Progressives (Liberals)

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"The Real News Network
·
Prof. Gerald Horne examines the Trump-Bannon objectives of forming an alliance with Russia to isolate China and Iran."

Still trying to process this one.

Wichita feels the Bern.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.kansas.com/latest-news/article215250395.html

Bernie Sanders fires up 4,000 in Wichita with rally for James Thompson, against Trump

BY DION LEFLER AND RAFAEL GARCIA
[email protected]
[email protected]
July 20, 2018 03:25 PM
With the gruff and at times angry rhetoric that made him famous on the campaign trail, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders fired up a crowd of about 4,000 on Friday with a speech calling on Kansans to support progressive ideals and a local Democrat for Congress.


Sanders and Democratic rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came to Wichita to rally on behalf of James Thompson, running for Kansas’ 4th Congressional District seat.

The crowd nearly filled the 5,000-capacity hall at the Century II Convention and Performing Arts Center.

“We must have gotten off at the wrong stop because people told me Kansas was a Republican state,” Sanders thundered. “It doesn’t look like it.”

062018sanders_thompson_jg2.jpg
About 4,000 people gathered at rally in support of Kansas congressional candidate James Thompson at Century II Convention and Performing Arts Center. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez where in town to endorse Thompson. (July 20, 2018)
Jaime Green The Wichita Eagle
They cheered, chanted, and at times shouted out “We love you Bernie!” as Sanders went through his now-familiar menu of issues, including a $15 minimum wage, Medicare-for-all, tuition-free college and sympathy for immigrant families separated by President Donald Trump’s zero tolerance policy on undocumented immigration.


Sanders hurled many accusations at Trump, who he called a “pathological liar.”

And Sanders contrasted Trump’s tough border policy with what many have criticized as a weak performance in regard to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and what intelligence agencies say was Russian tampering in the 2016 election.

“A few weeks ago when Trump’s immigration polices … resulted in little children being torn from the arms of their mothers, Trump said that is a sign of his strength,” Sanders said, to loud boos from the crowd.

“I say to the president, that is not a sign of strength, that is a sign of moral weakness,” Sanders said to louder cheers. “And we say to Trump, instead of showing us your strength by tearing children from their families, where was your strength in standing up to Putin and Russia?

062018sanders_thompson_jg3.jpg
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez waves to the crowd at Century II Convention and Performing Arts Center. Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders were in town to campaign for Thompson. (July 20, 2018)
Jaime Green The Wichita Eagle

“How courageous it is to tear children from their families, how cowardly he is to stand up to people who are trying to undermine not only American democracy but other aspects of our lives.”


Some of the loudest cheering came when Sanders called out Charles and David Koch, who jointly own Wichita-based Koch Industries and have spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Republican politicians and conservative causes.

Sanders decried the Kochs’ plan “to spend, this midterm election alone, $400 million to elect candidates who represent the wealthy and powerful.”

He said the rule should be “one person one vote and not billionaires buying elections.”

Bill Riggs, a spokesman for Americans For Prosperity, the Koch network’s main political arm, has said the $400 million the network plans to spend this cycle will go toward supporting ballot initiatives and other advocacy efforts along with candidates.

The purpose of the rally was to generate support for the Democratic candidacy of Thompson, who lost to Rep. Ron Estes in a special election last year.

Thompson faces a primary against international trade executive Laura Lombard in the Aug. 7 Democratic primary and a potential rematch with Estes in November.

“It is a compliment to my campaign that my primary opponent felt it necessary to bring in two national figures from the East Coast in an attempt to win the primary against me,” Lombard said in a statement. “While we appreciate Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez coming to town, Kansas Democrats will make their own decisions regarding who they believe has the strongest policies and vision for our entire district.”

Veterans and teachers

Sanders took the stage after a fiery speech by Thompson, who spoke of his rise from an impoverished and near-homeless teenager who bathed, washed his clothes and fished for dinner in a canal, to law school and then a career as a civil rights lawyer.

