Democratic (Party) Direction

word

To quote a friend's excellent take on Nixon/Cuomo:

"Why do we need some rich celebrity to run against Cuomo? Why can't we have someone with real political experience?"

That's a great question! Allow me to explain:

1) Cuomo has spent the last eight years selling influence in Albany to rich people for millions of dollars. It's enormously hard for a middle-class person to challenge someone who can sell the entire regulatory apparatus of state government to the highest bidder to raise money.
2) Cuomo is powerful and vindictive and will do his best to destroy the career of anyone who challenges him (see De Blasio).
3) Since the one thing that unites all sitting Democratic politicians is a collective interest in protecting incumbency as some sort of sacred right, it's immensely hard to convince anyone to challenge an incumbent; when Democratic state senators were *voting with Republicans* on a regular basis it took several years of grassroots pressure to get anyone to challenge them, because incumbents. In other news the Democrats in the Assembly are willing to gerrymander the state senate Republican for decades if it allows them to protect their own incumbency against primary challengers.
4) Given the enormous difficulty of challenging incumbents in these circumstances, the only reason we ever have competitive elections at all is because there are two parties. But in New York statewide elections, much like in all of New York City, we're de facto under one-party rule, which means that plenty of districts can go a decade or more without seeing a competitive election at any level of government. Of all the glaring contrasts between the US system of government and what a hypothetical liberal democracy might be like, this is perhaps the least noticed.
5) For all these reasons it's enormously hard to find anyone to challenge an incumbent, particularly in such a large race; it's virtually necessary that the person doing it be independently wealthy and independently famous. We're lucky we found a rich celebrity from a working-class background with decades of public-education activism under her belt rather than some asshole, frankly.

In conclusion, New York incumbents are well-enough-protected from incumbency as it is; given how well advantaged they are by the rules they wrote for the game they play, they don't also need your idiot technocratic concern-trolling about how governing should be left to the enlightened few to help them maintain their stranglehold on the levers of power. Thanks for your time!

damn

can i share that anonymously elsewhere, man alive?

I think leftists outside of NYC who are (rightfully) confused about why a rich celeb is suddenly good now just underestimate the burning hatred we carry in our hearts for Cuomo

— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) March 22, 2018

oh it's your friend's not yours; i don't expect you to be able to OK that, then

but very cogent

xp

I think those who carry burning hatred in their hearts for Cuomo are confused about their numbers

Leftists, Moo. She's talking about leftists.

don't even try, Simon

it's nice to know that our #1 Dem mover/fantasist approves of a gov who keeps NY Repugs in power though

Nixon’s years and levels of activism and involvement w non-profit orgs seem to indicate that she does actually have experience. Seems preferable to highlight that than the “political experience is bad actually” takes I’ve seen the last couple of days.

I'm a realist and so is Cuomo. I don't approve or disapprove of anyone, really.

What does that mean

classic moo

realist = party hack

https://www.thecut.com/2018/03/bernie-supporters-back-cynthia-nixon-for-governor.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Democratic_primary,_2016#New_York_City_results

k

Man all these articles always quote just a certain subset of people aged mid-20s thru mid-30s in media gigs

Oh wait, correction, there’s one person who’s 45 but also an actor.

The rest are a 32-yr-old video editor, a late 20s exec asst, and Will from Chapo(who’s 34).

Which expiration date on litigating 2016 comes first—ILXOR or TRUMP?

I'm a realist and so is Cuomo.

I have not the slightest doubt that Kissinger would have claimed this label in regard to the Pinochet coup d'état in Chile or supporting Suharto's massacres in East Timor, too. The benchmark for being a political realist always seems to be the ability to firmly embrace the odious without so much as wrinkling your nose.

these articles always quote just a certain subset of people aged mid-20s thru mid-30s in media gigs

NYT writer's guide: Three friends a deadline = a trend

A sign of the times: In 2016, there were 4 U.S. House runoffs in Texas (1 D, 3 R). In 2018, there will be 17 (11 D, 6 R), and 5 of the GOP runoffs are due to Republican retirements pic.twitter.com/BPMKEoo1o1

— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) March 23, 2018

This from Daniel Biss, who was beaten as a progressive challenger in the Illinois gov primary but did much better than anyone expected, and now has this to say to nominee JB Pritzker:

"I spoke with JB about the two structural changes I see as necessary to solve so many critical problems in Illinois: a progressive income tax to fund the investments we need in healthcare, education, and job creation; and public financing of elections to create a political system that's accountable to everyone, not just big money. We cannot just pay lip service to those ideas -- we must have a clear plan for how to get them done.

