I don’t know anything about the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District, but it looks like a big upset.
In a historic victory, Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley unseated Rep. Mike Capuano, a progressive Congressional favorite first elected in 1998 in Massachusetts’ seventh congressional district.
Capuano took the stage shortly after 9:15 p.m. and conceded the race.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but this is life,” Capuano told supporters. “This is OK. America is going to be OK. Ayanna Pressley is going to be a good congresswoman, and Massachusetts will be well served.
“This is not the side we wanted to be on,” he added. “Clearly the district wanted a lot of changes.”
Pressley, 44, mounted a surprising campaign against Capuano that led to one of the most-watched primaries in the nation. She won the seat that represents parts of Boston, Cambridge, Milton and all of Chelsea, Everett, Randolph and Somerville.
Big news on the Democratic side in Massachusetts: liberal 20-year incumbent ousted by younger, Black, female city councillor: https://t.co/asuFwdWq8Q
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 5, 2018
Yep. I don't live there, but I grew up in this district. People really like Capuano, and there was not a lot of room between him and Pressley ideologically. Best I can tell, it was not about that at all. https://t.co/DkT2E8jpzv
— hilzoy (@hilzoy) September 5, 2018
An incredible victory in Massachusetts by Ayanna Pressley against incumbent Mike Capuano. https://t.co/NGjmFMqd0W
— Nicholas Burns (@RNicholasBurns) September 5, 2018
Mike Capuano won this seat in 1998 when he defeated 9 Democratic opponents with 22% of the vote. He was never seriously challenged after that until this year — and now 80 minutes after polls closed he has conceded defeat to Ayanna Pressley.
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) September 5, 2018
Any of the Massachusetts crowd want to check in?
What’s going on elsewhere?
Raoul
And this!
Cheryl Rofer
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer: Both sides!
Matt McIrvin
Wide-open multi-way House race in the 3rd. Lori Trahan is leading right now, which is mildly surprising to me, but since there were 10 candidates and the ones with significant presence all seemed, frankly, fine, I guess it was always up in the air.
schrodingers_cat
There are two competitive primaries in my district for the state rep (7 people running) and the state senate ( 1 on the ballot + 4 write-in candidates). Stan Rosenberg dropped out of the race after the filing deadline. I canvased for one of the write-ins. My first vote in a primary.
Mary G
Men still don’t get how mad women are. It’s unfortunate that a good guy has to go, but he seems cool and I hope he does something besides lobbying now. Our side looks like America should. And will.
Mnemosyne
Well, that’s pretty cool. I hope she won’t immediately start campaigning for the primaries of “progressive” white bros around the country like a certain other East Coast upset victor.
rikyrah
Wow. Congratulations to her. Just came to post. Glad it got FrontPaged
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Yep. Some people wear well; some people don’t.
Raoul
@Cheryl Rofer
Assuming we get through and past the Trumpnado, we will probably see even more wild policy and political gyrations for some period of time as the white power structure attempts to deal with the demographic reality of America, before whiteness ultimately fails.
I hope that last bit can be fairly fast and fairly nonviolent. But we’ll see.
Baud
@Mnemosyne: Interestingly, the article says she was endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez but doesn’t mention Bernie Sanders.
Also interesting that all of the interesting progressive winners so far have been minorities. Chasing the white working class Trump voters seems to be less fruitful.
hells littlest angel
Huh. It looks like the media aren’t even bothering with the “this highlights the deep divisions within the Democratic Party” storyline.
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
Yup yup. Did I mention that the Lifetime Achievement Award speech at the Romance Writers of America conference turned into a barnstorming oration punctuated by multiple standing ovations as bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann told the whole room that she is fucking sick and tired of being “nice” when it comes to other people’s political beliefs?
There were maybe a dozen walkouts from a room with about 300 attendees, mostly women.
Downpuppy
Pressley wasn’t a real surprise after the new bloc took over the Somerville Board of Aldermen last year. They didn’t really disagree on issues, either, and seem to be getting along fine with the old timers.
Mike’s been a very good Congressman, but sometimes people just need a bit of zing.
Schlemazel
@Mary G:
So you will give up a sure vote andl that seniority and experience just to have one less Y chromosome in Congress? It might not be a trade up. I understood the run at Lieberman and would be on board with trying to run out representatives less liberal than their district but if there is really no policy difference then the voters gave away seniority which is power in Congress. I understand anger but this makes no sense to me.
Raoul
More change in MA
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
I’m still peeved with AOC about the Shanice Davids thing, but if she settles down and is willing to work within the party for her goals without resorting to additional scorched earth tactics, I’ll get over it. AOC really did work her ass off to get that nomination.
The Ancient Randonneur
This win should surprise exactly no one. Pressley is an impressive candidate. She ate Mike’s lunch at the last debate. He’s a good guy and a good solid liberal but it was time for a a new voice.
Baud
@Mnemosyne: The Davids thing didn’t offend me as much as it did others. But I’m still uncertain which direction she’ll go in. I’m not thrilled with the amount of press she’s getting. It was a nice win for her, but she hasn’t done much of anything to deserve the media attention IMHO.
Raoul
@Schlemazel: How do women and minorities become seasoned members and have seniority and committee chairs (or ranking membership) if there isn’t turnover? A safe seat is a great place to move the ball on representation that looks like the diversity of the party.
TS (the original)
John Kerry on Rachel – honesty and reality on show
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemazel: I don’t understand it either, but we are both white men. This thing may eat a number of decent people as well as the assholes. The French Revolution certainly did. Capuano seems to be handling it well.
The Ancient Randonneur
@The Ancient Randonneur:
She’s going to be a star. Tonight’s victory is a direct result of her commitment and hard work. She earned this victory tonight by connecting with the voters of the district.
Mary G
Wish he’d send the president to Afghanistan. He denied the Woodward quotes, which I don’t believe, but he seems to be a good man doing his best in horrible circumstances, which means that Twitler will fire him on Thursday.
Schlemazel
@Raoul:
That is an argument in favor of her, yes. I am not convinced it outweighs what is given up but it is a valid point.
Mnemosyne
@Schlemazel:
What part of “women are pissed off and throwing their support behind other women” are you not understanding?
I honestly think that what the MSM keeps getting wrong is that they think it’s the Year of the Democratic Insurgent, when most of these contests seem to indicate that it’s actually the Year Of Democratic Women Kicking Democratic Men’s Asses. That’s why the female Sanders supporters are winning when they’re put up against “centrist” men — some of them (like AOC) mistakenly thought it was the Democratic Socialism thing, but it was really a woman thing.
