Daily Archives: May 3, 2021

AUSTIN, Texas Democrats hoping for some encouraging signs in Texas did not find any on Saturday in a special election to fill a vacant congressional seat. Instead, they found themselves locked out of a runoff that will now see two Republicans battle for the seat in northern Texas.

The two Republicans Susan Wright, who was endorsed by President Donald J. Trump, and State Representative Jake Ellzey emerged as the top vote-getters in a 23-candidate, all-party special election to replace Mrs. Wrights husband, U.S. Representative Ron Wright, who this year became the first congressman to die of Covid-19.

Jana Lynne Sanchez, a Democrat who made a surprisingly strong showing for the seat in 2018 and was considered by many as a likely cinch for the runoff, came in a close third, leaving the two Republicans to fight for the seat that their party has controlled for nearly four decades.

Democrats who needed a strong turnout to be competitive did not get one. They were hoping for signs of weakness in the Republican brand because of the states disastrous response to the brutal winter storm in February or any signs of weariness with Mr. Trump, but they did not see that, either.

Michael Wood, a small-business man and Marine veteran who gained national attention as the only openly anti-Trump Republican in the field, picked up only 3 percent of the vote.

Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994. When the seat is filled, Texas house delegation will be 23 Republicans and 13 Democrats.

The Republicans turned out and the Democrats didnt, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Thats a critical takeaway. The party has to think very systematically about whats wrong and what they need to change in order to be successful.

Since 1983, Republicans have held seat, in Texas Sixth Congressional District, which includes mostly rural areas in three northern Texas counties and a sliver of the nations fourth-largest metropolitan region around Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington.

But growing numbers of Hispanics and African-Americans fueled Democrats hopes that they had a strong shot of at least getting into a runoff. Mr. Trump won the district by only 3 points in November. Ms. Sanchez, who grew up in the district and built a strong political organization, was widely portrayed as the lead contender in the field of 10 Democrats.

But in the end, she came up 354 votes short after the Democrats splintered the partys vote, and Mr. Ellzey nudged her aside for the runoff. Mrs. Wright won 19.2 percent of the vote to Mr. Ellzeys 13.8 percent. Ms. Sanchez got 13.4 percent of the vote.

The large field may have cost Ms. Sanchez a runoff spot, but in the end Republicans won 62 percent of the vote and Democrats 37 percent, not auspicious numbers for her hopes of winning if she did get in the runoff.

Democrats have come a long way toward competing in Texas but we still have a way to go, Ms. Sanchez said in a concession statement on Sunday morning.

She said: Well keep fighting for a healthier, equitable and prosperous Texas and to elect leaders who care about meeting the needs of Texans, although it wont happen in this district immediately.

The Republican runoff was already showing signs of being fought along familiar right-of-center turf.

Ms. Wrights general consultant, Matt Langston, assailed Mr. Ellzey, a former Navy pilot who was endorsed by former Gov. Rick Perry, as an opportunistic RINO a Republican in Name Only.

And one of her prominent supporters, David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, which has spent more than $350,000 on mail, social media and texts against Mr. Ellzeys bid, on Sunday called on the second-place candidate to pull out of the race. He said it was more important for Republicans to unite behind Mrs. Wrights candidacy in advance of the critical midterm congressional races next year.

If he wants to unite, stop attacking, said Craig Murphy, Mr. Ellzeys spokesman, firmly rebuffing Mr. McIntoshs proposal. Mr. Murphy also denounced Mr. Langstons statement against his candidate as silly and insulting and described Mr. Ellzey as a guy who has been under enemy fire eight times.

The defeat in the special election in some respects evoked the 2020 elections in Texas, when Democrats believed that demographic changes put them in reach of a potential blue wave to possibly take over the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives and flip several congressional seats. Instead, the blue wave never washed ashore, and the House remains in Republicans hands by the same margin as before.

The Sixth District was once a Democratic stronghold, until Phil Gramm, formerly a conservative Democrat, switched party affiliations in 1983. The district has been a reliable Republican bastion ever since.

The seat came open in February after Mr. Wright, who had lung cancer, died after he contracted the coronavirus. His wife was an early front-runner to replace him, but her chances of outright victory narrowed after the field grew to 23 candidates: 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, a Libertarian and an independent.

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For Democrats, Another Bad Election Night in Texas - The New York Times

When Joseph R. Biden Jr. served as vice president in the Obama administration, he was known to preface his recommendations to other officials with a self-deprecating disclaimer. He may not have attended Harvard or Yale, Mr. Biden would say as he popped into an office or a meeting, but he was still a foreign policy expert, and he knew how to work Capitol Hill.

Mr. Biden isnt apologizing anymore.

Now 100 days into his presidency, Mr. Biden is driving the biggest expansion of American government in decades, an effort to use $6 trillion in federal spending to address social and economic challenges at a scale not seen in a half-century. Aides say he has come into his own as a party leader in ways that his uneven political career didnt always foretell, and that he is undeterred by matters that used to bother him, like having no Republican support for Democratic priorities.

For an establishment politician who cast his election campaign as a restoration of political norms, his record so far amounts to the kind of revolution that he said last year he would not pursue as president but that, aides say, became necessary to respond to a crippling pandemic. In doing so, Mr. Biden is validating the desires of a party that feels fiercely emboldened to push a liberal agenda through a polarized Congress.

The result is something few people expected: His presidency is transforming what it means to be a Democrat, even among a conservative wing of his party that spent decades preaching the gospel of bipartisanship.

Weve been very happy with his agenda and were the moderates, said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a Democratic think tank named after a governing style embraced by former President Bill Clinton that rejected liberal orthodoxy. Some have said this is a liberal wish list. We would argue that he is defining what it is to be a 21st-century moderate Democrat.

Mr. Biden trumpeted his expansive agenda again on Wednesday night in his first address to Congress, casting his efforts to expand vaccinations and pour trillions of dollars into the economy as a way to unify a fractured nation.

Were vaccinating the nation; were creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, he said. Were delivering real results to people they can see it and feel it in their own lives.

