John Lewis on Bernie Sanders: “There’s not anything free in America. We all have to pay for something. Education is not free. Health care is not free. Food is not free. Water is not free. I think it’s very misleading to say to the American people, we’re going to give you something free.”
Republican talking points to own the progressives RIP
Lewis sure was a right wing nut. Good read.
It’s why voting for Biden is wrong. The Dem party will turn even the biggest fighters for justice into a corporate sell out. It must be destroyed.
Who should people vote for if not Biden?
In 1986 he ran against Julian Bond, a prominent civil rights activist, and accused him of being a druggie while challenging him to a drug test off during the campaign lol. It’s fine to criticize people on certain aspects of their life even if they were amazing in most other aspects.
Even during his political career the main things I remember about him are his activism work where he joined in on some big protests and was arrested a couple of times. Can’t think of anything too prominent in regards to legislation. Either way doesn’t matter too much, his activism work before politics is something that should be held up in super high regard (it is) and has had a massive positive impact on this country.
I think the endorsement points the radicals are making a out his endorsements are fair points. His voting record was pretty good.
I recall him leading a sit-in on the floor of Congress demanding a vote on gun control. He called Trump an illegitimate president before the inauguration. He called him a racist before just about anyone else in Congress.
He may not have been AOC-level of speaking his mind and standing up to the establishment, but he was pretty far from toeing the line. I think he probably was trying to balance maintaining working relationships to get stuff done with being a flamethrower.
The man was knocked unconscious as a freedom rider and had his skull cracked at Selma. I mean that literally, not figuratively. He didn’t get thumped on the head and get a bruise, he literally had a fractured skull. He gave an important speech at the March on Washington, overshadowed by MLK Jr, but still important. He’s a legend, he’s one of the greatest Americans of the last 60 years or so, which puts him pretty high up there all-time.
He’s like one of the all-time OGs of causing good trouble. I suppose the Sons of Liberty might have the argument that they were the true OGs of good trouble in the new world, but I digress.
I also recall him being pretty welcoming of AOC once she won, much more so than other leadership establishment Dems. I think you have to keep in mind the critical importance to African Americans of having and keeping someone like John Lewis in a leadership position. Politics lives in shades of gray, there are few absolute rights and absolute wrongs if you want to achieve and protect results. While he may have endorsed the establishment Dems in those races, as far as I know that was the extent of his support. I’m sure he would have been one of the first to welcome Jamaal Bowman to Congress, and I’m also pretty confident he’s one of the top 5 members of Congress Bowman would have been excited to meet.
There is a reason a lot of African-American voters, especially the older ones, support establishment candidates. I think we’re better served trying to change their minds over time based on our approaches and progressive candidates’ performances than we are by trying to purity test them and shame them. This is a group of voters that has probably been lied to more often and more significantly than any other in America over the last 60 years, and they’ve learned to trust the people who at least deliver some and follow through some over the new person promising great things.
In order to change that we need many more AOCs, and we need them to ultimately deliver. Then I would predict a huge shift in the electorate to support those types of candidates more.
Your quarrel is with the political system, not John Lewis. He had to be in the top 10-15% of elected Democrats, at worst.
You’re not fucking voting for Biden in the general? Are you out of your goddamn mind???
I think there’s a thread about not voting for Biden we can take it there but I won’t be following.
It seems like you care a great deal about purity, right? So I’m guessing there would be nothing better for you than an AOC presidency. I’m right there with you on that, half the battle right now is just keeping this country alive in a form in which we can actually meaningfully take power and get stuff done in 2024 and 2028.
It also seems like, for purists, the freedom to assemble and protest is absolutely essential.
I’ll make it really simple. Trump’s administration is LITERALLY rounding up dissidents. Unmarked secret federal police are throwing them in unmarked rental vehicles and taking them to federal facilities with no paper trail and no record. A second term for Trump is a near lock to lead to camps of liberal dissidents.
Any objection to Biden is what it is. A vote for anyone other than Biden is half a vote for Trump, it’s half a vote for secret police, it’s half a vote for camps, and it’s half a vote to never have another remotely free or fair election in this country. It’s half a vote for the demise of democracy in America. It’s half a vote for AOC to never have a shot at the presidency.
How am I supposed to vote against Joe Biden in this scenario? I know two truths:
If Trump wins democracy is dead in America.
If Biden wins, we see marked improvement in all of these moral injustices perpetrated by the federal government. They may not go to 0, but they go way down.
How am I supposed to vote against that?
Yeah I hate the establishment and biden as much as anyone, I realize they fucked Bernie and we gotta fight back, but now not the time. Democracy is literally on the line.
I guess if you live in a lock blue state whatever but you should keep that to yourself so you dont encourage others who dont.
You don’t seem to understand. Biden doesn’t have 100% precisely the exact same views on every issue on earth as tbbaker. To him that is the same as disagreeing on every issue on earth.
Pure or evil. There is no middle.
Look up what happened to the prominent leaders in Ferguson
lol, these guys are gonna throw AOC under the bus.
I’m well aware. Who would be more likely to do something about that, to do something about what happens in Minneapolis, etc? Bill Barr or Biden’s AG?
How important is eventually winning this fight to you? It seems like you’d rather see the cause die in purity than survive in imperfection.
Who is more likely to weaponize the DOJ and federal agencies to go after protesters? The ones currently doing it already, or Biden’s appointees?
This is like the pandemic. There’s not going to be a moonshot victory here. We’re going to have to take an inch at a time, a foot or a yard when we get the opportunity. But if Trump wins again, it’s over.
Meanwhile, of course, you ignored my entire post to just throw out a one sentence statement that is neither here nor there. Like, what’s your point? Obama wasn’t perfect? No shit. Obama’s DOJ didn’t do enough? Fair, I agree.
Who’s going to be worse? Biden or Trump? It’s not even fucking close. Who’s going to give you a chance to win this battle later? Clearly it’s Biden.
This is the mortal lock of all time. I would snap ship my net worth on it right now.
Like, @tabbaker you realize you’re allowed to vote for Biden and then start protesting him on Day 0 right? You’re allowed to start a grassroots movement to advocate for a progressive AG the day after the election. Surround his transition HQ and make some good trouble. You’re allowed to start putting together efforts to have a progressive primary him on Day 0.
I know all of you are smart enough to understand why someone would not vote for Biden. I’m not yelling at you for voting for him. Don’t yell at me for not.
Yes, I’m smart enough to know there are fucking morons in the world. I’m going to keep yelling at them for doing their part to ensure the demise of this democracy, because someone might be lurking who is considering the same thing and I want that person to know that people calling for this are just out of their fucking minds.
What do you expect to happen here? Trump wins and in four more years we all sing Kumbaya and elect AOC? Trump wins and we’re all already on a list, dude. Trump wins and AOC might be in a camp or dead by 2024. Trump wins and tanks roll through Lafayette Park like it’s Tiananmen Square.
And we won’t be saying “Thanks, Awval!” We’ll be saying, “Thanks, tabbaker!”
You’re the moron for following the corrupt DNC as they lead us to people like Trump. You are responsible for Trump already.
