https://www.dailykos.com/user/criggs/rss/index.xml News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 05:55:43 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 05:55:43 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/5/2/1854756/-Tom-Perez-We-Need-That-Third-Debate <p>According to the New York Times at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/29/us/politics/democratic-primary-debates-2020.html" target="_blank">www.nytimes.com/...</a> ,  17 candidates have now qualified for the two Democratic presidential debates currently scheduled in June.</p> <p>Now the DNC/DNC Chair Tom Perez continue to insist that they will cut off the number of candidates at 20.  That would mean two debates, capped at no more than 10 candidates apiece.</p> <p>But the current 17 qualified candidates are almost certainly not the final number.  Right now there are two active candidates who seem very likely to qualify shortly:  Marianne Williamson now has over 51,000 donors which means she’s less than 14,000 donors away, and Representative Seth Moulton will almost certainly qualify soon.</p> <p>In addition, two more heavyweight candidates appear almost certain to throw their hats into the ring in weeks as well:  Colorado Senator Michael Bennet and Montana Governor Steve Bullock, both of whom will probably acquire the requisite number of donors in short order as well.</p> <p>Which means that even if no one else gets in, and even if no one else qualifies, we’re already at 21 candidates.</p> <p>And it might not stop there.  Just this week, Georgia’s Stacey Abrams announced that she would not be running for a U.S. Senate seat from that state.  Having expressed it as her intention to run again for elective office, it’s not too hard to guess that she is now looking seriously at a presidential bid.</p> <p>The fact is that this is a wide-open race.  No one has any clear idea of the final shape of the field, of who will make it to the finals, who’s going to surprise, who’s going to amaze, who’s going to catch lightning.</p> <p>Which means everyone should be given a chance.  Everyone should participate.  Everyone should be seen.</p> <p>It’s time for the DNC/Perez to acknowledge the inevitable and get ahead of it.  It’s time for them to do the right thing.  It’s time for them to drop this arbitrary 20-candidate limit.</p> <p>It’s time to open up a third June debate.</p> <p>UPDATE:  The Hill reports this morning that concerns are being raised about the crowded debates on June 26th and 27th:  <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/442622-dnc-faces-new-debate-minefield" target="_blank" title="">thehill.com/...</a></p> <p>Well, duh!  We knew, or should have known, that this was going to happen.  The solution is obvious:  Relieve the pressure and the crowding; open up that third debate, and drop that absurd and arbitrary 20-candidate limit.  Every candidate will then get over 15 minutes, probably, to make their case, a much better arrangement than the 12-minute limit which would be imposed on a 10-candidate 2-hour debate.</p> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> rss@dailykos.com (criggs) Debates Democratic DemocraticNationalCommittee Presidential TomPerez _1854756 Thu, 02 May 2019 08:40:53 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/5/25/1766977/-Cory-Booker-AIPAC-War-and-the-Military-Industrial-Complex <p>For several decades, our country has managed to get itself dragged into war after war of questionable justification, either practically or morally. <br> <br> In my lifetime alone, I’ve seen us lose 50,000 American lives and who knows how many native lives in the horror that was the Vietnam War.  I saw us get ourselves lied into a disastrous and probably illegal occupation of Iraq, thanks to the duplicity of a cabal of neo-cons led by would-be president Dick Cheney, with the connivance and enabling of all too many Democrats in Congress. </p> <p>All of these wars were avoidable.  In every case wiser heads strove to gain our attention, to make the case against that war, to lead us out of our jingoistic and interventionist temptation. </p> <p>But to no avail.</p> <p>Those who betrayed their liberal and progressive allies, by joining forces with the war hyenas, were ultimately punished by them.  LBJ lapdog Hubert Humphrey and George W. Bush apologist and enabler Hillary Clinton both saw their presidential hopes dashed, largely because they chose, at the moment in history when it really mattered, to be a profile in cowardice.</p> <p>But maybe, just maybe, we can avoid making the same mistake yet again.</p> <p>I’m a 63-year-old progressive activist.  I’ve been involved in political campaigns since 1967, when I joined the Clean for Gene brigade on behalf of Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy, as he sought to extricate us from the human and moral hell of the Vietnam War. </p> <p>Over the past 15 years or so, I’ve been conducting semi-monthly Democratic presidential nomination surveys of my fellow activists.  Whenever I find myself at an occasion where several of them are present, I have those surveys ready to hand out and collect.