Category Archives: Democrat

What drives this perception that Democrats are fixated on cultural issues?

We probably havent been as focused on the economy as we should be. I think some of that is voters reading us talking about things that arent economic issues. Part of it is just a natural reaction, too: Were in an economy they feel is tough. Its hard for them to think weve solved problems when they see so many.

How do Democrats balance a commitment to core constituencies while at the same time addressing economic issues that voters are confronting every day?

The No. 1 issue for women right now is the economy, and the No. 1 issue for Black voters is the economy, and the No. 1 issue for Latino voters is the economy. Im not advocating for us ignoring social issues, but when we think broadly about voters, they actually all want us talking about the economy and doing things to help them out economically.

So what can Democrats do going into the midterms?

A big part of the problem was that people didnt feel they knew enough about McAuliffe and what he had done. Governors, in particular, during Covid were on TV all the time, talking to people about Covid. So its all anybody knows of what theyve done. So you need to tell your story about what youve been doing, to the press and in paid communications, outside of Covid. And that applies to members of Congress, state legislators, everyone on down.

Is there any silver lining to be found for Democrats?

If the country is in a better place next year, were likely to be rewarded for that. Voters are responding to real-world frustrations; this isnt some manufactured narrative.

I want to cite a few things from your memo that struck me, one of which was that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which became law in March, may as well not exist.

Voters dont remember things. They have short attention spans. One bright spot, though: If we have an economy that voters feel like is starting to pick up, being able to point back and remind them, Hey I did XYZ, and that really got things rolling.

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Why a Pollster is Warning Democrats About the 2022 Midterm Elections - The New York Times

You have to give it to Axios: They know how to throw out some tastybait. Their latest is irresistiblefor conservatives, who love any story that frames them as victims, and gives them the chance to blame the left for "incivility." Never mindobvious counter-examples such as the storming of the Capitol, gun-waving Christmas cards, and the entire person of Donald Trump.

"Young Dems more likely to despise the other party," blares Tuesday's Axios headline, noting in the article that "5% of Republicans said they wouldn't be friends with someone from the opposite party, compared to 37% of Democrats," and "71% of Democrats wouldn't go on a date with someone with opposing views, versus 31% of Republicans."

Unsurprisingly, this delicious bait worked exactly as intended, at least in social media reactions.

On the right, there was a lot of trumpeting how this supposedly proves the left are the ones who are "really" intolerant. Radio talker Matt Murphy whinedthat liberals "don't believe in our republic cannot abide people who think differently than them." As ifnot getting to have sex with or go to parties with liberals is exactly the same as having your basic rights as a citizen stripped from you. "This doesn't bode well," complained GOP lawyer and ABC commentator Sarah Isgur, who previously defended the Trump administration's policy of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border as a former spokespersonin the Justice Department.

RELATED:Young Trump staffers say they are having a hard time dating

"My most fascinating friendships have always come from 'the other side,'" MSNBC host Joe Scarborough tweeted, noting that, as a Republican, he "always benefitted" from those conversations. As many people pointed out in response, however, that a Republican like Scarborough gained fromfriendships with people like "John Lewis, Elijah Cummings, Ron Dellums, and Maxine Waters" doesn't mean the reverse is true. And that is most likely what this polling is picking up.

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This isabout desirability, not "tolerance."Democrats aredesirable as friends and lovers, not just to their fellow party members, but to Republicans, as well. But Republicans? They apparently don't have much to offer to Democrats as friends, and certainly not as lovers.Digging into the polling shows why this is.

As the Axios write-up by Neal Rothschild notes, young Democrats believe that GOP positions "spearheaded by former President Trump are far outside of the mainstream and polite conversation." In particular, "human rights, and not just policy differences, are at stake." Which, no duh. Just last week, the GOP-controlled Supreme Court made it clear they plan to strip basic bodily autonomy rights from everyone with a uterus. The Republican Party is rallying around violent and white supremacist rhetoric.

RELATED:Right-wing Twitter imitations don't work and Trump desperately wants back on real social media

Relatedly, a Harvard poll from last week shows "[m]ore than half of young Americans feel democracy in the country is under threat, and over a third think they may see a second U.S. civil war within their lifetimes." This isn't about a dispute over marginal tax rates. If you quite correctly believe that Republicans are plotting to destroy democracy, then why would you want to be friends with people who support that?

Unsurprisingly, female Democrats were more likely than male Democrats to reject dating someone who "voted for the opposing presidential candidate," i.e. Trump. Which isn't just about personal taste, but safety. Trump not only bragged about how he likes to "grab 'em by the pussy," but has a long track record of aggressively defending men who have been accused of sexual or domestic violence. It's just common sense to refuse to be alone with men who are fine with that attitude, and no different than watching your drink at a party or having a friend walk you home at night. In addition, having sex with men who back the party of forced childbirth is just ill-advised.

And that gets to the crux of it: Dating and friendship aren't about merely tolerating someone, it's about inviting someone into your life, as a confidante or even on an intimate level. Relationships take work to maintain. Why waste that effort on someone who can't meet the baseline requirement of seeing you or the other people in your life as full human beings? And no, being "personally" pro-choice or pro-LGBTQ rights hardly counts, when you keep voting for the party that opposes both.

RELATED:Bari Weiss' field of right-wing dreams: Will the "University of Austin" ever actually exist?

