DL Open Thread Tuesday March 22st 2022
Here we go again. A very popular progressive is beating a centrist corporate lickspittle. You know the rest.
A super PAC backing Pennsylvania Senate candidate Conor Lamb is warning prospective donors that he is trailing frontrunner John Fetterman by 30 percentage points in the Democratic primary — and that the public’s perception of his opponent’s ideology must change for Lamb to have a shot….The document highlights the testing of aggressive negative messaging against Fetterman, who is Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, including that he is a “dangerous radical who proudly calls himself a socialist,” “supports far-left policies like a $34 trillion-dollar government takeover of healthcare,” and has “spoken at Defund the Police rallies and wants to release convicted felons back onto our streets.”
On this date in 1917 The United States became the first country to recognize the newly Tsar-less state of Russia. Tsar Nicholas II (The Deuce!) abdicated on March 2, leaving Russia in the hands of a moderate Provisional Government. The Americans were eager to keep the Russians fighting in the Capitalist war. Lenin and the Bolsheviks would soon rise in popularity based on the “We’re done with this fucking war” platform.
This is nothing new for you, but it is nice to read headlines like this now and again.
The Democratic Party’s Biggest Problem Is Its Conservative Wing
Several months ago, Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) announced that she won’t be running for re-election. Recently, she explained why in a worshipful interviewwith Rachel Bade at Politico, excerpted in its Playbook newsletter (“Presented by PhRMA”): She’s mad about Democrats criticizing her for not supporting President Biden’s agenda. “I am surprised at how short the memory is. It’s as short as being celebrated for having flipped a seat and then excoriated for taking votes that help you keep that seat,” she said.
This is a crock. Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda is dead because a handful of the party’s most conservative members, including Murphy, killed it. Now the party has nothing of legislative substance to run on, and members in swing districts are looking down the barrel of a possible midterm electoral bloodbath. The culprits are starting to head for the exits, scapegoating everyone but themselves for the consequences of their horrible decisions.
Some smart people disagree with me, but I doubt Judge Jackson is going to win the approval of President Joe Manchin. Neverthe less, this is a timely reminder.
DO NOT WATCH POLITAINMENT
BY ERIK LOOMISThis is your reminder to never, ever, ever watch politics on television. The Jackson nomination hearings require such an intervention. It’s not some sort of healthy civic activity. It’s sheer politainment, devoid of anything useful. We already know what’s going to happen. Hawley and Tailgunner Ted and Sasse and the other assholes on the Senate Judiciary Committee will pontificate and fascism all they can. Then there will be hours of commentary on said words. Nothing interesting will happen. The entire setup of these hearings as places for senators to show off are devoid of value unless you think watching desperate men make their case to the Republican base has value.
Moreover, it is a shocking waste of your time. In the extremely unlikely event anything interesting actually happens, you can read about it later. You can even watch some hot takes on Youtube. You can do this in about 1% of the time you would spend watching these rituals of ridiculousness.
Since the kind of person who comments on this site is a political junkie, which is the equivalent of a bad drug habit, intervention is necessary. Keep politics as part of your life, but not the pointless television-based kind. Instead of watching these hearings, go volunteer somewhere or engage in other forms of political activity, such as organizing with local social and economic justice groups. This is not to suggest that liberals’ political activity of choice–registering people to vote–has value. It does not, unless you are registering kids or new citizens. As the Trump years and after have taught us, you can get people registered to vote but they are probably going to vote against your values in about the same percentage that previously registered voters will. But if you have an upcoming election in your town, doing some GOTV operations has enormous value.
In conclusion, choose your political activities widely. Avoid those that lead to depression and doomscrolling/doomwatching. Engage in those that actually make a difference. And trust me, watching a Supreme Court nomination hearing does not make a difference unless you want to imagine what Jeffrey Toobin is doing on his computer when others are speaking around him. And I do not want to imagine that.
Significant tornadoes EVERY WEEK? Is this is a new thing?
Maybe this climate change thing the egg-heads keep talking about is actually real?
Not that it’s necessarily meaningful or prestigious, but my friend and comrade Stacey Henry was named an influential Delawarean by the News Journal today. Podcast listeners will remember her for the work she has done in the wake of the Ida flood in Northeast Wilmington.
On last week’s show we updated that story with news that one of those still displaced had sadly died leaving a wife and grandson. Preexisting conditions exacerbated by the anxiety & depression of housing and food insecurity, no transportation, lack of services, &c. His family does not have money for a funeral.
Perhaps you could contact Stacey at 302-420-1819 or the Congo Funeral Home to kick in a few dollars if you are in a position to do so.
RIP Jerome Revelle (November 9, 1963 – March 6, 2022)
https://www.congofuneralhome.com/obituaries/Jerome-Revelle?obId=24328337#/obituaryInfo