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Post by jdredd on Feb 2, 2018 2:27:57 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/opinion/abortion-democrats-compromise.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region"We also shouldn’t take millennial voters for granted. Boomers saw the pro-choice movement as integral to their feminism. Millennials do not. In 1991, 36 percent of young voters thought abortion should be legal in all circumstances; now only 24 percent do. Young voters don’t like the Republican total ban. But they don’t like our position, either. Moreover, young pro-choice voters are much more ambivalent or apathetic than young pro-life ones. I’m asking us to rethink our priorities. What does America need most right now? One of our talking points is that late-term abortions are extremely rare. If they are extremely rare, why are we giving them priority over all of our other issues combined?" Here's David Brooks pretending he's a Democratic consultant. Weird, I know, but here it is. His point is that the Democrats should give up on abortion rights so they can get more important issues done. What are these more important issues since both the Democrats and Republicans have the same pro-war foreign policies? I don't know. We should have at least one party that isn't pandering to religious fanatics.
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Post by jdredd on Feb 10, 2018 12:01:53 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/opinion/one-honorable-americans-love-of-trump.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region"And what of the president’s racism, lies, warmongering outbursts, vulgarity, and attacks on a free press and the judiciary? “Go beyond the noise,” Kennedy tells me. “Don’t take him at face value. If I thought he was a racist, I’d be off the train so fast you’d have to mail me my shadow. Respect the office of the presidency.” I disagree. Respect for the office must begin with Trump, who’s sullied it with mendacity, bigotry and autocratic contempt for the Constitution. Still, I respect Kennedy. He’s served his country. He’s a patriot. He’s no “deplorable.” He’s smart. The Democratic Party should listen to him, or risk losing in 2020. The message is clear. The same old, same old (for example, Joe Biden) won’t work. A whiff of got-the-system-rigged elitism from the Democrats will be fatal. A strong economic program for working Americans is essential. Look to purple-state America, not blue-state coastal America, for a candidate who is grappling with the country’s toughest issues and is strong on can-do, down-to-earth values." Same old advice to Dems. Gotta pander to the white working class even if that means sticking it to immigrants. Sorry, the Dems will never be able to out-pander the GOP. And what WTF are "can do, down-to-earth" values? Nativism and jingoism?
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Post by jdredd on Mar 20, 2018 1:02:24 GMT -5
Well, that old fossil Nancy Pelosi won't get out of the way, so the Dumbocrats will be the same old tired party for a while yet. How old is she? 110? Anyway, at least Gov Moonbeam is heading off into the sunset. Feinstein needs to do the same.
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Post by jdredd on Mar 21, 2018 1:31:46 GMT -5
So Miranda is running against Gov. Cuomo. Wish I was there to vote for her. But old school Cuomo is probably a shoe-in. Same old Democrat Party.
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Post by jdredd on Apr 20, 2018 11:56:53 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/opinion/cynthia-nixon-democrats-governor.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region"After Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders’s strong showing in the primary, many in the Democratic Party are able to read the writing on the wall: They need to move left. But who wants to step in? Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York. In the past two years, Mr. Cuomo — with an eye on national office — has rebranded himself from conservative insider to left-wing populist. Last year, he even held a news conference with Mr. Sanders to announce a “free college” plan. (The plan, unsurprisingly, turned out to be full of not-very-progressive loopholes.) The truth is, the governor wears his new identity like a cheap suit — stretched and baggy in all the wrong places. The good news is that despite his ambition, Mr. Cuomo probably has little chance of capturing a presidential nomination. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need a strong challenge from the left. If New York’s activists can keep Mr. Cuomo from striding onto the national stage in 2020 under a thin veneer of Bernie-ism, we can send the Democrats a message they need to hear." I sure hope the Democrats don't run Cuomo in 2020 with his warmed-over Clintonism. And who can believe pot is still illegal in New York? WTF?
