(The Great Veal Pen Roundup Commences: ) Perez, Ellison embark on unity tour

Perez, Ellison embark on unity tour

New Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez and Deputy Chair Keith Ellison are taking their buddy show on the road.

Starting later this month, the pair will embark on what they are calling a “Democratic Turnaround Tour” that hits a collection of states that the party lost in 2016 and where there are ongoing races. The first stops, beginning March 24, are in Detroit and Flint, Michigan — where Hillary Clinton was the first Democrat to lose since 1988.

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After a four-month long campaign that devolved into a messy proxy war between the establishment wing of the party and the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, the two have gone out of their way to appear together.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/perez-ellison-democratic-national-...

Well we'd better figure out what we're going to do pretty soon because the Clinton DNC has got plans to convince us they've 'changed' and they really really really care about the Bernie Bros and Bitches now and they want us to join their team again. For votes and donations, of course.

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Big Al's picture

I'm not going to vote for or support either major party. What can those who don't want to support the duopoly do? It's either third party or an independent movement, or do your own thing with your own issue or issues. Or we can do nothing of course, let it all just happen.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@Big Al
But we need someone to back who means what they say and won't cave when push literally comes to shove. And who is willing to stand up and do what's right when faced with the fact that the 'system' is rigged. Someone who won't take our money and support and then abandon us for those who saw to it that we were cheated out of our right to chose a candidate and the candidate was cheated out of his right to a fair primary. In other words, someone willing to stand on principal and who actually does have the 'courage' to do what is right when faced with DNC/Clinton level corruption.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

@Amanda Matthews

reading between the lines, I guess you are not on Draft Bernie wagon.
kinda hard to please, aren't you?
lol

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@irishking It seems stupid to choose the same guy who betrayed you last time, whatever his reasons.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

you missed my weak attempt at snark.

or have you fooled me by playing it straight?

...perhaps one of us should take a break. (with a volume of slim poetry. lol)

No more is the right answer.
to Sanders and his DP, to it all.
but to say that and have it matter.

Necessity is the mother of Invention.

"La fiesta no es para los feos." - USA #1

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@irishking No, I knew it was snark. Sorry for responding seriously. Smile

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al Best summary of the situation I've seen.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Alligator Ed's picture

Keith: "Tom, you must have put a target sign on my back"

Tom: "No, Keith, it actually says eat shit and die".

Both laugh.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@Alligator Ed

... for radio.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Creosote.'s picture

@Not Henry Kissinger
Maybe in more ways than one.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger

…and get a spray tan, immediately.

And he still won't put Humpty Dumpty together again. I've never seen anything as "over" as the Democratic Party is. Maybe if they got Beyonce to tour with them…. Nah.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Pluto's Republic No, they can't win that way anymore. The only way is to have an official boogeyman and accentuate his loathsomeness at every turn.

The key to the Democratic party's success, or, at least, survival, is the loathsome extremism of the Republicans. Nothing else.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Not Henry Kissinger

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@Alligator Ed hits the road. I wouldn't take a free ticket to that circus.

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

The dem party has turned out its own lights to the point they aren't visible.

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glitterscale

Socialprogressive's picture

@glitterscale

I'll be happier when their not viable.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

Alligator Ed's picture

@Socialprogressive Just wait two years, then you'll have no trouble.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Alligator Ed @Alligator Ed No, they're going to ride hatred of Trump to four more years of survival. Remember all those big crowds protesting Trump?

this is why some people don't appreciate criticism of Trump. Criticism of Trump is what the DNC has to ensure its survival, and it's got damned little else. Those of us who want the DNC to die don't want to help them by propping up their most current boogeyman--and yes, criticizing Trump IS propping him up, in this Orwellian nightmare we're inhabiting, as should have been made obvious when, after a solid year of the MSM screaming about how horrible he was, he got elected, and the Dems got an undeserved fifty millionth chance at life by creating a "resistance" against him.