Mr. Biden, now 78, has pursued these sweeping changes without completely losing his instinct for finding the center point of his party. As the Democratic consensus on issues has moved left over the years, he has kept pace on abortion, gun control, same-sex marriage, the Iraq war and criminal justice without going all the way to the furthest liberal stance. Now, he is leading a party that accelerated leftward during the Trump administration, and finding his own place on the Democratic spectrum the one with the most likelihood of legacy-cementing success.

In private calls with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, whom he vanquished in the Democratic primaries, he collects ideas from the partys liberal wing. With Senator Joe Manchin, the centrist West Virginia Democrat, he keeps tabs on his caucus and its slim congressional margins. And in conversations with Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader and a longtime negotiating partner, Mr. Biden appeals for bipartisan support, even as he warns that he wont wait for it indefinitely.

Biden is a politician who stays inside of the moment, said Rashad Robinson, president of racial justice organization Color of Change, which was skeptical of Mr. Biden during the primary but now praises his work. He stays inside of where the cultural context has moved.

To the consternation of some Republicans, Mr. Biden is approaching politics differently from recent Democratic presidents who believed that support from the opposing party would provide a bulwark for their policies and political standing. In the 1990s, Mr. Clinton espoused triangulation, a strategy that forced liberals to settle for moderate policies by cutting deals with Republicans. Former President Barack Obama spent months trying to win bipartisan buy-in for his policy proposals.

Both strategies were rooted in political fears that began in the Reagan era: Doing too much to assuage the partys left flank could alienate voters in the middle who took a more skeptical view of government, leaving Democrats unable to build coalitions for re-election.

Mr. Biden and his administration have embraced a different philosophy, arguing that difficult times have made liberal ideas popular with independents and some Republican voters, even if G.O.P. leaders continue to resist them.

The shift leftward, aides say, reflects a recognition by Mr. Biden that the problems facing the country require sweeping solutions, but also that both parties changed during the polarizing years of the Trump administration. Gone is the Senate where Mr. Biden spent decades, legislating like former President Ronald Reagan, who liked to say hed call any negotiation where he could get 70 percent of what he wanted a win.

Theres a difference between President Biden and Senator Biden, said former Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican who served for decades with Mr. Biden and supported his presidential bid. Even a difference between President Biden and Vice President Biden. Hes the president now and hes got the responsibility of trying to move this country forward. Yes, he wants to do it in a bipartisan way if he can. But the fact is these problems arent going to solve themselves.

Other Republicans see a more dissembling president, one who has broken his promises to reach across the aisle. In a floor speech on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. McConnell accused Mr. Biden of false advertising during his campaign, saying Americans elected a president who preached moderation.

He added: Over a few short months the Biden officials seems to have given up on selling actual unity in favor of catnip for their liberal base.

In his address, Mr. Biden said he was open to hearing Republican ideas on his infrastructure plans but wouldnt wait forever.

I applaud a group of Republican senators who just put forward their proposal, he said. We welcome ideas. But the rest of the world isnt waiting for us. Doing nothing is not an option.

The decades Mr. Biden spent cultivating a moderate image, paired with the conciliatory tone he has adopted toward Republicans in public, has allowed him to push his agenda without facing charges of socialism a label his opponents unsuccessfully tried to make stick during the presidential campaign.

Focus groups throughout the campaign found that voters felt they knew Mr. Biden, both for his family story and working class bona fides. Even now, voters rate Mr. Biden as more moderate than Mr. Obama at the same stage of his presidency, according to polling from NBC News. Mr. Biden is pursuing a more liberal agenda than Mr. Obama did, of course; but he is taking a lower-key approach and advancing relatively popular ideas, and he doesnt face the same smears and attacks as Mr. Obama did as the first Black president.

Its been very artful because its allowed him to create this weird equilibrium where people dont see him as a partisan ramrod, which gives comfort to moderates, said David Axelrod, a former top adviser to Mr. Obama. On the other hand, hes really moving forward on a lot of these initiatives.

Aides and allies say the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol also affected Mr. Bidens thinking about what the country might accept politically. The soon-to-be president believed the violence alienated a slice of voters from Mr. Trumps Republican Party, leaving them more open to Mr. Bidens agenda, particularly if he delivered tangible government benefits like stimulus checks and vaccines.

Its fair to say that Obama followed the Clinton model, and Biden is not, in some fundamental ways, because the world has changed so profoundly, Mr. Bennett said. Joe Biden is dealing with a seditious, anti-democratic set of lunatics. You cant deal with people who voted to overturn the election. You simply cannot, even if youre a moderate.

Mr. Bidens predecessor helped till the ground in other ways. As Mr. Trump focused his attention on waging baseless attacks against the election results last winter, coronavirus cases surged across the country, leaving Americans eager for more economic and public health assistance; Mr. Biden provided that with a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill just a few weeks into his presidency.

Joe Biden is living in a honeymoon with a prenup signed by Donald Trump, said Rahm Emanuel, who was Mr. Obamas chief of staff.

Yet some longtime friends and allies also see a more personal evolution in Mr. Biden since he assumed the role of president.

His inner circle says he is exhibiting a level of confidence theyve never seen before, combined with an awareness that he only has a short window to achieve his goals before next years midterm elections, which could cost Democrats their slim governing majority. While Mr. Biden has said his expectation is that hell run again, political allies privately admit that remains an open question given his age.

Mr. Bidens administration has not given liberals everything theyve wanted, pushing back on proposals to cancel student debt, adopt the entirety of the Green New Deal and completely eliminate the filibuster.

During negotiations with Mr. Sanderss team last summer over a shared platform that would unify Democrats behind Mr. Bidens general election candidacy, Biden aides made clear that they would not accept any recommendations that they didnt believe he could support if elected. At one point, they agreed to decriminalize marijuana but rejected a plan to legalize it completely, saying Mr. Biden didnt agree with that policy, according to a person involved in the talks.

But Mr. Biden didnt treat the negotiations as simply optics, an encouraging sign to many progressives that Mr. Biden and his team were committed to pursuing more-liberal policies than they had realized.