In retrospect, I wonder if that transgender delegate in VA may have been the leading edge of this part of the wave— voters went, You’re a woman, and you know the district? Great, let’s go. ??
The Ancient Randonneur
@Schlemazel:
It makes sense to me. She will have different priorities than Mike. It was obvious in the campaign she knew the issues most important in MA 07.
Baud
@Raoul:
And that’s why Nancy Pelosi must go!
Mary G
@Schlemazel: Today is my day to run with the rage. No logic is to be expected. And yes, it’s worth it to me to have one less Y chromosome in Congress. We have waited a long time and taken a lot of crap and seeing the Republicans in the Kavanaugh hearing interrupt Kamala Harris and the other women today is just more fuel to my fire.
Baud
@Mnemosyne: Not universally true. See Florida primary.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
AOC is getting a ton of press because she pulled off an upset in the MSM’s back yard, and they never saw it coming. If it had happened anywhere outside of the five boroughs, she would have gotten a couple of feature stories and then been done.
It sucks that the MSM is so goddamned lazy, but here we are anyway.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Mnemosyne:
Sorry but this race wasn’t that. MA-07 is a majority minority district. She knew how to connect with a very diverse constituency.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
Many/most men would never think to care that women are mad. Their wife maybe, other women, nah.
A lot of men (at least older men) were never raised to be a caring person, only a surviver. That’s the culture of a lot of societies. Fortunately it’s been changing and will continue to. I was lucky, I had two black men who showed me better when I was young and a family that didn’t know how to teach the “normal” way.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
Dude, Florida. Exception that proves the rule.
I’m also guessing that it’s a blue state phenomenon. Red states still have too much free-floating misogyny (including among women) for this to work.
Mary G
Miss Bianca
@Baud:
QFT
Mnemosyne
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Can we make a bet based on the exit polls? I will bet that women of all ethnicities went overwhelmingly for Pressley, men of color voted for her with a smaller majority, and white men voted for Capuano. Is there any way to find the actual numbers in a few days?
Mary G
@Ruckus: Lots of women are conditioned to seethe in silence, but that dam is bursting in blue areas at least. Same with people of color. You are right, men are often not allowed to be empathetic. I can remember my uncle cracking my cousin across the face for being “like a sissy girl.” He was sad for me that my dad had died and let it show where he should not have.
Mnemosyne
@The Ancient Randonneur:
And when I say “bet,” I mean we each pick a candidate in a red district and the loser makes a donation. Maybe $10?
Schlemazel
@Ruckus:
In my case it is not a matter of not caring how mad women are only if that anger is targeted where it will make an improvement in the situation. Smashing things out of anger is not an improvement. In this district, with no GOPper, she has the job so that is a good thing.
Adam L Silverman
@Raoul: As Ornstein and Mann have repeatedly documented over the past decade, the (median) average Republican elected official is much farther to the right than the average Republican elected official was a decade or two decades ago and the movement on the right is much farther than how Democratic officials have moved on the left. So the gap between the two parties in Congress is larger, but the cause of that increase is asymmetric. As a result, what we’re seeing as conservative doesn’t look anything like what we were used to even fifteen or twenty years ago. For instance, if a Democratic wave election does emerge and allows the Democrats to retake the majority in the House regardless of whether it gets them enough turnout to take a slim majority in the Senate, the elected GOP representatives left will be the most extreme ones like Gaetz and Jordan and Meadows and Massie and Gohmert and Steve King, etc not those referred to as moderates (who, a decade ago would have been referred to as the hard core conservative ones). And this will move the party even farther to the extreme as these will be the Republicans left in office and power and the lesson learned will be that the farther you are to the right as a Republican, the more likely you are to be electorally successful.
The Ancient Randonneur
I think Tom Levenson lives in MA-07. Would be interesting to hear from him about this result.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: @Mnemosyne: We’re aware…
B.B.A.
At the certain risk of pissing everyone else here off again:
I think the #MeToo scandals, particularly Al Franken and Eric Schneiderman, cemented among women voters that a man simply cannot represent them properly, and even the wokest of baes may be a predator in disguise.
mvr
Classy concession from the quote.
Matthew McIrvin
The 3rd is still wide open. Suddenly Juana Matias is in the lead with 50% reporting (I voted for her).
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: OK, so is “Deadpool” a thing I should have on my watch list? Because that shit was funny.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Spicer is a commander in the US Navy Reserve so that was not an empty threat.
Kraux Pas
@Miss Bianca: Yes, especially the first was very funny.
zhena gogolia
@TS (the original):
But,but,but the NYT said his new book is boring!
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Yep and they’re under represented in the publicly done polling. So you get what seem to be upsets because the publicly done voter models are wrong. This is a good chunk of why Gillum was such an upset in Florida because people of color are under represented in the polling.
Martin
The Atlantic had a piece on this race a little bit ago.
I think the lived experience explanation isn’t a bad one. A simpler explanation is that Democrats want actual representation. It’s not sufficient to elect some white-ass male (like me) that says all the right things but doesn’t feel (and possibly fight for) the policy as a life or death issue. If the GOP is going to go full metal klan, electing openly LGBTQ, black, immigrant, women, etc makes sense.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Mnemosyne:
Exit polls don’t tell the story of her hard work to get out the vote. They don’t tell the story of her years of preparation for today. I agree that women are pissed but Pressley won because she was prepared and worked her ass off. She’s going to be a star.
ArchTeryx
@Miss Bianca: The first was absolute comedy gold. “The Merc with a Mouth” was well represented and the meta jokes just never ended.
(The opening credits referred to the director as an “overpaid tool” and it just got better from there).
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: Yep, and the other thing that’s somewhat under the radar is Moms Demand Action. It’s been building up slowly since Sandy Hook, but just exploded after Parkland. I see meetings in dark red states that used to pull 20-25 people filling rooms with hundreds. And they work the streets for their “Gun Sense” candidates, of which Pressley is one:
Their activists live in the districts and can talk local issues that the big consultants ignore.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I found both movies to be very enjoyable. Ryan Reynolds clearly loves the character, understands why the fans do, and ensured that they did a good job making it happen the right way. There’s a lot of in jokes to the original comic book material – both specific to Deadpool and to the other characters that started as X-Men or in other Marvel comic books. It is very raunchy. There is a lot of gross out humor – including violent gross out humor. Just a heads up: TJ Miller is in both movies because the #MeToo information on him broke after they’d wrapped up even the reshoots on the 2nd one and the character was to central to just cut from the movies. They’ve made it clear he won’t be back for the X-Factor spin off or for Deadpool 3. They’ve also done a nice job ensuring representation. The second female lead, Domino, is not African American in the comics. She’s a mutant with alabaster white to chalk white skin (depending on the colorer) with a black dot over her eye. In the movie they cast Zazie Betts, an African American actress, and made the patch over her eye white. My understanding is they cast the actress they wanted, they didn’t care that as an African American she didn’t conform to the character as drawn in the comics and basically told the AlphaMen crowd to stick it.