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Post by jdredd on Jun 26, 2018 15:46:51 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/us/politics/trump-liberal-activists-shaming.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news"The attempts at shaming have delighted many on the left, particularly following Mr. Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents, and many progressives feel that the president’s incendiary messaging and actions must be met with something far stronger than another round of news releases from politicians. But the social media-fueled confrontations have opened a rift in the party over whether stoking anti-Trump outrage is helping or undermining its prospects in the midterm elections. Many younger Democrats believe that conventional politics are insufficient to the threat posed by a would-be authoritarian — and that their millennial and nonwhite base must be assured that the party is doing all it can to halt Mr. Trump. Older and more establishment-aligned party officials fear the attempts at public humiliation are a political gift to Republicans eager to portray the opposition as inflaming rather than cooling passions in the nation’s capital." Uh-oh. The Clintonesque Democratic old guard is having trouble with the in-your-face attitudes of some younger Democrats. You can guess what side I am on, because what has playing nicey-nice bought us? "Inflaming" passions is long overdue.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 27, 2018 1:54:57 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/nyregion/joseph-crowley-ocasio-cortez-democratic-primary.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-ab-top-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news"Representative Joseph Crowley of New York, once seen as a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi as Democratic leader of the House, suffered a shocking primary defeat on Tuesday, the most significant loss for a Democratic incumbent in more than a decade, and one that will reverberate across the party and the country. Mr. Crowley was defeated by a 28-year-old political newcomer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former organizer for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, who had declared it was time for generational, racial and ideological change.The last time Mr. Crowley, 56, even had a primary challenger, in 2004, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was not old enough to vote. Mr. Crowley, the No. 4 Democrat in the House, had drastically outspent his lesser-known rival to no avail, as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign was lifted by an aggressive social media presence and fueled by attention from national progressives hoping to flex their muscle in a race against a potential future speaker." Ha-ha! A Clintonian Boomer Democrat had his ass kicked by a Millenial Sandersista! I hope the Dems will dump Pelosi next.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 29, 2018 11:13:46 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/nyregion/joseph-crowley-party-boss-queens.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news"Mr. Crowley was a product of Queens, New York City’s most stubborn stronghold of party bosses. The Democratic machine there persevered even after the 1986 suicide of its powerful leader, Donald R. Manes, who took his own life amid a corruption scandal. It marched on despite demographic changes that transformed the borough from a bedroom community synonymous with the cantankerous conservatism of Archie Bunker to the teeming home of some of the nation’s most diverse neighborhoods — and an increasingly progressive Democratic base." "Some chalked up his loss to the diverse demographics of Queens, where a quarter of the residents are white — down from about 50 percent in 1990 — finally catching up with the party leadership, as a female candidate of color challenged an established white male leader in an anti-establishment year. Others pointed to how Ms. Ocasio-Cortez outperformed Mr. Crowley in Sunnyside and Astoria, where a younger and more liberal collection of white Democrats has replaced some older, more centrist ones.Mr. Crowley’s defeat underscored how candidates, angry at the status quo and looking for change, increasingly are not content to wait their turn — and are less fearful of the party than they might have been a decade ago."
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Post by jdredd on Jul 7, 2018 2:13:08 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/opinion/democratic-socialism-alexandria-ocasio-cortez.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-regionIt’s possible Democrats will surrender to the illusion that they can have both, puffing the sails of Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow travelers. But a Democratic Party seriously interested in defeating congressional Republicans in the fall and Trump in 2020 isn’t going to win by turning itself into a right-wing caricature of the left, complete with a smug embrace of whatever it conceives to be “socialism.” If Trump is the new Nixon, the right way to oppose him isn’t to summon the ghost of George McGovern. Try some version of Bill Clinton (minus the grossness) for a change: working-class affect, middle-class politics, upper-class aspirations. I’ve written elsewhere that a chief danger to democracy is a politics in which the center bends toward the fringe instead of the fringe bending toward the center. It’s the way Trump became president. But the antidote to one extreme isn’t another, and Democrats will only win once they reclaim the vital center of American politics. The center is Dayton and Denver, not Berkeley and Burlington. The center is Harry Truman and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, not Eugene Debs and Michael Harrington. Democrats who want to win should know this." Here is one of the NYT's new hires from Murdochland telling Democrats what they must do (plus he is a wise sage at 44 Heck, he wasn't even born in 1972). Thank you, but who asked? His idea for the Democratic Party is Harry Truman (one of our worst Presidents) and Bill Clinton (one of our worst Presidents). Thanks, but no thanks. Just what they need is a return to Clintonism. If that's what the Democrats need to win, what's the point of winning? All you get is Republican Lite.
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Post by jdredd on Jul 11, 2018 5:01:50 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/07/10/opinion/centrist-democrats-midterms.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region"The idea that the Democratic Party’s energy and future are concentrated on the left comes partly from the early jockeying in the 2020 presidential race. Potential candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand are wagering that progressives will have a significant say in who gets the Democratic nomination and advancing measures like Medicare for All and the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. But it’s doubtful that either of those reforms would garner majority support in a House controlled by Democrats, a crucial contingent of whom would be more like Lamb than like Ocasio-Cortez. “That type of agenda doesn’t sit well outside of the districts of the people who are advocating it,” said Representative Tom Reed, a New York Republican who, along with Gottheimer, leads the Problem Solvers Caucus, a House group of 24 Republicans and 24 Democrats who meet weekly to identify areas of bipartisan agreement such as infrastructure investment and improvements to the Affordable Care Act. If the outcome of the midterms is a House with a narrow Democratic or Republican majority — a scenario that currently looks probable — these centrists could wield significant power, and those issues would have more traction than progressives’ favorite causes would." Here's a NYT columnist praising the "Can't we all get along?" centrists in the Dem party. Yes, the centrists have accomplished so much in the last 40 years or so.
