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For a while, maybe longer if I do

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There is nothing lower than a Democratic Congressperson who switches parties. No trial, no jury, straight to execution.

Jeff Van Drew, the POS who won as a Democrat in NJ-02 in 2018 and then became a Republican, is speaking at the RNC on Thursday. I bet he thought he could stay in Congress longer by pulling this stunt. Fuck him. Let’s raise some money for the Democrat running against him, Amy Kennedy.

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44Comments

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    You have to admire the strategic sense of someone who deliberately shifted from the House majority to the minority.

  6. 6.

    OGLiberal

    Van Drew was/is tight with Norcross and Sweeney so wonder if they will not-so-secretly back him.  Losing a traditionally red district won’t do much harm to their hold on NJ state politics and they may still be smarting that Van Drew was going to lose the Dem primary even with their support.  Just don’t know if they are still all powerful as they have been.

  8. 8.

    Zelma

    Oh please support Amy Kennedy.  Jeff is my Congressman.  I hate the bastard.

    I supported him with beaucoup bucks in 2018.  Heck, I supported him when he was in the NJ Senate.  I know him well enough that he always gave me a kiss when we met.  Well, an air kiss, but you get the picture.  He was one of the few successful Democrats in Cape May County.  (In the 2017 election, only one Democrat won in the entire county – me.  And I was running for a non-partisan position on the local school board!)

    I am already giving Kennedy a generous monthly donation but I will pony up with a Balloon Juice contribution as well.  I can’t read the tea leaves, but Kennedy may have a chance.  NJ 2 is a huge district and includes Atlantic City with its AA population and some of the suburbs of Philadelphia as well as the poorest counties in NJ.  If the Dems can get organized they might have a chance.  There are a lot of bad feelings towards Jeff.  I don’t think he will get a single real Democratic vote.

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    I keep getting email messages, and I think “how did I get on this list?”  Then I think, oh, yeah, that was one of Doug’s peeps.  Then I unsubscribe.  I was happy to be reminded that I had given to the pastor of the MLK church.  Excellent decision, and I had forgotten.  :-)

  11. 11.

    Cacti

    I just read that one of tonight’s RNC speakers said previously that she’d have no problem with police racial profiling her black son and not her white one.

    Poor kid.  He’s going to learn early to internalize the self-loathing.

  12. 12.

    Zelma

    @OGLiberal:

    Are you from South Jersey?  You’re right about Van Drew being tied into the Norcross machine.  But I don’t think they will support him; they don’t dare because nobody likes a turncoat.’

    What they won’t do is give much support to Kennedy.  The machine gave a lot to Van Drew in 2018, probably more than anyone else.  But the thing about Kennedy is that she has other sources of support.  There really is a Kennedy political machine.  Before she came along, the Norcross machine was the only game in town, money-wise.

    Also, the Norcross machine really blew the 2019 state elections here.  They are increasingly out of touch with Democratic voters in the region and they don’t get it.

  14. 14.

    OGLiberal

    @Zelma: Central Jersey.  Close enough to be aware of the Norcross machine but not familiar with the district.  Unfortunately, because of redistricting a few years ago we got moved from Frank Pallone’s district – really like Pallone – to Chris Smith’s so now my rep is the only GOP member of Congress from NJ. (and the county itself – Monmouth – is hopelessly GOP)  At least Smith bucked Trump on the tax cuts and ACA related stuff.  But still would rather have a Dem.

  20. 20.

    randy khan

    @OGLiberal:

    Van Drew was/is tight with Norcross and Sweeney so wonder if they will not-so-secretly back him.  Losing a traditionally red district won’t do much harm to their hold on NJ state politics and they may still be smarting that Van Drew was going to lose the Dem primary even with their support.  Just don’t know if they are still all powerful as they have been.

    Based on what I know about them, they are much more likely to view what Van Drew did – voting against impeachment and changing parties – as a terrible betrayal.  I think it’s more likely they pull out all the stops against him.  On the other hand, she did beat their chosen candidate in the primary, so you never know.

  21. 21.

    randy khan

    @Zelma:

    Where in Cape May County are you?  We have a place in Cape May, and we’ve been going there since the late 1980s.  (I grew up at the northern end of the Shore.)

  22. 22.

    jayjaybear

    If you do that crap (switch parties), you’d better be killing yourself with constituent service because people generally HATE party-switching.