Thompson opened by recognizing veterans and teachers, saying that it was a teacher who inspired him to rise above his background and the military that provided him with the money and self-discipline to do it.

He said the country is failing to provide needed services to its veterans and he intends to make that a priority if he wins in November.

“Our veterans are dying at a rate of 22 a day from PTSD … because we have a Congress that’s failed to do its damn job and that has got to stop,” Thompson said.

Thompson hit many of the same themes as Sanders, especially the minimum wage and the high cost of a college education.

“It’s not even about Republican or Democrat or independent,” he said. “It’s about all of us coming together because we’re working people trying to make ends meet.

“As someone who graduated from law school with $120,000 in school debt, I know what that burden is like for our students,” Thompson said. “Coming out of school with (the equivalent debt of) a mortgage already, and trying to buy a home, raise a family, it’s extremely hard.”

“It’s impossible!” shouted a woman from the audience.

“It’s impossible,” Thompson agreed.

Thompson also chided Estes for not participating in debates.

“I’ve been busting my backside for the last year and a half making sure I got out to every rural county and making sure I was talking to everybody in that town, because I know that the congressman that’s in office right now sure as hell won’t do it,” Thompson said.

Thompson challenged Estes to a series of 17 debates — one for each county in the district — between now and November.

Earlier, the Estes campaign issued a statement saying Thompson had “resorted to bringing the face of socialism to Kansas” in “a desperate attempt to win the democrat primary.”

Estes’ statement said he “will continue fighting for common-sense Kansas values and looks forward to a vigorous campaign this fall with whomever wins the democrat primary.”

‘Candle of hope’

Ocasio-Cortez vaulted to national prominence and earned a place on stage with Sanders by running an unapologetically progressive campaign that beat House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley in a recent New York primary.

A native of the Bronx, she told her own Kansas story of writing a fifth-grade paper about the state for her teacher, Mrs. Whipple, a Kansas native.

She said she learned a lot about wheat, but also Kansas’ history on the front line of the fight against slavery leading up to the Civil War.

“Kansas was founded in a struggle over the conscience of this nation,” she said. “It was in 1861 the people of Kansas decided we were going to be a free nation. That is the crucible and the soul of this state. Don’t let anyone forget it.

“Kansas has delivered before and it will deliver again,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “You are carrying the candle of hope for this country.”

“You are too!” shouted a man the audience.

Guadalupe Magdaleno, executive director of Sunflower Community Action, said she came to the rally because she was tired of divisive rhetoric against the immigrant community.

“When we see that hate is being spread in our nation and dividing our communities by our color, by our gender, by our religion or by where we’re from, a rally like this brings us hope,” she said. “All around the rally, you saw people from all different backgrounds, showing that we’re a progressive and just nation. This rally lifted our spirits, brought us hope and encourages us to continue the fight.”

Skylar Ward said Sanders’ presence at the rally caught her eye, but she’s wanted Thompson to win since last year’s special election.

“It’s energizing to have this many people all on the same page,” Ward said. “Voting blue is not a wasted vote in Kansas.”

He took it to Koch’s front yard.

I am less than thrilled about Ocasio-Cortez traipsing off to Kansas. She should be focusing on her campaign in the Congressional district in New York.

But if progressives don't help each other, they will stand alone.

I hear you Sturgis, but I think Edgar is right. She’s The It Girl of the moment, and if she can raise awareness for other lesser-known progressives, I think a little trip won’t hurt.

The progressives are just emerging on to the scene. I feel pretty strongly that we need to band together.

I’m more worried about the DNC cheating her like they did Bern. No time in Kansas will affect that.

But, love hearing another interested opinion! I guess time will tell us if it is a mistake or not.

I’d LOVE to work on a campaign!!

Is there anything particulary wrong Laura Lombard? I ask because I am not sure why electing Thompson in the primary who lost once to Estes makes a lot of sense in terms of gaining more democrats in the house and senate. (BTW, I have no idea about any of these people just pointing out facts.)