Adam L Silverman
@ArchTeryx: And Reynolds as God’s perfect idiot.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Yep. I’ve written it here a couple of times, that to my trained analyst’s eye there is something going on that is (now starting to emerge from) under the surface because the polling and the news media isn’t oriented to capture it as it involves women, women of color, and men of color. And I think it will take everyone by surprise come November.
Raoul
@Adam L Silverman: Completely agree. And when in 2 and 4 years the GOP does keep running the most extreme right candidates, we can hope that they will lose a few more seats each time. But the polarization, even if asymetric, will be wild. I’d expect far worse shenanigans from safe R state legislatures and governorships as this sickness works thru. And we may have some incredible fireworks if the House is D and the Senate narrowly R come January.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I am not a comics guy and gross out humor isn’t my thing as a rule. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the first one.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Martin:
They don’t understand, or don’t acknowledge that lived experience will change policy priorities. A white guy just isn’t going to have the same priorities as a woman or any POC.
debbie
@Mary G:
What we need is for dams to be bursting in red areas.
geg6
@Adam L Silverman:
This exactly. Neither them media nor the pollsters have gotten with the program yet. We’re gonna shock them and this time it really will be the year of the woman. And of people of color. We are are being underestimated and overlooked and we are determined to change that. I can’t wait. I want to vote today.
Mike in NC
I grew up in what is now MA-07 in the 60s and 70s and the demographics are crazy. These days non-Hispanic whites appear to be a minority.
Raoul
@Martin: I don’t know quite how solid his bona fides are, but I think there’s also room for people like Randy Bryce. He at least seems to be genuinely working class, not just comfortable hanging around working class people to ask for their vote. I’m not in the Janesville area, so I don’t really have a feel for how he’s resonating locally.
FlyingToaster
I lived in Somerville when Capuano was Mayor Mike; I can tell you from my pals who still live there that while they voted for him, they’re shedding no tears at all about voting for Pressley in November. One told me Sunday, “honestly, you could flip a coin, and it won’t matter, because constituent services and votes will remain the same”.
I live in Kathy Clark’s district now, and honestly, I like our delegation except for Stephen fucking Lynch, who needs to be replaced with an actual Massachusetts Democrat.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Deadpool was never my favorite character. I’m not a big fan of Rob Liefeld. And I didn’t read the comics. And gross out humor normally isn’t my thing either. But they did a damn good job with both of them.
James E Powell
@Mnemosyne:
I agree with you about the appeal of her geography. If this happened out here and someone like AOC beat Brad Sherman or Grace Napolitano, I doubt it would be more than a one night story nationally.
She also gets attention because she is more than happy to slam “The Democrats” – press/media love any Democrat who does that. It’s maybe their favorite political story after Democrats being out of touch with Real Americans® in the Heartland. She also fits another of the press/media’s favorite narratives: The Democrats are unhinged far far far left party of women and people of color and therefore a must to avoid. They are just dying for her to say something outrageous that they can repeat every time her name comes up.
Adam L Silverman
@geg6: Sticking with the Deadpool theme: International Women’s Day…
Amir Khalid
@Miss Bianca:
I have a gear-related question for you in the previous thread. I hope I can get a reply.
FelonyGovt
@Mary G: You’re absolutely right. There is such a legion of pissed off women (myself included). Strike up a conversation in the supermarket or the post office and you’ll find a woman who is completely fed up and ready to vote.
tobie
@Martin: I think the Atlantic nails it:
A few weeks ago I already suspected that Capuano was in trouble not because of anything he did, or even based on any polls (I didn’t see any) but because of the anti-incumbent sentiment on the left. I don’t know enough about Pressley to say what kind of a Congressperson she will be but I do hope there will be enough Democrats around who know how to get things done. I believe Nancy Pelosi’s leadership is in real jeopardy. Pressley, Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez and others have already said they won’t vote for her for as caucus leader.
I know I’m a minority on this blog but I’m not comfortable with the anti-incumbent mood and the new-found love of litmus tests. (See Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘check’ card for the positions you need to have to win her endorsement.) It all reminds me of Reagan.
Princess
@Mary G: Yes to the power and clout of Moms Demand Action. I have a couple of friends involved and they are amazingly active and disciplined, and can command an army.
B.B.A.
@FlyingToaster: There needs to be a real challenger to Lynch. Brianna Wu says she’s running again in 2020 and… look, she’s a victim of internet terrorism, I wouldn’t wish the horseshit she went through on anyone, but being a victim doesn’t make her intelligent or competent.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
That’s disappointing. Anybody who thinks Pelosi is an enemy of, or obstacle to, progressive goals has a rather… blinkered view of politics.
James E Powell
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Along with an appropriate painting.
Kraux Pas
@FlyingToaster:
He survived a primary challenge tonight. I haven’t seen him in the news much since he took the lead on steroids in baseball, a grave national concern, and voting against the ACA for dishonest Republican talking point reasons then lying about those reasons at election time.
He got some good publicity recently from Bill Maher who, acknowledging he didn’t know much about Lynch, played an admittedly righteous rant by Lynch bemoaning that the Repubs aren’t taking the Russia investigation seriously.
I’d still vote against him any chance I got if I was still in his district. I didn’t leave the district, the district left me. I’m now represented by part-time dream boat captain, Joseph P. Kennedy III.
Omnes Omnibus
@tobie:
Offer evidence.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I agree. I’m not particularly sure we’re keeping our focus on the real enemy.
Kraux Pas
@Omnes Omnibus: To be fair, he did provide an example. In fact, it was the very next thing after your excerpt.
PhoenixRising
@Schlemazel:
Not this Congress. The rule that you never trade down seniority for issues was a good one when we had a legislature with 2 parties that had policy disputes. Now we have a gang of feckless thieves who are indebted to Russian money funneled to their campaigns via the NRA vs American interests. Since the rules & expectations are all out the window, experience at running plays doesn’t count for shit.
Sorry to burst the bubble you were in, but Republicans have gone plumb loco (as we say here in Nuevo Mexico) and knowing the procedures for a ship that has already sunk is…not valuable.
