Is the West Experiencing a Left-Wing Drift? (the international left politics activism, news, and strategy thread)

the main reason I'm pretty sure Nixon won't win is because it would just be too sweet to see the entire mainstream political and media class proven utterly wrong. I don't think we get to have anything that enjoyable. I really hope I'm wrong

Simon, just thinking out loud here, but there might be another reason why people who think the opposite of you are rarely proven wrong...

i'm voting for nixon/williams/teachout after work today and boy am i going to enjoy it

Because there's a huge amount of capital (in every sense) helping to ensure the undesired outcome, so that tends to be a safe bet? I'm aware of that thx. xp

nixon/williams/teachout

if the whole election thing doesn't work they should start a prog supergroup

God, Zephyr Teachout is such an awesome name. I never get over it

Vote suppression in @NYGovCuomo's New York: a thread.

— Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) September 13, 2018

Seeing a *ton* of reports of Dems purged from voter rolls, well beyond that thread. Lots of people filling out provisional ballots.

Last one:

.@NYCMayor says his son Dante brought his registration card to poll site and still had to use affidavit ballot. "He was holding the card from the board of elections that they sent to him — perfect evidence of his registration… and they told him he couldn’t vote on the machine."

— Yoav Gonen (@yoavgonen) September 13, 2018

https://organizingupgrade.com/how-can-the-left-participate-in-electoral-campaigns/

honestly this thread was refreshing to read

y’all need to stop being so fucking positive rn. you *lost*. salazar won and everyone else *lost*. you cannot keep saying you won when you lost. this is an indictment of electoral strategy against entrenched powerful machines with no base in communities. get serious.

— FUCK AMAZON colleen @ SPX W42A (@colleentie) September 14, 2018

Who is the “y’all” in that tweet?

Some other people on Twitter I assume

yeah "y'all" is the NY left-twitter echo chamber which has been (AFAICT) resoundingly upbeat

But if she’s referring to the statewide races, I agree to an extent. It’s notable that Williams, who had a history of organizing and organizing support in his district, way outperformed Nixon and Teachout who are basically celebrity candidates with “the right politics.”

It’s also just really fucking hard to oppose Cuomo statewide though, and organizing statewide is a different game than organizing a single mostly walkable state senate district.

from personal sources i kinda think the nixon campaign basically shit the bed upstate

I do wonder how much Bernie would have helped move the needle if he'd endorsed her - though I can think of a half-dozen reasons (some good, some...less good) he opted not to. It wouldn't have been enough to change the result in any case

i mean from a downstate POV she shit the bed upstate

FWIW I can also say from personal knowledge that a shitton of organizing and boots-on-ground hard work went into knocking off most of the IDC candidates (the dems that caucused with the Republicans, with Cuomo's blessing), and that that work has been going on for well over a year.

Also I have heard from people involved in Teachout's past campaigns that she's not great at campaigning outside of her natural demographic.

probably the ideal situation is combo of incredibly charismatic candidate with a lot of media attention AND intense boots-on-ground organizing (e.g. AOC)

Yeah, the IDC result seems positive? This made me smile as well: https://www.vox.com/2018/9/13/17854554/andrew-cuomo-new-york-president-2020-no

my line about him is that he thinks he's bulletproof but really he just buys up all the bullets

all but two of the ex-IDC people are gone, which is great. If dems can actually pick up a couple seats from republicans, some shit can really get done. Of course, who knows whether Cuomo will find some way to buy off a few of the anti-IDC winners -- a couple of them, like Alcantara, were actually pretty progressive when they got elected.

You've all definitely watched NY politics longer than I have, but couldn't the result also not might put off Cuomo and other Dems from repeating what the IDC did? I mean, a couple of them did get reelected, and reading about Simcha Felder, he seems to be from a pretty conservative district anyway, but it seems like it would be a political miscalculation to move towards - and past - the middle again.

Presumably he does it with money. xp

Did the joint caucus control the chamber? Would it presumably flip to the real Democrats if no seats change parties?

