Bill Moyers: "But if Senator Sanders is a crackpot, so are the majority of Americans."

[marmar]

Turn Left on Main Street

Thursday, 04 June 2015 10:23
By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Moyers & Company | Op-Ed


Congressman John K. Delaney, what the hell are you talking about?

In a recent Washington Post op-ed piece, headlined, "The last thing America needs? A left-wing version of the Tea Party," the Democratic congressman from Maryland scolds progressives and expresses his worry "about where some of the loudest voices in the room could take the Democratic Party."

He writes, "Rejecting a trade agreement with Asia, expanding entitlement programs that crowd out other priorities and a desire to relitigate the financial crisis are becoming dominant positions among Democrats. Although these subjects may make for good partisan talking points, they do not provide the building blocks for a positive and bold agenda to create jobs and improve the lives of Americans."

Rep. Delaney even implies that a freewheeling, open discussion of "these subjects" could lead to the election of a Republican president.

Good grief, John. A trade agreement that favors multinational corporations over working people? Cutting "entitlement programs" such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, worker's compensation? Letting Wall Street off the hook for crashing the economy and costing millions of Americans their jobs and homes? These are Republican policies, bought and paid for by plutocrats. If Democrats simply mimic them, there would be no need to bother with voting for a Republican president; we could cancel the election and put the billions saved in campaign contributions straight into the Clinton Foundation. ...................(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/31179-turn-left-on-main-street

[Art_from_Ark]

1. What else would you expect from a guy like this?

"In a statement, Garagiola campaign manager Sean Rankin questioned whether Delaney's story represented the "American dream," suggesting it is instead "central to the nightmares of middle-class families."

"When you consider that John Delaney made his money on the backs of working people and small business owners and then see this kind of gratuitous wealth, you realize why Forbes magazine called him a loan shark and feel for the working families who lost their livelihoods and homes to Delaney and CapitalSource," he said.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-03-02/news/bal-delaney-would-be-4thwealthiest-in-house-20120302_1_capitalsource-campaign-manager-tax-returns

[daleanime]

2. K&R.....

[HassleCat]

3. I see his point

Maybe. Sort of. Some Democrats are very, very afraid they will lose even more ground unless they pretend to be Republicans, triangulate, etc. I guess this is a warning to avoid dragging the party to the left, from its present position at the center-right. Well, the political pendulum swings, as we know. It has moved way to the right, further than people would have imagined 30 years ago, so far right we are at odds with most other developed nations, with policies that resemble those of a poor, emerging nation. One of these days, voters are going to look at progressives and democratic socialists, and that means the Democratic Party will have to allow itself to be nudged back to the left. People like Congressman Delaney are going to be left behind.

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

4. +1

I can't recommend this post enough..

[SpankMe]

6. Double +1 for this post. n/t

[Jefferson23]

7. Yes, and the sooner he is left behind, the better. n/t

[corkhead]

11. I would go even farther and say he is not being left behind, but actively standing in the way.

[raouldukelives]

14. A hearty agreement with both of you. nt

[CrispyQ]

22. Well said!

...so far right we are at odds with most other developed nations, with policies that resemble those of a poor, emerging nation.

[JonLP24]

25. Which is why the Democrats favorable ratings are dropping

and so much more with registered Democrats numbers dropping when it was at all-time highs with Obama elected in '08. The party didn't get there by pretending to be the middle or whatever but as a warning to what? The party is losing, not gaining look at "expanding entitlement programs at the expense of other priorities". 80% of Americans support expanding social security. Floating Chained CPI cuts did him no favors, trust me I live in a very conservative area with seniors that like their SS and Medicare.

[WillyT]

5. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[Jefferson23]

8. Thanks, marmar. n/t

[NorthCarolina]

9. I love the parting shot

"Oh, how the mighty tremble when they hear such things! The murmuring crowd is their worst nightmare. So plutocratic Republican apologists like Peter Wehner, the corporate Democrats of Clinton, Inc., and killjoys like Congressman Delaney will double down against Bernie Sanders, just as they have against all those in politics before them who champion bottom-up democracy. If that means turning "left," so be it. For Democrats, it's the way home. They would do well to remember that apocryphal saying, usually attributed to Gandhi: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

THEN YOU WIN!

[dmosh42]

10. A first class corporation ass-licker! Why did he want to be in the Dem party?

[Art_from_Ark]

18. His district is heavily Democratic

so posing as a Democrat would make sense if he wanted to get elected.

[jalan48]

12. Our corporate media demands a corporate candidate!

Who do these Occupy-type Progressives think they are anyway? It needs to be Jeb vs. Hillary in the Presidential finals, brought to you by your fine sponsors at Wall St. Go team!

