If you’ve read anything about left-wing political journalism over the past decade, you already know Al Giordano’s name. Longtime commentor Watergirl reminds me: Everybody who bemoans the parlous state of actual political reporting has a chance to help train a new class of activists to find real stories (not just press releases) and to share them effectively:
Fifteen years ago – after Narco News and its journalists won press freedom rights for the entire Internet in the New York Supreme Court – we created the School of Authentic Journalism to train new generations in the skills and strategies of communicating to change the world. If you’ve already pledged to make the 2016 school happen, thank you.
If you haven’t yet made a pledge we’re running out of time and I plead with you to do so right now at this link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1652340249/the-2016-school-of-authentic-journalism
Last year hundreds of readers, graduates and supporters did rally in the last week to get us to the $25,000 goal. We held a great school in November, the best yet (every new school has been better than the previous ones). But it turned out to be a bit more expensive than we had budgeted which is why we’re forced to seek $30,000 for the 2016 school.
One need only look at how the news media has elevated Donald Trump to become the presumptive Republican nominee for president in the United States to be reminded how urgent it is to train better journalists. Commercial media’s constant search for “ratings” to be able to charge more money for advertising has been what made a monster out of Trump, a man who calls Mexicans “rapists” and promises to build a wall around the country. They’ve given the man hundreds of millions of dollars in free airtime because he brings them those ratings. Yet of more than 500 graduates of the School of Authentic Journalism not one that I know of has participated in that charade. Instead, they’re out there doing the work that reporters are supposed to do, bringing attention to corruption and voice to the voiceless…
If we don’t make the goal by March 4, not only will that kill the 2016 school but could cripple it for years to come (remember we were unable to hold the school from 2005 to 2009: objects at rest tend to stay at rest). We’ll have to also seriously assess whether the project of Narco News and the other important projects of the authentic journalism renaissance will be able to continue at all.
I know you’re busy, that your time and resources are valuable. But I also know that you don’t want to wake up on March 5 to hear that this wonderful school – the most important and vital project of my lifetime and that of my colleagues – has ceased to exist because not enough of us made any pledge at all. Even if you have only a very small amount to spare the Kickstarter page lists the number of pledges and as that number grows it creates momentum and encourages others to do the same…
I’ve kicked in a bit. Even if you can’t contribute yourself right now, please share the link on social media (FaceBook, Twitter, etc.) wherever your proud progressive associates bemoan the lack of actual news in our news media.
low-tech cyclist
Yeah, this is worth doing. I can definitely kick in a few shekels.
Elizabelle
Glad you highlighted this, Anne.
Think of Andrea Mitchell Greenspan’s dessicated concern face mug as you kick in some bucks.
Think of how MSNBC is spotlighting Trump every chance they get. They’re making more money off him now than before they parted ways. They’re desensitizing America to just how odd it is that he is a leading presidential candidate in America.
Baud
To be clear, people who donate can still bitch on the internet about the media, right?
@Elizabelle:
People here were saying CNN was providing better coverage of the South Carolina primary than MSNBC. Let that sink in.
BR
For those curious how Political Compass rates Clinton vs. the Republicans on the left-right vs. authoritarian vs. libertarian spectrum, there’s actually a significant difference:
https://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2016
According to their analysis, she’s actually slightly less authoritarian than Obama but a tiny bit further to the right:
https://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2012
It’s also notable how much more extreme the Republicans are this time around.
MomSense
Will happily donate.
Lolis
The media hates Bill and Hillary with a passion. My friend and I were in DC in 2008 during the primary. A journalist asked my friend who she was voting for and when she said Obama, he bought her a drink. He told her the Clintons were evil. He was not some RWNJ either.
I love following Al on Twitter. He mocks the Bernie fans better than anyone.
BR
@Lolis:
The thing that’s funny about it is that those same Bernie fans often don’t realize that Al isn’t a fan of Clinton either. It’s just that he’s practical.
Mike J
@BR: Who gives a shit what libertarians think about anything?
BR
@Mike J:
I don’t get what you mean — who’s the libertarian you’re talking about?
If you’re talking about the word, you’re thinking about it way too narrowly — in every country other than here (and in previous eras) it was not exclusive to right-wing libertarians of the Ron Paul variety. Sanders is actually as libertarian as Ron Paul, and the Green party’s candidates are often even more libertarian. Chomsky is a far left-libertarian, and I bet most folks on Balloon Juice, if folks were to take the self quiz on that site, would find they’re left-libertarian.
Steve in the ATL
@Mike J:
Ain’t that the [expletive deleted] truth?
I am shocked by some of the people I know who are pushing libertarian BS. Some REALLY smart people. I wish I understood what made them fall for that.
MobiusKlein
@Mike J: I figured the chart was off kilter when showing Obama just next to Romney.
BR
@MobiusKlein:
It’s not off, it’s just that there’s a whole spectrum of political positions that never get explored in most mainstream U.S. politics and so almost all candidates end up in the top right box, so visually they get clustered together.
geg6
OT, but anyone catch Trump refusing to denounce the support from David Duke and the KKK? Unfuckingbelievable. If the CW is that he’s starting to tack to the center, wtf does the CW consider the center to be?
