Thank you, Dan. For me, writing from Texas AKA ground zero of lavish new voter suppression laws, this strikes just the right balance between AAAARRHGHGHGHGH and “this is where we are; there is no time to waste; here’s what we do now.” I regularly push out your donation links to a small weekly newsletter and I will push out these new ideas to them, especially the Secretaries of State group. You’re helping a lot of people do a lot of good. I’m sure you know that, but at a time when we’re all frustrated and downcast, it’s important to say that and not just think it.
Dan, I agree with you. I'd like to add that we HAVE to get our message out that it's not a failure. It's a push. The vote laid bare that no one in the GOP -- not even our new "friend" Mitt or Murkowski -- will vote with the Dems on anything other than further hawkish funding for the military. That's the story, to me. It's that 52 representatives do not believe in standardizing voting rights across all 50 states. Push the argument, not the failure.
All Dems must now exercise discipline and never tweet, post or utter Manchin and Sinema’s name again. Maybe we can’t make them pay a political price but we can and must deny them the attention they crave.
Seems like some of us have been saying for a while now that we, Dems at large, and the media should be focused on the GOP do-nothings and not on the differences within the Dem party. I frankly was slightly aghast at all the attention Manchin and Sinema got over the past year. One is a hillbilly clown who suffers from the Dunning-Kruger effect and the other is a twenty-year-old version of a clownish hipster doofus who has flipped her persona at least a couple of times. No external advice could ever overcome all the internal crazy jabbering voices they both seem to have in their heads.
No politician ever won office by focusing their fire on their own party. No voter or supporter ever helped a candidate for office win by endlessly complaining about some other Dem office holder. Could we all adopt the wisdom acquired by the youngest Peewee League baseball player, the most wet-behind-the ears-soldier, or the greatest general who ever lived? You win by focusing your efforts on your opponent, not a teammate, no matter what sort of an idiot that teammate may be.
For those of you who have seen the old movie Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, think about this. It has inspired hundreds of idealists to become leaders of commitment and perseverance. It has also inspired hundreds of dim-witted and egotistical buffoons to do the same. Let's all quit trying to convert these two particular buffoons: they are devoutly immune to reason or political pressure, or appeals to racial justice, self-preservation, or party loyalty.
Yesterday was an embarrassing display of stupidity. We invited everyone who will hear about it, however they hear about it, to focus on the differences within the Democratic Caucus and ignore the Republicans who voted to make us a less democratic country. So much for Murkowski, Collins, Romney, and the others who tout themselves as redeemable human beings.
Since we can't count on Schumer, Sanders, and other fools who even further focused everyone's attention of Democratic Party differences, let's just take it on ourselves to do the right thing.
Hey Dan, how come the GOP can find a way to get, say, Cruz and Romney, Hawley and Murkowski, Tuberville and Collins to vote against what should be a matter of conscience, and we can't get 50 senators to vote together on Child Tax Credits, Climate Change, and Child Early Learning programs? Or for a way to facilitate Voting Rights and Election Integrity?
In football, there are coaches on the field and coaches in the box. The coaches on the field are always in motion and talk with the players so they have a good sense of the details. But they miss some things because they can’t get the whole picture when they’re so close. The coaches in the box don’t have their finger on the pulse in exactly the same way, but they see the whole field and, because the two sets of coaches have watched tape, scouted the other team and created a strategy and because they’re also getting input from the sidelines about the changing conditions, the coaches in the box should, if they’re worth their salt, be able to adjust or create a new strategy based on all these factors. It’s how more than one underdog has surprised the favorite and beat them. It’s why you play the game.
The Democratic Party does not seem to have any coaches in the box. Or, if they do, the people in the box don’t seem to be doing a very good job of doing their job. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has an awful lot of people on the sidelines. The Democratic Party also has a lot of players and fans who seem to think the coaches on the sidelines should also be coaching from the box. This has been proven to be impossible. Chuck Schumer can not do all the jobs. The Democratic leadership needs to assign everyone a job and then they all need to get good at it. Fast. They should not all be running around trying to do all the jobs. PS - when you only have so many plays before you have to punt, you can’t keep trying stuff and hoping it will work. Not every single play can be a Hail Mary. Our current Democratic Party needs to find someone who can better execute on the big picture or they’re going to come in last in the league. And sadly, they also seem to have traded away some of their draft picks.
