LOCK HIM UP: Sanders on policy isn't enough!

THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2017

Part 4—We need what he did back in March:
For one brief shining moment, not so long ago, Democrats controlled the United States Senate with a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

This brief era of ascension ran from July 2009 through January 2010. We're unlikely see its like again.

We recall one of the ways we accomplished this remarkable dominance. We got Ted Stevens locked up!

Stevens was an endlessly-serving Republican senator from the state of Alaska. But yay yay yay yay yay!

In the fall of 2008, he was found guilty in a federal corruption trial—and eight days later, he lost his bid for re-election! For one brief shining moment, the fact that we got Stevens locked up allowed us to control the Senate bigly.

Uh-oh, though! "Prior to sentencing, the indictment [of Stevens] was dismissed...when a Justice Department probe found evidence of gross prosecutorial misconduct," the leading authority notes.

Still, the fact that we got him locked up gave us that brief, six-month advantage. Gross misconduct be damned!

That temporary domination of the Senate was the fruit of several gifts. In the years preceding, several major House Republicans had managed to get themselves accused of high-profile sexual crimes. (In 2006, this happened during the fall campaign.)

Also, a Republican president had started a war which seemed to have gone rather poorly. Along the way, one of his leading aides had managed to get himself locked up on a related perjury rap.

Meanwhile, oops! Under his less than spectacular leadership, the entire financial system collapsed in September 2008. This turned national polls which were disturbingly close toward the subsequent Democratic presidential win.

We liberals were handed a lot of gifts during those later Bush years. Now, we're hoping, in the case of Donald J. Trump, that we'll be able to lock him up. As with Richard M. Nixon of old, so too here with Donald J. Trump:

If we can't beat 'em, we don't plan to join 'em. We dream about locking them up!

This may not be the greatest way to pursue national politics. In yesterday's New York Times, Bernie Sanders noted the horrible string of election defeats the Dems have amassed in the years since that last set of gifts.

"If these results are not a clear manifestation of a failed political strategy, I don’t know what is," the senator pluckily observed. He went on to offer his prescription for political recovery. His recommendations ran beneath this nugget paragraph:
SANDERS (6/14/17): If these results are not a clear manifestation of a failed political strategy, I don’t know what is. For the sake of our country and the world, the Democratic Party, in a very fundamental way, must change direction. It has got to open its doors wide to working people and young people. It must become less dependent on wealthy contributors, and it must make clear to the working families of this country that, in these difficult times, it is prepared to stand up and fight for their rights. Without hesitation, it must take on the powerful corporate interests that dominate the economic and political life of the country.
As Sanders unpleasantly noted, Democrats have been losing elections on every level—federal, state and local. It's hard to argue with his claim that something must change "in a very fundamental way."

That said, alas! As he continued, Sanders listed a tired old set of policy proposals, roughly seven in number, with which Democrats should restore their primacy. While we don't disagree with Sanders' prescriptions, we think his overall advice was quite narrow.

Sanders listed a set of proposals, all of which may make sense. It's also true that, under current procedures, all his proposals can be demagogued and distorted in ways which ensure more defeats.

In this age of corporate partisan "news," the nation's problem is increasingly the medium, not the messages. It's easy to hurl gorilla dust around each of Sanders' policy stands. Until liberals come to terms with the range of ways we get defeated, all the policy in the world won't obviate our current political need—our nee to lock them up because we can't defeat them.

Sorry, Charlie! Listing good policy isn't enough. We have to come to terms with the ways our discourse has been turned to dust by the rise of partisan "news" on cable, on talk radio, and of course on the Internet. We also have to come to terms with the way we "liberals" increasingly behave, in part due to the thrall of our own corporate media.

In our view, Sanders' policy proposals wouldn't be nearly enough to restore glory days. We also need to consider the way Sanders behaved back in March.