The angeron the right over this polling, in turn, shows that this isn't really about liberal "intolerance," but an ugly sense of entitlement among conservatives. It's fueled by a belief that they should be as obnoxious, cruel, and bigoted as they want, without having to pay any social penalty for it. That attitude is especially troubling when it comes to dating, and is tied to long-standing sexist assumptions that women owe men their time and attention, even when they don't find them attractive. Indeed, this entitlement itself is a red flag. Someone who doesn't respect the right to choose who you spend time withis someone who is likely to violate other boundaries.

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That's what all this whining and crying about "cancel culture" from the right is about. It's very rarely, if ever, about actual government censorship. On the contrary, conservatives are all for government censorship, especially of books and other materials that tell the truth about American racism. Conservatives are angry rather overthe social penalties for their repulsive opinions, likebeing criticized publicly, being excluded from certain conversations, and generally being disliked. It'sconservatives in D.C. whining to the press that they can't get hot dates.

Sure, conservatives can and occasionally entertain the idea of creating their own social networks and even universities, so they can hang out with each other, instead of constantly demanding attention from liberals. But apparently, they don't like each other's company any more than liberals do, and so they always circle back to yelling at liberals, accusing the left of "intolerance" for finding right-wingers unpleasant people to be around.

Ultimately, however, it comes back to this: No one is entitled to anyone else's social attention orfriendship, much less a dating relationship with them. If friendships and romantic relationships with progressive are so desirable which, as a progressive, I totally agree is true! then the way to obtain them is to suck less. (Which yes, starts with not voting for Donald Trump.) The strategy of whining about "cancel culture" and scolding Democrats for "intolerance" isn't going to open up those cocktail party invitations any faster. Yelling at people to like you isn't a way to be liked. It just reaffirms to progressivesthat, for mental health reasons,time exposed to right-wingersis best kept at a minimum. Good on young Democrats for seeing clearly what the Joe Scarboroughs of the world don't want them to see.

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Young Democrats are right: There is no reason to date or befriend Trump voters - Salon

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The race to chair the Texas Democratic Party is heating up early as the state's Democrats contemplate their future after a disappointing 2020 election and ahead of a challenging 2022 election.

The current state party leader is Gilberto Hinojosa, who has held the job since 2012 and has indicated he is not going anywhere. But that has not stopped early interest in the race, which will be determined by delegates to the state party's biennial convention next summer.

Kim Olson, the former candidate for agriculture commissioner and Congress, announced Sunday she is running to lead the party, saying the "promise of a Blue Texas has so far fallen short of expectations." Meanwhile, Carroll G. Robinson, chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, is considering a campaign for the job and plans to make an announcement in January. And other names have been discussed as potential candidates with still several months to go before the election.

The stakes are considerable. Texas Democrats have been regrouping after a 2020 election during which they thought they were poised for their biggest breakthrough in recent memory, but they came up woefully short. As they have been licking their wounds, they have had to stare down a daunting 2022 election, with a national environment that is not in their favor and state Republicans using the redistricting process to cement GOP majorities in Austin and Washington, D.C.

"We need a course correction because what we are doing has not yielded a statewide win. Period," Olson said in an interview.

She launched her campaign with some 250 endorsements. The endorsers feature 35 county party chairs, including from some of the most populous counties in the state Tarrant, Denton, Fort Bend and Galveston. The list also includes several members of the State Democratic Executive Committee and a host of Democratic candidates from 2018 and 2020.

Hinojosa was on the hot seat after the 2020 election. A group of State Democratic Executive Committee members wrote him to demand change at the party, and he assembled a committee to do a "deep dive" on what wrong that November. The party released an autopsy in February that concluded Republicans beat them in turnout and partly blamed Democrats' underwhelming results on their decision to suspend in-person campaigning because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the same time, the state party has been rebuilding its organization chart after the departure of its top two staffers in January.

Publicly, Hinojosa has not given any indication that he is ready to step aside.

"While I sincerely respect anyone who seeks office inside or as a nominee of our Party, I believe I still have much to contribute towards our shared goal of turning Texas blue and I intend to accelerate my commitment to that goal in my role as the Texas Democratic Party Chairman," Hinojosa said in a statement for this story. "Ultimately the delegates will decide, but because we all share the same goal and stand united in this fight to win back the soul of our state, I believe I will continue to have their support."

Olson has been the most visible potential candidate for state party chair so far, announcing an exploratory effort in early October and traveling the state since then.

A retired Air Force colonel who broke barriers as a female pilot, Olson made a name for herself politically with her fiery 2018 challenge to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, which she lost by 5 percentage points. She ran last year to flip the 24th Congressional District, which was being targeted by national Democrats, but lost in a primary runoff.

Olson is leaning on that experience to pitch improved infrastructure for candidates across the state, as well as more support for local party leaders like county chairs. Similarly, she said the state party should be more mindful of how messaging can vary in different parts of Texas. For example, she noted oil-and-gas jobs are often some of the best-paying jobs in the Rio Grande Valley, and Democrats need to be able to explain to voters there how their job fits into the transition to a more environmentally responsible future.

One of Olson's priorities is expanding the party's reach into rural Texas and helping narrow the gap with Republicans who have long run up the score in those areas. Olson, who is from rural Palo Pinto County, said Democrats need to release the "GOP death grip on our rural areas."

