Progressive Pelosi Blocks Green Deal 'Committee'

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Democrats Just Blocked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Push For A Green New Deal Committee

Instead, Democrats are sticking to their original plan, and channeled Exxon Mobil in an announcement refusing to bar members who take fossil fuel money.

Democratic leaders on Thursday tapped Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) to head a revived U.S. House panel on climate change, all but ending a dramatic monthlong effort to establish a select committee on a Green New Deal.

Castor’s appointment came as a surprise to proponents of a Green New Deal. The move also kicked off a controversy as the six-term congresswoman dismissed calls to bar members who accept money from fossil fuel companies from serving on the committee, arguing it would violate free speech rights.

Despite weeks of protests demanding House Democrats focus efforts next year on drafting a Green New Deal, the sort of sweeping economic policy that scientists say matches the scale of the climate crisis, Castor told E&E News the plan was “not going to be our sole focus.”

She then suggested that barring members who have accepted donations from the oil, gas and coal industries from serving on the committee could be unconstitutional.

“I don’t think you can do that under the First Amendment, really,” she said.

That reasoning echoed arguments Exxon Mobil Corp. made in court as recently as this year to defend its funding of right-wing think tanks that deliberately produced misinformation about climate science to stymie government action on global warming.

Soon after the remarks were published, Castor walked back the statement in an interview with HuffPost, calling it an “inartful answer.”

But she said she did not know whether, as chairperson, she could bar members on the committee from serving if they accepted fossil fuel donations.

“Maybe that’s a discussion we need to have in the caucus,” Castor said.

It’s a stunning upset, essentially returning Democrats to the original plan leaders laid out before the protests began in November. The announcement comes as a loss for Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Her meteoric rise and devoted base made it seem as if she were poised to win the burgeoning cadre of leftist Democrats a beachhead in a select committee that, even with limited capacity, would have demonstrated tangible power in Washington.

But, if it’s defeat, it’s bittersweet. The campaign, seemingly quixotic at first, shifted the stagnant climate policy debate not just to the left but, for the first time, in the direction of policies that could make a dent in surging global emissions and curb soaring income inequality. Coupled with back-to-back United Nations and federal reports that showed climate change already rapidly worsening, the effort established a new litmus test for lawmakers, breaking the binary of whether or not a politicians “believes” in the science of human-caused warming.

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dervish's picture

is how the game is played. AOC is one of very few in DC that have any interest at all in change or betterment for the people or the planet. The rest are a bunch of hookers.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

@dervish
progressives in the back, but not in such a public way.

Will she betray progressives on the committee chair pledges too?

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WaterLily's picture

@gjohnsit

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Pricknick's picture

the part about the constitution.
It would be against the rule of the supreme court to refuse corporate donations.
If it wasn't clear before to some, the dim party was in full support of citizens united.
We are truly fudged.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

snoopydawg's picture

@Pricknick

If it wasn't clear before to some, the dim party was in full support of citizens united.

Accepting billions in campaign donations is written somewhere in the constitution. Somewhere, I'm still looking.

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

Lookout's picture

@Pricknick
Did any of us really think payola pelosi or wall street upchucky would address the peoples needs rather than corporations?

Somewhere I read a comment by Naomi Klein who suggested we should set up our own committee if the dims caved. I like that idea...let's make them irrelevant.

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

divineorder's picture

@Pricknick

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

WindDancer13's picture

Those 33+ reps who endorsed the plan could be enough to keep her out. Barbara Lee isn't busy.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

@WindDancer13 was interested has already bowed out for running against Pelosi. But I suppose that could change.

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dfarrah

Centaurea's picture

Either for us (progressives) or for AOC.

The Green New Deal provided the establishment neoliberal Dems with yet another opportunity to display their hand, and they did so. I say, let them keep it up. Let them keep showing the world what they're really about.

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"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

jobu's picture

@Centaurea @Centaurea

The Green New Deal provided the establishment neoliberal Dems with yet another opportunity to display their hand, and they did so. I say, let them keep it up. Let them keep showing the world what they're really about.

Yes to this. They are being forced out of concealment. The key is to continue to flush them out into the daylight on this and every other issue where they equivocate. This is where the battle is being waged and where we are winning.

The Medicare for All fight that is coming will be a major opportunity to really turn on the klieg lights. They are planning to go on the offensive in a way that will make them vulnerable.

It is our job to make sure there is no place for them to hide. It's Medicare for All or else!