Mr. Bidens advisers said they were perplexed by the progressive zeal over the presidents economic agenda, noting that the American Jobs Plan is exactly what Mr. Biden promised he would do during his campaign. The view from inside the West Wing is that liberals and Republicans both made false assumptions about Mr. Biden and how he would govern.

Aides argue that Mr. Biden hasnt changed from the candidate who just months ago promised to find between four and eight Republican senators to support his policies. Hes still the politician who would be more comfortable compromising on his proposals, getting less than what he wanted, but passing legislation with Republicans on board. He still describes Mr. McConnell as a friend, and thinks he might have come in with a better shot at getting his support than Mr. Obama.

Aides also say he believes that bipartisan support, in the long term, will be more important for the country than passing his $4 trillion infrastructure bills untouched, through reconciliation.

In his heart, he probably still would love to forge bipartisan deals, Mr. Axelrod said. But hes going to be judged at the end of the day not on style points but what he gets done, and he knows that.

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How Biden Is Transforming What It Means to Be a Democrat - The New York Times

Tim Scott, the Republican senator leading negotiations with Democrats over police reform, who insisted during his rebuttal to Joe Bidens address to Congress the US was not a racist country, said on Sunday he was hopeful a deal can be reached.

Scott, from South Carolina and the only Black Republican in the Senate, said he saw progress in talks which stalled last summer as protests raged following the killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans.

One of the reasons why Im hopeful is because my friends on the left arent looking for the issue, theyre looking for a solution, and the things that I offered last year are more popular this year, the senator told CBSs Face the Nation.

The goal isnt for Republicans or Democrats to win, but for communities to feel safer and our officers to feel respected. If we can accomplish those two major goals, the rest will be history.

The talks are intended to break an impasse over the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House in March but is frozen by the 50-50 split in the Senate.

Negotiations have taken on increasing urgency following the high-profile killings of Daunte Wright in Minneapolis and Andrew Brown in North Carolina, Black men shot in their vehicles by officers, killings which sparked outrage.

The country supports this reform and Congress should act, Biden said on Wednesday during his address on Capitol Hill.

A panel including Scott, the New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker and Karen Bass, the author of the House bill and a Democrat from California, met on Thursday to discuss key elements including individual liability for officers who abuse their power or otherwise overstep the line.

Republicans strongly oppose many of the proposals but Booker said it had been a promising week.

Scott, a rising star in Republican ranks, said he was well-placed to help steer the discussion.

One of the reasons why I asked to lead this police reform conversation on my side of the House is because I personally understand the pain of being stopped 18 times driving while Black, he said.

And I have also seen the beauty of when officers go door to door with me on Christmas morning, delivering presents to kids in the most underserved communities. So I think I bring an equilibrium to the conversation.

Scott said he was confident major sticking points in the Senate version of the proposed legislation could be overcome and the bill aligned to that which passed the House.

Think about the [parts] of the two bills that are in common data collection, he said. I think through negotiations and conversations we are closer on no-knock warrants and chokeholds, and then theres something called Section 1033 that has to do with getting government equipment from the military for local police.

I think were making progress there too, so we have literally been able to bring these two bills very close together.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, placed no timeline on when a revised version of the bill would get a vote.

We will bring it to the floor when we are ready, and we will be ready when we have a good, strong bipartisan bill, she said on Thursday. That is up to the Senate and then we will have it in the House, because it will be a different bill.

On the issue of whether lawsuits could be filed against police departments rather than individual officers, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, said: Were moving towards a reasonable solution.

Scott said the issue was another reason why Im more optimistic this time.

He said: We want to make sure the bad apples are punished and weve seen that, through the convictions of Michael Slager when he shot Walter Scott in the back to the George Floyd convictions.

Those are promising signs, but the real question is how do we change the culture of policing? I think we do that by making the employer responsible for the actions of the employee.

Others senators in the negotiations include Dick Durbin of Illinois and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, senior figures in their parties.

Scott also broke with Republicans who support Donald Trumps big lie that the presidential election was rigged, saying the party could only move on once it realised the election is over, Joe Biden is the president of the United States.

On CNNs State of the Union, Susan Collins, a moderate Republican senator from Maine, appeared to acknowledge Scotts rising profile.

We are not a party that is led by just one person, she said. There are many prominent upcoming younger men and women in our party who hold great promise for leading us.

Originally posted here:

Tim Scott hopeful deal can be reached with Democrats on US policing reform - The Guardian

To see what racism and race-baiting look like, look no further than todays Democrat-Left. From relentless obsession with critical race theory, baseless claims of "systemic racism," critical race theory brainwashing sessions, to delivery of health care based on skin color, Democrats and their ideological brethren see everything through black-and-white glasses.

A perfect case in point is the Democrat-Left response to the rebuttal by U.S. Sen. Tim Scott to President Joe Bidens address to Congress Wednesday night.

The $6 Trillion Man spoke softly and carried a big shopping list. After Biden quietly left no spending stoneunthrown, the South Carolina Republican delivered a warm, stirring and confident reply. He spoke about growing up poor, fatherless and Black. He also explained that he personally had experienced racism. But he added a key point. "Hear me clearly:America is not a racist country," Scottdeclared, in contrast to Bidens claims to the contrary.

DAN GAINOR: TIM SCOTT SPEECH TRIGGERS RADICAL REACTION FROM LIBERAL MEDIA MOB. DID THEY EVEN LISTEN TO IT?

Scott also chided Senate Democrats for filibustering his post-George Floyd police-reform legislation. Even after ScottgaveDemocratsthe opportunity to offer extensive amendments, they refused even toconsider hismeasure.Scott said: "My friends across the aisle seemed to want the issue more than they wanted a solution."

The Republican-Right praised Scotts speech, and I began saying "DeSantis-Scott 2024" to anyone who would listen.

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But the Democrat-Left reacted not with a refutation of Scott on substance, but with bitter, bigoted attacks on him as a Black man who refuses to toe the Lefts line and dares to think for himself.