Princess
To Trump, David Duke is the centre.
Princess
And speaking of Al Giordano, whose kickstarter everyone should support, what do you all think of the hints he’s giving that on Monday Elizabeth Warren is going to endorse? And that the person she’s going to endorse is Hillary?
MobiusKlein
@BR: it’s like measuring the temperature in Kelvin, and wondering if I need a coat if the forecast says 315 Kelvin.
Choice of scale matters. By showing Obama and Romney so close, I wonder about the metric.
MomSense
@Steve in the ATL:
What makes them fall for it? Privilege.
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: I think the issue may be that in the US libertarianism has been purposefully conflated with two other things: 1) Ayn Rand’s Objectivism and 2) Hayekian moral philosophy/moral economy.
As I’m pretty sure almost everyone who reads BJ knows, almost no one in the US actually applies ideological or political labels correctly. Nor do they seem to realize or care that they’re relative and don’t mean the same things in different states and societies. In the case of libertarianism in the US, because it has become conflated and merged with objectivism and hayekism, there is no discussion of positive versus negative liberty/libertarianism and/or how achieving an appropriate blend of the two is what is essential, via the social contract, to achieving actual liberty. And finally that liberty is not equal to freedom. They are two different things.
Ben Cisco
@Princess: If true, not necessarily surprising. She will be one of many, I suspect.
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman: Libertarians are republicans who want to smoke dope.
debbie
@Steve in the ATL:
At heart, the libertarians I know are driven by their self-centered selfishness.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: In practice, that covers a lot of them. In theory, I’m not so sure.
Lolis
@Princess:
I believe it. When it happens there will be a meltdown online. It will be entertaining. Elizabeth Warren has proven she is smart and practical. She has been in the Senate long enough to know Bernie can’t deliver on his promises. Al has said Sanders is already nosediving in Massachusetts, so this will make the state very interesting.
Amir Khalid
@MobiusKlein:
315 Kelvin is 42C or 107.6F. You would probably not want a coat, but Bedouin robes might not go amiss.
Steve in the ATL
@debbie: Yeah, many of the ones I encounter are selfish and ignorant “IGM, FY” dim bulbs who don’t understand collective action problems, and some are just Republicans who don’t to admit it, but others aren’t. They are genuinely nice people, including some former hippies who are all into new age healing and what not. Maybe it’s disillusionment with the status quo, but don’t we all feel that? But understand what needs to be done to effect change?
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman:
And, ironically, both are spectacularly wrong!
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: The US-style libertarians I know will tell you all about positive vs. negative liberty, they just insist negative liberty is the only legitimate kind. They have axioms that tell them this.
waysel
@Mike J: I love this. Stealing, if I may?
Matt McIrvin
@Princess: I think Warren has been dropping hints that she supports Hillary for a long time. Since much of the Sanders movement started as Draft Warren renamed, I imagine there will be some hurt feelings.
MobiusKlein
@Amir Khalid: My point exactly. Picking the correct scale for the task helps us make the right decision. A chart showing us Obama and Romney nearly co-incident is not up to the task of understanding our politics. (or just GIGO)
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m sure there are some that don’t care one way or the other about pot, they’re just ashamed to call themselves Republicans out loud. It all works out the same.
ThresherK
@Mike J: You forgot “want to get laid” on that.
TBH the full description isn’t so short and snappy, more like “A Libertarian is what a Republican who wants to get laid calls himself*”.
(*No sic.)
liberal
@geg6: He’s trying to be all things to all people by making multiple inconsistent statements on everything.
Amir Khalid
@Princess:
I wonder about the timing, if Warren is indeed about to endorse Hillary. She’s passed on the chance to announce an endorsement up to now; I took this to mean she was waiting till after the nomination. Why now, when the primaries have only just started, and it’s still not (quite) certain who will be the nominee?
liberal
@Matt McIrvin:
The axiom is that non-government actors can never oppress anyone.
Applejinx
@Princess: If that does happen, what it tells me is that Warren believes her objectives are better served by a ‘liberal’ (heh, in what country? only the USA) landslide, than by an extended and divisive battle.
It also implies that she thinks she can get more out of her issues from a Clinton administration. She would know a lot better than me, on that point. I’d consider it reassuring.
People talk ‘coronation’ but what I’m seeing is a pretty mind-boggling show of strength. Voters really, truly don’t matter anymore. If they think wrong, they can be turned around or adjusted in various technocratic ways.
One of the ‘wrong thinking’ ways being corrected is racism. I find the methods really disturbing but can’t argue with the intent. You can’t have #WhichHillary, but you can #BlackLivesMatter all day long. One might argue that letting anyone but Hillary win would endanger black lives… these are strange, strange times.
I don’t know how much poorer the USA can get, and survive as a country.
I do like the glimpses of technocrats getting together to stamp out racism and sexism for good, at all costs, like it’s a war with no quarter given. With the Rs carrying on as they do and Trump mainstreaming naked racism, I can understand why democracy seems too important to be left to just people.
