Democratic (Party) Direction

Yeah I don’t know either. But I thought this was interesting in light of his more recent weird Trump supporting/Fox regular phase.

https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/the-king-of-spin/Content?oid=1503534

political opportunists can be useful

a piano dropped from a great height at the right moment can be useful

I don't know that it's a good or correct call, I just assume the statements he released recently (incl pushing for a statewide ban on AR-15s) are a direct result of his going after this endorsement. as to whether or not he's really markedly worse than Warren's guy, other folks can attest

he is demonstrably bad at getting people to vote for him

Yeah, ol' Dennis didn't even make it through January in the 2008 primaries, then didn't endorse Obama until 2 months after he won the nomination.

lmao fuck

even though his positions seem to be pretty good most of the time afaict i've always felt like he was kind of a nitwit.

I mean I'll always have much love for Dennis for standing up to the utilities and banks as mayor despite the resulting default, but he is well past his sell-by date as a politician.

a frequent FOX News guest and a praiser of Trump's "American carnage" speech

yeah i had a kucinich '04 sticker on my guitar case in high school but denny pack it in brother wyd

Republican well-financed and wingnut media supported spin on tax plan now gaining ground....

The tax overhaul that President Trump signed into law now has more supporters than opponents, buoying Republican hopes for this year’s congressional elections.

The growing public support for the law coincides with an eroding Democratic lead when voters are asked which party they would like to see control Congress. And it follows an aggressive effort by Republicans, backed by millions of dollars of advertising from conservative groups, to persuade voters of the law’s benefits

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/business/economy/tax-overhaul-survey.html

Dems and Dem groups quoted in right-wing site/newspaper article. Priorities USA, a top Democratic super PAC, released a memo calling on Democrats to message more consistently against the tax law.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/democrats-struggle-with-rising-popularity-of-gop-tax-law/article/2649354

fwiw i am getting an extra $38 per paycheck, which adds up to around an extra $832 a year.

contrast that to last year when i was penalized more than that by the mandate for NOT having insurance.

messaging problems indeed.

"oh hey this is a (x) trillion dollar wealth transfer to the top .(x)% and this is a bad thing" (insert correct/exact figures) would have been a fine line to trot out early, often, and consistently, one would think, but it's not clear to me that this was done widely enough

A liberal or left group or Schumer or Pelosi or someone needs to create a nice twitter hashtag phrase spelling it out too, plus maybe Tom Steyer and DCCC and others should buy some ads saying that (rather than focusing on impeachment and Russians)

gonna leave this here

Last night conservatives were accusing the Parkland students of being Democratic plants, which is hilarious. The students are formulating policy demands, forcefully stating the moral basis of their cause and communicating on social media. The Democrats don't know how to do that https://t.co/KS9BdVgZNK

— mcc (@mcclure111) February 19, 2018

brrapbrrap

Why do I click through to read the threads. Why do I do it.

might be lols

If you listen closely to the lyrics of the politically charged music of the early 2000s, it's eerily more applicable to the current situation than it ever was to the Bush administration it was written to protest. System of a Down and GreenDay are great examples.

— Alex (@excitable_one) February 18, 2018

No

https://goo.gl/images/59vFzZ

"Look closer" was American Beauty's tag line.

I know I personally base my political views off of System of a Down lyrics.

Angels may still deserve to die, but we're even less happy about it now?

Sieg Heil to the President Gasbag

No

― El Tomboto, Tuesday, February 20, 2018 7:23 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

irl lol

heh

We are not afraid. pic.twitter.com/946Vpjccbn

— Kaniela Ing (@KanielaIng) February 20, 2018

I linked an interview w/ Ing a while back. I like him.

yeah he seems cool. that's a dumb twitter interaction, but it's a great example of not being afraid to unapologetically pursue almost unbelievably popular policies.

it's one thing to say you support an unbelievably popular policy and another to force a reckoning on it, though--these last couple shutdowns seem instructive on that front

DCCC steps into TX-7 primary:

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/02/22/rare-move-national-democrats-come-out-against-laura-moser-primary-cand/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

I've been following Jason Westin, who I like a lot, don't know much about Moser, but I don't relish the party taking sides in primary fights (unless there's really something wrong with Moser I don't know about.)

Then, referring to a 2014 Washingtonian magazine piece in which Moser wrote that she would rather have a tooth pulled without anesthesia than move to Paris, Texas, Kelly added:"Unfortunately, Laura Moser’s outright disgust for life in Texas disqualifies her as a general election candidate, and would rob voters of their opportunity to flip Texas’ 7th in November.”

I'm sure urban south Texas Democrats would be horrified that someone wouldn't want to live in a rural town on the Oklahoma border.

i know he's not perfect, and it's a long shot, but would love it if this guy beat cruz

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfll_mRll1m/

https://slate.com/business/2018/02/cap-floats-a-new-health-care-plan-called-medicare-extra-and-its-good.html

medicare extra, simply: a public option will either be rendered nonthreatening to the existing insurance industry, and will thus be insufficient; or it will require the same political capital to pass as single-payer, while abdicating responsibility to address health inequality

— kill 💀 tim 💀 faust (@crulge) February 22, 2018

I love the Beto challenge, and I don't think it's absolutely impossible for him to win, but I worry that people are throwing money away in a state without the votes yet and against an incumbent whose fundraising to date says little about his potential resources from not just direct contributions but also independent expenditures, especially given the support of the Mercers who gave him $11 million to run for President and the other wealthy fans who more than doubled that number.

I love the Beto challenge, and I don't think it's absolutely impossible for him to win, but I worry that people are throwing money away in a state without the votes yet and against an incumbent whose fundraising to date says little about his potential resources from not just direct contributions but also independent expenditures, especially given the support of the Mercers who gave him $11 million to run for President and the other wealthy fans who more than doubled that number.

― Moo Vaughn

you know what, at this point, fuck it, throw money away. i'm fucking sick of "smart money" politics.

a credible statewide race in texas is *essential* for the half dozen flippable congressional seats. if that requires throwing money away i'm down.

and the credible state race there sure isn't going to be the one for governor

As I told my wife, I have spent or donated money on dumber things than a politician who could potentially change the direction of the country for the better.

as caek understands, turnout for one high profile race will affect the entire ballot. a win isn't always necessary in the high profile race in order to have a net positive effect in power gained.

Let’s all have a moment of silence for the money some Dem supporters might be throwing away by supporting Beto. After all, Republicans gave his opponent over $20,000,000 to run for President. PS lol @ that money.

Honestly, there's a democratic senator from Alabama right now. As far as I'm concerned, extenuating circumstances or not, all bets are off.

there's a democratic senator from Alabama right now who is not conspicuously racist!

ftfy

No, he just votes with 'em.

Please do stuff it

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/doug-jones/

He's only got a month's worth of votes to look at, but it's not like he's been a bait-and-switch character. And he also doesn't sexually assault teenage girls, so

Wait, was that link supposed to disprove my point? Cause it does the opposite

Half of those votes were those reopen the government/keep spending votes. I think that's cheap if you call that 'agree with Trump,' since he was mostly sidelined.