*The vicious slur "Uncle Tim" trended on Twitter for 12 hours before the normally hypersensitive censors at that Big Tech giant judged this inappropriate. Of course, it blamed a misfiring algorithm.

*"A major strategy of racists,is to incentivize one ofits[sic] Black victims to act as the crash test dummy for white supremacy," said documentarian TariqNasheed, AKA Tariq Elite and K-Flex. "WhenUncle Tim Scottsays America is not a racist country, he is fully aware he is speaking in bad faith,"Nasheedcontinued via Twitter. "The purpose is to protect white supremacists."

*According to ABC talk-show host and "comedian" Jimmy Kimmel, Scott said America is not a racist country, "and then Tim went back to thesensory deprivation egghe calls home."

Rather than mock Scott, the Democrat-Left might ask themselves why they never managed to elect a Black senator from the South between Reconstruction and Scotts election on Nov. 4, 2014.

On June 22, 2010, Scott won 68% of the Republican primary-runoff vote for a Palmetto State U.S. House seat. Scott defeated Paul Thurmond, who scored just 32% of the vote. Never mind that Thurmond is Whiteand alsothe son of South Carolinas late, long-serving U.S. senator, the legendary Strom Thurmond.

Parenthetically, Strom Thurmond was the only prominent segregationist Southern Democrat who became a Republican. The Left loves to scream the filthy lie that the Democrats who oppressed Blacks under Jim Crow morphed into Republicans. While Thurmond certainly did this, the other Dixiecrats who tortured Blacksincluding Alabamas police-dog deploying Democrat National committeeman Bull Connor, Govs. Orval Faubus of Arkansas and George Wallace of Alabama, and filibustering U.S. Sens. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, Albert Gore Sr. Of Tennessee, and many moreall lived, ruled and died as Democrats.

Rather than bring Americans together,Bidens inflammatory rhetoric pits citizens against each other.

On Dec. 17, 2012, South Carolinas Republican Gov, Nikki Haley, a woman of East Indian descent, appointed Congressman Tim Scott to fill the seat of Republican Jim DeMint, who left the Senate to run the Heritage Foundation. Scott was elected to that seat on Nov. 4, 2014. He earned 749,266 votes, 83,661 more ballots that White Republican Lindsey Grahams total of 665,605 that election night.

Republicans proudly have held Tim Scott on their shoulders. Democrats attack him for being Black.

This confirms, yet again, that the Democrat Party has become Americas headquarters for racism and anti-Black bigotry.

For further proof of this phenomenon, consider the man atop the Democrat Party.

In his latest bid to unite America, President Joe Biden has called Georgias new election-integrity law "Jim Crow for the 21stcentury" and "Jim Crow on steroids."

"Parts of our country are backsliding," Biden moaned onApril 14. "The days of Jim Crow, passing laws that harken back to the era of poll taxes, when Black people were made to guess how many beans howmanyjelly beans in a jar, or count the number of bubbles in a bar of soap before they could cast their ballot."

Biden said this via satellite to the National Action Network. Its founder, Al Sharpton, is a museum-quality racial arsonist who has called Jews "diamond merchants"andFred Harari, who isJewish, a "White interloper." In 1995, Sharptons anti-Semitic slurs mayhave inspired Roland Smith, a crazed protester, who shot up and ignited Freddies Fashion Mart, Hararis store in Harlem. The ensuing inferno killed seven. Smith fatally shot himself.

Rather than bring Americans together,Bidens inflammatory rhetoric pits citizens against each other. While Bidenhurls Molotov catchphrases atthePeach States new statute, why didnt he help loosen Delawaresmuch tightervotingrules?

*Days of in-person early voting? Georgia: 17. Delaware: Zero

*Ballot dropboxes?Georgia: at least 159 (no fewer than one per county). Delaware: Zero

*No-excuse absentee ballots? Georgia: Yes. Delaware: No.

*Voters name and partyread aloudat polls? Georgia: No. Delaware: Yes

*Voter ID required? Georgia: Yes. Delaware: Yes.

Bidenalso trivializes the pain of Jim Crowsgenuinevictims while diluting the cruelty of thesemandatesand their76-year-long,"separate-but-equal"reign of terror.

"This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle," Biden told journalists on March 25. "I mean, this is gigantic what theyre trying to do, and it cannot be sustained."Male bald eaglestypically weigh 10 times as much as an averageone-pound crow.Does Biden truly believe that Georgias "Jim Eagle" law is10 times worsethan Jim Crows multifaceted, anti-Black voter suppression?

Poll taxes once made voting too expensive for poor citizens, manyBlack. Georgias new lawimposesno poll tax.

Before 1965,Alabamas literacy testasked prospective voters 68 questions, including:"If a state is a party to a case, the Constitution provides that original jurisdiction shall be in ________."By refusing to hear Texasanti-vote-fraud case last December, todays Supreme Courtforgotthatitis the correct answer.

Also,"The Constitution limits the size of the District of Columbia to ________."Answer: Ten square miles.

TodaysGeorgialawkeepsliteracy tests buried.

Michigans Jim Crow Museum observes that inmany a lynching,"The victim was an example of what happened to a Black man who tried to vote."Georgias lawdoesnot reinstatelynching.

Northern Freedom Riders headed South to register Black voters in 1961. Theyenduredbeatings and fire-bombings. Georgiasnew law resurrectsneitherpractice.

Three youngCongress of Racial Equalityactivists namedJames Chaney(a Black man),Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner (both White) registered Black Mississippians to vote in June1964.On Goodmans first evening on duty, local Klansmen murdered them and hid theirbodiesin an earthen dam. Elsewhere, investigators found the bodies of Freedom Summer college students Henry Dee and Charles Moore(both Black), a cadaver in a CORE T-shirt, andfive other corpses.

Thatwas Jim Crow, not merely requiring votersBlack and otherwiseto show ID, asdo36 states(including Bidens blessed Delaware). Blacks routinely present ID at airports, banks, libraries, hotels and millions of other venues daily.

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For Biden to compare Georgias vote-expansion bill with the Jim Crow that slaughtered Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner, Dee and Mooreismorally grotesque, ber-divisive, and a profound insult to those who were killed while crushing Jim Crow and securing Black voting rights.

