1627

There is no reason to believe that Republicans will come to their senses when McConnell is gone. His strategy was extremely successful for 8 years and let’s not forget that Republicans picked up seats in the Senate last year. There has been no lesson learned other than obstructing a Democratic President with your entire might, no matter what, is the right path.

1628

They can’t compromise. They’ll lose their voters if they do. They set-up their voters to only care about wins, and winning is not even winning, it’s just not letting anyone else get theirs.

1629

It also is not a formula for getting the democratic nomination this go round I think. I don’t see anyone on the far left being chosen, but whoever it is will be left of Hickenlooper.

1630

I haven’t heard any discussions by democrats about reparations in my limited viewing. But Fox News brings it up every day as part of the litany of the Dems evil ideas. Right there with socialism.

1631

Intuitively I think I strongly disagree with that analysis. Reparations will have to be pried from jaws of a half-conservative electorate and failure will lead to AA - and liberals in general - being stigmatized in a way that might not lead the happy hunting grounds of the progressive future, but might drive an even larger share of whites away from liberalism to conservativism. Once the reparation genie is out of the bottle, ect. Unless you can make a clear and timeless case ala MLK about the necessity of reparations that has a timeless force that future generations will all agree to be true.

1632

This is why the #1 thing I’m looking for a Dem president is willingness to shank Republicans and do things by any means necessary. This is my concern with Bernie- that he’ll be too nice.

I’m tempted to support Harris over Bernie because I think Harris will be more likely to get her hands dirty, even though I have concerns she might not be progressive enough. The only thing I care about now is keeping Republicans out of power until they change or die.

1633

Right. But understand this: reparations is as close to the progressive African American mindset as the Green New Deal is to progressive white mindset. It isn’t a fringe issue at all. We are very much in a silo here at Qt3.

1634

Hickenlooper is definitely a liberal… but he is also a pragmatist and seeks areas to work across the aisle (see all his efforts with Kasich). He’s also not afraid to do things without cross-aisle consensus:

  • Signed into law in Colorado initiatives for universal background checks and a ban on high capacity magazines. This created a firestorm from the GOP in the state, and even had one manufacturer move to Wyoming, with much fanfare

  • Stayed the execution of Nathan Dunlap, a man who killed a bunch of people at a Chuck E Cheese. Hick was eviscerated for this decision, due to the heinous nature of murders - but he did it out of a real question about the Death Penalty and whether the state should be in the business of killing people

I understand his comments about meeting with McConnell are naieve and certainly trigger everyone who understands the damage that McConnell has done to America - but Hick isn’t nearly as a moderate as he is made out to be… but he comes across that way because he is friendly and constantly trying to be a realist who finds common ground.

He would make a pretty good VP candidate.

1635

Wacky thing I learned today:

In its 191 year existence, the Democratic party has never nominated a presidential or vice presidential candidate from west of the central time zone.

1636

That is really wacky… what the hell

1637

Right? I mean, some of it is a quirk of the US not really existing much past the central time zone until the late 19th century and beyond. But yeah. Not even a nominee.

And I think it’s place of birth not necessarily “from” in the broader sense. I don’t think anyone, for instance, associates Obama really heavily with Kansas. He’s “from” Hawaii and California by upbringing, and a senator representing Illinois.

McGovern might be the closest, from a state that is 50/50 Central and Mountain.

1638

Would be nice to get some representation out here on the west coast finally!

1639

Here’s the key point: The 2018 elections did not make the Democrats a more left-wing party. It had the opposite effect: A large share of the new Democrats in the House hails from districts — many of them suburban — that in the past would have happily elected Republicans with moderate-to-progressive inclinations.

1640

Are there any Republicans with moderate-to-progressive inclinations?

1641

1642

Right now, there’s probably a fair amount voting with the Democrats or not voting at all and of course some voting with he GOP, still.

Which is why the WP says this too:

Such Republicans, once a substantial minority in the party, are a virtually extinct species.

It’s not that they vanished, they left the GOP.

1643

Has anyone shown Rep. Omar what they consider an acceptable way to criticize US support of Israel? Or is it just not acceptable to criticize it at all, which I guess would kind of prove her point?

1644

It’s incredibly easy.

Do not compare Israel to Nazis.

Do not suggest that Israel uses money to gain influence in some kind of conspiratorial manner. Indeed, don’t represent Israel’s outsize influence in the US as any kind of shadowy conspiracy.

Do not demand Israel be treated as an apartheid state without also demanding the same of, for example, China.

Do not hold all Jews responsible for Israel’s conduct.

So saying things like “The Netanyahu government has presided over a brutal repression in the occupied territories, appealing to the worst nationalist instincts of the Israeli people, and destroying any hope of peace. Israel may have in the past, when there was some attempt at a peace process and a somewhat more reasonable government, been a valuable US ally deserving of support, but due to a combination of inertia and Trumps own anti Muslim racism, the US now finds itself enthusiastically supporting a state which continues and deepens an occupation which causes immense human suffering,” is entirely fine.

You could probably be much harsher without crossing the line to be honest.

Now some might say “why should I put in so much effort and be careful with my words to avoid saying some things which I don’t think are wrong or that objectionable”, but part of anti racism is respecting the senisibilities of historically oppressed minorities.

1645

I’d bet good money you can’t point to an example of someone who does it the right way and thereby gains immunity from being called an anti-Semite or a terrorist sympathizer.

I, personally, have not seen any comments from Rep Omar that seem anti-Semitic to me. I don’t insist she has made no such comments; I just haven’t seen any that look that way.

Josh Marshall at TPM spent yesterday ranting that saying I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country is somehow code for saying it’s a Jewish conspiracy. Maybe someone has actually used it that way, I dunno. But it doesn’t follow that anyone who uses those words is actually secretly talking in code. There is a strong political push for allegiance to Israel that comes from a coalition of evangelicals and hawkish conservatives. One ought to be able say it, because it is true.

1646

I think Aceris has it pretty much exactly right, and you are missing the point that “allegiance” is a dog-whistle word with deep roots when it comes to anti-semitic (or anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant, or anti-communist) conspiracy accusations. Nasty anti-semitic conspiracy theorists are common enough that one is obligated to take extra precautions to distinguish your rhetoric from theirs.