Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar is a pillar of the local Democratic Party — he’s backed Nancy Pelosi in leadership contests, his siblings both hold county-wide office in his hometown, and he’s won seven terms in the House, easily triumphing over token Republican opposition.
He’s also the No. 1 target of the Justice Democrats, a left-wing group whose mission is to drag the Democratic Party left by making life miserable for incumbents like Cuellar in safe blue districts — threatening them with progressive primary challengers.
The small-donor-funded group supported a once-unknown primary challenger, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who became a Democratic Party superstar after she crushed longtime Rep. Joe Crowley in New York. They’ve already named Cuellar as a 2020 target and are vetting possible recruits for a race against him, but they’re hoping over time to build a larger slate of AOC-like challengers. The group is seeking not just progressive candidates but ideally those who are young, diverse, and actually from working-class backgrounds, rather than typical politicians, to remake the Democratic Party in Congress.
As the group’s communications director Waleed Shahid put it, their mission is “replicating the success of New York 14.”
If they can pull it off, there’s real reason for establishment Democrats to worry. The Tea Party deployed the same strategy during the Obama years and profoundly changed the Republican Party. The agitators didn’t need to take on every Republican in Congress, they just needed to pick off a few to send the entire conference running scared.
The Tea Party analogy pisses me off, because the tea party was never about policy or achieving any goals- the tea party was a racist reaction to a black president backed by big money guys who just wanted to continue fleecing the rubes. Justice Democrats, o nthe other hand, are the progressive wing of the party doing everything the way things should be done- advocating for their issues (which I support), and doing it within the party through the existing party rules. They aren’t, like many idiots (JILL STEIN) agitating from the outside, throwing their hands up in despair, and both sidesing us into oblivion.
If you don’t like the idea of primaries, you basically don’t like the idea of democracy. No one owns a god damned seat, and if you’re a shitty Democrat in a safe Democratic seat, you better start acting like a Democrat or start polishing up your resume so you can get a consulting gig or a seat on a hedge fund board.
*** Update ***
Judging by the comments in response to this post and the multiple texts from Adam, apparently I blew it on this post and am dead wrong. My heart is in the right place! I’ve asked Adam to write a rebuttal explaining the many ways I am wrong.
japa21
Overall I agree. If a seat is a safe Dem seat and the current officeholder is only a lukewarm Dem, then go for it. If it is a borderline seat, recognize a progressive may win the primary but lose the general. My biggest concern is whether or not the challenger will still go all out for the incumbent in the general if the challenger loses the primary.
BGinCHI
This is the best way for voters to change the party, instead of waiting for the establishment to do it.
The only good thing about Trump is that he’s waking up a lot of progressives.
oldster
I came here to say what japa21 said:
I agree with you about primarying bad Dems, *provided* that it’s a safe seat.
But if it’s a purple or red district, then a bad Dem is still better than no Dem, and I don’t want a primary challenge if it will weaken them in the general.
JR
cosigned
even when the “establishment” politican wins, that is how you get them to change their position on the issues you care about
schrodingers_cat
This Waleed Shahid person is smearing Kamala Harris on Twitter, because she was a DA then AG. Putting out selectively edited videos about her.
Yesterday Goku got eaten live for snarkily repeating the smears against KH, but lo behold blog father is appreciatively quoting Shahid as a hero.
germy
tobie
I know nothing about Cuellar or his district but if he’s been a strong backer of Pelosi than he’s likely not a Blue Dog, which is a good thing. Dan Lipinski in Illinois by contrast could really use a challenger. He’s a gung-ho right to lifer and fiscal conservative and this puts him at odds with some of the core values of the party, like a woman’s right to determine what happens with her own body.
As for the Justice Dems and the Tea Party: I think there’s some merit to the comparison. I haven’t seen much in the way of policy chops coming from Justice Dems. What’ the Green New Deal? Well, the proposal circulating was a proposal for a proposal to draft a Green New Deal, which means GND is a clever and appealing slogan but not a plan. And, a 70% tax rate on earnings over a $10 million sounds great until you realize that hedge fund managers have already figured out ways to ensure that their earnings are not reported as income, so the proposed rate won’t affect them. Maybe in the coming months we’ll have discussions on whether to continue with qualified dividends and how to revise the corporate tax structure. That’s something I would like.
schrodingers_cat
Thread about Shahid. BS bros are trying to pull the same stunt again, that they pulled against HRC.
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: Green New Deal is the Medicare for All of this cycle. Some Ds are repeating the same mistakes of 2016 by falling for the rhetoric coming out of the BS camp.
Kay
@BGinCHI:
Pitchforks. They earn this contempt. It’s about time they got it.
NotMax
IIRC (and I do) Crowley was so complacent and had grown so detached from the district that he barely mounted any sort of campaign at all.
germy
@schrodingers_cat:
Immanentize
@schrodingers_cat: No, Goku was not “eaten live.” He was roasted first. And, as WC Fields says, “Very fine with mustard.”
Also, I see no hero worship in John’s post — just an appreciation of his position. The messenger and the message can be two different things. Also, one person can have both good ideas and bad. At least that has been my experience with humans lo these many years.
swiftfox
His voting record is mixed. Probably could do better than 41% from the League of Conservation Voters.
EthylEster
JC wrote:
So first make a convincing argument that Cuellar is just that.
