From remains an unabashed centrist who believes that economic growth, not the economic populism of Sanders or Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is the answer. “It’s important the critical mass in the Democratic party show that it’s the party of opportunity, responsibility and community but not the party of the left,” he insists.
He also argues that the party should not be afraid to talk about law enforcement and developing a system of community policing rather than urging “defund the police”. Likewise it should embrace the idea of legal immigration and a border that is under control. From applauds governors who have made jobs available to people without college degrees.
This is the exact kind of fucker that just helped get Trump elected.
Yes, and now they are proudly declaring they aren’t going to put down the shovel. They want to keep digging this hole we’re in.
There is no bottom by the way, they will just keep digging until enough people learn the lessons. If we wait to see how bad it can get it will only get worse.
In an era where people, right and left, are loudly cheering on a guy that allegedly murdered a CEO, this idiot advisor thinks the direction we need to go is defunding Medicare and further privatization of government functions.
This jackass wants Democrats to be a conservative party to respond to the existing conservative party. He literally wants to do the southern strategy again.
Ffs. Get rid of the dinosaurs and start over. If the Dems can’t do it, maybe it’s time for a new party.
Yeah. I’m done with the dems. After seeing pelosi win from her hospital bed I knew there was no future for this party. Their only identity now is the “not trump” party, which doesnt work when half the country views him favourably.
The Democrats and Republicans being the only game in town is a consequence of our first-past-the-post voting system. We are stuck with the Dems until we change the system. To refuse to use the Democratic Party, our only to effective political tool, is to refuse to engage meaningfully in politics.
With the recent crushing defeat, and the dems learning NOTHING, they seem content to keep losing. Every vote for them is wasted anyways so might as well toss it to a third party. One that can actually hold a fucking primary.
God the dems piss me off so much.
The issue with that is the US’s first-past-the-post system which results in our two party system. We need to change the system or else a new party will only act as a spoiler.
Yes, I am unfortunately aware of this.
It can probably still be done if it’s truly grass roots. From the bottom up and not straight up aiming for seats in the senate and for the Oval Office. A third party should start winning seats in small elections in small towns where Democrats rule. Like even a school board election matters. Basically every small election where Democrats win uncontested. They need to push incumbent Democrats out first before trying to flip a red seat.
Once the third party has pushed enough Democrats out of their seats the Democrats have no choice than to form an alliance with the new third party. Which would push the Democratic Party to the left.
That’s basically how the Tea Party and later Maga co-opted the GOP.
Like the green party is doing.
These are people who would see Franklin D Roosevelt as an extremist.
Instead he was the most consequential and effective president the US has ever had and the right have been unpicking his legacy over the decades since. The Democrats have been complicit in that.
This is exactly what they HAVE been doing for DECADES! What a crock of shit!
Yes but now there’s a fresh dose of “but not like Bernie” to placate the blue donors.
Shit hasn’t come in crocks for over a century. It’s a re-usable refrigerable stackable storage container of shit now.
Oh my fucking God WHY THE EVER LOVING FUCK IS THERE ANOTHER FUCKING INTERVIEW WITH AL FUCKING FROM?!?!?! For fuck’s sake, the last time I heard from this fucking dinosaur was after Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, and they were dragging his old ass out of retirement to explain why actually, despite losing to Donald Trump, moderate centrism was a good strategy. Almost ten years later, and they’re dragging his even-older ass out here to do the same fucking thing? This dipshit’s centrist strategy won one election 32 years ago, and now we’ve got to listen to him prattle on about how Democrats need to be more moderate forever? I mean, Jesus Fucking Christ, its bad enough we have to listen to a Democratic fuckwad explain why this, “win suburban moderates,” strategy is good (even though it has lost to Donald Trump twice now). But for fuck’s sake, is it too much to ask that that they at least find a fuckwad who hasn’t been politically irrelevant for 20 years? Is their really no one else beside this fucking 80 year-old ghoul that can champion this stupid, obviously ineffective strategy? I mean, fucking hell, what the fuck are we even doing here?
Dems picked a throat cancer ridden geriatric instead of a young woman.
They have a fetish for old farts
To be fair, it was Jerry Connolly’s turn. There’s nothing more important than that.
I feel u
I read the article and it doesn’t really seem that bad. What he says is this:
“Basically what the party needs is some sort of a force – whoever it is – of people who are perceived as future leaders going out and saying: this is what we want this party to stand for. I did it in the 80s and 90s. They can decide what’s appropriate for the 20s and 30s.”
He’s not telling us how he wants the party changed, he’s just calling for a big visible change in the party that will help us win elections again.
