I’m disgusted with the Dems. To say they are out of touch with their constituents is the understatement of the century. Since Citizens United, they are largely bought and sold, just like the GOP. The dinosaurs refuse to step down. Too much money & power. Sorry, not sorry Schumer, Pelosi, & many others. Pass the fucking torch!
You're politically savvy, and I'm wondering if you know what we the people can do to enact term limits, in both Congress and the Supreme Court. Can we somehow get this on a ballot initiative? How can WE vote to limit terms? It takes 2/3 of Congress to change the rules, so I don't have any faith that they're going to put themselves out of a job!
A constitutional amendment. Which has to be approved by Congress then sent to the state legislatures. In both places it has to be voted on by politicians in office.
I don’t honestly know much about Martin. But in Minnesota, the DFL, stands for Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, even though Farmers there have been Rt-wing supporting maga types for decades! The DNC has become champions of ignoring the base. So I don’t want to pre-judge Martin but past behavior of DNChas me worried.
Seriously - I take one look at this guy and I can tell he doesn’t have the chops for this , I read any first statements and I further confirm my initial thoughts - he doesn’t have what this is going to take .
I am so sick of this, Earl. It’s like the Democrats just want to dig in their heels and keep losing. I am very close to changing my affiliation to independent, and I’m done donating money. We could’ve had an intelligent, dynamic, progressive DNC chair in Ben Winkler, and these idiots threw it all away.
"Independent" is the label that has always best described me as a voter, but I switched my registration to the D party last year as a show of support for democracy. I switched back to unaffiliated (there isn't an I Party in my state) and will remain firmly there for the rest of my days.
This kind of ongoing bullshit is why so many of the Founders were concerned about political parties, and I consider myself following in their footsteps with this decision.
Very disappointing! The old guard has the hooks in so deep they will take what is left of the party down with them. Now what? Is there a sliver of hope for the next generation of Democrats like AOC and The Squad? Then again, it may not matter. The 2nd Friday Night Massacre and the invasion of the Treasure, OPM, and other agencies proves the Coup is in full swing. I have yet to hear any outrage or action form the DNC leadership. Will someone please wake them up?
These are the same questions I have. WHY is there no pushback from Dems on Elon Musk being authorized to access our Social Security and Medicare payment system?!! The only people raising the alarm are members of The Squad, so many people just don't believe it's really happening. It's so damned frustrating!!
It may be time for the Progressives to peel off. They're never going to get anywhere with Democrats who are so latched onto the Wall Street teat. They need to Primary them or run as Progressives so voters can see the contrast....like they see with Bernie.
What MAGAts truly wanted was to destroy the system....they gave us Trump because the only one close was Bernie and he was kinda out there alone. Perhaps now that Trump is in effect destroying the system so he can pillage what remains, Progressive Democrats can step up....if only Bernie can hang in there till 2028......or maybe someone can clone him?
If Ken Martin is going to continue the same, tired status quo direction of the Democratic Party, then we’re doomed. They have to start with a good, hard look at the party, realize their weaknesses, admit their faults, and become a new party. The republicans have shaken up the system, we need to do the same to confront the many challenges before us.
That’s the problem. The Biden administration should have been fighting since Jan. 6,2020. Instead we got an attorney general who was too timid to prosecute trump until it was too late, and he was able to become a presidential candidate. This 2nd trump administration should never have happened!
This is exactly what 99% of people paying attention expected: all you have to do is observe their behavior since 2016, when they worked their tails off to crush the groundswell for Bernie- and welcomed Trump. thanks Dems. 2020, same deal: work to crush the groundswell, get Jim Clyburne and the old Black church ladies in South Carolina to shove a dated and never very lively Joe Biden down the throats of Americans- because the Democrats only reward longevity. Henry Cuellar over Jessica Cisneros- thanks Nancy Pelosi. Allowing candidates being flooded with AIPAC money to defeat some of our liveliest oppo Houses reps- like Corey Bush. Haven't smart people like you, D. Earl, seen enough?