SUCH strange times…
I would want Elizabeth Warren to have the support of the next administration, I know what Warren wants. You rock, Elizabeth. Make your decisions as you see fit, we’ll infer what we can from them.
WaterGirl
@Matt McIrvin: Yeah, but she is smart enough to announce early enough for people to get over any hurt feelings they might have.
I think Elizabeth Warren shares a practical bent with Barack Obama. I have loved Elizabeth Warren since I first heard her say on TV: “I’m saving the rocks in my pockets for the Republicans.” She said this when she was being baited to attack the President for not making her head of the organization that was her brainchild.
Another Holocene Human
Okay, Tulsi Gabbard-wtf? Is this news item for real?
1. Did not know she was DNC vice-chair. Didn’t she just get elected?
2. She has history of saying weird things. Now adds doing weird things?
Is she rage-quitting because Bernie can only win in a Black Swan event at this point? Why would you quit right when the Congressional races begin?
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/congresswoman-endorses-bernie-sanders-steps-down-dnc-n527481
liberal
Clinton is teh awesome.
Barry
@geg6: “OT, but anyone catch Trump refusing to denounce the support from David Duke and the KKK? Unfuckingbelievable. If the CW is that he’s starting to tack to the center, wtf does the CW consider the center to be?”
A CW which takes as baseline the most prominent Republican position.
sharl
Thanks for this post AL. Anyone familiar with Giordano’s history knows this is a passionate commitment of his, and a very worthy (and difficult) mission.
Another Holocene Human
@geg6: Gross and disgusting.
Applejinx
@Amir Khalid: If she does endorse Clinton I’ll consider that conclusive evidence it’s over, and that we all have to get what we can out of the results.
Some of us have been harping on for AGES about how powerful, well-connected and ruthless the Clintons are, and the crap they and their supporters will pull in order to win. If that is true, it’s political suicide to oppose them for even a second after it’s become a foregone conclusion. I don’t want Warren committing political suicide, or getting whacked by the power structure, I want her IN that power structure.
Canadian Anchor Baby Koch turned out to be more plugged-in than we knew. If you come at the Queen you best not miss, apparently.
So, in that event, the thing to do is roll over and surrender to that power to avoid being squashed completely, and try to make a case that the issues that have always driven the Sanders candidacy continue to be just as relevant. It may have always been too late to resist the Clintons, and we can’t risk a Trump presidency.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Someone on twitter posted a story about a professional black woman in South Carolina getting a phonebanking call by a Berniebro. After telling him that she was supporting Secretary Clinton, there was a very long pause, before she was told that Senator Sanders supports welfare. She gave him a 10 minute piece of her mind. So, the Sanders outreach to the AA community is continuing apace.
Protip to Sanders’ supporters: If whites want free stuff like college education and health care it’s not welfare – only free stuff for blacks is welfare, so please keep fucking that chicken.
ETA: Al Giordano has a tweet of an interview that Sanders gave, admitting that he thinks he’ll do better with blacks outside of the South. The “apartheid left”, Al calls it.
Ben Cisco
@Another Holocene Human: According to the article, she’s concerned about CinC issues. The timing does seem a bit…odd.
Omnes Omnibus
@Applejinx: Give it a fucking rest.
WaterGirl
Anne Laurie, thank you so much for front-paging this Kickstarter! We can always count on you for this sort of thing.
Al kept a lot of us sane in 2008. And now, who else is working to teach and train young people about real journalism like this school does? Al sets the example of putting his money where his mouth is – and his time! He is mentoring a whole new generation just as he was mentored all those years ago.
The School of Authentic Journalism is
a national treasurean international treasure.Baud
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: LGM has that story up.
@Princess:
Don’t know about timing, but I’ve always expected her to endorse Hillary. If she had felt the Bern, she would have supported him early on where she could have helped him out.
Baud
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: He’s probably correct, since it it’s hard to imagine doing worse.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Baud:
True dat. Although his supporters are doing their very best to keep it a possibility.
Amir Khalid
@Applejinx:
If Bill and Hillary really did have that kind of power, wouldn’t she have won the presidency in 2008?
debbie
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Oh, to be a fly on that wall!
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: seriously!
Amir Khalid
In sports news: Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet drops another infamous clanger in the League Cup final against Manchester City, who now lead 1-0. Feh.
Baud
@debbie: According to the excerpt posted on LGM, a Sanders official called her back to apologize. I mostly think they were not prepared for the success they achieved in terms of training volunteers.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@debbie:
No kidding. I’d like to see that transcript released.
sharl
@Adam L Silverman: The history of U.S. libertarianism is a confused mess, made only slightly less so when you remove all of those workplace break-room “libertarian” simpletons who basically just want legal pot and slashed taxes.
One establishment libertarian says the U.S. movement was inspired by a trio of women – Ayn Rand, Rose Wilder Lane, and Isabel Paterson. I don’t know anything about Paterson, but based solely on the radically different personalities of Rand and Lane, I’m not surprised that political philosophy would have some serious “split personality” issues. Folks like Virginia Postrel notwithstanding, I wonder how the movement seems to have fallen into the hands of (mostly) literate dudebros* over the decades (*h/t Giordano et al.).
