119th congress: must be at least 75 to chair a committee!

[rufus]

You guys are all hung up on whether someone is liberal enough. That's completely meaningless.

The only thing that matters is whether that person can get elected in that district. End of story. In a district in the heart of the Twin Cities, fine, Omar can be elected. But suggesting that you only support candidates like Omar is silly.

Get them elected. Get them re-elected. Build the numbers. Then it doesn't matter if someone isn't liberal enough for you. They have no control.

Maybe if they were liberal enough, and actually pushed for liberal policies, and people see those policies actually helping them, they could get elected.

Instead we get Kamala turning her back on all that to campaign with Liz Cheney and Oprah. Where'd that get her? Remember that first month of her campaign? The energy? The optimism? The promise of a better future?

Where'd that all disappear to?

Liz fucking Cheney. Now there's someone with mass appeal.

 

[Handyman]

Well the people paid to win (lose) elections told her people would think she is a radical because she is Black and that the way to win was to go after the Republicans that hate Trump. She not only didn't win them over she lost a lot of liberals. Those same clowns wouldn't let Walz do interviews or very many public appearances for weeks because...reasons?

 

[Kepler]

I’m actually with Handy on this. He could have the most brilliant staff on earth, be the smartest guy in government, and none of this matters if he votes like he does.

it’s bonkers to think anything else matters. They just voted to allow Trump to receive crypto bribes and several republicans defected! That’s not an honorable office! It should be derided and driven into a volcano.

kep, I understand you two have an insight probably none of us have. But it’s all for naught if you have a guy who allows Trump to receive bribes and votes in half his cabinet.

Gallego IS the problem. he’s as bad as klobuchar.

The personalities matter very little. Politics is more like fluid dynamics than some epic tale about a brave leader galvanizing his forces. It's about pressures and the systems that direct them and the practices that exploit them.

Gallego is like 97% of all pols -- a time-server and a weather vane. His actions don't spring from inside. The flag isn't moving. The wind is moving. A different flag will move the same way.

Just because staff want certain things doesn't mean the boss votes that way. Usually it's because of donor pressure or election concerns. Sometimes it's horse-trading. Sometimes albeit more rarely than we think it's just naked quid pro quo bribery. The forces already present in the ecosystem prior to the Member getting there are deterministic. Primarying doesn't help. Putting healthy fish in polluted water will just sicken the new fish.

It's like evaluating a movie. Everybody yammers about the actors. Well, ignore the actors. They are fungible. Concentrate on the script and the direction and the producer's funding. That's where great movies, or terrible movies, happen. Create a great ecosystem and anybody can put in an Oscar performance.

 

[Handyman]

Ok you cant have it both ways. You say he is a hood ornament and the staff is who is really doing the work. Now you are saying that hood ornament is going against their wishes. Which is it? It can't be both man. Hood ornaments aren't why cars crash...

I don't think you realize how much of a pretzel you have twisted yourself into.

 

[Kepler]

Ok you cant have it both ways. You say he is a hood ornament and the staff is who is really doing the work. Now you are saying that hood ornament is going against their wishes. Which is it? It can't be both man. Hood ornaments aren't why cars crash...

I don't think you realize how much of a pretzel you have twisted yourself into.

Sorry; mixed metaphors always bite. I'll try to explain how that's not a contradiction.

A Member has a will which they can bring to bear in a situation, and even on a vote. They aren't a robot. Ordinarily they don't know, and are not even curious, about the details of their votes. They do as leg staff advises, where the leg staff marching orders are "if the Member knew every last fact, how would they decide this, based on their stated general commitments, translated down to the ultra-minute scope of this bit of legislation?" Those commitments include their values and their policy preferences, yes, but they also include the local and national political terrain. Pols are not little compass needles that each point at their personal True North, they are political actors who are both reacting to and creating the context for their political activity in a constant feedback.

That any less confusing?