There are millions of rank and file Democrats and Indpendents ready to battle in the streets if needed to save what is left of the fast crumbling democracy- we will not be led by Democratic leadership. and that is a sad fact.
I'VE BEEN READY FOR EIGHT YEARS, ut never so much as I am now. Where is the charismatic leader who has the voice, the energy, and the sense of extreme urgency this moment calls for?? We need a leader to bring some hellfire and brimstone to this fight and instruct these idiotic old guard Dems that THEY are ruining the country almost as badly as the MAGATs with their befuddled Senate Leader and Mrs. Pelosi, who has forgotten that it's time to go home.
I'm ready. I'm so goddamn ready to take it to the streets. But I haven't heard the bugle. Where is the leadership? Where is the call to action? Nobody is going to listen to me. Or to the American people.
We elected people and sent them to Washington to represent and fight for us. Those people are sitting on their asses and don't give a shit. I'll battle in the streets when they do. I don't look for that to happen.
Right: because nobody except climate activists are organizing real humans. Organizing is not the process of shilling for cash, as hard as political parties want to conflate the two.
When Trump kills Medicaid or SNAP, people should be prepared to be banging pots or whatever symbols of resistance occurs. Maybe i am crazy, but I think angry and hurting people respond to be spoken with respectfully by people like Bernie Sanders.
Just like Schumer reportedly stopped Jeff Jackson’s US senate campaign to run a black woman no one had ever heard much about after Jackson had already campaigned in all 100 counties and every university in NC. Of course NC did not end up sending a Dem to the senate. 😩
Have you checked lately what percentage of the voting public agrees with what you say here? There's a reason why the left flank of progressivism is a minority.
Progressive messaging IS populist messaging. It speaks to working class folks. One of the reasons Trump is popular is that he claimed he wanted to drain the swamp. He saw a people hungry to break free from corrupt oligarch rule and he capitalized on that. People are tired of watching politicians make out like bandits profiting from the “free” markets they are regulating while they ask us to push the retirement age back AGAIN for SS benefits we paid into. Kamala was a centrist. She lost.
So disappointing. Ben Wikler would have confronted the problems the Dem party faces head on & gone to work quickly & boldly like he did in Wisconsin. I’m sure that Ken Martin will be OK but we need more than OK & does he have the forceful energy to make big needed change ASAP. I didn’t get that for an interview I listened to with him. Jeez- where do Dems look for leadership now?
I am so disappointed that the Dems once again miss a chance to reinvent and reinvigorate the party and actually offer something new - i.e. a fighting chance to compete on a progressive agenda, at every level up and down the ticket in every region of the US. Last time they failed us this badly was when they booted Howard Dean after his 50 state organizing campaign had contributed massively to getting Obama elected. They just can't get out of their own way and trust that the progressive MAJORITY of people in this country will support them if they STAND FOR SOMETHING!
Look at the new leadership of the Senate Dems. Amy Klobuchar was a disaster and embarrassment at the inauguration where Bezos $500 million dollar bride was dressed like a stripper. Let’s call it what it is corporate Dems like the status quo. Martin got elected because of Tim Walz. He seemed safe. Half the law makers are lawyers. Amy Klobuchar wrote a book on monopolies that I have a signed copy off. I have been an activist for the Democrats for eight years. We stopped with the 2022 midterms. We did not do 2024 except down ballot. We took Biden for granted but he needed not to run. The Democrats are stuck and out of touch with the grassroots base. All they do is raise billions on act blue. I am sick of it.
They're so unpopular because they don't know how to win.....and don't seem to care. Everyone it seems is looking for their Hollywood hero to lead the charge. I imagine FDR rolling over in his grave.....I'm sure this is not what he imagined life would be like in the 21st century.
Not only will this dive back into mediocrity lose members, it’ll extend the losing streak that has given us Trump and the MAGA kingdom! There’s nowhere that ordinary, working class Americans can be politically represented. Thanks, Democrats, for underperforming, as usual.
I am so disgusted w ith the Democratic party. I wanted a fresh no nonsense approach and we now have the same old process. Wikler was a fresh perspective, something we desperately need!