Or is that not what the progressive movement is about? Is it more about the movement itself and it's own long term particular goals rather than immideate needs of the country right now?

She’s dirty.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article180086556.html

Smell her.

You said you wanted to work on campaigns, if I was a progressive and was running for anything at all anywhere and having looked up your internet life, I would politely tell you that:

"I appreciate your support for our progressive ideals but you would be a liability to the cause as your aggressive hostile attitude has a net negative effect."

Lower level strategists behind the scenes don’t have public personas.

Who cares? Who would want such a hostile person working around them? You would cause division wherever you go.

Stop pretending to know anything about how people are privately. This is the only place I openly argue with anyone. If you want to theorize about my personal life, you will get the same treatment. You really won’t like it.

The New Yorker ·
“I’m twenty-eight years old, and I was elected on this super-idealistic platform,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. “Folks may want to take that away from me, but I won. When you hear ‘She won just for demographic reasons,’ or low turnout, or that I won because of all the white ‘Bernie bros’ in Astoria—maybe that all helped. But I smoked this race. I didn’t edge anybody out. I dominated. And I am going to own that.”

Wow...that quote doesn’t make her very endearing.

I hope that Crowley wouldn’t run as a third party (everything says he won’t) but I’d bet that if he did, he’d beat her in the general. She won with something like 7% of the district voting, and only won by 1400 votes in a district over 300,000 people.

I’m glad she’s there, but she Wow.

In rebuke of Dianne Feinstein, Kevin de León wins endorsement of California Democrats in Senate race

The Battle Royal heats up.

NBC

Sanders' wing of the party terrifies moderate Dems. Here's how they plan to stop it.

Party members and fundraisers gathered for an invitation-only event to figure out how to counteract the rising progressive movement.
by Alex Seitz-Wald / Jul.22.2018 / 8:01 AM ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio — If Bernie Sanders is leading a leftist political revolt, then a summit here of mainstream Democrats might be the start of a counterrevolution.

While the energy and momentum is with progressives these days — the victory of rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York, buzz about Democratic Socialism and the spread of the "Abolish Ice!" movement are a few recent examples — moderates are warning that ignoring them will lead the party to disaster in the midterm elections and the 2020 presidential contest.

That anxiety has largely been kept to a whisper among the party's moderates and big donors, with some of the major fundraisers pressing operatives on what can be done to stop the Vermonter if he runs for the White House again.

But the first-ever "Opportunity 2020" convention, organized here last week by Third Way, a moderate Democratic think tank, gave middle-of-the-road party members a safe space to come together and voice their concerns.

"The only narrative that has been articulated in the Democratic Party over the past two years is the one from the left," former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell told NBC News.

"I think we need a debate within the party," he added. "Frankly, it would have been better to start the conversation earlier."

Pragmatism may be a tougher sell in the Donald Trump-era, but with the 2020 presidential race just around the corner, moderate Democrats know they are running out of time to reassert themselves.

The gathering here was just that — an effort to offer an attractive alternative to the rising Sanders-style populist left in the upcoming presidential race. Where progressives see a rare opportunity to capitalize on an energized Democratic base, moderates see a better chance to win over Republicans turned off by Trump.

The fact that a billionaire real estate developer, Winston Fisher, co-cohosted the event and addressed attendees twice underscored that this group is not interested in the class warfare vilifying the "millionaires and billionaires" found in Sanders' stump speech.

"You're not going to make me hate somebody just because they're rich. I want to be rich!" Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, a potential presidential candidate, said Friday to laughs.

The invitation-only gathering brought together about 250 Democratic insiders from key swing states. Third Way unveiled the results of focus groups and polling that it says shows Americans are more receptive to an economic message built on "opportunity" rather than the left's message about inequality.

"Once again, the time has come to mend, but not end, capitalism for a new era," said Third Way President Jon Cowan.

