Your Apathy Is Not Voter Suppression

When did voter suppression start meaning a bunch of white people who forgot to change their party affiliation and follow primary rules?

—
Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) April 19, 2016

There are people of color who are registered Democrats who are literally disenfranchised by voter ID laws and the like. This is absurd.

—
Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) April 19, 2016

****

Rikyrah

Voter Suppression is…

when you would be 42 years old, if you had stayed in the state of your birth before you’d be able to vote in this country and that’s AFTER you put on the uniform and put your life on the line for said country

when you attempt to register people to vote and wind up with a cross burning on your lawn

when you have a Bachelors and Masters degree, and are asked to inform the registrar – how many bubbles are in a bar of soap.

or how many jelly beans are in that jar.

or to recite the preamble to the U.S. Constitution..

and, even after you’ve done that, you are asked to recite the Declaration of Independence – verbatim.

Or, you have to take a test, on your state’s constitution, that lawyers, registered to practice law in your state – don’t know….

Or, being told that you can get a ‘ Free Voter ID’, but in order to get the ‘ Free ID’, you have to spent Hundreds of $$$$, and make numerous trips to various agencies to get the paperwork for the ‘ Free Voter ID’

ALL of the above is voter suppression.

****

if you're an independent running as a Democrat, make your supporters know that they need to change their party affiliation. ~jazz hands~

—
Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) April 19, 2016

If ppl had their affiliation mysteriously changed, that’s voter suppression/fraud. If you forgot to change your party affiliation, too bad.

—
Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) April 19, 2016

****

What is NOT Voter Suppression?

You being too fucking lazy to know the ins and outs of VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES.

You being too arrogant and believing that the laws, which have been in place – FOR YEARS – should be changed, because, well, of YOU.

They didn’t just come up with a closed primary in New York last week, last month, or last year.

And, if ‘offends’ you to register with a political party…that is YOUR RIGHT.

But, sit down, shut THE PHUCK up, and wait for you turn to vote in November.

****

If you can’t even research your State’s primary rules and register on time maybe you shouldn’t call other people “low information voters.”

—
Putain Démocratique (@goddamnedfrank) April 19, 2016

****

If you don’t like that there is no Early Voting – get the legislature to change it.
If you don’t like that there is no ‘ No Reason’ Absentee – get the legislature to change it.
If you don’t like that it’s a ‘closed Primary’ – get the legislature to change it.
If you don’t like that there is no Election Day Registration – get the legislature to change it.

IF you have not spoken up before about these things…then go somewhere and STFU.

****

@nycsouthpaw Deadline was for party switching only, not new voter registration. @Johngcole

—
Putain Démocratique (@goddamnedfrank) April 19, 2016

2010 we lost the House 2014 we lost the Senate Your political purity did that Don't dare say today your vote is suppressed #NYPrimary

—
Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) April 19, 2016

****

Rikyrah

You want to know why you should vote?

THE SUPREME COURT.

There was a post yesterday, about the woman who follows the Supreme Court for Slate, and how, THIS was supposed to be the year where the SC was going to deliver a big FU to President Obama.

In case after case, they had greased the wheels so that the SC could just deliver a number of body blows to the President.

But, then, Fat Tony went up and died.

So, you don’t like Hillary.

Hell, I don’t like Hillary.

But, there are real cases.

****

The new open primary civil rights movement appears to be rights movement made up of white liberals whov never faced any obstacles to voting.

—
Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 19, 2016

It's almost like anything that isn't tactically advantageous to Bernie Sanders at a given moment is a massive injustice.

—
Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 19, 2016

****

The outcome will affect MILLIONS of your fellow Americans.

So, maybe they don’t affect you.

But, you don’t have enough concern for your fellow citizens that you should know better that it’s important that a DEMOCRAT fills that seat?

You don’t like Money in Politics?

CITIZENS UNITED

You don’t know why so many of us are talking about ‘Voter Suppression?’

THE GUTTING OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT.

Why is this hard for some people to get?