"Rural Texas has not been given the attention thats needed in order to win statewide or federal races," said Nancy Nichols, an SDEC member from East Texas who supports Olson. "Col. Olson recognizes the power thats wielded in the rural counties, and shes going to the rural counties. She has been going to the rural counties. She has friends and following in the rural counties and thats really critical."

It is not just outreach, though, in Olson's view. She said Democrats need to be more proactive in their messaging instead of getting "rocked back on our heels" by Republican wedge issues, such as the GOP's determination in 2020 to tie Democratic candidates to the "defund the police" movement. She pointed to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that Biden recently signed into law as an example of an opportunity to go on the offensive against Republicans versus reacting to whatever their latest attack is.

Robinson, meanwhile, has been credited with helping rebuilding the state Coalition of Black Democrats in recent years. He has long been involved in Democratic politics and the legal community in the Houston area, where he has served as an at-large City Council member and Houston Community College trustee. He teaches law at Texas Southern University and once was general counsel to the state party.

Robinson said the state party needs to do a better job providing an "overarching message" for candidates to run under, particularly in places like East Texas and West Texas.

"Democrats need to put together a multiracial, multigenerational, multi-regional coalition across Texas to win statewide races and take back the Texas Legislature, and literally, we've got to do it in 2022, 2024, and we've also got to get ready for the 2030 census and redistricting cycle" that follows, Robinson said.

In addition to Olson and Robinson, the speculation about the state party chair race has included the party's vice chair, Carla Brailey. However, Brailey said Friday she is not looking at running for state party chair at this time and instead is considering a run for lieutenant governor. The filing deadline for that race, which already includes at least three Democrats, is Dec. 13.

Patsy Woods Martin, the former executive director of Annie's List, which works to elect Democratic women in Texas who support abortion rights, said she thought about running for state party chair earlier this year but is dedicating herself to fundraising for gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke.

Manuel Medina, state chair of the Tejano Democrats, acknowledged in an interview that there has been speculation about whether he would run for state party chair, but said he has not considered it and will support Hinojosa for another term.

Despite the discussion about replacing Hinojosa, he still has plenty of allies who appreciate how far the party has come under him.

"I feel like the party is much better off than it was when he took over, that it's grown in terms of resources and impact," said Rick Levy, president of the Texas AFL-CIO. "While there's challenges, to be sure, he's had a clear vision, and for working people, he's really incorporated our voices into the vision."

Medina, a former chair of the Bexar County party, said Hinojosa has proven he can raise money and build infrastructure to help Democrats make more inroads in Texas.

"At this point, I think it's all in our best interest to stay on the path the chairman set," Medina said.

Medina suggested Democrats' major shortcoming in 2020 eschewing in-person campaigning was because of a "national strategy" and not the fault of Hinojosa. While that strategy might have been enough to get Joe Biden elected president, Medina said, "in states like ours, block walking would've made all the difference in the world and led to a Democratic majority in the state House."

Whoever runs, the race is bound to be shaped by questions about who is best positioned to lead a party that continues to see its future in young people and people of color. In the near term, that is especially relevant as Republicans make a serious push next year across predominantly Hispanic South Texas.

Olson, who is white, said she is "a smart enough woman to hire what I'm not" and promised to appoint party officers who "will not look like, sound like or be me." She is also said she is committed to ensuring a man of color is elected vice chair. (The vice chair position is required to go to someone from the opposite gender of the chair, and while they do not formally run as a ticket, they can choose to do so.)

Activists are well aware that the next leader will have to articulate how to bridge various generations within the party.

"We need to have a long and hard look at a leader who is going to recognize the issues of the present, the capabilities of the future, while still being respectful of the people who've been doing the work for a long time," said Jen Ramos, an SDEC member from Central Texas who helped organize the letter to Hinojosa after the 2020 election. "For me, I think, with this chair race, it's one, what is the definition of winning for our chair candidates, and two, how are we going to accept our weaknesses as much as our strengths as we move into the next election and post-redistricting."

To some Democrats, the conversation about Hinojosa's future is broader than the 2020 election debacle and more of a natural outgrowth from his nearly decadelong tenure. Over the same period, the Republican Party of Texas has seen five chairs.

Andr Treiber, a Texas representative on the Democratic National Committee, said "a lot has happened" at the state party over the past 10 years, both ups and downs, and the "longer you're in these kinds offices, you're gonna stack up more people who feel strongly about it." He said he has talked to people who have "very, very, very strong feelings" on both sides of the debate over whether Hinojosa is the best person to chair the party going forward.

"It's certainly enough that I'm very, very confident that a lot of party positions will be highly contested at the convention," Treiber said. "[It's] just kind of the nature of things as Texas gets more competitive, as we get more national investment. I think that makes people tune in more."

Disclosure: Annie's List and Houston Community College have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Race to chair Texas Democratic Party heating up ahead of 2022 - The Texas Tribune

Democrats are not free from conflict, either. The redrawing of congressional maps sets up a battle between U.S. Reps. Carolyn Bourdeaux and Lucy McBath that will double as an ideological clash between two congresswomen who converted what had been Republican strongholds.

At stake are important questions that will reverberate in Georgia and far beyond.

Is the political transformation of the suburbs a temporary shift toward Democrats, or is it the start of a more permanent realignment? Is Trumps hold on conservatives on the wane as he prepares for a possible comeback?

And perhaps most important of all: Can Democrats prove they have built an enduring electable coalition, or were the upset victories in the last election cycle a momentary interruption amid an otherwise unbroken string of Republican wins?

