Corporate Democrats Strike Back
The DNC raised a few eyebrows yesterday when they appointed Donna Brazile to the Rules & Bylaws Committee. But if you thought that was a slap in the face to progressives, check out who they are kicking out.
The removal and demotion of a handful of veteran operatives stood out, as did what critics charge is the over-representation of Clinton-backed members on the Rules and Bylaws Committee, which helps set the terms for the party's presidential primary, though other Sanders and Ellison backers remain represented.Those who have been pushed out include:
Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic chairman and longtime DNC official who ran against Perez for chair before backing Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Buckley lost his spots on the Executive Committee and DNC Rules Committee.
James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute and prominent Sanders backer, is no longer co-chair of the Resolutions Committee and is off the Executive Committee, a spot he has held since 2001.
Alice Germond, the party’s longtime former secretary and a vocal Ellison backer, who was removed from her at-large appointment to the DNC.
Barbra Casbar Siperstein, who supported Ellison and Buckley, was tossed from the Executive Committee.
Naturally, there were two different spins on these moves: a) the establishment spin and b) reality.
“They’re not accommodating, or even trying to accommodate, the Bernie people,” said James Zogby, a Sanders ally and founder of the Arab American Institute, who was not reappointed by Perez to serve on the DNC’s executive committee. “I don’t want this fight and still don’t want to have a fight, but I’m troubled. This doesn’t look good.”
“Not a single person from the Bernie camp is in the new bylaws groups, but five people from the Clinton side are,” Zogby said. “That’s not a way to get unity.”
..."It’s alarming. We just had a contested DNC chairs race and now there are fewer party reformers on this committee than there were before the race," said Nomiki Konst, a Sanders ally and lefty commentator who has also served as a member of the unity reform commission. "This is really, really bad.”
The DNC appears to be a lost cause and dangerous enemy to progressives for the short and intermediate term, but don't be mistaken that the corporate Democrats aren't determined to keep their boot on the necks of progressives elsewhere.
California Democratic stalwarts are growing increasingly worried about Kevin de León’s insurgent challenge of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
...“This campaign against Dianne is a campaign against the wrong person at the wrong time,” said Phil Angelides, a former state party chairman and the Democratic nominee for governor in 2006. Angelides said he welcomes a debate within the party about its future. But he sees no upside to what he considers an “improbable” challenge to Feinstein, who he put in a class alongside California legends like Hiram Johnson and Earl Warren.
Dana Williamson, a Democratic consultant not involved in the Senate race, called the challenges a “distraction.”
“A truly progressive agenda can’t be accomplished with Donald Trump in the White House and a Republican majority in Congress,” Williamson said. “We should all be focused on winning back Democratic majorities, starting with the seven vulnerable Republicans here in California.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, an early supporter of de León, bristled at the idea nobody should take on Feinstein as “the old way of thinking ... This is the 21st century and the era of party bosses is over,” he said.
I've never voted for a Republican in my life, but if the liberals can't knock off Feinstein in the primaries, I'll make an exception in 2018.
Comments
It will be a cold day in h3ll before
I ever vote for a Repuke. Unfortunately, we've got a real stinker shaping up here in hurricane-ville. I'm talking Old Man Democrat Bill Nelson vs. Rick Pukehead Repuke Medicare Crook Scott. Yep, Vomithead figures if he can be re-elected as Governor, running for US Senate will be a breeze. You got it made if the worse is Feinstein in your state. No problem, it's called write-in and I plan on doing it!! Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
And he'll win, too.
After all, Bill Nelson likely already has some cushy lobbyist job lined up for when he loses. They all do.
As for congresscritters, mine is Bill Posey, a Republican who has run virtually unopposed since he took office in 2008.
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.
