Interregnum; or musing before battle
By RE Vanella
Briefer still.
There are certain concepts people seem to understand in the abstract but can’t grasp in the totality of the moment.
Fortunately, there aren’t too many of these people. And more fortunate is some can be convinced to stop worrying and love the bomb.
The Delaware Way is a rotting carbuncle infecting our body politic. The only treatment against the staph is to kill it. Unfortunately, our abject apathy and lameness has allowed the boil to become resistant to the normal treatment.
If you think games are being played, trust me, they are not. This isn’t a parlor trick or Hail Mary pass. This is an indication of grave concern about where we are. This is about developing and executing a plan to make it crystal fucking clear that she is not another tired politician and will not abide the same tired shit.
For the many rather than the few. We’re all in this together. Saturday, February 10th.
Audere est facere.
You’re not going to get people to publicly unite to take out Tom “Winningest Politician in Delaware History Who Can Call In Unlimited Chits When Threatened” Carper behind a platform or issues. But people might gather behind a person. Even more if that person is an LGBT woman of color who served in the Air Force.
You’re going to see a lot of curiosity but not a lot of interest or commitment until she unveils herself. Until that time, this is going to seem like an odd little cabal of leftists spouting some bizarre rhetoric, and nothing more.
Bizarre how?
“a rotting carbuncle infecting our body politic“
Nobody talks like that.
We’re not talking. I’m writing and your reading. I find the Delaware Way very bizarre.
OK, whatever, you are very smart, we get it.
To win in September is going to take a lot more than likening a sitting Senator to a staph infection. Lots of your voters have voted for him over the years. You’ve got to convince a majority of voting Democrats to turn away from someone they’ve known and liked for years. That’s a a big ask.
I get what SW is saying. Ultimately, we are just a bunch of scared little hominids sitting in the bushes. Taking out a leader is a big project, even one as self-serving as Carper.
But I’m down for the fight. Because 1) why not? 2) lighting can strike, and 3) Even if it appears to accomplish nothing, it makes it easier for someone to summon the guts next time.
I agree it’s a huge ask.
The sentence you’re hung up on refers to the back room deals and the corporate puppeteers and empty suits up and down the political landscape not just one person.
It’s about approaching the challenge in a different way. It seems like people are stuck on doing it the same way. I think there’s a desire to change it.
Yeah, Jason. I don’t disagree with SW either.
The point of the first sentence was directed at this common assumption. People cry for change and an end to what’s not working. Then when the battle is to be joined people wonder why it isn’t the same thing.
I think it’s a lack of imagination actually.
The australopithecus mind isn’t known for its creative thinking. “Will this hurt, or give me pleasure?” It is binary.
Carper beat Roth by putting the value proposition on the bottom shelf, well within everyone’s reach. “He is old.” Of course Roth helped him make that argument by falling down, still it was his campaign theme even before the tumble.
I think a candidate who puts the value proposition in very simple terms can win.
“He works for them, not for us.” It works for me, but that isn’t as simple as “He is old.”
Who is them? In that sentence, who is the us?
“He supports Trump.” …maybe better.
Think of it like this. If you want it to be familiar and comfortable I suggest you adjust yourself. What’s familiar is unsustainable.
So in your earlier thread, you wrote “I’ll introduced you to her personally.” I understood that to mean you would be introducing her to the crowd. Is that not the case?
No, he means a one-on-one introduction after her speech.
Alby is correct. Sorry if it was confusing. That’s why I qualified it as a personal introduction.
Carper is an abusive, senile wart who has only hurt delawareans in order to mIke his big pharma and health insurance cartel friends wealthy. Now he, and Coons are among the most trump supporting dems and THE MOST blue state Trump supporting dems. Fuck Carper, I’m ready for this fight.
One more tidbit from the Chris Johnson announcement. Ed Freel, Carper’s alleged brain, supposedly knows who the candidate is, and is already doing oppo research.
No matter what he might find, he’s gonna have a tough time burying Carper’s record.