Allies who want MFA and other big progressive policies to come to fruition must be made to see that the Brand Name Dems in leadership have no intention of letting those policies see the light of day.

It is hard for some to fathom the depth of the betrayal we are dealing with regarding these Brand Name Establishment Dems. It is hard to get people to let go of the Big Lie once they've swallowed it. But once they do, Katie Bar the Door.

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Dragonkat's picture

Yep, big ol I told you so. As for AOC whining about it on twitter. If I had an account my response would be.

"And which of us endorsed Pelosi and held the henhouse door open again? Oh right, that would be you.

Nice to see sheepdog 2.0 keeping up her controlled op role though. But talk is cheap. If she and the new batch were truly serious about solving these problems we wouldn't be sitting here going "Oh look the Neo libs messed up again!" We be seeing them tear the damn pary down, leave it already, if you don't like the rules change the game.

And yet have we noticed that the neolibs for some reason keep getting everything they want no matter how much heat they get from inside the party?

It's time for real yellow vest heads rolling revolution, not this kabuki theater crap.

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See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be.

-The Joker-

@Dragonkat Can you tell me where AOC endorsed Pelosi ? I see articles about her not signing a letter challenging Pelosi but that's it.

Thanks

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Dragonkat's picture

@Blueslide

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/21/politics/alexandria-ocasio--cortez-nancy-...

"I think there's an opening, for sure," Ocasio-Cortez told the publication. "This is not about supporting or not supporting an individual. It's about making sure that we can get as progressive and aggressive of legislation as a party on climate change as quickly as possible."

Yeeeah and we see how well THAT went didn't we?

Or as it's well put here.

https://www.forapeoplesparty.org/aoc-endorses-nancy-pelosi/

Endorsing everything that is wrong with the Democratic Party undermines your moral authority and grassroots support, which in turn makes elected progressives more dependent on the party machine. This is how Democrats have controlled and contained the progressive movement for decades. The party blocks most progressives with rigged primaries then forces the few who get elected to capitulate to its corporate agenda.

In 2016 Bernie Sanders taught us that there is no such thing as a people’s candidate or a people’s party that takes corporate and billionaire money. You cannot serve the oligarchs and working people at the same time.

And anyone who thinks the Democrats serve anything but Money is has been said elsewhere a fool a sheepdog or both. It's time to tear the party down, reforming it from the inside is a fool's errand.

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See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be.

-The Joker-

@Dragonkat @Dragonkat weren't exactly an endorsement. More like a pass on opposing Pelosi. Ie:

"...backed House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to become House speaker next year once the party reclaims the majority in the chamber, so long as Pelosi "remains the most progressive candidate for speaker," a clear sign of support from one of the Democratic Party's rising liberal stars.

"All the challenges to Leader Pelosi are coming from her right, in an apparent effort to make the party even more conservative and bent toward corporate interests. Hard pass," the New York Democrat tweeted. "So long as Leader Pelosi remains the most progressive candidate for Speaker, she can count on my support."

The last sentence is very significant. At this point we will have to wait to see if the condition for support will be maintained.

Added: I didn't see much opposition to Pelosi from the right, assuming the right is a group other than the hard core base. The Wall Streeters liked Pelosi. In fact, if I remember, Trump liked her as Speaker. Her primary support is from the neolibs. I think her committee choice her is most likely a repayment.

In the second link above, the author is saying endorse but provides no quote. Pretty much an assumption based on the author's interpretation.

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wendy davis's picture

@exindy

but another fave was when she was on NPR's firing line, she paid homage to 'the great and wide-thinking william buckley' (or close; i can't dig it up).

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WaterLily's picture

@wendy davis "Not exactly an endorsement" isn't fucking good enough.

We need actual, pointed, opposition. If AOC were worth her salt, she wouldn't have gone all milquetoast on Pelosi.

TWELVE YEARS, people. (I'm going to make that my signature).

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@Dragonkat Ok - but that's not an endorsement. Neither is the link from Wendy Davis.

Saying AOC endorses Pelosi is a very specific accusation and one that needs more factual support.

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Dragonkat's picture

@Blueslide

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-endorse...

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/417896-ocasio-cortez-pelosi-has-my-su...

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2018/11/22/alexandria-ocasiocort...

As I sit here observing that if there's one thing partisans on both sides have in common its an inability to process facts that go against not the narratives so much as what they wish the narrative to be.

At which point I once again go, if AOC only supported Pelosi because the choice was someone worse, and Pelosi has not made it clear she doesn't give a rats ass about AOC and the left wing's priorities, as we've seen them come out against med for all and climate change.