@orlbucfan I read Caucus99%, but
I read Caucus99%, but had never signed up. I had to create an account just to reply to you and let you know you do have another choice for the primary at least. Tamika Lyles (http://lylesforsenate.com/) is a fairly progressive Democrat who will be primarying Bill Nelson. She supports Medicare-for-All and some other progressive stances. It's a long shot that she could win against him, but you could always write in her name in the general if you can't vote for the other two.
Also shameless plug for our Medicare-for-All fundraiser on Reddit: It has a list of candidates who support Medicare-for-All and are primarying an incumbent US Senator or Representative (Dem or Repub) who does not. Here is the link - https://redd.it/71rx0l. There are at least 5 in Florida and many in other states. Note: we have not done all states yet, so this is not a complete list.
As Carlin said,
"It's a big club, and you ain’t in it! You, and I, are not in the big club."
I used to get angry when people would say "both parties are shitty" "neither party cares about the Average Joe". It always seemed to be (at least somewhat) a lazy piece of thinking. Except that it's true. With a few exceptions, politicians at the national level care only about the top ten per cent (or an even smaller percentage- it varies from pol to pol).
If something politicians do in order to benefit their masters/megadonors just happens to benefit the hoi polloi by accident, they gladly trumpet that action. But make no mistake, it's only by accident when it happens.
The selfishness of these creeps drives me nuts. Do you think Nancy Pelosi would have the introspection or courage to say to herself "We lose House race after House race every other November when the Rethug candidate has an ad with the Dem nominee and my picture superimposed and a sinister voiceover saying 'Do we want Joe Democrat to bring Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco values to our neck of the woods?' Maybe I should retire at 78 years of age for the good of the country." Of course she won't.
It's not just Pelosi, though. It's almost all of them. Chuck "Mr. Wall Street" Schumer, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Barack Obama, Hillary and every other right-center Democrat; you know, the ones that FDR would have despised and Eleanor would have loathed.
Sorry about the rant but I've had it up to my eyeballs with their 14 carat, phony kayfabe. It makes me sick. And today, for some reason, I feel like ranting. It just happens.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
Sen. Schemer is vulnerable.
He, and Cuomo get elected by the big city voters. I believe a credible Green or DSA or WFP candidate, running a credible, truth-telling campaign, could carry all of the upstate, rural areas, just like Teachout did against Andy Cuomo, and maybe knock Schemer out in a primary.
Mary Bennett
Correction
They get elected by many big city voters...
but not this one!
Yaldabaoth, Saklas I'm calling you. Samael. You're not alone. I said, you're not alone, in your darkness. You're not alone, baby. You're not alone. "Original Sinsuality" Tori Amos
Might there possibly
be more like you?
Mary Bennett
My sister and daughter
are two others.
Yaldabaoth, Saklas I'm calling you. Samael. You're not alone. I said, you're not alone, in your darkness. You're not alone, baby. You're not alone. "Original Sinsuality" Tori Amos
If anything, centrist power center Dems
feel emboldened and that the future is theirs - these are just the first expressions of their exuberance.I heard today that in a generic ballot, Dems currently hold a 15% lead over Rs. In light of this, how many exhortations have you heard by the media telling Democrats that they can blow the upcoming midterms if they "go too far left"?
IMO, the Dems greatest fear is a tide election that throws out too many Republicans, who recently revealed a little too much reptilian cold bloodedness. The Dems really want a scant majority so they can still trot out the need for bi-partisanship and pragmatism while undercutting and privatizing the safety nets, among other goals.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
That bit about "we'll never pass a progressive
agenda with Donald Trump in the White House" just confirms for me that the Rump was part of their plan. It really is a perfect "excuse" for them and they're going to keep on using it.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
The purge continues.
The tickets on the Titanic have been purchased.
But the band is exceptional
and they'll keep playing no matter what happens
A seige mentality...
is a common symptom of failing organizations.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Good ones (nm)
Her Lost Because Her Lurched
To The Left. An op ed in the NY Slimes from Douglas Schoen, a pollster and advisor to Bill Clinton:
Why Democrats Need Wallstreet
Hat tip, link and analysis by Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo:
https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2017/10/entrepreneurs-entrepreneurin-by....
