Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Come on, man.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

“woke” is the new caravan.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Local Races Open Thread: Some Good News

Local Races Open Thread: Some Good News

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Kudos to Rep. Gallego:

… By removing himself from running, Gallego, D-Ariz., also dashes GOP hopes of a competitive Democratic primary race that could have freed McSally, R-Ariz., to focus on her own campaign message while Gallego and Kelly battled it out for their party’s nomination.

In Gallego, Republicans saw an opportunity to wound Kelly by forcing him to answer for the more liberal positions that reflect the party’s general direction.

“I don’t want to engage in a bitter primary all the way until the general election, and then turn around and try to run, whether it’s me or Kelly, against McSally in a year when the Democrats need to win the Senate seat and take the state,” Gallego told The Republic. “It’s just not in the best interest of the state or the Democratic Party to be engaging in that. … If Republicans are excited to see a spirited and nasty primary, they’re going to have to look somewhere else because I’m not going to take part in that.”…

Gallego, a three-term congressman and former Marine Corps combat veteran of the Iraq War, had been laying the foundation for a potential run up until last weekend.

In recent weeks, he was meeting with potential donors and supporters here and across the nation. He was telling associates, friends and Democratic players in Phoenix and Washington, D.C., that he was gearing up for a potential run.

In the end, he decided to run for re-election in the 7th Congressional District, a Democratic stronghold where he is widely seen as safe.

Gallego said he will spend this cycle getting out the vote and helping Democrats build on Democrat’s 2018 performance, when the party won two statewide races, capped by Kyrsten Sinema’s historic Senate victory.

The 2020 election will fill the final two years of the late Sen. John McCain’s unexpired term. The winner would again face voters in 2022 to serve the full six-year term…

No infighting is good policy right now, even (especially) when the article also notes “Gallego’s decision will disappoint progressive Democrats, who represent the left flank of the party… Those voters wanted Gallego, 39, to wage a fight against Kelly, who is presenting himself as a centrist Democratic candidate who will make decisions based on data and science, not partisan politics or ideology.” (Yes, I see the Media Village Idiots are well on their way to turning ‘progressive’ into the new right-wing smear, using the devaluation of ‘liberal’ as a model.)

I’ll make a not to pitch a few bucks in Rep. Gallego’s re-election bucket, when the time comes. Meanwhile, maybe send Mark some love?:

While we’re on the subject… On the one hand, I cringe at the thought of a ‘debate’ stage so crowded it looks like a mid-round game show qualification event. But on the other, if someone like Howard Schultz can buy his way into the Democratic primaries, shouldn’t there be room for a genuine Democrat like Julian?

Reader Interactions

44Comments

  1. 1.

    Betty Cracker

    I’ve been following Rep. Gallego on Twitter for a while now. Always got the impression he is a good guy. This confirms it.

  2. 2.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Good on Rep. Gallego. Our Senator Udall (D-NM) just announced he’s not running for reelection, to the surprise of many. Don’t know yet who might try to replace him. Will let y’all know what we hear.

  3. 3.

    jl

    From what I know, differences between Gallego and Kelly don’t support any kind of lefty versus centrist war. So, fine with me. I guess I am a die hard progressive since I supported someone who shall not be named in 2016 primary and support Warren now. But from what I’ve seen of Kelly’s platform, he’ll be fine in Congress.

    Some kind of political sickness can only be cured by big election results. The political sickness that the US suffers from now can only be cured by big election wins. Those are top priority. Anything that gets us there is fine with me.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    if someone like Howard Schultz can buy his way into the Democratic primaries,

    Is he trying that? I thought he was going the “centrist” “both sides are the problem” independent route.

  5. 5.

    HAL

    So Glenn Greenwald is really just fully embracing being a total asshole. Or is that redundant and already happened long ago? Anyhoo, he sure is thrilled with all this Mueller memo business. Strange for someone so many people declared super super liberal when he was criticizing Obama.

  6. 6.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @O. Felix Culpa: I saw one guess that it will be Ben Ray Lujan. That would make a certain type of sense – he has been doing well and is ready to move up. But it will take him out of the House. Not sure who would take that place.