</p> <p>For the past 18 months, since the end of November 2016, I’ve been tracking closely the thinking of fellow NYC grassroots Democratic volunteers.  Up until today, while I have, and have always had, strong opinions, pro and con, on the issues of the day, I have always striven to maintain a certain minimum level of objectivity where these potential candidates were concerned.  That means that, while I certainly have preferences for some potential candidates over others, I have generally kept my personal commentary on the matter to a minimum.</p> <p>Until today.</p> <p>Over the past month, it has become apparent to me that one of those potential Democratic presidential candidates is showing significant signs of increasing strength.  I am greatly concerned about this development; so I’ve decided to break my silence on the matter.</p> <p>The battle between hawks and doves is a never-ending one.  There are always those, like President Obama, who stress diplomacy over military action, and who view the latter as a last resort.  Then there are always those who never let go of the military hammer in their thinking, and are always ready to find the next nail on which to wield it.  It is the latter group who helped buffalo and bamboozle us into the war in Iraq.  It is the latter group who sought to derail and destroy the Iran Deal, even as President Obama strove mightily, together with several other very powerful nations, for a successful conclusion to those negotiations.</p> <p>And I am very sad to say that, both with the Iraq War and the Iran Deal, there were members of my Democratic party who took up the military hammer and chose to fight on the wrong side of history.</p> <p>We dare not blind our eyes to their presence in our party.  We dare not ignore their malign intent.  We dare not deny their presence in our midst.  And we cannot afford to stand by silent as one of their number threatens to become an ever-more-likely presidential nominee.</p> <p>I speak of Cory Booker.</p> <p>The simple truth is that Booker has always hewed to the AIPAC line when it came to matters of war and peace in the Middle East.  Never mind that the majority of American Jews supported President Obama and supported the Iran Deal (which Booker finally, and reluctantly, supported, after considerable pressure from Senate Minority Leader Reid and other party leaders).  Never mind that J Street is now a powerful, potent and progressive force on Middle East foreign policy among American Jews, providing a telling and persuasive rhetorical counterweight to AIPAC poison.  Never mind that Israel’s own intelligence forces supported the Iran Deal, correctly seeing it as a potentially successful attempt to stuff the Persian nuclear genie back into the bottle.  No, the only thing that mattered to people like Booker was the fact that AIPAC was opposed to this pro-diplomacy pro-peace effort.  AIPAC purports to speak on behalf of Israel’s interests.  In fact, it does nothing of the sort.  Instead, it is a thinly disguised mouthpiece for right-wing neo-con elements, both in Israel and in the U.S.  And politicians like Booker, who either willfully or ignorantly blind their eyes to that fact, continually threaten us with future quagmires in the Middle East when they parrot the AIPAC line.</p> <p>The facts regarding Booker’s relationship with AIPAC, in particular, (an organization that repeatedly has joined together and made common cause with such noxious and unsavory elements as neo-cons and hard-line pro-war Christian fundamentalists) are spelled out in several in-depth and sobering articles from various serious publications.  Here’s a representative quote from Truth-Out’s hard-hitting expose of the senator, written by Zaid Jilani, and published in January of 2104:</p> <p>“Long before Booker made his 2013 run for the U.S. Senate, he was courting this lobby, letting them know that he was a reliable ally. In late October of 2008, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyV7JxhWUXk">Booker spoke</a> at the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Nation Summit in Chicago...[I]t was a signal that Booker had adopted its narrative: Israel is under siege and in constant threat of annihilation, and the United States must have complete policy alignment with its government to prevent the deaths of Jews…</p> <p>“Booker's hardline support for Israeli policy isn't explained just by his past few years of pandering to crowds at AIPAC conventions. Before Booker spoke that day in Chicago, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8doRA0OsfIg">he was introduced</a> by his long-time friend and mentor, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach...Boteach, enraged at what he perceived to be President Obama's weak support for Israel's government, ran for Congress as a Republican...Israel was never far from the campaign, as  he <a href="http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2012/10/congressman_bill_pascrell_rabbi_shmuley_boteach_debate_over_economy_israel.html">made one of the cornerstones</a> of his attack on his Democratic