And,remember: The Jim Crow laws were passed, signed andbrutallyenforced by Democrats, not Republicans.Perhaps thats whyBiden cannot shut up about Jim Crow. Those racist rules werehispartys handiwork.

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Bucknell Universitys Michael Malarkey contributed research to this opinion piece.

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Deroy Murdock: Biden's 'Jim Eagle' vs. Jim Crow here's what Democrats get so profoundly wrong on race - Fox News

I called James Carville hoping to get his thoughts on President Joe Bidens first 100 days in office.

He obliged then, one question in, brushed aside the exercise to talk instead about why the Democrats might be poised to squander their political advantage against a damaged GOP.

His failure to cooperate may have been for the best since the first 100 days ritual can sometimes lead to dull, dutiful analysis. What Carville offered up instead was a blunt critique of his own party even after a successful 2020 election cycle a sequel of sorts to his fulminations during last years Democratic primaries. The longtime Democratic strategist is mostly pleased with Biden, but its where much of the party seems to be going that has him worried.

Wokeness is a problem, he told me, and we all know it. According to Carville, Democrats are in power for now, but they also only narrowly defeated Donald Trump, a world-historical buffoon, and they lost congressional seats and failed to pick up state legislatures. The reason is simple: Theyve got a messaging problem.

A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

What do you make of Bidens first 100 days?

Honestly, if were just talking about Biden, its very difficult to find something to complain about. And to me his biggest attribute is that hes not into faculty lounge politics.

Faculty lounge politics?

You ever get the sense that people in faculty lounges in fancy colleges use a different language than ordinary people? They come up with a word like Latinx that no one else uses. Or they use a phrase like communities of color. I dont know anyone who speaks like that. I dont know anyone who lives in a community of color. I know lots of white and Black and brown people and they all live in ... neighborhoods.

Theres nothing inherently wrong with these phrases. But this is not how people talk. This is not how voters talk. And doing it anyway is a signal that youre talking one language and the people you want to vote for you are speaking another language. This stuff is harmless in one sense, but in another sense its not.

Is the problem the language or the fact that there are lots of voters who just dont want to hear about race and racial injustice?

We have to talk about race. We should talk about racial injustice. What Im saying is, we need to do it without using jargon-y language thats unrecognizable to most people including most Black people, by the way because it signals that youre trying to talk around them. This too cool for school shit doesnt work, and we have to stop it.

There may be a group within the Democratic Party that likes this, but it aint the majority. And beyond that, if Democrats want power, they have to win in a country where 18 percent of the population controls 52 percent of the Senate seats. Thats a fact. Thats not changing. Thats what this whole damn thing is about.

Sounds like you got a problem with wokeness, James.

Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it. Its hard to talk to anybody today and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party who doesnt say this. But they dont want to say it out loud.

Why not?

Because theyll get clobbered or canceled. And look, part of the problem is that lots of Democrats will say that we have to listen to everybody and we have to include every perspective, or that we dont have to run a ruthless messaging campaign. Well, you kinda do. It really matters.

I always tell people that weve got to stop speaking Hebrew and start speaking Yiddish. We have to speak the way regular people speak, the way voters speak. It aint complicated. Thats how you connect and persuade. And we have to stop allowing ourselves to be defined from the outside.

What does that mean?

Take someone like Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Shes obviously very bright. She knows how to draw a headline. In my opinion, some of her political aspirations are impractical and probably not going to happen. But thats probably the worst thing that you can say about her.

Now take someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, the new Republican congresswoman from Georgia. Shes absolutely loonier than a tune. We all know it. And yet, for some reason, the Democrats pay a bigger political price for AOC than Republicans pay for Greene. Thats the problem in a nutshell. And its ridiculous because AOC and Greene are not comparable in any way.

I hear versions of this argument about language and perception all the time, James. Its an old problem. Whats the solution?

Thats why Im doing this interview. Lots of smart people are going to read it, and hopefully they can figure out that which I cant. But if youre asking me, I think its because large parts of the country view us as an urban, coastal, arrogant party, and a lot gets passed through that filter. Thats a real thing. I dont give a damn what anyone thinks about it its a real phenomenon, and its damaging to the party brand.

Part of the issue is that Republicans are going to paint the Dems as cop-hating, fetus-destroying Stalinists no matter what they say or do. So, yeah, I agree that Democrats should be smart and not say dumb, alienating things, but Im also not sure how much control they have over how theyre perceived by half the country, especially when that half lives in an alternate media reality.

Right, but we cant say, Republicans are going to call us socialists no matter what, so lets just run as out-and-out socialists. Thats not the smartest thing to do. And maybe tweeting that we should abolish the police isnt the smartest thing to do because almost fucking no one wants to do that.

Heres the deal: No matter how you look at the map, the only way Democrats can hold power is to build on their coalition, and that will have to include more rural white voters from across the country. Democrats are never going to win a majority of these voters. Thats the reality. But the difference between getting beat 80 to 20 and 72 to 28 is all the difference in the world.

So they just have to lose by less thats all.

So what do you want the Democrats to do differently besides not having people peddle politically toxic ideas like abolishing the police? How do they change the conversation so that Republicans arent defining them by their least popular expressions?

Youre a strategist, James. I want to know what youd advise them to do. You dont have any complaints about Biden because hes getting stuff done. Hes putting money in peoples pockets. But the Democratic Party is a big coalition and youre always going to have people promoting unpopular ideas, right? Whereas the Republican Party is more homogenous, and that lends itself to a tighter, more controlled message.

Tell me this: How is it we have all this talk about Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and we dont talk about Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House in Congress? If Hastert was a Democrat who we knew had a history of molesting kids and was actually sent to prison in 2016, hed still be on Fox News every fucking night. The Republicans would never shut the hell up about it.