Focus on the bad individual isn't going to help a damned thing. The establishment has figured out how to use resistance to the One Terrible Guy for its own benefit.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Alligator Ed's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal is that they are just as hateful as Trump--they're just so outward-centered that they can't perceive the evil that these substanceless yet hateful protests create.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@glitterscale Shades of Basil the Rat. Veal's off.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Perez was on CNN the other day. I watched the video and transcribed parts of it. He was asked by Jake Tapper " "What is your plan for winning back these voters and bringing them back into the Democratic fold?""

Tom Perez:

"We lead with our values and we lead with our actions. We need to talk to them about how literally hours into the Trump administration, he was a fraud. He made it harder for first time home-buyers to buy a home hours into his administration. Days later he made it harder to save for retirement. He nominates a judge for the Supreme Court who wants to eviscerate collective bargaining.

When we lead with our values as Democrats, and talk about what we've done to make sure we're protecting social security, protecting Medicare, growing good jobs in this economy. If you want good jobs elect a Democrat. That is the message we have to communicate. A message that is true that resonates in every zip code and that's what we're going to be doing all across this nation, leading with our values, leading with the facts and that facts are that Democrats grow the middle-class, Democrats protect economic security, and we need to be communicating that message everywhere.

So he basically offers up two pithy slogans - Leading with our values and Leading with our actions. and then - right on cue points out how bad Trump is, what a fraud he is, what he did "hours into his administration," etc.

Where do I even begin?

Other than Big Oil, Big Pharma, Wall Street and Wars for profit, the Democratic Party doesn't have any values. Who came up with this crap? Was this slogan poll-tested?

Same thing goes for leading with our actions. Uh - your actions were to vote against reinstating the ban on corporate lobbyist donations to the DNC at a time when the electorate is sick and tired of the establishment. And this "action" is something you're proud of? For Real?

And you say Democrats are growing good jobs in this economy. How? Obama supported the TPP.

And when you say " If you want good jobs elect a Democrat," I think what you really mean is "If you want a good job, move overseas, because that's where all the "good jobs' went, only to replaced by shitty jobs in the service industry - many of which aren't even full time and offer little or no benefits. And you call this "protecting economic security?" Whose economic security? Wall Street's?

And you say that the DNC needs to be more transparent? How? By having an election for DNC chair that had ballots cast in secret? And even now, if someone wants to know how the DNC members voted, they have to make an appointment, and can't take any cameras.

Ge that sounds like what members of Congress had to go through just to read what was in the TPP. None of what was in it was made public for the longest time. Why is everything so "secret?" Transparency my ass!

Perez even had the nerve to ay:

We're the party of inclusion. We believe diversity is our party's greatest strength. And when we lead with these values I believe we succeed.

Please. The Democrats have lost 63 House seats, 10 Senate seats, 12 governorships and 1,000 state legislative seats over the past eight years. This is your idea of success?

And this? We're the party of inclusion. We believe diversity is our party's greatest strength.

What choo talkin' 'bout Willis? You just shut out half the base and no one from the Bernie wing holds any significant positions within the DC. Diversity, my ass!

And what is with this “Democratic Turnaround Tour?” You only have to turn around if you're headed in the wrong direction and we already know what Nancy Pelosi thinks about that. Does this mean that the Democratic Party is now admitting that we do need to go in a new direction? If so, it's about damn time.

Nancy Pelosi:

Chuck Schumer:

Elizabeth Warren:

Cory Booker:

And let's not forget that arrogant little shit Markos "Look what I got" Moulitsas.

Sadly, I think this is nothing but symbolism. That's all the Democratic party is about these days. "Raising awareness" and "symbolism" and flowery words without every actually accomplishing anything.

Just like that symbolic statue of the girl staring down the Wall St. Bull yesterday at the Women's march.

I'm so over the Democratic party. Sorry for the long rant. It's been building up.

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Mark from Queens's picture

@LoneStarMike You nailed the whole focus group-tested/think tank-approved "branding" and talking point nonsense that these perennial losers keep insisting on.

Put it up on its own. It's a worthy reminder of what is so deeply abhorrent about these bought and sold bastards. Your graphics help drive it home too, as always.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Cassiodorus's picture

@Mark from Queens diary-length comment. Is there some way this can make the Rec List at Daily Kos?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Mark from Queens

I've never posted an essay here, but I'm working on it. I need to make a few more graphics and add some extra commentary to give it more zing.

