Schumer to Clinton: "Don’t Blame Russia, Blame Yourself”

Democratic Senators Al Franken, Nancy Pelosi, and Charles Schumer look on as the
Senate Judiciary Committee issues new subpoenas in the Russian election meddling investigation.

Chuck Schumer had a public eleventh-hour epiphany:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a thinly veiled message to Hillary Clinton, saying that “you blame yourself” if you “lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity.” Schumer never explicitly mentioned Clinton but there was little doubt who he was talking about while discussing the broad effort by the Democratic Party to come up with a new messaging strategy ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

“When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself,” Schumer said in an interview with the Washington Post.

That means that when Americans finally realize that the "Russian-interference-in-the-Election" story is politically concocted bullshit — they won't be able to point a finger at Chuck Schumer. He got himself rehabilitated just in time. Schumer will point to the Deep State Neocons who signed off on the logically insupportable propaganda. Even the internet security industry is pushing back on the "evidence" and getting some professional distance on the geopolitical mess that has resulted.

Meanwhile, Schumer was plying the news circuit on the weekend touting the Democratic Party's new "messaging strategy," which sounds nothing like the austerity policies and the "no can do" attitudes that it has pushed upon the American People in recent decades. Monday's grand unveiling of the Party's new and improved economic platform is eagerly anticipated by pundits, in part for its hyperbolic slogan bubble that promises to launch a thousand parodies:

“A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future.”

And, the debut gets even Better:

Did you know that single payer health care was always on the table? It turns out single payer was never really impossible, after all. According to Schumer, when it came to proposing positive policies for a stable health care system, the Democratic Party was just “too cautious.” And, there was all that donor money from Big Pharma and the health insurers thatl was still in play. But it's a new day:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued Sunday that it’s time for the Democratic party to take a “bold” approach on economic issues, adding that a single-payer health care system is “on the table.”

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Schumer offered a preview of the economic agenda his party plans to roll out this week. He acknowledged that the prime reason that Democrats failed to win over voters in the 2016 election was their unfocused economic message. The coalition plans to change that he said.

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pressed Schumer on whether that would include support for a single-payer health care system, in which the government would pay for care, rather than private insurance companies.

“We’re going to look at broader things [for health care],” he said. “Single-payer is one of them.. Many things are on the table. Medicare for people above 55 is on the table. A buy-in to Medicare is on the table. Buy-in to Medicaid is on the table. On the broader issues, we will start examining them once we stabilize the [health care] system.”

Until now, Schumer has mostly declined to weigh in on whether he thinks a universal program is the right approach.

Does this mean the Democratic Party now repudiates its failed neoliberal policies? For decades they collaborated to deregulate, privatize, monetize, and globalize public utilities and Federal programs that were originally designed to protect society and enhance the economic security of the American people. Does this mean the New Deal is back? Not yet. It's been stripped apart over the years and Americans are now caught in in a long cycle of intensifying austerity; the threat of brutal cuts to the nation's social safety net always hangs over them. The Millennials are facing a bitter, dystopean future where they will be dogged to the end of their days by crippling student debt. Does the Democratic Party have a plan to end this middle class nightmare that their policies engendered? By what mechanism?

Democrats are keeping their cards close to their chest for now but Schumer said on ABC’s This Week that the goal is to appeal to both the Obama coalition and the voters that abandoned the party in favor of Trump. “Week after week, month after month, we're going to roll out specific pieces here, that are quite different than the Democratic Party you heard in the past,” Schumer said. “We were too cautious. We were too namby-pamby.”

"The goal is to appeal to both the Obama coalition and the voters that abandoned the party in favor of Trump."

So, who exactly are the Dems Schumer is talking about? Does the "Obama coalition" refer to people who voted for Hillary, while the latter group is the disenfranchised blue collar workers who saw their unions crushed? Finding a "messaging strategy" that would work for both is very tricky business — these groups have widely divergent interests. One is Neoliberal progressive and the other is union-oriented working class. One leans socially liberal and the other leans socially conservative. That's gotta be some strategic messaging — because the working class will not be easily tricked, again.

And the American Left? They form the authentic umbrella of humanity that spans the Democratic Party. They carry the promise that all will survive and none will be permitted to asset strip the people or the state. Yet the Left is pointedly blocked from the discussions because they are also the real globalists; they are the one's who are inspired to travel the world for the sake of humanity in need. They are the independent witnesses to the horrific carnage that the US inflicts upon the world, images and ideas that are filtered out by the US media monopolies. They bear witness to the US war crimes and keep a moral tally on corporate war profiteering. Therefore, the Left is shut out culturally, despite their election-blocking numbers.

Not once on the weekend was the Left mentioned by this Lord of the Democratic establishment, or by his corporate media cohorts. There was not one word about the bloody US wars that are displacing millions worldwide and sucking the US treasuries dry. The topic is taboo. The Democratic Party's twisted and immoral alliance with the Deep State Neocons grows more depraved with each passing day. They actually think that we are not aware that the real cost of their mad quest for global Empire. The money lavished on the war industry profiteers is the very thing that annihilates all possibility of social and economic progress for the 99 percent. Social mobility continues on its steady dive.

These Party usurpers really believe they are going to get away with this, monopolizing a system that requires the thinking of a younger generation. From the outside looking in, they appear anachronistic and slow. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi puts her own clueless point on it:

The new plan is not a course correction…. it’s a presentation correction.

Unbelievable.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

…a different narrative:

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Pluto's Republic

Democrats. One of the pervasive criticism of Clinton was governing by polls, not principles. The seems to backfire. Clinton was the only President in US history elected by a plurality twice. And a nickname for Hillary's 2016 primary campaign was Camp Weathervane. Seems as though it's a very neoliberal thing. So, I'd say Schumer is a reformed liberal who is now a very typical neoliberal, even when criticizing the Clintons and their neoliberal policies.

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Lookout's picture

is not trustworthy. Sounds like spin to me. Did you see Jimmy Dore's routine comparing Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown and the democraps approach to single payer?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDtILBtzpME (6 min)
That's the approach I expect from Chuckie and the dems.

Interesting conversation with Matt Taibbi about Russiagate (vid and transcript)
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&...

My thought on Russia is they will bait and switch to corrupt oligarchs (who they will call Mafia) laundering dirty money through T-rump towers and other T-rump businesses. That's why he is worried about Mueller and his team of Clinton Foundation lawyers.