A trend likely to continue is big spending that could rival the wave of campaign cash that flooded Georgia in 2020. Abrams, Kemp and Perdue are all accomplished fundraisers, and the state could draw the interests of countless political action committees thanks to the narrow majorities in Congress. Donors could give at levels similar to last years U.S. Senate runoffs, which racked up nearly $1 billion in spending by the Republican and Democratic campaigns, plus outside interests.

Its incredible that Georgia has remained at the center of American politics for the past three years, and the high-octane primaries on both sides of the aisle next year promise to elevate the states political theater to even greater heights, said Howard Franklin, a veteran political strategist.

Once we get to November, he said, I expect every pundit across America to be making wagers on Georgia.

Georgia Democrats are also experiencing some infighting, thanks to redistricting, when the Republican-controlled General Assembly altered the districts currently held by U.S. Reps Carolyn Bourdeaux, left, and Lucy McBath. The two are now competing against each other in the 7th Congressional District.

Georgia Democrats are also experiencing some infighting, thanks to redistricting, when the Republican-controlled General Assembly altered the districts currently held by U.S. Reps Carolyn Bourdeaux, left, and Lucy McBath. The two are now competing against each other in the 7th Congressional District.

Whats certain is that the monumental matchups guarantee even more attention will be devoted to the whims of Georgia voters who have quickly grown accustomed, if not entirely comfortable, with the center-of-the-political-universe narrative.

The tight election between Abrams and Kemp in 2018 put Democrats on the brink of flipping the state, a feat they pulled off two years later when Joe Biden captured Georgia and Jon Ossoff and Warnock swept the Senate runoffs.

This campaign, Abrams can leverage higher visibility and the states ever-changing electorate as she tries to continue the trend. Roughly 1.2 million new voters have entered the rolls since 2018, newcomers who tend to be younger and more diverse.

The ongoing Republican civil war has only complicated the GOP defense, guaranteeing that the fourth Georgia election in a row will be dominated by Trump-fueled infighting that state establishment leaders have fruitlessly failed to prevent.

Though Perdues leap into the GOP primary will further divide Republicans, Democrats face mounting headaches of their own, starting with a tough 2022 election climate and a president with souring approval ratings.

Democrats foundered in November in competitive contests across the nation, including the governors race in Virginia. Closer to home, Democrats flipped dozens of mayoral and council races but fell short in key Atlanta suburbs.

And the suburban clash between Bourdeaux, a centrist budget analyst, and McBath, a favorite of the liberal wing, will also contrast with the partys unity at the top of the ticket.

Bourdeaux has blamed Republicans for putting both incumbents in a bind by turning McBaths district into a conservative bastion, but she said she wont back down from what could be an ugly brawl with her Democratic colleague.

Im very invested in this community. Its one I love, she said. Its one where I have a lot of the mayors and the county commissioners on my cellphone. We talk all the time. And I want to continue to serve it.

Georgia is arguably home to the nations premier down-ticket statewide race, as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger fights for another term against a Trump-backed rival after he refused the former presidents demand to reverse his defeat.

That recorded phone conversation will factor heavily in an ongoing criminal investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into whether Trump committed election fraud that, if it moves forward, will attract plenty of media scrutiny.

So will an election-year legislative session that could pivot on fresh fights over voting laws, a new expansion of gun rights, debates over race and gender, and an attempt to allow the wealthy, white neighborhood of Buckhead to divorce from the city of Atlanta.

No one has ever seen anything like what we are about to experience, said state Rep. Al Williams, a Democrat from coastal Georgia. Ive got my popcorn waiting. Im sitting on the front row.

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Get ready for 2022, Georgia: Its going to be wild - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats acknowledge that a significant part of the challenge facing their party is structural: With slim congressional majorities, the party cannot pass anything unless the entire caucus agrees. That empowers moderate Democrats like Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia to block some of the biggest promises to their supporters, including a broad voting rights bill.

A more aggressive approach may not lead to eventual passage of an immigration or voting rights law, but it would signal to Democrats that Mr. Biden is fighting for them, said Faiz Shakir, a close adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Mr. Shakir and others worry that the focus on the two significant pieces of legislation infrastructure and the spending bill wont be enough to energize supporters skeptical of the federal governments ability to improve their lives.

Im a supporter of Biden, a supporter of the agenda, and Im frustrated and upset with him to allow this to go in the direction it has, said Mr. Shakir, who managed Mr. Sanderss presidential run in 2020. It looks like we have President Manchin instead of President Biden in this debate.

He added: Its made the president look weak.

The divide over how much attention to devote to staunch Democratic constituencies versus moderate swing voters taps into a political debate thats long roiled the party: Is it more important to energize the base or to persuade swing voters? And can Democrats do both things at once?

White House advisers argue that winning swing voters, particularly the suburban independents who play an outsize role in battleground districts, is what will keep Democrats in power or at least curb the scale of their midterm losses. They see the drop among core groups of Democrats as reflective of a challenging political moment rising inflation, the continued pandemic, uncertainty about schools rather than unhappiness with the administrations priorities.

Its November of 2021, not September of 2022, John Anzalone, Mr. Bidens pollster, said. If we pass Build Back Better, we have a great message going into the midterms, when the bell rings on Labor Day, about what weve done for people.