Progressive ideas, from a candidate who inspires non-voters to understand that they too have a stake in their representation, should win over progressive values and experience. This time.
Jay
@Miss Bianca:
My god yes, and Deadpool II
Worth it just for the “Happy International Womens Day” scene.
Mnemosyne
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Believe me, I don’t want to downplay Pressley’s achievement, but there are many, many candidates all across the country who were women and/or people of color who similarly worked their asses off in previous years, only to lose to the incumbent.
There is something different about the electorate this year that is giving candidates like Pressley the extra nudge that is putting them over the top. I am not a proponent of the Magic Candidate theory, so I think there’s something going on other than she happened to be a really good candidate who worked her ass off. Ask HRC how being the harder-working, more qualified, overall better candidate worked out for her in 2016.
FlyingToaster
@B.B.A.: Wu ran a crap campaign. Several of us watched this and said, flat out, she needs to go make her bones running for School Committee or Alderman somewhere, so that she learns how a campaign is supposed to work.
Ayanna Pressley, by contrast, worked as a staffer for a US Congressman (Joe II), then for a US Senator (Kerry), was a Boston City Councillor, and then ran for Congress herself. She knew how to run a campaign.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: Please see comment 69. Also, you’re biased as Deadpool is Canadian.
tobie
@Mary G: Was there any difference between Pressley and Capuano on gun control? I thought on this issue they were all but identical.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kraux Pas: Fair.
Uncle Cosmo
@Adam L Silverman: Um…when was the last time Afghanistan had a coastline for a Naval officer to naval around? Are there any USN personnel in theatre, & if so what the hell are they doing there? Srsl.
(Briings to mind the old joke about the bus of Soviet tourists seeing the sights of Budapest. When their fluent-in-Russian Hungarian guide identifies a building as the Naval Ministry, one shouts out, How can Hungary have a Naval Ministry when it has no coastline? & the guide shouts back, Why should that bother you? Doesn’t the USSR have a Ministry of Culture? [Rimshot.] [In fact the Naval Ministry dates from pre-1918 when Austria-Hungary held the Adriatic coast from Trieste to Ulcinj.])
FlyingToaster
@Kraux Pas:
I’m 4 blocks (and about 150% price bump in houses) north of being in his district. The 2002 redistricting moved Watertown out of the old 8th (Tip O’Neill, Joe Kennedy II) and into the Metro (North)West Arc, then Markey, now Clark.
Mary G
Evidently Chris Hayes has a poll of CA50 showing Duncan Hunter and Ammar Campa-Najjar tied at 46%. I would like to say I told you so; I decided we should try to focus on that race as soon as we rid of Darrell Issa, and I was roundly pooh-poohed, even here a bit. It may still go to Hunter, but not by much.
Adam L Silverman
@Uncle Cosmo: There are Navy personnel there. Some are Special Ops. Some are doing jobs inside the wire. Spicer’s MOS and functional area is public affairs, so he could’ve been assigned to be the PAO. There are Navy personnel there doing specialized jobs. Electronic Warfare Officer. Aviation Warfare Officer, Intelligence Operations, etc. And, of course, the chaplains, medics, and corpsmen for the Marines are all from the Navy.
PhoenixRising
@Uncle Cosmo: There’s a joke there about the Sound of Music just waiting to be unlocked but I’m tired.
As to your question: My cousin, CWO [Smith], who joined the Navy in 1989, has had 16 sets of orders. First 2 were Iraq Original Flavor, 5 Iraq the Sequel & 2 AfPak. Now, he can’t tell us where he’s going or where he’s been in more detail than the theater of operations/command, and he has 12 recipes for snake meat on a stick, and we don’t get postcards while he’s away since he finished some extra training in Norfolk about 25 years ago, and he doesn’t use Facebook but we’re not allowed to tag pictures of his actual face with his name, so…hard to say if that’s typical.
A Naval reserve officer with Hannity’s, uh, ‘qualifications’…probably has less to contribute.
Matt McIrvin
The 3rd House is still split crazy close three ways, with Lori Trahan holding a narrow lead over Dan Koh and Juana Matias again. We may not know who won for a while. I don’t think anyone expected Matias to do this well.
tobie
@Omnes Omnibus: @Kraux Pas: I am not a he! And my “evidence” is that I have mixed feelings about an experienced, liberal legislator being knocked down when I believe Democrats will need that experience, should they retake the House, to hold this criminal administration to account. I don’t see anyone else on this thread taking this position. Presley may prove to be a brilliant legislator. I wish her well and hope she’ll prove to be a fierce fighter, but I also see the value of knowing how to make the most of arcane legislative procedures. That’s not something you learn overnight.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus:
You have my proxy on comic books and the Deadpool movie, in addition to 80’s music
Omnes Omnibus
@tobie: It wasn’t about issues; it was about identity. The district decided that a middle-aged white guy, no matter how well he voted in their interests, was no longer the the person they wanted to represent them.
For everyone in favor of term limits, we just saw how it works in a democracy.
Kraux Pas
@tobie:
Apologies, but it was a reasonable assumption based on the name, tobie. See also: the culture I was raised in, male as the default, et c., et c.
And I wasn’t taking a position on your comment, just pointing out to Omnes that he had the example he was looking for.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
Naw, Renolds is Canadian, the Movies and Comic’s are American.
Omnes Omnibus
@tobie: I have not called you a he. Were I in that district, I would have voted for Capuano. I would have been on the losing side.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: In the comics the character has claimed to be both Canadian and American depending on who is doing the writing. There really isn’t continuity or canon for Deadpool.
PhoenixRising
@tobie:
In normal times, this is true.
The United States Senate, once known as the world’s greatest deliberative body, held a hearing today to determine whether the choice of judge selected by ‘Individual-1’, an as-yet-unindicted conspirator in a scheme to use unmarked rubles to buy the Oval Office, is likely to be a good lifetime appointment to our highest court. They did this just as if ‘is this guy OK’ were the relevant question. They are pretending that these times are normal.
Respectfully, I dissent. We need advocates for impossible progressive ideals, in elected offices, more than we need the people who know how to steer the ship. The ship has been sabotaged. It’s foundered. Burning what’s left to keep warm is actually an idea we should consider.
We need competent procedural leadership at Speaker, but investigating and prosecuting the crimes of this era’s GOP and the Trump administration is a target rich environment. A well-prepared team from Girls’ State could do it. Anyone who can organize to win a federal office can *learn* Robert’s Rules; you can’t learn that you have no stake in the failed status quo if it’s still working for you.