I often find very good criticism of political and government issues among a few self-described libertarians, though sadly that’s a small number. Radley Balko is very good on the militarization of police, and abusive behavior within the LEO community. And IMO Julian Sanchez does well researched work on 4th amendment issues, especially in the information technology world (and Sanchez exposed Mary Rosh years ago, so he’ll always have a place in my heart). But while they often provide useful critical analysis, I rarely find domestic libertarians to be a source for viable/practical solutions to the problems they identify.
Applejinx
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, you want a certain kind of people to be trampled under the very expensive high heel of the Queen, AND to shut up? Sorry, pick one :D
Still looks to me like the best angle to take with a Hillary nomination is to make it a referendum on racism, and on Liberalism. The Presidential win seems to me also a foregone conclusion, the possibility is to make it a massive blowout (demoralizing, and I don’t mean to hippies: I mean to the Republicans), and at that point it’s the public spin that will carry the day and dictate how things are done.
So call it a referendum on racism, and call it Libby Lib Liberalism being completely victorious. That sets the stage for actual liberal policy to be enacted. It’s about time.
debbie
@Baud:
Really sad to think we’ll never get rid of stereotypes.
Thoroughly Pizzled
@Applejinx: Your Uriah Heep shtick is getting old.
Brachiator
@BR: You don’t need a political compass to tell which way the wind blows.
oldgold
When I heard Sanders was sending Cornel West to South Carlina, I knew his outreach effort was going to be something less than a smashing success.
dmsilev
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: According to the story (which is long, but well worth reading), it was the president of the Charleston chapter of the NAACP. Sure, low-level volunteer who went badly off-script, but one might also ask why someone like that is getting scripted calls from a phone-banker rather than an actual personal call from someone higher up in the Sanders campaign.
ruemara
@Applejinx: oh, dear. Really? Shhhhh. Be disappointed Bernie isn’t really fomenting a revolution at the ballot box, but, yeah, drop that BLM vs Which Hillary, because you don’t want to go there.
Renie
Interesting article by Richard M. Nixon@dick_nixon about Super Tuesday. If you don’t follow him on twitter, try it for a few days, really funny and interesting.
Emerald
@Princess: Al’s latest tweet on a Warren endorsement is “don’t count your endorsements before they hatch” but that he could confirm she would not be endorsing Sanders.
And good folks, I am wallowing in poverty and cannot support Al’s school. Would somebody who can afford it kindly make a donation for me? Enormous thanks!
Applejinx
@ruemara: And why not, if Hillary is prepared to throw her weight behind #BLM? Just because people are rigging things to boost some thoughts and suppress others (trivial in a world of Facebook and Twitter) does NOT make those thoughts wrong.
It’s just creepy, but racism is a lot creepier. I don’t want them to stop! Make this election wear the face of #BLM and establish beyond any doubt that we will not tolerate racism, sexism, etc. here.
There are plenty of people who will have to deal with the economic/power/control thing, but clearly this is not the time to do it. Again: if Elizabeth Warren endorses Clinton I’ll know the fix is in, and I support her in protecting the access and influence she does have.
You don’t vote for Kings, and you go to war with the Queen you’re given, not just whoever you’d like. Racism is a war for the soul of this country. Economics is more the lifeblood, and why live if you’re becoming a fourth Reich? Amazingly there’s more than one thing important in the world at any given time.
Gvg
@Applejinx: you are really around the bend on this. That is silly paranoia. The Clinton’s are powerful polititian’s Ina non sinister sense in a country and town with a lot of other powerful people and many not as powerful people who non the less, still get their way some of the time. The voters get a say too even though they don’t always agree with any of us. Lots of people have gone against the Clinton’s and won fights or stuck around. Quit going all black hopeless world.
Hillary is more in tune with more voters than Sanders is. He has some parts that find him more attractive but not nearly enough. It’s not just policy either. Frankly competence and working with others to get stuff done though not perfect is pretty darn attractive in and of itself. I want that. I do not want revolution at all. I am risk adverse. A lot of people are. Hillary is a lot more like people I have worked well with and Sanders isn’t. In fact I have some of Sanders traits myself which means I am not the best manager, I tend to go do my thing when it’s for myself but for a team, a consensus builder is much more useful in a work setting.
Things are kind of explosive on the racist front right now. I don’t think Bernie would take enough precautions either. So various voters all over the country are making their choices and there is only a little media savvy politicians can do to “make” people want them. It’s just not some sinister power thing, it’s Clinton looks better to more people…..again. Remember when Bill was elected he was an outsider. They started with no connections and built for years. Bernie has been around about as long but hasn’t so he isn’t as successful. What is wrong with that?
WaterGirl
@Baud: All you had to do to phonebook for the Obama campaign was have your info registered at their website and click a link. I was shocked at how vulnerable it all seemed to ratfucking, but I never heard about that happening.
I imagine that’s still the case. But at least this phone banker was smart enough to let someone in the campaign know so I don’t think it was ratfucking, just utter cluelessness and lurking racism.
