Fake Wars
The media is building up for a Battle Royale among Democrats – liberals vs. centrists.
That’s cool and I can live with that except it ain’t happenin’.
Dana Milbank offers some suggestions about this made-up “war among Democrats.
“Certainly, there are policy differences among Democrats, and those will come out whenever they are again in a position to govern rather than resist. But Democrats are more ideologically homogenous than they have been historically. The Southern conservatives are long gone, and there is no equivalent to the “New Democrats” of the Bill Clinton era. The party has been pulled to a populist consensus by Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and pushed there by the Trump plutocracy, which has showered riches on the wealthy and the corporate.
Milbank gives examples of wars in the primary that were supposed to happen but didn’t, specifically mentioning one in Texas. Beside the one Milbank mentioned, there was a second Democratic primary run off in my district where the minority female candidate campaigned mainly on “Vote for the Woman.” She had Our Revolution’s support. It didn’t work. The minority male had Labor and the Houston Chronicle endorsement. He talked about health care, education, and jobs. He won by 2 to 1.
I, like most Democrats, do not have a side in the Bernie – Hillary wars. I frankly don’t care. It’s over and nobody won. They can both kiss my big blue butt. Leave that smoldering heap of ashes alone and start thinking what you want the Democratic Party to be and then find someone to run on that platform.
I believe that campaigning on beating Trump or impeaching Trump will not win an election. Voters want to hear issues and plans. If we keep it on the issues, we win.
And the reason I know that is right here in this article. I knew the information in the article is true, but it still gave me a gut punch.
Sorry to start off the week being serious. But, it was either this or 1,500 missing children handed over to our government.
I read Milbank’s article too and think its well done. I’ve read in many places about successful primary and special election campaigns. No “wars” have happened and issues are flying all over. It’s the snacilbupeR who are at intra-party war and running on ugliness and lies, not issues.
1Yes, all that. The Democrats need to get young people, women, and people of color to run. I know we’re better at it that the repubeicans, but there’s room to improve.
2Evening/Morning JJ:
3I’m working evenings so it’s a toss up for me. Thank you SO much for the second link to the Berlatsky article.
This is the perfect example of what Lakoff talks about as far as liberals tackling issues right now, versus repugnantcans thinking long-term and conditioning folks for future elections. It’s truly repugnant. All so the powerfpowerul pay less while gaining more power, and the rest of us pay more while conceding more power to the powerful. Sounds like fascism to me.
To clarify, the first article linked, talks about immediate issues. The second article talks about untold millions of dollars, and long-term time spent brainwashing gullible people over decades. But that’s just my opinion, and I’m just as full of sh*t as anybody else.
4I habitually choose the democratic candidate, even if it is a cat. Last year, though, I LOVED Ralph Northam (D)of Virginia for governor starting from his public statement that he thought Trump was a narcissistic sociopath.
5That old tripe about a split in the Dem party is just that – stinking tripe Its what no talent journos do when they run out of copy for the evening edition. Lets understand that and march on.
6To paraphrase Carville, “It’s healthcare, education, and the economy (specifically income inequality), stupid.” Democratic candidates who are smart enough to remind themselves of this are going to win. Don’t let it become a national referendum (no matter how tempting, and don’t let it be about Impeachment – campaign on the issues. Run, do not walk, away from the idiots at the DNC.
Above all, it isn’t about Bernie, it isn’t about Hillary, it isn’t about “The Civil War,” it’s about your constituents and getting out the dang vote! Register those young folks who are tired of being target practice for the NRA. Get them involved in campaign activities, if they are involved they’ll show up to vote.
But by jinkies when Democrats get elected they need to DO SOMETHING! We are going to get one shot at this and if we don’t turn the House and Senate this November you can count on Trump being even more out of control than he is now (I know hard to believe), and we may never get our country back.
7One of the media’s problems is they call their articles “ stories.” This leads them to think in terms of memes rather than documenting facts.
My guess is that the media is still trying to frame everything Democrats do as a rerun of the 1968 Democratic Convention. Hippies versus the party structure. Thus, we always get “Democrats in disarray” stories, regardless of the facts.
8Yeah, but…
No, please, let’s not forget about Hillary and Bernie. That’s probably what wound up losing the mid-west for Hillary. The Russian bots were as much to blame for that poor relationship as anything else. Bernie’s hesitancy to support Hillary in the general election was a direct result of his feelings being hurt by the social media bickering encouraged by the fake news written in Moscow.
It can and will probably happen again in the upcoming elections unless a, or some, strong central figures rise above the affray and unify the party.
Make no mistake, the word on the political street is that this is a local and state election, not one of national scope — that being the position of the GOP because it wants us not to focus on Trump leading the ticket, while Dems who do not care for confronting the issue of the Orangenado accept said reasoning perhaps because it fits their gentle dispositions more easily.
Lest we forget the off-year elections when Senatorial candidates in Kentucky and Louisiana essentially opposed nothing and ran against their President Obama. Both easily lost.
Republicans are good at defining the debate, and dems appear well-prepared to follow those rules. Republicans also have come to realize all they have to do is win the primary, meaning win the base, then when the general comes along, enough milk-toast voters will go along simply because the ticket says “GOP” regardless of the issue. And most importantly, the Democratic base has not been motivated.
Don’t appreciate the NRA? Or misogynistics? Or racists? Or corporate states? Or Russian involvement? Well, say so. Stand for something. Otherwise you’ll be sitting alongside Hillary and Bernie in the cheap seats, playing second fiddle to people like Louie Gohmert and Blake Farenthold.
On to Paris…
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