  23. 23.

    gene108

    @Zelma:

    I am in NJ-3. I really feel sorry for NJ-2 Democratic voters. We all busted our asses to flip our districts, and to have Jeff be a turncoat…I can’t even…

    So far all I get from Amy are emails for donations. I setup a small recurring donation, which is all I can afford.

    EDIT: I do not get anything for text- or phone banking opportunities.

     

    It does not seem to me the Norcross or Sweeney had much pull in city, or Burlington county races, (EDIT: in 2018) where Dems took over all the BurlCo Freeholder seats, and picked up some city council seats in traditionally Republican leaning towns.

  24. 24.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    Jeff Van Drew, the POS who won as a Democrat in NJ-02 in 2018 and then became a Republican, is speaking at the RNC on Thursday.

    At first, I thought you were being harsh. Then, I noticed 2018, “and  then became a Republican”.

    I think Dante would have put this person between Satan and Judas (in the circle for betrayal). Technically, though, it was probably a false flag all along – it’s not quite betrayal if you never *intended* to play people straight.

  25. 25.

    randy khan

    @jayjaybear:

    I have a little bit of experience with Van Drew’s constituent service, and it was enthusiastic but not necessarily incredibly helpful.

  28. 28.

    TS (the original)

    @WaterGirl:

    Married to a Kennedy – from wiki

    Kennedy met former United States congressman Patrick J. Kennedy at a mental health forum in Atlantic City in 2010.[4][12] They married in July 2011 at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer officiating.[19][20] They live in Absecon, New Jersey.[21] Kennedy has four children from her second marriage.[22]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Kennedy

  33. 33.

    Cckids

    I will donate Thursday, that’s payday. I would give to Satan himself if he was the Dem choice here. What a vile, stupid human being.

  34. 34.

    Zelma

    @randy khan:

    I’m in Avalon.  I’ve been coming to the shore since I was 3 months old and bought a cottage here almost 40 years ago.  Went to Cape May throughout my childhood but somehow shifted to Avalon.  I moved here when I retired and the first organization I joined was the local Democratic Club.  We are small but we are – pretty weak.

  35. 35.

    Zelma

    @randy khan:

    I haven’t figured out where the “machine” stands re Van Drew.  I’m on the County Committee and usually I’d be pretty well informed, but we haven’t had any meetings nor have I had much contact since the virus. I actually supported Amy’s opponent pretty strongly but I’m in the “anybody but Van Drew” camp.”

    After their dreadful showing here in 2019 and their loss to Amy, I think the “machine” is either going to have to adapt or fail.  I have nothing against political “machines;” just incompetent ones.

  36. 36.

    MShepNj

    Thank you for posting this. Can’t stand this turncoat. I live in NJ 12 but hubby and I are both donating to Kennedy, as well as our own Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman.

  39. 39.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    At least on my computer, DougJ’s post appeared before either of yours. To be clear, my irritation was that on a primarily political blog no front-pager thought to schedule anything for the most important political event of the day. And then DougJ’s “Hey, let’s raise some money!” just came across as an extra level of cluelessness.

    Scheduling note: The RNC will be on again tomorrow and Thursday from 8:30 to 11:00 EDT.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack:  Now I get where you are coming from.

    I thought about it last night and tonight, but I try to let others do those threads, like Anne Laurie did the Democratic convention threads.  They were doing those threads long before I came on the scene, so I wait out of respect.

    But I’m always willing happy to / willing to put them up when they don’t, so your messages have been a helpful reminder to me that no one else has.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack

    @Another Scott:

    It’s not a question of multitasking—which I am able to do fine, as you should know. When DougJ’s post first appeared, neither of the two RNC posts was up. The most important political event of the day had already started, and there was nothing. I sent a message to WaterGirl to ask her to put up the two threads. And then DougJ’s post somehow moved to be after them. Problem solved, but, c’mon, how about a little planning? Which it appears that WaterGirl is now doing.

  44. 44.

    JAFD

    Put in a coupla bucks. Probably neither Reps. Sires nor Payne need help, so… (Live a couple of hundred yards from district line. Except for ten blocks or so of the Ironbound, nw of US 1, line splits ‘Latin’ (and white) Newark and Black Newark, as of 2010, almost exactly.) Sen. Booker dwells about that far from boundary, on other side.

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