Democratic (Party) Direction

https://i.imgur.com/fm72dKp.jpg

hi it's me, jim fucking galloway

Just got back from early voting for Abrams.

And Emily's List, which is about as establishment Democratic as you can get, endorses Stacey Evans in the Georgia gubernatorial primary over Stacey Abrams

Ya mixed up your Staceys. Abrams got the endorsement.

Stacey Evans is basically a wet noodle of a candidate, white or not.

It’s cute that her divorced parents have started dating each other because of the campaign, though. That would be solid gold rom-com material back when Michael Douglas was in everything.

then the ex/new wife would accuse him of rape

Yeah I too got confused by the two Staceys, sorry, I said the exact opposite of what I meant. Emily's List endorsed Abrams.

maple cocaine is owed royalties at this point

.@SenGillibrand talking up importance of women in power at CAP conference: “If it wasn’t Lehman Brothers but Lehman Sisters we might not have had the financial collapse."

— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) May 15, 2018

As we all know, women are never greedy or unscrupulous.

I know it's just a line and not a policy plank or anything but man that does not inspire confidence

Because she’s not owning up to the fact that capitalist speculation inexorably leads to boom-bust cycles and ruined lives? Or just because it sounds lame?

Lehwoman Sisters

Because she’s not owning up to the fact that capitalist speculation inexorably leads to boom-bust cycles and ruined lives? Or just because it sounds lame?

Both of those, but also the whole idea that hiring women CEOs/execs is any kind of structural fix to much of anything is pretty popular and also wrong

It’s just a corny women’s solidarity joke. It’s weird that so many people complete the process of posting the Maple Cocaine” callback and don’t stop when they how cringey and embarrassing it is.

*when they realize how

Regardless of its jokeness, a lot of people earnestly think along these lines and they really don't need to be validated

no nerdstrom, she is actually suggesting that the financial sector would be less fucked if there were more women execs. this is the height of neoliberal diversity inanity which is so well parodied in the maple cocaine tweet

i donated to greg edwards (pa-7, running against a centrist and a ... non-populist borderline republican). he seems good.

lol at Gillibrand, jesus fucking christ

"It's A Corny Women's Solidarity Joke, Relax" will be the campaign slogan of course

She didn't say the financial sector would be less fucked up with more women execs. She said "we might not have had the financial collapse." That's a specific outcome she is linking to gender. Which is what makes it very shaky suggestion at best.

I'm perfectly happy with the idea of more women execs, because women deserve the same opportunities to succeed or to screw up that men are given, but I don't think women have some moral ascendancy over men or a discernibly greater level of competence at executive decision making.

okay, dudes

sorry that was last part was unnecessary. I don't know how to express the fact that a lot of liberal gender-speak doesn't translate to electoral viability, especially in its more obviously superficial pandering form

Sotosyn pandering, and he's not even married

Gillibrand is a bullshitter, but y'know it goes with the job

at least she didnt congratulate Yam on Jerusalem like her colleague Schmucko

Sotosyn pandering, and he's not even married

well, yeah, I wanna a bunch of bros explaining as if it were a novelty that women can pander.

Gillibrand's been pretty good on many questions; she and the competition should be as vocal and omnipresent as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul were in 2013-2014.

I agree she's been mostly good for a Dem, which is why this rankled

Can’t you find something else to be rankled about

How much rankling do you try to get in every day

What can I say, it's rank out there

in other news, a couple of DSA folks (Summer Lee and Sara Innamorato) won their Philly state rep primaries

If Kristen Gillibrand is on the ballot in November 2020, I will vote for her without half a second's hesitation. It is true, moreover, that she has distinguished herself in her opposition to Trump, her advocacy on sexual assault, and all the rest.

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) January 5, 2018

That said, I do not think it is dumb or bad to point out, for instance, that her positions on immigration in the House were basically Trumpism. https://t.co/YxRmBHoZMu pic.twitter.com/oVSxLbeZbG

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) January 5, 2018

It is nonsense to say that switching positions makes her non-viable and it is likely true that women get more scrutiny for this than men. That said, I think there are sensible reasons to scrutinize Kirsten Gillibrand, which I wrote about late last year. https://t.co/2PZog0zBWy

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) January 5, 2018

scrutiny is what separates us from the animals I guess

nailbiter in pa-7 for anyone who's interested.

https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/pennsylvania-house-district-7-primary-election

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pennsylvania-7th-district-lehigh-valley-democratic-primary-future-of-party_us_5af5b771e4b00d7e4c1a2ab9?a1

two big dsa wins in Pitt, Lazio winning, Fetterman winning, seems like a good night. Is there a guide somewhere to the entire set of primaries/what other races have unusually left candidates in them?

Penn roundup is here

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/15/us/elections/results-pennsylvania-primary-elections.html

Worth reviewing key policies of @SummerForPA, who won D primary near Pittsburgh:

-- Abolish cash bail
-- Moratorium on all prison building
-- Create a millionaire's tax
-- Single payer in PA w/ zero copays
-- Universal free pre-k
-- 100% renewable energyhttps://t.co/bSwQjUld6U

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) May 16, 2018

Sounds good to me

roundup at wapo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2018/05/16/daily-202-the-far-left-is-winning-the-democratic-civil-war/5afb5fe230fb042588799528/?utm_term=.cbaecf9fa42b

in b4 sic

?utm_term=.cbaecf9fa42b

All this hand-wringing about the electability of Dems who hold wildly-popular positions (pot decriminalization, background checks for gun purchases) makes me nuts. It would be so lovely if these "far-left" candidates kicked ass in November.

Some of em probably will, weed and Medicare are both crossover winners I think.

winning in November is the only metric that matters. The handwringers w/in the party are mostly worried strictly about where to best pour resources/money - if these folks don't poll well/look like they don't have a shot, that money/support is going to flow elsewhere where the races are closer.

but yeah I don't think the weed + medicare positions are much of a threat. gun measures are a little harder to predict in somewhere like PA.

This WaPo article is a masterpiece of received thinking and stale framing.

Tuesday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for Democratic moderates.

and

- Statewide, John Fetterman — a small-town mayor with a bristly beard and tattoos on both of his arms — toppled Pennsylvania’s incumbent lieutenant governor, Mike Stack, thanks in part to the strong endorsement of Bernie Sanders,

why not call him a beatnik too?

The handwringing will only make it sweeter when they kick ass in November :)

I think all of the DSA-backed candidates won their races? A good day, in any case.

huge if true

<3 silby

Before the Fetterman thing, I had no idea that 18 states elect the governor and lieutenant governor separately. Fuckin' weirdos.

Virginia elects its governor, lt. governor, and attorney general separately; they can be from different parties (and often are).

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/jeff-beals-new-york-midterms-w520302

xp Georgia too

John Fetterman’s home is A+ real estate porn if you’re into that. He and his wife converted an old car dealership in the town he’s mayor of.