Even pared back from the $3.5 trillion plan that Mr. Biden originally sought, the legislation that passed the House earlier this month offers proposals transforming child care, elder care, prescription drugs and financial aid for college, as well as making the largest investment ever to slow climate change. But some of the most popular policies will not be felt by voters until long after the midterm elections, nor will the impact of many of the infrastructure projects.

Originally posted here:

Democrats Struggle to Energize Their Base as Frustrations Mount - The New York Times

Long ago, in a United States that now seems far, far away, the coming-to-America story of Saule Omarova would be hailed as a stirring endorsement of our nation as a beacon for democracy seekers. Born in 1966 under the Communist dictatorship of the USSR, and raised under her Kazakh grandmother whod lost the rest of her family to Stalinist purges, she grew up with a passion for Pink Floyd and political dissent that caused her to stay here in the U.S. after the Soviet regime collapsed while she was a grad student in Wisconsin.

Not surprisingly, Omarovas work as an American academic hasnt focused on overthrowing capitalism but making it work better for everyday citizens. Inspired by the 2008 economic meltdown, shes most recently proposed a scheme that would allow the Federal Reserve to take on the big banks monopoly on private deposits that caused a credit crunch in the Great Recession. Her research and resum she even worked for a time in the administration of George W. Bush made Omarova seemingly an inspiring pick for President Biden, who tapped her to become the first woman and first nonwhite to oversee banking as comptroller of the currency.

But Omarovas feel-good saga was lost in translation when she hit the Senate for her confirmation process. Instead, the hearing became a public demonstration of everything thats wrong with American politics in 2021 beginning with Republicans who hid their unbridled support for the monopolistic power for Big Banking behind completely twisting Omarovas life story in the worst display of Red-baiting on Capitol Hill since Joe McCarthys liver failed. It started with Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey Wall Streets man in the Senate demanding a paper on Marxism required by her Moscow State University professors in the original Russian language, to kick off efforts to portray Omarova as some kind of Manchurian candidate for the job. It devolved into Louisiana GOP Sen. John Kennedy telling the nominee, I dont know whether to call you professor or comrade a no-sense-of-decency moment even for todays Republicans, at long last.

But what happened next is much more revealing about whats broken with American politics, and arguably matters a lot more as the nation backslides into 2022 midterms that could shake democracy to its core. Because if you think that Senate Democrats rose up to this shameful display of modern McCarthyism by rallying around President Bidens nominee or her ideas that banking should work for the middle class, then you dont know the soul of todays Democratic Party.

Instead, a so-called cadre of centrist Democrats really extremists in defense of their wealthy donors on Wall Street, Silicon Valley and elsewhere sneaked up from behind to put the dagger in Omarovas political fortunes. In a scenario where all 50 Democratic votes were needed, five of these so-called moderates including Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a flashpoint in the downsizing of Bidens progressive ambitions have reportedly told the White House they cant support Omarova, which will kill her nomination. One of the five Democrats, Montana Sen. Jon Tester, had grilled Omarova on a prior comment that seemed critical of Big Oil and Gas.

The torpedoing of Omarova by her own party is hardly an aberration. Instead, it felt like the exclamation point on a recurring theme in Year One of the Biden administration a new presidents determination to turn around the battleship of American politics to help the struggling middle class either slow-walked or increasingly blocked by an entrenched sliver of pro-Wall Street and pro-donor-class Democrats.

Weve watched this process writ large as the centerpiece of the Biden agenda the formerly $3.5 trillion social welfare and climate change package with the unfortunate name of Build Back Better has been stripped of popular items like free community college and seen other key features like paid family leave and lowered prescription drug costs sharply whittled down. The cuts happened not because of Republicans a hopeless bunch whose votes thankfully arent needed to pass this so-called reconciliation bill but because of conservative Democrats like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the Chamber of Commerce lackey who with his family literally owns a coal company, or New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer whose $450,000 in donations from private-equity firms last cycle is more than any House member, including any pro-business Republican. Even at a much lower $1.5 trillion price tag, its not even clear these divided Democrats can pass Build Back Better.

At the end of the day, it wasnt Republicans but much of this same cadre of ConservaDems including Sinema, whose sharp moves to the right on health-care issues have coincided with $750,000 in campaign contributions from Big Pharma and medical firms that nearly killed the provision aimed at lowering drug costs (which had reemerged in a much downsized form). And its been these same Democrats particularly Northeasterners like New Jerseys Gottheimer whove benefited as Democrats become the party of college-educated white suburbanites whove pared back politically popular new taxes on corporations and the wealthy but are bringing back a tax break for high-income homeowners, allowing Republicans to bash the partys seeming hypocrisy.

The gross irony here is that the pundit class especially the centrists who fantasized about replacing Trump with a somehow popular but essentially do-nothing version of Biden is now blaming the Squad of the furthest left Democrats and excessive wokeness for the sagging poll numbers of the Democrats and their president. But lets get real. On the wokeness front, gridlock in Washington hasnt happened because lawmakers are insisting on using the right pronouns or using the word Latinx.

But much more importantly, its been the left wing in Congress especially the House Progressive Caucus led by Washington state Rep. Pramila Jayapal that has worked most closely with Biden on formulating an actual social welfare policy for the middle class, and which has been willing to compromise again and again and again in order to get something, no matter how diminished and thus deflating, done for its voters. The representatives who dare to brand themselves as moderates have actually been the jihadists whove threatened to blow up the Biden presidency unless their demands to protect Big Banks, Big Pharma and the owners of big McMansions who attend their fund-raisers are met, time after time.