Then why the bloody hell does AOC and the rest still stay with them?

From what I can see the only reason is patsy or sheepdog. How many times to we get fooled before we say enough is enough?

Get it through your head, she is not on your side, the dems are not on your side, and establishment is not on your side.

So it's time the establishment was taken out. If AOC is part of it, then as I've said previously collaborators deserve the same fate as traitors. And garner zero sympathy or support from me.

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See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be.

-The Joker-

@Dragonkat You have one problem...no solutions. Even if I agreed with your assessment of AOC, and I definitely do not, there is no third party. Waiting for a new party that splits the vote in a de facto two party system, never gets us any voice in our government.

I get it, everyone is butt hurt over the institutional Democrats. But the best a third party could do in the 2016 election was 4 million votes...and that was for the Libertarians. Jill Stein finished a distance 4th, in part, because she ran a part time campaign.

Meanwhile, the "Green New Deal", has been touted and advanced by AOC. It actually makes the MSM news and many have now heard of the plan to create jobs and improve the environment. This did not happen through 3rd party advocacy.

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Centaurea's picture

According to OpenSecrets, Rep. Kathy Castor's biggest campaign contributor during her congressional career (2005-18) has been Emily's List, the neoliberal PAC.

The industry that has donated the most to her campaigns is lawyers/lawfirms, to the tune of $580,223.

In her early political career in local Florida politics, it looks like she did some good things with respect to health care.

It also appears that she did some good things in her early years in D.C., such as voting against the bailout bill.

To give her the benefit of the doubt, she may have begun with good intentions, but it appears that she's been co-opted by the Beltway establishment, as so many others have. Maybe she's got stars in her eyes, thinking that this is her big chance to gain national recognition and be rewarded by the Dem Party leadership in Congress.

One thing's for sure: if Pelosi appointed her to chair this committee, that means Pelosi believes Castor can be counted on to deliver for the "powers that be".

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"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

The Aspie Corner's picture

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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.

dance you monster's picture

A poll released Monday found 81 percent of registered voters supported the policies outlined under the Green New Deal resolution ― including 64 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of self-described conservative Republicans.

We applaud the Yellow Vests and wish we had that here -- I'm not talking about the fashion accessory but about concrete action.

If "Democratic leaders" are going to block the way to a Green New Deal, if any change in the course or composition of political leadership is going to be blocked, any reform from within stymied, we have two obvious courses of action. Neither is within the Democratic Party.

Some of us can implement elements of the GND on our own, at any scale we can muster, individually and collectively. That's investing our resources -- our people, our everyday activities, our money (such as it is), our imaginations and energies -- to effect concrete changes. And there's a lot of activities that would fall under this category.

And the rest of us, the ones who don't want or have the means to do that constructive work, can still do more than just bemoan the politicians' obstruction. Clausewitz made one very interesting point in his tome on warfare: any soldier who is idle is, at that moment, hindering an army's success. Make every soldier do something at every moment to move your army closer to success. Clean the weapons, grease the wagons, feed the army, anything. Everyone should be involved in advancing, at every minute.

As some construct the future, others can tear down the obstacles. And that can be done in a manner that moves the conversation, just as Occupy did, just as the March on Washington did.

As just one example, consider what the freewayblogger does. We can shame them, the leaders who are failing us. Not on the Internet -- Twitter memes are useful to amplify a message, but coming so easy they are also easy to dismiss. Out there, large-scale, in the real physical world, where opposition is unexpected and all the more affective for being there at all. We should brand them, forever. Politicians, CEOs, media apologists for the status quo. Name names. Post -- scratch that, emblazon -- their pictures as the destroyers of the planet, as the people who, for another campaign donation, or year-end bonus, or another minute being feted, would comfortably watch your grandchildren die. Shame them visibly. Focused, indisputable, and vicious. Don't leave anyone out. So their family and friends will see it and shun them, too. And if anyone objects, remind them that swindlers used to be tarred and feathered, ridden on a rail, or locked in stocks. Branding on a billboard is a kindness.

That's just one, easy thing anyone can do. There are many more. Bring the machine to a halt, wherever it grinds.

The people who compare the GND to the ramp-up to fight WWII are exactly right. It's time to go on a war footing. The Powers That Be did that decades ago, against us. If you'll pardon the Godwin, we've been propagandized and kettled into our own Warsaw Ghettos. We've come to believe we are powerless, a conclusion they wanted us to embrace, to make us the inert consumers of whatever Amazon offers.