I so agree with you and with 99.9% of my fellow commenters. To win in politics today, we need to win the war for attention. Dems passed up charismatic, inspiring new leadership for a status quo person who says Dems should not rush into action, but wait for the data and then determine a path forward. By then our democracy will be a smoldering heap alongside the history that the winners will write.
I’m incredibly disappointed and angry. If the strategy isn’t something besides expecting every registered democrat to be a daily ATM… what Carol Dillon said x10!!! I admire Tim Walz, but his endorsement is lamentable!
As a Californian, the general consensus is that we West Coasters are ready to secede and #WEXIT. The USA is too large and it's way past time to change course.
Actually, while there is a ballot proposition asking if people approve secession that is out for signatures, getting to 51% would be a stretch, and if we think the federal government would be friendly about this (federal payments to Social Security and Medicare and for all the other stuff is going to be picked up by Sacramento? I wish) the fact is that 40% of the state population is unalterably opposed (the central valleys north and south, Inland Empire, etc.) The Bear Flag Republic looks good, but creating it is a whole 'nother thing.
If trump keeps fucking with our water supplies here, attitudes may change. trump just had billions of gallons of water needed for farmers during the summer, dumped in the ocean by the Army Corps of Engineers. Then he lies about it helping LA, even though there's no way to transport water there from those reservoirs. It was stopped by local officials, or certain communities would have flooded.
I’m disgusted with the Dems. To say they are out of touch with their constituents is the understatement of the century. Since Citizens United, they are largely bought and sold, just like the GOP. The dinosaurs refuse to step down. Too much money & power. Sorry, not sorry Schumer, Pelosi, & many others. Pass the fucking torch!
Pass the fucking torch indeed.
You're politically savvy, and I'm wondering if you know what we the people can do to enact term limits, in both Congress and the Supreme Court. Can we somehow get this on a ballot initiative? How can WE vote to limit terms? It takes 2/3 of Congress to change the rules, so I don't have any faith that they're going to put themselves out of a job!
A constitutional amendment. Which has to be approved by Congress then sent to the state legislatures. In both places it has to be voted on by politicians in office.
So what chances would you give that?
Slim and none, and Slim just left town.
We need a bold badass like Jasmine Crockett, AOC, or Stacy Abrams. Ken Martin ain’t it.
I was going to comment but you pretty much said it…mic drop! 👏🏻🌹
I don’t honestly know much about Martin. But in Minnesota, the DFL, stands for Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, even though Farmers there have been Rt-wing supporting maga types for decades! The DNC has become champions of ignoring the base. So I don’t want to pre-judge Martin but past behavior of DNChas me worried.
Well said.
Seriously - I take one look at this guy and I can tell he doesn’t have the chops for this , I read any first statements and I further confirm my initial thoughts - he doesn’t have what this is going to take .
I am so sick of this, Earl. It’s like the Democrats just want to dig in their heels and keep losing. I am very close to changing my affiliation to independent, and I’m done donating money. We could’ve had an intelligent, dynamic, progressive DNC chair in Ben Winkler, and these idiots threw it all away.
I meant Wikler. This slow rolling coup that we are under is giving me intense brain fog.
I must have the same brain fog because I read "Wikler" in your first comment LOL!
"Independent" is the label that has always best described me as a voter, but I switched my registration to the D party last year as a show of support for democracy. I switched back to unaffiliated (there isn't an I Party in my state) and will remain firmly there for the rest of my days.
This kind of ongoing bullshit is why so many of the Founders were concerned about political parties, and I consider myself following in their footsteps with this decision.
What are they thinking?
That the rank-and-file aren't paying attention.
My only consolation is that (I hope) Wikler will continue to motivate Wisconsin to work for democracy.
Very disappointing! The old guard has the hooks in so deep they will take what is left of the party down with them. Now what? Is there a sliver of hope for the next generation of Democrats like AOC and The Squad? Then again, it may not matter. The 2nd Friday Night Massacre and the invasion of the Treasure, OPM, and other agencies proves the Coup is in full swing. I have yet to hear any outrage or action form the DNC leadership. Will someone please wake them up?