Will he pardon himself and his family? A case of "Pardon me".

Thanks for the essay PR

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Pluto's Republic's picture

@Lookout

I haven't seen it yet.

I slipped a link in on "geopolitical mess" above that does a comprehensive well-sourced expose on the preposterous nonsense about Russian interference in the election.

https://medium.com/@OurVoiceUSA/did-russia-interfere-in-the-u-s-election...

I've been doing my own research on this, and there is absolutely nothing there but a tight-knit cabal out of the Atlantic Council, who put together the entire thing. Including the Trump opposition research. The cross-linking is jaw-dropping. It's over.

That is not to say that Trump has no suspicious dealings with Russia. He may. But Russia was not involved in any election hacking that we know about. They have no unusual political connection to Trump. There's no point. Russia deals exclusively with the Deep State Neocons, regardless of who is elected President.

By the same token, I seriously doubt that Trump is compromised in any way in Russia. The NSA listens in on all dealings between the US and Russia for the past 20 years. All parties know these are closely monitored. It's an open book. That being said, I'd be greatly surprised if Trump finishes his first term.

I'll check out Matt Taibbi. The last time I read him, he was lost in the Russia derangement bubble. It will be fun to see if he's made any progress. We've lost so many journalists to this mind virus. Sadly, they can never be trusted again.

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CB's picture

@Pluto's Republic
Putin for shutting down The eXile in Russia. His buddy from those times, Mark Ames, is more pragmatic. Ames now publishes the paper online in the US. It's called The ExileD.

BTW, The eXile did publish a lot of questionable articles in Russia. One was Mark Ames doing an experiment with Viagra. He took some pills and then went out and recorded how many Moscow hookers he could sleep with before the effects wore off. He then published the results.

Some of the shiite they did would have got them thrown out of New York at that time.

If you are interested in their antics in Moscow:

Bright Lights. Red Square

Mark Ames and Matt Taibbi chronical Post-Soviet Moscow parties in their controversial newspaper

From Russia With Lust
In between snorting lines, Mark Ames and Matt Taibbi discuss the new book version of eXile, their raucous biweekly tabloid in Moscow

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Meteor Man's picture

@CB The eXile was a favorite site for me. Disappointed in Taibbi's descent down the Russia rabbit hole. Hope he gets into rehab.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Wink's picture

@CB
any of the Russia-Clinton nonsense.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

CB's picture

@Wink

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Arrow's picture

What Caitlen Johnstone wrote about "Amy Schumer’s creepy uncle,”.

Hilarity ensues...

https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/dem-leaders-reiterate-that-theyll-be-...

I don't think I could say it much better.

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I want a Pony!

Pluto's Republic's picture

Thank you, @Arrow .

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Arrow Most people can't say it any better than Caitlin!

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

k9disc's picture

I had been thinking that the Republicans might just go for Medicare for All. I could see it being a big bipartisan move, actually, and it would be a tremendous bone thrown to the masses to keep our eyes off of our war and the rape of the planet.

Seems like it's a possibility now.

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

Pluto's Republic's picture

@k9disc

There's no path into the future without it. The PPACA sealed that deal. But now that you mention it, the timing might be perfect for the NeoDems to capture that treasure and take credit for it. I truly believe that the Republican well is so profoundly poisoned, that beneficial legislation will be impossible for the GOP for decades to come.

I sensed during the repeal attempt that a small handful of Republicans really cared about their constituents ability to afford health care. I think the votes will be there.

It's funny how prescient you were about the messaging thing struggling to take form.

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@k9disc
That's their fallback. You still have the Inscos in on the gravy.
Republicans and Centrists would buy in (rather "sell in" or pimp themselves out).
You will never see the government pick up 100% of cost except for the poor.

Freedumb Caucus, of course, will not consider any government role. But business Republicans will.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@k9disc I could set the Republicans up so that they would win for the next fifty years--assuming we're all still here then. But that would require them to break with the plutocrat owners on maybe three things, and stop saying racist shit in public.

I dunno. They might be able to make do with breaking with them on two things. Our expectations, politically, have been lowered into the sewers.

Become pro-Social Security (for real) and Medicare for All, which might not be so bad for anyone outside of the insurance industry and big pharma--I haven't seen the numbers, but surely the tax raise on the rich/corporations to pay for it would be at least partially offset by the amount the business world currently spends on its employees' health benefits. Why not let the government run that instead, the same way the government runs paving the roads, maintaining the bridges and rails--private industry doesn't want to do all that, do they? Let the government run healthcare too, and kick the radical Friedmanites and libertarians in the ass. Tell them their religion isn't the boss of you. There's got to be some industrialists out there who aren't True Believers.

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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

k9disc's picture

populist.

And Health Insurance is only $2-3T in national slush fund yearly, has to be a way to socialize risk and privatize profits still.

I could see them completely dumping the Insurance peeps and putting the money directly from state to private coffers. That would keep the banksters happy. The Banksters just want the $2-3T profit stream, and we all know that the Banksters are the only ones who matter.

And then there is the potential kabuki -- Republicans put it forth and corporate centrists fight it. It could be a real win-win.

Kind of far-fetched and perhaps nonsensical, but what isn't these days?

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@k9disc They ran populist, but did you see how enraged the heads of the party were about it? I realize it might all be kabuki, but there were long, published lists of prominent Republicans who supported Hillary Clinton--a real effort to get right-wing voters to vote for Hillary. That sounds like more than kabuki.

I don't think anybody up there really wanted Trump. I could be wrong, of course, and this could go much deeper than I think, but from the reactions from various quarters since the election, I think it didn't go the way any of them wanted/expected.

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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

k9disc's picture

give self governance a black eye.

Nobody of consequence wanted Drumpf, but can anyone deny that Drumpf would give government a black eye?

He's certainly more bombastic and unpredictable than Hillary, but his endgame is privatization, civil rights crackdown, and belligerent foreign policy; what's not to like?

And there's been a push to realign the "serious" players in both parties to the corporate center. I've been watching it go down for about 10 years now.

I think the big peeps thought that Drumpf is really only dangerous to the little people. I still think they think that. Otherwise he's a politically useful tool to promote the new realignment and tyranny of the corporate center.

TINA, and there must not be an alternative, to corporate sponsored public policy. Drumpf does a good job of making the Left and the Right "unserious" in the eyes of the public.