[Populist_Prole]

13. There's no doubt

That congressman is definitely getting his bread buttered by corporate interests, and that he has a palpable fear of what they'll do to him if he betrays them. The invective is just too inflammatory...too desperate sounding.

I feel it's the same vicious tone the president is using toward the populists in his party when pushing the TPP.

[Dont call me Shirley]

15. We the people, our expectations no longer meet reality. Our reality is much worse than we had

ever expected and been promised. And when our expectation no longer meets our reality it's revolution time.

[lark]

16. He's just another Bizzarro Repug

Right is left, up is down, bad is good. Funny, you don't see articles gigging Huckabee, Santorum or Perry, even though they are all total jokes and don't have a chance in hell of winning the presidency. They don't even take positions most Americans like. Pisses me off how the corporate media is painting such a loser picture of Bernie, when he's one of the very few who is actually real. Pisses me off how all Repug candidates are automatically legit, when actually none of them are. They are all just painted pigs who have large donors to confuse the populace about what's real and what's a lie.

[Art_from_Ark]

19. You nailed it

[hifiguy]

24. Bravo!

[magical thyme]

17. k&r

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. What's "crackpot" is the idea that we need the permission of the rich....

[2banon]

21. K&R Big Time!

[CrispyQ]

23. With dems like Delaney, who needs repubs?

And they wonder why there is an enthusiasm gap in the dem party.

[L0oniX]

26. K & R

[Demeter]

27. Nice invective, Mr. Moyer!

I do love a good rant at a worthy target in the morning or anytime!

And the Tea Party will be putting Bernie over the top. They aren't crazy (not most of them, anyway)...they are desperate for leadership out of this mess. They will join with us Progressives in rewriting the USA game plan.

[jopacaco]

28. Delaney

Sounds like Congressman Delaney needs an actual Democratic challenger in the primary. We don't need Democrats like him.

[PatrynXX]

29. more like the other way around

the more conservatives we have in the Democratic party the more likely we'll have a crackpot from the right running for office. oh wait. they did that in 2012 sigh. idiot is in a bubble. Bernie is in what used to be the left. he's the is the only Democrat left and people are listening

[PatrynXX]

30. until the conservatives in this party are out (Hillary)

we'll never be able to fix a thing so have no choice to root for the only Democrat left ahem left wing liberal progressive whatever.... Elizabeth doesn't want to run okay but I think she'd be more effective here.. Elizabeth can't be against Hillary and for Hillary at the same time. Which is it Wall Street or the poor street and Bernie's been there

[turbinetree]

31. This is John Delaney

http://crfb.org/blogs/delaney-and-cole-propose-social-security-commission

When you read the above "blather" on what he and Coles are trying to do its is nothing more than smoke and mirrors-------------he wants this program privatized, he is in my opinion a DINO.

He and Cole and others want to be able to go around and say --------------see the government can't fund this, lets have wall street , hedge funds crowd take it over everything.

I guess he wasn't around when one Mitten's Romney took a business named Solendra and dismantled the business while running to be president and shipped the jobs and the machinery to a communist country called China, and they were making a profit in this country, it was about greed-----------now's that being a patriot of the greeeeeeeeeeeeed.



Hey, Delaney resign, I mean really resign from the 6th District here in Maryland----------if you haven't figured out that trade is what's causing this country inner cities and other areas to be crumbling then you really have no business being a representative of the people.

When you support and have a trade polices or a "DEAL / TPP" trying to be put in place to take $700 million a year out of Medicare to re-train workers, for 6 years to the tune of $4.2 trillion dollars to rob Peter and pay Paul---------------then your logic doesn't hold water in wet paper bag.
Take Medicare health benefits to re-train workers instead of lets say passing legislation for jobs, like infrastructure and raise taxes to pay for this stuff and cut defense spending.

Here is another clue Mr. Delaney, remember when Western Telephone use to be in Baltimore-----------they made telephones-------------then they closed down the plant and shipped those jobs to Mexico (NAFTA) and now they are in China ( because Mexico was to expensive with labor costs at the time frame), those Western Telephone jobs supported the city of Baltimore-------------now they support a communist government------------please tell us how and why you support a government like Malaysia's and its dictatorship---------that makes no common sense.

What's your position on this fact Mr. Delaney, I think all of the citizens of Maryland deserve answers to that question

I am the left and I am proud to say that I will vote for Sanders, can't wait to get my bumper stickers and UNION made T-Shirt--------Jonny-------------they were made in AMERICA