You really, really, really don’t know what you’re talking about.
The people who ‘attacked’ Pelosi before, over her leadership, were Blue Dog conservative Democrats, not AOC or the progressives.
What’s happening now is that Pelosi ‘attacked’ AOC and the progressives — because punching left is what Democratic leadership likes to do — and AOC etc are only responding. It may indeed be misguided for them to respond, but it is a response to spectacularly bad leadership by Pelosi.
magnet
2694
I disagree. A lot of thus back-and-forth is only of interest to political junkies like us. Most Americans are not watching. So it may annoy Pelosi, but ultimately it doesn’t affect her ability to get things done.
And I think there is room for both pragmatists and ideologues in the party. You need the former to get things done, but you need the latter to constantly shift the Overton window and make sure the right things get done.
Republicans have made a lot of tactical mistakes, but their ideological wing was successful in making very right wing ideas appear downright centrist in comparison to their fringe ravings. Democrats need a fringe that is willing to do the same job.
Oghier
2695
That is an interesting point, and one I had not heard before. Democracy is not better served if both parties become cult-like, and there is value to hashing this all out in the open.
It still makes me nervous about 2020, though. If Dems aren’t unified in the general, then the policy differences between progressives and moderates don’t matter anyway.
Timex
2696
Bear in mind there, that statement you quoted was in reference to the GOP, not the Democrats. AOC’s group doesn’t have anywhere close to the same level of influence that the GOP tea party nuts did.
But the Tea Party folks most definitely did harm the GOP’s ability to actually govern. They may have made the moderate wing of the GOP appear more reasonable, but it ended up being moot, because they largely refused to compromise with even their own party. It’s a big reason why the GOP failed so spectacularly when it came to actually getting anything done.
I don’t think so.
Dissent is necessary and healthy, but there’s no reason for it to be public. At least not to the extent where members are openly attacking each other.
There is every reason for it to be public. It’s not “government of the superrich, by the affluent, and for the oligarchs.”
Public attacks can be a valid part of a communications strategy.
Nesrie
2699
There’s every reason to make some of that public. This is a Democracy. The public shouldn’t be afraid of some conflict within their party. The GOP and the people who support that kind of system have done their best to destroy that, but we can take it back.
I want the GOP to take a stand, publicly, against their most horrific policies pushed by Donald Trump, and they won’t do it. I expect and have received better from the Democrats.
Timex
2700
If you attack those who you are working with, you are doing the GOP’s work for them.
CraigM
2701
And if you don’t allow dissent, you get the GOP where Justin Amash is run out of the party.
Nesrie
2702
These newly elected representatives are not the Tea Party. You refuse to list any policies that would actually equate them to that group, and dissent is allowed in a democracy. If the leader can’t handle working with new passionate individuals, we need new leadership. Fortunately, our leadership has handled this just fine.
If you attack Democrats for being Democrats, you’re doing the GOP’s work for them.
Yeah, AOC sure is the cause of this kerfuffle.
This is a Dem leadership aid communicating a racially-based attack on AOC to a journalist.
What is a “goomba puppet”?
That is weird as hell. I thought “goomba” was some kind of racist slur for Italians, and I don’t see what else it would specifically mean to use that (or a similar image) if you just wanted an image of a non-specific puppet.
The aid just wanted a brown puppet example.
I’m either naive about some kind of racist code or that still doesn’t make sense. That Mario enemy is such an abstraction from a human I don’t see how anyone would look at that and think “ah, the barely anthropomorphic mushroom is not white, just like AOC!”.
I don’t think it’s racial I think it’s just a mean spirited shot at her looks, how she looks like a Goomba.
I don’t care for her glasses. I think I would’ve made a Harry Potter joke. I’m not cut out for politics.
