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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCharles P. Pierce: Any Democrat Who Votes for Jeff Sessions Should Be Excommunicated from the Party
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a52607/democrats-senate-jeff-sessions-vote/Any Democrat Who Votes for Jeff Sessions Should Be Excommunicated from the Party
This man as attorney general, at this moment, simply will not stand.
By Charles P. Pierce
Jan 26, 2017
snip//
At a moment like this one, it simply will not do to have someone in the attorney general's office who was deemed too racist to be a federal judge 30 years ago. It will not do to have someone in the attorney general's office who launched a dirty-tricks prosecution of voting-rights activists when he was a U.S. Attorney in Alabama. It will not do to have someone in the attorney general's office who greeted the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 by noting that it was "good for the South."
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions simply will not do.
It doesn't matter if the next nominee is worse. Beat that person, too. It doesn't matter how tough this may make your next re-election campaign; you didn't get elected to get re-elected. The issue of voting rights is too important to the countryand, god knows, to the partyfor it to yield to any other consideration. It is an existential issue, for the republic and for the Democrats. There is no room for compromise or horse-trading. The Democratic Party should stand for the expansion of the franchise and for a greater ease in exercising it. Neither of these goals has a chance with Jefferson Beauregard Sessions running the Department of Justice.
In the 1960s, the Democrats abandoned their Southern core leadership and threw its support behind the Civil Rights movement and the Voting Rights Act. This sea change fundamentally transformed American politics and, no matter what you may hear from conservatives trying to change the subject, it reversed forever the position of the two parties on the place of African-American citizens in the republic, an arrangement that had persisted, in fits and starts, since the election of Abraham Lincoln. From this rearrangement came the Southern Strategy and the modern conservative movement.
Any Democrat who votes for Sessions is voting against this history and is voting in such a way as to make all the political sacrifice therein a waste of time. Therefore, resistance to the Sessions nomination is a bright line in the sand beyond which should be found nothing but exile. Period, as prominent hostage Sean Spicer would say.
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)lunamagica
(9,967 posts)truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)LW1977
(1,227 posts)dalton99a
(81,062 posts)theaocp
(4,223 posts)We JUST HAVE TO ignore these "purists" and trust in Team D. Right? Right?!
JDC
(10,081 posts)I pray that I am wrong.
brush
(53,467 posts)towards voting for Sessions.
I woke up to a "hide" this morning because of that.
A "don't criticize Democrats" violation of the TOC wrongly applied.
MindPilot
(12,693 posts)Seriously the Democrats take our votes for granted--we vote for them because the alternative is unthinkable--then they are done with us. Except for the fundraising.
calimary
(80,693 posts)I'd rather see OUR tribe say "NO" more often and much more emphatically.
If they don't, seems to me they're little more than cavemen and cavewomen.
JudyM
(29,122 posts)shawn703
(2,702 posts)I had a post hidden for a similar reason but the mods overturned it on appeal.
brush
(53,467 posts)Do you happen to know how many hides it takes to get suspended?
appal_jack
(3,813 posts)Around election time, I had three hides in pretty rapid succession that (I thought) were entirely unjustified. I appealed each with carefully reasoned and cited arguments as to why these three posts were well within the DU TOS. I received no response for any of them. I might as well have appealed to puddles in my drive way.
To answer your question though, I believe that bans these days are at the discretion of the Site Administrators and MIRT volunteers. I recall during the Primaries one past longtime member daring Skinner to ban him, and Skinner saying pretty much "Well, since you asked..." There also have been insta-bans for awful racism, misogyny, etc. So it could be as little as one stupid post. On the other hand, for comparatively mild stuff (all my hides were questioning Clinton positions, tactics, or choice of surrogates and allies), the number can be higher than three. Sorry not to be able to tell you more, but that's what I know.
-app
brush
(53,467 posts)I'm up to 3 now for criticizing a Dem senator for saying she's leaning towards voting for a known racist to be the Attorney General, the guardian of civil rights.
That should be a no-brainer no vote.
appal_jack
(3,813 posts)Raine
(30,540 posts)those on "our side" should be called out when they're going over to the dark side IMO!
scscholar
(2,902 posts)I know I got my final warning due to standing against rump.
mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)my disapproval, which I did, but can't do it here? Democrats must understand something. We are the wall, we are all that's left to preserve what's left.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Some here are hypersensitive to any criticism of the party.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)And everyone jumped on Feinstein for no reason. In fact Feinstein delayed this vote so that people could have more time yo discuss sessions.
brush
(53,467 posts)of civil rights?
