Berners Elitest? No, We're the New Deplorables
Clinton famously called Trump supporters "deplorables." As ugly as that usage was, you rarely see it used much these days. Instead, the drones of the "Resistance" are focused on demonizing anyone who supports progressive candidates.This includes numerous stereotypical takedowns in social media. A typical example is a recent Medium post by S. Novi, (real name unknown) entitled, "Elitist BernieBots and Crats Refuse to Acknowledge Any Facts."
Here's the link to what Novi (who bills herself as "A journalist that worked in the media when it DID have integrity. A liberal and one that is suspicious of cults and empty promises") wrote. But before you read it, take a look at the crude stereotypical and biased image she added to accompany her text.
From that image alone, you can get the tenor of the article. It shows a stereotype of two middle aged vaguely hippie-like people. Only the man is talking. Both are white and are comfortably dressed. The man seems oblivious to the plight of what I can only assume are immigrants being rounded up under armed guards with signs labeled "criminal" draped around their necks, presumably to be deported. It's a scene reminiscent of Nazis rounding up Jews for re-location to the concentration camps.
Novi describes progressives with many loaded and negative terms: Bernie-bots, Berniebrats and, of course, the bizarre "Elitests." From the title on it's clear this isn't a piece of journalism (well, maybe "yellow journalism"), nor is there much "integrity" shown by Ms. Novi in the harsh language she uses to dismiss Sanders and other progressive voices. Here are a few excerpts:
The Presidential election has ended and while the Democrats are valiantly trying to hold the flood gates at bay with little more than a stopper and many of us are working to get the vote out to try to overturn this travesty, the BernieCrats are attacking any and all Dems that don’t live up to their “purity test”. In essence, armed with little more than the garbage that they read on their own sites and without fact checking, they are doing the bidding of the GOP. [...]
These elitists encompass a mostly younger Caucasian demographics, although there are members that are older. The older group should know better as they have been to this rodeo before and watched the Republicans win due to their feet stomping and demands for purity. [...]
While Nancy Pelosi established her groundbreaking stand, devoting over eight hours to telling the stories of The Dreamers, the BernieBrats were on social media demeaning her, calling her names and yelling that she should retire. They never focus on the greater good or for the needs of others, but instead continue their yawn-provoking attacks in their effort to burn down the system so that they can build it based on what they think is important.
If you read the entire piece, and were unaware of the vitriol and attacks that have been made against progressive candidates following Clinton's defeat by Trump, Novi's argument that Sanders is the most corrupt politician in Washington, and his primarily white male supporters could care less about women and minorities, might seem credible. The portrait she paints of progressives is full of stereotypes, half-truths and outright lies. To keep this critique from becoming to lengthy, here's a breakdown summarizing the main points of her screed regarding progressives, in or out of the Democratic party (Note: I'm using "Progressives" to replace the demeaning and insulting verbiage Novi prefers).
1. Progressives are mainly white, male and millennials.
2. They are the "Tea Party of the Left" (Novi's own term).
3. Progressives ignore facts and were influenced by Russian "Fake News."
4. Progressives want to burn the Democratic Party down, and despise unity.
5. Progressives belong to a cult of which Bernie Sanders is the leader.
There's a lot more than just those five, but they capture the basic essence of how she views us, or to be precise, how she wants others to view people who support policies like increasing the minimum wage, strengthening the social safety net, providing Medicare for All, decreasing the Defense budget, increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans, supporting renewable energy, ending corporate welfare, and providing good jobs for everyone in America. Policies, by the way, that would disproportionately benefit women and minorities.
What I find most troubling is that so many articles like this rely almost entirely on the oft-used propaganda technique of name-calling and stereotyping to dehumanize those who the Democratic Party views as its greatest political adversaries. The preference for this tactic reflects an ongoing pattern of behavior by them following their 2016 defeat. Though the Democratic leadership talks a good game, their behavior, and that of many "Resistance" groups (some clearly astroturf outfits set up by former Clinton and Obama advisers) spend far more of their efforts attacking progressive voices in their own party than producing an effective opposition to President Trump and the GOP Congress.