The Court is literally – IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES-hanging in the balance.

And, that’s not enough reason to get out and vote?

REALLY?
SERIOUSLY?

Eight Years Ago

****

In '08, this was the time @davidaxelrod asked to see the NH concession speech. To which @rhodes44 and I replied, "What concession speech?"

—
Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) February 10, 2016

...since @POTUS asked us to write the speech as if it'd be a long road ahead no matter what, we realized it worked as a concession too...

—
Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) February 10, 2016

...we changed the opening line to "Congratulations, @HillaryClinton!" and kept the rest as is #yeswecan

—
Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) February 10, 2016

On lunatics and asylums

Well. Well. Well.

It wasn’t so long ago that the Very Serious People were saying that Donald John Trump was a flash in the pan. He wasn’t serious. He’d fade away in a week. Huffington Post even famously averred that it would cover The Donald’s sham of a campaign only on its entertainment section. Because politics is a serious business, and has no time for the shenanigans of a one-time reality show star and serial abuser of bankruptcy laws.

He didn’t go away, however. He impugned Sen. John McCain’s heroism, saying he preferred heroes who didn’t get captured. Horror! Fie on you, sir! Mexican immigrants are fair game; St. John of McCain, however, is an entirely other matter. Surely this would sink the Donald, and the establishment candidates could go back to fellating the Koch Brothers in turn to gain the vaunted signet ring.

Funny thing; Mr. Trump’s lead increased after his intemperate words about Sen. McCain. They increased after he trolled Lindsey Graham by disclosing his mobile number at a speech. He just keeps getting YOOOOOOOOOOOOGE.

kucinich rules himself out of 2012, gaddafi funds dried up?

flashback …. first black president?

flashback …. in a word

2007

😆

flashback …. “don’t tell me words don’t matter”

February 2008

Thank you stylishgurl

matt? oooops

Columbia Journalism Review: Our nomination for this week’s bogus Times trend story is in the national section under the headline, “Murmurs on Left of a Primary Challenge to Obama.” Its author, political writer and analyst Matt Bai, writes that disappointed liberals, spurred by the president’s compromise on extending the Bush era tax cuts, among other compromises and failures, are calling for—or at least “murmuring” among themselves about—a primary challenger to take on the president in the lead-up to 2012. The evidence? A trio of liberal columns. Yep, as the rule goes, “three’s a trend.”

….And that’s pretty much all that’s offered to support the rather sensational headline and a lede which claims the latest compromise “is bound to intensify a debate that has been bubbling up on liberal blogs and e-mail lists in recent weeks—whether or not the president who embodied ‘hope and change’ in 2008 should face a primary challenge in 2012.” Well, after an uncritical reading of this article, maybe.

Full article here

Salon (Alex Pareene): Matt Bai has written — and the New York Times has published! — the most pointless piece of fantastical political “analysis” since … the last Matt Bai piece, I guess. The idea is that there is serious talk among liberals of supporting a primary challenge against Barack Obama, and the only problem with the otherwise flawless story is that that it is not true, and so it is a gigantic waste of everyone’s time.

While Matt Bai and his editors would certainly welcome a serious primary campaign against the president, because it would be fun to report on, the fact is that Bai has built this entire piece around some blog posts. You know you’re reading a really great piece of professional political analysis when the thesis is refuted in the first sentence of the second paragraph. “The idea seems to have little momentum for now,” Bai explains, but then for some reason he continued writing instead of shutting down his MacBook Air and going outside for a nice walk or something….

….As Steve Kornacki explained this morning, Barack Obama’s coalition still loves him and he’s in fine shape for reelection.

Of course, Matt Bai is not a complete idiot. He knows full well that a credible primary challenge from the left is very unlikely. He just wrote this piece because he thinks it would be totally awesome if that did happen. It is like a writer for the Times Science section turning in a piece headlined, “Maybe aliens will give us Warp Drive technology next year, that would be cool.” Save it for your Tumblr, Matt.