IMO that's a no-brainer no vote for a Democrat.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)So that there is some pressure on GOP senators to join them from the public. We don't have the numbers to stop him by ourself.
That's what Feinstein is doing, support her and don't believe random Twitter accounts over real journalists.
Slowing the sessions vote is the best we can do with the numbers we have.
brush
(53,467 posts)received many callsto her office against Sessions she wasn't sure which way to vote.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)Let's not kill the few elected Dems we have left with no real reason or proof.
brush
(53,467 posts)I hope Feinstein's reason is what you say.
wishstar
(5,267 posts)Sessions has said he will not recuse himself as Atty Gen. from overseeing investigation of the Russian hacking/Trump campaign investigations.
dhill926
(16,234 posts)democrank
(11,052 posts)Just asking.....
TeamPooka
(24,155 posts)Democrats who will.
Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)must go. They do so because their Donors tell them to. They know we don't want them to so they are picking Donors over us!
We need to recruit new candidates who don't take corporate money. That means we have to open our wallets to give them a chance.
We must get the money out of politics! Let that be our next march on D.C.!
SHRED
(28,136 posts)Paladin
(28,202 posts)old guy
(3,281 posts)RESIST!
Hekate
(90,188 posts)Stellar
(5,644 posts)KG
(28,748 posts)3catwoman3
(23,812 posts)...they should.
Raine
(30,540 posts)uponit7771
(90,225 posts)spanone
(135,627 posts)Chasstev365
(5,191 posts)UNBELIEVABLE!
skylucy
(3,734 posts)I have looked and looked online to find any news about Feinstein planning to vote this way and I have found nothing. Nothing in the news online, nothing in the Bay Area local news and nothing on her website, Facebook page etc. Please provide a link that states that she is leaning to confirm Sessions.
Raine
(30,540 posts)television so no link. Definitely hope it's not the true or if so she changes her mind
appal_jack
(3,813 posts)skylucy
(3,734 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)There is not a single verifiable source for this
DLevine
(1,788 posts)skylucy
(3,734 posts)confirm Sessions. Please provide a link to where you read this. Thanks.
DLevine
(1,788 posts)I'm replying to the op. I believe any Democrat voting to confirm Sessions is hurting our cause. I have no idea if Feinstein will or not. If she doesn't, good for her. We need Dems to stand up to the orange fascist from hell.
skylucy
(3,734 posts)DLevine
(1,788 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)That people shared without looking into it at all
In the age of fake news, I wish du'ers would not spread misinformation
Talk Is Cheap
(389 posts)Republicans go for broke right out of the starting gate, and implement their
agenda no matter what.
I do believe in civility, but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire (or water).
Republicans want to turn America into a fascist authoritarian oligarchy. We are almost there. We, Dems,
must stop them by every means. To me, this is political war and normal people need
to fight the Republican cancer.
And if the Democratic leadership remains milk-toasty - well, the people will have to rise up (as they should no matter what).
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)JudyM
(29,122 posts)Cha
(295,899 posts)I'll tell you what: any Independent voting as badly as Joe Manchin? Sure, torpedo that ass. But I guarantee you that any Independent Senator (Who are we kidding? We are discussing Bernie Sanders.) will vote in a far more principled manner. So quit the Party over Principles nonsense, OK? Democrats clearly need more numbers than are just within the Party at present to mount an effective opposition. Plus arrogance like yours helps keep the Party small and dwindling.
-app
Cha
(295,899 posts)Independents.
appal_jack
(3,813 posts)I thought you were recommending treating Independents as pariahs in general...
My bad.
Pun in subject line was unintended, but too funny (to my own warped humor at least) to delete.
Yes, I am with you 100% that any Independent voting for Sessions is not our ally, and I will hold that standard for Bernie as well as anyone else.
Thanks for explaining further,
-app
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)burrowowl
(17,603 posts)myrna minx
(22,772 posts)Vinnie From Indy
(10,820 posts)RESIST!
democrank
(11,052 posts)hueymahl
(2,414 posts)The guy is pure evil.