Brachiator
@Barry: Trump tacking to the center? There are journalists, pundits and bloggers who can only see what they want to see. Trump mania is driving them crazy.
A GOP strategist is still predicting (or praying) that Trump’s candidacy will collapse. It makes sense that other fools must insist that Trump becomes the nominee, he must magically behave like a traditional candidate.
oldgold
Sounds like Chris Wallace and Cruse got the fugly on this morning. Did anyone see it?
Wallace brought up the accusations of dirty tricks lobbed against the Cruz camp, including the Ben Carson Iowa flap, a voter violation form his campaign sent out, a Cruz Super PAC attacking Donald Trump on the Confederate flag, and the Marco Rubio attack that led to Cruz firing a top spokesman.
Cruz responded, “Every accusation you raise there is incorrect. I appreciate you reading the Donald Trump attack file on that.”
Wallace immediately jumped in to remind Cruz that he apologized to Carson and fired Tyler. Cruz complained, “Chris, please don’t interrupt me.
Wallace countered, “Please don’t accuse me of something I didn’t do.”
Another Holocene Human
Oh look, LAMH got retweeted by Al Giordano a few days ago. *waves*
Amir Khalid
Philippe Coutinho equalises for Liverpool! 1-1!
Mike J
@waysel:
I stole it from hundreds of other people I heard use it. Consider it a gift from the collective, tovarisch.
Gin & Tonic
@Applejinx: Omnes gave worthy advice.
Another Holocene Human
@Gvg: Support for Bernie seems to be built on circular logic. He is the thing therefore he is the thing. It will work because Bernie. Bernie is the answer because Bernie. In reality it’s just motivated reasoning, but it’s sad to see fellow activists and progressives get so nasty because their guy wasn’t all that and the Dem base could smell it.
Amir Khalid
@oldgold:
It’s high time someone in the media called out that lying shitweasel.
debbie
@oldgold:
Every now and then, a journalist breaks out of Wallace. As disdainful as he has been of his father, I’d bet Mike would have smiled to hear that interview.
Fair Economist
@Matt McIrvin: Yeah, Warren has long implied she’d like Hillary as President. However, precisely because the Berners have such a high opinion of her, I’d rather she wait until after Mar 15 to endorse Hillary. Right now you can still make a case Bernie has a chance and if somebody they think is basically on their side endorses Hillary it’ll be seen as a betrayal. If she waits until Bernie really doesn’t have a chance, then it will be seen as making the best available choice for a leftie and lead the Berners to get behind Hillary.
Basically endorsing now is going to PO the Berners while endorsing in two weeks will help unify the party. At this point I don’t think Hillary will need the endorsement, so I’d rather Warren wait.
BBA
In America the term “libertarian” has been so completely taken over by the Objectivists and anarcho-capitalists that people who care about civil liberties don’t actually have a term for themselves. “Left-libertarian” is an oxymoron, “civil libertarian” just means those who politely denounce anyone to the left of Rand Paul as a statist. What do you call people who are generally on board with the Democratic agenda, but care particularly deeply about the 1st, 4th, & 5th Amendments and support the ACLU?
Another Holocene Human
@dmsilev: One also wonders why they called her so many times when she’s a “firm Hilary”. You’re supposed to call undecideds. Who keeps recalling decideds for the other side unless they were incompetent at data entry or data management?
Applejinx
@Gvg: I agree. If anything, I’m often calling out other sorts of powerbrokers (most recently, the ex-Google guy who runs Twitter: jeebus, talk about a resume calculated for me to loathe).
I also agree that things are explosive on the racist front, and I agree that Bernie is not the guy to lead that charge. And I think it should be led. The shit black Americans have to put up with is UNREAL and I would like nothing more than to say ‘it ends here’.
I’m prepared to do that by voting for Clinton, and the extent to which she makes the race be ABOUT racism, is the extent to which I’ll be enthusiastic. You are high if you think I’m gonna trust her with the economy, but there are many issues in the world and we make sacrifices in order to support what we consider most important.
Amir Khalid
BBC liveblog of the League Cup final shows a photo of less-than-happy Man City supporter Noel Gallagher, who has watched his team throw away a 1-0 lead.
Applejinx
@Another Holocene Human: I worked with the data systems. We did not have control over taking people off the lists. We had to put in requests, which got sent off to the DNC-controlled company, and it was up to them to remove people from lists and they did not do so.
Also, we had so many untrained volunteers that they swamped the whole system, which led to us calling and re-calling numbers. At some times we had nationwide phone banks all getting assigned to the same predictive dialer, hammering hapless voters with repeat calls due to the unexpected strength of the volunteer forces.
We did not control the data, not even to be able to remove a name from being called. The DNC did, and I don’t think they ever want to remove a name from the lists: certainly the impression was that they didn’t remove names when asked.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@BBA:
Liberals?
Baud
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: This.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Another Holocene Human:
Dave Weigel tweeted from Nevada that he tried to take a picture of a Berniebro wearing a t-shirt with a unicorn on it, with the words “Bernie is Magical”. The bro kept running away. Can’t imagine why any serious politician would think those are the kinds of people your campaign should rely on. In my opinion, Bernie should be sued for political malpractice – for someone in politics for 35 years and counting, nothing he’s done adds up. He has neither identified, cultivated or organized a reliable voting bloc in or outside of Congress after all these years.