🙂

Full article here

Washington Independent: Recently, political memes have surfaced that do not have much basis in reality.

Matt Bai of the New York Times sees “murmurs” of a primary challenge against President Obama after he cut a deal with congressional Republicans to extend the tax cuts for the wealthy for two years in exchange for a 13-month unemployment extension, a payroll tax cut and other tax breaks designed to stimulate job growth.

As angry as some liberals are, there isn’t a lot of there there — the article quotes two Huffington Post blogs, a Washington Post op-ed and the head of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, who said he isn’t advocating a primary challenge.

Massachusetts Rep. Mike Capuano said he “may or may not” support Barack Obama’s reelection, but he’s not known for holding his tongue. Moreover, Rep. Alcee Hastings (Fla.) said the same thing over the summer. It’s just talk.

Meanwhile, President Obama has an 80 percent approval rating among self-identified liberals, and liberal icons like Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.) and Howard Dean have unequivocally said they won’t challenge him.

Full article here

CBS: A column in the New York Times today headlined “Murmurs of Primary Challenge to Obama” is generating buzz about whether the president could face a serious challenge from within his own party in his reelection bid in 2012.

The reality, however, is that such a challenge is extremely unlikely.

…there is a difference between the liberal blogosphere and pundit class – what White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs calls the “professional left” – and the liberal base overall. According to the latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, 90 percent of blacks still approve of the president, as do 82 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of liberals. It would seem to be very difficult to mount a successful challenge from the left in light of these numbers.

Add to that the fact that there is no plausible and interested challenger out there – no figure like Ted Kennedy, who challenged (and weakened) Jimmy Carter. Howard Dean and Russ Feingold, perhaps the two most viable options, say they aren’t doing it; Dean said he “is absolutely, categorically not running in 2012,” while Feingold’s spokesman said the Wisconsin Democrat “has no interest in challenging President Obama in 2012.” Rep. Dennis Kucinich has also ruled out a run.

Indeed, the Times column is pretty thin on evidence that there is momentum building for a primary challenge: It points to Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun magazine, former Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. confident Clarence B. Jones and American Prospect co-editor Robert Kuttner. With all due respect to these men, that does not constitute a groundswell of support for a primary challenge.

…despite the juicy Times headline – Mr. Obama doesn’t seem to have much to worry about.

Full article here

on the verge of collapse!

Slate (David Weigel): As long as we’re going to be reading thinly-sourced articles about the “rumblings” of Barack Obama primary challenges, is it worth checking what’s happened to Obama’s poll numbers in the month since his party lost the House of Representatives?

One can only come to one conclusion after reading this data: Barack Obama’s presidency is on the verge of collapse, and only a primary challenger supported by Tikkun magazine can save the Democrats. 🙂

Well, sure, the “rumblings” of an Obama challenge mean more than that. They are coming from liberals who want to pressure Obama into cutting fewer deals with Republicans, and in many case they are coming from liberals who really, really want Obama out of the White House. But they are not actually a response to political danger.

only 85% of liberal democrats support the president? he’s ruined!

The New Republic: It’s time to smack down, once and for all, the idea that President Obama will face a serious primary challenger in 2012…..

This trope has been popping up ever since the 2008 general election, when horserace-hungry pundits speculated that Hillary Clinton would try to knock off the Democratic nominee four years down the road.

And it’s only gotten worse with the rise of the “angry left,” which thinks Obama has been too eager to compromise with Wall Street and the Republicans, and considers itself the representative of the Democratic base.

…For a substantive primary challenge to occur, a coherent bloc of Democratic voters—whether liberal or moderate—would have to sour on Obama and coalesce behind another candidate in such a way that threatens the president’s hold over his base. There’s just no sign of that happening.

….Obama’s straight approval ratings among rank-and-file Democrats are very high. According to Gallup’s latest weekly tracking poll, 81 percent of self-identified Democrats give Obama a positive job approval rating. Among liberal Democrats, who are supposedly the most likely to rebel, the number rises to 85 percent.

More