How exactly does the left, or at least organizations that claim to fight for the left, expect to ever reclaim the Democratic Party if they refuse to even CONSIDER backing TRUE liberal and progressive challengers willing to challenge the Vichy Dems who continue to fail the American people? NYCee asks this burning question:
Jonathan Tasini is the TRUE PROGRESSIVE, antiwar Democratic challenger to prowar, corporate-friendly, and mega-corporate-financed Hillary Clinton. Actually, on all the issues, he is a progressive’s dream come true. Tasini is on the primary ballot in NY. He got almost 3 times the signatures needed to get on the ballot, which is a high hurdle by NY rules. (Primary date – Sept 12).
But, disturbingly, MoveOn.Org, a self-described “progressive” organization, has declined not only to endorse Tasini, but to even give NY progressives a voice. Unlike in the Lamont v Lieberman primary contest, Move On has not even !!! polled NYers !!! on the two candidates.
Is their mission really to offer the left a voice into politics, or are they another confidence trick, offering up the promise of a payoff while rigging the game in favor of party insiders?
Go read the rest of NYCee’s piece, and make sure to savor the high-class fratboy pushback in the threads, from the cadres of kos fan boys and party operatives.
Nope, no real debate allowed in our media, especially as it is all owned by the very wealthy contributors who keep worthless politicians like Senator Clinton in office. Well, worthless to us, but NOT the new robber barons. No real debate welcome on the big “liberal” blogs, and apparently no debate allowed in the big “liberal activist” organizations.
Nope, we must “pick our fights”, and be happy when they throw us a Lamont to support. Norman Solomon makes the point:
The leading pro-war Democrat in the Senate is hoping for a landslide in the New York primary next month. And unless progressives quickly mobilize to dent her vote total, she’s likely to get it.
Hillary Clinton, of course, intends to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. But first there’s her quest to win big for reelection. If antiwar voters cut into Clinton’s percentage in the primary on Sept. 12, despite overwhelming media visibility and a massive campaign war chest, her momentum would take a hit.
After Sen. Joe Lieberman lost to antiwar challenger Ned Lamont in Connecticut’s Democratic primary last week, I thought some more about the fast-approaching Senate race in New York, where anti-war candidate Jonathan Tasini will be on the ballot next to Clinton.
Tasini, a former president of the National Writers Union, is more strongly and consistently antiwar than Lamont. And Tasini is an all-around progressive on issues from trade to economic justice to health care to the Middle East. But his campaign is underfunded. In contrast, the very wealthy Lamont self-financed his campaign with a few million dollars.
One of the biggest boosts to Lamont’s primary campaign came from MoveOn.org, which polled its membership in Connecticut and found a large majority in favor of endorsing Lamont. The MoveOn endorsement brought more funding and people-power energy to the campaign against Lieberman.
MoveOn members helped to invigorate that campaign, as they have strengthened so many other grassroots efforts in recent years. And MoveOn’s leaders have earned respect for their far-sighted work on building a powerful nationwide organization.
Today, this question hangs in the air: Will MoveOn now poll its membership in New York about whether to make an endorsement in the Clinton vs. Tasini race?
I put the question to the executive director of the MoveOn.org political action committee, Eli Pariser. Here’s his full reply: “We focus on the issues and candidates our members are excited about. We’ve heard almost nothing from MoveOn members on Tasini — New York MoveOn members are more focused on winning back Congress, ending the war on Iraq, and Ned Lamont. As for our formal endorsement process, that’s triggered where there are two viable candidates and where there’s a baseline of interest from our members. Right now, this one doesn’t meet that second threshold.”
But the only reliable way to find out how interested New York members of MoveOn would be in a Clinton-or-Tasini endorsement is to ask them. And, evidently, that’s a question that the people in charge of MoveOn.org don’t want to ask.
They act, and apparently they decide WHEN to act, despite their frequent fundraising appeals claiming to represent the left.
Why is it so hard to understand that the conversation in this country will NEVER change if the status quo isn’t challenged, ESPECIALLY within a party that is failing their supposed constituents so badly? In fact, if you think that this is obvious, and if you think that MoveON might need a reminder, LET THEM KNOW IT.
I suppose it shouldn’t be a suprise. The “two party system” is little more than a street con, a confidence game. “Wanna buy some CHANGE? It looks JUST LIKE THE REAL THING! After all, what are you, some kind of purist?“
There will be no chance for change until there is a vehicle for change, and both parties are corrupt and in the service of a very small segment of the citizenry. It is more and more apparent that change will have to take the long, hard climb up from local movements, as possible vehicles for change like MoveON and the Big Boy Blogs sell themselves out for the illusion of “influence” with a corrupt party aristocracy and the chance to be the next ineffective Shrumlike hack.
We are marks who’ve been scammed in a long con, victims of a Pigeon drop where they promised to protect our votes … really, they’ll count your ballots when you come back!
Tasini is a real progressive. If you’re a real progressive, and you’re registered to vote in NY, VOTE FOR HIM IN THE PRIMARY SEPTEMBER 12TH. For that matter, the same goes in November in places like PA … don’t let them use fear of the Republicans sell your values short. If you can’t stomach Casey, vote for the Green candidate. Put a scare into them … keep them from power. THAT is the only way we’ll see change. It’ll take years, and many losses, but you can fight back locally and build for a better future. Quit giving them your future, only to be suprised when you come back and you find they’ve stolen it.