Back in March, Sanders accompanied MSNBC's Chris Hayes to McDowell County, West Virginia, part of that state's coal country. They conducted, then televised, a full-blown town hall meeting.

We thought Hayes' performance was extremely good that night. We thought Sanders was superb, pretty much off the charts.

When's the last time you saw a pair of liberals address a room containing Trump voters without informing them, right off the bat, that they're a gang of deplorable racists?

As moderator, Hayes eschewed that approach. As we noted back in March, this is what Sanders did:
HAYES (3/13/17): So Senator, coal, I think, is on a long-term decline.

SANDERS: Yes.

HAYES: What do you tell the folks here for whom, like Philip, that is the one job that pays a decent wage and gives benefits?

SANDERS: Well, let me be honest and say two things.

I think—and disagree with me if you think I'm wrong on this—but coal in this area has been in decline I think, since the '70s and the '80s. It's not anything that's new.

And I think— And second of all—and I know not everybody, you know, will be happy with me saying this—but I happen to believe, unlike the president, that climate change is real and it is a threat to all.

But having said that, I don't hold this gentleman and the coal miners responsible for climate change. In fact, in fact, these guys are heroes.

I remember, I grew up in a rent control apartment house in Brooklyn, New York, and I will never forget the piles of coal. I don't know if it came from here or wherever it came. You kept my house warm. Thank you. So you're not—you are not my enemy.

But what we have to do, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, what we have to do is to say the choice is not transforming our energy system to protect the planet and throwing people out on the street. The choice is reinvesting in communities that have been devastated by changes in energy and make sure folks have decent paying jobs and we can do that. We are not a poor country.
"You are not my enemy?" Is Sanders permitted to say that?

Sanders spoke about policy there, and in the comments which followed. But before that, he did several things:

First, he invited people to disagree with him. This is a sign of respect.

Then he did something amazing. Instead of informing the crowd that they were slobbering racists and/or very dumb, he said he regards them as heroes! You're not my enemy, he said!

In other remarks, he made it clear that he understands, and sympathizes with, the difficult parameters of their families' lives, including the way Big Coal has been stripping them of promised health care after they acquired black lung. At one point, this behavior by Sanders occasioned these remarks:
RETIRED MINER: I never dreamed that I'd get to thank you personally, myself, for the bill that you have co-sponsored, the Senate Bill 175, the Miners Protection Act, which—

[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]

I'm one of those miners that will lose his health care at the end of April if they don't pass that law. I come from Local 1440 in Matewan...We have over 800 members, all inactive. They're all retired. So we look at things different. And we look at our health care and what we've already worked out.

We're not going to mine any more coal. Our coal mining days are over. And we look to have the funds that we worked for—

SANDERS: And were promised!

RETIRED MINER: —that were promised to us taken care of. That's all we asked. And it's— I think it's kind of ironic that a senator from the northeast—

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes!

RETIRED MINER: —takes care of my benefits better than someone like Mitch McConnell.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: All right!

[LONG ROUND OF APPLAUSE]
We've checked the transcript of the hour-long program. The word "deplorable" wasn't uttered all night. Are Hayes and Sanders allowed to behave that way?

We liberals! As our own corporate media have increasingly dumbed us down, we've become perhaps the least competent people ever to inhabit the earth.

We've invented perhaps a million ways to ensure electoral defeat. For starters, we seem to insist on insulting the voters, even before we stoop to instruct them as to how they should vote.

These leaves us losing elections far and wide, but always blaming The Others. As we get stroked by our own corporate millionaires who are paid to serve us our own tribal porridge, it never seems to enter our heads that we might be a large part of the reason we keep getting smoked.

We've invented a million ways to lose. We'll plan to explore them next week.

For today, we'll only say this. Bernie on policy isn't enough. We also need the good human sense he displayed on coal country night.

"Lock him up," we shout about Trump. For ourselves, we'd offer this question:

How in the world did we ever manage to lose to this nut in the first place?