Ed Freel is the guy to get rid of. Fuck, send the whole family somewhere else. They’ve fucked up this state for years now. Is he still feeding at the public trough at UD?
People just don’t get it: The Democrats who run the party run Delaware like a plantation, or, if you want a more modern comparison point, a jobs center.
Delaware’s Democrats are much, much worse than Delaware’s Republicans (upstate only; downstate Republicans are such scum that global warming is our only hope for scouring that land clean). If you want to protect the environment, don’t call a Delaware Democrat. If you want to raise wages for everyone, as opposed to just your friends and family, don’t call a Delaware Democrat. IF you want justice for minorities, don’t call a Delaware Democrat.
Unless all these newcomers can effect a mutiny, Delaware’s Democrats aren’t worth your time or energy. They only have about one testicle among them, and the only time they use it is to tell a constituent to go fuck himself.
They are — I constantly have to remind people of this — the pieces of shit who ran scared from Tom fucking Gordon and his patron Joe Biden for years without doing anything to put him where he belongs (hint — the windows have bars on them).
They are shit.
To be clear, I think you are saying “Delaware’s Office Holding Democrats are shit” or something to that effect. There is clearly a mafia of connected Dems that fit your description.
Yeah, I mean the people who run the party and staff most elected positions, as well as most of the non-elected ones. Not the voters, who just know they don’t want to be Republicans.
You can look it up. Every step forward taken by this state was taken by Republicans. The Democrats were just Dixiecrats with a corporate veneer, and when Dixiecrats everywhere else became Republicans, so did Delaware Democrats, they just never gave up the label.
So you get all the greed of Republicans, married with the nepotistic incompetence of Democrats. Look no further for why Delaware sucks so hard.
“Every step forward taken by this state was taken by Republicans.”
You wanna give examples beyond “look this up”? I can think of quite a few steps forward led by Democrats in modern times.
Now, if your frame of reference goes back to the 60s or 70s, then I’m sure your tally will outnumber mine, because the Rs back then were actually decent human beings.
Yes, I’m talking about ancient history, 70s mostly. That pesky Coastal Zone Act that Democrats have been attacking forever? Russ Peterson, Republican. The state’s second-biggest defender of the environment was Bill Roth. Pete du Pont famously saved the state from near its bankruptcy under downstate doofus Democrat Sherman Tribbitt. Criticize the banking law all you want, without it we’re an even smaller ghost of a shithole than we are at present. Democrats had no plan, and still don’t 40 years later. Oh, wait, their “plan” is to pump tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars into expanding Wilmington’s port without any guarantee of a nickel’s return on the investment. That’s their “plan” for the 21st century — give Julius Cephas what he wants.
I’ll grant you that the GOP has taken a shameful turn toward cretinism of the Southern sort in this century. I would argue that it became inevitable in Delaware because all the usual Republican positions on issues are already taken by “Democrats.”
Now let’s see your list of accomplishments led by Delaware Democrats. Credit given only for positions that aren’t foisted upon us by outside forces; minimum-wage increases, for example, have almost always been redundant in Delaware because almost everyone exceeds that wage anyway. Outside of the indoor smoking ban, which came about through the ineptitude of the Democrats (who were trying to work out a sweetheart deal for their “partners” the casinos and fucked it up), I can’t think of an issue on which they’ve been anywhere near the forefront.
Same sex marriage?
Outside force at play. Not to denigrate all the work various people put into it, because it took a lot of effort, but this is barely worth a footnote in history.
If we’re going to point to a bunch of social issues on which a state as blue as Delaware should be out front, you won’t find many beyond this.
Look instead at how government is run. On transparency, for example, Delaware is that only state in the union that allows its primary state university — coincidentally Ed Freel’s longtime employer — to hide its books from the public.