opponent, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), the fact that he signed a letter protesting the humanitarian impact of Israel's embargo on Gaza…</p> <p>“[L]iberal Zionist writer Peter Beinart...reflecting on Booker's close relationship to Boteach,...concluded:</p> <p>“’Booker is no longer just a spiritual seeker looking for community in unusual places. He’s on his way to being one of the most important politicians in the country. He says he supports a Palestinian state but when he speaks on the Middle East he generally recites the standard AIPAC half-truths. Indeed, although he <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yan2de3xqlM">reminds audiences</a> that the word “Israel” means “struggle,” he doesn’t appear to have struggled with Israel’s treatment of Palestinians at all.’..</p> <p>“Booker [i]s a hardline ally of anti-Iran lobbyists. His fundraising may help explain why. Although AIPAC often brings together influential donors and activists, it has no fundraising PAC of its own. That's where, in Booker's case, NORPAC comes in. A New Jersey-based PAC that bills itself as supporting candidates who “demonstrate a genuine commitment to the strength, security, and survival of Israel,” it has been a <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/21/egypt-israel-lobbyistswashington.html">big fundraiser for Menendez</a> and other Senate hawks. NORPACs president <a href="http://www.njjewishnews.com/article/17247/nj-pro-israel-pac-raises-funds-for-cory-booker#.UsssJ_RDuQ5">raised at least $100,000</a> for Booker, and told New Jersey Jewish News that during the private event then Mayor Booker spoke to “our key concern, Iran.” <a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2013/10/donors-boosted-bookers.html">Alex Kane notes</a> that Booker also was backed by a Super PAC called the Mobilization Fund that received hundreds of thousands of dollars from hedge funders who also funded Israel lobby causes.  </p> <p>“Put together, Booker's courting of the influential Israel lobby, which is powerful in his state of New Jersey, his long friendship with a hardliner like Boteach, and the fundraising dollars from NORPAC and others results in the Booker Paradox: a [progressive] Senator...who sides with Iran war hawks.”</p> <p>There are plenty of other articles which discuss Booker’s unsavory foreign policy influences.  They have appeared in such mainstream publications as The New Republic and The Daily Beast.  (I’ve added the links both for these articles and for the TruthOut piece at the bottom of this diary.)</p> <p>The bottom line:  At this point in our nation’s history, when the war hyenas are again circling, and again trying to foment war, against North Korea, against Iran, against Syria, we dare not allow the Democratic party, which should stand in opposition to those evil forces, to be co-opted and detoured by a smooth-talking wolf in sheep’s clothing who sings the song of progressive ideals but hides an agenda of war and conquest.</p> <p>Don’t let this happen.  There are others who can lead our party, who have demonstrated a willingness to speak truth to power where foreign policy is concerned.  For example, no fewer than four Democratic senators, all of whom are considering presidential runs, Senators Brown, Merkley, Sanders and Warren, signed a letter recently calling on Israel to rectify the humanitarian outrages in  Gaza brought about by the Israelis’ inhumane blockade there.  They are showing our party the way; they are showing moral and political leadership.  Let us heed their call and reject the snake oil that all too often has derailed and defaced our nation.</p> <p>Finally, here are those links I promised you:</p> <p><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/21244-why-cory-booker-is-trying-to-deep-six-obamas-historic-efforts-at-peacemaking-with-iran" target="_blank">www.truth-out.org/… </a></p> <p><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/116204/corey-booker-democratic-senator-support-iran-sanctions" target="_blank">newrepublic.com/… </a></p> <p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/cory-bookers-rabbis" target="_blank">www.thedailybeast.com/… </a></p> <p class="is-empty-p"></p> rss@dailykos.com (criggs) AIPAC booker Boteach Democrats Fundamentalists Gaza Iran Iraq Israel JStreet Neo-Cons Obama Presidency Presidential Syria _1766977 Fri, 25 May 2018 21:44:36 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/29/1615455/-Robert-Reich-Erroneously-Calls-Trump-An-Illegitimate-President <p>Today Secretary Robert Reich, in an email message to Move On members, <span>stated that "Donald Trump is the most illegitimate president in American history."</span></p> <p><span>Here’s what I would say to Secretary Reich.</span></p> <p> <span>First of all, Secretary Reich, that is not accurate. There is no question that Trump lost the popular vote. However there is also very little question that he won a sufficient number of swing states to win in the Electoral College. And our president is chosen through the Electoral College, not the popular vote. That is an undemocratic system; it disenfranchises urban areas and the more populous states. It needs to be changed. But, for now, them's are the rules and them's are the reasons why Trump legitimately became our next president.