These are the same questions I have. WHY is there no pushback from Dems on Elon Musk being authorized to access our Social Security and Medicare payment system?!! The only people raising the alarm are members of The Squad, so many people just don't believe it's really happening. It's so damned frustrating!!
It's not the Saturday Night Massacre Redux. It's The Night of the Long Knives without all the bodies in the streets and the blood and all.
It may be time for the Progressives to peel off. They're never going to get anywhere with Democrats who are so latched onto the Wall Street teat. They need to Primary them or run as Progressives so voters can see the contrast....like they see with Bernie.
What MAGAts truly wanted was to destroy the system....they gave us Trump because the only one close was Bernie and he was kinda out there alone. Perhaps now that Trump is in effect destroying the system so he can pillage what remains, Progressive Democrats can step up....if only Bernie can hang in there till 2028......or maybe someone can clone him?
More of the same is for losers.
Jesus fucking Christ!
You said it, Carol. I mean, do the Dems actually have a death wish? Do they want to self-destruct? It seems that way.
If Ken Martin is going to continue the same, tired status quo direction of the Democratic Party, then we’re doomed. They have to start with a good, hard look at the party, realize their weaknesses, admit their faults, and become a new party. The republicans have shaken up the system, we need to do the same to confront the many challenges before us.
The "Republicans" are fascists. They're busy destroying the system as you have called it. Democrats obviously do not want to fight.
That’s the problem. The Biden administration should have been fighting since Jan. 6,2020. Instead we got an attorney general who was too timid to prosecute trump until it was too late, and he was able to become a presidential candidate. This 2nd trump administration should never have happened!
Completely agree.
Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Seeing a person turn blue and die is shocking.
This is exactly what 99% of people paying attention expected: all you have to do is observe their behavior since 2016, when they worked their tails off to crush the groundswell for Bernie- and welcomed Trump. thanks Dems. 2020, same deal: work to crush the groundswell, get Jim Clyburne and the old Black church ladies in South Carolina to shove a dated and never very lively Joe Biden down the throats of Americans- because the Democrats only reward longevity. Henry Cuellar over Jessica Cisneros- thanks Nancy Pelosi. Allowing candidates being flooded with AIPAC money to defeat some of our liveliest oppo Houses reps- like Corey Bush. Haven't smart people like you, D. Earl, seen enough?
There are millions of rank and file Democrats and Indpendents ready to battle in the streets if needed to save what is left of the fast crumbling democracy- we will not be led by Democratic leadership. and that is a sad fact.
Nobody seems to be ready to battle in the streets, Nancy.
Real problem there.
I'VE BEEN READY FOR EIGHT YEARS, ut never so much as I am now. Where is the charismatic leader who has the voice, the energy, and the sense of extreme urgency this moment calls for?? We need a leader to bring some hellfire and brimstone to this fight and instruct these idiotic old guard Dems that THEY are ruining the country almost as badly as the MAGATs with their befuddled Senate Leader and Mrs. Pelosi, who has forgotten that it's time to go home.
I could not agree more! Well stated!
I'm ready. I'm so goddamn ready to take it to the streets. But I haven't heard the bugle. Where is the leadership? Where is the call to action? Nobody is going to listen to me. Or to the American people.
We elected people and sent them to Washington to represent and fight for us. Those people are sitting on their asses and don't give a shit. I'll battle in the streets when they do. I don't look for that to happen.
Right: because nobody except climate activists are organizing real humans. Organizing is not the process of shilling for cash, as hard as political parties want to conflate the two.
When Trump kills Medicaid or SNAP, people should be prepared to be banging pots or whatever symbols of resistance occurs. Maybe i am crazy, but I think angry and hurting people respond to be spoken with respectfully by people like Bernie Sanders.
Just like Schumer reportedly stopped Jeff Jackson’s US senate campaign to run a black woman no one had ever heard much about after Jackson had already campaigned in all 100 counties and every university in NC. Of course NC did not end up sending a Dem to the senate. 😩
Have you checked lately what percentage of the voting public agrees with what you say here? There's a reason why the left flank of progressivism is a minority.