Anyone seen as a threat to the status quo soon finds themselves subjected to ad hominem attacks by the centrist elements that control the Democratic Party, and their consultants, think tanks and hangers-on. Since Bernie Sanders in 2016 became the rallying point for progressives, Democrats have continually promoted the smear that we all blindly follow Sanders' lead. The emotional bile directed toward a very diverse group of people, is aimed to reinforce and direct emotional outrage among Clinton and Obama supporters against progressive activists and candidates.
The irony of these divisive and ad hominem attacks is that it is the Democratic establishment that failed minorities, not progressives. The raw emotional appeal of these baseless claims deflects from the outright abandonment of the Democratic Party's most consistent supporters. No wonder, when faced with a choice between Trump or Clinton, over 45% of eligible voters did not go to the polls in 2016.
Articles and other social media posts that use this line of attack are disheartening. I know many people who have reported losing friends simply because they supported Sanders in 2016. I'm sure the Republicans are thrilled by this development, despite the divisive factions within their own party. Certainly the big money donors to both major parties are thrilled.
No doubt Ms. Novi, if she sees this post, will note that I am a older white male and will use that fact to dismiss my critique of her blatant hack job. And it's true, I'm white, as are many former Bernie supporters and current progressives. But focusing solely on the color of my skin to dismiss progressive policies and candidates is as flawed as claiming Obama only won election because of his support among minorities and women, rather than his populist message. It also detracts from a more nuanced view of my situation.
Yes, I'm white, but I'm married to a Japanese-American woman. We both suffer from serious debilitating chronic health conditions, as I've written about before, though, like many people with chronic conditions, I was not approved for disability benefits. We live on a limited income. My children are bi-racial, and it was my daughter, one of those young millennial women for which a special place in hell is reserved, was instrumental in getting me to change my mind and support Sanders.
For years I wrote many diaries at Daily Kos about the racial issues and the divide in this country that disadvantages all minorities, especially African Americans, including this one (link is to re-post of the original diary at Daily Kos). I'm also a member of the LGBQT community because I'm bisexual. Much as my "whiteness" had nothing to do with my support for Obama in 2008, it also had nothing to do with my support for Sanders 2016 candidacy. What did influence me was Sander's record over the years and his policy proposals that had wide appeal nationally among large numbers of Americans.
But the promulgators of the meme that Sanders is evil and so are progressives would have you imagine that all of us are ill-informed Sanders' cultists who don't care about women or minorities, and don't bother using facts to support our positions. While there may be a small subset of people who fit that category, like most of you, I do not.
Frankly it's absurd that progressives have defend ourselves against the assassination of our character, intelligence and patriotism by Dem centrists. But that appears to be their primary goal - defending their turf (and the money it earns them) by any means necessary. As James Carville, infamous Clinton propagandist and Democratic consultant, once said:
Truth is relative. Truth is what you can make the voter believe is the truth. If you're smart enough, truth is what you make the voter think it is. That's why I'm a Democrat. I can make the Democratic voters think whatever I want them to.
(Update: Could not verify quote by Carville was real so I have used the strikethrough code to indicate its no longer part of this essay. Thanks to hecate for pointing that its veracity is questionable at best.))
The truth is Centrists will say anything to tear us down. Our job is to not allow their smears to work.
Comments
Too late for that.
It's worked like a charm. But they're also using voter suppression tactics typically played by Republicans to fuck over anyone who dares to challenge your average Clinton Democrat. After all, our concernes are just 'Bourgeois whining' according to Clintonite 'feminists'.
It's just another day of business as usual for the Capitalist Party USA. The factions: Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians, may argue amongst themselves for kabuki theater's sake, but they all know whose side they're on. And it ain't ours.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
This is what cost them in the last election.
Their name calling and the arrogant idea that their belongs to them and that our vote belongs to them as well.
A perfect example of a phrase that has come to describe ‘insanity’ in the common vernacular:
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
Ms. Novi's spewage
gulfgal98's commentary in another of today's Essays is appropriate here:
Novi is obviously a great lover of the current Republican Lite nature of the "Democratic" Party, and she's also guilty of a considerable bit of projection here. She castigates us leftist progressives for the very things she and her DLC/Turd Way fellow travellers are guilty. And how dare we even suggest that Clintonist centrism is to blame for what we've clearly observed: Democrats hemorrhaging offices left and right over every election since 2010!
But facts can be nasty. And the Dems have now tried running the same Republican Lite centrist way for four elections now, with the same results every time. As the old saying goes, doing things the same way over and over again while expecting different results is insanity.
If the Dems want any other fate besides a final ride to the ash-heap of history, they're going to need to boot the likes of Ms. Novi, Hillary Clinton, and their donors like George Soros clean out of the tent, and hand the party back to the folks who actually won elections for them: the leftist progressives. Today, that means the Bernie Sanders wing of the party.
The Clinton/Pelosi/Schumer "we're all capitalists now" method has been exhaustively tried, and today we know it to be a complete failure. So if Ms. Novi wants to know who's to blame for totalitarian Republican control of the country, perhaps she should look in the mirror.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Yah how to explain democrat losses before 1st "berniebro"
Obama and the the corporate democrats were in total control of the party before Clinton purchased the DNC. The revelation that the democrats were being wiped out electorally at all level for half a decade seemed to be downplayed by party loyalists and media. I really didn't know, but I live in a democratic controled state. Nary a "berniebro" around during those years. In fact, candidates and party members were certainly obeying the purity requirements of corporatist democrats.
Well there was OWS as an insurgent group but that was violently shut down by Obama and then marginalized by party activists on such sites as TOP which seemed to unamiously declare it an utter failure.
Frankly, given the hyperbolic militancy
Novi's piece almost reads as snark at points.
How can advocating for medicare for all not be focusing
Why is the author so exercised about
?
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Great Smackdown of Novi StevenD
I couldn't confirm this part:
I tried a Bing and DuckDuckgo search and came up empty on S. Novi's prior journalism credentials or anything else except Democracy Guardian/Medium. Any way to verify if Novi has any prior experience in journalism OR politics?
"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
No
At least I haven't found any other way to confirm who Novi is a pseudonym for short of leaving a comment asking Novi to identify herself. I assume it's a she as the avatar is female.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Nope
An actual professional writer would not have written the phrase "A journalist that worked in the media", and then doubled up with "A liberal and one that is suspicious of cults".
The grammatically correct word is "who", not "that". The average person understandably doesn't know this (or care), but it's elementary for a writer with any amount of training and pride in their work.
I know this sounds nitpicky, but to me it was an immediate giveaway that whoever "S. Novi" may be, (s)he is not a trained journalist or any other kind of professional writer.
There's not much going on in this in this piece, journalistically speaking. Nothing new, nothing creative. Just the same old pile of regurgitation that we've seen elsewhere, cut and pasted into a new document.
If I had to guess, this was written by or at the request of someone at a DNC consultant PR firm.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
@Centaurea Good guess.
Good guess.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
So what's the real message here?
That democrats should do what's best for the party no matter what? If not, the republicans will win, again. And those that don't are traitors or stupid or worse? The approx. 29% of voting eligible citizens that identify as democrats need to unite and it's the Bernie supporters fault that they're not?
It's really kind of sad but hilarious. Funny thing is I've been accused many times by supporters of the Bernie of my own purity when it comes to antiwar/anti-imperialism and supporting (by voting for) the democratic party. I guess that's the way it goes until you get to the purest of the pure.
What this writer is obviously missing is an anti-establishment streak and an understanding of what the democratic party does and who really owns it. A person who can support a war criminal like Obama or Clinton and accuse others of "purity" thereby absolving herself of any guilt and lending herself an air of righteousness. Actually she writes like an establishment propagandist, trying to shame people into "properly" participating in this undemocratic farce which is the two party circus.
But to me, a non-progressive, non-Bernie supporter, very non-democrat or republican, it's all the same. Inter-party squabbling within the democratic party who are ALL supporting a criminal imperialist, neoliberal democratic party that serves only the rich and powerful and their corporations, banks and institutions.