So when Jim Jordan was pulling all these stunts with Anthony Fauci [Fauci was speaking at a congressional hearing about ending coronavirus precautions], why didnt someone jump in and say, Let me tell you something, Jim, if Fauci knew what you knew, if he knew that a doctor was molesting young people, he wouldve gone to the medical board yesterday. So you can go ahead and shut the fuck up. [Ed. note: Jordan denies knowing about the allegations of abuse when he was an assistant coach at Ohio State University.] I love that Congresswoman Maxine Waters told Jordan to shut your mouth, but thats what I really wish a Democrat would say, and I wish theyd keep saying it over and over again.

Can I step back for a second and give you an example of the broader problem?

Sure.

Look at Florida. You now have Democrats saying Florida is a lost cause. Really? In 2018 in Florida, giving felons the right to vote got 64 percent. In 2020, a $15 minimum wage, which we have no chance of passing [federally], got 67 percent. Has anyone in the Democratic Party said maybe theres nothing wrong with the state of Florida? Maybe the problem is the kind of campaigns were running?

If you gave me an environment in which the majority of voters wanted to expand the franchise to felons and raise the minimum wage, I should be able to win that. Its certainly not a political environment Im destined to lose in. But in Miami-Dade, all they talked about was defunding the police and Kamala Harris being the most liberal senator in the US Senate. And if you look all across the Rio Grande Valley, we lost all kinds of solidly blue voters. And the faculty lounge bullshit is a big part of it.

If youre a Democrat, you could look at the state of play and say, Were winning. We won the White House. We won Congress. We have power. It aint perfect, but it aint a disaster either.

We won the White House against a world-historical buffoon. And we came within 42,000 votes of losing. We lost congressional seats. We didnt pick up state legislatures. So lets not have an argument about whether or not were off-key in our messaging. We are. And were off because theres too much jargon and theres too much esoterica and it turns people off.

Not to beat a dead horse, but Democrats and Republicans are dealing with very different constituencies. Democrats have a big tent, they have to win different kinds of voters and that means making different kinds of appeals. Republicans can get away with shit that Democrats cannot.

Yeah, thats a problem. We can only do what we can do. People always say to me, Why dont Democrats just lie like Republicans? Because if they did, our voters wouldnt stand for it. But Im not saying we need to lie like they do. Im saying, why not go after Gaetz and Jordan and link them to Hastert and the Republican Party over and over and over again? We have to take these small opportunities to define ourselves and the other side every damn time. And we dont do it. We just dont do it.

Republicans arent just more comfortable lying, theyre more comfortable with slogans and sound bites, and thats partly why theyre more effective at defining themselves and the Democrats.

Let me give you my favorite example of metropolitan, overeducated arrogance. Take the climate problem. Do you realize that climate is the only major social or political movement that I can think of that refuses to use emotion? Wheres the identifiable song? Wheres the bumper sticker? Wheres the slogan? Wheres the flag? Wheres the logo?

We dont have it because with faculty politics what you do is appeal to reason. You dont need the sloganeering and sound bites. Thats for simple people. All you need are those timetables and temperature charts, and from that, everyone will just get it.

Thats not how the world works; thats not how people work. And Republicans are way more disciplined about taking a thing and branding it. Elites will roll their eyes at that, but Id ask, Hows that working out for you? Most people agree with us on health care and minimum wage and Roe v. Wade and even on the climate.

So why cant we leverage that?

What would you have Biden do to counter some of these messaging problems?

Id have him pick up a phone. Id have someone in the White House pick up the phone. And when someone in the party starts this jargon shit, Id call them and say, Were only a vote away. Our approval rating is 60 percent. We got a chance to pick up seats in 2022, and if you did this, it would be very helpful to us.

Are you sure those calls arent happening already?

Maybe they are, but they need to be more effective. And we need more of them.

Theres a philosophy on the left right now, which says the Democrats should pass everything they possibly can, no matter the costs, and trust that the voters will reward them on the back end.

Where do you land on that?

First of all, the Democratic Party cant be more liberal than Sen. Joe Manchin. Thats the fact. We dont have the votes. But Ill say this, two of the most consequential political events in recent memory happened on the same day in January: the insurrection at the US Capitol and the Democrats winning those two seats in Georgia. Cant overstate that.

But the Democrats cant fuck it up. They have to make the Republicans own that insurrection every day. They have to pound it. They have to call bookers on cable news shows. They have to get people to write op-eds. There will be all kinds of investigations and stories dripping out for god knows how long, and the Democrats should spend every day tying all of it to the Republican Party. They cant sit back and wait for it to happen.

Hell, just imagine if it was a bunch of nonwhite people who stormed the Capitol. Imagine how Republicans would exploit that and make every news cycle about how the Dems are responsible for it. Every political debate would be about that. The Republicans would bludgeon the Democrats with it forever.

So whatever you think Republicans would do to us in that scenario, thats exactly what the hell we need to do them.

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James Carville thinks the Democratic Party has a wokeness problem - Vox.com

Many Democrats, including some who ran for president in 2020, say Iowa and New Hampshire shouldnt hold the nations first nominating contests because their majority-white populations dont reflect the Democratic electorate. Those debates are taking place behind the scenes at the Democratic National Committee, as party leaders including former Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina both say states like theirs should appear sooner on the primary calendar, and Nevada state lawmakers have filed a bill to move to the front of the line.

We definitely see a need for more diversity in states that are scheduled at the beginning of the election, to properly reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of our country, but also [because] it impacts the issues that are being discussed, said Yadira Sanchez, co-executive director of the advocacy group Poder Latinx. Our diversity demands that we see ourselves reflected in the primary process and not at the end, when decisions have already been made.

But for New Hampshire politicians in both parties, keeping the first-in-the-nation primary is mission critical.

Its the holy grail, said Tom Rath, a former New Hampshire attorney general who spent 10 years on the Republican National Committee. When he served, he said, It was clear I had one mission: Keep the primary.

Why should it stay in New Hampshire? One, its tradition, and two, we do a great job, said Bill Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democratic National Committeeman and the husband of Senator Jeanne Shaheen. The primary is to New Hampshire what oranges are to Florida, he said; each state has its bragging rights for a reason.

