The article you linked includes this quote from La Raja:
The Democratic Party is a very mixed coalition, and primary voters are more concerned with winning this election rather than being purists on policies
This quote alone immediately removes all credibility La Raja might have had as a political commentator since it is so obviously out of touch with reality. If this were true then Kamala Harris would have won in 2024. The fact that she didn’t (in large part due to her support of Israel’s genocide - a fact which these policy-wonk types bend over backwards to ignore - as well as economic concerns) shows that the Democratic voting base is predominantly less concerned with simply winning and more concerned with electing a candidate that proposes policies with a strong moral foundation and which address the people’s most pressing economic needs during a time of crisis.
This next quote at the end of the article completely gives away the game for La Raja:
"One of the things that concerns me about some of the recent Democratic primary results is the apparent emergence of an anti-Israel stand as a litmus test,” he said. “ If this assumes the same importance as, say, a pro-choice position in order to be a legitimate candidate on the Democratic side, I don’t think this will be good for the party, the country, American Jewish people, the Middle East, or the world.”
This man is a genocide apologist applying motivated reasoning in suggesting that “moderates” run in red districts not because he thinks they will have a better chance of winning the general (even in the bit that you quoted he states that he thinks progressives have just as much of a chance), but because he fears an anti-genocide coalition achieving a majority in the DNC.
I would ask, how much are voters willing to punish the Republican party? Increasingly, it seems they are very unhappy with direction of country with Trump and Republicans in charge. So that means ideology matters less in the general election - so progressives may do just as well in the general election
In fact, after reading the whole article it’s very apparent that they are framing the recent trend of progressive insurgents winning primaries as something potentially dangerous that is only made possible by Trump’s historic unpopularity. You started this thread by making an electability argument against progressives in red states, but the article you linked eschews the electability argument in favor of fear-mongering about an anti-Semitic strawman of the progressive left.
Democrats simply wanted a candidate who could beat Trump. In Kamala Harris they chose the wrong person. She was so dumb that she said she wouldn’t do anything different than Biden despite knowing that the GOP strategy was to link her to Biden.
Democrats should be anti-Netanyahu, not anti-Israel.
Progressives might win in some areas because voters are frustrated with Trump but later, they might regret electing a progressive just as some voters now regret voting for Trump.
Democrats should be anti-Netanyahu, not anti-Israel
This is like saying you should oppose Hitler but support the German Reich. Israel is a settler-colonial apartheid state that was established by the violent displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in living memory and motivated by Zionism, an ethno-supremacist fascist ideology that works towards- and has succeeded in - establishing a Jewish ethnostate that upholds a regime of apartheid, occupation, and genocide.
Progressives might win in some areas because voters are frustrated with Trump but later, they might regret electing a progressive just as some voters now regret voting for Trump.
Voters elected the centrists who have been in control of the party for years and now regret it. Trump’s victory is the establishment dems’ failure, and their refusal to learn and change is rooted in their willful incompetence, lack of any real conviction aside from maintaining their comfortable positions, and their willingness to cater to the interests of their wealthy donors over the interests of their constituents.
Democrats simply wanted a candidate who could beat Trump. In Kamala Harris they chose the wrong person. She was so dumb that she said she wouldn’t do anything different than Biden despite knowing that the GOP strategy was to link her to Biden.
It’s odd that you criticize her for being like Biden while advocating for more of the same. How do you cope with the cognitive dissonance?
The US was founded by displacing indigenous people. Are you saying that indigenous people should retake the US? All Israelis do not agree with Netanyahu.
Biden was not a centrist. He allowed illegal migrants to flood across the border despite polls showing that most Americans wanted tighter border security. Trump made border security a top issue.
Harris was not a centrist. She was like Biden. See above.
The US was founded by displacing indigenous people. Are you saying that indigenous people should retake the US? All Israelis do not agree with Netanyahu.
Does peaceful coexistence and equal rights not even occur to you, or is it that you have no desire to peacefully coexist with those who are different from you, that you would frame the discussion as if the only possibilities are one ethnic group displacing the other?
Both indigenous Americans and Palestinians have a right to self-determination, and yes, I do support reparations and land reform in the US that restores stolen and privatized land to the commons, so long as no one is currently living on it. In the case of Israel much of the land has been stolen in living memory and all homes occupied by first-generation settlers should be immediately restored to the Palestinians they were taken from (or their nearest relatives if the IDF already killed the previous occupants in the genocide). Second-generation and so on can continue to live where they are, but it will be in a free Palestine where Palestinians must be able to return to these places and live freely alongside them. The apartheid state of Israel is not entitled to exist, people are, and the name of the country in which they live scarcely matters more than if they have equal rights.
Biden was not a centrist. He allowed illegal migrants to flood across the border despite polls showing that most Americans wanted tighter border security. Trump made border security a top issue.
First off, Biden did cave to you reactionaries and tighten border security in the second half of his presidency after he had reversed only some of Trump’s border controls in the first half. Second, immigration is not harmful (although the exploitation of immigrant labor is, both to the immigrants themselves and to the working class as a whole) and the only thing strict border security and mass deportations do is cause astronomical suffering and deprive millions of their basic human rights.
No Democrat will get elected favoring reparations or the removal of Israel as a country. Galinda just lost in the Democratic primary after saying she would put American Zionists in ICE detention centers.