Tomorrow: When it comes to our glorious lineup, five out of six is quite bad

13 comments:

  1. The fact is that Republicans have used racism to distract working-class whites from real economic issues. That should be mentioned - it is the truth. But the economic issues, also the truth, must be primary.

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  2. Again with the "yay yay ya" bs??
    Sanders says the miners are/were heroes. They weren't his "enemy". But who in the world thinks they are "enemies?" I haven't heard Democrats state that sort of weird view. Does West Virginia's DEMOCRATIC senator say things like that? Not even Hillary said that or expressed it. She acknowledged (inartfully, granted) that coal is on the wane, and wanted to help coal miners move into other areas. That's realistic and compassionate, no? And wtf...are we supposed to overlook Trump's corruption because liberal pundits might be condescending towards middle America? I'm an f'ing liberal, and I live in middle America...deep red Southern America, actually. And I reject Bob's characterization of "us" and our "tribe." Thanks,Bob. "YayYayYayYay".
    (Maybe you should quit watching Maddow if it makes you apoplectic).

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    Replies
    1. Somerby is a poor writer prone to endless repetition.

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    2. Many coal miners and other working class white people have come to view themselves as enemies of the Democratic Party. It is smart to try and reassure them that the opposite is true.

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    3. The point is that Democrats are NOT the enemy of coal miners, or anyone else. That's just a stupid meme. mm states below, the DEMOCRATIC senator from WV introduced legislation to help miners. No actions by the deeply-concerned-about-miners GOP.

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  3. "the fact that we got Stevens locked up....:

    NayNayNayNay, Mr. First Person Plural. "We" did not get Stevens locked up. The Bush Justice Department did.

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    Replies
    1. Someby leaves out this nugget from "the leading authority":

      "Within a few days of his conviction, Stevens faced bipartisan calls for his resignation. Both parties' presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, were quick to call for Stevens to stand down. Obama said that Stevens needed to resign to help "put an end to the corruption and influence-peddling in Washington." McCain said that Stevens "has broken his trust with the people" and needed to step down—a call echoed by his running mate, Sarah Palin, governor of Stevens's home state. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as fellow Republican Senators Norm Coleman, John Sununu and Gordon Smith also called for Stevens to resign. McConnell said there would be "zero tolerance" for a convicted felon serving in the Senate—strongly hinting that he would support Stevens's expulsion from the Senate unless Stevens resigned first."

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  4. In thinking about coal mining, if you said to coal miners "You are heroes, but coal mining is on the decline, and I want to help you move into other areas", that last part would get you booed off the stage and vilified as an enemy of coal miners. It almost ensures that the only way to win the coal mining vote is to peddle snake oil, aka lie, a la Trump: "Trump digs coal. I'm bringing all of your jobs back." That's fatuous and disingenuous. Maybe those coal miners just wanted their egos stroked.

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  5. Just for fun I looked up the Senate Bill 175, also known as the “Miners Protection Act of 2017”.

    It was introduced on 1/17/2017, read twice into the record and referred to the Committee on Finance.

    It was introduced and sponsored by Democratic Senator from WV, Joe Mancin. Currently there are 27 co-sponsors, the majority of whom are Democratic Senators.

    Six months later, and still no further action has been taken.

    What does this bill do? Basically it takes Federal tax dollars to fund the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Pension Plan to provide health and pension benefits to retired coal miners and their families.

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  6. Your New York Times
    "Correction: June 15, 2017
    An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords. In fact, no such link was established."