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@k9disc They no longer tolerate dissent. On anything.

You're right that Trump gives them everything they want but one thing (maybe two, if he's being honest about globalization, but I don't really believe he is). He gives them everything they want but one thing. That's not good enough for them.

They really are the Princess and the Pea. Which is why Hillary represents them so well.

To be fair, World War III (preferably focusing on Russia rather than China), which is where Trump disagrees with them, is a pretty big pea.

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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

k9disc's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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

snoopydawg's picture

This is where the government gets out of the business of building our roads and the many other things that the government has been doing since, well, forever.

Just like Chicago sold off its toll roads to the Saudis and their parking meters to Chase, Trump's plan for the $1 trillion infrastructure plan is a massive give away to privatizing our infrastructure
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@snoopydawg I wasn't really talking about Trump, but your point stands.

All I'm saying--if the Republicans were willing to stop being publicly racist and were willing to stop being a demolition squad on things like infrastructure and the post office and were willing to support Social Security and Medicare for All, they would own this country's politics for basically forever.

And they could still be Republicans while doing it. Not nice Republicans like Mark Hatfield either. They'd still get the endless wars, the corruption, the destruction of civil liberties, the austerity politics on everything except Social Security and Medicare for All, the destruction of the environment, the control of the press...what am I leaving out? They could be horrific union-busting pro-war water-polluting election-stealing sociopaths for all they're worth. Just leave infrastructure and health insurance in the hands of the government, and get behind our existing old-age pension program.

They don't have to be uncontrolled psychopathic hogs, neither the employees, I mean politicians, nor the employers, I mean donors.

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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

k9disc's picture

administration, and I could see it being wildly successful in the short term, @snoopydawg .

Musk's hyperloop verbal agreement kind of stuff, the massive funding of real estate and infrastructure combined with shareholder ownership, and private leadership of "public" infrastructure development; these things are HUGE to the investment class and neoliberals.

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snoopydawg's picture

to do anything for people in this country who aren't rich. There really is a deep state that consists of very few members. The republicans and the democrats are just their vassals to get their agendas implemented.
This is part of the plan for global hegemony that has been planned for over two centuries.
The families who have been pushing this agenda are the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and others who have untold trillions at their disposal.
I will try to find the article that I read that stated this.
Our parent's generation was needed to build up the corporations who once became successful, offshored their plants to countries that had people willing to work for a fraction of what American workers were paid.

The wars for resources have two goals, IMO.
One is to take control of the earth's resources. Afghanistan has trillions in rare earth metals that are needed to make our toys such as computers and cellphones and many other items.
Two is to have less people who will use up the resources that TPTB will live on after climate change does to the world like what Katrina did to the 9th ward in New Orleans.
There were reports that the levies didn't collapse because of the storm surge, they were taken down with explosives. What is one more conspiracy theory in a world full of them? Just remember Operation Northwoods, the plan to do a false flag event by flying planes into buildings, shooting down airliners and then blame Cuba for the attacks. Seems a bit like what happened on 9/11.

Anyway, this is the way I'm leaning. The police have been loaded up with military equipment, have been being trained by Israeli soldiers and have been practicing on civilians who were using their constitutional rights to peacefully gather to protest their government during OWS.
The BLM and DAPL protests were more training to see how Americans would react when they turn against the people that they were supposed to protect.
The DAPL protests went even further. Just like after Katrina, private mercenaries were allowed to patrol the streets and shoot Black "looters" who were taking supplies to live on when their government refused to supply them with. But not the White people who were only "taking" essential supplies.

The second time this happened, TigerSwan, a mercenary contractor was allowed to oversee the police and other agencies that were abusing the DAPL protesters and were able to unconstitutionally spy on the leaders of the protests.
Just my $.02.
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@snoopydawg I agree with most of what you've said here.

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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

@k9disc

The Koch brothers and their Libertarian-leaning colleagues don't want ANY national health plan. Heck, they don't even want Medicare for the disabled, or anyone, or Social Security for anyone. The House Freedom Caucus, which follows their mandates, stopped the first House pass at repeal and replace, which they dubbed "Obamacare Lite," in its tracks for that reason.

We keep thinking Republicans and Democrats seek to please voters, not lobbyists. I don't think that is any longer the case. That need has been considerably obviated by rigged elections and firms and institutionsthat will pay former Senators and members of the House big bucks after they lose elections or decide not to run.

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k9disc's picture

@HenryAWallace

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

Thanks for this essay. Just when I think California is the worst here comes New York, going lower. Here is another Dore video link: Evidence Clinton Campaign Invented Trump/Russia Story To Cover Their Failures
Jimmy talks about "the origins" of the Russia b.s. propaganda starting around 3:18 or so. The source is a document from the Hillary Clinton campaign on an internal poll at the end of 2015:

Secretary Clinton's top vulnerability as tested in this poll, is the attack that claims as Secretary of State she signed off on a deal that gave the Russian government control over 20% of American's uranium production, after investors in the deal donated over a hundred and forty million dollars to the Clinton Foundation.
...
and by the way Bill Clinton also got a half million dollars from a Kremlin connected bank at the same time as this deal was going through and that was among his highest paid speeches of his life.
...
her internal polling showed that was her biggest vulnerability because half of all likely voters (53%) were LESS LIKELY to support Clinton after hearing that statement, and 17% were MUCH LESS LIKELY to support.
...
Here it is 12/21/2015 ... that blue part on the bottom, what is says is (quoting John Podesta) "the best approach is to slaughter Donald for his bromance with Putin".

Jimmy does go on to say "we'll never have the effing evidence because FBI and DHS were not allowed to look at the DNC or Podesta servers", but the segment was funny that's all. Hope others enjoy it too. Thanks goodness for wikileaks.

peace

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ggersh's picture

@eyo if this story is true IMHO then where this goes and
how high up they go with it is the biggest tell as to who
controls the government. i.e. if it stops with the Awan
brothers tptb still remain safe, if they go after DWS and
other D's on up to here heinous, then shit starts flying.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-24/fbi-seized-crushed-hard-drives-...

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

snoopydawg's picture

Russian uranium deal and the money that the Clinton foundation made from it.

Cash flowed to the Clinton foundation after the uranium deal

The Clinton foundation is a money laundering scheme and everyone in our government knows it. They also know that she used her position as Secretary of State to further enrich her foundation, even though both congress and Obama told her not to.
The number of times she intervened for anyone or companies that had business before her state department is hard to find, but after each time she did, her foundation received millions in donations.