Shaheen dismissed the argument that New Hampshires demographics should disqualify it, arguing it is a good early testing ground for candidates of any background because its small and comparatively inexpensive, allowing even little-known contenders to prove themselves.

We create a level playing field. It doesnt matter what the color of your skin is. We judge people by the content of their character, Shaheen said.

The debate over which states deserve the political attention and economic boost of an early nominating contest is hardly new. But political experts say that this year, Iowa and New Hampshire face fresh vulnerability, owing to a number of factors: a fiasco at the Iowa caucuses in 2020, the Democratic Partys increasing attention to its diverse electorate, and the relatively small role the states played in crowning the partys current leader, President Biden.

Jim Roosevelt, longtime leader of the Democratic National Committees Rules and Bylaws Committee, said he anticipates discussing the order of the early states at two public meetings this spring, though the decisions will not be finalized for at least a year.

In the meantime, New Hampshire politicians are going on offense to keep the primary at home, and Republicans are getting ready in earnest for it to begin. Pompeo and Cotton have appeared recently at virtual fund-raisers for Republicans in the state, and Haley campaigned for Republicans there last fall.

On the Democratic side, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the state last month, promoting the Biden administration jobs plan and expanded broadband access, though her visit could have more to do with Senator Maggie Hassans upcoming reelection fight; shes considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats up in 2022.

Longtime Secretary of State Bill Gardner, known as the guardian of the primary, has pledged to bat away any attempts to threaten New Hampshires first-in-the-nation status.

The state GOP and Gardner, a Democrat, have taken aim at a sweeping federal voting rights bill that would automatically register new voters and ease the process of voting by mail, claiming without specific evidence that due to its reach, the bill could threaten the primary. Gardner testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issue in April.

New Hampshires Democratic congressional delegation supports the bill, and Shaheen said the Gardner attack is a red herring, since it is the national party and the states themselves that determine the primary calendar, not Congress. But the debate has nonetheless drawn in more than one 2024 Republican candidate, with Cotton and Pompeo both siding with Gardner.

As an early battleground, New Hampshire may make more sense for one party than the other, some political analysts said.

New Hampshire is a white state, it is a rich state, it is an old state, it is a privileged state, said Arnie Arnesen, a radio host and former Democratic candidate for governor. What we saw in 2020 was that what delivered for the Democratic Party was basically none of those things.

But why would the Republicans not want to be in a white, privileged, wealthy state? she questioned.

New Hampshire state law dictates that it must hold the nations first primary, but the national parties set the primary calendar for states. More than a decade ago, when Florida and Michigan did not follow the Democratic Partys calendar, they were penalized at the convention by having the voting power of their delegates limited.

If New Hampshire rejected a later spot in the calendar, and the national party stripped its delegates power, presidential candidates would have to decide whether it was worth coming to the state just for a symbolic victory and some maple syrup.

New Hampshire has never been about the delegates, said Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire. Its been about the publicity that winning here means for a candidate. Would candidates be willing to give that up? That becomes the question.

Regardless of what the national parties decide, New Hampshire may be starting to lose its sway, said Fergus Cullen, a former chair of the Republican State Committee, because the primary carries weight only as long as the candidates show up.

God bless Bill Gardner, but the candidates are going to make strategic decisions about whether it is in their best interest to compete in New Hampshire, Cullen said. Candidates in both parties are [already] starting to pick and choose which states theyre going to participate in and which states theyre going to blow off . . . if not everyones competing here, the outcome has a lot less weight.

Emma Platoff can be reached at emma.platoff@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @emmaplatoff.

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As Democrats weigh fate of New Hampshires first-in-the-nation primary, Republicans prepare to run in it - The Boston Globe

NEW HAVEN The race is on.

DuBois-Walton, 53, a Democrat who announced March 8 that she had formed an exploratory committee for a possible run to challenge Democratic Mayor Justin Elicker, will file papers for that run at 9 a.m. in the City / Town Clerks Office, she said.

DuBois-Waltons last day on the job at the Housing Authority was Friday.

Its exciting, DuBois-Walton said. Ive been here 14 years and have been able to bring the combination of strong leadership, big vision ... and put together what residents need to bring big change here.

I look forward to talking to the people of New Haven about what we can do for them, she said.

About what she brings to the table as a candidate for mayor, DuBois-Walton said, I think I bring strong leadership and experienced leadership that knows how to get things done.

That strong leadership in turn brings other partners to the table and other dollars to solve the problems ... I think strong leadership is key, she said. If you dont use that opportunity to provide strong leadership, we wont move forward as a community.

We need leadership thats going to set a vision and a path that people can get excited about, DuBois-Walton said.

While school administration is separated from municipal government by statute in Connecticut, the mayor is part of the school board in New Haven. I think the mayoral leadership is huge, DuBois-Walton said. I think what weve seen when we have seen big reform in our school administration is ... weve seen the mayor partnering with the superintendent and the Board of Education.

I think we need leadership, strong leadership and I think we need ... real leadership..., she said.

We look forward to making that case and talking to the people, she said.

Elicker said he looks forward to the race. Elicker announced his plans to seek a second term in January.

I welcome Dr. DuBois Walton to the race and look forward to the conversation about the direction of the city, Elicker said. We are confident that, after one of the most challenging years our community has seen, we are on the right track.

The city has responded to the pandemic with a focus on equity and science, everything from ensuring a computer device for every public school child to implementing over 45 vaccine pop ups in historically underserved communities, he said. And with the end of the pandemic on the horizon, we are about to take off, starting with a $6.3 million investment this summer in youth programs, safety and neighborhood investment.

DuBois-Walton is one of at least three people planning or considering runs for mayor in November. Democrat Mayce Torres, who has not previously held elected office or served in city government, also has filed papers to run. Democrat Elena Grewal, also a newcomer to city politics, has filed papers to form an exploratory committee.

DuBois-Walton, a native of New York who initially arrived in New Haven in 1985 as an undergraduate at Yale University, then returned in 1994 after a few years in Boston, worked in the administration of former mayor John DeStefano Jr. (as chief of staff and chief administrative officer) and as head of the Housing Authority during the administration of Toni Harp, whom she supported in the last election.

