Dems don't lose the next election because the right-wing is racist, they lose when they fail to listen to their base and try to gaslight their constituents. The energy created when young voters, progressives and independents are given a reason to go out and vote smashes any kind of advantage the GOP tries to glean from playing the bigotry cards. Clinton was not that reason.
People need to let go of this idea that Democrats' job is to appeal to the right and be conciliatory. Conservatives don't vote democrat, regardless of how far to the right the Dems go. They only play up the swing voter fantasy to weaken democrats and get neoliberals going off on a wild goose chase for votes they'll never secure while at the same time neglecting and demoralizing their own base.
The thing about the right's attempt to attack Harris right now is that their attempts are hilariously ineffective and counter-productive.
They had a whole bible-sized playbook ready to go against Biden and then he was like "Eh, too tired. Pelosi says I have to take a nap." and now the right is scrambling to come up with stuff from scratch for Harris and it's really funny to see. Whether you put any stake in political sniping or not, I'd still invite you to take some small measure of simple pleasure in watching conservatives bumble around like a bunch of cats going down a waterslide.
I think there is a real issue with Americans that want the moon and if they don’t get it they throw a tantrum.
Wanting someone who treats climate change with the seriousness and urgency it deserves is not asking for the moon. Wanting a functioning healthcare system is not asking for the moon. Wanting bodily autonomy is not asking for the moon. Wanting your politicians to aggressively pursue a policy that was already implemented and proven to halve child poverty is not asking for the moon.
The narrative needs to stop that progressives are demanding "perfect". Basic center-left policy should not categorized as excess. That narrative is what brought us to this crisis we're in, all the compromises on the most basic left wing positions. The "asking too much" narrative needs to end, people need to keep demanding and making themselves a thorn in the sides of neoliberals every time they try to drag the overton window to the right.
I'm voting for Harris, that's my compromise as a progressive, I'm not going to stop criticizing the democratic right-wing or stop demanding better policy though, that's not part of the deal.
I wouldn't say extremely happy, I think he's too fixated on corporate welfare at the expense of progressive policy, but it'd be good enough as a stop gap.
She definitely needs to be more aggressive on climate change mitigation though, as far as I'm concerned it would be hard for a president to be too radical in that regard. Biden should've been pushing hard for the Green New Deal. Putting aside all other political battles against fascism, we are in deep trouble with the climate.
I was planning on voting Uncommitted on the presidential if Biden stayed in (and voting down ballot, obviously).
The only way I wouldn't vote for Harris at this point is if in the next four months she comes out as some insane zionist as bad as Biden, which I really doubt she will.
Firstly, AIPAC has no relationship to the truth, they're only there to disrupt the truth.
And no one said she shouldn't be honest about her positions, but it's still politics and we can all pretty much guess where she stands on Israel already; not as far left as anyone wants her to be, but not as right-wing as Biden/Trump. That's the best deal we're getting this cycle as far as I'm concerned.
But again, I'm not going to tell anyone who feels they can't vote for Harris if she's not strong enough in her condemnation of Israel that they need to vote for her. I just spent the last 6 months being told that I need to accept Biden's genocidal policies and it's pointless to threaten the party with a non-vote, I would never turn around and do that to other voters because it's bullshit.
These idiots can't help themselves, and they don't understand that they're hurting their own chances. Their brains simply aren't wired to comprehend that normal human beings don't respond positively to this stuff.
People need to stop reflexively posturing defensively.
The right is a known quantity at this point. They aren't growing their support by any significant margin. The reason they're a threat is because Dems keep choosing candidates that don't inspire turnout.
AOC, were she to get maneuvered into a political position where she had some institutional support to a presidential shot, absolutely would drive turn out. I'd imagine in similar levels to Obama.
People on the left need to stop worrying themselves with what the right thinks of how the Dem party is run or how the right would respond to a candidate. Flinching and hesitating because of what the right might think is how Dems lose elections.
I do think she still needs to be careful on Israel for the General, people were serious about the Uncommitted vote.
I am willing to vote for her (and I would not vote Biden under any circumstance), but I will never put it past Democrats to fumble even under the best conditions, let alone in this clusterfuck.
People are ready to compromise, hopefully she doesn't swallow her own tongue or tie her own shoelaces together or whatever.
I agree that she should, though I kind of wonder how realistic it is that she will before her official nomination. Last thing we need is AIPAC getting triggered at such a precarious moment and trying to turn the table over.
I don't know everything about her views on Israel, other than she's signaled she's uncomfortable with Biden's zealotry in the past and has been very quiet. But she will probably need to address the issue before the election, she needs to be percieved as distinct enough from Biden to get back the people in places like Deerborn, MI and such. A major reason Biden abandoned his run was because the Uncommitted vote just wasn't going away.
I'm personally willing to accept Biden stepping down as a win for the party and a blow to zionists, to me it's enough of a referendum on his zionist policies for me to stomach a compromise on Harris. But I'm not arab american and I don't have family in Palestine, so I would still understand people who won't accept anything but stark condemnation by Harris.
"Love" is a bit too strong a word, especially for Genocide Joe, but the party is very likely ready to unify behind Harris and use her as a cudgel to cave Trump's skull in like cantaloupe (metaphorically).
I’m not making excuses for him but guess I see no betterment if repugs are in charge again
No one wants the republicans in control. But voters committing to the game of chicken that Biden himself started with his own constituency was necessary to get him to step down. Like with a bully, if you never stand up for yourself they just keep abusing you again and again. That's neoliberal democrats to their base -- they're bullies to their own voters.
The threat to their power needed to be credible, people needed to show that they were ready to just let them take us over the cliff if that's where the Democratic establishment was going to take us, and it worked.
Biden is not a good human being. He's a narcissist and a child killer. There's no reason to show him any respect or deference now that he's stepped aside. In fact people should continue to loudly proclaim the genocide as his legacy, to make it clear to the party leadership that supporting genocide is an electoral liability, not something you can force down people's throats.
The left is not in support of Israel. While it's true that there isn't much of a MAGA/nazi element on Lemmy like on Reddit, there is a fairly large neoliberal demographic.
As well as a growing contingency of Israeli, Russian, and Chinese bots as those groups realize that Lemmy is growing as reddit continues to wane.
What is your point? Trump is even more gung-ho about supporting Israel than Biden was
No, I'm rejecting this notion outright. Nothing about what we see in Gaza indicates that Biden is any less "gung ho" about the slaughter. Israel is operating without limits. Basically everyone in the democratic party, whether they are pro-Israel or not, is still to the left of Biden on the issue. Even Harris pretty deliberately distanced herself from Biden on this because even she saw how bad this was going to be.
Biden is being forced to step down in no small part because his zionism has made him unelectable. The polls in Michigan that just came out were quite literally the straw that broke the camels back here. Whether Dems continue being pro-Israel or not, the lesson from the Biden presidency is still that voters have a hard limit.
You might not like to admit it, but voters do not like Biden. The reason Biden finally stepped down now is because devastating polling just came out of Michigan, ontop of all the other polling you want to deny is there.
Trump is not gaining votes, Biden has been losing them. Trump already has basically all the votes he's going to get.
Netanyahu already got the greenlight. Anyone who's been paying attention to what's happening in Gaza would know that.
There is no difference between Trump and Biden when it comes to their support of genocide. Biden is not more "moderate", he's fully onboard and has provided everything Netanyahu needs to continue his war crimes. The difference is Biden is a democrat, which means that he needs to be held to democrat standards, not republican ones. If he's not then the party is functionally the same as the GOP and pretending there's a difference is pointless.
Finally, someone who is actually willing to treat Trump's many flaws as weakpoints.