READ MORE: From college to climate, Democrats are sealing their doom by selling out young voters | Will Bunch

Theres two big problems here. The obstructionism of centrist Democrats has mostly squandered what could have been a brief two-year window given the dysfunctional cycle of American politics to take meaningful action on climate change and enact the kind of policies around higher education or paid family leave that are routine in every other developed nation. Thats bad news both for the future of both a civil U.S. society and the health of the planet.

But the schizophrenia of todays Democrats watching Biden and his new progressive allies run full-speed at the football of change, only to watch the Democrat-in-name-only Lucys like Gottheimer and Sinema yank it away again and again has also left the average, not-on-Twitter, not-politics-obsessed voter utterly confused what the party really stands for. I dont blame them. Many days I wonder myself.

The irony is that while the Josh Gottheimers of the world think they are saving themselves by bringing back a big tax break for their rich but socially liberal college-educated districts, they are in reality trashing the Democratic brand, and the ensuing tsunami is going to swamp them as well. In calling their billionaire donors and bragging how that blocked Biden from becoming the new FDR, theyre too money-besotted to see they are creating a Jimmy Carter scenario for Democrats that could end with their party again in the wilderness for decades. In driving away young voters and the nonwhite working class, these political geniuses dont seem to understand that 37 the percentage of voters with a college degree is lower than 50.

Now, in failing to defend Saule Omarova against the brutal McCarthyism of her Republican critics, the Democrats centrist wing is hitting a moral low to coincide with their lack of political foresight as the party melts down and an opposing party that no longer believes in democracy is advancing on the capital, again. In the smoldering ruins of the near future, maybe the right question for these Quislings whod rather save JP Morgan Chase and Merck than the American Experiment is this: Are you now, or have you ever been, a centrist Democrat?

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The dangerous extremism thats killing the Democrats is extreme centrism | Will Bunch - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Inflation is rapidly becoming a problem for the Democratic party and President Joe Biden. They need to get a grip on it before it imperils their wider agenda and sinks their chances of keeping control of Congress in the midterm elections next year. As they think about how to address it, one thing is certain: what theyve been doing so far isnt working. A recent poll found that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how Biden is handling inflation, and the same number consider the issue very important in their evaluations of his presidency. Among those Americans concerned about the state of the economy, nearly nine in 10 ranked inflation as a reason why. Clearly something has to change.

But inflation, a complicated product of economics and mass psychology, is also devilishly difficult to understand, and even more difficult to control. Presidents have few tools to tame it, and the ones they do have can backfire. The inflation of the 1970s crippled Gerald Fords presidency and was doing the same to Jimmy Carter until he opted for an extreme cure installing a chair of the Federal Reserve who dramatically raised interest rates, stopping inflation but also plunging the economy into a deep recession which handed the White House to Ronald Reagan. These experiences left inflation with a reputation as a presidency-killer, with either the disease itself or the medicine taken to combat it ultimately killing the patient.

Despite this, Democratic party elites have been slow to take the latest round of inflation as seriously as they should. American policymakers have not had to deal with levels of inflation as high as this for 30 years, and it shows. Many latched on to the message that inflation was transitory, a temporary consequence of the economy revving back into high gear as the country emerged from the coronavirus pandemic. Some liberals have even lashed out at those warning about rising prices, characterizing their concerns as an attempt to undermine support for Democrats plans to spend more to advance social welfare and combat climate change.

Whatever the economic merits of the argument and many economists still expect inflation to start falling soon this response has been politically toxic. Democrats risk appearing out of touch on an issue of profound concern to many Americans. In order to change tack, they need to communicate to voters that they feel their pain and that theyre fighting to make things better.

There are already signs that Democrats from the president on down are starting to get it. Biden recently gave a speech on the topic and announced the release of 50m barrels of oil from the US strategic petroleum reserve, an attempt to bring down gas prices at the pump. He also pointed the finger at oil companies for charging consumers high prices even as the wholesale price of oil has dropped over the past few weeks.

But Democrats should also be doing more to point the finger at the businesses who are helping to foment the problem. The Wall Street Journal reports that companies in many different sectors are using this inflationary spike as a cover to raise prices faster than their costs, essentially betting that consumers wont object when they already see prices rising all around them. According to the report, nearly two out of three big, publicly traded US companies have seen larger profit margins this year than in the same period in 2019. Inflation might be hurting consumers, but its a boom year for corporate America.

Democrats ought to use all the tools of government to highlight and combat these abuses. As Biden has been finding out, public anger over inflation tends to be directed towards the incumbent president and the only way to survive might be to redirect it at a more appropriate target. The presidential bully pulpit can be used to highlight corporate abuses and regulatory investigations, such as the one already announced by the FTC into the oil and gas sector, can hold industries to account and combat potentially illegal practices. Nor should Democrats stop there. They control both houses of Congress and should consider holding congressional hearings to name and shame particularly egregious price-gougers.

Whether any of these measures will actually serve to lower prices is an open question. But the only responsible thing to do is try. Corporate price rises risk kicking off an inflationary spiral in which the initial reasons for rising prices become secondary to a general feeding frenzy, and anything that can be done to discourage it is healthy. Administration actions might also serve to dampen consumers expectations of future inflation, which will reduce the risk of a spiral. Because the media narrative is driven by inflation that has already happened, reassurance remains important even after prices have begun to stabilize.

