The Next DNC Chair: TOM PEREZ WINS, makes Ellison deputy chair

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

As long as the new DNC chair isn't obnoxiously incompetent like DWS was, I'm fine with anyone as the next chair.

The Dems need more than competence. They also need willpower. If they constantly knuckle under to the GOP while the political Overton Window slides away from them, they'll end up losing a good chunk of their potential supporters, while gaining nothing. Hillary just demonstrated this perfectly.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I still have yet to see an explanation for why Perez jumped in in the first place. What did he see that was wrong with Ellison? If they're so similar, why should Ellison's supporters have to bend the knee?

As much as I miss Obama, he did very little in the way of party building, and should have stayed out of this race. When Ellison entered, the first thing the people Obamaworld did was to start looking for an alternative challenger. I don't blame Perez, just the powers backing him. This goes beyond ideology and who is more progressive. It goes back to the themes of one side of the party telling the other that they know better. That they should stop, sit down, and let them take care of it, when it's under their watch that we got into this mess.

Well put.

I will try my hardest to avoid any sort of circular firing squad. We all need to be united against the fake president and his cult. But at the same time, I don't feel Perez is what the party needs right now. Perez and his backers and ideas are how we ended up stuck with Trump and GOP dominance in the first place!

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Just came to post this.

At first I thought Ellison would win hands down; but looks like Perez has it sealed. (feel free to quote this next week) As always internal elections are actually more interesting to see who's backing who- Dean/Rendell backing Buttigieg for example

If Perez wins this, I'll be genuinely infuriated. I will never register as a Democrat if their administration continues with these stupid games.

If Perez wins, it won't matter if you do or don't. Perez winning will be the Democratic party as an organization telling us all that it will oppose Trump only as much as it needs to in order to keep the corporate money flowing. And that will be their death knell, nationally. It'll be an endless succession of  Hillary-style (or much worse) candidates who will win only safe elections, or when then GOP utterly disgraces themselves.

Trump opponents need to stay united, but we all need to be committed to actually opposing Trump.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

This is absolutely infuriating. The establishment can't even make ONE concession to the Bernie people. Instead, they need to push their pick through backroom deals, DESPITE the fact Ellison and Buttigieg have far more public support, DESPITE the fact that Ellison has more experience actually winning elections, DESPITE the fact this newfound enthusiasm on the left has come from the progressive wing and not the Obama/Hillary centrist faction.

Screw the DNC. They have no idea what they're doing. They'd rather go against the grain to rebel against "those evil BernieBros" instead of actually win elections. I hope they have enough sense to see where the real change is occurring and vote for Ellison or Buttigieg, but that's looking less and less likely every day.

The DNC's real worry is that the Sandernistas will put an end to their cozy (and lucrative) relationship with Wall Street and other corporate power-blocs. An economically left-leaning Dem party (and it doesn't even need to lean very much) as opposed to the technocratic-centrist one we've had for the last 3 decades, will not need (or want) to go begging for 1% scraps. And nothing frightens the D establishment more.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

While I agree it's disappointing that it looks like Ellison or Buttigieg won't win, I think people are overrating the actual power the DNC head has.

Why now, does everyone care about a position that has meant very little in the past? Why place more meaning into this then there needs to be? Everyone is just going to end up being disappointed when the essences of the party establishment chooses the establishment candidate. If the Sanders wing is the future, they will take over the party in due time anyway.

Because DNC corruption became a general election campaign issue, thanks to Trump and Russian hackers

But why is Perez a symbol of DNC corruption? Its not like he and Ellison differ on anything meaningful. Its not like Perez has a history of corruption. The Bernie-wing has placed all its eggs in Ellison and I have no idea why. 

Because the one issue where they do openly differ is corporate money?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Oh my god, it's just a fu.cking chairman.

And the establishment won't even let us have that!

Well, they can't stop the Sanders wing from taking over state parties, which they have already started doing.  They also won't necessarily be able to stop Sanders Dems from winning congressional primaries in 2018, or maybe even the presidential primary in 2020.  They can put their thumb on the scale all they want, but in the end, it's the people who decide the important races in this country.  The Republican establishment learned that the hard way in 2016.  I think Sanders Dems need to think about the long game and the bigger picture, if capturing the party is their eventual goal.

I really don't get your point. I can be at this BS and play the long game at the same time.

I'm saying that the result of this race should not discourage Sanders Democrats because it's pretty meaningless in the larger scheme of things.  The DNC does not influence the direction of policy; state, federal, and local elections do.  If the Sanders wing wants more power, they should focus on those races.

And trust me, plenty are.

But the fact that the establishment is seemingly so unwilling to listen to the base is nothing if not discouraging.

Think of it this way: the Republican establishment didn't listen to the Republican base, and party still dominates every level of government.  Eventually, the Democratic establishment will fall in line with their voters, if moving left is the direction their voters want to go.