</span><br> <br> <span>In recent times, the only illegitimately elected president was George W. Bush, and then only in 2000, not in 2004, when he legitimately won re-election. In 2000, there is clear evidence that a full and fair recount of the state of Florida would have given those electoral votes, and the presidency, to Al Gore. Gore's legal team made the bad call to contest only one area in Florida rather than the whole state, a call which was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, effectively handing the presidency to Bush. But that does not change the fact that, on the merits, Gore was probably our legitimately elected president in 2000.</span><br> <br> <span>But that's not the only reason why depictions of Trump as an illegitimate president need to be challenged.</span><br> <br> <span>Back in 2008 Obama's opponents mounted a full-throated campaign, in the wake of his election, intended to de-legitimize and "otherize" his presidency. That effort was a clear and flagrant attempt to subvert the democratic process. Should progressives and liberals now engage in the same sort of anti-democratic subversion? It would be outrageous if we did so.</span><br> <br> <span>Finally, terming Trump an illegitimate president is also a pathetic attempt for the Democratic party to evade its responsibility for this disaster. The fact is that years ago, back in 2013 (and, it could be argued, as far back as 2007), there were plenty of us who recognized that Hillary Clinton, with her very high negatives and her history of support for war and closeness with Wall Street, would be a very weak, terribly flawed presidential candidate for 2016. Many of us recognized that Barack Obama had won the presidency, not once but twice, with a younger, browner, more progressive, better-educated coalition than that on which Clinton Inc.'s victories were based way back in the 90's. </span><br> <br> <span>Recklessly ignoring the lessons of the twin Obama victories in 08 and 12, the powers-that-be in the Democratic party decided it was time to go back to the future with someone whose history, whether on the Iraq War or criminal justice, whether on gay rights or financial regulation, was a terrible fit with the Obama Coalition. So Barack Obama gave us this wonderful gift of a winning presidential coalition, and we cavalierly threw it away like so much trash.</span><br> <br> <span>Not enough of us tried our damnedest to nudge our party away from walking off that cliff, whether it was by pushing for a principled and charismatic alternative like Elizabeth Warren in 2014, pushing for Joe Biden to get into the race when he briefly considered it in 2015 or, finally, in desperation, in 2016, getting behind the Hail Mary pass of a septuagenarian avowed socialist with a Brooklyn accent in a last frantic attempt to derail the suicidal Clinton train. Unfortunately our attempts were insufficient to dissuade the party from its self-destructive course.</span><br> <br> <span>So make no mistake about it: Donald Trump was legitimately elected as the 45th president of the United States. He was elected thanks to the monumental cluelessness and boundless idiocy of a Democratic party which actually got it into its thick skull that nominating a candidate with the highest negatives of any Democratic presidential candidate in history was somehow, by these idiots' twisted logic, a really neat idea. </span><br> <br> <span>History is cruel and ruthless; Democrats, progressives and liberals briskly marched off that cliff, and managed to miraculously lose a race against Donald Trump, an ignorant bigot and demagogue with clear tendencies toward narcissism and self-delusion. We did this to ourselves, no one else. If you're looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror.</span></p> rss@dailykos.com (criggs) DemocraticParty Democrats DonaldTrump Hillary Liberals Obama ObamaCoalition Progressives RobertReich trump _1615455 Thu, 29 Dec 2016 19:33:08 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/9/8/1567874/-Bill-Weld-For-President <div> <div>Dear Governors Johnson and Weld,<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Let me introduce myself.  I'm a liberal Democrat, active and volunteering in Democratic politics since 1967, when I was strongly opposed to the Vietnam War and went Clean for Gene.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>I was an enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008 for the same reason:  I don't like Democratic warmongers.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>The fact is both major party presidential candidates have sky-high negatives, and for excellent reason.  The two big parties have given us a choice between a dangerous pro-war grifter and a dangerous, ignorant and bigoted fascist demagogue.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>It not only would be nice if you won; in fact, it's a patriotic necessity that you win.