My estimation of Gallego's staff is they do good work. That may not mean Gallego votes the way I want. It doesn't mean Gallego votes the way that a staffer would vote in a vacuum. Votes and the rest of the Member's activity, including campaigning and fundraising, are all daisy-chained together, like bids in bridge. Even for the "good" ones who we approve of. They send information to donors and constituents. Often, they are tugs of war between subgroups of them. When a Member seems to be voting her conscience on tough votes it really means she has the margin or even the necessity of casting votes that way because of the way the whole political constellation pulls from her particular position.

This can be cynical and abusive. It can be corrupt. Sinema was corrupt -- she was going out of her way to fuck constituents for her personal gain, no question. She was not doing politics she was doing grift. But that's rare, and generally speaking it's like watching leaves circulating in the little eddies that form as a river passes. The leaf seems to be turning in a particular way, but the leaf really has nothing to do with it.

 

[Handyman]

I dont doubt they work hard...I doubt any of them are "liberal" or the type of people I want in charge of a Democratic Office.

This is the type of stuff Gallego and his people emboldened (along with Kelly and the rest of the fraud Dems) when they pushed the Laken Riley Act:

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social)

🚨Reports around the country today that some people who showed up for their immigration court hearings were told that ICE prosecutors had dismissed their cases — and then were arrested moments later by ICE officers and taken to detention centers for unknown reasons. Happening in multiple cities...

bsky.app

 

[Kepler]

I dont doubt they work hard...I doubt any of them are "liberal" or the type of people I want in charge of a Democratic Office.

My assessment of the typical D staffer is a community made up solely of them would (1) be socialist, (2) be twee, (3) be almost entirely cute women and even cuter gay guys. My assessment of the typical R staffer is Greg Marmalard watching planes with Mandy Pepperidge.

 

[Kepler]

So this sounds like humble brag but whatever it's funny. Dr. Mrs. is applying for a job with a different political office, and the application has a mandatory upload for "college transcripts." It's been 25 years since her degree; she doesn't have any transcripts in electronic form. Like mine, her education predates the invention of writing. But the application will not send without the field populated. So she attached the transcript of a Senate hearing with direct quotes from her PhD Dissertation made by the head of the office who is hiring.

I don't care if it's bragging -- my girl is wicked smaht. And also, that's fucking funny.

 

[dxmnkd316]

I vote in every primary because I want to make sure Omar wins. Not sure who will challenge her this time though they have almost zero chance. I am glad someone does though because she has become better at her job every election because of those challenges.

The primaries are always the key...especially with the old incumbents. If they feel no pressure from the Left Flank they will drift further and further Right because they have no reason not to. Every race should have a challenge, not just because we don't like said candidate but to make sure they hear from all parts of their constituency, If it wasn't for stuff like that we never have AOC. They represent us and we need to make sure we hold them to that. they also need to know there is consequences when they go against the will of the people.

That is the problem with the Senate, guys like Gallego know they have many years until they have to campaign again so they feel safe. The more people feel safe the more their real self is shown. In the House, people like Pelosi don't like the idea because they never have to worry. David Hogg scares them because they want to hoard power and resources and he wants to force them to actually campaign and care about issues. Without him Nancy Pelosi can pretend taking a knee for George Floyd proves she cares about minorities.

Look, right now I say I won't vote for Craig if she gets the nom...but truth be told I will even if I hate it. (unless my vote is inconsequential) But I dont trust her because she is way too "we need to work with the other side" because of the district she is from. Maybe that will change in the Senate but I doubt it.

I agree right up until that last point about Craig. If she gets the nomination, we need to crawl over glass to vote for her as she’s the most liberal on the ticket at that point. Strictly speaking about the general here.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Maybe if they were liberal enough, and actually pushed for liberal policies, and people see those policies actually helping them, they could get elected.

Instead we get Kamala turning her back on all that to campaign with Liz Cheney and Oprah. Where'd that get her? Remember that first month of her campaign? The energy? The optimism? The promise of a better future?