You want change? When will we step up?

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@dance you monster @dance you monster

We can write a million letters, sign a million petitions, make a million phone calls, and march a million strong. Unless we can force resignations from top to bottom everywhere,there is nothing we can do. They don't care. Money talks. It is all they will listen to. We are too far gone.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

dance you monster's picture

@dkmich

. . . I would agree are worse than useless; they are a misplacement of energies, part of that kettling I mentioned. No one ever fought a war with phone calls or petitions. I am suggesting other courses of action, many courses of action. The freeway blogging example is one of the cheapest, easiest, and gentlest of them.

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divineorder's picture

@dance you monster
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/12/14/are-new-congressional-prog...

Are the New Congressional Progressives Real? Use These Yardsticks to Find Out

1 Vigorously confront all the devious ways that Congressional bosses have developed to obstruct the orderly, open, accessible avenues for duly elected progressive candidates to be heard and to participate in Congressional deliberations from the subcommittees to the committees to the floor of the House. Otherwise, the constricting Congressional cocoon will quickly envelop and smother their collective energies and force them to get along by going along.
2 Organize themselves into an effective Caucus (unlike the anemic Progressive Caucus). They will need to constantly be in touch with each other and work to democratize Congress and substantially increase the quality and quantity of its legislative/oversight output.
3 Connect with the national citizen organizations that have backers all around the country and knowledgeable staff who can help shape policy and mobilize citizen support. This is crucial to backstopping the major initiatives these newbies say they want to advance. Incumbent progressives operate largely on their own and too rarely sponsor civic meetings on Capitol Hill to solicit ideas from civic groups. Incumbent progressives in both the House and the Senate do not like to be pressed beyond their comfort zone to issue public statements, to introduce tough bills or new bills, or to even conduct or demand public hearings.
4 Develop an empowerment agenda that shifts power from the few to the many – from the plutocrats and corporatists to consumers, workers, patients, small taxpayers, voters, community groups, the wrongfully injured, shareholders, consumer cooperatives, and trade unions. Shift-of-power facilities and rights/remedies cost very little to enact because their implementation is in the direct hands of those empowered – to organize, to advocate, to litigate, to negotiate, and to become self-reliant for food, shelter and services (Citizen Utility Boards provide an example of what can come from empowering citizens).
5 Encourage citizens back home to have their own town meetings, some of which the new lawmakers would attend. Imagine the benefits of using town meetings to jump-start an empowerment agenda and to promote long over-due advances such as a living wage, universal health care, corporate crime enforcement, accountable government writ large, renewable energy, and real tax reform.
6 Regularly publicize the horrendously cruel and wasteful Republican votes. This seems obvious but, amazingly, it isn’t something Democratic leaders are inclined to do. Last June, I urged senior Democrats in the House to put out and publicize a list of the most anti-people, pro-Wall Street, and pro-war legislation that the Republicans, often without any hearings, rammed through the House. The senior Democrats never did this, even though the cruel GOP votes (against children, women, health, safety, access to justice, etc.) would be opposed by more than 3 out of 4 voters.
7 Disclose attempts by pro-corporate, anti-democratic, or anti-human rights and other corrosive lobbies that try to use campaign money or political pressure to advance the interests of the few to the detriment to the many. Doing this publically will deter lobbies from even trying to twist their arms.
8 Refuse PAC donations and keep building a base of small donations as Bernie Sanders did in 2016. This will relieve new members of receiving undue demands for reciprocity and unseemly attendance at corrupt PAC parties in Washington, DC.
9 Seek, whenever possible, to build left/right coalitions in Congress and back home that can become politically unstoppable.
10 Demand wider access to members of Congress by the citizenry. Too few citizen leaders are being allowed to testify before fewer Congressional hearings. Holding hearings is a key way to inform and galvanize public opinion. Citizen group participation in hearings led to saving millions of lives and preventing countless injuries. Authentic Congressional hearings lead to media coverage and help to mobilize the citizenry. "

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

@divineorder Tucker Carlson the other night.

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dfarrah

@dance you monster " We can shame them, the leaders who are failing us." The gossip columns were full of the shenanigans of the rich and famous and their harebrained progeny. Think Affluenza. Vague enough, with no names, specific enough to read between the lines. Sort of like Drudge, but not the RW propaganda. Shame was a thing back then. Now there is none. Another obstacle to overcome is the instant pile on of any idea that's out of step. Almost like there's a hit squad prepped and ready before hand. KOS news is a good example.