Amir Khalid
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Not sure I’d hold Brother Magical Unicorn Tee against Bernie. Any political campaign is bound to attract its share of those with, um, let’s call it an unusual perspective on things.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Amir Khalid:
Agreed. Let’s just say it’s emblematic of the problem his campaign has, and not a one-off.
WaterGirl
What some people don’t seem to get is that you can’t make someone like a person that they don’t like. You can’t make a person trust someone they don’t trust. You can’t make a person believe in someone they don’t believe in.
All you can do is try to help them see that, like it or not, voting for the person that they don’t like, don’t trust and don’t believe in is their best move at this point. How dare you not like her??? does not win Hillary voters, and voters is what she needs. Democratic voters are what we all need to keep trump or rubio (et al) out of the white house.
I see a lot of loaded words coming from Applejinx and being given right back. I just don’t see how this is helping either side. Not to mention that we should all be on the same side, regardless of the candidate. People telling me I should like Hillary or that not liking her is an affront to women is never going to make me like her.
How dare you not like her??? is not what made me decide to vote for Hillary instead of Bernie in the primary. I decided that because: 1) Republicans clearly want to run against Bernie, because they aren’t attacking him at all, 2) once Bernie would be the candidate, the attacks would be indefensible by Bernie because he is a self-declared socialist, 3) it doesn’t appear that Bernie will be able to rack up the delegates he needs, 4) because Bernie has made a lot of own goals lately.
Those 4 points are all my head talking, but what really switched me over is my heart. If the majority of black people believe that Bernie just doesnt get it, who they hell am I to think they are wrong? So I cannot, in good conscience, vote for Bernie, even though I am more aligned politically with Bernie than I am with Hillary, and I trust him more than Hillary.
Voting choices are complicated, especially this time around. I think we need to start being smart and not doing the republicans work for them by attacking one another. And in this case, I really do think both sides do it. (Both sides being Clinton and Sanders supporters.)
Edit: and I see after posting that this is far too long! So likely no one will ever read it.
Calouste
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: One of the problem I have with the Sanders campaign is that there seems to be a lot of racism just below the surface. Not the full Jaws-coming-at-you-showing-all-his-teeth racism of Trump, but definitely a lot of ripples on a quiet sea and a dorsal fin spotted here and there.
A Ghost To Most
@BBA:
I fit all those descriptions, and I have always called myself a Democrat.
oldgold
Political malpractice? Look at last night. Big Dem audience tuned in to see SC results. Would have given him big opportunity to speak to them before Super Tuesday.He is in the air and allows audience to marinate in HC’s victory glow. He finally shows up 21/2 hours later and gives his old stumper.
geg6
Speaking of great journalism, saw Spotlight last night. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend. It’s a crime Michael Keaton is not nominated.
BBA
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Too generic. Radical leftists who say things like “freedom of speech reinforces societal oppression” are often called “ultra-liberal” even though they’re deeply illiberal and generally hate being lumped in with liberals (cf. Phil Ochs).
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Calouste:
Yes, I agree. But, it’s the kind of racism that infects 95% of white America – an acceptance of an operating system that conveys unearned privilege and supports it in a way that blinkers whites from seeing that it’s unearned, allowing whites to assume an attitude of entitlement they’re not willing to share. Explaining their privilege to white people is like explaining water to fish.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I read it and you’re right, but people’s brains need to catch up to their passions.
Big R
@WaterGirl: Read it all. Cosign fully.
Amir Khalid
At Wembley Stadium, the League Cup final between Liverpool and Manchester City is 1-1 after extra time and headed for penalties.
Steve in the ATL
@BBA:
Seriously? People say this? Are they time travelers from centuries past or Palin-esque word salad makers?
Jade
@BR:
He should have stayed neutral as a journalist. I’ll donate to Bernie instead. I like Al and what he is doing but too much shilling for Hil to give him any money.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Steve in the ATL:
It’s the same people who can debate a procedural point of end-stage communism, after the state has withered away. Not sure what color the sky is there, though.
Matt McIrvin
@BBA: I remember Nat Hentoff calling himself a civil libertarian, and writing a lot of good columns about First Amendment issues. At some point he started obsessing primarily about Operation Rescue’s right to harass women outside of abortion clinics, and gradually turned into primarily an anti-abortion guy.
FlipYrWhig
“Racism” is a harsh way to put it. I think the Sanders campaign is just orthogonal to race.