  8. 8.

    Chris T.

    make decisions based on data and science, not partisan politics or ideology

    And yet, somehow, the data and science keep favoring the liberals. DFHs and their “reality” and “logic” and “science”… //

  9. 9.

    sukabi

    @HAL: pretty sure “total asshole” is his default setting. His ideological pendulum swings according to the amount of attention he can generate from any given contrary opinion.

  10. 10.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    I thought he was going the “centrist” “both sides are the problem” independent route.

    Yes, he is. His whole goal is to force the Democrats to choose a candidate of his liking by threatening to siphon off enough votes running as an independent to throw the election to Trump. That doesn’t work if he runs as a Democrat; he’ll get laughed out of the primaries and won’t have any effect in the general.

  11. 11.

    dexwood

    @O. Felix Culpa: @Cheryl Rofer:

    I read that this morning. He’s a good guy, has done much for NM. He’s from a family that actually gives a fuck about this country. Now, I like my mayor (Keller), but I saw his name mentioned as a replacement for Udall and it made me laugh. No way, not yet. It also reminded me of how things are generally done here, too.

  12. 12.

    tobie

    Hats off to Gallego. He put the country before his own personal ambitions. I wish a single Republican would do this. Gallego’s decision speaks volumes for him. I now want to support him.

    By the way: Has Schultz somehow gotten a place in the Democratic debates? That would surprise me.

  14. 14.

    FlipYrWhig

    @HAL:

    So Glenn Greenwald is really just fully embracing being a total asshole. Or is that redundant and already happened long ago?

    How old is he? That’s how long ago it happened. Birth.

  15. 15.

    Raoul

    Yes, I see the Media Village Idiots are well on their way to turning ‘progressive’ into the new right-wing smear, using the devaluation of ‘liberal’ as a model.

    It’s only a smear if we act like it is one. That was the problem some years ago with liberal. Bill Clinton and his g-d damned triangulation played into the whole Democratic defensive crouch bullcrap.

    In the run for 2020, up and down the ballot, Democrats need to say “Damn right I’m progressive, and here’s what it means: taxing those who can afford it (taxing the rich more polls at 62% or better!), affordable health care for everyone (77% favor medicare buy in at age 50 – take that, Chuck Todd!*), and infrastructure investments and clean energy that will create good jobs right here at home. Am I ‘progressive’? Hell yes I am. Next question, MSMer?”

    *eta: I’m open to lots of ideas on health care expansion. just picked that one for illustrative purposes and quickly sourced polling #s. carry on.

  16. 16.

    trollhattan

    If you didn’t think Brexit had gone pear-shaped already.

    MPs have voted to take control of Commons business in an unprecedented move to try to find a majority for any Brexit option.

    The government was defeated by 329 votes to 302 on the cross-party amendment, a majority of 27. It means MPs will get a series of votes on Wednesday to find out what kind of Brexit they will support. Prime Minister Theresa May has said there is no guarantee she will abide by their decision.

    But Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who had backed the amendment tabled by Conservative Sir Oliver Letwin, said the government “must take the process seriously. The government has failed and this House must, and I believe will, succeed.”

    He said MPs would want to find a consensus on the way forward, including a possible “confirmatory vote” on the PM’s deal by the public – something Mrs May told MPs earlier she did not want because Remain would be on the ballot paper.

    Mrs May had earlier tried to head off a defeat by offering MPs a series of votes on Brexit alternatives, organised by the government. She said allowing MPs to take over the Commons agenda would have set an “unwelcome precedent”.

    But supporters of Sir Oliver Letwin’s amendment said they did not trust the government to give MPs a say on the full range of Brexit options. Thirty Tory MPs voted against the government, including three ministers – Richard Harrington, Alistair Burt and Steve Brine – who have now resigned from their ministerial posts.

  17. 17.

    JaySinWA

    I cringe at the thought of a ‘debate’ stage so crowded it looks like a mid-round game show qualification event.

    We should do it like March Madness playoffs.

  19. 19.

    tobie

    @Raoul: why not reclaim the word ‘liberal’? I actually think it covers a broader swath of the party than ‘progressive,’ which I’ve come to associate with check lists, purity tests and Justice Dems.