But don’t put someone in the general election that can’t win…like the GOP has done recently, to the glee of many Dems.
schrodingers_cat
@Immanentize: JGC has a propensity to lionize people Snowden, GG, Manning and so on. Right on cue, he fell for Shahid’s rhetoric. As the blogfather praising Shahid who is trying to actively undermine a promising D candidate is more dangerous than Goku’s inane blatherings in the comment section. YMMV.
Josie
Cuellar is my congressman. He is pretty firmly entrenched in this area. They will have a hard time dislodging him. As I understand it Crowley had lost touch with his constituents. This is not true of Cuellar. I don’t like all of his positions, but he is very good at constituent service and PR.
ruemara
Dude. No. They aren’t from there, they’re primarying a reliable, solid Dem for no reason than he’s a Dem. Their communications director is out there spreading half truths to salt the earth against regular Dems. Absolutely fuck no to Justice Dems, DSA twits et al. They’re not doing what’s needed. They are working to empower Republicans, whether knowingly or not. I’ve seen your reasoning, I understand it & I seriously don’t get why you believe their bullshit. They ain’t on our side. They’re scavengers who are trying to cut the party’s throat to gain not even half the power.
Immanentize
@NotMax: That is true about Crowley — and the voting demographics had changed radically in his district since he first took office. That is not true of Cuellar’s district. It stretches from the southern most part of San Antonio south to the Rio Grande. It’s a rural Texas district that includes some big ranch territory. I have some doubts a challenger will be found or have traction. (I used to live just north of that district in South San Antonio and was represented by Henry B. Gonzalez — one of the true heroes of civil rights in Texas.
NotMax
@Josie
He’s a good fit for Texas. And moderate is not a cuss word.
Uncle Ebeneezer
If you haven’t heard the both-sidesing, you need to get a hearing aid. The Both-Sides bullshit is the absolute core of their worldview. Every candidate except Bernie, Gabbard and AOC are Corporate/Centrist Sellouts and they are already attacking and spreading smears of Kamala, Gillibrand, Warren etc. Many of them had Stein 2016 profile pictures. I know this because I researched a bunch that ran (and won…ugh) to be my ADEM Delegates. They aren’t devoted Democrats despite their claims of being in the party for years. They won’t full-throatedly support the Democratic Candidate if it doesn’t end up being Bernie. They will cry and complain and spread Russian BS about them. Mark my words.
Immanentize
@schrodingers_cat: @ruemara:
So, is your position, Democrats should not face primaries from the left in safe Dem. districts?
WereBear
@JR: Exactly. Look at Governer Cuomo’s hard left turn lately.
I don’t mind if he’s a weathervane if he’s MY weathervane.
John Cole
@schrodingers_cat: People can be wrong about one thing and right about another.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
This is dead on. A lot of districts and states won’t elect a liberal Democrat. I’ve said before, I won’t ask Doug Jones to vote like Richard Durbin. But I sure as hell am going to ask a senator from Rhode Island to vote like Durbin. If we had a senator from New Jersey who voted like Ben Nelson, I’d sure as hell want to see somebody primary him.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@ruemara: @ruemara: Thank you!!
ruemara
@Immanentize: my position is these fuckers are not your goddamned friends, they’re not part of the communities & I wish I had your life experience to not be suspicious of people swanning in to tell you how much they know better what you need when they can’t do anything right in the areas that are actually favorable to them.
@Uncle Ebeneezer: nope, thank you.
Do you need that broken down more?
NotMax
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
At this point, would be happy to see Joe Manchin vote like Doug Jones. //
Immanentize
@WereBear: This is a good example. Nixon wasn’t that big of a threat, but she certainly helped change so much in NY. In fact, Cuomo not running for President will be, I hope, one result of that effort.
schrodingers_cat
@Immanentize: @John Cole: I don’t trust Shahid. As for primarying, I want an actual D to primary that fraudster in Vt.
lee
Rep. Henry Cuellar needs to go.
If for no other reason because he consistently votes against Net Neutrality.
Josie
@NotMax: Exactly
Miss Bianca
Do we have any actual evidence that this guy *is* a shitty Dem/representative? Or are we all just supposed to hop on the Justice Democrats wagon Just Because?
ETA: asking because I know very, very little about Texas Dems
Brachiator
I agree with this for the most part, but there is tension when these people represent an ideology more than the people in their district.
A better example than the Tea Party was the Prohibition movement, which somewhat crossed party lines. They went after politicians solely on the basis of their commitment to banning alcohol.
People like AOC say that they are representing the people who voted for them. I believe her. But other purity progressives too often believe that they have to “educate” the ignorant masses or know better what they should want.
tobie
Lest we forget…word a few weeks ago was the AOC and Justice Dems wanted to primary Hakeem Jeffries. I know AOC is everyone’s heart throb but I’m still on the fence.
Brickley Paiste
@schrodingers_cat:
It has long been apparent that Goku is a Russian bot.
lee
I just tweeted @Cueller this article. I follow him and harass him about NN at times. I let him know I’ll be donating to his primary challenger.
Immanentize
@ruemara: Well, I suppose everyone needs more friends, but I am not looking for friends in the political consulting class, thank you very much!
So, break it down please — the idea regarding primaries — please do so slowly with small words because i’m dumb that way.
To be clear, as an example, I will support any good challenger to Seth Moulton. That is the idea I am talking about. I am sure that there are some bad people in that district who would like a Republican to win! And would pull dirty tricks which never ever happen in politics. But it is a very solid Dem. district. So, I believe that chances should be taken in such cases.
Do you disagree? Or are we going to get back to who I sit by in the lunchroom?