Mnemosyne
@tobie:
With the caveat that it’s been a weird couple of years, we still don’t know for sure WTF is going on, they could all be Russian or Koch Bros moles for all we know, etc …
I am personally skeptical that Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Pressley are all going to get to Congress, get sworn in, meet their colleagues, attend the Democratic Women’s Caucus and Democratic Black or Hispanic Caucus events, meet the existing leadership (including Pelosi), and stick to their promise. Especially since I think Tlaib’s “promise” was pretty weak sauce (I didn’t see Pressley’s).
I just don’t see that specific group backing Steny Hoyer for Speaker of the House. It’s not impossible, but I don’t see it.
Kraux Pas
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m a district or two south of there, I didn’t have a strong opinion. But I knew Capuano looked like he was in trouble when he started calling for Trump’s impeachment. Not only does this put the cart in front of the horse as far as the investigation and procedure, but even more it looked like a bid for attention.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Mnemosyne: Pressley would have won in any cycle. She’s that good. Don’t be surprised when she’s mentioned for higher office in the coming years.
Doug R
@Miss Bianca:
As a resident of BC I may have some bias, but yes, you should watch. Just a reminder it is rated R for good reason.
ribber
@Schlemazel: What does seniority get one’s district that would motivate a left constituency? Seniority really mattered when earmarks were rife, and it was all about what federal funding representatives would bring home, and it would still be a driving force among people voting like it was a capitalist competition, but to this crowd it is about what can be done broadly for everyone. (I’m in the neighboring district, about 3 miles from Capuano’s house.) I don’t think this is in any way about anger with Capuano, just wanting a fresher face and new drive.
Doug R
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, Vancouver native Ryan Reynolds is Canadian and they shoot it in Canada, so let’s go with that.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
Yup, in the Wolverine one the anti Mutant Military, turned him from a Mutant Merc, into an anti-mutants weapon, and stitched his mouth shut .
The Ancient Randonneur
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Here’s Pressley speaking at Emily’s List 30th.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M40_INo-TG4&feature=youtu.be
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Uncle Cosmo: There’s a lot more cross-over between what the services do now days. The kid was Air Force and last worked in an Army Medical Center.
tobie
@Kraux Pas: No offense taken.
@Omnes Omnibus: I agree with you on the last point. Incumbents stand for election and need to convince their constituents that they deserve to be reelected. As for your first point, I’m not sure it’s identity that was the decisive factor or a desire for “new blood.” Whatever the case may be, the constituents in the district have spoken, and I very much hope that when Pressley is sworn in, it’s into a Congress where Democrats are the majority.
Mnemosyne
@PhoenixRising:
I admit that I got my view of today’s hearing via Wonkette, but it didn’t really sound like the Democrats rolled over, what with them constantly trying to recess it and other shenanigans:
https://www.wonkette.com/brett-kavanaugh-calling-balls-and-strikes-all-over-your-face-an-illegitimate-supreme-court-confirmation-hearing-liveblog
tobie
@Mnemosyne: Are you mocking me: “they could all be Russian or Koch Bros moles for all we know, etc …”? I don’t think I’m that off the deep end. Between now and November seems like an eternity. I can’t even remember the scandals from last week, so who knows whom the new Congressional Dems willl choose for party leader. I’ve never been able to figure out what Hoyer does. What is it, and is he any good at it?
Omnes Omnibus
@tobie: It wasn’t about issues; it was about identity. The district decided that a middle-aged white guy, no matter how well he voted in their interests, was no longer the the person they wanted to represent them.
For everyone in favor of term limits, we just saw how it works in a democracy.
Mnemosyne
@Uncle Cosmo:
I’ll give a shorter answer than everyone else: a Navy team killed Bin Laden inside Afghanistan.
Jay
@Mnemosyne:
I think Phoenix was talking about ReThugs talking points, not Democratic Party caving in.
You know, soft balls, car pools, kids coaching,
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Seniority on committees means fuck all.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
If you were a black or latino woman and had white men, liberal or not, running your life for way longer than you’ve been alive, don’t you think you’d jump at the chance to replace him with some one who looks and thinks like you, given the chance? Especially if she kicked ass in a debate with him?
My state rep is a youngish black man, I’ve seen him in person at an open block party he held close to me last year and he talks the talk and walks the walk. He should go far, reminds me in a way of a young President Obama. My house rep is a Chinese american woman who has not impressed me all that much. But she connected with the state rep to hold an open block party and that’s a big deal to me. Stand in the street and talk to anyone who comes on by? Yeah I like that. I think she may be finding her way so I’ll give her a break on the rest.
I’m an old white dude. I can be represented by any good dem, any color, any sex…… I get the concept of seniority and business knowledge but if those people draw in new voters and we are busting at the seams with dems in the house, we will still have enough knowledge there to kick ass and take names.
mvr
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, I think that too. And it is especially sad when she’s hyper competent in an environment that has been loaded against her just because she is a woman in a leadership position. It certainly isn’t that her own views are not progressive enough. Just that she figures out the possibilities and goes with what is needed to get things across the finish line. I’m happy enough to change out the rest of the older leadership, but let’s start with the white guys first.
And you know, she doesn’t seem to give a shit about her own power except to the extent that she rightly thinks she’d actually do the strategy better than anyone else. Witness her telling interviews that he speakership is the last interesting/important issue. I admire that.
Mnemosyne
@tobie:
I get your mixed feelings, and if it was, say, heads of committees like Adam Schiff or Maxine Waters getting knocked out in an anti-incumbent wave, I would be freaking the fuck out with you right now.
(Don’t worry, we in CA had our primaries months ago. Schiff and Waters are perfectly safe.)
I think Capuano can be spared, though honestly I don’t know the guy. It also sounds like he’s being gracious about the loss, which means he may make himself available for consultation as permitted by law (note: I have NO idea what the applicable law is, or if there even is one).
Tom Levenson
@The Ancient Randonneur: nope. I’m in Joe Kennedy’s district.
We did have a hotly contested primary for our state house seat, won by Tommy Vitolo over Rebecca Stone. Stone, a school committee member in town, pissed off the teacher’s union, and that seems to have overwhelmed any Bernie-esque progressive support she was actively trying to gain.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: Read what I wrote downstream.
Mnemosyne
@tobie:
Nah, just trying to strike a lighter tone while I was stirring pasta sauce for dinner. Sorry if it didn’t come across the way I intended.
