Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Besides more obvious things to say to beltway Dems and donors, eschew ballons. Do separate candidates from balloons. Beyond that, is it Bernie's way or the highway? Ask Ellison, not Ossoff, not the billionaires.

Not even a Clintonian convention balloon drop in scale and tackiness, there is this:

balloon man - and is somebody giving an owl hand sign?

Image is from NYT coverage, this link, this quote:

Democrats Seethe After Georgia Loss: ‘Our Brand Is Worse Than Trump’

By ALEXANDER BURNS and JONATHAN MARTIN -- JUNE 21, 2017


Among Democrats in Washington, the setback in Georgia revived or deepened a host of existing grievances about the party, accentuating tensions between moderate lawmakers and liberal activists and prompting some Democrats to question the leadership and political strategy of Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader.

But the overarching theme among Democrats was a sense of sharp urgency about crafting a positive agenda around kitchen-table issues. Congressional Democrats have already been meeting in private to shape a core list of economic policies, but their work did not reach any conclusive point during a long season of special elections.

“The Democratic caucus is united in our view that our message, heading into 2018, should be aggressively focused on job creation and economic growth,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of the Democratic leadership team, said on Wednesday morning.

Representative Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the defeat was “frustrating” and urged a shake-up at the top of the party.

“Our leadership owes us an explanation,” said Mr. Moulton, who voted against Ms. Pelosi in the last leadership election. “Personally, I think it’s time for new leadership in the party.”

That is merely the beginning of the NY Times item, so go there to read the complete analysis (and for links).

It is worse than an image worse than Donald Trump. It is an image worse than Tom Price, the least common denominator.

Was Ossoff a lovable candidate? Certainily not a progressive by anyone's measure. Money can't buy you love.

Blame Bubba Bill and spouse, for too hard a right turn. Something that can be undone. Easily, actually. Tom Perez should have the decency at this point to step aside, clearing the way for progress. Don't wait, however. It may not happen until late 2018, when too much of unavoidable error will have happened. Hard heads need hard proof.

Throwing the multimillionaire Pelosi under the bus is not the answer, but aside from that, why not for the fun of it? It would not be as if an asset were to be lost. A multimillionaire career politician, Pelosi has not held any private sector job or responsibilities, so that she and spouse might be money-wise to buy bus manufacturer stocks. A big enough bus would have room for Tom Perez too. They, under the bus, could go Onward Together.

______________UPDATE______________
Opinions differ.In addition, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Without any basis for independent verification or disproof of those numbers, by inverse values Bernie and Biden are the most trustworthy.