Chetan Murthy
@Immanentize: @schrodingers_cat: @ruemara: These Justice Dems seem a little shady. But OTOH, Cuellar in 2018 got 84% of the vote. If that’s not a solid Dem district, I don’t know what is. And he voted 68% with Trump (when it should have been, based on his seat, 32%). These alone seem to argue strongly for a primary challenge from the left. Maybe not one led by Justice Dems. But still, he needs to be primaried, it seems to me.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat:
Agreed. I don’t trust Waleed Shahid. Also don’t trust the Justice Democrats.
Also, as far as Texas goes, there are few safe blue districts. Here’s a state result in a special election last September that I don’t think was mentioned here. Link.
I don’t think targeting Cuellar is that great of an idea. I’m much more on board with targeting someone like Seth Moulton.
Josie
@Miss Bianca:
As I mentioned, he is my rep. I am fairly progressive, and I am happy to vote for him. I would not be in favor of a new unknown coming in to primary him. Just seeing it from the perspective of a person in the district, I tend to agree with ruemara. In other words, he is not shitty.
MazeDancer
@schrodingers_cat:
Shahid lies. He clips vids of Harris out of context to make her look “bad” in Justice Dem eyes. Did you not see the Shahid take downs all over Twitter? He’s about the same degree of trustworthy as Nina Turner.
Primaries are great if they’re legit and come from actual grass roots of the district. Not some batch of harassers with an agenda that has nothing to do with the actual voters of the state.
Not good people, John. Encourage you to take another look.
As @ruemara puts it:
NotMax
@Josie
You would know far, far better than I but my impression is that calling it a safe D district is off the mark.
germy
@Brachiator:
Unfortunately the masses (ignorant or not) have been exposed to thirty plus years of fox news, hatetalk radio and federalist society moles. Beltway moderates “just askin'” the few liberals they have on their shows, while framing everything from the viewpoint of their conservative guests and bosses.
So maybe some educating is in order.
The Midnight Lurker
@Miss Bianca:
Ask me anything.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: Agree, agree, agree.
The Moar You Know
@schrodingers_cat: Speaking as a California native, I will not be voting for Senator Harris unless she wins the primary and is the Dem candidate in the general.
ETA: got my own reasons, never heard of this “Waleed Shahid” Russian asset until now, I’m not on the Twitters.
JPL
@John Cole: We can! Phew, what a relief.
Yarrow
@ruemara:
Yep. And someone needs to look into their funding.
Miss Bianca
@schrodingers_cat: Now, if those Justice Democrats actually started saying *that* – “Bernie Sanders isn’t a Democrat, therefore we need actual Democratic candidates to run In Vermont” – I would laugh my ass off. And then I might actually take them seriously. As it is, they sound like purity ponies who have figured out just enough about how politics actually work in this country to be dangerous.
Omnes Omnibus
If Cuellar really represents the interests of his constituents, he should have no problem beating back a left-wing challenger.
Yarrow
@tobie: I’m also on the fence. She’s good on Twitter, but this kind of crap is not so good.
Josie
@NotMax:
That’s the thing. The reason that his numbers are so good is that he is a moderate Democrat and because he stays in touch with his people – not easy in such a spread out, partially rural district. A super progressive would probably not do as well.
schrodingers_cat
@The Moar You Know: That is your right. My stance on Sen. Warren is similar.
Miss Bianca
@The Midnight Lurker: Then is this “Cuellar must be primaried” energy coming from inside his district, or outside? If inside, then great. If outside, these “Justice Democrats” can fuck the hell off.
Fair Economist
@tobie:
Cuellar is absolutely a Blue Dog, both literally and in spirit (he’s one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress in spite of representing a very blue district). He supported Pelosi only because he’s not stupid.
lee
@Miss Bianca:
He is a pretty conservative/pro-business Dem. For instance he consistently votes against Net Neutrality.
I have no idea of the exact demographics of his district but generally the area is a dem stronghold.
schrodingers_cat
@Chetan Murthy: I will let his constituents decide that.
JPL
@Josie: Thanks for the info.
The Moar You Know
@schrodingers_cat: I tend to listen far more to people who live in the states that candidates come from because they’ll know things I do not. I trust your judgement on that. That thing with the DNA test response to Trump…I just hope she’s not that easily baited all the time.
JR
@Omnes Omnibus: This is my take as well.
For as much as people wrung their hands about the laughable leadership challenge by Moulton et al., Pelosi ate their lunch and gave her a strong position to stare down Trump on the shutdown. Good politicians will beat back challengers.
schrodingers_cat
@MazeDancer: I have linked to one such thread in my later comment.
Kay
@Brachiator:
Lefties hate that and think it’s a stereotype but there’s truth to it, in my opinion, even one on one with them.
I do think AOC manages to avoid the pitfalls of scolding people because of her temperament. She is enjoying herself – she’s a genuinely happy warrior- and that’s appealing. I think that’s the part that drives the Right crazy. They want dour Lefties who lecture and patronize. She’s not that.
kindness
Why am I getting the impression that Justice Democrats are the same type of scum as BernieBros, but a different flavor? I see grift more than I see service.
rikyrah
Phuck Outta Here ???
The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) Tweeted:
Howard Schultz blames Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for his decision to run as Independent and it has to do with her plan to tax the rich
https://t.co/OyWnMKDZGn https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1090259634861105152?s=17
Matt McIrvin
Justice Dems is associated with Cenk Uygur/ Young Turks, isn’t it? Our am I getting that wrong? That was always my biggest (really only) issue with AOC.
