith, a 30-year-old first-time candidate, solidified a second-place finish in the top-two primary in the 9th Congressional District.

While thousands of votes have yet to be counted, a Seattle Times analysis projects Sarah Smith will advance to the general election. To catch her, Basler would have to roughly double his share of the remaining votes, which often trend liberal in the Seattle area.

Rep. Smith, D-Bellevue, took by far the largest share of primary votes, with about 49 percent. Sarah Smith had about 26.5 percent, leading Basler by about 2,600 votes. A day earlier, she had led Basler by fewer than 200 votes.

“We put in the work and it was incredible to see it happen,” an elated Sarah Smith said in an interview Friday, crediting a scrappy, volunteer-driven campaign for her primary showing. “We’re proving you can be a viable competitive campaign without taking corporate cash.”

She said the fall matchup with Rep. Smith will give voters a real choice in the Democratic district, allowing people to “read platforms and policies and vote their conscience” without worrying about losing the seat to a Republican. Her campaign has drawn comparisons to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who made national headlines in June with an upset win over longtime Rep. Joe Crowley in a Democratic primary in New York.

Rep. Smith, 53, has already expected to face his fellow Democrat this fall. He said in an interview Thursday he was not intimidated by an intraparty challenge, noting he’d previously faced primary challengers from the left.

He said he was in “very, very solid shape” with Democratic voters coming out of the primary and predicted his challenger, a democratic socialist in the vein of Bernie Sanders, would have a hard time picking up independent or Republican votes in the district.

In addition to making an issue of Rep. Smith’s corporate PAC donations, Sarah Smith said she’d contrast her anti-war activism with Rep. Smith’s more pro-military stances. He’s the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee and in position to chair the panel if the party takes the House majority this fall.

That lead over the republican will hold; the consistent trend with ballot counting out here is “late liberals”.

xxp god I love it when ppl go straight for the "human nature" argument. It makes spotting the assholes so much simpler.

Simon, are you referring to the piece Alfred shared? I hated it too.

Yep, that one.

Also...

how is a district to be confused with a nation-state?

Wow.

Current average ages in the U.S. House
Democratic leaders 72
GOP leaders 48
Ranking committee Dems 68
GOP committee chairs 59 https://t.co/AwDkJKTKs4

— Kurt Andersen (@KBAndersen) August 11, 2018

gop age difference is bc of tea party, right? and dems in the minority are the solidly dem seats that have years of incumbency?

yeah i'd be interested in seeing that in comparison with historical numbers for in-party vs out-party - seems plausible enough that when one party takes a hit, their members who survive are more likely to be senior ones with a lot of incumbency advantages that helped them hold on.

Hawai’i primary is today, right?

Go Kaniela Ing!

@KanielaIng voicing solidarity with the Palestinian people. “Until every one of us is free, none of us are.” #FreePalestine #FightForAloha pic.twitter.com/VM0mkI4sqd

— Neurologically Diverse Proletariat Asians 🌹🤖🎤 (@karaokecomputer) August 10, 2018

He lost very very badly, and to a complete prick, too.

Keith Ellison has been accused of domestic violence. AFAIK, he has yet to comment/respond.

he has

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/08/12/abuse-allegation-made-against-keith-ellison-denies-attorney-general-election

He said he was in a "long-term relationship" that ended in 2016 but he denied the allegation of abuse.

"I still care deeply for her well-being," he wrote. "This video does not exist because I never behaved in this way, and any characterization otherwise is false."

there are reasons not to release the video but if there is some, releasing it would be pretty decisive.

long statement from monahan elaborating on the existing account

http://www.fox9.com/news/karen-monahan-woman-who-accused-rep-ellison-of-domestic-abuse-releases-statement

seems to have lots of stuff in it for reporters to poke through at least

That statement is definitely illuminating

It’s definitely long.

Gallup: “For the first time in Gallup's measurement over the past decade, Democrats have a more positive image of socialism than they do of capitalism.” https://t.co/poLAv5IsYt

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) August 13, 2018

A friend who considers herself liberal shared this thing.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, August 11, 2018 3:13 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-kwYXhXUAAuUkL.jpg

twas ever thus

in fairness, the reverse is no less accurate.

fascists hate socialists more than liberals? totally

in fairness, the reverse is no less accurate.

socialists turn out to vote (and even volunteer) for liberals all the goddamn time, come on now

disappointing but expected about kanela & el-sayed both, obviously, though as has been pointed out elsewhere, these campaigns have been conceived of and run as movement campaigns, galvanizing the public and shifting the political weather of their own primaries--and by those measures they remain undeniable successes.

in fairness, the reverse is no less accurate.

socialists turn out to vote (and even volunteer) for liberals all the goddamn time, come on now

― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, August 13, 2018 1:04 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm not sure we've exactly got a robust dataset of recent socialist candidates running in general elections after having won a Democratic primary such that you could draw any sweeping conclusions about whether liberals were turning out to vote for them or leaving them high and dry. idk, maybe i'm wrong, it just seems like that hypothesis hasn't really been tested much yet.

that is a strange rhetorical edifice to employ in the service of what ought to be your pretty straightforward point about socialists hating liberals

lmao https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2018/08/09/de-blasio-is-raising-money-for-state-senate-candidates-but-does-anybody-really-want-his-help-548304

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to help his fellow Democrats take back the New York Senate. To close the gap, he’s launched a federal leadership political action committee, and he wants to raise money to spend in competitive races around the state.