She was a member of Elickers transition team, but has said that it made sense for the leader of the largest affordable housing organization in New Haven to be part of the transition for a mayor who has made the need for affordable housing a major part of his campaign.

The Housing Authority Board of Directors last month voted to accept DuBois-Waltons request to take a leave of absence, appointing Shenae Draughn, a 13-year employee who most recently served as senior vice president of The Glendower Group, a subsidiary branch of the Housing Authority, to be interim director.

Draughn, who began her new job Saturday, will serve as interim executive director/secretary/president of the Housing Authority at least through Sept. 30.

The move to appoint Draughn to lead the authority while DuBois-Walton runs for mayor follows a previously-approved succession plan. It will allow the authority to move forward seamlessly with leadership that you also will have confidence in and provide full continuity of services, full continuity of leadership and direction, DuBois-Walton said at the time.

DuBois-Walton said when she announced her plan to form an exploratory committee that New Haven needs to invest in its neighborhoods, build infrastructure and build on its efforts to shape up the citys finances.

Federal money is likely to come in to help with COVID-related expenses and state Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, is pushing to convert the state to a three-tiered Payment in Lieu of Taxes reimbursement program and give more money to communities like New Haven that have a lot of tax-exempt properties, she said.

But unless we can focus on economic development, the city would be hard-pressed to move forward economically, DuBois-Walton said. While certain parts of New Haven are prospering at this point, the city needs an economic growth strategy that is including everyone in that prosperity.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com

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Democrat Karen DuBois-Walton says shes in to win, will make New Haven mayoral run official today - New Haven Register

State Supreme Court Judge Scott DelConte dismissed a lawsuit by Republicans against the Schenectady County Board of Elections and 18 Democrats aiming to keep the Democrats off the Working Families Party line.

The lawsuit alleged that the Working Families Partys paperwork authorizing Democratic candidates to appear on the ballot is invalid because it was electronically submitted to the Schenectady County Board of Elections and contains digitally copied signatures.

In a news statement, Democratic candidates in Niskayuna applauded the decision and called the suit meritless.

This was the right decision, and will ensure that voters across New York will have a full array of choices in this years election, said Jaime Lynn Puccioni, a candidate for town supervisor. As a voter, and particularly as a woman of color, I was disgusted to see the Republican Party continue down the road of voter suppression, conspiracy, and MAGA tactics, rather than engaging in a fair campaign about actual issues for the voters of our community.

Lawsuits were filed by Republicans in counties across the state. The case in Saratoga County had already been dismissed by Supreme Court Justice Dianne Freestone.

Electronic submission of documents with digitally copied and notarized signatures was allowed by New York as a COVID-19 safety measure, the judges found.

Justice DelConte saw this case for what it was: a frivolous lawsuit which sought to intimidate the WFPs candidates and deprive its voters of their choice at the ballot box, said Niskayuna Councilman John Della Ratta, a longtime lawyer. While I completely expect the Republicans to further pursue this meritless case, I have no doubt that the Court of Appeals will reach the same conclusion as Justice DelConte.

Categories: News, Schenectady County

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Lawsuit aiming to keep Schenectady County Democrats off Working Families Party line dismissed - The Daily Gazette

I am not suggesting that partisan governance will never lead to the repeal of valuable legislation. But theres little in recent history to support the view that political parties will undo everything their predecessors did. Sharp swings are likelier to happen when congressional gridlock pushes policymaking into executive orders which is true now. After legislation to protect Dreamers fell to a filibuster in the Senate, President Barack Obama turned to an executive order. President Donald Trump then reversed that order, and then President Biden reversed Trumps reversal. If the Dream Act which passed the House and got 55 Senate votes had been made law in 2010, I think it would have had a better shot at surviving the Trump era intact.

If anything, past legislation in America is too stable. More old policy should be revisited, and if its not working, uprooted or overhauled. Theres nothing wrong with one party passing a bill that the next party repeals. That gives voters information they can use to decide who to vote for in the future. If a party repeals a popular bill, it will pay an electoral price. If it repeals an unpopular bill, or replace it with something better, itll prosper. Thats the way the system should work.

We are a divided country, but one way we could become less divided is for the consequences of elections to be clearer. When legislation is so hard to pass, politics becomes a battle over identity rather than a battle over policy. Dont get me wrong: Fights over policy can be angry, even vicious. But they can also lead to changed minds as in the winning coalition Democrats built atop the successes of the New Deal or changed parties, as savvy politicians learn to accept the successes of the other side. There is a reason Republicans no longer try to repeal Medicare and Democrats shrink from raising taxes on the middle class.

This is what Manchin gets wrong: A world of partisan governance is a world in which Republicans and Democrats both get to pass their best ideas into law, and the public judges them on the results. That is far better than what we have now, where neither party can routinely pass its best ideas into law, and the public is left frustrated that so much political tumult changes so little.

This whole debate is peculiarly American. In parliamentary systems, the job of the majority party, or majority coalition, is to govern, and the job of the opposition party is to oppose. Cooperation can and does occur, but theres nothing unusual or regrettable when it doesnt, and government does not grind to a halt in its absence. Not so in America, where the president can be from one party and Congress can be controlled by another. In raising bipartisanship to a high political ideal, we have made a virtue out of a necessity, but thats left us little recourse, either philosophically or legislatively, when polarization turns bipartisanship into a rarity. Thats where we are now.

The legislation Senate Democrats have passed and considered in their first 100 days is unusually promising precisely because it has been unusually partisan. They are considering ideas they actually think are right for the country and popular with voters as opposed to the narrow set of ideas Republicans might support. The question they will face in the coming months is whether they want to embrace partisan legislating, repeatedly using budget reconciliation and even ridding the Senate of the filibuster, or abandon their agenda and leave the rest of the countrys problems unsolved.

I can tell you this, I am going to do everything I can to get the biggest, boldest change we can, because I think the people I represent depend on it, Schumer told me. My party depends on it. But most of all, the future of my country depends on it.

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Opinion | 100 Days of Big, Bold, Partisan Change - The New York Times