But even if we shouldnt hold our breath for these actions to actually slow the rate of price increases, its important to show leadership on this issue for the simple reason that its what worried voters want and deserve. To be seen to be acting and pointing a finger at those to blame is smart politics, especially if this bout of inflation does indeed prove to be transitory and prices begin to fall next year.

Meanwhile, corporate America has to decide if it really wants to undermine the Democrats and risk handing stewardship of the economy back to the party of Donald Trump. With the modern Republican party increasingly the party of incompetence and ignorance, self-restraint might be the better option. As Democrats should seek to remind the price-gougers, profiting less now will help everyone mightily down the road.

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Democrats need to admit that inflation is real or voters will turn on them - The Guardian

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., argued that President Biden will not be reelected in 2024 because his administration is responsible for inflation, "chaos" at the southern border and the "crime wave" across the country.

Emmer made the argument during an exclusive interview with "Sunday Morning Futures" where he slammed the administration for "one incompetent move after another."

Emmer said he agreed with Wyoming Sen. John Barrassos comments on the program earlier this month when the Republican senator argued that the results of the "rejection election" on Nov. 2 revealed that voters across the country "overwhelmingly" rejected the Democrats' "radical policies," which caused inflation, open borders and the strong potential for highertaxes.

Barrasso made the comment five days after a good election night for Republicans in states including Virginia, where the GOPpulled off anelectionwin in the governor's race many would have believed impossible several months ago.

"Americans are smart," Emmer, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said on Sunday. "They are rejecting thissocialist big government agenda."

"They realize that Democrats inCongress right now arecompletely out of touch withMain Street America and middleclass Americans."

He then said that the job of Republicans over the next year "is tomake sure that its very clearevery day that their policies,their big government policies,are driving inflation, aredriving the crime wave acrossthis country, are responsiblefor the open border."

Emmer slammed the leadership under President Biden as "incompetent," which he said has been on display since the president took office in January.

President Bidens approval rating stands at 36%, with disapproval at 53% in a new Quinnipiac University national poll. Thats the presidents lowest level of public support in Quinnipiac polling since taking over in the White House in January.

Bidens approval edged down a point and his disapproval trickled up a point from Quinnipiacs October survey.

The president stood at 49% approval and 51% disapproval in a separate national poll fromMarquette University Law Schoolthat was released on the same day earlier this month. Bidens approval in the survey, conducted Nov. 1-10, was down nine points from Marquettes last poll, from July.

POLLS INDICATE BIDEN'S INFRASTRUCTURE AND SOCIAL SPENDING MEASURE ARE MORE POPULAR THAN THE PRESIDENT

Bidens approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. But the presidents numbers started sagging in August inthe wake of Biden's much criticized handling of the turbulentU.S. exit from Afghanistanand following a surge in COVID cases this summer among mainly unvaccinated people due to the spread of the highly infectious delta variant as the nation continues to combat the coronavirus, the worst pandemic to strike the globe in a century.

The plunge in the presidents approval was also compounded by the most recent surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. along thesouthern borderwith Mexico. Alsofueling frustrations with the presidents performance has been the rise this summer and autumn in consumer prices.

Emmer argued on Sunday that the Trump administrations policies "were incrediblypopular," including Americas energyindependence, safety and security in the country, and asecure southern border.

He went on to say that when Democrats came into office they "basically tookit as a mandate" to "undo everything thelast administration did," which resulted in "terrible consequences tothe American people and thats why theyre going tolose next fall."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday thatPresident Bidenintends to run for reelection in 2024.

"Yes, that's his intention,"Psakitoldreporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where Biden and first lady Jill Biden held a "Friendsgiving" celebration with military service members and their families.

Psakis comment follows reports that Bidens allies are seeking to calm concerns about his age and plummeting poll numbers, which have been compounded by the devastating gubernatorial election loss for theDemocratsin Virginia that is being interpreted as a referendum on his presidency.

Emmer said on Sunday that Biden "can run againin 2024 if thats what he wantsto do, but hes going to lose."

He then stressed that the reason Democrats are going to lose is because "prices are up for everything andpaychecks are down" and "theyre responsible for thiscrime wave," but are "doing nothing to solveit."

Emmer also argued that Democrats are "responsible forchaos on our southern border" and the "incompetence" as it pertains to the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan the "ridiculous political ploy torelease 50 million barrels ofoil from the strategic petroleumoil reserve."

"Its just one incompetent moveafter another," he continued.

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"The incompetence that weve seensince the beginning of the yearis causing serious problems formiddle class Americans, franklyfor the country as a whole," Emmer added.

Fox News Paul Steinhauser and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.

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Rep. Emmer on why Democrats will 'lose' in next elections: 'One incompetent move after another' - Fox News

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Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, the 85-year-old Texas Democrat, who recently announced that she will not seek reelection, said in an interview that party infighting over President Bidens social spending bill contributed to her decision.

Johnson told CBS DFW on Tuesday that the decision was not easy and some leaders were asking that she reconsider. But she told the station that she is getting older, and also pointed to the fight over Bidens social spending bill.

"You begin to question the why when you get to a point where our party is not as together as youd like it to be, like youve experienced," she said. Her office did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.

CHAD PERGRAM: BIDEN'S SPENDING BILL IS A DRAMA IN 4 ACTS

Her decision not to run for reelection prompted representatives from both sides of the aisle to praise her service. Rep. Frank D. Lucas, R-Okla., served with her on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

The Washington Post reported that he issued a statement that said there is no one hed "rather have as my counterpart across the aisle."