Steny Hoyer and Tim Ryan are the two conservative Democrats whose names most frequently get floated when people start dreaming about toppling Pelosi. I doubt that there will be nearly enough juice from the newcomers to topple Pelosi in favor of someone more conservative than she is.
The Lodger
@Uncle Cosmo: Back when I was temping for the city government, our department manager, a Naval Reserve officer, got called up to do logistics (or so they told us) in Afghanistan. Another guy I knew spent four years in the Navy as an aircraft mechanic and never saw the inside of a boat.
Mnemosyne
@The Ancient Randonneur:
She can wait in line behind Kamala Harris from my adopted home state. ?
But I think you’re going to keep missing my point, so I’ll drop it.
tobie
@PhoenixRising: Agree that all democratic norms have been upended. Today was yet another significant step in the direction of autocracy. Republicans used the power they have to muscle through a lifetime appointment by hiding 90% of his legal opinions. With Kavanaugh on the court, they will arbitrarily decide the law. Maybe Pressely’s slogan is right: “Disrupt.” I dunno. These are huge issues and it’s terrifying to see the cornerstones of democracy chipped away at steadily. God knows what will be left by the time the midterms roll around. And god knows who in swing states will even be allowed to exercise the franchise.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
As usual I did. After I posted.
I kind of figured, you post here often enough that your position is reasonably well known. I was also responding to who you were responding to, @Schlemazel: and should have hit reply for him as well.
smintheus
@Martin: But Capuano has fought for what constituents need. If Democrats turn against valued and valuable allies just because they’re male or white, they’re just lashing out stupidly and it will not work out well. Particularly strange here because Pressley, with virtually no record to run on, is taking out a progressive who for years has used his seniority effectively to serve constituents well.
tobie
@Mnemosyne: My irony meter’s shot, which is why I had to ask. Thanks and have a good dinner.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Pakistan, not Afghanistan.
Suzanne
@Martin:
I was talking about this on a different thread yesterday about how I think the Democratic Party should kind of “lean in” to its brand, the “brand” being candidates who are on the whole young and idealistic, passionate, educated, modern, urban, diverse, with a strong “cool” factor, without feeling focus-grouped, and successful despite possibly growing up in hard circumstances or having challenges in their lives. I think a lot of readers have some concerns about the idea of a brand, but a brand is really “the deep story”…..all the things that people are thinking about without thinking about them, the truths that’s are supposedly so self-evident that they go unnoticed or unconsidered. When I see an election like this, it’s underscored for me. This change isn’t about policy. Electoral politics is an expression of self–in this case a collective self. It’s, in large part, about presenting one’s moral and cultural identity to the world. It seems likely to me that Democratic voters in many places are leaning into this brand/deep story. I think the Party would be well-served to observe this. Stop backing away from it—we should pivot and make this our strength. We need to build strong candidates all over the country if we want to have anybody to run for anything in the next 15-20 years.
James E Powell
@smintheus:
And now his time in this office is done. Shed no tears. It’s just like Skip telling Crash Davis that the organization is moving in a new direction. If he’s a dedicated public servant, I’m sure he can find a way to be useful.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
Change in a culture usually comes from a time of turmoil. Either that or extreme laziness in the ruling class – of men.
I think you are right, this is women’s time. And it’s about time. We talk about the senate power structure only representing 18% of the citizens, but women make up slightly more than half of the population (something about assholes drinking beer and jumping off roofs or some other stupid shit like that) and they are grossly underrepresented. Same for racial minorities. It’s time for a change.
B.B.A.
@smintheus: Pressley has been a member of the Boston City Council since 2010. That’s plenty of a record.
Jay
@smintheus:
The current state of affairs in the US isn’t “well”.
Reps and Senator’s who still havn’t clued in, are being replaced.
I’m an old White Male, hetero.
My friendships with women, POC, LBGTQ, Immigrants, Refugee’s and Kinks, lead me a long time ago to understand that a old White Male, will never be as passionate a fighter for “everybody else”, because we will never have the lived experience.
Bipartisanship left the House and Senate in 2000, and even today, a lot of Democrats havn’t clued in.
Suzanne
@Ruckus:
Fuck yes it is. Voters–the people who are not us nerds who follow this inside baseball–want to be excited and inspired, and it is hard to be excited and inspired about some dude who’s been doing this for twenty years. (Is that possibly dumb? Yes. It is still real.) And I think that old white dudes on the whole are underestimating how powerful it is to elect someone from an underrepresented population if one is a member of that underrepresented population!
Ruckus
@Schlemazel:
Like I said in my answer to OO, and to you!, if we do this even close to correct, the seniority of a lot of the house members won’t mean jack. We will be in the majority and will be able to restore proper decorum and have a working house.
I’m one of those people who believe in term limits. But I do mean reasonable term limits. It’s great having some of our members, John Lewis, Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, to name 3, with a long history of good work. But who replaces them after decades if they are a lock on that spot? Take Diane Feinstein. She’s not exactly a major dem icon but with so few coming on to take her place, you vote for her because there is no real choice. I’d like a better choice. Barbra Boxer was great, she put in her years and worked her butt off. But we got Kamala Harris, and she ain’t half bad at all. I’m suggesting that people will go with what they know rather than take a risk unless they have to or feel that the world is coming to an end. I also think that the house needs to better represent the population and it doesn’t because of the limit of number of it’s members. Which is exactly what that was designed to do. We have a power structure that values little to no change. Yet the population will continue to change and grow. The economy is not stagnate, jobs that existed when I was growing up don’t exist, jobs exist in technologies that didn’t then. The world changes and our government needs to be able to respond to that reasonably, and our leaders are not in many ways ready or willing for that. Part of that is the age of the people and for some the length of time they stay. How many of us have the same job or same career for 50 yrs? Why should politicians be different?
smintheus
@Jay: Are you arguing that Capuano is clueless? Seems pretty clear that he lost despite his excellent record…because voters decided they preferred someone with the right gender and ethnicity. That is frankly a dumb@ss route for any party to take in the 21st century.
Ruckus
@Ruckus:
Yes I know it’s long, blah, blah, blah….
But I also want to put this out there. How many people do you think voted for Mitch McConnell in 2014?
213,753.
And he’s fucking up our country and doesn’t give a shit because he’s doing fine by fucking us. Over 325,000,000 people are ruled by one guy who got the votes of .06577% of us.
Jay
@Ruckus:
No you won’t. It will take 20 years to codify the “norms” of the House and Senate, and pass them into law.
In the meantime, in 20 years time, demographic changes will leave 82% of American’s with 17 Senate seats, while the empty states seat 73 Senators.