There’s just one problem. Almost nobody wants his help.

A majority of the 15 Democratic state Senate candidates running in competitive districts who POLITICO surveyed said they wouldn’t accept the mayor’s aid even if offered. The would-be senators are distancing themselves from the unpopular mayor, who faces criticism from upstate for being a tax-and-spend liberal and complaints from some in New York City that he’s not liberal enough and has been too friendly with developers. It doesn’t help that the last time de Blasio got involved in helping candidates, it led to an investigation into his fundraising practices.

He also endorsed Julia Salazar's opponent, Martin Dilan. Not an IDC member but a very shitty machine dem.

Cuomo has agreed to debate Nixon - 08/29, mark yer calendars.

A case for keeping Pelosi as speaker.

otm

That's always been the case for Pelosi - she's fucking great at her job, and no one who wants her job can explain how or in what ways they would do it better than she does.

I assure you, I'm not working for the Keep Nancy campaign.

thx Krugman, i had no idea she did better things than Newt, Hastert, Cheatham & Howe

social security / medicare for all

http://theweek.com/articles/789956/biggest-policy-mistake-last-decade

Oh good, the week weighs in on some retrospectively “obvious” shit

it was pretty prospectively obvious too!

guys guys the important thing is that the economists will get it right NEXT time, they swear!

When Congress failed to commit $1.5 trillion or so to public works jobs in 2009, financed by debt at 0.2% interest, with the prospect of much of that being monetized by the Bernanke Fed, I was near to tearing my hair out, provided I still had hair. I can't recall if I did or not in 2009. But you get the idea.

The other big failure was to let hundreds of high level bank, insurance, and financial services executives off the hook for their fiduciary crimes. Instead, the bastards walked off with big bonuses, generous severance packages, and smiles as wide as the sky.

Wisconsin primary polls close in an hour. The (sparse) polling has shown Tony Evers (state superintendent of ed.) way ahead, but I gotta say, the sign primary and the people-I-know primary both seem totally mixed, with substantial support for I'd say 5 candidates (Evers, Kelda Roys, Mahlon Mitchell, Mike McCabe, and Kathleen Vinehout) each representing, in their own way, a potential direction for the Democratic party.

I know this isn't Republican (Party) Direction but the GOP Senate primary to choose Tammy Baldwin's opponent is pretty interesting too, a test of an far-right but fundamentally establishment WI-GOP state sen (Leah Vukmir) who went hard against Trump in the primary and now praises him with transparent insincerity, and her "anti-establishment" former-Democrat opponent who is hammering her for not being Trumpy enough. Trump got absolutely crushed against Ted Cruz in the primary here, so it'll be interesting to see how effective the "doesn't love Trump enough" message is among 2018 GOP voters. (Trump has not endorsed, as far as I know.)

The polls were right and Evers wins by a long way in Wisconsin, drawing 40% of the vote in a field of 8. Strong statements of party unity and support for nominee from the other candidates. I guess I'd call this a win for the "establishment" since Evers was one of the only current Democratic elected officials in the race. (Along the same lines, Vukmir, a sitting state senator, easily beat Nicholson -- Nicholson won the parts of the state where Trump did well in the GOP primary, but Vukmir dominated in the most densely populated, Republican, affluent parts of the state, the Milwaukee suburbs, which were Ted Cruz country in 2016.)

As for Democratic Party Direction, one interesting race is Engebretson v Ewert in WI-7. (That's an uphill race against Sean Duffy in a pretty Republican district.) Engebretson is Medicare for All, Ewert (a doctor) backed Choose Medicare (the Murphy-Merkley bill.) Engebretson won by 15. But again, note that *both* candidates in this race are backing healthcare proposals much more public and broad than what's in the ACA.

The other big failure was to let hundreds of high level bank, insurance, and financial services executives off the hook for their fiduciary crimes. Instead, the bastards walked off with big bonuses, generous severance packages, and smiles as wide as the sky.

― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, August 14, 2018 11:47 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and the myth of obama being above all of it/able to fix it was exploded forever

Cuomo, 1:30 p.m.: "We're not going to make America great again. It was never that great."

Cuomo press secretary, 4:11 p.m.: "The Governor believes America is great ..." pic.twitter.com/DpYz52hkPn

— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellGAN) August 15, 2018

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/15/17683022/elizabeth-warren-accountable-capitalism-corporations

Zero chance of happening and a much more complicated sell to the average person than free college/Medicare For All/basic income/etc..

I mean that's the relatively wonky vox article, seems pretty easy to go from those ideas to 'hold the 1% accountable' which has been a rallying cry for the Sanders faction. Not to mention that it seems a relatively good step between 35 years of austerity measures the US has endured and free college.

Capitalism is beyond meaningful reform. It can only be eroded.