"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
Aaaaaaaaaa-HAHAHAHA.
Her "lurched" all right. And then she broke her toe.
@Meteor Man They left behind the Bill
They left behind the Bill Clinton version of liberalism?
Damn, I'm sorry to have missed that. How long did it last?
"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
I Missed It Too
I guess it was when Her Lurched to the left.
"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
@Meteor Man No wonder the guys
No wonder the guys with earpieces threw her unceremoniously into a van at that point.
"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
@Meteor Man Like Clinton economics is
Like Clinton economics is good for the small businessperson. FFS.
"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
Saw that
Fortunately, I take a shower right after reading the paper in the morning...
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
De Leon being touted as
the "progressive" challenge to Feinstein is a farce. De Leon is just another sold out corporate Dem IMO.
He's sponsored by most of the same big donors as Feinstein:
He gets a lot of credit for letting the California single payer bill move forward (but never expressed loud & proud support for it). He supports charter schools and payday lenders.
De Leon's role, I think, is to crowd out the real progressive in the race, David Hildebrand.
Also, guess who is all-in for De Leon. Our good friend and fearless leader at TOP loves him some faux progressives with the right identity.
Too true
He's not a real progressive.
Still, Feinstein is so bad that even he looks good in comparison.
@gjohnsit Agreed. This is one
Agreed. This is one case where I would most certainly vote for the lesser evil. Anything to get rid of Feinstein.
Ray Buckley, the New
Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic chairman and longtime DNC official who ran against Perez for chair before backing Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Buckley lost his spots on the Executive Committee and DNC Rules Committee.
That, my friends, is called payback. And that's what a Clinton-run DNC/Democratic party runs on: their list of who's naughty and who's nice.
This is still the wallpaper on my desktop, in case I'm ever tempted to forget what the Democratic Party actually is:
Nothing that looks like that can ever be truly helpful.
"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
DNC Rules Committee
Bwahahahaa!
Why even have one?
@Deja Actually, that's a
Actually, that's a really good question. It's not like they're gonna follow any rules except "Don't piss the Clintons off. Or our paymasters."
I tend to have that thought about Congress and the law generally, these days. Not sure what the point is.
"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
Yes, that and
he couldn't deliver NH for Her... Bernie won in a landslide. Still pisses me off that after the primary it was all "it (Bernies win) doesn't matter because she still gets half the delegates and she has so many super delegates she'll win anyway."
Posey has a challenger - Dena
Posey has a challenger - Dena Grayson (D) - but she does not come across as particularly progressive - no mention of Medicare-for-All or other important progressive positions on her website - http://denaforcongress.com/issues/.
This was meant as a reply to The Aspie Corner, but I'm still figuring out posting on Caucus99%.
Berniecrats should walk out on the Unity Commission
@gjohnsit Sort of like global
Sort of like global warming tipping points, the number of times Berniecrats should have walked out on the other Democrats are mounting.
"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
I just leaned about this from Tim Canova
He is still trying to take out DWS, so send him a few bucks if you can. There are many worthy politicians, but taking her out would be huge.
In a related story from the NYT this morning, I give you this:
Her ran a flawless campaign with perfect advice but was sabotaged by Russian ad buys. Yet one of her advisors worked for years to make sure that they could do just that.
You can't make this stuff up.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Marc Elias
Marc Elias was the general legal counsel for the Clinton campaign. As a partner at the D.C. law firm Perkins Coie, he also serves as the DNC's lead attorney.
If the name Perkins Coie rings a bell, it could be because they are representing the DNC and Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the DNC fraud lawsuit.
There are wikileaks documents that show Marc Elias working with the DNC and Clinton campaign.
"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
Just got a letter today from the WA state Dems asking for money
I feel like printing this out and mailing it back to them...
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg