Losing the War for the Sake of a Battle

[Jarhyn]

“If you want to pull the major party that is closest to the way you’re thinking to what you’re thinking you must show them that you’re capable of not voting for them. If you don’t show them that you’re capable of not voting for them, they don’t have to listen to you. I promise you that. I worked within the Democratic Party. I didn’t listen or have to listen to anything on the left while I was working in the Democratic Party because the left had nowhere to go.”
Lawrence O'Donnell


I think it's fair to say that the Democratic Party has always taken it's base for granted, and certain elements are frustrated. Frustrated people act impulsively and not rationally. Biden is going to need these people to vote for him and I can't think of an election where someone won solely because they weren't the other person. Ask John Kerry or Bill Shorten.

I also think Trump's net worth to humanity is what you would get if you sold his organs on ebay, but the onus lies with the candidate as to why people should vote for them, and Biden's message has been pretty average. Say what you will about Republicans (and by all means say it often, they fucking deserve it), they always motivated Teabaggers and the Christian Taliban to get out and vote and never took them for granted. Bernie supporters actually have some good ideas and are treated worse than birther fuckwits. I agree 100% that nothing can be worse than Trump, but I really can't condemn someone who feels disillusioned in this election and just wants to donkey vote this one.

I can and absolutely will fault people for bad strategic decisions.

One thing I consistently uphold is the concept of goal-oriented action. FIRST you consider your goal and then you answer honestly and clearly what series of actions will take you there.

This does not say that the end justified the means, but the end DOES filter the means: if the means don't satisfy the goal, you throw them away, and when the means takes you permanently away from your ends, they are wholely foolish.

Of course, a lot of this comes down to deficiencies in our current process.

I was a Bernie supporter. With any luck, Biden could in fact see the writing on the wall and drop out. Personally, I would rather see him get impeached. But failure to plan the next battle will absolutely lose us the country with the sudden influx of federalist society judges and the loss of RBG.

Real question: For what do you believe that Biden could be impeached?

Second: how would Bernie, yet another doddering old white dude in poor health be a better choice? FFS, within his own campaign there have been allegations of sexism, sexual harassment and btw, Mr. Pay a Living Wage didn’t pay a living wage to his staff. And then here is the weird essay he wrote about women fantasizing about being gang raped—for a class? And it wasn’t even well written much less appropriate for any coursework. He’s a doddering old man with poor health and attitudes straight out of the sixties and seventies. Which were far less cool or progressive than you might have been led to believe. I remember them. I wasn’t a fan in my teens and I expect far more now than I did 40 years ago.

Sanders wasn’t the only progressive running. He hasn’t even been very effective as Senator. There was a full slate of good candidates and still we end up with doddering old white guy and guys bemoaning it wasn’t the right doddering old white guy.

Talk about divisive. Man, you Biden supporters sure know how to burn every last shred of good will. You have me already agreeing to vote for his creepy ass AND you still won't shut up until what? I agree to fucking suck his dick?

I mean shit, I write stories about gang raping my husband. He asked me to write the story. Yet here you are spouting off about shit that you clearly don't understand. I mean fuck, you might as well be Derec or Trausti for all the honesty you have in your rhetoric.

Nothing I have seen of BS is "doddering". I have seen plenty from Biden that gives me doubts, but plentiful more from the Orange Turd.

Honestly, get bent.

There's loosing a war for the sake of a Battle and then there's this, losing the War for the sake of not liking the reasons people support you, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

[laughing dog]

Real question: For what do you believe that Biden could be impeached?

Second: how would Bernie, yet another doddering old white dude in poor health be a better choice? FFS, within his own campaign there have been allegations of sexism, sexual harassment and btw, Mr. Pay a Living Wage didn’t pay a living wage to his staff. And then here is the weird essay he wrote about women fantasizing about being gang raped—for a class? And it wasn’t even well written much less appropriate for any coursework. He’s a doddering old man with poor health and attitudes straight out of the sixties and seventies. Which were far less cool or progressive than you might have been led to believe. I remember them. I wasn’t a fan in my teens and I expect far more now than I did 40 years ago.

Sanders wasn’t the only progressive running. He hasn’t even been very effective as Senator. There was a full slate of good candidates and still we end up with doddering old white guy and guys bemoaning it wasn’t the right doddering old white guy.

Talk about divisive. Man, you Biden supporters sure know how to burn every last shred of good will. You have me already agreeing to vote for his creepy ass AND you still won't shut up until what? I agree to fucking suck his dick?

I mean shit, I write stories about gang raping my husband. He asked me to write the story. Yet here you are spouting off about shit that you clearly don't understand. I mean fuck, you might as well be Derec or Trausti for all the honesty you have in your rhetoric.

Nothing I have seen of BS is "doddering". I have seen plenty from Biden that gives me doubts, but plentiful more from the Orange Turd.

Honestly, get bent.

Physician, first open your eyes and then heal thyself.

 

[fromderinside]

Honestly, get bent.

Sure take your little pout about BS not being able to polish his boilerplate into an electable message.

Now that you've gone out on your limb, turn around and saw yourself off by not voting at all. Elect the Orange blamer in chief. You've earned it.

 

[lpetrich]

I have some sources on Brand New Congress's strategy.

Brand New Congress: 535 progressive candidates, 1 ticket / Boing Boing

Some of the technology activists who were key to the Dean, Obama and Sanders campaign have a new, audacious program: they're going to run 535 bipartisan candidates for office in the 2016 election, backed by a single website for fundraising, grassroots organizing and messages, based on Bernie Sanders' political platform.

That was because a good President would not be much without a good Congress. The article quotes some BNC literaure:

We will make announcements prior to this when we reach 10 and 100 candidates, fueling our volunteer base and donations each time.

Our candidates will be working people from many backgrounds and fields who:

• Are good at what they do.
• Are proven servants to their communities, families, friends.
• Have consistently passed on opportunities to sell out.
• In general, have never held or sought public office.
• Agree completely on a unified economic, social justice, and climate change platform.

BNC also tried to screen out egotism by only considering candidates who are nominated by others. Thus, AOC was nominated by her brother.

BNC's criteria deserve further discussion.

The first one is to screen out people who are not likely to be very competent at anything, and people who are just plain lazy. Such people are not likely to do well in Congress.

The second one is to get people with a good track record of being helpful to others, people who are likely to continue to do so while in Congress.

The third one means that one will be unlikely to sell out when in Congress. AOC offers an example of that. When she graduated from college, she could have found a job as an analyst in a Wall Street brokerage house, but instead she returned to the Bronx and did some educational projects. When those were inadequate for supporting her, she became a waitress and a bartender.

The fourth one I'm rather hazy about. I don't like the idea of rejecting expertise, but on the plus side, it may mean never having been involved in some corrupt political culture.

The fifth one is asking too much, I think, but I think that broad agreement is good to have.

 

[zorq]

Honestly, I put some thought into letting the R's take this election and the blame for the economic depression and general moral and rational catastrophe that Trump brings to everything he touches. But the bastard is so F'n corrupt... Grabbing power so shamelessly, that I start to wonder if the seemingly hyperbolic claims that democracy itself is at stake in this election might not be true. Furthermore, Trump's minions are so brainwashed, so clueless, or simply so intractably invested in conservative BS that they are completely incapable of recognizing the harm caused by Trump and R policies. They really believe that Trump does nothing wrong and agree with him when he blames others for anything bad that happens no matter how blatantly and publicly Trump fails. It's maddening.

I'm convinced that nothing good can come from helping R's this election cycle. Even R's that seem willing to offer a more sensible conservative alternative like Amash and Romney are horrible choices. The well is far too poisoned. Any encouragement directed toward R's this year is an endorsement of their systemic corruption and incompetence.

 

[lpetrich]

What's next for Sanders backers? Replace the entire Congress - UPI.com

Brand New Congress organizer Alex Rojas described the strategy as "have this exciting presidential-style campaign with 400 heads."

In other words, Brand New Congress would be the central campaign organization, making decisions on staffing and fundraising. But instead of making those decisions for one candidate, they'll be doing so for more than 400.

A group of Sanders campaign staffers and volunteers launched Brand New Congress in April, as Sanders' primary campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began to wind down.

She's Alexandra Rojas, and it's evident that BNC planned to act like a full-scale political party.

The group's organizers have also laid out a detailed timeline for their goals. They plan to publicly announce their first 50 candidates by March 2017, and announce more than 400 candidates by July of that year.

The House is completely elected every 2 years, so that's 435 Reps. The Senate is partially elected every 2 years, about 1/3 of it each time. So that's 33 or 34 Senators. So the maximum that BNC could get is 468 or 469 candidates.

On July 19, Brand New Congress blasted an email to supporters urging them to nominate people who should run.

"In general, we are not looking for career politicians or activists," the email read. "We want you thinking of your co-workers, teachers, healthcare providers, community volunteers, local small business people who really care for their workers and neighborhoods."

 

[lpetrich]

Brand New Congress - The BNC Plan in a Nutshell

Create Good Jobs for Everyone Ready to Work by Rebuilding America's Means of Making a Living ...

Liberty and Justice for All ...

How will BNC do that?

We can only carry out our plan if the American people give our candidates a sweeping majority in Congress and a partner in the White House. It will take at least until 2020 to achieve that. Until then, we'll be running a constant campaign across the whole country to win that majority. In 2018, we'll use however many seats the American people give us to fight as hard as we possibly can for them and show them what we're capable of. We'll shine a light on corruption, act as a watchdog for the people inside the Capital, stop every bad bill and win every part of our plan that we can.

Once we have a majority, Brand New Congress will govern like America has never seen in peacetime before: by actually getting stuff done! There will be no debating or horse trading -- because the BNC candidates all enter Congress already having agreed on the plan. We'll have all the legislation written and published for review by the people BEFORE the 2018 election! It's what the American people will have elected us to pass -- and we will pass it on Day One.

Very ambitious, but BNC did not get anywhere close. In early 2017, some of its members departed to found a similar organization, the Justice Democrats. But BNC and JD seem to get along with each other.