I’m going to add that we should all fight like demons in whatever way we can to protect voting rights in our own corner of the world. That can mean any number of things, like building up a robust voter info/voter protection network to pressing your local elections board to develop the most expansive early vote plan possible. Anything.
And do it vocally and visibly. Make sure people know you are looking out for them. We’ve been sending out text blasts soliciting voters to sign up for a text-based voter info service. Lots of signups! Way more signups than people who sent back a screed of expletives about weak Democrats, though there were a few of those, to be sure.
And Dan, I’ve said it before and I will say it again: that 39 pts is deceptive. I’m from WV. WV is full of people who are drowning, and when you are drowning, you grab hold of whatever looks like it can float…until something better drifts by, and then you grab onto that.
Well said, Dan. We allowed ourselves to be strung along, and that’s on us. I remember a year ago how passing voting rights seemed against the odds. Since then, we over interpreted slim openings by Manchin. But what if we had held to no bipartisan infrastructure unless we passed BBB. We would have had nothing. Let’s turn frustration into passion and let’s turn out Our base with that passion. It is a 4 year term. Try to get done what we can now on pieces of BBB and focus on passable elements of voting rights like anti subversion and roll up sleeves for mid terms
Voting rights legislation on the surface for Democrats is cut and dried. Make voting as easy as possible for everyone. Conservatives see voting rights, for the most part, as an honored tradition with everyone following the rules usually including registering in advance, showing ID, etc. Due to the pandemic most states changed the rules to allow voters more flexibility in how they voted. Conservatives believe these changes were enough to give Biden the win and they don't want to make the same mistake again. Most conservatives don't really believe the Italian, Venezuelan, or Jewish space laser conspiracies, but they do believe that many minorities voted illegally. What Democrats need to do is to be sure every American knows that the minority community was not the problem! And it wouldn't hurt for Democrats to make an all out push to get our folks registered with proper credentials. Electing Democrats to state governorships and legislatures is certainly critical, but pushing Democrats to play more by "Republican" rules is like an insurance policy. We don't know how 2022 is going to go, but indications so far make it clear that we need to do everything we can and then some if we're going to have a chance politically.
Good points, but somebody needs to remind leadership that "get caught trying" ≠ "get caught failing". Everyone, leadership included, knew how Wednesday was going to end. Pushing for doomed votes was supposed to highlight where people stand, but the narrative that developed was less about clarifying policy positions (all of which were very well known ahead of time) and more about ugly political realities. The Democrats looked weak - not what we need going into the mid-terms.
Great email. Thank you. Doesn’t Run For Something only help young progressives? Where can the millions of activists who don’t make their age cut off but want to run go for support?
Ok. I am in PA and just $$$'ed Shapiro. I'm listening to E. Warren on Kara Swisher, I have looked at a bunch of otter tiktoks, I have a small part working on a project to raise awareness of how godawful it was before abortion was legalized by Roe v. Wade, and I continue to call, email, tweet about these wankers in the GOP and KS/JM. Thank you Dan for keeping our spirits up and pointing us in the right directions. Let's all try to hang in there with some optimism, manufactured or otherwise, since there are no good alternatives.
It was always going to be this way and the key now is VOTER REG and TURNOUT; The Rs have, for YEARS, been concentrating on winning state houses and that statistic you cited about the money they have been pouring in, vis-a-vis what the Ds have been pouring in? I mean are we REALLY this stupid??? Seriously, that is NOT a rhetorical question. Thanks for the links. I am in PA and will be working hard for Josh, Chrissy and Katie. I do hope Lamb takes the Senatorial nom because sadly, I just do not think Fetterman or anyone else can take Pennsyltucky. That is the reality for him, for Arkoosh, and for Kenyatta. And he has promised he goes along with filibuster reform.
I agree, but I also want to know: WHY is a carve-out okay with 'Mansinema' for debt-ceiling, but NOT for voting rights? I would like an answer to that question and no one in the pathetic MSM has asked either of them.
