The state of the democratic party

https://www.thebulwark.com/springtime-for-moderate-democrats/

August 4 2021 12:06 AM
Springtime for Moderate Democrats
by William Kristol

As we all know, a moderate Democrat, Joe Biden, won the Democratic nomination for president in 2020—and then the general election. A fluke? Perhaps not.

This year started off with the more moderate candidate winning the Democratic nomination (and then the general election) in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District. Then the more moderate Democrat prevailed in the 2nd Congressional District of Louisiana.

Next, a moderate Democrat, Terry McAuliffe, won the Virginia gubernatorial primary. Another moderate, Eric Adams, prevailed in the New York City mayoral primary. And tonight, in the contest for the Democratic nomination in the 11th Congressional District of Ohio, the moderate Shontel Brown has come from behind to defeat the co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign, Nina Turner. All these victorious moderate Democrats are favored to win their general elections.

And in virtually all these races moderates outperformed expectations: Biden, Adams, and Brown weren’t supposed to win, and McAuliffe wasn’t supposed to win with the huge margin he had.

So let me draw a conclusion from these data points: The Democratic party is a moderate party. It’s far more moderate than the oh-so-woke left hopes. It’s also far more moderate than oh-so-Trump-justifying Republicans claim to fear.

For those of us who would like America to avoid illiberalism of either the left or right, this is a good thing.

Maybe a very good thing.

Because the Republican party seems as captive to Donald Trump as it’s ever been.

It would be nice to have two parties committed to a path that doesn’t lead into the dark forest of authoritarianism. We don’t.

But we do seem to have one. And one mostly reasonable party is a lot better than none. So if you want centrist elected officials, it looks like the Democratic party might be the place to focus your efforts.

But the margins aren’t great, and the future of the Democratic party is still very much in the balance. So, all other things being equal, decent voters torn between the two parties could probably do more good, at least for now and at least in some of the country, fighting the battle in the Democratic party rather than the Republican.

To put it simply: Defeating the illiberalism of the left in the Democratic party looks more achievable, for now at least, than defeating the illiberalism of the right in the Republican party.

And of course it’s about more than defeating illiberalism and authoritarianism. It’s also about governing the nation competently and sensibly. If “future former Republicans,” to use Pete Buttigieg’s phrase, have some good ideas about governing—and we tend to think we do—we most likely have a better chance at seeing those ideas implemented by Democrats today than Republicans.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Shontel Brown, and to her winning coalition of blacks and whites, urbanites and suburbanites, and loyal Democrats joined by some independents and Republicans who took Democratic primary ballots.

Perhaps, here in America, here in 2021, the center can hold.
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https://www.thefacultylounge.org/2021/08/evil-money.html

August 05, 2021
"Evil Money"

Nina Turner, previously best know as the national co-chair of Bernie Sanders's 202o presidential campaign, recently lost the Democratic primary for the special congressional election in Ohio's 11th district. She did not lose gracefully, using her concession speech to attack the supporters of winning candidate Shontel Brown:

I am going to work hard to ensure that something like this never happens to a progressive candidate again. We didn't lose this race—the evil money manipulated and maligned this election.​

The "something" that Turner apparently wants to prevent must have been losing by almost seven points in a race where she had once been ahead by significant double digits. You would think from the quote that Turner had been seriously outspent, but in fact, her funding far outstripped her opponent's. She raised $5.6 million to Brown's $2.4 million.

So what made Brown's money evil and manipulative? Could it possibly be that Brown was supported by the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC? Or that she got a majority of votes from Jewish and suburban voters in Cuyahoga County? I don't recall any previous candidate ever complaining about an opponent who spent less than half as much money, but Turner evidently thinks that funding can be tainted if it comes from the wrong sources. Maybe it's "all about the Benjamins" after all.

Then again, Turner's loss could have something to do with the fact that she was opposed by the Congressional Black Caucus, including James Clyburn. When rapper Killer Mike, sharing a stage with Turner. called Clyburn "incredibly stupid" for not getting more concessions from Biden, the Majority Whip replied, “I was going to stay right here in South Carolina minding my business until I got called stupid.” He later added, “I just kind of decided if I’m going to be stupid, might as well be stupid."

Turner had the endorsement of every member of The Squad, with AOC tweeting "Please send me Nina." That wasn't enough to overcome Turner's 2020 statement that voting for Joe Biden was like eating half a "bowl of ****" (Trump was the full bowl). As of this writing, I haven't seen Sanders, AOC, or other Squad members repudiate any of Turner's statements about "evil money," "stupid" Clyburn, or bowls of ****.

It turned out that voters in the Ohio district like Joe Biden, and maybe Israel, a lot more than they like "progressive" Democrats.

Posted by Steve Lubet at 02:01 PM
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why do you hope that?