Where'd that all disappear to?

Liz fucking Cheney. Now there's someone with mass appeal.

None of this happened. There were a total of four appearances the entire campaign event featuring her. And Harris outperformed in those locations!

 

[walrus]

The big mistake is the old people never bring someone younger up with them, and they never leave. Ginsburg, Gerry Connolly, Biden (who was supposed to bring in the next generation by stepping down). If we had a primary maybe we actually win. Instead it was a total shit show and a coronation of a black woman no one was going to vote for.

I just had my first major health scare of my life on Sunday. I am 57. I can assure you I knew I was mortal before and I sure as fuck know I am mortal now.

Hope your clot issue can be controlled easily. That really sucks

 

[Handyman]

None of this happened. There were a total of four appearances the entire campaign event featuring her. And Harris outperformed in those locations!

In those locations maybe but it hurt elsewhere. It was a terrible choice.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Max Berger (@maxberger.bsky.social)

A story about why Democrats are losers, in four parts.

bsky.app

Dumb, Stupid Democrats

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Dumb. Stupid. Nation.

 

[Kepler]

Dumb, Stupid Democrats

That Berger post was lazy bullshit. Connolly was my rep. He was just a back bencher with no special abilities. He was compromised by donors and special interests. And AOC was right to take on the DNC business as usuals. She knew she couldn't win, but you can't just keep doing the same thing cycle upon cycle and expect change.

People are flailing. The Left didn't cause this problem. Centrists like Connolly had 40 years to fight the fasc and did nothing. All the ideas are stale and asphyxiating.

It is apparent that, as clueless as the Dems are, the crowd screaming at them is even more out of touch. You guys are among the best there are -- you aren't stupid and you are more wired into the real than 98% of the voters. When even you can fall for tripe like that, there really is no hope. The new will be a shock to us all. It's not coming from here.

I'm gonna step away. I believe we are on the cusp of something seismic that is going to finally break up our patterns that have been roughly the same since the end of WW1. I know I am not remotely prepared for what is coming and will probably hate it. Everybody I read or watch or talk to is, like me, still thinking in terms of mechanisms and aphorisms that stopped doing useful work a hundred years ago. That's normal. Our ideas always run well behind what is happening and our models of the future are always like Victorian interstellar space ships, with coal chutes and fireplaces. We are never up on things as they really are, and 99% of the time we don't need to be to function, because there is no crisis calling for immediate, radical remedy. But it is now like 1913, we are all feeling the cusp of the next war, and we are all feverishly debating whether it will be more like Austerlitz or Waterloo.

See you on the other side.

 

[dxmnkd316]

In those locations maybe but it hurt elsewhere. It was a terrible choice.

No it didn’t.
No it wasn’t.

Everywhere she campaigned, regardless of whom it was with, correlated with better returns.

It was four campaign stops. Four. If you get hung up on her campaigning in purple to red states with Liz Cheney, that’s not an issue with her, that’s an issue with you.

 

[dxmnkd316]

That Berger post was lazy bullshit. Connolly was my rep. He was just a back bencher with no special abilities. He was compromised by donors and special interests. And AOC was right to take on the DNC business as usuals. She knew she couldn't win, but you can't just keep doing the same thing cycle upon cycle and expect change.

People are flailing. The Left didn't cause this problem. Centrists like Connolly had 40 years to fight the fasc and did nothing. All the ideas are stale and asphyxiating.

It is apparent that, as clueless as the Dems are, the crowd screaming at them is even more out of touch. You guys are among the best there are -- you aren't stupid and you are more wired into the real than 98% of the voters. When even you can fall for tripe like that, there really is no hope. The new will be a shock to us all. It's not coming from here.