No, Biden continued to allow illegal migrants to flood across the border which enabled Trump to make border security a top issue. Legal migration is good for a country not illegal migration. The reason is that legal migration allows talented people who are approved to enter the country.
Democrats simply wanted a candidate who could beat Trump.
Lies. If that’s all they wanted they had that in Biden. They wanted to side with corporations over American workers and send weapons to Israel for use in a genocide. That’s what they prioritized over beating Trump.
Biden was a senile man who permitted illegal migrants to flood across the border despite polls showing that Americans wanted tighter border security. Trump made this a top issue because he realized that he could exploit this.
The article you linked includes this quote from La Raja:
This quote alone immediately removes all credibility La Raja might have had as a political commentator since it is so obviously out of touch with reality. If this were true then Kamala Harris would have won in 2024. The fact that she didn’t (in large part due to her support of Israel’s genocide - a fact which these policy-wonk types bend over backwards to ignore - as well as economic concerns) shows that the Democratic voting base is predominantly less concerned with simply winning and more concerned with electing a candidate that proposes policies with a strong moral foundation and which address the people’s most pressing economic needs during a time of crisis.
This next quote at the end of the article completely gives away the game for La Raja:
This man is a genocide apologist applying motivated reasoning in suggesting that “moderates” run in red districts not because he thinks they will have a better chance of winning the general (even in the bit that you quoted he states that he thinks progressives have just as much of a chance), but because he fears an anti-genocide coalition achieving a majority in the DNC.
In fact, after reading the whole article it’s very apparent that they are framing the recent trend of progressive insurgents winning primaries as something potentially dangerous that is only made possible by Trump’s historic unpopularity. You started this thread by making an electability argument against progressives in red states, but the article you linked eschews the electability argument in favor of fear-mongering about an anti-Semitic strawman of the progressive left.
Democrats simply wanted a candidate who could beat Trump. In Kamala Harris they chose the wrong person. She was so dumb that she said she wouldn’t do anything different than Biden despite knowing that the GOP strategy was to link her to Biden.
Democrats should be anti-Netanyahu, not anti-Israel.
Progressives might win in some areas because voters are frustrated with Trump but later, they might regret electing a progressive just as some voters now regret voting for Trump.
This is like saying you should oppose Hitler but support the German Reich. Israel is a settler-colonial apartheid state that was established by the violent displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in living memory and motivated by Zionism, an ethno-supremacist fascist ideology that works towards- and has succeeded in - establishing a Jewish ethnostate that upholds a regime of apartheid, occupation, and genocide.
Voters elected the centrists who have been in control of the party for years and now regret it. Trump’s victory is the establishment dems’ failure, and their refusal to learn and change is rooted in their willful incompetence, lack of any real conviction aside from maintaining their comfortable positions, and their willingness to cater to the interests of their wealthy donors over the interests of their constituents.
It’s odd that you criticize her for being like Biden while advocating for more of the same. How do you cope with the cognitive dissonance?
The US was founded by displacing indigenous people. Are you saying that indigenous people should retake the US? All Israelis do not agree with Netanyahu.
Biden was not a centrist. He allowed illegal migrants to flood across the border despite polls showing that most Americans wanted tighter border security. Trump made border security a top issue.
Harris was not a centrist. She was like Biden. See above.
Does peaceful coexistence and equal rights not even occur to you, or is it that you have no desire to peacefully coexist with those who are different from you, that you would frame the discussion as if the only possibilities are one ethnic group displacing the other?
Both indigenous Americans and Palestinians have a right to self-determination, and yes, I do support reparations and land reform in the US that restores stolen and privatized land to the commons, so long as no one is currently living on it. In the case of Israel much of the land has been stolen in living memory and all homes occupied by first-generation settlers should be immediately restored to the Palestinians they were taken from (or their nearest relatives if the IDF already killed the previous occupants in the genocide). Second-generation and so on can continue to live where they are, but it will be in a free Palestine where Palestinians must be able to return to these places and live freely alongside them. The apartheid state of Israel is not entitled to exist, people are, and the name of the country in which they live scarcely matters more than if they have equal rights.
First off, Biden did cave to you reactionaries and tighten border security in the second half of his presidency after he had reversed only some of Trump’s border controls in the first half. Second, immigration is not harmful (although the exploitation of immigrant labor is, both to the immigrants themselves and to the working class as a whole) and the only thing strict border security and mass deportations do is cause astronomical suffering and deprive millions of their basic human rights.
No Democrat will get elected favoring reparations or the removal of Israel as a country. Galinda just lost in the Democratic primary after saying she would put American Zionists in ICE detention centers.
No, Biden continued to allow illegal migrants to flood across the border which enabled Trump to make border security a top issue. Legal migration is good for a country not illegal migration. The reason is that legal migration allows talented people who are approved to enter the country.
Lies. If that’s all they wanted they had that in Biden. They wanted to side with corporations over American workers and send weapons to Israel for use in a genocide. That’s what they prioritized over beating Trump.
Biden was a senile man who permitted illegal migrants to flood across the border despite polls showing that Americans wanted tighter border security. Trump made this a top issue because he realized that he could exploit this.
K. Doesn’t change the fact that this is a lie