Getting more progressive politicians in very blue seats actually does seem like a good thing for them to concentrate on, though, instead of knocking down viable Democratic Presidential candidates.
Yarrow
@Omnes Omnibus: Sure, but if his district is happy with him then it’s just a waste of money and possibly could damage him and open the door for a Republican to win. It’s dumb. Why not find representatives who are out of touch with their district and challenge them?
The Moar You Know
@Miss Bianca: It’s outside. His own district seems to like him; I’m content to leave that be. He may have a “safe” district, but that’s Texas and there probably is no true “safe” blue district in the same way that, let’s say, most of Los Angeles is.
The inevitable question: who is funding “Justice Democrats”? I want an answer to that RIGHT NOW.
schrodingers_cat
@kindness: I think they are BS bros, with new branding.
schrodingers_cat
@The Moar You Know: Putin?
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: cue my inner Monty Python: “oh, *now* we see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I’m being repressed!”
God, what a wanker.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
Definitely look into the funding ??
Brachiator
@Immanentize:
Some folks falsely assume that everything that is left of the center, or whatever candidate you want to take on, is a step closer to Progressive Nirvana. Some leftists are crackpots, and some leftist ideas are stupid or impracticable.
schrodingers_cat
Right now our laser like focus needs to be on defeating Rs. We are in an existential crisis as a nation, less than perfect Ds are truly not the problem to take on right now.
The Moar You Know
@rikyrah: the saving grace about Howard Schultz as a candidate is that he thinks he’s very smart and that everyone will treat him as a Very Smart Person. He’s going to get his clock cleaned. Americans fucking hate smart people.
Frankensteinbeck
I like AOC. She’s smart, and she turned out to be able to see who the good guys were in congress once she met them. I’m pretty sure she was pushed forward by people who did not have her good intentions.
NotMax
In all frankness, why not wait and scope out the landscape a year from now? More pertinent, important and pressing matters to focus on in the here and now.
Give
peacethe House a chance. And support in the present.Yarrow
@The Moar You Know:
See my comment above about the Texas State Senate election.
Plato
Meanwhile, in real world.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: Yep. That’s my guess.
@rikyrah: Someone needs to dig into right away.
The Moar You Know
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t know. But this fits the GOP/Russian pattern of ratfuckery, throwing bombs into safe races instead of looking to where we can get some more Blue Dogs into office. Or focusing on the Senate.
Mnemosyne
Here’s the thing that the “Justice Dems” tend to gloss over: AOC won that primary because she worked her ass off to win it. She walked from door to door until she LITERALLY wore holes in her shoes. She earned that win with hard work, not ideology.
If someone further to the left of Cuellar wants to similarly put in the work to try and meet as many voters in that district face-to-face as they possibly can, they are welcome to do so. However, I’m pretty sure that it’s mostly going to be nasty attack ads and a few meet-and-greets and then a whole lot of whining about how mean the “establishment” is when Cuellar wins again because he’s a known quantity in the district with great constituent services.
Again: primary challengers who are willing to work harder than the incumbent are welcome to try for an AOC-style upset but I suspect that, once again, a whole lot of pampered dudes (this time on the left) are looking at a woman of color’s hard work and thinking, That job must be easy if a mere woman was able to do it. I’ll be able to do even better!
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat:
Yes. This. Thank you.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: Some leftist ideas might be stupid and impracticable? Some leftists might be crackpots? No! No! Say it ain’t so! (Clutches love beads and patchouli-scented hankie, falls over in a faint)
schrodingers_cat
@The Moar You Know: If you don’t my asking what are your objections about Kamala? So far out of all the people who have announced, I like her the best. But that could change.
geg6
@oldster:
This.
The Moar You Know
@Yarrow: Not Texan, don’t know shit about the inside baseball, but yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Texas ain’t California.
Omnes Omnibus
@The Moar You Know: I always thought the goal was more and better Dems. More requires finding Blue Dogs for marginal seats and better requires moving Blue Dogs out of safe seats. Or am I missing something? Is Cuellar the best first target in the search for better Dems? I don’t know, but the concept is one that I thought we all supported.
The Midnight Lurker
@The Moar You Know: SPOT ON!
Also keep in mind, that the corporate-controlled media OFTEN put disgruntled Democrats who, though in semi-safe districts, still have to walk a line (we call them ‘whiners’) on teevee in pursuit of ‘fair and balanced.’ The division between Texas Democrats is being grossly exaggerated compared to that of their Republican counterparts.
Make no mistake. Cracks in the Texas Republican Party are severe and widening.
And yeah… after all that… let’s get dark money OUT of politics!
Hildebrand
@lee: Much of it is ranch land, agriculture (citrus, pecans, aloe), a few cities of note, vast majority Hispanic – which means that it is a fairly typical Deep South Texas constituency – which makes them generally moderate Democrats. This is not a hot-bed of progressivism.
Chetan Murthy
@Yarrow: I looked up that special election (19th Texas Senate district): https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_State_Senate_District_19
(1) it was a special election, and neither candidate was the incumbent
(2) the previous (D) incumbent resigned (found guilty of charges related to bribery)
(3) that incumbent won in 2016 56-40
(4) The GrOPer won with a margin 57-43 in the special election
Cuellar by contrast won 84-16. Now, maybe this means that Cuellar is really well-liked in his district. Maybe it means his district is really Blue. SC and others note that it should be up to the voters in his district, and of course, that’s 100% right. But OTOH, the only thing that distinguishes this case from AOC, is that we all presume that Texas is redder than NYC. Sure, that’s true. But it doesn’t mean that that district wants a “moderate”.
