The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

 

True. It's a certain view I think from some in the party that they will get all the votes of non-white voters so they don't have to make an effort. As long as that continues they will lose.

[JaneAusten]

That's why fighting gerry mandering and voter suppression is so important. I don't want to get into purity contests, but it's disappointing to see how unconcerned many democrats are with these things. All this talk of chasing WWC in Wisconsin for example, ignoring that 300,000 voters in that state who voted in the last election in 2012 were disenfranchised due to strict voter ID laws. 75% of those 300k were POC, pretending that eliminating hundreds of early voting sites in NC did not matter because they were in primarily African American communities, or that interstate cross check didn't eliminate over 1 million registered voters from the voter rolls in Ohio, guess what ethnicity they were. Jason Kander's group Let America Vote just opened up an information request inquiry into Indiana whose Sec of State just purged 500,000 voters this past month.

[marceline]

 

It's not Democrats doing that, it's "progressives." From what I've heard this was an issue with the women's movement too. You'd get these men claiming to be allies but they were only allies as long as they were deferred to. That's how it is now with white progressives. POC rejected their candidate and when we expected them to do what minorities have done for decades and put the coalition ahead of their first choice they shoved us into the crosshairs. Now Trump is being used by progressives to marginalize us even further. "We can't fight Trump if you coloreds and women keep demanding to be treated like equals."

 

 

This is a common problem with progressives. They keep looking for "the one." Then when that one has to deal with the real world and makes pragmatic decision then they become a "sellout." They build people up just so they can tear them down. It's one of the reasons I lose it when people say Michelle Obama should run. These folks just can't wait to nail her to the cross.

[MissLlanviewPA]

I honestly think he would be a strong candidate, but as this article points out, that's assuming if he ever wants to make the jump into politics.

 

But I promise I won't comment on this past posting this article, unless one of you asks a question/something actually happens regarding this in the future.. With my admittedly strong pro-Dem and pro-Cub bias, you guys have earned the right to either ignore me or beat me over the head with a frying pan for bringing this up.

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http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/26/could-theo-epstein-perform-a-miracle-for-the-democrats-215069?cmpid=sf

Edited April 26, 2017 by MissLlanviewPA

[Juliajms]

I agree. While I deeply resent being ruled by billionaires, once someone is out of office, I don't care how much money someone makes.  I say good luck to him and make that money.

[JaneAusten]

It's frankly a silly article and I am not a David Axelrod fan but I enjoyed reading it. For the record as a Chicagoan and a Sox fan like Obama, I was thrilled the Cubs won. I knew mgmt. was serious (unlike when the Tribune owned them) in building a World Series team when they hired Epstein. I'm a big Epstein fan and I think he'd probably do well but I don't believe he has one bit of interest in any of it. I can't imagine why he would. But hey stranger things have happened.

[marceline]

Barack Obama gave this country his best for eight years against immoral, venal opposition all while his wife was called a tranny and his kids were called monkeys. People who were supposed to be on his side ran from his accomplishments and/or sold him out and threw away his hard work and legacy. Now those same people want even more from him. If Barack Obama wants to spend the rest of his natural born days hanging out with celebrities and billionaires, sitting on a yacht smoking the best weed money can buy and sexing up Michelle on the regular, he does so with my blessing. He owes us nothing.

[Juliajms]

The chutzpah these people have continues to amaze me. The Republicans propose to exempt themselves from the worst of their own healthcare plan.

https://www.vox.com/2017/4/25/15429982/gop-exemption-ahca-amendment

 

 

[DeeeDee]

That's why the ridiculous amount of time Democrats spend trying to "win" people over by pointing out Republican lapses of logic is a complete waste of time. 

[JaneAusten]

Nancy Pelosi Challenger

 

So this is how we all unite to fight Trump is by contesting solid democrats. I'm not even a Pelosi fan but seriously they are going to contest her in a solid blue district and not go after a red district you know the districts where all those WWC men they want n the party are?

 

Do what we are doing in Illinois. Gain control of the house first and then start contesting the solid blue districts. We have a lot of cronies here in our state legislature led by democrat Mike Madigan who I would love to see gone. But with our idiot GOP do nothing right to work loving Governor, I am glad Madigan is there now. Anyone else might have rolled over for Governor Rauner. Once Rauner is out, go after Madigan. The so called "progressives" contesting Pelosi's seat should follow the same path. You really want a newbie in the House and the former speaker gone with the GOP and Trump in charge?

[rhinohide]

Some of you might be interested. Deray McKesson will be hosting a new podcast called Podsave The People. Just FYI. 

[Vee]

 

+1

 

 

Exactly.

Trump's victory and America's role in it came from the same place on both the far right and the far left. The white far left had been seething about the same creeping sense of loss of agency and power since Obama took power in 2008. They'll never admit this but it is the truth, and it's what comes out in their current angle - a lot of angry white men whose clicks and circulation went down post-Bush (Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, etc), ginning rage up again against Democrats, 'sellouts' and focusing on the '60s white savior who can make them feel the most relevant and most importantly, back in control of the future American narrative. A black man took it from them, the world began to change, and a woman was not going to rob them again.

 

In this sense they are not much different from the impotent rage and creeping fear of change that gave us the far right.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Vee

[DRW50]

Oh look, another broken Trump promise for the far right (and the far left).

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/26/trump-nafta-withdrawal-mexico-canada-237670

[marceline]

 

By now those of us on the left need to stop freaking out with every EO. It's very clear he uses them to ratchet up the reality show drama and create the illusion of real action. He drops a bunch of EO's then backtracks. Typical conman behavior.

 

Neither the far right or the far left seem to realize that NAFTA was a Republican idea. The Agreement itself was signed by Bush 1. The thing that Clinton signed was the NAFTA Implementation Act. Yet somehow the Republicans have managed to fool people into blaming Clinton for NAFTA.

[DramatistDreamer]

Having failed with China and been forced to eat his words, Trump apparently believes that Canada is low-hanging fruit and has decided to try to initiate a trade war with them over Canadian lumber.

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If Trump keeps trying to bully Canada, he may end up on the receiving end of a jujitsu move, courtesy of Trudeau.