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>And that won't happen at the moment, for a very simple and brutal fact.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Governor Johnson, I'm sure you're a well-intentioned and sincere person, and I know you were a good governor; but the American people are not ready to accept and elect someone with your record and positions on drug issues.  Fairly or not, it ain't happening.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>On the other hand, Governor Weld, you also were a highly credible moderate and centrist governor of Massachusetts, and you suffer from NONE of the negatives with which Governor Johnson is unfortunately burdened.  Moreover, day after day, we hear from credible people like Susan Collins and Mitt Romney that they would be more than prepared not only to support you, but to throw their weight behind you, if you were to assume the number one slot on the ticket.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>And I'm sure I speak for a lot of Democrats when I say that you would have an ability to appeal to us which few other non-Democrats would have.  You have a realistic anti-interventionist view of foreign policy.  You are socially enlightened (for example, you have an excellent record on LGBT rights).  And yet you are clear-eyed about some of the fiscal challenges which the Dems refuse to face, such as the looming problems with Social Security and Medicare.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>I can assure you that if you two were to swap places on the ticket, I would support you, and I believe millions would as well.  It would change this election, and save us from the monumental, epic, catastrophic fail that are our two major party presidential nominees this year.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Much can be said, and probably will be said, in coming years about how the two major parties managed to so completely screw up the presidential nominating process to produce two such jerks.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>But that's for another time and place.  Today is the time to do everything we can to make sure neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump ever set foot in the White House.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>And the only way that will happen is if you bite the bullet, put aside ego for country, do the right thing, and run the best man for president.  I'm sure you know, in your heart of hearts, that what I'm saying is right.  So please, do the right thing, and save this country from these two dangerous creeps.  You will have earned the eternal gratitude of myself and everyone else in this country who is appalled at the absurd choices the Donkeys and Elephants have given us and horrified at the idea of either of them becoming our country's CEO. <br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Please do this; America needs you to do this.  Every patriotic citizen in this country needs you to do this.  This is an unacceptable situation, and it lies within your power to fix it.  This is your duty; you need to recognize it as such.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Thank you.<br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Sincerely yours,</div> <div></div> <div>Charles H. Riggs, III</div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (criggs) Clinton Hillary Johnson Libertarian trump Weld _1567874 Thu, 08 Sep 2016 10:47:34 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/7/21/1404394/-Why-Are-You-All-Still-AWOL-On-The-Iran-Deal <p>To The Following Supposedly Progressive Organizations:</p> <p>Bold Progressives: &nbsp;<a href="http://boldprogressives.org/">http://boldprogressives.org/</a><br /> Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: &nbsp;<a href="http://dccc.org/">http://dccc.org/</a><br /> Democratic National Committee: &nbsp;<a href="http://democrats.org">http://democrats.org</a><br /> Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: &nbsp;<a href="http://www.dscc.org/">http://www.dscc.org/</a><br /> DickDurbin.com: &nbsp;<a href="http://dickdurbin.com">http://dickdurbin.com</a><br /> Elizabeth Warren.com: &nbsp;<a href="http://elizabethwarren.com/">http://elizabethwarren.com/</a><br /> Emily's List: &nbsp;<a href="http://www.emilyslist.org/">http://www.emilyslist.org/</a><br /> The House Majority PAC: &nbsp;<a href="http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/">http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/</a><br /> People For The American Way: &nbsp;<a href="http://www.pfaw.org/">http://www.pfaw.org/</a><br /> RussFeingold.com: &nbsp;<a href="http://russfeingold.com">http://russfeingold.com</a><br /> Searchlight PAC: &nbsp;<a href="http://www.searchlightpac.com/">http://www.searchlightpac.com/</a></p> <p>Why are you all still AWOL on the Iran nuclear deal???</p> rss@dailykos.com (criggs) Congress International Iran National Security NationalSecurity Nuclear White House WhiteHouse _1404394 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 21:52:51 +0000