  20. 20.

    Tenar Arha

    I give up. This infernal site doesn’t want me to write a 2 paragraph comment today.

    I’m sincerely concerned that w/o a primary that there’ll be a failure to properly GOTV, & get new voters up & down ballot. So, anyone know any Arizona orgs registering voters?

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    I donated to Julian Castro to do my part in helping him make the cut for the debates in June.

    I haven’t seen anything about how close Julian Castro is or isn’t to meeting the 65k unique donors across 20 states metric. I just keep seeing that he hasn’t made it yet, but no details.

    I am also curious about the deadline to meet that metric – does anyone happen to know that? I poked around online a couple of times last week to try to find that, with no success.

  23. 23.

    Fair Economist

    @HAL: Greenwald has been pretty obviously supporting Russia for many years. It got super obvious once Trump was in.

  25. 25.

    Fair Economist

    @ruemara: IMO Corbyn is invested because he is a believer. The Russians helped him get the leadership because of that.

    That said, on this vote he is actually helping to rein it in. Parliamemt is now going to honestly reach a compromise a majority can support. Corbyn has reason to believe the winner will be his Norway style plan.

  26. 26.

    janesays

    @dmsilev: To be honest, I’d much prefer it if Schultz did run as a Democrat (ideally, I’d rather he not run at all), so we could quickly put him in the rearview mirror heading into the general election campaign.

  27. 27.

    Jay

    “Julie Davis, who monitors Russian media for us, gives the low down on the partying going down in Russia over the Barr Letter. You might think that’s weird since Mueller endorsed the conclusions of the Intelligence Community that the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 presidential election. But then, that would almost certainly be a point of pride for them. Having their good pal Trump off the hook just makes it so much sweeter.”

    https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-celebration-in-moscow.html?m=1

  28. 28.

    Tenar Arha

    @Fair Economist: I do get that. But I also get that there’s a difference between state vs. national & that just bc the assumption that AZ is verging into a swing state, doesn’t mean that its local Dem Party is going to get enough support to register new voters. I’d like to make sure they get that kind of national fundraising help, for sure.

  29. 29.

    Dan B

    @janesays: I keep wondering why Inslee doesn’t have a little “talk” with Schultz. They must know each other from WA State Dem politics. Starbucks will be hurting from Global Warming pretty soon. Those coffee beans don’t like too much heat.

  30. 30.

    Jay

    @Dan B:

    Schultz isn’t the kinda guy you can have a talk with and either have him learn something or change his mind.

    If he were, Seattle would still have the SuperSonics.

  32. 32.

    Mainmata

    @Dan B: Yes, but the big problem is that the pollinators of coffee trees are being seriously threatened by deforestation and climate change both (and, of course the two causes are related). I don’t know how much Schultz gets that but, if he does, he should not run because he just enables Trump who is, essentially, opposed to the basis of his business model, i.e. fancy coffee = mucho dinero.

  33. 33.

    MomSense

    @HAL:

    It’s weird that the transparency crusaders aren’t clamoring for the report to be released in full.

  34. 34.

    Raoul

    @tobie: Works for me. I like both terms, but I have I guess filtered and ignored Justice Dems.
    Not all liberals are super progressive, and not all progressives are into liberalism. But I hope the Democratic Party can be home to a range of views.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yup.

  35. 35.

    Aleta

    Speaking of Adam Schiff in the last thread, and R control of the media

    Trump’s re-election campaign sent a memo to television producers on Monday instructing them to “employ basic journalistic standards when booking” six current or former government officials that the campaign said “made outlandish, false claims, without evidence” while on air.

    The memo names: Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Jerry Nadler, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, John Brennan, Rep. Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee and Rep. Eric Swalwell.

    In a statement, Swalwell said that the “only person who has been caught lying about Russia is Donald Trump.”
    “If he thinks I’ve made a false statement, he can sue me. And I’ll beat him in court,” Swalwell said. The others targeted in the memo either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

    The two-page letter, which was distributed to producers for all the networks and cable outlets, cited comments that the guests made on air alleging that there was evidence of collusion.