The Republican establishment, in the final analysis, had more in common with what their base wanted than what the opposition party wanted. I am skeptical the same will be true of the Democratic establishment.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

If the Democrats pick Perez, they can say goodbye to the Bernie wing. THose people won't be voting Democrat for a long time.

Who are we going to be voting for, then?

the green party.

The Greens last cycle were literally not on the ballot for 499.884 of the 500.000 odd electoral offices in the United States. There was no candidate, so you could not vote for them.

The Green Party exists to give those of us on the (far) left a feel-good option on the ballot. It has zero interest in building a real political force, nor in accomplishing anything more. It's a vanity party and I think it does more harm than good.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Weaver and Mook were just on MSNBC discussing the DNC election, and it's scary how out of touch with reality Mook is.

Weaver was pleading the case that the DNC needs to elect Ellison as DNC chair in order to unify the Democratic party. He also said that electing Perez would send the wrong message to progressives, and that it could fracture the Democratic party. Mook, on the other hand, was arguing that the Democratic party was already united and spewed the same canned line that "any of these candidates would be a good pick for DNC Chair."

I'll say it one more time. Electing Perez as DNC chair would be an unmitigated disaster, and it scares me that most Democratic officials can't see this.

Mook is a stiff who lives by data driven campaigns

The dems are going to somehow blow 2018...just watch

I don't doubt it.

They managed to blow running against a bankrupt, criminal, demented, egotistical, fake, sex maniac working with Russian intelligence. I have ZERO remaining doubts about the Democratic party's ability to screw ANYTHING up.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Weaver and Mook were just on MSNBC discussing the DNC election, and it's scary how out of touch with reality Mook is.

Weaver was pleading the case that the DNC needs to elect Ellison as DNC chair in order to unify the Democratic party. He also said that electing Perez would send the wrong message to progressives, and that it could fracture the Democratic party. Mook, on the other hand, was arguing that the Democratic party was already united and spewed the same canned line that "any of these candidates would be a good pick for DNC Chair."

I'll say it one more time. Electing Perez as DNC chair would be an unmitigated disaster, and it scares me that most Democratic officials can't see this.

Robby Mook needs to go away forever. In fact, he should be laughed off every national campaign going into the future.

It's like some Democrats are still living in July 2016 when Hillary was inevitable and all those evil Berniebros needed to shut up to stop Trump.

They sort-of are.

My (admittedly limited) impression is that they're simultaneously convinced that: A) Trump will be so awful, all they'll need to do for the next decade is show up to win a majority of elections and the presidency, and B) there will be no fundamental changes to America or the world in that same time span.

Idiots of Trumpian proportions.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

On a personal level though are any of you Bernie wing afraid that Trump didn't win over TPP but there is a "whitelash" going on an Keith would be made successfully made into a Muslim bogeyman?

Given that the visibly church-going black guy is still believed to be a Muslim by most of our brain-numbed opponents on the right, I can't see how actually having a Muslim running the DNC would affect much of anything. The idiots are going to be idiots, even if every national Dem was an old, happily-married church-going white male.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

This is totally ridiculous. Both of the Establishment wing and the Progressive wing need to realize that calling each other out will not form unity. It prolongs the chaos. We're already a "minority party" nationally and in most states.

Perez winning will definitely not be the end of the world. If you are a Sanders Loyalist, don't let it get to you and not participate in anything of Democrats. Sanders Loyalists are already attempting to take over parties in some places w/o the help of anyone.

The Establishment Wing needs to give space for Progressive Wingers a voice within the party. Admit it. We need something fresh in many states in which the GOP has taken advantage. We need to join forces, grow up, and win elections again.

*Also, the DNC race isn't the most important race right now. It's the federal and statewide races for the next couple of years to worry about.

The DNC rigged the primary and then tried to start a new cold war with Russia to distract people when they got busted. The idea that progressives and the 3rd way establishment are somehow on the same team is ridiculous.

We are on the same team. The Truck Fump Team.

My worry with the establishment Dems is that they may not be willing to fight our dictator wanna-be, or that they are so disconnected as to be completely unable to effectively do so.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

We need to stand together against the Dictator in DC.  While I have more confidence in Ellison than Perez, I will be judging either of them on actions towards stopping him. (And I know it may take a while, with his cult currently controlling way too much of our government.)

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

does anyone really think, a job done by wasserman-schulz and michael steele/reince priebus can be sooo important/essential for the soul of a party?

Yes. The above were all horrible at it, and the result was Trump vs. Hillary, with Trump winning.

Contrast that with what happened after Dean's term.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I hate to be the "come on, let's give him a chance" guy, but... come on, folks. Perez isn't some centrist corporatist hack. He might prove to be an effective, progressive leader. If he ends up being as tone-deaf as people like DWS, I'll be there to call him out on it.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/835594031870664704


this becomes a commong thing now, i guess....remember when WL used to be about transparency and not politics?

That they've turned into Russian sock-puppets is sad. It makes me wonder if that's what they always were.