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@Snode AIPAC is one of them.

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dfarrah

@dance you monster

now there's an idea.
seriously,folks.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@dance you monster

applause_600_03-19-15.jpg

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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

serves me right for thinking that the idea that "some creatures will remain true to their blackhearted selves" wasn't a truism.

"The fable is told in numerous ways, with a variety of creatures swapped in and out of its cast of characters.

When told in the forms quoted above, the story’s moral is universal: Some creatures just are what they are. It matters not how gently they are treated; their innate nature will cause them to unleash grievous harm even upon those who have lavished loving kindness upon them. Versions featuring a river crossing make an additional element of this cautionary tale mightily clear: Such creatures will remain true to their blackhearted selves even when they know their actions will be their undoing as well as their victims’.

The story uses animals to impart a caution about human behavior: Some folks are wholly irredeemable, says the legend, and woe betide those who forget that some cannot be dissuaded from their evilness, no matter who undertakes the rehabilitative efforts or how they are carried out. Ultimately, blame is laid at the victim’s feet for not accepting what he recognized and understood to be true but chose not to believe: “You knew what I was when you found me.” The victim’s arrogance in thinking he will be the one exception proves fatal, and his folly serves as a warning to others not to make the same mistake."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stinging-criticism/

Nothing like an old fool for thinking that Pelosi and the neolib crowd would eventually stumble on an altruistic attitude.

Mea culpa.

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OzoneTom's picture

@exindy
When I saw the title I said to myself "It's what she does."

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@OzoneTom and another: who didn't see that coming?

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dfarrah

things. Since when does a bunch of House Democrats equal "the government??

FYI, the Warren Court found a first amendment right of [video:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_association]. That is the right to associate with whomever you wish to associate and, concomitantly, the right not to associate with those with whom you'd rather not associate. It's odd, isn't it, that Democrats pretend that a restriction upon government applies to them, but freedom of association does not apply to them?

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Dragonkat's picture

Which was (rightly or wrongly for her own motives) the fact she and others were put into this situation because our "choice" was

A: A democrat corporate whore
B: An even bigger democrat corporate whore

At which point if you're truly serious about solving the problem I would think/hope your response would be . . .

C: You and the donkey you rode in on. It's time for a people's party.

Not picking that is where as far as I'm concerned she's irredeemably tainted. When the Democrats keep pulling the center right where is the pushback? And again we see where her calls for change went. Nowhere and fast.

So how many times (which we are running out of as a species) do we have to do this dance before we say enough? Shining a light on the roaches does little good unless you stomp them after.

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See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be.

-The Joker-

Look at what the people want from polling, such as Single Payer. Go after the Democrats in Congress mercilessly for not supporting the people's agenda. Organize demonstrations using all of these issues as talking points/signs. Threaten them, "we will not vote or support any Democratic candidate that does not support the people's issues". It is really true that there is zero correlation of the people's issues and what bills appear before Congress, and a strong correlation to the desires of corporations, the oligarchs and the MIC. So far the Congressional critters believe that they can finesse this during election time, that is, a public position and a private position. Sound familiar? That's why progressive Democratic positions in elections have to do with identity issues and nothing more substantive, like income disparity, endless wars, etc. But we vote for these fuckers. It's about time to call them out and to say loudly that you, the Dems, are no better than the Republicans and we will not vote for you. Although they don't need your money, it gets reported as to what percentage of their donations are in small denominations. Herheinous tried to cheat with fake small donations ($1 or so). So, don't give them any money until they support real progressive issues. Our "Liberal" Rep from Salem gets 7% of his campaign contributions from small donors. He is well owned by big money. We have been well tricked, e.g. Obama, to vote for these fakes. It's time to call them out for what they are, and end these cycles of election by fraud.

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Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

we let the corruptocrats take the house and now they're emboldened. Next Pelosi will change her name to Mussolini and the corruptocrats will take off their masks and reveal themselves as the identity politics fascist movement they are. In 2020 (it'll probably take a little longer than that)they will be reduced to a rump party "representing" a few big cities, holding just enough offices to prevent a replacement party from forming.
Unless Bernie and Tulsi and AOC stand up and yell, "Enough backstabbing! Enough sabotage! Viva la New Party!" and they'd better do it by March or we're all doomed.

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On to Biden since 1973

@doh1304 need to demexit.

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dfarrah