Progressive messaging IS populist messaging. It speaks to working class folks. One of the reasons Trump is popular is that he claimed he wanted to drain the swamp. He saw a people hungry to break free from corrupt oligarch rule and he capitalized on that. People are tired of watching politicians make out like bandits profiting from the “free” markets they are regulating while they ask us to push the retirement age back AGAIN for SS benefits we paid into. Kamala was a centrist. She lost.
So disappointing. Ben Wikler would have confronted the problems the Dem party faces head on & gone to work quickly & boldly like he did in Wisconsin. I’m sure that Ken Martin will be OK but we need more than OK & does he have the forceful energy to make big needed change ASAP. I didn’t get that for an interview I listened to with him. Jeez- where do Dems look for leadership now?
I wish him well, Bonnie, but holy cow what an uninspiring selection.
I am so disappointed that the Dems once again miss a chance to reinvent and reinvigorate the party and actually offer something new - i.e. a fighting chance to compete on a progressive agenda, at every level up and down the ticket in every region of the US. Last time they failed us this badly was when they booted Howard Dean after his 50 state organizing campaign had contributed massively to getting Obama elected. They just can't get out of their own way and trust that the progressive MAJORITY of people in this country will support them if they STAND FOR SOMETHING!
Agree with all of this.
Look at the new leadership of the Senate Dems. Amy Klobuchar was a disaster and embarrassment at the inauguration where Bezos $500 million dollar bride was dressed like a stripper. Let’s call it what it is corporate Dems like the status quo. Martin got elected because of Tim Walz. He seemed safe. Half the law makers are lawyers. Amy Klobuchar wrote a book on monopolies that I have a signed copy off. I have been an activist for the Democrats for eight years. We stopped with the 2022 midterms. We did not do 2024 except down ballot. We took Biden for granted but he needed not to run. The Democrats are stuck and out of touch with the grassroots base. All they do is raise billions on act blue. I am sick of it.
You are not alone. The party has NEVER been less popular.
They're so unpopular because they don't know how to win.....and don't seem to care. Everyone it seems is looking for their Hollywood hero to lead the charge. I imagine FDR rolling over in his grave.....I'm sure this is not what he imagined life would be like in the 21st century.
Not only will this dive back into mediocrity lose members, it’ll extend the losing streak that has given us Trump and the MAGA kingdom! There’s nowhere that ordinary, working class Americans can be politically represented. Thanks, Democrats, for underperforming, as usual.
I am so disgusted w ith the Democratic party. I wanted a fresh no nonsense approach and we now have the same old process. Wikler was a fresh perspective, something we desperately need!
I so agree with you and with 99.9% of my fellow commenters. To win in politics today, we need to win the war for attention. Dems passed up charismatic, inspiring new leadership for a status quo person who says Dems should not rush into action, but wait for the data and then determine a path forward. By then our democracy will be a smoldering heap alongside the history that the winners will write.
I’m incredibly disappointed and angry. If the strategy isn’t something besides expecting every registered democrat to be a daily ATM… what Carol Dillon said x10!!! I admire Tim Walz, but his endorsement is lamentable!
Minnesotan here. And this SUCKS.
As a Californian, the general consensus is that we West Coasters are ready to secede and #WEXIT. The USA is too large and it's way past time to change course.
Actually, while there is a ballot proposition asking if people approve secession that is out for signatures, getting to 51% would be a stretch, and if we think the federal government would be friendly about this (federal payments to Social Security and Medicare and for all the other stuff is going to be picked up by Sacramento? I wish) the fact is that 40% of the state population is unalterably opposed (the central valleys north and south, Inland Empire, etc.) The Bear Flag Republic looks good, but creating it is a whole 'nother thing.
If trump keeps fucking with our water supplies here, attitudes may change. trump just had billions of gallons of water needed for farmers during the summer, dumped in the ocean by the Army Corps of Engineers. Then he lies about it helping LA, even though there's no way to transport water there from those reservoirs. It was stopped by local officials, or certain communities would have flooded.
Yeah, that's a fantasy.
I agree with you, Earl. ☹️