By then, Climate Change will be biting hard.
Us olds have had our day, and failed so many people.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
D’oh! You are correct. And Pakistan does have a small coast (on the Arabian Sea, if Google is steering me right), but the SEALs flew in.
And now I’m remembering the dumb-ass argument I had with one of our departed trolls, who insisted that the whole operation was fake and the neighbors who had seen the US Navy copters fly in were all crisis actors. Good times, good times.
Jay
@smintheus:
He doesn’t have an “excellent record”, he has a mediocre white bread record, flailed under Bush, was lukewarm under Obama, and useless under Trump.
The crisis’s facing the US now and in the future make the job of representing your Constituency about a lot more than being a DC pork conveyor.
Suzanne
@smintheus:
If Pressley turns out to suck, I will agree with you. But there is a lot of power in representative government actually being representative. And we need to grow the next generation of leaders.
Plus, I really think there is a huge amount of value in having a strong identity as a party (we are the party in which anybody can be successful, we are the party that rejects bigotry and prejudice, we are the party of the future) and having candidates that underscore that in every district. The other party can be the Old White Guy party.
Mnemosyne
@smintheus:
Actually, Capuano and Pressley’s political positions are pretty much identical. So the voters of the district are supposed to automatically stick with the white dude who is politically identical to the woman of color because … ?
As far as I can tell, the guy is a back-bencher, but if he was about to become the head of several important committees, please let us know which ones they are so we can re-evaluate.
Tenar Arha
@FlyingToaster: This is true. Pressley was also a more locally connected, more politically experienced candidate with only the one opponent. For all the talk of how “blue/liberal” Massachusetts is, I think we’re also huge credential counters about prior political experience while being very insular about having deep ties to our communities.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jay:
And you know any of this… how exactly? Not so much the climate stuff but the 20 years stuff about coding norms into laws and 82% of Americans being represented by 17 Senate seats. No offense but that seems like an arbitrary time span you guessed at
L85NJGT
Long time voter blocks die off, their kids disperse, new populations move in, and vote for representation that are better reflections of the communities they serve.
Rahm! threw in the towel, and won’t run again for Mayor of Chicago. He never really represented the city, or any of it’s modern voter constituencies. I suspect policy and ideology are second order issues in that dynamic. I could see that happening to someone like Jason Kander.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
You asked about committee chairs but I don’t think those would come into play until the congress he won a seat for would come into play and then only if dems are the majority. He’s currently on Ethics, Financial Services, Transportation and, wait for it, Infrastructure.
smintheus
@Suzanne: If you want to be the party in which anybody can be successful, you don’t make a virtue of selecting your candidate based upon accidents of birth like race, ethnicity or gender. It’s always been chickensh!t and it usually leads to bad government, whether it’s Italians voting for Italians, men voting only for men, Jews voting for Jews, or what have you.
The other party would love to have Democrats react to Trump by signalling something like distrust or disdain for white and male Democrats. They’ll know how to turn that to their advantage.
smintheus
@Mnemosyne: And you make my point for me: Vote out the white dude whose record we all like who’s indistinguishable from his opponent except for the fact that he’s a white dude. There’s a real good look for the Democratic Party going forward. What could possibly go wrong?
Jay
@smintheus:
The ReThugs already have the #MGTOW vote, and the #Gamergaters.
Suzanne
@smintheus: I would find your argument convincing if the people being elected weren’t, you know, historically underrepresented and disenfranchised. No one said anything about “distrust” or “disdain” for white men—though women and minorities can tell you a lot about distrust and disdain.
The Democratic Party is a team, and minorities and women are important parts of that team. And as such, they need spots on that team.
Felanius Kootea
@smintheus: So by your logic, incumbents should never be voted out even when their constituents feel they are out of touch on local issues and local politicians who are very much in touch with those issues and share the incumbents’ values on national issues are on offer. By all means, feel free to print up a bunch of signs and march through MA-07 to let those dumb minority voters know how disgusted you are with their “identity politics” since we all know white male is not an identity. Dumb shit.
Jay
@smintheus:
Democratic Party voters voted for their choice of Democratic Party Representation,
Sorry for your White Male butthurt.
Suzanne
I feel like I am making the affirmative action argument…..that race and gender may be a factor in selecting your congresscritter to achieve a more diverse and representative government.
If two candidates are both qualified and have the same views, why not go with the candidate from a historically disenfranchised group (especially when you need that group in your coalition), and grow a potential future leader?
Jay
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Test
Jay
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
So, BJ hates my link and keeps killing it.
SFGate and others have articles on the demographic shift that will leave the Senate in the control of the “empty states”.
The “norms” have to be turned into “laws”, with outside enforcement, codified, penalties attached, then pass the House, Senate and a Court challenge.
That takes a long time and constant struggle.
Suzanne
I was just musing further on the Nike boycott. So many MAGAts think that Nike will be hurt by a boycott. They don’t seem to get that Nike is intentionally telling those people to fuck off, that Nike is looking to disassociate its brand from that kind of person, as Nike probably rightly believes that the MAGAts are of low social status and don’t have much cultural influence.
I have to live with the monster that the MAGAts elected, but when I remember that they are burning with resentment because they lost cultural power, I feel renewed.
SenyorDave
From his Wikipedia entry, Capuano seems to have been a classic progressive during his time in Congress. He also seems to have come from a modest background, clearly not a one percenter. Also known for constituent services. But he lost badly, by more than 15 points. I assume voters decided he was out of touch with the district. He’s 66 years old, sounds like a good guy, he’ll be fine. A position in Congress is not some type of guaranteed lifetime job.
Jay
@Suzanne:
Yup, a big FU to the MAGAt’s.
And Nike will have market researched the hell out of it.
SenyorDave
@Ruckus: He’s currently on Ethics, Financial Services, Transportation and, wait for it, Infrastructure.
Capuano is a tax lawyer, he knows this shit, and knows how important it is. After the financial meltdown he had a fairly strong voice, especially when they had hearings and dragged in some of the CEOs. He apparently specialized in getting into the weeds in finance stuff, and was a big proponent of financial responsibility. Kind of a stark contrast to the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, which seems to be populated by a lot of people who have their own version of the Laffer curve (we’ll pay for free college tuition with the the 4% growth that it helps generate).
Sister Golden Bear
@smintheus: And now you have some glimmer of how women, POC and LGBT people feel after being routinely passed over for some mediocre, straight white guy.* See also, lived experience.
*No implications about Capuano himself, since I don’t know anything about him.