Do a search for "Clinton foundation scandal in Haiti and see how many links there are.
And speaking of interfering with the election, she had Haiti redo theirs to get the results she wanted.

They both should be in prison, but no one will touch them because too many people are just as tied up in it.

@eyo

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Azazello's picture

@snoopydawg
as Secretary of State. What they didn't mention was that wherever she went, Bill would show up a day or two later to pick up donations to the foundation or give a speech.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Trust but verify. After what establishment democrats did in CA and all the machinations and lies by corporate democrats in town hall meetings, best to take a very cautious approach. I would modify Reagan's idea as:

"Ok, now prove it."

While Bernie's policy agenda may have an ideological ascendancy in the party, the party organization from DNC to DCCC is still controlled by corporate democrats. While the DNC is bleeding from lack of contributions, looks like individual corporate PACs look to be doing well. Corporate democrats still get the vast majority of minutes within the mass media.

What may be different this time is that if and when the democrats stab the base in the back like they did in CA, they may suffer politically at some level.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@MrWebster I don't believe Bernie's view--or at least the view he advocated during the campaign--is ideologically ascendant anywhere in DC--I think Schumer is fumbling for something else to do because the "eat shit because you don't want to eat poison and there's nothing else to eat" strategy is failing and he and his might become irrelevant to the powers that be.

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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

snoopydawg's picture

and nothing happened to them. People were still voting for the lesser evil.
Then Barry Obama came along and even though he failed to give us a decent health care bill, put the same people in his cabinet that crashed the global economy and not only continued the Iraq war, he joked about how good he was at killing civilians with his drones, he was re-elected.

@MrWebster

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@snoopydawg

The strong majorities they had in Congress 2007 through 2011 took away their cover, especially once Obama got the Presidency. However, look at Clinton's record.

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snoopydawg's picture

reconciliation to pass the ACA. They only needed 50 votes to pass it this way and at one time they did have that many votes.
I posted a member from DK comment and he wrote that if the democrats used reconciliation, but didn't include the public option or other things that people wanted, that showed what they actually wanted to include in the bill.

Remember what Pelosi told us after she became speaker of the house? "Impeachment was off the table and they were keeping their powder dry" whatever that meant.
They never used that powder. I think that they gave it to the republicans to use when they were able to keep the democrats from passing their legislation. For some reason, only the republicans had the power to stop the democrats from doing anything when they were the minority party, but when the democrats were in the minority, they did jack shit to stop the republicans.

In fact, after the republicans "blocked" Obama from doing anything, the democrats (Schumer) said that he was willing to work with Trump. This is a dead giveaway that it's the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals. Kabuki theater and playing deadly games with our lives.

@HenryAWallace

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SnappleBC's picture

@HenryAWallace

The global financial crisis made them expose themselves and the seats they held denied them cover. It was only later that I began to ask a bajillion other questions starting with, "Why would Democrats...?"

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

CB's picture

the "hacked" DNC computers. It appears that the data transfer was much too fast to be an internet hack. It had to be a direct transfer of data to an external drive. Another problem discovered was that their were two different accesses to the computers. Apparently the second was to leave incriminating evidence. The metadata must have still been attached to the files given to Wiki Leaks.

I'm wondering if the second "hack" was an inside job to cover up the original leak by blaming Russia. As all the IT professionals have stated, over and over and over, if it looks like it came from Russia then it didn't come from the Kremlin. The Kremlin could have made it look like it came from Ukraine, Poland or the Baltic States and got two bangs for the buck.

Intel Vets Challenge ‘Russia Hack’ Evidence
July 24, 2017

Executive Summary

Forensic studies of “Russian hacking” into Democratic National Committee computers last year reveal that on July 5, 2017, data was leaked (not hacked) by a person with physical access to DNC computers, and then doctored to incriminate Russia.

After examining metadata from the “Guccifer 2.0” July 5, 2016 intrusion into the DNC server, independent cyber investigators have concluded that an insider copied DNC data onto an external storage device, and that “telltale signs” implicating Russia were then inserted.
...
From the information available, we conclude that the same inside-DNC, copy/leak process was used at two different times, by two different entities, for two distinctly different purposes:

-(1) an inside leak to WikiLeaks before Julian Assange announced on June 12, 2017, that he had DNC documents and planned to publish them (which he did on July 22) – the presumed objective being to expose strong DNC bias toward the Clinton candidacy; and

-(2) a separate leak on July 5, 2016, to pre-emptively taint anything WikiLeaks might later publish by “showing” it came from a “Russian hack.”
...

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@CB I didn't think any of this transpired 2017.

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CB's picture

@gustogirl

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snoopydawg's picture

Former FBI Director James Comey had Hillary Clinton’s definitive backup email device during the entire charade of an investigation into the former Secretary of State
I checked to see if more than one website covered this and there are others that did.

H.A Goodman talks about both the FBI investigation into Hillary's emails and the Clinton's foundation which received $156 million during her time as Secretary of State which is far worse than anything Trump has been accused of doing.
This includes the Russian deal where both she and Bill worked to let Russia get control of 20% of our uranium. These things happened while congress and Obama watched. Congress had to sign off on many of the deals she made with foreign governments, corporations, banks, people and domestic corporations even though they told her to keep her foundation separate from her duties as SOS.
I'm sure that after these deals were made, congress members got campaign contributions. Obama was to be rewarded after he left office.
Who paid for his first speech after he became a private citizen? The bribery that goes on in plain sight is staggering. And legal. Because congress made it so.

@CB

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

ggersh's picture

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Or at least, she was the one with 60% of the population disliking and distrusting her on Election Day.

Trump came in a close second at 58%, but she beat him by a nose. Go Hills!

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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

Outsourcing Is Treason's picture

thing will lead nowhere, and Special Council Mueller will nonetheless keep it alive via mission creep. I predict that on the eve of the 2018 midterm election he will desperately be seeking a search warrant against Jared Kushner and the Trump kids for evidence that they illegally removed their mattress tags.

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"Please clap." -- Jeb Bush

@Outsourcing Is Treason or if it is, i want royalties. Got a "Who's your Farmer" bumper sticker on the back?

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

First, most Americans have stopped listening to all these assholes. Second, among those who are still listening, a percentage of them now simply hate both political parties and all politicians. Third, among those who don't hate all politicians, some of them hate Democrats for being Democrats. Fourth, a percentage of those who are left know the quotation about gaining two rich suburbanites for every one working stiff.

I wonder, though, if Chuck is really trying to distance himself from Hillary because she wasted so much of the rich's money and they're getting sick of it. He might be talking to them.

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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

I wonder, though, if Chuck is really trying to distance himself from Hillary because she wasted so much of the rich's money and they're getting sick of it. He might be talking to them.

Especially considering Pelosi followed him saying again "we're not changing a damn thing, we're just rebranding." Given who these people are, I think it's definitely a tell but yeah, I don't think the message was for us.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Wink's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
save his ass for reelection. "See, I tried to get Single Payer done, but we just didn't have the votes. Now, vote me in for another six years, and with your support together we can get it done!"

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Creosote.'s picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal for a better under-the-table-paying leadership post?

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CS in AZ's picture

“We’re going to look at broader things [for health care],” he said. “Single-payer is one of them.. Many things are on the table. Medicare for people above 55 is on the table. A buy-in to Medicare is on the table. Buy-in to Medicaid is on the table. On the broader issues, we will start examining them once we stabilize the [health care] system.”

Until now, Schumer has mostly declined to weigh in on whether he thinks a universal program is the right approach.

I've read the schumer quote twice now, and can't find the part where he finally weighs in saying that single payer is the right approach. It sounds like more mealy-mouth bullshit to me. He dodges single payer by immediately throwing in a bunch of other ideas, and then punting on it all until "after we stabilize the system." Um, what? Sorry Chuck and Dems, but I am not buying this at all.

Their new slogan is right up there with "change we can believe in." Sounds good but means nothing. No sale, democrats. This won't cut it.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CS in AZ When you have destroyed trust, it doesn't matter what you say.

Maybe I should make that the title of my last-ever essay on the Democrats.

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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

@CS in AZ buy into Medicaid? I mean, I do get their lies about that, but the logic defeats me - if you are already poor enough that you need to use Medicaid just how are you supposed to come up with the funds to "buy in."

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

@lizzyh7
He was thinking that people who didn't qualify would be allowed to buy in. That would allow Medicare to remain a separate program (and btw, Medicaid doesn't have a 20% co-pay)
Of course, he was probably just throwing a bunch of balls in the air and hoping someone would pick one up and run with it (then he'll trip him and hope no one's looking)

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On to Biden since 1973

Creosote.'s picture

@CS in AZ
is just like doing something. Hypothesize and presto you've already done it.

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Meteor Man's picture

Great take on the loyalty oath requirement of our Uniparty Duopoly:

Over the past 20 years, both parties in the United States have undergone radical transformations. The definition of party loyalty is being taken to new heights. Members of a party who deviate from its agenda or that of its leader are considered traitors

Some of the analysis is a little strained, but the main thrust is on target:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/parties-message-youre-either-100-percent-on...

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Meteor Man He's right about that one thing, but it's nested in a bunch of seriously wrong assumptions. Still worth a read, though.

If he thinks "the rigid left" has any influence over Democratic party leadership, or any power in the Democratic party at all, really, he's out of touch with what political reality has been since roughly 1988.

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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

Pluto's Republic's picture

@Meteor Man

Loyalty oaths reminds me of a link I saw earlier today, described as such:

https://egbertowillies.com/2017/07/22/democratic-party-leadership-change/

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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

Abandoned the party in favor of Trump?

Is that what he thinks.

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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

Song of the lark's picture

looking backwards is worthless. The wicked witch is dead and the ogre in the White House is making feeble bread out of the bones of government. Where is Dorothy and Jack in the bean stock when you need them. Deep down in the dark and the muck of the America psyche submerged for a long time something is stirring. It's not a left/right thing and when it surfaces it will be one hell of a breach. Right now we are drawing a razor across our forearms looking for a reason, looking to the past for explanations, looking to keep it real, looking at the messy bones of the present moment like some ayahuasca addled shaman. But it's the dangerous future, we need to look to. We need to fade the past, embrace our lives in the present and armor up for the future. It's not going to be easy or pretty and right now is as good as it is ever going to be.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@Song of the lark

There is the opportunity for a convergence of vision to bring into existence a future that has only a sketchy connection with the past. But it's a deliberate thing. One can know that it exists but have no idea how to organize it. I believe only the young have the key.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
SnappleBC's picture

@Song of the lark

and that's a really odd thing for me to say since I'm a concept guy. Generally I don't care about presentation so me going back to reread a comment a few times just because it was well crafted is pretty rare.

Oh yeah... and when I eventually got around to the meaning behind those words I found myself agreeing. It's going to be a long, ugly mess before anything gets better.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

And the Left? They form the authentic umbrella of humanity that spans the Democratic Party. They carry the promise that all will survive and none will be permitted to asset strip the people or the state. The Left is pointedly ignored because they are also the real globalists; they are the one's who are inspired to travel for the sake of humanity in need. They are the independent witnesses to the horrific carnage that the US inflicts upon the world, images and ideas that are filtered out by the US media monopolies. They bear witness to the US war crimes and keep a moral tally on corporate war profiteering. Therefore, the Left is shut out culturally, despite their election-blocking numbers.

is why he said "people who abandoned the party in favor of Trump."

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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

Pluto's Republic's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

…did not abandon the Party for Trump. They stood outside the tent. If they voted, they voted their hearts. The Left includes the vast army of voters who were activated from hibernation by Bernie. They melted back into the shadows after the primaries. The numbers of the real Left are great enough to take any election should an authentic candidate committed to the People ever come along..

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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 @Pluto's Republic Just so. Although there's more than one war going on here. One of them is Left vs, well, everybody else (although the Left is fractured by both actual racism and some stupid shit games the establishment is playing with anti-racist discourse). Another is the war between rational discourse and, basically, McCarthyism.

Oh. And the third, the one that's likeliest to destroy us all: the war between the power of wealth and the power of law. That's the one that leads to uncontrolled global warming, endless war, and systemic election fraud.

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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's picture

or the complete corruption of our so-called "legal system" either.

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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

Pluto's Republic's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

It was strictly economic messaging. No social; no foreign policy. That was stated.

But only the politically-active Left was cut from the intended flock, because their issues are inconvenient or forbidden topics. Other missing groups were not necessarily political and include the Independents and the Millennials, whom they believe they will eventually capture by attrition and propaganda.