Except you’re glossing over the parts where he insists that being centrist and courting moderates, AKA the strategy Democrats have been losing with since 2000, was the path forward:
From remains an unabashed centrist who believes that economic growth, not the economic populism of Sanders or Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is the answer. “It’s important the critical mass in the Democratic party show that it’s the party of opportunity, responsibility and community but not the party of the left,” he insists.
“The Democratic base alone is not enough to win elections, he warns. The party needs to reach moderate voters in the suburbs who “love the compassion” of the Democrats but question whether they have the “toughness to govern” as well.
Every pundit is saying the same stuff he’s saying about working on the party’s communication, finding fresh faces for leadership, winning back the working class, etc., but he’s being dragged back out to push centrism and remind everyone of the one time this strategy payed off in the 90s. I mean, he’s literally saying they should, “not [be] the party of the left,” after Harris got her ass handed to her with a centrist campaign. It’s absurd.
It’s already considered the party of the left by everyone except the left. They might as well lean in, because the centrists aren’t going to vote for them anyway, apparently.
Exactly. They’ve called literally every Democratic candidate in the last 20 years a radical socialist. They might as well run on some socialist positions, since some of them (for example, HEALTHCARE) seem real popular right now.
I get what you’re saying there. I should have read the article closer. Yes, you’re right about that.
Hilarious. Why do a less committed version of the same shitty politics as the other party? Who the fuck is this going to win over? Did you miss what happened in November?
I would ask if they were high but that would encourage creativity and awaken any remaining embers of idealism so it can’t be the case.
Just leaving this here for no particular reason https://youtu.be/3cdqQ2BdgOA
The democratic party is always going to shun leftism because they get a buttload of money every year to turn a blind eye to good reform policies. Money and leftism dont mix, so the money makes sure leftism doesnt stick.
The Democrats are going to follow the people who vote. They get money from corporate donors to be neoliberals. We need a socialist and progressive movement to co-opt the Democratic party. But in the mean time, as long as we still have elections, we can kick fascists out of power and get the Democrats to cater to leftists incrementally.
This isn’t enough to solve climate change or wealth inequality, but until the Democratic party is co-opted the way the Republican party was by MAGA we need to exercise power by voting for the candidates the furthest to the left in elections. Between elections we need grassroots movements to get better candidates.
for the candidates the furthest to the left in elections
I agree, I just wish that wasn’t “senile corporate centrist” every single damn time
We need a socialist and progressive movement to co-opt the Democratic party
People have been trying that for the past 8 years if you haven’t been paying attention.
In political terms, that’s known as just starting. As a much broader example, it was only in 1965 that America got (almost) universal suffrage. Depending on the state, that was a problem since 1776.
You clearly haven’t been paying attention during those eight years if you’re spouting that glassy eyed naïveté. You can try reading the article to get a perspective of what the democratic establishment thinks of “socialist and progressive movement” co-opting the democratic party. Such a movement will only succeed over their dead bodies (politically speaking).
We didn’t get to the idea that little things like slavery were a (nearly) universally bad idea within the lifetime of the first person who proposed the radical idea that owning people and having the right to make them work and have the sole benefits of their labor was an abhorrent idea. It didn’t even happen in the lifetimes of the founders of groups whose basis was the abolition of slavery, and, frankly, it hasn’t yet reached universal acceptance or enforcement in America today. But please, do go on and tell me how these last 8 years of pressure on the Democratic party are equal to the centuries spent reaching that threshold of showing respect for your fellow person.
But please, do go on and tell me how these last 8 years of pressure on the Democratic party are equal to [the abolition of slavery]
That comparison is all you huffing your own fumes. But if you want a civil war comparison here it is: You’re a dough faced democrat who thinks the planter class can be reasoned with.
If you’re an american and you’re calling yourself a socialist you should at least familiarize yourself with Marx and his perspective on the US Civil War, which he wrote extensively about.
I’ve given two examples of what nowadays is considered a fairly obvious statement, namely that people shouldn’t be enslaved and that women are equal to men. One took a war to change, one didn’t. Both took centuries to change. The likeliest reason for one causing a war was the financial factor, which both women’s suffrage and trans rights don’t have. But good on you for focusing on the least relevant element, which wasn’t even a factor for one of those two examples. Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t notice the fact that I implied that slavery still exists in America.
His name being “From” makes this difficult to parse.
We’re all here to hear it all from Al From here.
I imagine the confusion has been lifelong and started in kindergarten.
The Democratic strategists predictably have both learned nothing from this losing this election and are planning on shifting the party to the right. Accelerationism is useless. There was no leverage over the Democrats, instead they are going to chase after moderates and conservatives who voted. If we are lucky enough to have another election, please vote and encourage other people to vote.