I'm gonna step away. I believe we are on the cusp of something seismic that is going to finally break up our patterns that have been roughly the same since the end of WW1. I know I am not remotely prepared for what is coming and will probably hate it. Everybody I read or watch or talk to is, like me, still thinking in terms of mechanisms and aphorisms that stopped doing useful work a hundred years ago. That's normal. Our ideas always run well behind what is happening and our models of the future are always like Victorian interstellar space ships, with coal chutes and fireplaces. We are never up on things as they really are, and 99% of the time we don't need to be to function, because there is no crisis calling for immediate, radical remedy. But it is now like 1913, we are all feeling the cusp of the next war, and we are all feverishly debating whether it will be more like Austerlitz or Waterloo.

See you on the other side.

I really hope this doesn’t mean you are quitting the board.

If it is, bon voyage. I will miss our discussions.

 

[Handyman]

No it didn’t.
No it wasn’t.

Everywhere she campaigned, regardless of whom it was with, correlated with better returns.

It was four campaign stops. Four. If you get hung up on her campaigning in purple to red states with Liz Cheney, that’s not an issue with her, that’s an issue with you.

I defended it...it's not my problem. Look around though and listen to people it was a problem especially with the people who have spent the last twenty years hating her and her family. Christ milquetoast Jon Stewart was even upset about it and openly discussed it with Walz right before the election.

If you don't think campaigning with the daughter of the man responsible for the death of a million Iraqis hurt her within her own Caucus well then...I guess we will just have to agree to disagree because I have heard and seen otherwise.

And the number of stops don't matter you know better than that. That picture and those videos circulated for weeks.

 

[Handyman]

That Berger post was lazy bullshit. Connolly was my rep. He was just a back bencher with no special abilities. He was compromised by donors and special interests. And AOC was right to take on the DNC business as usuals. She knew she couldn't win, but you can't just keep doing the same thing cycle upon cycle and expect change.

People are flailing. The Left didn't cause this problem. Centrists like Connolly had 40 years to fight the fasc and did nothing. All the ideas are stale and asphyxiating.

It is apparent that, as clueless as the Dems are, the crowd screaming at them is even more out of touch. You guys are among the best there are -- you aren't stupid and you are more wired into the real than 98% of the voters. When even you can fall for tripe like that, there really is no hope. The new will be a shock to us all. It's not coming from here.

I'm gonna step away. I believe we are on the cusp of something seismic that is going to finally break up our patterns that have been roughly the same since the end of WW1. I know I am not remotely prepared for what is coming and will probably hate it. Everybody I read or watch or talk to is, like me, still thinking in terms of mechanisms and aphorisms that stopped doing useful work a hundred years ago. That's normal. Our ideas always run well behind what is happening and our models of the future are always like Victorian interstellar space ships, with coal chutes and fireplaces. We are never up on things as they really are, and 99% of the time we don't need to be to function, because there is no crisis calling for immediate, radical remedy. But it is now like 1913, we are all feeling the cusp of the next war, and we are all feverishly debating whether it will be more like Austerlitz or Waterloo.

See you on the other side.

First: the Left isn't who he is blaming...he is blaming the center. He is blaming Pelosi for pushing Connelley when she could have just let AOC have it. Now AOC is off the committee and he is dead.

Second: take some time away...it helps. It took me two weeks of almost no news to get somewhat ok and so I get it. All we can do is what is best for our souls and mental health so protect yourself and do what you have to do brother. We will all still be here when and if you come back

 

[dxmnkd316]

I defended it...it's not my problem. Look around though and listen to people it was a problem especially with the people who have spent the last twenty years hating her and her family. Christ milquetoast Jon Stewart was even upset about it and openly discussed it with Walz right before the election.

If you don't think campaigning with the daughter of the man responsible for the death of a million Iraqis hurt her within her own Caucus well then...I guess we will just have to agree to disagree because I have heard and seen otherwise.

And the number of stops don't matter you know better than that. That picture and those videos circulated for weeks.

Sorry, I meant the general “you”