Democratic (Party) Direction

do you mind if i use you as a ref on my application for chief strategy officer of DNC?

my career - "it's going places"

will get the rangers vote out anyway

I find it hard to identify any clear lessons from the midterms about Democratic party direction. Some more vocally left candidates did well, some poorly. Some "moderates" did well, some poorly. Some women did well, some poorly. I dunno, do you guys come away with any strong sense of "Democrats should do X but not Y"?

Democrats should vocally support progressive domestic policy platforms like Medicare for All and the $15 minimum wage and legal weed and trans rights and voting rights and ending mass incarceration. If there’s an office they can’t win with this platform they should bend every available resource to redistricting fights in 2020. But like that package of stuff is basically the price of admission to get young engaged voters to give a shit about you, especially young people of color who are justifiably suspicious of the Democratic establishment. If the likes of Heidi Heitkamp and Claire McCaskill don’t think they can win with that then don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

I’m not going to insist that democratic candidates do the o-pen bor-ders *clap clap clapclapclap* I’ve been doing for several years but it’d be nice.

Oh also abortion on demand without apology, or step to the back.

"Bipartisanship" -- the liberal word for Surrender. #BlueSludge pic.twitter.com/B2ITxWdSdv

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) November 7, 2018

Honestly I hate the word as much as anyone but that's standard issue first day conciliatory bullshit that nearly any politician would do. It's meaningless.

I think she'll use it in January and February too.

Yeah the Dems who lost the Senate had more to do imo with conservative Kavanaugh backlash than a referendum on any unified Dem ideology, some longshot this-is-a-movement candidates did shockingly well even in their losses (Beto, Abrams), some bright lights were running in tough places (Jess) or backwoods dirty races (Cathy was right: Ironstache got owned by his personal history in the end -- I shoulda listened).

from Zack Exley, who along with Becky Bond made the Bernie machine happen:

The pundits are missing the significance of Beto and Abrams getting so close. They've pointed the way. Standing up boldly against racism and xenophobia, for progressive programs and ideas, and really good organizing. The Dem senate incumbents who lost mostly were playing Republican light. The way forward is clear.

Also...I have been knocking on doors in TX and observing the incredible Beto campaign for the last several days. Thank you to everyone who made the Beto miracle come together. You created a whole new kind of campaign. With hundreds of newly minted political staff organizers, this is going to have huge repercussions for 2020 campaigns.

cruz winning by 2 percent is stunning. his first time up - when it was an open seat! - he won by sixteen. hutchison won her final contest by twenty-five. i know we sometimes get worn out on "texas is changing, it could go blue" stuff, but it's not exactly a charlie brown football story. it's legit closer each time.

I think the general feeling I've been seeing is that the Dems need to stop going after this mythical white women vote when it's becoming increasingly clear that half will do anything to uphold white supremacy and their place in the patriarchy. They have to put more of their resources/ unfailingly progressive platform towards black people who've been with them all along and possibly try to overcome the Latinx catholic/machismo upbringing that makes a large enough percentage vote R.

converting voters is a fool's game. getting new voters into the voting pool is how you transform the electorate and win elections, and that is hard work.

not if you restore felon voting rights!

New voters also are also energized by the candidates strongly embracing racism and Trump. Those were the Reps that won.

But that has been a huge ongoing problem with the Dem party, that they have historically ignored the base that has always supported them.

what was Ironstache's "personal stuff"? I missed that entirely.

not if you restore felon voting rights!

― sleeve, Wednesday, November 7, 2018 11:36 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

p. sure this was hard work, hats off to every single person who worked on this campaign or is working on similar ones elsewhere.

yeah I was being flippant, but it's a lot of bang for the buck afaict

what was Ironstache's "personal stuff"? I missed that entirely.

DWI, failing to pay child support

ah

Those are both extremely gross

failing to pay child support is often an issue of simply not having money, it's not always as gross as it sounds. DWI is not good.

I was gonna say, need more info to know how bad.

Yeah his ex-wife was on the record as saying he'd fallen on hard times and was a great father &c

I find it hard to identify any clear lessons from the midterms about Democratic party direction. Some more vocally left candidates did well, some poorly. Some "moderates" did well, some poorly. Some women did well, some poorly. I dunno, do you guys come away with any strong sense of "Democrats should do X but not Y"?

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, November 7, 2018 10:56 AM (fifty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

clearly the democrats should do what I personally have been arguing for on this board for two years, which I will now describe again

Ok child support issue I will withhold judgment on. DWI is inexcusable.

not actually disqualifying from elected office but like I won’t weep for him.

What gets me is that there must be some people who saw the Florida ballot and thought "Yes, felon voter rights are important, I am totally happy with the obvious result of this, which is enfranchisement of a large population of black men. That is some good work, I can go home - ah no wait, I nearly forgot to vote for that racist cumstain."

Just off the phone with @BernieSanders, who says re 2020 prez run that he's "talking to a whole lot of people" about "which candidate would do best in the battleground states." Encouraged by yesterday, saying path to 270 electoral votes is clear.

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 7, 2018

ah, shit

* andre 3000 voice * don't do it, reconisder

too old

my greatest fear is that it will be 2016 all over again, literally Clinton vs. Sanders

even if they both declared (which I very much doubt!) Clinton won't have cleared away the field this time

tbh I'm increasingly OK with the idea of Sanders running with a younger, hipper running mate to step in in case of infirmity, but only because the other non-Gillibrand options are looking dimmer by the day

it's too early to be negative about Harris, her trial balloons about tax credits are just trial balloons after all. We'll see what she says when she declares.

What gets me is that there must be some people who saw the Florida ballot and thought "Yes, felon voter rights are important, I am totally happy with the obvious result of this, which is enfranchisement of a large population of black men. That is some good work, I can go home - ah no wait, I nearly forgot to vote for that racist cumstain."

I feel like it's weird to think this is weird

tbh I'm increasingly OK with the idea of Sanders running with a younger, hipper running mate to step in in case of infirmity

i guess you're increasingly ok with this but i'm not

my main criterion for primary voting is what Canadian podcasters are ok with

Unless sanders takes a dive cognitively I see no reason why he couldn’t run; that said there are other people. I’m down for Harris, certainly.

hey if there's another candidate who's expressed a desire to build a robust international left to combat incipient fascism abroad I'm all for 'em

stalin

he is dead dmac

no barrier to election in states iirc

he lives on in the hearts of the proletariat iirc xp

lmao

footage of Antonio Delgado victory speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk8LoHqHkGI

The really boring thing: Dems won Governor races in all the midwestern states that flipped the election to Trump, and if they can win there again in 2020 he's gone, no need for the re-enfranchised voters in Florida to change things, or for Georgia or Texas or Arizona or any of the other states that are always just on the cusp of going blue. But the winners in those governor races were absolutely boring and bland: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-bland-scott-walker-troy-evers-governor_us_5bd74093e4b0a8f17efab16c?guccounter=1 And it worked... It worked more emphatically than pretty much any other strategy the Dems have tried.

So... Amy Klobuchar in 2020?

the (former) KGB tore England from the EU . . . will they tear the Confederacy from the USA?