Democratic (Party) Direction

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.

Speaking optimistically, that is.

That entirely depends on what you believe to be meaningful.

Yes.

For example, limiting buybacks would be great reform that is bound to help move the needle towards a better society.

lol, is that cuomo statement real?

i have to say, a little-discussed barrier to entry vis a vis "normal" people entering american politics is that you have to nod your head and say stuff you would never say in private company, like "America is great" (and pretend you're a christian, in most districts)

The funny part is, they were some of his least objectionable comments in a while

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/15/politics/andrew-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great/index.html

excuse me while i go achieve maximum greatness

Good sentiment badly expressed. Probably has something to do with the fact that he's completely empty as a human being.

anybody want a job?

Current openings:

1) Political/Policy Director: You will be responsible for building relationships with local and national political groups and managing the endorsement pipeline for our campaign. You will also be responsible for working with our movement allies to both create detailed policy planks as well as short policy briefings for Alexandria. You will be responsible for creating your own goals and plan for you and your team between now and November 6 in line with the campaign plan.

2) Organizing Director: You will be responsible for outreach to local community groups and for working with the political director to mobilize the memberships of our political allies for our general election campaign. You will also be responsible for hosting public events in the district for Alexandria and turning those events into organizing output. You will be responsible for creating your goals and plan for your team between now and November 6 in line with the campaign plan.

Both positions require you to be in New York.

https://airtable.com/shrRpHENxBG2C2W5M

HOOS pls clone yourself and take both of these

haha <3

Good sentiment badly expressed. Probably has something to do with the fact that he's completely empty as a human being.

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Thursday, August 16, 2018 10:26 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

NEW: @CynthiaNixon responds to @andrewcuomo comment that “America was never that great.”
Nixon: “I think this is just another example of Andrew Cuomo trying to figure out what a progressive sounds like and missing by a mile.”

— Zack Fink (@ZackFinkNews) August 15, 2018

Haha iceburn

commenter on Splinter wrote "Listening to Cuomo try to sound progressive is like listening to Andy from 40 Year Old Virgin try to describe having sex."

do you actually get that joke I thought you didn't watch Apatow movies

I too would love to join the Cuomo zingfest but turns out I wholeheartedly agree with the notion that america was never great.

and away we go

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2018-midterm-election-forecast/house/

never fail to marvel at FDR's margins of victory/congressional majorities

Cool I love odds-based US election predictions

https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/BtuNPf2ZJp8YDh4W9BY5RsiBo6U=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-3309224-58e154f13df78c5162a8711d.jpg

L-R: Simon, Shakey

learned from 538's district map that someone named Joseph Brumbles is running in WA-10 as a Republican lol

WA-9 guaranteed to be won by a Democrat with surname Smith

after hearing Apatowfans like Shakey talk about 40YOV forever and ever, i probably have heard all the dialogue in it secondhand

I suddenly realized I've lived too long when I instantly recalled the name of FDR's dog.

there's a marble statue of him in his master's memorial

every pres dog's name is checkers morbs

lol I like a grand total of four things Apatow has done (Larry Sanders, Freaks & Geeks, 40YO Virgin and Knocked Up) and the latter is def the weakest of the four

xp

Whoa, is MN-8 the only non-tossup currently D district that 538 projects to flip to R in the entire country??

no senate forecast yet?

If you’re listing more than two things and want to reference the final list entry you say “the last” not “the latter”

no senate forecast yet?

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), 17. august 2018 05:14 (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

On the ModelTalk podcast they say it's coming, that it's relatively simple and uninteresting, and Nate Silver assumes that Democrats won't be ahead. It's a pretty fun podcast.