For the left, Third Way represents the Wall Street-wing of the party and everything wrong with the donor-driven wet blanketism they've been trying exorcise since 2016. Thom Hartmann, a liberal talk radio host and Sanders friend, once called the group's warning about Sanders "probably the most stupid thing I've ever heard," before ticking through all the investment bankers on Third Way's board.

But some elected officials in relatively conservative areas say progressives are clueless about what their agenda would mean for Democrats outside major cities and the coasts.

"We will be a permanent minority party in this country," said Iowa state Sen. Jeff Danielson, a firefighter who represents an area that saw one of the biggest swings from Barack Obama to Trump during the 2016 election.

Single-payer, government-run healthcare may be a popular party plank in New York City, where Ocascio-Cortez, a Democratic Socialist, recently won a high-profile primary, Danielson said, adding, "But it does not work in the rest of America...and I’m tired of losing."

Moderates said they feel they're being drowned out by louder voices on the left.

Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., a member of House Democratic leadership who represents a district Trump won, invoked Richard Nixon's "silent majority."

"If you look throughout the heartland, there's a silent majority who just wants normalcy. Who wants to see that people are going out to Washington to fight for them in a civil way and get something done," she told reporters.

"There's a lot of people that just don't really like protests and don't like yelling and screaming," she added.

And they worry the angry left will cost Democrats a rare chance to win over those kind of voters, including Republicans who no longer want to part of Trump's GOP.

"Republicans have chosen the far-right, which means that they have ceded a good portion of the middle of the road," said former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who is considering a presidential run. "The Democrats, in my opinion, would make a big mistake if they decide to run a base election and just say, ‘Our base is bigger than your base.'"

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu speaks in Washington on race in America and his decision to take down Confederate monuments in his city on June 16,
With much of the recent policy innovation on the Democratic side been happening on the left, the "Opportunity Agenda" unveiled here tries to equip moderates with their own big ideas.

Some of the key initiatives are a massive apprenticeship program to train workers, a privatized employer-funded universal pension that would supplement Social Security and an overhaul of unemployment insurance to include skills training. Other proposals included a "small business bill of rights" and the creation of a "BoomerCorps" — like the volunteer AmericaCorps for seniors.

Meanwhile, they say the progressive agenda is out of date. They dismiss, for instance, a federal jobs guarantee as a rehash of the New Deal.

"Our ideas must be bold, but they must also fit the age we are in," Cowan said. "Big isn't enough. If it's bold and old — it’s simply old."

Matt Bennett, Third Way's senior vice president for public affairs, acknowledges that Sanders "had a big head start."

Many of the party's biggest stars like — Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey —have already signed on to Sanders-backed policies like single-payer health care. But Bennett said he thinks they'll reconsider when they examine the details. "I think they were a little hasty," he said.

Notably, the proposed moderate agenda does not take issue with the party's broad consensus in favor of abortion rights, LGBT equality, stricter gun control and support for immigrants and a path to citizenship for the undocumented.

In a twist, the agenda is based largely geography, rather than class or race, which are more popular on the left. It focuses on trying to address the fact that cities are thriving as rural areas fall behind.

Clinton was pilloried earlier this year for bragging that she "won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward," but Democratic losses in the rest of America have been politically disastrous for the party.

The difficulty will be selling this approach in the Democratic presidential primary to a base that has seemed to move in the opposite direction.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the chair of the New Democrat Coalition, said his side is not "naturally arbiters of emotion and anger."

"How we tell our story and put forward our polices in a way that makes people want to mount the barricades is one of the biggest challenges we have," said Himes, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represents Fairfield, Connecticut.

He pointed to calls to "Abolish ICE," for instance, which he characterized as emotionally understandable but politically illogical.

"It hurts us in areas where we need to win," Himes warned of "Abolish ICE" in the midterms. "You have now made life harder for the 60 or 70 Democrats fighting in districts where we need to win if we ever want to be in the majority."

"We're going to figure it out, though," he added, looking down at his tie printed with little blue waves. "We're going to figure it out."