"I did not leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left us.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's (D-Fla.) primary opponent, Tim Canova, dropped out of the Democratic primary in order to run as an independent. The reason why he says he did this is interesting.
“I am not screwing the Democratic Party. It has screwed over too many ordinary Americans and it has screwed over too many progressive candidates," he said in a speech outside the Broward County Governmental Center, the Orlando Sun Sentinel reported.
Canova, a professor of law and public finance at Nova Southeastern University, called Wasserman Schultz "the albatross around this party" and a "menace" to the world.
“I have watched as my party has come to resemble a battered spousal relationship. The party regularly ignores its grass-roots base and it abuses those who, like me, challenge party incumbents," he said.
I haven't followed Canova very closely, but I think he's spot on here. It'll be interesting to see how the GOS justifies endorsing the toxic DWS for no other reason than because she has a "d" before her name and Canova doesn't.
“Even as we run as independents, I will run as a better Democrat. I did not leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left us.”
Meanwhile, the Dems are working hard to make sure that you can't vote for anyone to the left of them.
In 2016 we got to see how how arrogant and corrupt the DNC was. In 2018 it's the DCCC's turn.
The DCCC has a "red-to-blue" list of endorsed candidates in conservative districts that simply couldn't be more disgusting.
Ann Kirkpatrick cast the vote that kept Guantanamo Bay open and voted against cap-and-trade, and has been a consistent opponent of EPA air-quality measures; Jason Crow says he won't take corporate PAC money, so instead he's funded by his law firm which lobbies for casinos, fossil fuel companies (he also opposed gun control after the Aurora shooting happened on his watch in his district, having received large sums from the gun lobby) and he's the beneficiary of Bain Capital's largesse; Paul Davis voted to bar cities from enacting gun control rules, and for a ban on the use of state funds to support gun control lobbying, he's supported drug tests for welfare recipients and a corporate tax cut during the recession.
Elissa Slotkin is a hereditary millionaire who is ex-CIA, ex-Bush National Security Council, ex-Obama Department of Defense, she participated in a coverup of Reagan-funded death squads in Central America; Brad Ashford introduced bills to lower corporate taxes and ban the hiring of undocumented workers, consistently voted with Republicans when he was in Congress (including voting for repeals of Wall Street regs and Obamacare, and for the Keystone XL pipeline), he supports DACA repeal, opposed the Iran deal, and doesn't want Gitmo to ever close, and supported a bill to allow racial discrimination in auto lending.
Whohoo?
If they were looking for candidates to get inspired by, this list isn't it.
In fact, if I was a moderate voter in these districts, I would honestly think that the Republicans might actually be better than Democrats based on these candidates.
The good news is that Democratic voters aren't taking it lying down, like they usually do. The grassroots are in revolt.
Underfunded candidates are claiming upsets. Campaigns are grappling with thousands of new voters. And the group meant to be a guiding Democrats through it all is instead at the center of a storm of criticism.
I can see this progressive revolt going on for several election cycles to come.
If the establishment thinks that all they have to do is wait this one out, they are in for a nasty surprise.
Comments
The newspaper in Orlando is
called The Orlando Sentinel. It might have been Sun something back in the Stone Age, but it ain't now. There is a paper down in the Broward-Palm Beach-Ft. Lauderdale area with Sun in its title. I don't recall the full name. Canova now has the name recognition he didn't have at the beginning. I wish him the very best. The FL Democratic Party makes the DCCC look like saints. Take it from a long-time political junkie Floridian. Sad, too. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Lambert Strether posted this yesterday @ naked cap:
Worksheet for the 2018 Midterms
AZ-02, my district, has a bunch of progressive challengers to carpetbagger Ann "Defend the ACA" Kirkpatrick for the Democratic nomination. It seems a new one enters the race every other day. I'm starting to wonder if these are all actual, good faith progressives or if some of them are actually imposters hoping to split the progressive vote into little pieces so that Ann can squeak by with just the support of the corporate Dems.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Conor Lamb
The key to the highway. Paul Ryan called it. A better Republican beat another Republican
This is how we win?
Demorats will take this all across the country? District by District, customizing the message to each unique circumstance. "I'm going to Congress, I can lie to you better than all the other schmucks you voted for, cause Trump. Nancy isn't senile, she's a leader?
Then you have "Beto" O'Rouke raising near $7M from everywhere else than the State he's contesting in for his "fight" vs Ted Cruz in Texas.
He's so smart he had Joe Kennedy drive him around near the anniversary of Good Ole Ted murdering Mary Jo and publicizing the f'r. Nothing says Texas like an endorsement from a fg Kennedy.
Why don't these elites just PayPal me some $$$.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Canova Punching Up
and telling the truth. I am seriously encouraged by the grassroots revolt Canova is a part of. A short two months ago I did not expect to see the massive multi-level resistance we are witnessing across the political and social spectrum.