That conversation was just the beginning. I look forward to continuing it in the days ahead, and I hope that before long the results of these discussions will enable me not just to advance our shared goal of defeating Bruce Rauner, but also to affirmatively endorse JB."

still give Biss side-eye from when he dropped Rosa off his ticket tbh

oh it's your friend's not yours; i don't expect you to be able to OK that, then

but very cogent

xp

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, March 23, 2018 12:32 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm sure he'd be fine with you even attributing it to him, a lot of people are sharing it. If you really want the name I'll message you.

All the big insurance companies are starting to pour money behind Blue Dog Democrats to ensure Medicare for All supporters aren't elected into congress with the blue wave pic.twitter.com/LCvyQL3rG5

— Michael Sainato (@msainat1) March 25, 2018

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/religious-democrats-young-republicans-what-the-stereotypes-miss-about-both-parties/

The concept of “Medicare for All” has majority support in 42 states, according to the small liberal policy shop Data for Progress. Using numbers from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks public opinion about health-care policy, a handful of researchers found that the concept of universal Medicare was popular in all but two states (Montana and West Virginia) where Democratic senators are seeking reelection this year.

“We find that there are a number of states, such as New York, Illinois, Rhode Island and California, where there is majority support for Medicare for All but Democratic senators who have not signed on to S1804,” said Data for Progress’s Sean McElwee, giving the number for the Medicare legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/03/19/medicare-for-all-enjoys-broad-support-but-pollsters-worry-that-it-hasnt-been-tested/?utm_term=.8209ad9d56f5

Do read the whole piece, though. It's pretty good.

mcelwee on nixon/cuomo and the "democrats" of the ny senate

https://www.patreon.com/posts/17821438

Randy Bryce (@IronStache) does a good job making the concise case for abolishing ICE: It's a new agency that spends a massive amount of money breaking up families and terrorizing children who haven't committed a crime. Simple as that. https://t.co/lfQjcFtrFg h/t @SeanMcElwee pic.twitter.com/enwWt2cMw9

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 3, 2018

fuckin a

what do you know

Good for him.

relevant convo with Thomas Frank about the party history from the early 70s on. They do talk about the deliberate split with labor some, but not enough as I would have liked

Fuller quote from Cynthia Nixon from a brief phone call yesterday evening on Andrew Cuomo's politics https://t.co/D772FhTDbf pic.twitter.com/31uHctUmxs

— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 5, 2018

cynthia nixon 4 prez

😍 😍 😍 https://t.co/NS0jFOV7Cq pic.twitter.com/d8lERUassV

— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) April 9, 2018

Yeah I like what I'm hearing but I am also a little sad because I was looking forward to coining the term "Cuomomentum."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2018/04/09/feature/the-vindication-of-dennis-kucinich/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cc2ae5e7c190

Kucinich, who spent some of his time away from elected office serving as a Fox News contributor, is a rare politician who is now occupying that sweet spot where Sandersism meets elements of Trumpism.

wtf is up with that goofy zoom effect

kung-fu action

Huge Dem strategy report from McElwee commissioned by Justice Dems. (Have yet to read.)

https://www.futureoftheparty.com/

Again, no mention (at least the summary) of campaign finance reform. IDGI...

at least in the summary I mean

i know i know 538, but i think this is at least a useful way of thinking about 2018 strategy, even if the individual views advanced are not useful. i'm not sure what the right answer is. don't focus on russia. focus on healthcare even though they "won" that battle. what else?

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-issues-should-democrats-ignore-in-2018/

soybean farmers

Huge Dem strategy report from McElwee commissioned by Justice Dems. (Have yet to read.)

https://www.futureoftheparty.com/

― Simon H., Monday, April 9, 2018 8:16 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is cool but boy are some of these graphs demanding of a hard squint