@edg

Briahna Joy Gray, Bernie's national press secretary. BJG, not BGJ.

That's white, male Briahna Joy Gray. [/s]

Biden Goddamn Joe?

@Le Frog

Requiem for a Lightweight

Markos Moulitsas was once the face of American progressivism. That shouldn't happen again.

For most people, the natural reaction upon learning Markos Moulitsas had penned a blog post titled “Be Happy for Coal Miners Losing Their Health Insurance. They’re Getting Exactly What They Voted For” probably went something like this:

“What is this? This is awful.”

“Hmm. That is awful.”

Or, perhaps, “Who? What is this website? This is awful to me.”

Twelve years later, and it feels like we are a much longer way away from the halcyon era of the Howard Dean campaign. It is baffling to think the losing Democratic primary campaign of a yelping pharma shill in the pay of a violent Iranian cult could be some high-water mark for liberals. But to at least one rapidly graying liberal clique, it is.

Such is — was — the mindset of Markos Moulitsas, or “Kos,” as he is insufferably known: an un-person already, at the youngish age of forty-five.

The Markos Moulitsas of 2016 uneasily lingers on from those heady Netroots days, like some errant looping transmission from a long-lost spaceship — a hologram still beaming from some distant spot in the galaxy, screeching about a Borg attack that claimed his life many lightyears ago.

Kos wasn’t as reliably liberal as the MoveOn community. Although he opposed the Iraq War, he supported the invasion of Afghanistan. His favorite Democrats were not Eastern cultural liberals like [John] Kerry but Westerners who combined economic populism with libertarian views on social issues like gun control. He disdained the conventions of identity politics among Democratic interest groups. In a book Moulitsas co-authored with [Jerome] Armstrong, the two suggested that Democrats were too doctrinaire in demanding support for legalized abortion.

It was a kiss of death, then and now — a catch-22 of its own. If your political beliefs — such as those of Bernie Sanders — pose even a mild threat to the corporate and ideological interests that dominate the Democratic Party, then you will be ruthlessly shut out, lest you make any progress in trying to turn it into a party of the people. If, however, establishment Democrats can make peace with you and let you join the club, then you are not really a threat at all to “history’s second-most enthusiastic capitalist party.”

Moulitsas and those like him did not challenge this — they never talked in really sharp terms of anything as unseemly as class conflict because, useful idiots that they were, they didn’t see it. Worse, they seemed to actually believe in the Democratic Party as a good institution — one perhaps in need of a tune-up, but fundamentally a sound body.

First and foremost, thank you for wading back into that diarrhea quagmire for us. You are my favourite diarist here and I worry that you will get some kind of PTSD from reading that shit.

Let's talk about unity. Disagreement is normal. Disagreement during primaries is healthy. If you feel fractured and fragile because of disagreement, get out of the way. Calling for unity does not add to these conversations, and instead detracts from the fact that Bernie Sanders, even while losing in 2016, has redefined the party (and also elections altogether). Think about how many issues are now prominent parts of Democratic platforms and how many people running for office are proud Berniecrats and ACTUAL SOCIALISTS. Who else is doing this? But let's instead focus on unity - and by unity, we're really talking about conformity. From only Sanders, Biden is fine, he doesn't need to hear the pleas for unity.

Worse than calling for unity are the simpletons out there calling on candidates (mostly Bernie, sometimes Trump) to control their supporters. Why, can they remotely CTL+ALT+DEL and put people on sleep mode? As odious as one may find these individuals, they have the freedom to support who they want and express it how they want, and literally no one else should control that. For instance, I think it is weird and unsettling the way Americans constantly chant "USA! USA! USA!" but if that's how you want to celebrate, do you! Anyway, I'd love if one of these beleaguered souls could explain what exactly is the expectation of supposedly getting these supporters under control? How, via daily Twitter roll call? Does Bernie send you an email calling people out for anti-unity? As reporter via the form on his website?