As I understand the message
What good for the Democratic party is good for me and all right-thinking people. So if I don't support the Democratic party no matter what they actually do then I am not a "right-thinking person".
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
It's both parties
He talks about science, but you can take it to politics too
Asteroid mining?
We should send Bezos with a hard hat and head torch onto a mining expedition to Uranus--unlimited resources with no competitors. Then he could establish the Upper Uranus Times to indoctrinate space aliens on the beauties of neoliberalism--and with their Prime membership--free shipping.
Such a delight
to hear someone so articulate. For a second there I thought I understood the latest Big Bang theory, then I came to my senses. But those photos of the stars reminded me of my trip to NZ, after 20+ years of living in LA, and just gasping the first night when I saw what Id been missing my whole life. On the politics question, thank god Steven D is engaging, I'm ignoring all crap and contenting myself with snorting a passable Pinot noir through my nose any time someone starts the Berniebro or Russia! In my presence. I highly recommend this tactic.
@GusBecause
If your aim is good, that ought to be a great conversation-stopper. Would it work with tea?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Fuck the Enlightenment
Rationality is over-rated.
the
Carville quote
is fake.
I hope Novi wasn't really ever a journalist—anybody can claim anything on the tubes—because she's a bad writer. It would be Sad if she were ever paid for such scribblings.
In another post she claims several other occupations:
I think she also invented Fresca, supervised a moon landing, was the first woman to breast-feed a baby on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and tried to staunch the blood flowing from MLK's head, there on the Memphis balcony.
It is apparent that her first language is bullshit, and her second gibberish, which accounts for her article here under discussion.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. I don't think it's the sort of thing that will resonate with anyone except maybe her dog, her mother, and people who cry themselves to sleep every night with a candle on the mantle flickering before a portrait of the broken old Clinton II woman.
Breitbart or Brock?
Has to be a scam. The question is which side of the fence pays her?
"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
Brock or somebody like him. Biden and Kennedy being shopped.
Seems that Biden has taken some shot at Bernie indirectly like associating progressivism as being intolerant. It would not surprise me that there are democratic party cabals looking to start marginalizing and di-appearing Bernie politically before the presidential primaries.
@MrWebster
They're terrified of him. They would not be terrified of an actual sheep-dog.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
intolerant
Intolerant of right-wing Turd Way Clintonite bullshit? You betcha!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@Meteor Man I had seen Novi's stuff
I had seen Novi's stuff on Medium, but I found it so extreme and amateurish that I didn't bother engaging with it. It combines Fox/Breitbart flavor of vitriol with allegedly Centrist Dem sentiment. Personally, I am more inclined to believe this is someone on the Right or from outside the country stirring the pot. Neolibs just don't talk that way when trashing progressives; they usually sound more smug and sophisticated.
The marriage between capitalism and democracy is over. –Slavoj Zizek
There's only one possibility left:
Russians!!!
I did not know the quote was questionable
Thank you for calling that to my attention. I've amended my essay accordingly.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Your bullshit detector is spot on
Ms. Novi's self proclaimed "bio" reads more like a shills clumsy propaganda check list. The most blatant tell being her comment about "re-inventing herself WHILE STRUGGLING TO PAY HER BILLS so she could MOVE FORWARD. (Wasn't that one of Hillary's rallying cries?)
So, I guess it's official. The corporate Dems have now replaced the Republicans "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" shaming the poor ideology with their "softer" girl power version.
Clever, no? We hardly even noticed.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Good one: "I think she also invented Fresca, "
@hecate
Dear gawd, I love your phrasing!
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
You have really nailed the essence of the Hillary loss
people who cry themselves to sleep every night with a candle on the mantle flickering before a portrait of the broken old Clinton II woman.
So many people are so wrapped up in Hillary's identity that they can't come to grips with the fact that she is not president. The First Woman President. Nothing anything said to them will break through their idea of who she really is. A ruthless, soulless person who has no empathy for anyone less fortunate than her.
Well stated, Hecate.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
yeah, but apparently it resonates too with ...