I mean *hell*, Crowley (the guy AOC beat) won in 2016 83-17. A -worse- margin than Cuellar.
D
Cuellar was Bush’s favorite Democrat in the house, much like Lieberman was in the Senate. If I weren’t on my phone I’d provide links.
schrodingers_cat
I have an observation to make. The people who think that this is a good strategy are all white and male (self identified). I mean this is the internet, you could be a cat in a box for all I know.
ETA: With the exception of Chetan Murthy, who is also male if not white.
lee
@Yarrow:
The problem with using that election as a bell-weather is that the trend is for the opposing party to win the election after someone getting out of office like that.
The Texas Dems (not that smart of a group) knew the guy was corrupt and kept him in (a bit of a stink about who knew what when). They should have pushed him out years ago.
Yarrow
@Omnes Omnibus: I support the general idea. I don’t think Cuellar is a good first target. That the Justice Dems have picked him for their first target means they don’t understand how this stuff works, or (and more likely in my view) are not actually working to elect “more and better Democrats” but are instead working to disrupt things and hurt the Democratic party.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: They want to hurt Ds. See their reaction to Beto and Kamala.
Amir Khalid
@Brickley Paiste:
?? Justify that claim or GTFO.
lee
@Yarrow: I think he is a great first target (see above comments about Net Neutrality)
Doug R
@japa21:
It should be a law if not part of the primary agreement that if you run in a primary and lose, you aren’t allowed to run in the same general as, say….Connecticut For Lieberman or bots for Bernie.
The Moar You Know
@schrodingers_cat: 1. She’s one of the last products of the Willie Brown political machine, a machine that was very good at enriching those in it and horrendous at actually keeping Dems in power. To call it “deeply corrupt” is an understatement. 2. CA has massive entrenched issues with our Nazi-trained law enforcement; as AG she could have done a lot to fix that. It would have taken years, but it needs to be done. But doing a good job as AG was never her goal, she has always been looking to move up. 3. CA needs good Senatorial leadership; she’s done two years and is thinking she can go the next step, leaving the state to fill a Senate seat again. We’re the largest economy in the United States; we need a Senator who will stay a Senator, get seniority and represent us with some power (DiFi will not live forever and I don’t want a situation where CA has two freshman senators!) .
I see, in short, nothing but a lot of ambition not matched by accomplishments. And some really questionable character traits.
In addition, for someone who is supposedly such a hot-shit lawyer, her performance during Kavanaugh’s hearings was awful. Lost at sea. That frankly was the dealbreaker for me.
Yarrow
@Chetan Murthy: Cuellar is well liked in his district, which is part of why he gets re-elected. Whether the district would stay blue with someone else, I don’t know.
If you dig into how that special election was won, the Republican worked to get votes. The district is majority Latino so it’s kind of a big deal, even though it’s a special election.
@lee:
Agreed. The whole thing was a mess and the Dems did themselves no favors. Still, the win by the Republican was notable and certainly shows that Dems in Texas cannot take the Latino vote for granted.
RobertB
@lee bellwether. Turns out it means ‘sheep’, not ‘the freezing insanity happening outside my window’.
Chetan Murthy
@The Moar You Know:
And we can’t have that in a woman, now, can we?
schrodingers_cat
@The Moar You Know: Thanks.
stinger
But it’s Texas. I thought the idea was “First, more Democrats, then better Democrats.” Targeting a safe D seat might make sense in some other states, but not TX. How about putting that energy and those resources (Mercer’s? Putin’s?) into flipping Texas seats?
Miss Bianca
@lee: So, do you live in his district? Or are you just all for “disruption, baby!”? I mean, yeah…I like net neutrality, can’t think why someone would vote against it. But let the people IN HIS DISTRICT make the decision to primary him or not. Not some group of self-proclaimed Progressive Betters.
burnspbesq
@Josie:
My sense, from afar, is that that seat gets a lot less safe if Dems run to the left of where Cuellar is. Yes?
It is characteristic of Our Progressive Betters that they undervalue local knowledge and nuance in favor of Blowing Shit Up Because We Can.
Wanna blow up a congressional district? Go blow up NJ-05. No one will notice if Josh Gottheimer is replaced by a Republican with a perfect rating from the Club for Growth.
Ruviana
@Omnes Omnibus: My question sort of fits here–how do Justice Democrats/DSA/etc., pick who to target or primary? A couple of good candidates were mentioned (cough cough Seth Mouton), how do they come up with their targets?
Brickley Paiste
@Amir Khalid:
Another foreign bot pops up.
Coincidence?
Chetan Murthy
@Yarrow:
I wonder if one would have said that of Crowley?
That -is- the key question. (Lucky for me) I no longer (have to) live in Texas, so I don’t have any insight into it.
Look: I’m not saying he -must- be primaried. Just that it’s not at all obvious from what I’ve seen (and certainly what’s been reported here) that he -mustn’t- be.
West of the Rockies
I’m still amazed that there are people saying that an HRC administration would be just the same as Trump’s.
I wish we did not have the wibbly-wobbly Manchin types in the party, but they’re better than a Bachmann or Gohmert.
lee
@Miss Bianca: The people in his district will decide the winner of the primary. I see no issue with giving them an option that will support NN.