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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 I would not bet on that.

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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

Amanda Matthews's picture

kicking the Clinton Creature in the teeth now that she lost. In other words, he did to Her Heinous the same as he's done to anyone with a 'left' leaning liberal/progressive bone in their bodies. Chuckle needs to make himself look good and to try to endear himself to the proles now that he's found out that the Dims aren't really going to be snapping up all those moderate Republican votes.

This is just typical Schumer tactics. Now he's trying to save his own job. His and Nancy's. The Russia crap isn't working. Disenfranchised Sanders supporters who were told to go away actually did go away and aren't coming back (so support and donations are DOWN). And people are calling for new leadership to replace the long-time current 'leaders' who have collected their perks and pay checks while presiding over the demise of Bill Clinton/Al From's Turd Way Neo-liberal, Center Right 'New' Democratic Party.

Ironically these shits took over on the political influence and the right leaning conservative beliefs of one Clinton and their movement died an ugly and dishonourable death on the back of the other 'two-for-the-price-of-one' Clinton. I think that's the icing on the 'cake'.

I think 2018 is going to be one of the more 'interesting' mid-term elections. Where will the candidate's loyalties lie? With the 'party' or the 'people'?

Since the Dims are already extolling the many virtues of Kamala Harris and Clinton is forming PACs and committees, I am going to 'guess' the choice will be 'party' and screw the 'people' (again). But how will Chuckles snuggle back up to the Clinton Creature if he starts claiming that the loss was HER fault??

Yep. This could get interesting.

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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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Amanda Matthews Important point: it was published in WaPo. Therefore, the CIA is OK with this.

Is the Deep State finally throwing Hillary away as a bad investment?
Are the wealthy, generally, doing the same?

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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

CB's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
firmly by the cojones. We can see them giving a squeeze every time he moves in a wrong direction. Obama was a quick learner. Maybe he got a heads up beforehand.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CB There is one danger in this. The one value Hillary has is that she reminds the American people constantly of how much they hate their political and economic systems. Nobody galvanizes opposition to the PTB like her, unless perhaps it's the Bushes.

On the other hand, having them abandon the endless whinging self-justification (like nails down a blackboard, it is) would be wonderful.

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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

@Amanda Matthews
1 Will the Rs screw up so bad that people will vote D again? (if so the earth and everything on it is doomed) or will the people drive a stake into the demopire's heart?
2 If the Ds are killed, will the Rs go to Constitutional Convention and establish the 4th Reich?
or…
3 Will the voters fail just enough to make it look like the Ds have staged a comeback - just enough to allow the corporate Corruptocrats to continue to sabotage every attempt to return to a functional humanity?

Not much wiggle room there.

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On to Biden since 1973

Pluto's Republic's picture

@doh1304

Goes on for several years while the current government remains in force. Skipping over the myriad details of process, I personally believe it would mark the beginning of the break up of the states into autonomous regions. People really don't really want a big nation. They don't want to pay for it and the central government is very weak. Plus, Americans have a powerful hillbilly streak.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
TheOtherMaven's picture

@Pluto's Republic
has divvied up North America. http://www.blastedoak.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/FinalColorKWMa...

The interesting thing about this is that nobody formally decreed it - it just evolved over fifty-plus years, as the groups got inconveniently big and made like amoebas. Smile

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@TheOtherMaven

They could do worse than look at how the SCA has divvied up North America.

OmiCat! I'm Outlandish!

When I last played, southeastern Colorado was part of Atenveldt! Now we're Outlands!

Things have obviously changed!

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

if people would just support the same politicians who have been making everything worse. Because now the Party has a spanking new message to deliver, agreeable to all. It's a marvelously simple one-word message, guaranteed to inspire renewed hope and undying fealty to the Democratic brand... and that word is: "BETTER".

Better what? Why, better everything! Who could possibly object to the betterment of everything? Even bankers and defense contractors want to make everything better, to help us overcome everything that's Russian. This single word has a near-universal appeal... it's a sure winner for 2018 and beyond, as Schumer and Pelosi continue to implement their brilliant strategies.

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native

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@native Once you have destroyed trust, it doesn't matter what you say.

They don't seem to get that. Oh well.

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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

with Obama's administration? I mean, after the utter disaster of Junior Bush's regime? So Obama immediately puts Rubin and Summers and Geitner in charge of regulating & rebuilding Wall Street, after all the carnage their theories & practices have already caused, and that is supposed to have vindicated these serial financial criminals because a cool-sounding black guy appoints them to high office? And grants them back the same powers they had so recently and irresponsibly squandered?

Ayn Randian or Greenspan accolytes all (I would call them ideologues-of-a-feather) none of Obama's financial advisors would even hear of basic structural reform. Because they were all being honored and very well-paid not to consider such reform. Greenspan was still God according to the Priests of the Fed, and Obama himself was just another bought-and-paid-for politician, who posed briefly as a liberal reformer, in order to get himself elected, twice. For want of a better alternative, it must be said.

Neither McCain nor Romney ever offered American liberals any reasonable alternative to Obama's cowardly, hypocritical, and self-serving style of leadership. Only his considerable rhetorical skill, coupled with his magnificent ego, graceful style, and the utterly unrealistic hopes of his constituency, kept him in power for eight years.

All of Obama's image was built on sand. The Obama phenomenon has been revealed as a fraud, a media-constructed image of a man that bears little resemblance to his actual role in the maintenance and expansion of the American Empire.

Now the Dems hope to resurrect this sand-creature that was Obama. Foolishly, vainly, they hope to refurbish his image. They desire as he did, a more humane way of imposing the Empire's will upon the world at large. They insist upon rescuing the nations of Russia, Iran, and North Korea, Venezuela and the like, from themselves.

It has now become painfully clear exactly who and what controls today's D Party: A combination of Wall Street bankers, neocon militarists, trans-national corporatists, and deluded R2Pers who still believe in the essentially altruistic nature of the America's empire. Obama helped immeasurably to build this coalition.

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native

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@native Right on every score. Unfortunately.

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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

Creosote.'s picture

@native
in thie town that arrived in a glossy color brochure with a photo of the candidate standing alongside Obama.