The candidates being promoted by the DCCC in your Boing Boing link are despicable even by GOP standards. The mid-term primaries and elections are shaping up to be an historical battle.
"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
I don’t like to tell other districts who should represent them
But I made an exception for Canova. DWS is a national embarrassment and neeeds to be taken out. Sending Canova a monthly contribution helps keep her off the national scene. And with luck he may even succeed.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Canova is a zionist supporter of Israel apartheid,
anti-Iran, and a fucking liar. That's a progressive "revolt"?
I don't follow him closely
But I do know he's a Justice Democrat (no corporate money).
He wants to regulate Wall Street, get out of NAFTA, tax the rich, end the war on drugs, end private prisons, etc. etc.
Compared to DWS, the answer to your question is "Hell Yeh!"
Ya, that figures.
For those that want to know, listen to the bullshit interview.
https://utabby.com/en_US/video/020/hd2Z5jkDp-k/Tim_Canova_Is_%2522Bought...
Big Al is an anarchist. LOL
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
'tis Not Easy Being an Anarchist
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
Or even worse...
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Opposing apartheid and imperialism
and the politicians that support them makes me an anarchist?
Where's Zhen Ren when you need him/her?
Was always there to explain and defend the basic tenets of anarchism.
Funny, today I was watching this excellent extended interview with Howard Zinn from CSPAN Book Tv. He said his political views most closely aligned with anarchism and socialism.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
True, and I probably am part anarchist, but my point was
why does it take an anarchist to oppose politicians who support and aid Israeli apartheid? Why does it take an anarchist to refuse to vote for a zioinist motherfucker politician just because he's better than another Zionist motherfucker politician?
That's why I'm wondering about this site right now. 45 recs for this indicates most people on here are still going to vote lesser evil democratic party, which makes them partisans, while excusing U.S. imperialism and Israeli apartheid.
Pragmatism my ass.
I say fuck that. Really and truly.
"vote lesser evil democratic party"
I don't vote for a party, but for individuals.
democrats can ask for my vote. some might get it.
"Damn, we almost had a meeting going!"
Tried and tried to get ZhenRen here.
I tried and tried to get ZhenRen here. No success, alas.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Watched the interview
which was obviously done before the latest Israeli atrocity, and I was not as offended as you by his stated position in favor of a two state solution as the only possible solution. His position is a far cry from Chuck The-Torah-says-god-gave-Gaza-to-Israel-so-thats-that Schumer, my utterly loathsome senator. Canova spoke of living in Israel in the 1980s, and people from his kibbutz going to Palestine to help set up irrigation systems. He lost an Israeli friend to a suicide bomber. He appears to see that Israel is not blameless. My feeling is that over the decades, Israel, with the full backing of the US, has changed into a nation of thugs. Their violent oppression of Palestinians is simply sadistic.
What I liked about Canova's speech upon dumping the Dems was that he emphasized his commitment to challenge voting irregularities in his last race. One of the things that bugged me about Bernie was that every time his campaign was obviously sabotaged, his attitude was "just keep moving forward." I realize his campaign wasn't prepared to fight voting irregularities, even blatant ones, but I feel he let down every person whose vote disappeared by not challenging those results.
What you might have missed is how he excused Israel
from being a state sponsor of terrorism while accusing Iran and Saudi Arabia of the same; how he doesn't advocate a return to 1967 borders and a two state solution, which would be the only way for it to work; and how he uses the bullshit excuse that Israel is only responding to attacks from Gaza and Hamas and is only guilty of sometimes responding "disproportionately", just like Bernie Sanders.
yep, exactly. He may not
be FDR, but he beats
the hell out of Debbie What's-Her-Name Schultz.
By a ton.
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.
The government of Israel is acting horribly but ...politics
@#
Many voters in that district, from what I understand, are elderly, Jewish and have no access to information outside of the MSM. Canova is just being realistic if he wants to win. Someone who is on the correct side of so many other causes, like Canova, must be able to see the situation and knows that DWS's support of Israeli oppression and the ignorance of her voters will be used against him. Does a perfect, progressive candidate, with a chance to win, even exist?
Beware the bullshit factories.
I hate the term "pragmatic"
but there will literally never be a candidate that I agree with on every single issue. Bernie included.
It's where you draw the "hold your nose" line
that matters, and it's different for everyone.
OTOH some candidates stink so bad that "holding your nose" just isn't an option. Like...well, HER.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Yep, I get that
So I realize that I'm in no position to preach.