Josie
@burnspbesq:
In my opinion, your sense is correct. Of course, according to Lee, I’m not right bright since I’m a Texas Dem, so who knows?
schrodingers_cat
@Chetan Murthy: All resources are finite. If we are primarying less than perfect Ds, we are taking the resources away from defeating every R. 2020 is going to be an existential election, we need to take the Senate, Congress and the presidency. Only exceptions to this are Seth Fucking Moulton and the Sage of Vt. Or anyone actively trying to undermine Ds.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chetan Murthy:
That is very much where I am on this. Also, any successful primary would require a candidate from the district. Is there a young ADA or city council member who is waiting for the opportunity to step up and actually challenge Cuellar?
Yarrow
@Chetan Murthy: I don’t think people are saying he mustn’t be primaried, but the first target? Nope. Not a great first target.
Brickley Paiste
@The Moar You Know:
Everything you say about Harris is true but she will turn out black and women votors and democrats cannot win without them. For example, see Clinton 2016 where the depressed black voter turnout (compared to 2008 and 2012) far exceed the amount that would have swung the electoral college to the Ds.
2020 is the time to get a democrat – any democrat – in the White House – even if the candidate is a bumbling, amoral, corporate sellout.
eta: and you’re absolutely right about her abysmal performance in the Kavanaugh hearings. We had the hearing on in one of the conference rooms and people were shouting out questions that she (and the other Ds) should have been asking. It was a bad performance even for someone who showed up at a hearing with zero preparation.
Miss Bianca
@Brickley Paiste: You can just fuck the hell off. No one here has time for your BS, you gun-humping pricklouse.
ETA: And the fact that you’re apparently allin for Kamala Harris is the only thing that makes me think there must he something wrong with her as a candidate. Because you are nothing if not the embodiment of bad faith, troll.
burnspbesq
@lee:
Out of idle curiosity, have you ever set foot in Cuellar’s district? You dont seem to know much about it.
Where there isn’t reliable rural broadband, net neutrality is a low-priority issue. It sure as shit isn’t a litmus test.
Just One More Canuck
@Brickley Paiste: you want to clarify that, please. Who’s is the bot?
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Look at BP’s reasoning for supporting Harris. Damning with faint praise. “She is a corrupt monster, but she is our corrupt monster.” More subtle than some trolls, but still a troll.
schrodingers_cat
@Miss Bianca: That hardly sounds like ringing praise, he is being sarcastic and damning her with faint praise.
ETA: I see that OO got there first.
CarolDuhart2
Net Neutrality is nice, but primarying Cuellar isn’t the way to get it. It sounds like a district where it i s difficult to even get internet service at all.
lee
@burnspbesq:
His district stretches from the Mexican border to the suburbs of San Antonio. I’ve lived in both.
Everyone has their issues they support. NN is one of mine.
The Moar You Know
@Chetan Murthy: Can’t have that in anyone. When I vote for someone to do a job, I expect them to stay and do it. I don’t give a shit about her gender; I give a shit about the unfixed problems we have in California that she did literally nothing to fix, having spent so little time in any position where she could have done so.
As a California voter, I get a say in whether she gets out of the primary or not. I am so far not inclined to support her.
daveNYC
@The Moar You Know: Justice Democrats funding.
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cycle=2018&cmte=C00630665
lee
@CarolDuhart2: Actually there is a good chance someone who supports NN would also be someone who would force the Telecoms to do something with the $400B we gave them to provide broadband internet to rural areas.
Brickley Paiste
@Omnes Omnibus:
I will sing her praises to the masses.
When someone on the D side points out her flaws, I will acknowledge them (because they are right) but then try to pull support by noting that she will turn out the key demographics that democrats need.
If I encounter someone who comes at her from the right, I will take on that argument “What, you don’t like tough prosecutors now?” Whatever. It’s all about tailoring the argument to the audience.
Politics is about winning and 2020 is all about guaranteeing a democrat in the White House.
I thought Clinton was a shitty candidate and an even shittier person but I still phone banked for her and knocked on doors in Nevada because I saw that Trump was probably going to win. Compare that to fucking geniuses who post here (some front pagers) who varied between being confident and highly confident that Clinton was going to win.
This shit is serious. Put the bottle down and pay attention.
Felanius Kootea
@Brickley Paiste: State your opinion on Justice Dens primarying moderates in districts that might not be safe or fuck off.
The Moar You Know
We all know what Paste Bucket is; why haven’t you all consigned him to the pie filter yet?
Fair Economist
@Amir Khalid: Note the claimant.
The Moar You Know
@daveNYC: Thank you. There are some very, very odd entries there.
Brickley Paiste
@Felanius Kootea:
I ain’t got time to even worry about that shit. Keep your eyes on the prize you fool.
The Moar You Know
@Amir Khalid: Goku is a moron and a troll – unwitting or not, he sure wastes a lot of posters’ time. That being said, he’s no foreign agent. If he was I’d be a lot less worried.
The person making this dubious assertion is, however.
Brickley Paiste
@The Moar You Know:
“Look you guys, this is really important, Stacy is just not cool after what she said about Becca’s dress at homecoming dance … do NOT invite her to Havasu for Spring Break …”
Immanentize
@Mnemosyne:
“She” applies to both AOC and Ayonna Pressley.