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snoopydawg's picture

I was checking my messages on ToP and saw a diary about how pathetic it is that the richest nation on earth needs to have people go to health care clinics at a rodeo place.
This reminded me of the diaries about this during the health care debates and the many articles that Wendell Potter wrote about this. And how he pulled the curtain back on how the health care industry makes their profits.

So I looked up the writer to see if he was around during that time and yes, this person joined the site in 2008 and might have seen those diaries. As I was looking at his profile I saw that his most recommended diary was titled This place has Lost Its Mind

Opening the diary I saw that it was about Obama cutting $25 billion from the budget in areas that would hurt the most vulnerable people who couldn't afford to lose just one more thin wafer when they had already lost so much during the 2008 economic crash.

Gee, what would be so wrong by getting upset that the best president since FDR was pushing for austerity after he doubled down on the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and started wasting thousands a day by dropping bombs on other vulnerable people?

Big pie fight with over a thousand comments that ended up being another pie fight with the people who saw who Obama really worked for and the Obamabots that would defend him even if he shot someone of 5th Avenue.

This person wrote about the health care debate raging in congress and had one of the best arguments on what the democrats stood for, which is what I have been saying this past month about the democrats using reconciliation to pass the health insurance bill after they let the republican attach 170 amendments in order to get them to vote for it, even though for two years they said that there is no way in hell they would because they were going to make Obama a one term president and that those amendments weakened the bill. (Which is what the democrats used to hide behind by not passing a real health CARE bill like what Obama ran on)
I copied his whole comment since I know that some here refuse to give DK a click and I think this whole comment deserves to be read. Feel free to skip over it if you want.
But imo, this shows how long people have been on opposite views when it comes to seeing Obama for who he is and who he represented. Hint: It wasn't us, but I'm sure I am preaching to the choir here.

Without further ado:

I agree, we have to cut wasteful spending...It's what the people want, and it is good for the country. We need to start giving the people what they want, on all the issues...

Brown won because senate Dems and a decorous WH forgot who they serve. They rushed into bad deals. Refusing to negotiate for lower drug prices was a bad deal for the voters (a good deal for drug companies though). Refusing to offer a public option was a bad deal for voters (a good deal for insurance companies though). Not expanding medicare was a bad deal for voters, as was the Nebraska deal they made to give that one state an exception. Voters hate when corporate interests and special interests are put in front of the changes that are really needed.
(I am unable to input the chart that shows what he mentioned here
The only thing that polls negatively is the individual mandate. And yet, ironically, and idiotically, it is the one thing that democrats included in the legislation, while popular overwhelmingly popular things such as the public option, negotiating lower drug prices and the medicare buy in.

Democrats need to give the people what they want, regardless of whether the special interests they would have to stand up to fund their campaigns or not. Yes, this means fighting for term limits, even if this would hurt both entrenched democrats and republicans alike, standing up against the legal lobby to adopt some degree of tort reform and yes this means cutting wasteful spending (which is precisely the type of spending that this spending freeze will try to root out and get rid of). And Democrats need to hurry up with these issues because these measures are all popular, are good for the country, and if democrats sit on their hands on these issues, the republicans will make these same issues the centerpiece of their 2010 campaigns and kick our asses with them.

But this also means actually going furtherto the left on certain issues, both in jobs, in healthcare and in finacincial regulations. This means offering up enticing tax incentives for job creation. This means standing up to Bernake and Geitner to regulate banks that take too many risks with the people's money. And this means standing up to insurance and drug companies.

The public wants real healthcare reform, that gives them more choices. Across the nation, expanding medicare is immensely popular, the ability to negotiate for lower drug prices is immensely popular. EVERY SINGLE POLL conducted asking about these two issues showed them to the popular among the population at large.

Hell even an opt in public option is immensely popular when people are explained what a public option actually is. All these policies bring down costs. They all give americans more options. They all help real people rather than special interests And they all would be the sort of real transformative sort of change that people voted for. It would be real reform.

There is an enthusiasm gap. Because Obama insists on taking his cues from opponents, his base no longer is enthusiastic about him. They no longer talk him to their families and friends (the majority of the country who don't follow politics and take their cues on what's going on from their families and friends). While the other side grows more and more enthusiastic because every time their party says No, Obama caves some more and gives up something else.

Yes, both liberals and conservatives are very short minorities in this country. The vast majority of people don't pay attention to politics. But they do believe what their friends (liberals and conservatives) tell them. When all the conservatives bash Obama while all the liberals seem not very happy with him either, it's obvious where the public opinion will turn to.

But there is an easy bridge for this enthusiasm gap.

The senate's only viable option is to pass a sidecar of legislation fixes using reconcilation to get 51 votes to arrive at something the house will actually pass, the dems can actually use the reconcilation process to implement real changes...

Going through reconciliation means that what comes out of that will be a truer expression of what Democrats stand for, as they will only need 50 Senate votes instead of the 60 that constrained them before. If there is no public option, no drug negotiation, and/or no Medicare buy-in, it will be because the Democrats, as a party, oppose those measures. And, having opposed those measures, they will have failed to garner the support among the public that they will need during the next election. At the very least there's no reason not to add back in the options that were on the table in the Senate but blocked by a small handful of Senators: Medicare Buy-in and the opt-out public option. They probably could (and should) beef both of those up, but there's unquestionably an opportunity here. A medicare buy-in would be ideal. People understand it, and it could go into effect faster than a public option iirc. I'd love to see republicans campaign on repealing health care that increases medicare to a 50 or even 55 year old limit. I suspect Pelosi is leveraging the anger in the House to push the bill further than the previous negotiations (with a 60-vote threshold in the Senate) would have. She's be a fool not to, and she's no fool.

Linked from here

In short, they could get rid of the backroom deal for Nebraska, allow the govt to negotiate drug prices, implement an opt-in public option, expand medicaid, and lower medicare age limit.

All that completely helps turn around the current negative narrative on the bill (that it's fully of shady back room deals and does little to actually help people, give people more options, or control healthcare costs). Those are all the problems with the current bill that cost Democrats Mass. And it's precisely the kind of bill that Democratic Senators and House member can brand their 2010 campaigns on, and WIN. And it would also make Brown's win an afterthought.

The only question is, do the democrats have the brains and guts to actually give the public what it wants... A POPULIST HEALTHCARE BILL that actually helps them and gives them more options?

When the hell are democrats going to wake up and realize that the public wants healthcare reform, but it wants real reform, that gives them more choices, and actually tackles costs by creating a public option and letting us negotiate drug prices.