IMHO the entire Sanders phenomenon is based on the idea that Wall Street wrecked the economy, that it still hasn’t bounced back, and that Bernie seems appropriately pissed off about it. My reaction to that is, OK, true, so what are you going to do about it? And there are some answers to that, but they all get swept up in this far too grand theory about how The People need to rise up, campaign finance reform, and so forth. I’m not that interested in remaking American politics and its processes, and I’m not sure it’s something that electing a President helps happen. IOW, if this is what Bernie Sanders wants to prioritize, I don’t really get why electing Pres. Bernie Sanders is the method for it.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Matt McIrvin:
Controlling women tends to be a central tenet for a lot of libertarians. Rand Paul’s Personhood Amendment being one of those elephants in the room that I’ve asked him and his Randians about, and never get an answer as to how that aligns with all their bullshit talk about “liberty”, which turns out to be one of those words that has no objective meaning in the real world.
sharl
@Steve in the ATL: You can find just about any wacky idea online, if you search long and hard enough. I occasionally explore the rough and murky waters of the “radical left”, and you …see things…weird and awful things. Hell, there are even Hoxha Bros out there! That’s right, fans of this deceased Dear Leader.
When prowling around in that world, it’s important to keep things in perspective, specifically that these are tiny minorities in the overall community of political discourse. Having said that, they aren’t always freak shows. Back in 2006, when I was researching the Black political community while trying to figure out if my (now former) Congressman Al Wynn was really that popular in the AA community (he wasn’t), I came across Black Agenda Report, run by old-school AA socialists. I would call their viewpoint very respectable and worthy* of consideration, even though they are definitely not in the current mainstream of AA political discourse; a fact that may be changing with the younger generation of politically aware Black folks. (It’s too early to tell about this, though Bernie’s popularity with young AA voters who voted in the SC Democratic primary is interesting in this regard.)
Unlike the small BAR-type AA socialist faction, the tiny Hoxha Bro faction is, well, tiny, and NUTS.
*Back then, BAR hosted a watchdog newsletter called CBC Watch (CBC = Congressional Black Caucus), which I found extremely informative. Apparently BAR has just resurrected it, though I can’t tell who is actually running it now. If it’s a new person, I’ll withhold judgment on its value until I have a chance to learn more.
gwangung
@FlipYrWhig: But, I think, a correct way to put it.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
We all have our preferences, our likes/dislikes. Not liking a politician, not wanting to vote for them is simply politics. You have explained several times that you don’t like or trust Clinton. That is not the same at all as saying that she is the devil every time fingers touch the keyboard or that voting for her is tantamount to treason. Many of us here have stated that we will vote for Sanders if he wins the nomination, and I’m sure we aren’t lying. But like you we have our preferences and see things differently. That’s just politics. It’s why we have elections in the first place, none of us has the same perspective and we should respect that, I do. Not everyone that posts here does.
Applejinx
@WaterGirl:
That’s exactly where I’m at. It’s not even that I can’t find personal friends who are black and for Bernie. They exist. But who am I to tell black people that this election shouldn’t be directly about racism when Trump is making it be about racism, and when I know the shit that goes down? Powerbrokers dicking around with Twitter to help Clinton is mighty insignificant compared to Sandra Bland.
I can still vote for Bernie: there’s many issues in the world, plus I’m in Vermont so how can I not? But I have no place telling black voters what’s important when I know good and well what’s happening out there in America, and what has been happening my entire adult life.
It’s possible Warren is smarter than Bernie and will endorse Clinton BECAUSE she is: correctly gauging the likelihood of getting her issues supported. That’s more an indictment of how the government would feed itself into a wood chipper rather than deal with an economic populist, but if that’s the reality (and Warren would know better than me) then the message has been sent, and that’s all it ever could have been: a message, tainted by ratfucking and amateurism, but kept very clear and direct.
It’s also Warren’s message, but I don’t think she needs Bernie Sanders to tell her what to think.
kc
He wants $30k to teach people how to say “dudebro” on the Internet? Pass.
sharl
@Jade: Giordano has said that Hillary “wouldn’t be his first choice” for Democratic candidate, although knowing a bit of his history, I’m guessing he would consider Sanders too much of a squish as well. I’m guessing that any candidate that Al would most like to vote for wouldn’t have a chance in any election.
Giordano has primarily devoted his tweets and longer form writing to the process of seeking and organizing support, rather than issues. On this score, IMO his criticisms of Sanders’ campaign are generally on the mark, and sometimes based on his personal knowledge of Sanders from when he lived and worked in New England. He has also said that he is seeing growing activity by “Hillary Stans“, and is expecting to start aiming more barbs at them.
What really wins me over is when Giordano says that the primary target of his “dudebro” barbs are those older people (usually guys) who should know better by now that shouting at people doesn’t make friends, though he has gone on to note that younger people should be given a bit of slack. In general, his philosophy is that older people should put themselves at the service of younger people, and that includes criticizing them when necessary, without being insulting and dismissive. This Boomer is in strong agreement with that.
BBA
@Steve in the ATL: I was thinking along the lines of student protesters who try to get the campus newspaper shut down for printing a right-wing opinion column. They allege “bigotry” but typically the column is fairly mild compared to the excrement that the NYT, WaPo and WSJ regularly print.
Jade
@sharl: Well said and civil. I guess I can donate to a good cause.
Another Holocene Human
@Applejinx: Who said anything about removing names? It’s about entering the “Leans” info and targeting the voters you need to target tomorrow. I can believe what you said about too many volunteers and not enough training/organization. Usually when you do predictive dialer parties most of the people have done this many, many times, but Bernie is attracting the youngest of the young voters and they would need more training than the average (age 60, lol) volunteer.