NOT.
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Post by jdredd on Jul 15, 2018 4:50:01 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/us/politics/feinstein-california-democrats.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news"LOS ANGELES — Six weeks after winning an overwhelming victory among California primary voters, Senator Dianne Feinstein suffered an embarrassing setback Saturday night as the state Democratic Party officially endorsed her rival for election this November. Kevin de León, the Democratic leader in California’s State Senate, won the support of the party leadership despite an effort by Ms. Feinstein to convince the party not to offer an endorsement. The vote for Mr. de León reflected the rise of younger liberal activists in the California Democratic leadership, some of whom regard Ms. Feinstein as a moderate compared with the intensely progressive voices who are coming up through the party ranks. These activists tend to be younger and more left-leaning than the state party at large. Mr. de León, 51, remains a long-shot candidate in his two-way race against the 85-year-old Ms. Feinstein in November; the two Democrats are facing each other, with no Republican in the mix, after they prevailed in the state’s so-called “top two” open primary last month. Still, the vote for Mr. de Leon was a reminder of Ms. Feinstein’s tepid support among liberal Democrats as the party debates how to take on President Trump in the fall midterm elections." Sadly, Fossil Feinstein won't take the hint and will cling to power until God sets her free.
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Post by jdredd on Jul 27, 2018 2:58:08 GMT -5
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Post by jdredd on Aug 3, 2018 2:25:59 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/opinion/democrats-midterm-identity-crisis.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region"While Republicans have clearly been pushed well to the right of center by their activist wing, the results of House and Senate elections in recent years suggest continued public reluctance to give Democrats control of Congress. Since 1995, Republicans have held the majority in the Senate 15 years to the Democrats’ 9. Over the same period, Republicans have controlled the House 20 years to the Democrats’ 4. There is no way the Democratic Party would jettison the party’s social justice wing nor should it. The record does suggest, however, that Democrats need to do a better job of managing the conflict between the centrist corpus of the party and both of its activist left wings — one cultural, one economic — if it expects to fully capitalize on the opportunities that President Trump and his allies have bestowed on them." Here's one more voice in the chorus that the Dems need to do better at pandering to the white working class to get back on top. And once again I will say it's too late for that, the white working class is lost, so stick to doing what is good and just.
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Post by jdredd on Sept 8, 2018 19:45:39 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/us/politics/democratic-party-midterms.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Politics"The Democratic primary elections of 2018 have brought an end to an era of deference by liberals to establishment leaders in Washington and the states, as an emboldened coalition of women, young people and racial minorities claimed ownership of the party and steered it to war against President Trump. In an echo of the Republican Party’s metamorphosis in the early years of Barack Obama’s presidency, when Tea Party activists on the right revolted against Republican elites and reforged the G.O.P. as a party of fire-breathing rural populism, Democratic voters and activists have increasingly succeeded at transforming their party into a more ambitious liberal force. In key races, they have also replaced elected leaders with newcomers who look and sound like the diverse, youthful base that the party relies on in presidential elections but that asserts itself sparingly in midterm elections and down-ballot primaries. Should that mood of insurgency prevail on Election Day, it could set the stage for an even more tumultuous phase of redefinition next year: A liberal base that feels validated after November may be unlikely to heed calls from party leaders to pick their battles in the new Congress, or to approach the 2020 race with sensitivity to more conservative sections of the country. The next presidential primaries could become a climactic test for the awakened Democratic base, with women and candidates of color holding an appeal others might struggle to match." It's going to take time, but the end of the sclerotic Old Guard in the Democrat party may be at hand, replaced by a younger, not-so-white group of activists. This is what I wanted to happen if Trump was elected.
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Post by jdredd on Sept 14, 2018 2:40:46 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/nyregion/andrew-cuomo-cynthia-nixon-wins-governors-race.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo took a decisive step toward a third term on Thursday, quelling a liberal rebellion by turning aside the insurgent challenge of Cynthia Nixon to claim the Democratic nomination in New York. Mr. Cuomo had marshaled the support of nearly all of the state and country’s most powerful Democratic brokers — elected officials, party leaders, labor unions and wealthy real estate interests — to defeat Ms. Nixon, beating her by 30 percentage points. The race cemented both Mr. Cuomo’s standing as an unmatched force in New York politics and a merciless tactician with little regard for diplomacy. Ms. Nixon had cast her first-time candidacy as a fight for the direction of the Democratic Party in New York and beyond, offering a pure brand of liberalism against Mr. Cuomo’s more triangulating pragmatism, a style defined less by ideology and more by what he deemed possible." So old fart Cuomo easily defeated Miranda. What a shame. But what did you expect from dirty New York politics?
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