Bike lanes Alby, did’t Jackie Boy Markell and the Democrats make the Diamond State the most bike friendly Society in the History of Mankind. Bike lanes they are a fading, and sadly our cheerful, heartwarming international bike person logo has been disfigured by tires and snow plows in most places. We need volunteers to repaint our Happy Biker before the figure is just a memory. Jackie Boy Markell – Not just another Greenville Republican Elite.
Just checking in….
REV, hope candidate X is ready for their debut. Im trying to muster a group to bring.
@Gerry: The bike lanes are working just fine out where I live and the routes from here to the city are still well-marked. Probably ought to find another hobby horse.
Class envy much?
So gerry, find your inner Ron Swanson, grab some paint and do it. NO one is stopping you.
Rest assured the candidate is ready. Thanks for rallying your people. I ask everyone so inclined to follow Ben’s lead. I did speak the candidate late last week. I reminded her that she isn’t in this fight alone. The more the merrier on the 10th.
I did hear today that some additional information will be shared publically soon so be on the lookout. Once even more specific arguments are public people will understand what it means to say it. For the many rather than the few.
We can no longer rely on corporate interests and entrenched capital and the mediocre middle managers who do their bidding. This arrangement has not and will not address poverty, homelessness, hunger, health care for everyone and security for our seniors. Point of fact this drive for “economic growth” is what creates and exacerbates these problems.
Audere est facere…
R.E.—You going to announce your own candidacy for something, get in the ring, or be one of the many critics on this blog who don’t matter and just talk? Your fancy pants prose and your public outrage does not win anything or move the needle my friend. It sadly does not help the people you want to help either.
There are people who do and people who talk. Until you talk less and do more or decide to run for something, your just a blogger. I mean, even Amy Roe ran for office. She is a bit out to lunch and even more annoying than you, but she actually ran. For that, she gets respect.
Think about it. You might make a good city councilman, state rep, or you could be your own version of Ed Freel if you found the right candidate.
Fuck off, dead man.
Alby–you da man!!!
An announcement about the impending ammouncement, about which additional information will be shared prior to the announcement. I am beyond excited.
I do me.
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/12/06/arrested-protesting-tax-bill-heres-why-fight-dialogue-delaware/924397001/
And you do you.
Truth be told, you don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. My fancy prose did inspire you to write a semiliterate and poorly punctuated comment, so that’s something.
I would make a wonderful city council person, but I despise most people so I’m not the best fit. The idea that one can’t comment if they don’t run for office is the dumbest gambit in political discourse. And from you I expect nothing less.
Now go fuck off.
so it’s proving difficult getting people into this mystery candidate business. Is there going to be any announcement before the official date?
Yeah, anonymous people on the internet are not buying it. They demand a name!
I feel like maybe something significant will come to light in the next week that should assuage the apathy prior to the 10th. If my feeling turns out to be correct I want you all to know it happened only because Ben asked politely and for absolutely no other reason.
uh.. flattered…
But i’m more talking about in-person humans I know and am actively trying to bring out to this event. Friends of mine are well aware of my issues with Carper and mostly agree. They know me as someone who keeps pretty tapped in to political happenings and generally trust me on such topics. Here I am asking them to extend that trust to an anonymous person (you) pushing an anonymous person (the candidate)
I get the feeling you have dealings with this person and know who they are. Not asking you to break trust or anything… I just already consider myself to be volunteering on their campaign and am passing info up, what i can only guess, is some sort of chain of command.
I feel you. You’ll get your wish very soon.
Also, for the record, I’m not an anonymous person. RE Vanella. That’s me. I sign my checks that way. It’s on my driver’s license. R is for Robert and people call me Rob.
This is one of the reasons I am writing both here and News Journal Op-Eds under my own name. I understand you don’t know me personally, but I’m standing behind my arguments and signing my own name. It’s all I can do.
Fair enough, but as we have not yet had the pleasure of being introduced, you’re still anonymous to the people im trying to gin up. (If i have to lure people with gin I will).
Semantics. I look forward to Saturday (as i always do) and being a part of what is hopefully, a historic campaign.