That being said, if your "hold the nose" line leaves no one, or almost no one available, then is that a line worth defending?
absolutely (+++)
hold the nose
In the case being discussed, either "HER" !!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
No he isn't, he's a fucking zionist,
whether his district is jewish or not. And where's the line? It's OK to support the slaughter and imprisonment of the Palestinians in Gaza and the lies about Iran which could lead to WWIII, as long as the dude support a higher minimum wage?
The line is trying to get DWS out
And purity tests are not strategic for that.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Purity tests?
Fuck, I'm in the wrong place I guess. This was supposed to be a non-partisan blog but evidently the only goal is to reform the democratic party. that sounds awfully partisan to me.
A little perspective
Let's remember that DWS is totally...
So unless you are planning on running against her yourself, you are also saying that you would rather have someone from that district "supporting the slaughter and imprisonment of the Palestinians in Gaza and the lies about Iran", PLUS being pro-Dem corruption and anti-progressive causes domestically.
Of course you aren't OK with that, but by opposing Canova you are by default supporting DWS, supporting a Republican, or supporting this guy.
There is no one else.
Pragmatism gets a bad wrap because "pragmatism" according to the GOS means "anyone with a 'd' before their name".
No, don't play that lesser evil game with me, man.
That's no different than saying Trump won because I didn't vote for Clinton.
You could always not take a position
You are free to do that.
But if you work against a candidate then you help the other one.
Unlike 2016, there is no Green Party candidate to endorse.
Calm down for cripes sake!
BTW, I am anti-war, anti-apartheid, anti-serf, anti-fascist corporate, anti-oil, anti-pollution, etc. Where is Canova evil? Define it, please.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
One quick point:
.
Be proud that you didn't get conned into voting for her when the kindergarten trolls start name-calling.
She still would have been worse - and faster, as I believe you know. We just wouldn't have been hearing about whatever she did until the world exploded around our ears, probably in that first month in office, as she got Bibi into the White House to help with policy as she set up that Syrian no-fly zone to shoot down Russian planes.
'She gets things done', as you recall, and I suspect that we'd have been done long since. So as ghastly as things may be, we still have 'now' and can at least be grateful that The Mad Bomber didn't get into the hot-button seat for that thought-'survivable' (for some planning to be safely in luxury bunkers before starting it) nuclear war-crime, which we're still here to worry about now.
And where there's life, there's hope.
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.
I have to admit I did get conned into voting for Obama in
2008. I was so pissed at what was happening under Bush and the republicans that for the first time in my life, I participated in this national farce. But Clinton? No, it took me about 30 days under Obama to figure out I was had and after that and about ten years of research and analysis, no way I can be conned.
I'm a believer of continuity in government, particularly with foreign affairs, i.e., U.S. imperialism, so I don't think things would be much different under Clinton now than under Trump. The targets are the same, the goal of global hegemony is the same, the buildup of the military would be the same, the methods and tactics might be different but not the overall agenda.
Either way it doesn't matter, the rich oligarchy or oligarchies that has or have the power are only going to take actions and change tactics based on their interests, not ours. We still have to take them down, that is not going to change no matter who is elected.
heh, Big Al, what's so bad about being an anarchist?
I kinda like them...
When I worked as a little office mouse in Washington DC at the German Press Agency (between 1993 - 1998), we had an elderly American reporter who left UPI and had a life-long careers as a reporter, Jim Anderson. He didn't talk a lot, wrote one article after the other almost like a factory worker, who hammered his keyboard silently in the production line of news articles, and I always tried to figure out 'what he thought' about a political issue. It was quite difficult to get it out of him. But his wife once helped me a little, because I remember she was talking about 'anarchism' and it became clear that she and therefore him, must have thought a lot about it and it can't have been THAT terrible.
Anarchism is not a dirty thing. Calm down. Just look at Germany, what kind of fuck is going on there right now? Can't believe it, can't understand it and it's like the whole life is one long 'trail of tears'. I heard a sentence in a German TV crime series about an elderly women, gone on a killing spree in her slightly demented mind, who was supposedly blind, telling the detective: "I can see, after I have wept."
See? Tears have their unintended consequences and that is just awesome too.
Cry for me, C99p!
https://www.euronews.com/live
Obama conned almost everybody (especially me, lol,)
and he did contain some of Sec. of State Clinton's worst and most destructively bloodthirsty excesses, but of course the Presidential 'choices' allowed have been selected by The Psychopaths That Be, so there generally haven't really been any - up until now, even if anyone deviating from whatever 'The Plan' is, is fought tooth and nail by TPTB, et al. I'm guessing that at this point, we have to go for 'the deviants', lol, for anything bringing improvement and shifting back toward the direction of humanity and survivability and anyone non-psychopathic and thinking in human terms. You can deal/reason with humans, as you can't with the psychopathic.