Vote for who? The democrats were unelectable this election and will remain unelectable until they ditch their corporate status quo nonsense. This isn’t to say Trump is a better option, but the GOP and DNC were never competing on the same level and thinking they are will only lead to more Trump or Trump wannabes because no matter how much you (or anyone else) tell people to vote people won’t vote for the current DNC.
The answer is that you vote in the primaries to shift the party left as far as you can, and then you vote in the general for whatever version of that party you end up with that time around. You don’t sit on your ass in the expectation that they will come to you; you make them come to you.
The primary that the DNC messes with to get the candidate they want every time? Or the one they skip or cancel when it doesn’t suit them? Not saying people shouldn’t vote in primaries, but the DNC is way beyond being fixed by actions like this.
Primaries. Plural. As in there are a whole bunch of them. Not just the one for president.
You don’t start at the top. You get your candidates in from the bottom up, and then you go for the top jobs.
Look, you only have two options here; fix the party you have, or come up with a realistic plan for building a new one that can somehow be electorally viable. So unless you really think you can offer a clear and actionable path to the latter, you’re stuck with the former.
I mean I’m not American so I can’t do much except watch and yap on the internet, but I do think making a new party and starting local is a lot more viable than changing the DNC. At least that way the fossils at the top won’t be fighting you at every turn.
You don’t start at the top. You get your candidates in from the bottom up, and then you go for the top jobs.
The DNC plays favorites with those too so…
The US’ two party system is a result of our first-past-the-post voting system. We need to change the system first or else all leftist third parties will act as spoilers for the Democrats.
The two-party system guarantees a party duopoly, but it doesn’t say anything about which parties become part of that duopoly so it’s possible to depose one of the two big parties in a certain election like what Bernie did in Vermont. Now at least for a while you’ll end up splitting the vote, but you’ll need to accept that much if you want to get anything done because the DNC will absolutely not, never pass election reform or shift left.
Primaries. Plural. As in there are a whole bunch of them. Not just the one for president.
Jessica Cisneros says hello.
The primary that the DNC messes with to get the candidate they want every time? Or the one they skip or cancel when it doesn’t suit them?
The person you are responding to loves this and is gloating.
Democrats of course because they are the furthest left, by virtue of being the least conservative, viable party we have. They are the only political tool available because of our first-past-the-post system.
Democrats cannot be leveraged by not voting for them. They have to be pushed to the left by voting for them. If they see there is a large block of socialist and progressive voters in the electorate they will move to capture these voters.
Until leftists learn to see their vote as a routine utility based decision they will not have any political power. To not vote is to give up power. Getting better candidates comes from grassroots movements between elections.
If we don’t want to live under fascist rule then as long as we still have elections we need to vote for the Democrats. We need to tell people to vote for the Democrats and explain why. If anyone has the energy to argue on the internet then they can argue for the most useful approach we have.
No one thinks the Democrats are a great political party. But voting is the means of liberating ourselves from Republican rule in a two-party system. If people won’t vote for Democrats then they will be ruled by fascists.
People will vote in their own self-interest. The amount of energy that goes into trying to make the most useful things people could do during elections, vote for Democrats, seem useless is of course to the benefit of the owner class and Republicans.
Counterpoint: Progressives (and many other groups) voted for Biden in large numbers for the DNC, and what came out of that was the 2024 shitshow and a lame duck president. The DNC thinks, only partially correctly, that as long as progressives don’t have a viable third party they’ll be forced to vote blue like it or not and that as a result the party can shift right as much as it wants. You say that voting for them gives you leverage, but what good is leverage that you can’t use?
Progressives (and many other groups) voted for Biden in large numbers for the DNC, and what came out of that was the 2024 shitshow and a lame duck president.
Fewer numbers than in 2020. Biden got 81,283,361 votes in 2020. Kamala only got 75,000,783 votes in 2024.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/president-results
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/president-results
The DNC thinks, only partially correctly, that as long as progressives don’t have a viable third party they’ll be forced to vote blue like it or not
The Democrats look at who votes. Democrats don’t think about leftists, because as far as Democrats are concerned people who don’t vote don’t exist. The Democrats want political power and they are willing to chase voters, not non-voters, to get it.
that as a result the party can shift right as much as it wants.
They don’t just think they can shift right, they think they have to shift right in order to win. If leftists can’t be asked to vote for Republicans or Democrats then the Democrats thinks they are a lost cause.
You say that voting for them gives you leverage, but what good is leverage that you can’t use?
It is not about leverage. It’s about power. Voting gives people power not leverage. If a group votes for a political party then that political party caters to that group. If a group doesn’t vote then political parties chase other groups that do vote. Grassroots movements can get better candidates between elections.