He called her a "true public servant" who cares deeply about supporting science in the U.S.

"Shes an old-school legislator who cares more about results than headlines, and I respect that deeply," he said.

House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson delivers remarks during an event honoring NASA's "Hidden Figures," African American women mathematicians who helped the United States' space program in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty)

Johnson is a political fixture in her hometown of Dallas, where early in her career she became the first Black woman to serve the city in the state Senate since Reconstruction.

Johnson on Wednesday endorsed Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Crockett to take her seat just days after announcing her intentions to retire.

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Crockett, a first-term state representative, made headlines in July as part of the group of Texas lawmakerswho fled to Washington, D.C., in an attempt to block a vote on the state Republicans elections integrity bill, which eventually passed and was signed into law in September.

Fox News' Jessica Chasmar and the Associated Press contributed to this report

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Democrat infighting over spending bill contributed to decision to retire, Texas Dem says - Fox News

Prentiss Smith| Shreveport Times

Today, the country is dealing with high inflation that can be seen at the gas pump, with prices almost $1.25 cents higher than it was at this time last year. Food prices are soaring, and prices on other essentials are as high as they have been in two decades. The Biden administration cant explain this away with simple answers and platitudes. This is happening on the Democrats watch, and whether it is fair or not, the party in charge gets the blame.

Inflation is a political death nail for the party in power, and it has to be acknowledged and tackled. Democrats have to acknowledge that they are not blameless in the increase in prices for almost everything. Yes, the supply chain delays are a problem, but too much money in the system is also a problem, and Democrats need to listen to its more moderate members who are concerned with inflation.

Back in the middle of the summer, which now seems like a lifetime ago, Joe Biden was riding high with decent approval ratings, and overall goodwill from the American people. Then, a perfect storm happened in the way of the Delta 3 Covid variant and the steady rise in prices for gas and food. Combine that with the intra-party fight among Democrats over the passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure bill in the house, and you end up with an angry electorate.

That bipartisan infrastructure bill was passed in the U.S. Senate with nineteen Republicans voting for it, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. It was a historic achievement just by virtue of the fact that Democrats and Republicans dont vote together on anything these days. The angst between the parties, especially in the House of Representatives is as toxic as it can be, and the toxicity is not expected to improve over the next year heading toward the midterm elections a year from now.

So, the point is that when you have 69 Republicans and Democrats agreeing on a policy issue, you immediately pass that bill and get it to the Presidents desk for signature, unless you are a group of Democratic progressives who want to hold that bill hostage for another bill. Those progressives decided in their caucus that the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill that had just passed in the Senate with 69 votes, should be held up until the other bill passed. Their actions or inaction proved to be a flawed strategy, and the cause of the voters rebuking them at the polls. Democrats were eating their own, and it was ugly. Their actions hurt the party, and it hurt the President politically.

The American people looked at all of the chaos in the Democrat Party, and they soured on the party, and on the man at the top, Joe Biden. In the middle of July, President Bidens approval rating was consistently in the low to middle fifties, and Americans were generally satisfied with his performance. But then Democrats started to fight among themselves over the two infrastructure bills, one being the just passed hard infrastructure bill for roads and bridges, and the other one being the social spending infrastructure bill. Voters are not interested in the process; they are interested in the results.

Initially, Democrats wanted to spend an exorbitant amount of money in the range of 6 trillion dollars, that is trillion with a t, and then they settled on 3.5 trillion, which was still too high for moderate Democrats, specifically Joe Manchin from West Virginia and Kristen Sinema from Arizona. They balked at the price tag, and let it be known to the progressive caucus. While all of this was happening, Democrats were losing their standing with the American people, and Joe Bidens approval ratings were taking a nosedive. Between mid-June and today, his approval ratings have dropped an average of 16 points, and it proved to be an anchor for candidates in the recent elections in New Jersey and Virginia.

The truth is that Joe Manchin, who is extremely close to President Biden, saved Democrats from themselves, but at a political cost to the party and to President Biden. The public fighting between Democrats turned voters off, and they responded with a rebuke of Democrats during the elections three weeks ago. Americans didnt like the sausage making that they were seeing, and that is evident in the negative standing of Democrats with the American electorate right now. Democrats are down double digits in the generic vote right now, and that forbodes of a difficult mid-term election for the party.

Finally, Democrats in the House did pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and it went to the Presidents desk, but not before their intramural and interparty fight had taken Joe Bidens approval rating to the lowest, they have been in his presidency, along with the approval ratings of his Vice-President, which are at a historical low right now.

In retrospect, there is no doubt that Democrats should have passed the bipartisan bill in the house, and sent it directly to the Presidents desk for signing. Progressives were fighting to keep the bills coupled, but in the end, they ended up being uncoupled anyway.

It was a strategic mistake that Democrats are surely to pay a political price for, despite all of the good things that have happened over the last ten months, with respect to vaccines, increased job creation, and wage hikes. They dont get the credit for the good things, but they do get the blame for bad things, and that is just the nature of politics in America today. Democrats tarnished their brand during ugly infrastructure fight, which will certainly be a factor in the 2022 and 2024 election cycles. And thats my take. smithpren@aol.com

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Democrats tarnished their brand during ugly infrastructure fight - Shreveport Times