    “At a minimum, if these guests do reappear, you should replay the prior statements and challenge them to provide the evidence which promoted them to make wild claims in the first place,” Murtaugh wrote.

    The memo can be read here: https://www.scribd.com/document/403100260/March-25-2019-Tim-Murtaugh-Trump-Campaign-Memo-to-TV-Producers

  36. 36.

    Terry Chay

    @HAL: Glenn Greenwald is an asshole to be sure, but he is also a compromised Russian asset (it probably occurred when he was working with Edward Snowden) which explains his reaction to the Barr report and many other things.

  37. 37.

    randy khan

    @trollhattan:

    Truth be told, I think that letting Commons vote on all of the options is a good thing. It’s the best chance for them to do something rational, since May’s desire to keep control has been preventing that. I just hope they leave Remain until the end, after they’ve voted down all of the alternatives.

  38. 38.

    randy khan

    @Aleta:

    If I were at one of the networks, my reply to Murtaugh would be to ask if he wants the same standard applied to people who support Trump. Possibly before I laughed at him, but probably after.

  40. 40.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @dexwood: Tim Keller? Naw. I’m glad he won as mayor of ABQ, but he ain’t ready for the big stage yet. In addition to Ben Ray, I’ve also heard Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s and Hector Balderas’s names bandied about. But it’s early days. No idea how it’s going to shake out.

  41. 41.

    hilts

    @HAL:
    @Terry Chay:

    So Glenn Greenwald is really just fully embracing being a total asshole

    Greenwald is a hysterical nutcase. He was on Tucker Carlson’s show pissing all over MSNBC and he debated the Mueller Report findings with David Cay Johnston on Democracy Now. I wish his name could be placed on a Do Not Invite list.

  42. 42.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: Horse’s mouth – https://democrats.org/press/dnc-announces-details-for-the-first-two-presidential-primary-debates/

    […]

    DETAILS ON THRESHOLD FOR PARTICIPATION:

    Democratic candidates may qualify for the first and second debate by meeting one of the two following sets of criteria:

    Polling Method: Register 1% or more support in three polls (which may be national polls, or polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and/or Nevada) publicly released between January 1, 2019, and 14 days prior to the date of the Organization Debate. Qualifying polls will be limited to those sponsored by one or more of the following organizations/institutions:Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Des Moines Register, Fox News, Las Vegas Review Journal, Monmouth University, NBC News, New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR), Quinnipiac University, Reuters, University of New Hampshire, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Winthrop University. Any candidate’s three qualifying polls must be conducted by different organizations, or if by the same organization, must be in different geographical areas.

    Grassroots Fundraising Method. Candidates may qualify for the debate by demonstrating that the campaign has received donations from at least (1) 65,000 unique donors; and (2) a minimum of 200 unique donors per state in at least 20 U.S. states. To demonstrate that the fundraising threshold has been reached, candidates must provide verifiable evidence, which they may do by authorizing ActBlue and/or NGP VAN to provide that evidence.

    If more than 20 candidates qualify for the debate, the top 20 candidates will be selected using a methodology that gives primacy to candidates meeting both thresholds, followed by the highest polling average, followed by the most unique donors.

    Not terribly clear about donation deadlines, but it seems to be 14 days before the event in question (like for the case of polling).

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  43. 43.

    Aleta

    @joel hanes: This? : )

    The statements made about Mr Arkell are entirely untrue and clearly highly defamatory. We are therefore instructed to require from you immediately your proposals for dealing with the matter.
    …
    His attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of your reply.

    Dear Sirs,

    We acknowledge your letter of 29th April referring to Mr. J. Arkell.

    We note that Mr Arkell’s attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of our reply and would therefore be grateful if you would inform us what his attitude to damages would be, were he to learn that the nature of our reply is as follows: fuck off.

    Yours,
    Private Eye

  44. 44.

    karen marie

    So-called progressives don’t need Village idiots to devalue the word, they’ve done that all on their own. From what I’ve seen, they are among the most ignorant and naive of those who like to talk politics. There are exceptions but only a few.

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