Intercept:
By winning a Detroit-area seat long held by former Rep. John Conyers, Tlaib fended off a divided local political establishment. She addressed protesters on Tuesday before they marched on Pelosi’s office, where Ocasio-Cortez later met them. Ocasio-Cortez upset Rep. Joe Crowley, the boss of the political machine in Queens, New York.
The pledge from Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez to continue to primary incumbents injects a new element of politics into intra-caucus maneuvering. The pair are rallying support for a Green New Deal and are likely to find an increasing number of converts eager to sign aboard in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, only a handful of incumbents refuse to take corporate PAC money, a number that is also likely to rise given the pressure of a potential primary.
“All Americans know money in politics is a huge problem, but unfortunately the way that we fix it is by demanding that our incumbents give it up or by running fierce campaigns ourselves,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
That Intercept item links here, (source of the opening screen capture, with readers urged to follow the link). New faces, no Amy Klobuchar, no Tina Smith; and petition Pelosi, per a second Intercept item:
Protesters with the environmental group Sunrise marched on Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s office on Tuesday. The group, made up of young people pushing for urgent action on climate change, planned to send a clear message to party leadership just one week after Democrats regained control of the House.
[...] This time, they were joined by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is just weeks away from being sworn into office.
Rep.-elect Rashida Tlaib of Michigan joined the protesters in a rally at the Spirit of Justice Park near the Capitol on Tuesday morning, but she did not continue on to Pelosi’s office. “This is the most American thing you can do,” Tlaib said of the protest. Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib also attended an event with the Sunrise activists on Monday night.
Members of the progressive political group Justice Democrats also joined the protest, which was attended by more than 150 people. “Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party leadership must get serious about the climate and our economy,” said the group’s communications director, Waleed Shahid, in a statement. [...]
The protesters, including Ocasio-Cortez, are calling on Pelosi to create and give teeth to a new select committee on climate change.
The proposed committee, called the Select Committee for a Green New Deal, would be similar to something Pelosi established as House speaker in 2007, but with more authority. Back then, Pelosi created the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and assigned her ally, then-Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who has a strong environmental record, to chair it.
One might imagine Pelosi does not find such prodding to be wholly unwelcomed.
A demonstration backing a sound policy investment to boost a better part of the economy besides Big Coal and Big Oil; including Big Koch Brothers, and bad policy [an incipient pairing]; breaths fresh air into renewable energy possibilities.
Bless the young and restless. Self satisfaction takes PAC money, young and restless wants reform. Who do you love?
Minnesotans; show some love for Illhan Omar, one of the Justice Democrats Seven, as pictured in the opening screen capture. Say what? None as aged as Tom Perez; none as compromised; let us all hope things will only get better. A nudge, a push, a shove - whatever level of input is needed to move some complacent ones off their comfort zone has to be good for us all; especially good for Republicans by opposition causing improvement, at best, and at least a hope for improvement. But fixing the one party before fixing the GOP seems the course to success; so help the effort or simply stand aside.
THIS MEANS YOU:
__________UPDATE__________
There is food for thought in an Intercept late-paragraphs continuation:
The proposed committee would, among other things, establish a 10-year plan to transition the U.S. economy to become carbon neutral, according to draft legislation that the activists presented to Pelosi’s office. The activists are also pushing Democratic leaders to reject campaign contributions from fossil fuel industry groups. “We need every person who is going to claim the mantle of Democratic leadership to take the no fossil fuel money pledge,” [Sunrise activist Varshini] Prakash said at the sit-in outside Pelosi’s office.
Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to join the protesters and march on her own House leader sets a tone of urgency and combativeness that is rare on Capitol Hill. Walking into the Cannon House Office Building, she told The Intercept something new had to be tried. “The way things are done has not been getting results. We have to try new methods,” she said.
Pelosi may need Ocasio-Cortez’s support to win a second shot at the speakership. The California Democrat can only lose roughly 20 votes on the House floor, and already at least 10 Democrats, largely moderates and conservatives, have said they will not back her. Pelosi has expressed “100 percent” confidence that she’ll be elected speaker.
[...] Ocasio-Cortez’s break with decorum could, paradoxically, open up space for her to ultimately support Pelosi on the House floor. After her primary victory, Ocasio-Cortez called for “new leadership” in the House and floated the possibility of Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., running for the job. If Ocasio-Cortez can extract concessions by publicly demonstrating against Pelosi, the incoming representative’s supporters may be more forgiving of a final vote in Pelosi’s favor.
Lee, a close ally of Pelosi, is running for Democratic caucus chair, the leadership post being vacated by Rep. Joe Crowley, the New York Democrat whom Ocasio-Cortez defeated in a primary election.
Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez have had an uneasy public relationship.
[italics added] Is this "protest" in fact fence-mending/tie-building, as if a throwing into the briar patch event was staged? People just do not get admitted into House office spaces to roam willy-nilly, free of authorization. There are door keepers. Public/private relationships can be confusing. Phrased another way, are progressives being played? If so, will good or ill result? For the present, Justice Democrats need trust, unless/until proven insidious instead of trustworthy. There is an "eternal vigilance" saying, but January swearing-in events are yet to happen, so this thing is early in fashion. Accordingly, the sidebar says what it says, and can always be edited. There likely is more than one Ocasio-Cortez skeptic, each from his/her own direction. Besides January swearing-in being near term, there is 2020 and events leading to November of that year will need watching.
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If progressives are being played, it would not be the first time. There was FDR. Giving enough but not an inch more. Earned bona fides are the best bona fides; earning being a future tense thing for now.
__________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Tune time?