... with people who are unable to put themselves to sleep every night without a flashlight looking under their bed for ghostly monsters who cry over the broken old Clinton II woman.
Can we get another, better, greater, scarier monsters under our bed, please?
https://www.euronews.com/live
wanna try
this under your bed?
; )
OK
" it takes only a few moments for a BernieBrat to show up to scream their trendy terms of neoliberal, corporatists or any of the other ad nauseam words."
Well FFS somebodies got to do it. This is the party line. Loyalty to the party. The New Deal, FDR is dismissed as an "old white populist", poor whites are beneath contempt and too privileged. It's the one thing republicans and these new democrats agree on, the left is the enemy. I remember when Hubert Humphrey was the nominee for pres., put up after winning no primaries. That's what the dems want with their pre-selected superdelagates and their thumb on the scale .
I agree on one point.
The democratic party needs to be burned down.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Like Yoda blowing up the Jedi tree in TLJ
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
A small point showing what we are up against.
Here is one sentence in the passage:
"The Presidential election has ended and while the Democrats are valiantly trying to hold the flood gates at bay with little more than a stopper. . . "
I think the writer is overwrought and certainly overwrites. No one is holding the flood gates at bay because that is not what one does with flood gates. Flood gates hold water at bay. I think this whole diatribe shows us what we're up against: illogical, emotional, semi-literate deplorables.
And it felt good to write that last sentence.
-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962
"And it felt good to write that last sentence."
That I can understand. I took a look at the author's democracyguardian account. All 'Trump is crazy', 'Sanders/supporters are evil', all the time.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
@polkageist
It felt good to read someone else writing much what I was thinking. So, thanks!
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Once upon a time the people who deride Bernie's policies
were all for them and they actually supported them when Hillary started spouting them. One has to be pretty stupid not to see that. Once upon a time again, people like this Novi probably wanted the things that Bernie was running on, but they also wanted a stop to war. This changed after Obama continued PNAC's goal of overthrowing the Middle East, made the Bush tax cuts permanent and his other neoliberal policies. Looks like she's just another angry centrist because Her didn't win.
Pelosi's 8 hour filibuster was a political stunt. Big deal that she stood in 4" pumps and read stories about the Dreamers. She didn't try to whip the votes to get people to vote against the budget deal. This totally nullified her filibuster. The democrats promised over and over that they would shut down the government if DACA wasn't fixed. McConnell told the democrats that he would include it next time and when he didn't, Schumer didn't hold him to it. Now we see that Schumer has given up all pretenses of not supporting the republicans' agendas.
Big Al's point about Bernie's support of imperialism is one thing that I tried to bring to people's attention during the primary and I got shit on because I was asking for purity. Damn right I was.
Good essay, Steven. Good to see you again.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Hi Snoopy
Been having a rough winter. Energy levels have been low for a variety of reasons, but I saw this Medium post and felt it deserved a response.
Hope all is well with you.
Steve
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
How quickly the politically feeble minded
seem to forget that their "team" keeps losing on the policies they say they care about.
But, but, but....
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Doofuses.
They are still defending Nancy impeachment-off-the-table Pelosi. I still say those who were OK with letting Bush/Cheney off the hook deserve Donald Trump.
Accusations of racism are often used to camouflage the agenda of unscrupulous people/interests at the top, as a way to more efficiently exploit those at (or closer to) the bottom.
Mike Taylor
I can't help myself. She's too much
As to the picture of immigrants, isn't it strange how no one mentions that Obama deported more immigrants than any other president? This is an attempt at saying that if Herheinous was president then no immigrants would be being deported. The Dreamers might still be safe, but they still wouldn't have legal status in this country. Unless both parties decide to fix it.
Polkagiest is right, this is a strange sentence.
Not only is it wrong, it's delusional. There is no valiant effort by the democrats to hold Trump at bay, they're giving him and the republicans everything they want. Enough democrats who can afford to take the hit play the "I'm against this" game and then there's just enough democrats giving republicans the votes they need to pass.