Felanius Kootea
@schrodingers_cat: Agreed. And this is what Howard Schultz doesn’t understand. His wealth has so insulated him from the terrible consequences of 45’s presidency that he is more focused on bashing AOC than on laying out a plan to undo the 30+ years of damage that 45 has already wrought in two years. I get that he’s enjoying the tax cuts but the empathy deficit and narcissism on display here is staggering.
Felanius Kootea
@Miss Bianca: He’s not all in for Kamala Harris. Please point out anything positive he’s said about Kamala – “black women will vote for her” is meant as a slam on black women, not a compliment to Kamala, if you’ve been following Prickly Waste’s fucked up logic. I don’t believe in pieing people, so I need to learn to skip over his bad faith, racially divisive and toxic commentary.
jl
OMG, are puppies and kittens raining from the clear sunny blue sky, jumping up and giving me candy?
Cole is 100 percent right?
It’s a gawdamn free country and people are going to do what they’re going to do. HRC can run, Berrnie can run, Nina Turner can run.
Anyone who meets the rules can run.
If your precious establishment Democrat heroes and heroines can’t handle progressives, they don’t deserve their seats, they won’t be able to handle real opposition, the Trumpsters and the GOP, who are much more ruthless.
Right now, a bunch of people are wilting and panicking and enraging themselves and fainting from nothing more than a bunch of slimy political operatives and deranged fanatics from various camps planting BS stories on inside politics in the corporate press that almost no one reads, that mean nothing in terms of who can win a general election. Get a grip, people..
Three hundred cheers for Cole on this.
Doug R
@Brickley Paiste:
//s at the end of a post DOES NOT mean it’s from Stalingrad LOL
MinuteMan
@japa21:
Actually picking off a few blue dogs at the cost of a seat or two is probably useful since it sends the message to the others that there are limits to how far they can stray. It may also be the case that some of these districts are not that hostile to many important progressive values when presented properly.
Even just harrying the mutts a bit with a losing primary challenge has value as a way of keeping these reps from getting too doggy.
Yarrow
@daveNYC: @The Moar You Know: There are. It also doesn’t add up. If you look at the Summary section, they have receipts of $2.7 million. They only have 12 people who donate at the top level of $5,000 (the first one is the same on the same day, so maybe there aren’t even 12). That’s a total of $60,000. The donation level goes down rapidly after that. Given that, I’d guess there are a lot of donations under $200 that I think don’t have to be reported. Seems like it would be easy to launder some money that way.
Immanentize
@Yarrow:
This would be a very good topic for Congressional inquiry. Even if some House members got their feathers ruffled. Or especially if….
Yarrow
@Immanentize: It certainly would. I bet a certain Senator from Vermont wouldn’t be happy about it either.
Starfish
Justice Dems are some Cenk Uygur nonsense, and they do not have a good track record of actually winning. I like some of their stances on stuff; but when they are only attacking Democrats, then I am out.
Amir Khalid
@The Moar You Know:
Goku can often be immature and/or intellectually lazy, and that doesn’t endear him to a lot of people here. But I’m not sure I’d call him a moron or a troll.
lee
@Yarrow:
That would require a large number of bots to generate that many low denomination donations to make up that amount. I wonder if there are any nations in the news that are known for their large number of bots on the internet?
Brickley Paiste
@Felanius Kootea:
Go fuck yourself you child.
Yarrow
@lee: Hmmm….I’m sure I’ve heard something about that…
Brickley Paiste
@Doug R:
“He’s gone a long way from Milan to Minsk …”
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: you seem to think I am in some danger of being fooled by the Bad Faith Bear’s “support” for Harris. Nah! But Christ in the Balkans, how I wish one of the FPers would just ban-hammer him and be done.
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
Maybe then we would get someone more progressive on immigration and gun violence prevention, too. I’m fucking sick of people thinking Sanders is a progressive hero. Fuck him. He’s a menace.
Carol
@germy: that was my thought, too. Just like the propaganda against Pelosi was generated by republican dirty tricksters. The sad part about that was how many Democrats/left of center indies fell for it.
The Midnight Lurker
I’ve been at this a long, long time now. It’s complicated, but I’ll try and distill all our problems down here in Texas into a brief and concise list. In ascending order:
4. The right wing Wurlitzer.
3. Voting integrity.
2. Gerrymandering.
1. And number one with a bullet – Latinos DON’T VOTE.
lee
@The Midnight Lurker: Other than flipping #3 & #4. I would agree that is spot on.
psycholinguist
@EthylEster: my thoughts as well. What, exactly, is the problem with Cuellar? I can’t tell from the blurb here. I’m guessing his district leans moderate/conservative. Don’t you people remember the Pace picante sauce commercial? “This stuff is made in New York City?”
I like that the democratic party has a fairly large standard deviation right now when it comes to view points. Look at where this strategy got the republicans. It systematically eliminated the spread of viewpoints and created a party of extremists. Doesn’t sound like a sustainable plan to me.
Edward Brennan
How much money has Cueller received in contributions from people not in his district?
I am willing to bet that like every other person in Congress, including AOC, it was considerable.
The they’re not from around there argument is questionable. Especially considering that has been the nature of Democratic leadership in primary races including Pelosi, Hoyer, and Schumer.
If it is acceptable for the establishment to support establishment candidates in primaries, then it is equally acceptable for any other Democrat to do so. What sort of person the Democrats in that district want should be decided by voting in a primary.
One can make arguments to them that certain candidates might suit them better, be more electable in a general election. These are valid concerns, but they are concerns for the electorate. To say Dems should not challenge Dems in primaries to try and effect elections that better support their positions for party unity is not Democracy. In an election everyone is a candidate, the person who held the previous term should hold no advantage, beyond their record.