If moderates are hesistent prior to November, the senate can even pass a few things the republicans wanted later on, for example something to address medical malpractice reform.

I'm a little surprised that some people are still pushing a "reconciliation only" strategy on health care, particularly when passing the Senate bill with a "sidecar" of fixes through reconciliation would quite clearly be the dominant strategy. But just suppose that the only two options are "reconciliation only" and to pass the Senate's bill as is.

Let's take another look at that Kaiser poll I cited earlier today and look at the popular elements of the health care bill -- those which poll at a net favorability of +10 or better. Which could be implemented through a "reconciliation only" strategy? It's hard to say for sure, but here is a reasonable guess given the constraints imposed by the process:

You could probably -- not certainly -- get a public option through reconciliation, and the public option is popular, polling at a net +22. However, there are are least five provisions which are more popular than the public option that you almost certainly couldn't get through reconciliation only, including the insurance exchange, guaranteed issue, allowing children to stay on their parents' plans though age 25, guarantees on the actuarial value of private insurance policies, and limitations on age rating. Nor could reconciliation ban gender rating or or eliminate lifetime coverage limits, which also poll well.

"Reconciliation only" might be better than the status quo. But it's almost certainly worse than the Senate's bill, as is. And it's categorically worse than the Senate's bill with a reconciliation sidecar. But why take half a loaf when you can get a quarter?

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/...

FDR and his party ran for reelection on populism and won, despite all the republican attacks they faced.

Yes, FDR was accused of being too liberal, and he was attacked relentlessly for it by the conservatives. Did he back off like the democrats are considering. That's the difference between Obama and him. So he wasn't really as good as FDR then or even close? Got it.

No, he pushed populism HARDER. And then he RAN his campaign based on his POPULIST policies, his whole party did. And the republicans watched in awe, with their mouths open and he and his whole party decimated them in the next election.

This is the path to victory especially during economically uncertain times. Don't take strategy advice from your opponents, instead, push populist legislation, campaign for reelection based on your populist achievements, and you will WIN!

Yes it would piss off fox news. GOOD. But you know what, letting the govt negotiate drug prices, expanding medicare, and creating an alternative option that the people who are sick of the stuff insurance companies pull can opt into would be precisely the kind of populist policies that Democrats can run on during a weak economy, and win with.

Now that pretty much the senate's only viable option is to pass a sidecar of legislation fixes using reconciliation to get 51 votes to arrive at something the house will actually pass, the dems can actually use the reconciliation process to implement real changes...

The public wants real healthcare reform, that gives them more choices. Across the nation, expanding medicare is immensely popular, the ability to negotiate for lower drug prices is immensely popular. EVERY SINGLE POLL conducted asking about these two issues showed them to the popular among the population at large.

Hell even an opt in public option is immensely popular when people are explained what a public option actually is and that it indeed is optional. All these policies bring down costs. And they all would be the sort of real transformative sort of change that people voted for. It would be real reform.

Even today, the public supports both the ability to negotiate lower drug prices, and the medicare expansion.

Every poll done in which people are given a description of what the public option actually entails, the public backs that too. The only polls where the public opposes it are the ones where the pollster doesn't give a definition of what they mean by the term the public option.

In short, stop taking cues from our opposition on what we should do. Every single poll shows that the public backs these things (when the term public option is defined that is).

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Bolding is mine.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg
It was "Hillarycare" that gave us the Gingrich congress, and it was Obamacare that gave us the Republican domination. And I was not the only one saying it.

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On to Biden since 1973

snoopydawg's picture

are down for the count and won't get back in power for decades, if ever.
It only took one election cycle for them to win back the house and two to win back the senate.
And then one more to win the presidency.
Yep. The democrats have the republicans just where they want them. Or in other words, eleventh dimensional chess!

@doh1304

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

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I'm pretty sure the spirit behind "A Better Deal" is a lot more conniving and self-serving and hollow than was the spirit of the "New Deal". "A Better Deal" is probably a lot more to do with "worker's rights" to work for Uber than any rights to single payer health care, or transparent, paper ballot, publicly funded elections, or ending corruption by the MIC, the PIC, Wall Street, the Pharmaceutical industry, fossil fuels etc., or ending super-delegates and making the Democrats a Party of the People. They need to own up to their corruption and quit the assumption that Americans are stupid.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

CS in AZ's picture

@Timmethy2.0

It sounds to me like they took a poll and found a lot of people said they voted Trump because they believed the lies that he's good at "deal-making" (his supposed area of expertise) and he's always saying he will get/make "the best deals" for America and its workers.

So the Dims thought, "oh, so people like to hear they're getting a good deal! Of course! So let's say we'll give them a better deal!" Genius, i tells ya.

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the Democratic party needs to break itself free of the Clinton grip on the party. it has been beholden to the Clinton's for 25 years just because of Bill's two term win.

it isn't 1992 or 1996. time to move on.

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@blue drop

public office of any kind toes the neoliberal party line. The actions of the primary and post-primary, including election of Perez, speak volumes. The Clinton may have been Patient #1--and I'm sure they were even that*-- but it's an epidemic now. It's going to take more than getting rid of the Clintons to have anything but two corporate parties taking turns.

*Word went out at least as early as 1980 that Democrats in Congress had to start getting some of those big fat corporate donations that the Republicans were getting. Everybody was so busy blaming the exponential increase in DC lobbyists on only Reagan that not many noticed. Some of the actions of the Democratic Congress under Carter even seem suspicious to me, like replacing the Bankrucptcy Act of 1934 with a Bankruptcy Code that did not require judicial appointment of an independent trustee to run the (publicly-traded) company while it was in reorganization proceedings and to investigate the directors and officers to see if they'd sacked it. Who did that benefit most, other than crooked corporate officers and directors?

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WoodsDweller's picture

but then again that might not be possible.
Yesterday we read that Democratic Party fundraising is down. Is there any breakdown available to see if health insurance and big pharma contributions are way down?

"Nice racket you've got going there, it would be a shame if anything happened to it. We can't return to power without either money or votes, and your contributions are a little on the lean side. Maybe we just get votes by telling the voters we're going to shut you down, and then we would have to dance with the ones that brung us, wouldn't we?"

Contributions down --> threaten their profits --> contributions back up again?

The party out of power can't make credible threats, except by threatening to appeal to voters.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

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