LoL. "The BernieCrats refuse to do research." Hell we did the Hillarycats own research for them and they still refused to believe it. Pot. Kettle you brain dead ignoramous
Ya know, everyone says that Bernie got a pass on being vetted and if he was the candidate then the republicans were going to unload a can of whopass on him. Exactly what were they going to say about him? Oh I see she went there. She gave him the (Abbey Hoffman) Saul Alinsky treatment. Alrighty then.
Democrat Focus: DACA, The Poor, The Underprivileged and Underserved
They sure do. Clinton reformed welfare, democrats voted with republicans to cut the food stamps program by $8 billion.
Oh shut up!
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
This writer is semi-literate. Hope she remembers that
the correct spelling is democratic when it's being used as an adjective. She stinks to high heaven of YUPPIE BO. That got started with Rayguns, and has only gotten worse not better. I feel complimented when a yahoo like Novi insults me politically. Dumbazz. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
While Nancy Pelosi
More like grandstanding...
More white shaming... no wonder race relations continue to deteriorate when you utter words like "white" or "Caucasian" with such venom.
It's sad that Democrats (base not politicians) will eat whatever dog shit their masters throw at them and then expect everyone else it eat it with a big toothy smile.
I like your summary Steven and I'm going to go and try to refute Novi's list here:
1) Considering that Non-Hispanic White is 63% of this country and if you include Hispanic white jumps that up to 72%, is it odd to have something be "mainly white". Again, it is the linking of "white" and "bad". Again, same with "male" and "bad". As if something being one race or gender or orientation deems something inherently good or bad. As regarding millennials...considering we are worse off than previous generations, is it odd that we see the disease known as Democrats and Republicans and want something else.
2) Tea Party of the left. Not really. If that was true they would then control it. The Tea Party isn't analogous simply because it was an astroturf movement that allowed the shift to occur. The two parties love shifting right and love when "the people" do it for them. The same can't be said going the other direction.
3) Ignore facts? Nope more lies. Both parties lie about income inequality, health care, economics, foreign policy, geopolitics, climate change, corruption, and so much more. And Russian Fake News? The Democrat's Benghazi won't die it seem. Yes, Russia spending $100,000 on Facebook ads when 2 billion was spent on the election totally shifted the game. Along with RT which has less than 1% of the American population having even heard the network. Democrats like Novi just can't accept that Clinton was the worst candidate in American political history.
4) Yes actually that would be great. Burn the Democrat party down, piss on its ashes, and send it to the 4 corners of the Earth. Despise unity? Yes again. Why would I unite with a party that rapes, tortures, and kills tens of millions of people, destroyed the lives of hundreds of millions of people, and is threatening to kill billions of people in nuclear war?
5) Cult? Eh... Really this one is forced. Obama had a cult. Clinton...Christ that is a cult. But Sanders? His rallies started dying off when he came out supporting Clinton. It brought out several fissures among that community. Even now with DemExit vs. DemInvade and the like. Yes there are those who will twist and contort themselves to wave away every sheepdog move Sanders makes, but there are those who see through that now.
Yeah, #4 is a funny one..
The Blue Dogs, of course, are interested in transforming the Democratic Party into a party which burns itself down to keep the progressives out. This is why they ceded 900 legislative seats to the Republicans under Obama, the Blue Dog par excellence.
On the other hand, there are quite a few of us now, to the left of the Berners, who want the Democratic Party to burn down because we've seen through the sham notion that we are obliged to "take over the Democratic Party" before we elect anyone of our own kind to public office. We, of course, merely want the Democrats to fracture, into a new party that means something and a Blue Dog rump which withers away.
And as for despising unity, hopefully even the Berners despise the unity forged between the two parties against the rest of us.
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
But we need the blue dogs
because they give us the majority even if they vote with the republicans most of the time. I(these aren't my thoughts, they're some members of the other place)
I guess it's just important to some to say that the democrats are back in the majority, but Hell if I can understand how that works.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Excellent rebuttal.
saves me the trouble because you said it better than I could.