But yeah, we have to somehow clean the governmental-infiltrating rot so voraciously consuming humanity out of any position where power can be abused or we're fucked. Bernie's trying to tackle it from inside, replacing as many components as possible with Progs; may or may not succeed, but it's non-violent and if enough Progs get in to reach the levers of power and out-vote the Psychopaths That Be and their pathologized political patsies, there you go. You can't reform a psychopath, but you can replace them in the seats of power with real human beings who believe in democracy and are willing to pacifically fight for it as long as enough people are willing to fight to get them in where they can do anything toward it and, en masse, steadfastly refuse to ever again accept suspicious electoral results. Obviously, other constructive pathways should also be pursued, but that one is also the hardest for TPTB to fight without blatantly abandoning all pretense at any legitimacy and ever-more obviously revealing themselves to the public at large - on an international basis - as the ruthless criminals they are. The general public awareness alone is invaluable in awakening survival instincts required for that last-ditch effort - ideally before it becomes too late. As it may be after this election and a long-planned Constitutional re-write to TPTB's specifications, if that public effort isn't successfully made to get enough Progs in to crowd/keep enough psychopaths and their pathologized ilk out of public office.
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.
a perfect progressive candidate
No.
And it's time we elected the ones we can with the domestic policies we want.
Foreign policy is irretrievably down the sewer. Demanding foreign policy purity is a reliable way to guarantee we working sods get nothing, ever.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Canova is an Israel supporter.
From the district in Flawer DUH that gave us DWS? You betcha.
Show me the way that an Israel resister can get elected to Congress from any district, much less this one which may as well be in Israel, and we'll revisit this.
Unfortunately, most Americans still support Israel without question. Fix that, and we can fix the Zionist flavor of our government. But that's the order in which it must be done.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Twittered. n/t
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.
FWIW
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article9766...
Holy F! This is a Joe Biden
BFD! Big! yuuuge!
This could start the avalanche that buries what's left of the sorry Dem Party!
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.
Canova shows up the central problem for progressives.
They can't get out the primaries becasue they are cheated. By going independent, Canova makes it into the general election.
Yep, several cycles to come.
Which basically shows how tiny the phenomenon really is, that a political party that exists only to continue the careers of its misleadership is allowed to persist. In a sane world the Democrats would vanish tomorrow, their leadership being composed entirely of Republicans.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Dear Big Al
1. Fortunately I don't live in Florida so I don't have to dodge escaped cobras or decide which Israel supporter is least intolerable.
2. I told a pollster for Brindisi (that would be NY State Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi) who is running for the House seat currently held by Trumpist rubberstamp Claudia Tenney that I was waiting to hear a strong anti-war statement from either candidate. Until then, I said, I remain undecided.
3. This Canova fellow seems like a rather slow learner. Look how long it has taken him to realize that the Demonrat Party is not his friend; no doubt it will take him another year and another lost election to understand that domestic progressivism + Zionism won't win him a majority. The American public which lives outside of those above mentioned old folks' retirement communities no longer wishes to fight Israel's wars nor are we willing to be the dumping ground for displaced Palestinians.
4. He may be hoping for a break in any of the getting to be rather numerous now murder cases which unaccountably, by a series of amazing coincidences, seem to be benefitting DWS. Even so, voters like you and me, who might otherwise support him are likely to be put off by announced fealty to the interests of Israel.
5. I rather think DWS's district will have to be written off this election, until either Mr. C. gets a clue, or hires a decent strategist who knows how to tell which way the wind is blowing, or a genuine anti-war, anti-imperialist progressive arises in that district. Maybe BLM knows someone???
6. Where I think we can reasonably hope is that enough non-DNCC sponsored candidates might be elected to see to it that DWS has no leadership position in the next Congress, no informal influence on committee assignments, and that she cannot threaten or bribe fellow Congresspersons. I would love to be a fly on the wall when some new Representative tells DWS that her billionaire friends can keep their money, because the new Rep was elected with less than US$5M all from small donations.
7. Clueless Canova should also stop whining about Bernie. Bernie started a fire which neither he nor anyone else can put out. He is not to be trusted on matters of foreign policy, esp as relates to the ME, because in his mind, I suspect, Israel is still the embattled small nation of the 6 day war. Bernie has become rather like a lovable old uncle who needs to be ignored when he gets off on some favorite hobbyhorse.
Mary Bennett
Flawer-DUH
Moral: Live where it snows, not where the palm tree grows. America's Penis-Insula isn't somewhere sane people choose to live.
The older I get, the more I become convinced that an annual cold Winter is a necessity for the production of`decent human beings.
As for Israel supporters, you're pretty much stuck with them nationwide. Unless and until the bulk of the American people stop buying the bullshit about Israel and start facing the real facts on the ground over there, Israel questioners can't get elected dogcatcher much less Congressmember or Senator.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides