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| LEFT.MN commentary -- Steve's link, And Dan's. |
Yes, Dean Jensen, who you could take your troubles to. In order to avoid a Lyndon Johnson Scholarship for Asian Studies, back then, where oldest first was installed and draftees got assigned infantry after basic training; lifers drawing REMF status.
Or that is what was said. Except for Academy grads getting their tickets punched.
2d Lt - first combat experience.
Back to the story.
This Dean differs from Dean Jensen. Getting his ticket punched. Phillips suggests a younger man needs to primary Biden, with a particular gentleman in mind; toe testing the waters; the cold, cold, very cold waters of reality, as to his party's Brahman class, the inner party elite who "know best," (All things. Always), and who are in "Go With Joe," lockstep mode -
"Congressman Phillips is a good congressman, great congressman," DFL Gov. Tim Walz said in an interview. "I appreciate him; he's a friend of mine. President Biden's our nominee. He's the president. He is going to win. And I think all of us just stay in our lanes, do our work and things will work out well."
[...] A spokesman for Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who ran a presidential primary campaign during the 2020 cycle, said that "while Senator Klobuchar and Congressman Phillips work well together, he has not called her about this. She is supporting President Biden."
Similarly, a spokesman for Democratic Sen. Tina Smith said in an email she "strongly supports the re-election of Joe Biden."
Go, go, go with Joe. They could make a campaign button, similar to, "I Like Ike." The go with Joe slogan, and an image of a pair of sunglasses.
Briefly -
Steve wrote:
J.P. Coolican, the top editor at the Minnesota Reformer, thinks Phillips is some kind of modern day Cassandra: Democrats should listen to Dean Phillips, or catastrophe may await. I’m more inclined to put Phillips in the category of cranky minor prophets from the Old Testament.Coolican writes that comparisons are being drawn between Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. That comparison is particularly inapt. [...]
I’ve never seen a Joe Biden limerick. Send them in if you’ve seen them.
Hillary is not a template for Joe; don’t try to hang her around Biden’s neck. Don’t learn the wrong lesson. It would be darkly, tragically funny if nervous beltway sycophants managed to kill a sitting president because they were so hilariously wrong about Hillary.
They knew best and it was Hillary's turn. Dan looks to a different Dem. candidacy as his litmus test:
As far as I’m concerned, any possibility of a legitimate primary challenge to Pres. Biden was effectively squelched when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who I voted for on Super Tuesday in 2020, endorsed him for reelection almost immediately after Biden’s own announcement. At least in part I took that as Sanders acknowledging what I believe myself, namely that while Biden has been nowhere near a perfect president he’s been far better, in both word and deed, than many of us on the progressive left expected. And that any serious primary challenge would just distract from our chance at a serious blue wave in 2024.
Of course a serious blue wave in 2024 is about the last thing a rich-kid corporate conservadem, with an ego riding far higher than his intellect like Dean Phillips, wants to see. I don’t know that he and his backers really expect to throw a wrench in the works for Biden’s reelection. But they probably figure that they can, in political parlance, “nudge him to the right.”
I think the #1 backer, though, is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). With the odious Israel “leadership” essentially coming closer every day to rendering that country a near-pariah, AIPAC presumably is hoping to flex some muscle and try to make sure Biden doesn’t retreat on his current hands-off approach. And Phillips is one of the primary AIPAC tools in Congress.
I agree with my friends.
Most telling is Dan's closing link to a KOS "give Dean a dose of his own medicine" link, which is an idea with a degree of charm, (being most charming in suggesting an upgrade for MN CD3; not generically, but with specificity).
No question, It would be an upgrade.
The Crabgrass reading of the Tarot cards: Phillips is ginning up his persona for a run against Amy Klobuchar; not against Biden. Or against Tina. Whoever's seat is up first. "Generically, presidential, specifically, fit for the Senate next;" is being projected by an ambitious Chamber of Commerce type.
Of course, the Crabgrass reading is more akin to Dan's "trust Bernie" than Steve's limerick test - but both acknowledge Joe Biden and his people have handled things well, beyond expectations as Dan says, and there is every reason in the world to see Joe Biden reelected in another run against Donald J. Trump.
Dan says Bernie is his weather vane. Steve says a Cassandra was needed when "It's Hillary's turn" wrongly rang loud, but a Cassandra dishing out ageism now mistargets. Both Dan and Steve are right. With a caveat given at the end of the following paragraph.
My litmus test of Dean Phillips - If he can get Congressman James Clyburn to endorse him rather than Clyburn endorsing Biden, than the Phillips trial balloon will take off and not die with a faint pop or a whimper. Fat chance, yes, but isn't Clyburn and his timing what launched Biden over Bernie back then, and what next will prove a primary challenge to Biden's reelection a clear fool's errand? Unless with all the posing and keening about Hunter by knife-wielding House Republicans, some of their stuff touches and sticks to Joe to where Trump could win, the man simply has earned reelection. When compared to DeSantis, when compared to Trump, when compared to Mike Pence.
Biden's people are in place and competent. They've done the job. We don't have any idea who Dean Phillip's people are. The Strib item clearly shows Phillip's people are not current MN inner party Dems who as a bloc discourage the Phillips adventure.
__________UPDATE_________
The way Phillips is phrasing things, he remains unsure whether he would run, seems less to be saying if someone else steps up he'd step aside, and more to be saying going east chasing money failed.
Others might see it differently, but the guess here is if strong donor commitment were attained there'd be no fence straddle. There'd be candidacy papers being filed.
The buzz on DeSantis is donor turn-off, over time, and DeSantis has been chasing donor money longer and with more vigor than Phillips.
Phillips has to show credibility. Such as who he talked to back East, and how enthusiastic the committal response was. How he presented himself and his team, and how it resonated. And who it resonated with.
Phillips has yet to name a single donor who gave him the time of day.
Hope and wait is a low cost tactic, while getting press coverage and name boosting, should he be primaried in MN CD3. As in, "Dean, what have you got to lose?"
He has smooth sailing in CD3 to lose. That is why the KOS item resonates. So while Phillips sniffs around Biden's backdoor, who is minding his?
Or as Walz was quoted:
" I think all of us just stay in our lanes, do our work and things will work out well."
To which Phillips was quoted in response:
"Staying in one's lane is very important on the highway. It is not helpful in politics," Phillips said in an interview Wednesday. "And in a very significant way, that is exactly what I'm trying to point out and the conversation that I'm trying to inspire. We have too many people who stay in their lanes, stay in their seats and stay quiet at times where we need them to stand up and be loud. And I think this is one of those times."
MN CD3 is a political lane, not a highway lane, and it could crowd up before Phillips says, "this challenger is just being loud when we all should be on the same page lest the Republicans take the seat back and enhance their House majority."
The guess here is he'd flip that way so quickly it would suck air with it like a quick tractor trailer truck does on the highway passing you, while waiting for a left turn arrow.
Not that CD3 is ripe for any left turn arrow. Just, there are people with experience and merit who'd feel drifting out of the lane is not good for the party, contrary to taking back the House while keeping what you already hold, and that CD3 deserves attention and respect beyond being treated as a trampoline to new ambitious heights.
Just saying. Watch your own backdoor.