In the end, run as a Democrat. Support Democrats in the general. But don’t undermine the process by making demons out of those who want to take part.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Miss Bianca:
Then perhaps you should take ArgleRBargleG’s “endorsement” of Kamala Harris with a truckload of salt.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@The Moar You Know:
You seem nice. I’d hate to waste your precious time. //s
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
He’s one of the only youngs here! All j can say is thang the fucking dog we didn’t have social media and easy internet access when I was that age. Goku does pretty well and wants to learn. That’s good enough for me.
PJ
@Brickley Paiste: Huh, I was sure you were the Russian troll. Perhaps you are both trolls, but Goku is pretty scattered and emotional and eager to be liked, which is uncharacteristic for someone merely trolling. Better check with your handler, BiP.
joel hanes
@Miss Bianca:
I know very, very little about Texas Dems
I recommend reading Juanita Jean’s for an introduction to some of the feistiest of them.
http://juanitajean.com/
goblue72
If I ever want to know what a bunch of out of touch old people, who are scared of flesh and blood lefties, think about where the Democratic Party needs to go, I am never disappointed by the BJ comments sections.
John gets it. Way too many of you don’t. (That goes for Adam who is an establishmentarian centrist embedded in the military and it colors everything he writes.)
The Midnight Lurker
@joel hanes:
Second that.
JustRuss
Balloon-Juicers in disarray! Unpossible!
Omnes Omnibus
@goblue72: So you are in radical leftie mode today.
wasabi gasp
Get back in the tote bag, John!!!
tobie
@Omnes Omnibus: Evidently he thinks he’s got his finger on the pulse of the nation, and what better proof could there be that he knows what the people want than that we now have Randy Bryce, James Thompson, Jess King, and Liz Watson in Congress. (snark intended)
EthylEster
@Miss Bianca: He is a wanker. Here in Seattle folks are still pissed at him about the Sonics. I think he should heed the heckler’s advice because he is an asshole billionaire…and we already have enough of them in politics
EthylEster
@lee: Regarding your evident obsession with net neutrality, I would just like to say that position on NN is not a hill I would choose to die on OR a reason to primary someone. Aren’t there, um, more pressing issues? Is NN your only beef with Cuellar? You seem to be a poster child for purity ponies.
Richard Guhl
Henry Cuellar, according to Progressive Punch, ranks 228th in the House, just above Brian Fitzpatrick, the Republican representing PA1. His partisan score is -44 in comparison to the strong Democratic lean of the district, by far and away the worst score by a Democrat. If any Democrat deserves to be primaried, Cuellar is exhibit A.
FlipYrWhig
@Omnes Omnibus: There is little sadder than a man in his mid to late 40s continually peacocking about the glories of radical youth, unless it’s the same man periodically peacocking about the glories of the view from his office window.
MomSense
@goblue72:
Dude, get your shit together cuz your reasoning is janky AF.
If local Dems in a particular district decide they want alternatives to their current congresscritter, then that’s a good thing. That would be an organic, grassroots action. This (if not ratfucking) is just another large national group trying to impose their agenda on locals – more top down bullshit.
Many of us volunteer and serve our local Democratic Party groups – towns, cities, county, state delegates. We’ve been on nominating and platform committees. If the Democratic Party were so top down and “establishment” we wouldn’t be so fucking busy trying to organize and make things happen. This whole Democratic establishment nonsense was just a Sanders excuse for poor performance in some primaries – only fools give it credence.
Bobby Thomson
Primaries are good.
Letting the people of a district decide is good; e.g, Sharice Davids.
Barring weird redistricting, Cuellar has room to be a lot better. A primary challenge might make him better.
The devil we don’t know might be better and might not.
Justice Democrats sucks.
different-church-lady
@Brickley Paiste: You really rockin’ the pronoun trouble tonight, yo.
StringOnAStick
@PJ:@The Moar You Know: Goku is a kid compared to everyone else here, and his parents sound like they are less than present, plus he’s got liberal leanings in a deep red part of the country so maybe that’s why he hangs out here. Maybe he’s looking for some mentoring from more mature liberals, but I’d sure feel bad if a young liberal gets chased out of here because some of the alpha dogs get tired of this puppy.
As far as wasting time goes, you don’t have to read his posts or any comments at all really. I’ve decided that I’m not reading comments here anymore unless it’s Adam or Cheryl or a topic I care about. Life is too short to spend it reading comments on the internet all day. We all need to exercise more than our typing muscles and being sucked into reading every comment here is a full time job; it’s time for life outside this box and maybe Goku will see that too.
sam
>> They aren’t, like many idiots (JILL STEIN) agitating from the outside,
Of course she agitated from the outside, she wasn’t a Democrat. Where the fuck do you expect her to agitate from? Run in the Democratic primary like another non-Democrat we all know?
J R in WV
@Brickley Paiste:
SO, Russian troll, doesn’t know the difference between a “bot” and a Troll, calls long time, regular commenter a Russian Bot.
Amazing!!
Glad I clicked through the pie verse to see that!!
Brickhead Paste, you’re one of the dumbest, least aware, Russian Trolls to ever appear on this blog, and for you to jump on Goku like that is the cherry on top of your MAGA Hat! I’ve criticized Goku from time to time, but mostly for his youth, which is curable.
Stupidity is not a curable condition. Go away, soonest!!