What is the story with the IDC? Why are NY state Dems so cozy with Republicans?

Asking as someone who is very unfamiliar with NY politics. That whole situation is pretty baffling to me.

Does it just boil down to whole-scale corruption? Or is it part of long-term political/cultural trends in NY?

The IDC did disband a while back I think, but another Dem called Simcha Felder caucused with Republicans as well. He cleared his primary challenge. So Dems need to flip a seat.

Reading up on it on Wikipedia, and it's kinda incredible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Senate#Recent_history It's been a ten-year debacle.

The IDC "disbanding" was meaningless imo, it was a late game maneuver to try to save their seats.

I don't feel any simcha about felder winning

What is the story with the IDC? Why are NY state Dems so cozy with Republicans?

Asking as someone who is very unfamiliar with NY politics. That whole situation is pretty baffling to me.

Does it just boil down to whole-scale corruption? Or is it part of long-term political/cultural trends in NY?

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, September 14, 2018 11:22 AM (twenty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's complicated. Even people familiar with NY Politics have trouble fully explaining it, but Cuomo very much enabled the situation and yes there is definitely corruption involved.

Simcha Felder's district is gerrymandered such that no one could beat him except probably another orthodox jew (BTW, that gerrymandering is ALSO enabled by Cuomo!)

BTW, not all the IDC members were conservative dems. Alcantara (who rightfully lost last night) was a left-wing activist and organizer who backed Bernie. But, according to her, the mainstream dems wouldn't meet with her when she wanted to run for state senate. In swooped Jeff Klein, who offered her money for her campaign (some of which comes from pretty sketchy sources). She basically sold out without fully realizing that she was selling out, imo. In her mind, this was a way to give progressive latinx groups a seat at the table, but the larger effect was to make sure republicans controlled the state senate and most of the progressive agenda couldn't get passed. Nonetheless, she had to be pushed out as a result of making this alliance. Who you take money from and who you align with matters, not just what's in your heart.

I mean, if I had to sum it up, I'd say the IDC was a creation of moneyed-interests with the support of Cuomo who wanted a bulwark against the naturally left-leaning tendencies of the state's polity. It was a clever way to reduce the otherwise natural power of progressive dems in the state legislature. I'm sure it won't be the last device of its kind.

Simon, just thinking out loud here, but there might be another reason why people who think the opposite of you are rarely proven wrong...

― Frederik B, Thursday, September 13, 2018 3:29 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

god fuck off

maybe if we duct tape you to a ceiling your blithe condescension will actually have a reason to sound like it's from on high

lol

I'll help

Haha

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/ubkngrbgbh8phpsy3rtf.jpg

See? Look, you can post!

(Also, it’s freaky that that image is now _16_ years old.

https://compete.kotaku.com/15-years-later-heres-why-a-gamer-was-duct-taped-to-a-c-1796679499)

Meanwhile, a couple local libertarian types decided to roll up on the DSA happy hour earlier this evening

(I think this is a first as the social events tend not to get trolled)

In an uncharacteristic show of strength, both libertarians in Portland showed up to crash our happy hour 😂😂😂. 2 of them showed up to support free markets; over 50 of us showed up to support free people. pic.twitter.com/V0FuFZtX2M

— DSA Portland Oregon (@PortlandDSA) September 15, 2018

Email in from DC DSA steering committee that O'Keefe is likely to release another Project Veritas vid soon targeting DSA DC members that are fed bureaucrats

Fun!

hooooo boy

how is that dude not in jail

I’m guessing that means they’re going after Allison then

DSA strikes me as a much lower value target than Planned Parenthood or Acorn. Maybe he’s a little desperate.

hyup xp

The new Tribune looks interesting:

https://tribunemag.co.uk/relaunch-preview

Some excellent contributors.

ah look its my twitter TL in the culture section #proud

https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2018/09/18/22990739/burgerville-employees-go-on-strike-on-national-cheeseburger-day

Interesting tactics