If the DNC’s software really sucks that’s not good. I worked on Obama’s campaign in 2012 and his shit worked great. I thought OfA gave it to the party?
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Those were really old lists that were available online with a much higher rate of wrong numbers and outdated information. Those online calls were basically cleaning up lists of not priority voters. Once you registered and made calls you got follow up calls from the campaign to come in and volunteer.
Another Holocene Human
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: He also seems to be a backbencher and he thinks explaining his not-so-liberal votes is beneath him. But the way he’s run his campaign is most damning of all.
I know a guy who worked with him in NY, eons ago. He seemed puzzled by the difference between Bernie then and now. I think Bernie just got out of the game and got too comfortable with where he was at, and it shows. Every time he’s pressed on racial issues for example he coughs up some 80’s era shit.
Another Holocene Human
@FlipYrWhig: Nothing about US politics is orthogonal to race, income inequality least of all!
Count yourself lucky you haven’t seen nasty racism from angry Bernie supporters (anti Black or anti Jewish) on platforms like dKos and twitter. I have and it’s gross.
PurpleGirl
@WaterGirl: I did read it. And I agree. It seems that for my entire voting life — I’m 64 btw — I’ve been voting the Democrat as the less bad choice. I’d love for once to vote for someone I completely loved but maybe that’s not realistic. (I voted for Obama twice.) But it is so much more important for American society to keep a Democrat in the White House.
Another Holocene Human
@BBA: What school did you go to? When I was in college some would-be college shock jock spewed disgusting crap about Asians, then cried “political correctness run amok!” when he got caught because, yeah, we had Asian students there and one of them was listening. Some billionaire was paying the campus ConservaClub to publish a shitty young conservadork rag and nobody cared.
Most campus newspapers have regular columns by conservative students and they usually are pretty anodyne. It’s stuff that happens at frat parties, social media, shit that’s screamed out of cars, trucks, the frat house porch, or in a big group so they feel tough that starts all the food fights. That and admin inviting horrible people to come speak on campus with the students’ money.
sharl
@Jade: Thanks. I’m a huge admirer of Giordano, which isn’t to say I agree with him 100% of the time. (Then again, I’ve never found someone I agree with all the time…)
Giordano’s activism is longstanding, but I wonder if he has been particularly driven to support his School in the last decade by the suicide of his friend and colleague Gary Webb; a very dark, rage-filled, and difficult-to-read response to Webb’s death made we worry about Giordano at the time, so it was good to see him attain something like a state of grace after such a shattering event.
I never thought Giordano would choose the same path as Webb, but I worried at the time that he might be permanently damaged somehow. Instead, I think that maybe Al decided to channel the dark power of his grudge against the corporate media establishment toward this very worthy endeavor.
May Al Giordano have many more good years!
Applejinx
@Another Holocene Human: Rank amateurs. It’s amazing that we did as well as we did. I worked on Obama’s campaign too, but my understanding is that they merged the two database operations (?)
Yeah, seems that VAN is what Obama was using, and NGP was the Clinton operation, and they merged and are run by the NGP people. We had very limited access. For a couple days there, very very very very limited access ;P
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Now you tell me! :-) All the phoning I did was from home.
For a college town, there wasn’t much Obama activity going on here, which is why I went to Iowa, Colorado, Michigan and Indiana.
WaterGirl
@PurpleGirl: Barack Obama wasn’t that for you? The person you could vote for who you really loved? He definitely was for me. It’s really something to be able to work for and vote for someone you really believe in. I’m sorry you haven’t had that.
FlipYrWhig
@Another Holocene Human: That rings true to me but I still would say that the biggest issue that has bedeviled the Sanders campaign is their seeming belief that income inequality and Wall Street are one problem, caused by bankers buying up politicians to prevent them from doing anything about it, and that to solve that problem would bring along with it the solutions to all other social problems, including racism. That’s not being racist per se, that’s showing a blind spot to the different ways that race intersects with other problems. It’s habitual enough that it’s a problem. That said, the “well black people just don’t realize what’s good for them” post facto explanation of the SC results isn’t helping.
WaterGirl
@FlipYrWhig: “That said, the “well black people just don’t realize what’s good for them” post facto explanation of the SC results isn’t helping.”
Ouch. I hope that’s not the message from the Bernie campaign. That’s beyond tone deaf.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
Obama was definitely a candidate I loved being able to vote for. I had a bumper sticker for Obama! before he even locked up the nomination.
I am a little surprised how fond of Clinton I am becoming. I will be glad to vote for her. That isn’t quite as strong as how I felt about Obama, and I mean it to sound that way. It may be that by the general election I will love voting for Clinton.
Bill Clinton pissed me off frequently. But I still thought he was a good president. And Hillary isn’t Bill, she wasn’t president back then, he was. So I like Hillary, and I will be at least glad to vote for her, especially looking at the Republicans in the race today. Who are vile.
She is 3 years older than I am, so she can’t be a Grandma to me. That’s a good thing, we aren’t seeking a Grand-parent here, but a leader.