Wednesday, September 02, 2020

BOSTON — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts defeated U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III in Tuesday's hard-fought Democratic primary, harnessing support from progressive leaders to overcome a challenge from a younger rival who is a member of America's most famous political family.

 The headline is the opening paragraph of an AP report carried by Strib.

The headline tells it all. 

Italics at the end of the headline? TAKE THAT! Chelsea Clinton, Jeb Bush. 

An excerpt:

Markey [...] teamed up with a leading progressive, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on the Green New Deal climate change initiative — and at one point labeled Kennedy "a progressive in name only."

[... Kennedy] sought to cast the 74-year-old Markey as someone out of touch after spending decades in Congress, first in the House before moving to the Senate.

At a victory celebration in his hometown of Malden, Massachusetts, Markey ticked off a series of priorities, from support for the Black Lives Matter movement to a call for Medicare for All, to combating climate change, a signature issue for Markey.

"Every other problem is linked to it. No solution to any challenge will be successful unless we address it. There will be no peace, no justice and no prosperity unless we stop the march to climate destruction," he said. "We must pass a Green New Deal."

To make good on those pledges, Markey said Democrats have to take back control of the U.S. Senate and oust President Donald Trump in November.

"He is the most corrupt, most racist, most incompetent president in American history," Markey said. "We must banish his agenda of division and destruction to the history books."

Markey also credited his win in part to support from younger voters telling them "when they say you're too young, show up with your friends."

[...] "The senator is a good man. You never heard me say otherwise," Kennedy told supporters at an outdoor rally. Kennedy also suggested that the movement of supporters the campaign pulled together would continue past the current election.

"We may have lost the final vote count tonight but we built a coalition that will endure," he said. "I would do this again with all of you in a heartbeat."

[bolding and italics added] Elizabeth Warren, you have a target on your back. A heartbeat away, a non-progressive wants to eat your progressive lunch. Be vigilant. 

Be soooooo progressive that the Young Kennedy will have no opportunity to waylay. He argued Markey was too old. Too entrenched. So address it directly, saying, "He's too Kennedy to gain US even a pinch of progress."

And Senator Warren, if you have to go nuclear, remind your sane electorate in Massachusetts that young Kennedy is a Pelosi endorsee. That will end his chances. It did this time, it will again. Entrenchment exists apart from time in office, and Kennedy is entrenched wrongly, no matter how much cashflow he can rain on Pelosi/Perez and consulting entrenched hangers-on.