Judd Legum's tweet-storm Saturday morning, helps explain why you shouldn't get upset about loud divisions inside the Democratic Party. It's why primaries are so needed and so healthy. As he wrote, "There is a big debate about the future of the Democratic Party. Does the party need to represent a "return to normalcy" after Trump?
A friendly congressman called me yesterday to complain about progressives-- particularly young ones-- not pulling together behind Pelosi and Biden. I reminded him what primaries are all about and he asked if I thought all the "energetic young people"-- who he doesn't think know anything (he said that)-- would accept Biden as the nominee if he wins the primary. I told him that most Democrats probably will, although I think Trump will be able to persuade many African-Americans to sit on their hands rather than vote for the racist Biden will be painted as.
C'mon, man!Joe Lockhart's name should sound familiar. He was Bill Clinton's version of Sarah Huckabee Sanders for his final two years in the White House. He had also worked as press secretary for failed establishment candidates Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis and after the Clinton administration ended he worked for John Kerry's campaign. More recently he worked for Facebook and the NFL trying to contain myriad scandals.
Al Smith is known primarily as having been the first Roman Catholic presidential nominee (1928). He was also a 4-term governor of New York. He was defeated badly for the presidency in ’28, winning just 8 states— 6 from the Deep South + Massachusetts and Rhode Island, even losing New York. While Smith was losing New York, Franklin Roosevelt, an ally was winning the gubernatorial seat created by Smith’s run for president. Roosevelt was reelected in 1930 (in a landslide) that propelled him towards the 1932 presidential nomination.
by NoahThe first Democratic Party debates are hours away, Wednesday and Thursday evenings to be more precise. I know that I'm not the only one who is hoping for serious discussions of issues. I'm also not the only one who is hoping that the various candidates cease with the usual patronizing of voters but I also know that the past is prologue and we're talking about politicians.
The DeSmog blog endeavors “to clear the p.r. pollution that clouds climate science” and last week they worked on clearing it about the grotesquely misnamed Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), an operation currently supporting the fossil fools’ pushback against environmental lawsuits. Phil Goldberg is a former lobbyist for coal giant Peabody Energy. Today he’s running that PPI pushback.
You may recall that a few weeks ago, a Koch brothers’ spokeswoman announced that their network is now willing to finance political campaigns for Democrats who are "in step with Koch policies." Koch policies? Koch policies are first and foremost their business bottom line. Any study of their pattern of political giving shows what being in step with the Koch policies means: slashing government regulations that protect workers and the environment.
In his latest public service announcement, Robert Reich begins by saying he's hearing a lot about socialism lately, "mainly from Donald Trump and Fox News." I guess he doesn't get out much. The "menace of socialism" is in every GOP message, from every Reoublican candidate running anywhere and everywhere-- and from the rotgut Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Did you hear the booing when former Colorado Governor Frackenlooper tried using socialism as a punching bag last weekend at the California Democratic Party convention?
The other day, I noted how there are six 2020 presidential candidates actively campaigning, each of whom has so little support than none of them even tops half a percent in the polls. One, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, went to the California Democratic Party convention over the weekend to extol capitalism and undermine Bernie. This is what happened to the clueless asshole. Frackenlooper wasn't the only candidate to be booed at the convention.