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Mark from Queens's picture

@LoneStarMike that TOP should see (though I refuse to to patronize that place whatsoever), something to attempt to shake the cobwebs out of the willfully ignorant, pea-brained inhabitants there.

If you don't mind me suggesting, here's a video you should consider for it too:

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

@LoneStarMike

When your values deem that it is right for the Clintons and oligarchs and their lobbyists to always have the final say on the big decisions, like who will be the DNC chair and who will be the Democratic nominee for President. The DNC needs to completely reject the Clintons and all their cronies and have a re-vote for DNC chair if they want to successfully go down that road. Otherwise, they will have no credibility.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

gulfgal98's picture

@Timmethy2.0 @Timmethy2.0 about credibility. They only care about money! They are corrupt and there is no cure for corruption.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98

DemocRATlicans

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Beware the bullshit factories.

MsGrin's picture

@gulfgal98 I don't recommend it.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

gulfgal98's picture

@LoneStarMike I love your graphics, especially the one of Markos with Hillary in the background. Good

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98 I just expanded my comment and added about 8 new graphics and just posted it as an essay.

It's a little bit mean, but it was therapeutic for me. Smile

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Bollox Ref's picture

@LoneStarMike

Confronts larger statue representing same rich person(s).

How does that work?

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@LoneStarMike @Bollox Ref As a perfect representation of what Hillary's resistance, and the Democratic party, really is.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Bollox Ref

Or something like that.

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

@LoneStarMike @LoneStarMike
Re: "And you say that the DNC needs to be more transparent?"

Jellyfish are transparent. Also spineless. If history since Bill Clinton is a guide, the party's mascot should be an opaque jellyfish.

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

TheOtherMaven's picture

@2andfro
fully equipped with ink to squirt around and occlude the waters.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@TheOtherMaven

ty.

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

Amanda Matthews's picture

@LoneStarMike others have said.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

The Democrats demonstrated exactly what they stood for last year and it was not me.

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WaterLily's picture

@LaFeminista This cute little duo would visit us here in Vermont. I would LOVE to be in the front row of that appearance ...

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smiley7's picture

Republicans think you can get something for nothing, cutting billions in tax revenues from the ACA and instituting an unfunded tax credit in hopes of replacing present subsidies.

AARP says Trumpcare will cost individuals before Medicare age $8,500 a year more!

Did we say Medicare?

Trumpcare cuts $600 billion from Medicare; that's a cut to Medicare, a huge one.

Trump promised not to cut Medicare

and on and on,

but what do we get from the DNC "Trumpcare needs revision." No shit Sherlocks.

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a turnaround and around and around in circles tour. It's a wonder they're not too dizzy to stand by now.

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native

My #DemExit pledge: I will not vote for a Democrat for president as long as the Democratic Party remains controlled by neoliberals and corporatists (i.e., the party of the Clintons). Regardless of Trump or anyone else.

Nor will I ever again vote straight D ticket automatically. I'll do my homework and vote for candidates whose words and actions warrant my support. I'll look for a Green or other non-D first, but I won't eliminate a candidate just because s/he is running as a Dem.

I'm a senior, I vote, I'm not captive to MSM, and in terms of the Democratic Party, I now bear a grudge that will be hard--but not impossible--to erase.

So listen up, you whom my spouse (another former lifelong D) now calls Dummycrats: We who supported Sanders and rejected Clinton keep telling you what we want. We're still waiting to see it. Any of it. The shiny new Perez-Ellison "unity" snake oil show won't cut it. You're gonna have to walk some of that talk, and I mean on the big stuff. Until then, don't call me, I'll call you. About stuff like this:

Sanders, Schatz, Schakowsky Introduce Bill to Prevent Corporate Tax Dodging: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-schatz-sh...

Sanders bill to expand Social Security still has only one co-sponsor--why? http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/319989-sanders-introduces-b...

TTFN.

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

detroitmechworks's picture

But say it with a British Accent, because it's classier that way.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jixxYx9fklM]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

k9disc's picture

"I'm worth $500M."

"I raised over $25M."

Values.

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu