Shaun King is Why the Left is Still Fighting Over Hillary vs. Bernie

[ehrnst]

"There's a line between pushing for a more progressive party and undermining it because you're a sore loser.

Shaun King is upset with the Democratic Party because, dammit, people keep voting for candidates he doesn't like. You see, Ralph Northam, the decisive winner of last week's Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary, just isn't progressive enough for King despite having run on a very progressive platform. In fact, Northam's campaign was so progressive, there was very little daylight between his platform and that of his opponent Tom Perriello, whom King considered the "real" progressive in the race.

This is why the primary debates were respectful and lacking the vitriol of the 2016 primaries. At the same time, Democratic primary voters were excited to vote, exceeding 160% of turnout over the previous gubernatorial primary. And after he lost, Perriello immediately backed Northam, vowing to work together to beat the Republicans. By all reasonable metrics, last Tuesday was a huge win for the left. Yet King is throwing a temper tantrum over it. rushing to point out that Northam voted for Bush twice and considers himself a fiscal conservative. Therefore, in King's mind, he's not a liberal and the Democratic Party is just awful for backing him:

"Hear my heart — I know politics are local and I know Virginia has some conservative leanings, but that the choice for governor in the state is now an open conservative and a closeted one bothers me — particularly because the Democratic establishment enthusiastically supported Northam."

Funny thing, though: In the name of transparency, Northam is the one who admitted to voting for Bush, something he didn't have to do, but he also said it was a mistake:

Northam’s two votes for Bush ― which he told the Times he now considers “wrong” ― were not the first time his Democratic credentials were called into question. “At the time, I didn’t pay much attention to politics,” he said. “Knowing what I know now, I was wrong and would have voted differently.”

King would have you believe that Northam's politics are set in stone and evolving is simply not in the cards. That's why he calls Northam "closeted." This belief that Democrats cannot change their opinions over time is a core tenet of the hard left. It's a convenient (and extremely dishonest) way to subscribe ill motivations to establishment politicians who embrace a more progressive stance. Without this particular lie, it's impossible to maintain the false narrative that Hillary Clinton and the DNC aren't really progressives when their entire platform is the most progressive it's ever been.

King's hypocrisy stand fully revealed by what he doesn't say. While he was fully supportive of the Bernie-backed Tom Perriello, he neglects to mention this progressive hero even once in his article. Possibly because he lost and is not currently relevant but possibly also because it's hard to complain about Northam having some conservative positions when Perriello himself is pro-life and voted for the horrendous Stupak Amendment:

"On abortion rights, though, he broke with the pro-choice movement and backed a 2009 amendment to the Affordable Care Act, known as Stupak-Pitts, which set back reproductive freedom by putting obstacles in the way of private insurance coverage of abortion."

Since then, Perriello has evolved on the issue and wouldn't you know it? That's just A-OK with King because as long as you're not an establishment Democrat you're allowed to evolve on an issue. This suggests that King's support for a candidate has less to do with their positions on issues and more to do with whether they're challenging the Democratic Party. For the record, Perriello's anti-abortion stance was a problem for me so I voted for Northam but I said it before the election and after: If Perriello had won, I would have happily voted for him in November (unlike King, I live in Virginia) with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. I wouldn't have whined about it because in politics you don't always get what you want, something that King seems to have forgotten. It's OK to push for more reform and demand accountability. It's not OK to undermine the only thing standing between us and another Republican governor because your guy didn't win.'


https://thedailybanter.com/2017/06/being-a-sore-loser-progressive-is-unbecoming/

[JHan]

1. K & R

He blocked me on twitter LOL

[ehrnst]

3. (virtual handshake!)

[JHan]

2. this is such a good read, thanks Ehrnst.

[Thinkingabout]

4. Thanks for the info, I am perplexed with the DNC under pressure to swing so far left.

I do not see attracting independents with a far left wing platform, we need the independents. We would serve ourselves well to draw some centrists Republicans away with the crazy Trump administration.

[NurseJackie]

5. Great post... thanks for sharing this!

[ehrnst]

6. You know that this is the only forum where this wouldn't be banned... (nt)