    ReplyDelete
  7. THIS IS GENUINE. NO SCAM. Hi! My name is Myriam Boyer. I want to tell my testimony to the whole world how this great and powerful man called Great Baba helped me to bring back my partner. My man left me for another lady for five years. I almost gave up until my friend advised me and introduced me to this great man whom she met on the internet and how he also helped her. I never believed at first but she encouraged me and i tried to believe and contacted him on his email. I told and explained everything to him and he assured me that he will help me and that i should not worry too much. I believed him and i did all that he asked me to do which i did and it work perfectly and my husband came back to me begging for forgiveness. I am so happy and excited now. I discovered that when my husband came back he even loved me more than the way he used to love me before he left me. Great Baba opened up his eyes to see how much i love him and how much love we ought to share together as one. This is not brain washing contact Great Baba now on his email: Highersolutiontemple@yahoo.com

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    THIS IS GENUINE. NO SCAM. Hi! My name is Myriam Boyer. I want to tell my testimony to the whole world how this great and powerful man called Great Baba helped me to bring back my partner. My man left me for another lady for five years. I almost gave up until my friend advised me and introduced me to this great man whom she met on the internet and how he also helped her. I never believed at first but she encouraged me and i tried to believe and contacted him on his email. I told and explained everything to him and he assured me that he will help me and that i should not worry too much. I believed him and i did all that he asked me to do which i did and it work perfectly and my husband came back to me begging for forgiveness. I am so happy and excited now. I discovered that when my husband came back he even loved me more than the way he used to love me before he left me. Great Baba opened up his eyes to see how much i love him and how much love we ought to share together as one. This is not brain washing contact Great Baba now on his email: Highersolutiontemple@yahoo.com

    AND YOU CAN ALSO CHECK HIM ON:

    Greatbabaofsolution.blogspot.com

    Highersolutiontemple.blogspot.com

    THIS IS GENUINE. NO SCAM. Hi! My name is Myriam Boyer. I want to tell my testimony to the whole world how this great and powerful man called Great Baba helped me to bring back my partner. My man left me for another lady for five years. I almost gave up until my friend advised me and introduced me to this great man whom she met on the internet and how he also helped her. I never believed at first but she encouraged me and i tried to believe and contacted him on his email. I told and explained everything to him and he assured me that he will help me and that i should not worry too much. I believed him and i did all that he asked me to do which i did and it work perfectly and my husband came back to me begging for forgiveness. I am so happy and excited now. I discovered that when my husband came back he even loved me more than the way he used to love me before he left me. Great Baba opened up his eyes to see how much i love him and how much love we ought to share together as one. This is not brain washing contact Great Baba now on his email: Highersolutiontemple@yahoo.com

    AND YOU CAN ALSO CHECK HIM ON:

    Greatbabaofsolution.blogspot.com

    Highersolutiontemple.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Why all this attention to a small state with very little impact on the electoral college or the nation? Why don't you discuss how wonderful Bernie's message was considered in New York or California? There are plenty more people there who didn't resonate to his anti-DNC message at all and who didn't hear anything to get excited about in his pie-in-the-sky promises without any details and his obvious pandering, and his sexism and lack of appeal to anyone in an actual minority group. He was a terrible candidate and yet Somerby plainly thinks he has something to teach the Democrats about winning! In what universe?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm Lisa Richson by name I have a few testimony to share with you all about myself, I was in a relationship with this guy and for 6 years and we were about getting married when we both have misunderstanding with each other and he ask me for a divorce and we both agreed and after 4 months I head that he was having an affair with one of my closest friend and I was very upset and worried so a friend of my advice me and told me if I still love my ex and if I really want to have him back so I told her yes, and she ask me to contact Great Matatan the spell caster and I did although I never believe on spell so he gave me something when he was casting the spell and ask me to say my wishes on it and after the casting of the spell a receive a phone call from my ex and was ask me at which I did and now we are back together again I'm so happy and I wish not to ever have this mistake again in my life. I will also advice anyone with this kind of issue to contact him for help he is really nice on phone and always there to answer you question giving you the good advice that you need. his email is( matatanspell@yahoo.com CALL/WHATS-APP:+233 20 926 0493 )YOU can visit his blog for more info. https://greatmatatan.blogspot.com/2019/10/true-powerful-spell-that-works-great.html

    ReplyDelete