What If the Dems Didn't Suck?

Seven months since my last post. I've pretty much left social media--who knows for how long--so found myself back here, and who knows why. I was on Bluesky for the last couple years or so and liked it there as well as the people I followed. But I also found that I don't need to be pumped up with anger and total disbelief about this country, and the whole world for that matter.

Maybe I will write about some of that here, I have nothing better to do. Since my last post, the war in Gaza seems exactly the same as it was, which means it's worse, because it means more and more people are needlessly dead. It's doubly sad and troubling, because most (elected) Democrats are fully in support of the genocide. What's a person to do? Who's a person going to vote for?

The argument seems to be that it's a no-brainer. Of course you have no choice but to vote for the Dems. But there are problems with this argument. Most recently, for example, many of these voices (the vote shamers) are the same voices that are condemning the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York. Apparently "Vote Blue No Matter Who" only applies to those that they approve of. I also have difficuty with the notion that we have to support the evil Israeli tyrant because it is necessary so that we can defeat the evil American tyrant. Quite a trade-off, huh?

Well, I'm not buying it. It is time for the Schumers and the Jeffries and the Pelosis and the rest to listen to the people who want to vote for them instead of thr other way around. I will not vote for anyone who doesn't in some way explicitly oppose and condemn the genocide that the US is currently and financing. Thta's the current no-brainer for me. I will vote third party if the Democrats continue to support things that are evil.

And it's not only Gaza (and the West Bank). These vote-shaming lecturers vote to confirm most of Trump's nominees. They voted for the crypto scam bill. They invite Third Way conservatives to their retreats and ignore the left (disdain the left is more accurate). Medicare for All? Nah, they aren't for that. Trans rights? Nope, just the latest group tp throw under the bus. They are the Party of donors and consultants and their own oligarch buddies. Time to listen to voters like me instead of David Shor and Ezra Klein and James Carville. You want to endorse Andrew Cuomo? Go for it, but you've lost me.

In short, to steal from a Congressional candidate in my district, I'm not voting for candidates who suck anymore. 

 

On to December

• In its entire history, the FBI has never had an FBI Director that was a Democrat.

• Trump did not get a majority of the national popular vote (Cook Political Report currently has it at 49.8%).

• If Netanyahu and his administration are guilty of war crimes--which I believe to be true--then so also is the Biden administration.

• Dems definitely need to respect their base (which is not Liz Cheney, bless her heart). Otherwise we are in deep doo-doo.
  

 

 

 

 

 

Biden's Character

If I had any doubts left about Biden's character--if he has any--the way Bernie's Joint Resolution and the most recent UN vote played out removed all those doubts. Biden was often very coy when expressing his worry about the innocent Palestinians being killed by Israel in Gaza (and don't forget about the West Bank, which has nothing to do with Hamas). But since the election, his lack of care and total support for genocide is now in full view.

Once again, Biden and his administration went out of their way to insult the opponents of Israel's genocide, accusing them of doing the bidding of Hamas. Biden's White House was alongside AIPAC in lobbying Senators to vote no. This is the same AIPAC which is all in on Trump. Their loyalty is to Netanyahu and not America. It is time for American foreign policy to be based on America's interests (which ought not include supporting a genocide with our words and our treasury).

The US also vetoed another UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The slimy part of this is that the US lobbied the writers of the resolution to water down part of the language, and then they vetoed in anyway. Sleezy.

Polling has shown that rank-and-file Democrats have consisitently favored a ceasefire by incredibly large margins, I think 75% and more. Yet two-thirds of the Democratic senators voted against Sanders' resolution. I have never been a big Biden fan, but the year 2024 has been especially bad. Blame it on senility if you want, but he has shown a deficiency in moral character. Very disappointing. Between Biden and his administration, and the Dems, it is high time to rethink the whole structure and leadership of the Democratic Party.

Quickie

It is very bad that Trump has been elected.

Having said that, good fucking riddance to Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, John Kirby, and Joe Biden himself. Thanks to your unflinching support for genocide, all I will ever remember the Biden administration for is how god-awful monstrous you all were for this.

 

 

Some Election Ditties

• Harris/Walz carried Minnesota (Walz's home state) by ~140,000 votes. Amy Klobuchar won her Senate election by ~500,000.

• Seems that campaigning with conservative Republicans (and war criminals) didn't bring on board the suburban white Republican women as intended. They were never going to vote for Harris. Maybe the Dem elites should go after the voters who actually want to vote for them if you just give then a reason to.

• Another suggestion: maybe Dems need a fresh cohort of highly-paid political consultants. The old status quo folks aren't cutting it anymore.

• Harris is trailing Trump by about 4.5 million votes. Did she really think she was goin got fine them from suburban white women by campaigning with Liz Cheney? One of the stupidest things I have ever seen in my years of following politics.

• Trump's 51% of the vote in 2024 represents about 3 million fewer votes that he had in 2020 when he had 47% of the vote. The narrative that he won because of finding lots of new support isn't borne out by this fact. Harris got 13 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020 (all the votes haven't been counted). Trump won in large part because millions of Biden voters stayed home.

  
  

  
  

Quote of the Day -- November 11, 2024

From Rebecca Solnit's Guardian op-ed today:

The media might be the simplest to describe. A democracy requires an informed citizenry, and the US media over the past eight years in particular created an increasingly misinformed citizenry.

When people are more concerned that a trans girl might play on a softball team than that the climate crisis might profoundly devastate the biosphere and much of life on it, human and otherwise, for the next 10,000 years, the media has failed. When people worry about crime when it is low, an economy when it is thriving and immigrants when they do much of the hard work that sustains that economy and commit fewer crimes than the native-born, the media has failed to reach them.

 

 

More Gaza (and West Bank and Lebanon and...)

Okay, so I have already voted for Kamala.

Having said that, I will also say that I am tired of the lectures from the wide range of folks on the left--including Bernie and The Nation--about how important it is to be "inside the tent" where the Democrats in power will listen to us. So, we are supposed to vote for Harris because then we will be listened to.

If only I had that same optimism. Here's the thing: in 2024 there were people already inside the tent who were telling Biden to stop the genocide. Not only were they ignored; they were time after time accused of antisemitism by spokespersons for the president. So much for that argument. And it has always been so.

So I get it. I voted for Kamala Harris because she will overall be better than Trump. In the Middle East, I am not so sure. The vote scolds tell me that I should vote for Harris and then I will be at the table to influence policy. My experience has always been that those running the party and deciding policy have a different attitude toward the left: knock on doors for us, send us your money, and give us your vote. Then shut the fuck up because we know what's best. (The Democratic Convention was full of Republicans, but no Palestinian Americans.) The powers in the Democratic Party heed the oligarchs. Different oligarchs that the Republicans maybe, but oligarchs nonetheless.

I hope Harris wins the election on Tuesday, but expect little change in foreign policy in general, and Gaza in particular.