Thank you, Dan. For me, writing from Texas AKA ground zero of lavish new voter suppression laws, this strikes just the right balance between AAAARRHGHGHGHGH and “this is where we are; there is no time to waste; here’s what we do now.” I regularly push out your donation links to a small weekly newsletter and I will push out these new ideas to them, especially the Secretaries of State group. You’re helping a lot of people do a lot of good. I’m sure you know that, but at a time when we’re all frustrated and downcast, it’s important to say that and not just think it.
Dan, I agree with you. I'd like to add that we HAVE to get our message out that it's not a failure. It's a push. The vote laid bare that no one in the GOP -- not even our new "friend" Mitt or Murkowski -- will vote with the Dems on anything other than further hawkish funding for the military. That's the story, to me. It's that 52 representatives do not believe in standardizing voting rights across all 50 states. Push the argument, not the failure.
All Dems must now exercise discipline and never tweet, post or utter Manchin and Sinema’s name again. Maybe we can’t make them pay a political price but we can and must deny them the attention they crave.
Seems like some of us have been saying for a while now that we, Dems at large, and the media should be focused on the GOP do-nothings and not on the differences within the Dem party. I frankly was slightly aghast at all the attention Manchin and Sinema got over the past year. One is a hillbilly clown who suffers from the Dunning-Kruger effect and the other is a twenty-year-old version of a clownish hipster doofus who has flipped her persona at least a couple of times. No external advice could ever overcome all the internal crazy jabbering voices they both seem to have in their heads.
No politician ever won office by focusing their fire on their own party. No voter or supporter ever helped a candidate for office win by endlessly complaining about some other Dem office holder. Could we all adopt the wisdom acquired by the youngest Peewee League baseball player, the most wet-behind-the ears-soldier, or the greatest general who ever lived? You win by focusing your efforts on your opponent, not a teammate, no matter what sort of an idiot that teammate may be.
For those of you who have seen the old movie Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, think about this. It has inspired hundreds of idealists to become leaders of commitment and perseverance. It has also inspired hundreds of dim-witted and egotistical buffoons to do the same. Let's all quit trying to convert these two particular buffoons: they are devoutly immune to reason or political pressure, or appeals to racial justice, self-preservation, or party loyalty.
Yesterday was an embarrassing display of stupidity. We invited everyone who will hear about it, however they hear about it, to focus on the differences within the Democratic Caucus and ignore the Republicans who voted to make us a less democratic country. So much for Murkowski, Collins, Romney, and the others who tout themselves as redeemable human beings.
Since we can't count on Schumer, Sanders, and other fools who even further focused everyone's attention of Democratic Party differences, let's just take it on ourselves to do the right thing.
Hey Dan, how come the GOP can find a way to get, say, Cruz and Romney, Hawley and Murkowski, Tuberville and Collins to vote against what should be a matter of conscience, and we can't get 50 senators to vote together on Child Tax Credits, Climate Change, and Child Early Learning programs? Or for a way to facilitate Voting Rights and Election Integrity?
In football, there are coaches on the field and coaches in the box. The coaches on the field are always in motion and talk with the players so they have a good sense of the details. But they miss some things because they can’t get the whole picture when they’re so close. The coaches in the box don’t have their finger on the pulse in exactly the same way, but they see the whole field and, because the two sets of coaches have watched tape, scouted the other team and created a strategy and because they’re also getting input from the sidelines about the changing conditions, the coaches in the box should, if they’re worth their salt, be able to adjust or create a new strategy based on all these factors. It’s how more than one underdog has surprised the favorite and beat them. It’s why you play the game.
The Democratic Party does not seem to have any coaches in the box. Or, if they do, the people in the box don’t seem to be doing a very good job of doing their job. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has an awful lot of people on the sidelines. The Democratic Party also has a lot of players and fans who seem to think the coaches on the sidelines should also be coaching from the box. This has been proven to be impossible. Chuck Schumer can not do all the jobs. The Democratic leadership needs to assign everyone a job and then they all need to get good at it. Fast. They should not all be running around trying to do all the jobs. PS - when you only have so many plays before you have to punt, you can’t keep trying stuff and hoping it will work. Not every single play can be a Hail Mary. Our current Democratic Party needs to find someone who can better execute on the big picture or they’re going to come in last in the league. And sadly, they also seem to have traded away some of their draft picks.