@Martin:
Bingo!
For non-trans folks the fact that the Family Research Council has a literal five-point plan to eradicate trans people from public life (and no, I don’t mean figuratively) and that Pence and his minions are busy implementing it, is unfortunate but not a top priority.
For me, it’s literally a life and death issue.* So yeah, seeing legislators who look like me is important in making sure someone is going to fight on my behalf.
*One of the “religious rights” the Talibapists are fighting for is to refuse medical care to people like me. Given that paramedics let Tyra Hunter bleed out in the street because she was trans, this is not an abstract issues.
Jay
@Sister Golden Bear:
Quintuple Yup!s with full laurels!!!!!!!!!
Liza
@Downpuppy: Bostonian here. I think “zing” had a lot to do with Ms. Pressley run for Congress. I have nothing against her; she’s been pretty good on the BCC and gotten some worthwhile things done. But progressives are losing some deep experience and influence in Congress with Capuano out. The national media, like the NYT, will probably present this as an insurgency similar to Ocasio-Cortez’s win the the Bronx. But Pressley’s well-connected in the Boston and Massachusetts political establishment and she gained powerful support and endorsements. I found her campaign website long on copy but shorter on detailed substance than I’d expected. I just hope she’s ready to follow through with a progressive policy agenda.
SenyorDave
@Liza: Capuano main strength is financial expertise. That simply is not valued much by Dems or Reps. I would venture a guess that it is not valued much by many of the commentators here. Most people in this country are fiscally illiterate, and Congress is fno exception.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Congratulations. I love primaries, in many places they are the races that decide who take office — districts with a strong party preference. Here locally it’s Democratic for county offices, but they started siding for Rs in national offices, while still electing Democratic people into the statehouse Senate and Delegates. I love voting… there’s one poll worker who is 87, over the last year he lost his wife, who was demented, and then fell and broke both his hips. But he was there working the polls again last Primary election, where I see him twice each election season. Skinny tall guy, veteran of WW II. Voter. I don’t even know which party he represents… but he is a good man, now his kids are taking care of him so he isn’t alone.
J R in WV
@Mnemosyne:
But you are only half right – the Navy team killed bin Laden in Pakistan, where he was hiding away from our military, shielded by our nominal allies, the Pakistani Military. hahah!!
J R in WV
@smintheus:
You seem to be fixated on something that is wrong. Democracy means getting more votes, and the incumbent did not get the votes. he lost, she won. That called Democracy, whom the majority of people want to vote for.
Stop showing us your underbelly, it loses votes for us.
J R in WV
@smintheus:
Everyone commenting about your odd views disagrees with you, here at a nearly universally liberal Democratic Blog. Everyone! Perhaps this should be a clue that you are wrong in everything you say about this issue! Democracy works this way, the most people with a viewpoint win, and here, tonight, you have lost NN to one.
I’m an old white guy, and Imma gonna trust the women and people of color to take care of America for me. I’m contributing to Ms Davies in Kansas, Native American female, and hoping hard she wins, for another example.
Also MJ Hagar in TX. Amy McGrath in KY, those last two are ex pilot military women. MJ has a great tattoo on her arm to cover her wound scars from being shot through the windshield of her bird! Amy was the first female Marine fighter pilot in the world.They get my support!
Hope you can somehow bring yourself to lose that distrust of women you are showing so hard tonight!
SenyorDave
@J R in WV: Hope you can somehow bring yourself to lose that distrust of women you are showing so hard tonight!
I didn’t see any statements smintheus made that indicate he is anti-women or misogynistic. How does his disagreement show evidence of bias against any group?
enplaned
Gosh, it’s almost as if the Democratic elites were completely out of touch with the mood of the party, let alone the country, by nominating the same-old, same-old in 2016 as our presidential nominee. Someone who had already been rejected by the party eight years earlier.
There was nothing wrong with Capuano politically. But after a while you want to see what someone new can do.
enplaned
@smintheus: They’re not lashing out. No one thinks that Capuano is a bad guy. But he’s 20 years into this thing, and on the downslope of his career. He’s occupying a seat that could be held by an up-and-comer. After 20 years in position, his district wants to try out someone new.
That someone new happens to be a woman and black. That’s less interesting to me than the fact that she’s new.
Similarly, many Democrats (rightly or wrongly, I personally have no time for Bernie) wanted something new in 2016 and Bernie’s candidacy was the symptom of that. It’s not crazy to look at Hillary and say “jeez, known quantity, is there maybe another alternative?” — which was pretty much what the Democrats did in 2008, when, as a party, it plumped for Obama rather than Hillary.
I like Pelosi personally, think she’s done a lot of good for the party, but similarly I am tired of her and I’m tired of Feinstein, etc, and I’d love to see those positions occupied by someone new to see what those new people could do.
Novelty for its own sake can be damaging, but it’s not crazy to look at a politician who has been in place for decades and want to try out something new. Capuano was not objectionable, but he wasn’t all that special either. Yeah, after 20 years, let’s try something new. That it happens to be a black woman is just incidental to me. And I’m an old white straight guy. I don’t see this as ditching an old white guy b/c he’s an old white guy. I see this as ditching a politician who has been in place for 20 years. Fair enough.
By the way, part of the reason why this case and the Ocasio case get so much play is *that it’s so unusual*. This is not (yet) a trend. But I wouldn’t mind if it was a harbinger of generational renewal on the part of the Democrats. It’s long over due.
Similarly, I don’t want Biden to run, I don’t want Bernie to run (well, if he does run I want him to be shellacked), etc. Let’s have some 40 and 50 year olds out there. Time for a new crowd — the old crowd is tainted by their culpability in allowing Trump to win.
wuzzat
@FlyingToaster: I don’t like Lynch either, but no one plausible ever wants to run against him. This year one of his opponents was loudly anti-immigration with crazy eyes and fishy, contradictory views on guns and gun control and the other moved here 5 years ago to make video games and run for congress, and ran on some badly paraphrased recycled Berner rhetoric with a dash of “and also we need more LGBT rights” on the side. The closest thing to an actual political goal she’s ever stated is that she wants to make Boston the next Silicon Valley. Send someone of Kennedy’s or Capuano’s or Pressley’s caliber to the 8th District and we’ll see what happens.
Miss Bianca
@Amir Khalid: Urk? Which thread? *will go look*
smintheus
@J R in WV: I’m canvassing for a woman running for Congress, not because she’s a woman but because she’s the best candidate. Interesting smear you had going there, though.
smintheus
@Jay: What could possibly go wrong, eh?