One thing though, I really Think #2 is going to be the plan going forward (and that wraps into #1). The comparison doesn’t hold up, as you mentioned, not just for the origins being totally different but also that Berners have zero power. The Republicans may pretend to distance themselves from the loonier aspects of the Tea Party, but ultimately they’re on board. Candidates aligned with TP hold seats. You think a Progressive would have a chance? No way.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Pelosi's Profile in Courage on DACA:
Rep. Pelosi had to work on her feet, for 8 whole hours; in a row!!
How courageous of her.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Is it just me?
I know I'm paranoid, but I suspect they're out to get me just the same. I may be delusional. These days it's hard to tell. But when I combine the level of venom, extreme even for a Hilbot, with the interesting life history, growing up poor, reinventing herself while struggling to pay her bills, reaching a corporate boardroom and so on . . .
it's so easy to imagine S. Novi's words flying off the keyboard of Hillary Clinton's laptop about 2/3 of the way through her nightly bottle of wine.
@FuturePassed
She'd have one of her staff do it. And I think you might have hit on a strong possibility there...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
“Liberal” economist Brad DeLong was urging everyone to plan to
“gleefully and comprehensively trash” Bernie Sanders supporters (among others) after HER victory.
Yet another reason I’m glad HER didn’t win.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-to-t...
http://www.bradford-delong.com/2016/04/live-from-la-farine-duncan-black-...
@lotlizard Fuck that guy.
Fuck that guy.
Then again the schadenfreude is delicious.
in vino veritas
Hey now! Not all of us winos are like Hillary and dhonig!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Proof positive...
I don't belong in the democrap party.
Thanks for the essay and good to see you Steven!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Uber Bernie should return his $20k to the NYC driver
who blew his brains out with a shotgun on the sidewalk, because his economy is so great! Achtung ueber alles Berniecrats:
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000067336
The "inside" company he keeps:
die in a fire
burn in hell
HOPE is not helping "progressive" Sonoma County, it never did and never will. Because "progressive" is a capitalist's dream moniker come true, this cycle is gas on a fire. GOTV for progressives LOL! Here ya go:
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/7972583-181/2017-harvest-yields-record-15
2017 harvest yields record $1.5 billion of grapes from North Coast vineyards
Some fancy "world class" pinot noir is grown nearby:
Homeless deaths mount in Guerneville as shelter standoff drags on for Russian River region
Why are we okay watching them die?
After violent crash, Sonoma County confronts issue of overweight fire debris trucks
Local law enforcement say they are ill-equipped to inspect trucks to ensure they are complying with weight limits.
So they did nothing, of course, until it hit "the news". Please proceed.
Millions of dollars in fire recovery assistance at stake in lawmakers’ spending plan
ding ding ding! And this is how the D-Weasel I did not vote for responds:
I got some clarity right here for ya buddy (two middle fingers raised high). As soon as a politician says "it's complicated" you know you're screwed. Too the wall. No Berniecrat "progressive" is going to make a dent around here, every one becomes addicted to lobby money. Please give directly to people in need if you have to give your money away. Or buy a clue.
Our Revolution is 501c4, who cares how bankrupt the DNC is for 2020? Nobody. Dark money rules at every level, that is all. It is enough.
Nobody 2018
future already corrupt
good luck
"Novi" doesn't fool me.
The writer is Markos in disguise.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
Kos in drag
My only quibble with that is that Markos usually gets his grammar right, which "Novi" doesn't.
And now I have to deal with That Image rolling around in my head.....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Sorry!
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
Some good responses to Hillaroids:
Replacement for the word balloon in the first cartoon: "At least Hillary took the 'high road' "
I'll take Democrats seriously when they stand up and shout "You lie!"
A banana slug could have beaten the game show host.
The Democrats betrayed the people by letting a fascist win.
3/4 of "third party" votes were right-wing Libertarian. Without "third parties", the margin would have been wider.
I don't know why
this moron and of your energy. S/he clearly is not a journalist and is barely able to write basic english. This is the same hillarian tripe we saw all through the election. It is ineffective. If anything, it rallies people against their neoliberal wet dreams. Nothing would force me back into the arms of bernie sanders faster than these overprivileged drooling idiots.