This whole idea of leverage has been demonstrated to be false in this election. There is no fulcrum on the political spectrum. Democrats should be clambering to get leftist votes right now according to the hypothesis of leverage, but the evidence shows the opposite, the Democrats are frantically looking for moderate and conservative votes.
Political parties have to be shoved in the desired direction. The way to shove political parties during elections is by voting for them.
Fewer numbers than in 2020. Biden got 81,283,361 votes in 2020. Kamala only got 75,000,783 votes in 2024.
No you don’t get me. The party platform shifted to the right in 2024 despite getting progressive votes in 2020. By your hypothesis this shouldn’t have happened. Progressives voted for the DNC in 2020 and yet were abandoned by them in 2024.
That aside your assumptions here are game theoretically false. You cannot get someone to act in your best interest if you promise to support them no matter what they do. It simply doesn’t make sense, as we have seen from how the DNC treated progressives this election.The DNC doesn’t follow leftist (or really working class) votes because they’re behold to their corporate donors (and because they’re led by fossils who should’ve retired or died decades ago), not because it’s successful electoral strategy.
The party platform shifted to the right in 2024 despite getting progressive votes in 2020. By your hypothesis this shouldn’t have happened. Progressives voted for the DNC in 2020 and yet were abandoned by them in 2024.
This ignores the incremental shift to the left by Biden after the 2020 election which supports my arguments and refutes your argument.
The Democrats won in 2020 when more people voted for them and shifted left.
The Democrats lost in 2024 when fewer people voted for them and shifted right.
That aside your assumptions here are game theoretically false. You cannot get someone to act in your best interest if you promise to support them no matter what they do. It simply doesn’t make sense, as we have seen from how the DNC treated progressives this election.
The 2024 election is the evidence that refutes your argument’s position. People didn’t vote for Democrats and the Democrats are now looking for moderate and conservatives who voted. It was the people on the left claiming they wouldn’t vote so it’s reasonable that leftists are making up part of the difference in the popular vote count.
People always act in their self-interest. The goal is to get people to understand that voting for the viable mainstream political party that is the furthest to the left is the most useful strategy to forward their self interest.
The evidence from this election in fact demonstrates my argument to be correct. My argument is that if progressives don’t vote they won’t be catered to by Democrats. Progressives didn’t vote and now they aren’t being catered to by Democrats.
The DNC doesn’t follow leftist (or really working class) votes because they’re behold to their corporate donors (and because they’re led by fossils who should’ve retired or died decades ago), not because it’s successful electoral strategy.
While both parities are beholden to the owner class, the corporate donors can only provide money to seek out votes. Democrats still need a voting base to cater to. The votes are still the essential resource to win elections as that is what is counted in an election. We still need to co-opt the Democrats to get a socialist and progressive agenda to get rid of the owner class.
The DNC doesn’t seek out leftists because leftists don’t vote. The DNC seeks out people who vote.
lolwut, maybe read your own post it’s contradictory.
What USA needs is more political parties.
The US has more political parties. What we need is a voting system where third parties are not spoiler candidates.
We need progressives, not neoliberals
And socialists too! =)
AOC should be the next head of the party. If not they will fail. No one else in the party now is good enough except Bernie but he’s too old now. Nancy needs to go
the DNC needs to be completely overhauled or thrown out. Bernie would’ve definitely beat Trump but they actively conspired against him, and then when sued for fraud, claimed they never said they’re actually democratic, in spite of the name… and won in court.
the GOP tried to stop Trump as well, and in spite of being complete pieces of shit, they actually are democratic and couldn’t stop him.
but, as they say, the entire system is stupid and designed to fuck us over.
i see this continuing until the collapse of the usa, and probably the entire planet’s ecosystemNancy “the barrow-wight” Pelosi?
AOC sold out to play games with Pelosi. Get a clue
Also, a great out of context quote that somehow works better out of context at showing how bad these ideas are.
“You’d think the Democrats would do better. I look at it from that perspective and so are we in as deep trouble as we were in 1984, 1988? Probably not. But there are trends like what’s happening among working-class voters of all colours and ethnic groups that are concerning. If they aren’t arrested, they could lead us into the wilderness again.”
Cheryl, it sounds like grandpa is off his meds again. Can you get him into the living room and in front of the TV so he doesn’t scare the kids?
Grandpa wants to arrest everyone again!
“wE don’t NeEd aN extRemiSt.”
Why doesn’t the party start with being embarrassed for losing to MAGA? Until they can come out and say they are a bunch of failures and admit to the role they’ve played in sending this country down the shitter, the DNC is a sunk cost.
Never gonna happen :(