I’m going to add that we should all fight like demons in whatever way we can to protect voting rights in our own corner of the world. That can mean any number of things, like building up a robust voter info/voter protection network to pressing your local elections board to develop the most expansive early vote plan possible. Anything.
And do it vocally and visibly. Make sure people know you are looking out for them. We’ve been sending out text blasts soliciting voters to sign up for a text-based voter info service. Lots of signups! Way more signups than people who sent back a screed of expletives about weak Democrats, though there were a few of those, to be sure.
And Dan, I’ve said it before and I will say it again: that 39 pts is deceptive. I’m from WV. WV is full of people who are drowning, and when you are drowning, you grab hold of whatever looks like it can float…until something better drifts by, and then you grab onto that.
Well said, Dan. We allowed ourselves to be strung along, and that’s on us. I remember a year ago how passing voting rights seemed against the odds. Since then, we over interpreted slim openings by Manchin. But what if we had held to no bipartisan infrastructure unless we passed BBB. We would have had nothing. Let’s turn frustration into passion and let’s turn out Our base with that passion. It is a 4 year term. Try to get done what we can now on pieces of BBB and focus on passable elements of voting rights like anti subversion and roll up sleeves for mid terms
Voting rights legislation on the surface for Democrats is cut and dried. Make voting as easy as possible for everyone. Conservatives see voting rights, for the most part, as an honored tradition with everyone following the rules usually including registering in advance, showing ID, etc. Due to the pandemic most states changed the rules to allow voters more flexibility in how they voted. Conservatives believe these changes were enough to give Biden the win and they don't want to make the same mistake again. Most conservatives don't really believe the Italian, Venezuelan, or Jewish space laser conspiracies, but they do believe that many minorities voted illegally. What Democrats need to do is to be sure every American knows that the minority community was not the problem! And it wouldn't hurt for Democrats to make an all out push to get our folks registered with proper credentials. Electing Democrats to state governorships and legislatures is certainly critical, but pushing Democrats to play more by "Republican" rules is like an insurance policy. We don't know how 2022 is going to go, but indications so far make it clear that we need to do everything we can and then some if we're going to have a chance politically.
I hope PSA will talk a bit about how the leadership mishandled and what the missteps were so they don't get repeated
Good points, but somebody needs to remind leadership that "get caught trying" ≠ "get caught failing". Everyone, leadership included, knew how Wednesday was going to end. Pushing for doomed votes was supposed to highlight where people stand, but the narrative that developed was less about clarifying policy positions (all of which were very well known ahead of time) and more about ugly political realities. The Democrats looked weak - not what we need going into the mid-terms.
Great email. Thank you. Doesn’t Run For Something only help young progressives? Where can the millions of activists who don’t make their age cut off but want to run go for support?
Ok. I am in PA and just $$$'ed Shapiro. I'm listening to E. Warren on Kara Swisher, I have looked at a bunch of otter tiktoks, I have a small part working on a project to raise awareness of how godawful it was before abortion was legalized by Roe v. Wade, and I continue to call, email, tweet about these wankers in the GOP and KS/JM. Thank you Dan for keeping our spirits up and pointing us in the right directions. Let's all try to hang in there with some optimism, manufactured or otherwise, since there are no good alternatives.
It was always going to be this way and the key now is VOTER REG and TURNOUT; The Rs have, for YEARS, been concentrating on winning state houses and that statistic you cited about the money they have been pouring in, vis-a-vis what the Ds have been pouring in? I mean are we REALLY this stupid??? Seriously, that is NOT a rhetorical question. Thanks for the links. I am in PA and will be working hard for Josh, Chrissy and Katie. I do hope Lamb takes the Senatorial nom because sadly, I just do not think Fetterman or anyone else can take Pennsyltucky. That is the reality for him, for Arkoosh, and for Kenyatta. And he has promised he goes along with filibuster reform.
I agree, but I also want to know: WHY is a carve-out okay with 'Mansinema' for debt-ceiling, but NOT for voting rights? I would like an answer to that question and no one in the pathetic MSM has asked either of them.