The Democrats Will Be A Stronger & Better Party Without Joe Manchin & Derek Kilmer

Click on Manchin to help elect Zach Shrewsbury

Two conservative Democrats announced their retirements yesterday, Joe Manchin— tied with Sinema for the worst Democrat in the Senate— and Derek Kilmer, a Washington state New Dem (and former chair of that corrupt conservative group). Progressive working class candidate Zach Shrewsbury in running in red, red West Virginia. Trump only got 39.9% in Kilmer’s district, which has a D+6 PVI. He was never going to say that he was afraid to be beaten by Shrewsbury ib the primary or by Jim Justice in the general, so here’s Manchin’s bullshit statement:

Two Democrats I’m cheering to see go. I know some may think I’m a purist because, after all, they are both Democrats… and “any blue will do?” I don’t buy into that. But you’ve got to know where to draw the line, Manchin and Kilmer are both over the line. Both worked to push the Democratic Party in a corporate direction, alienating working class voters who have now drifted off into MAGA Land.

There ws a piece yesterday in the New Republic by two dozen DSA leaders who quit the group, primarily because DSA has gotten more and more purist and untenable— and this isn’t anything like the Monty Python Life of Brian skit about the People’s Front of Judea vs the Judean People’s Front.

Many of them have been with DSA since the founding in 1982 but recently they “have been deeply troubled by the emergence of isolating, purist, and self-destructive tendencies inside DSA that have undermined its promise. The very strength of the regenerated DSA is in its electoral work and its high-profile, politically astute elected officials, and yet they came under attack from within. Ocasio-Cortez was condemned for stating that Israel had a right to exist, and Bowman was subjected to a vicious campaign for his expulsion from DSA because of his refusal to endorse the boycott, divestment, and sanctions, or BDS, movement, as well as for his connections with Jewish peace organizations in the U.S. and Israel. Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman are among the most outspoken advocates of Palestinian rights in the U.S. Congress: The most valuable allies of Palestinians are the focus of attacks from within DSA, which makes us wonder about the true intentions of the critics. The circular firing squad also targeted Casar for refusing to endorse BDS, leading him to pull his request for a DSA endorsement. Under similar pressures, Lee and Bowman have renounced their membership. Ocasio-Cortez, Bowman, and Bush came under attack for their support of legislation requested by the railway unions after their strike vote last year. The campaigns against DSA members of Congress garnered high-profile, public attention, but they were only the tip of the iceberg. There were several attacks on DSA-member and DSA-endorsed state and local officials. (See here, here, and here.) Purist litmus tests were increasingly imposed on candidates for elected office as the price of DSA endorsements.”

Maybe they think AOC and Cory Bush and Jamaal Bowman are over the line. There’s a world of difference between them and Joe Manchin. In fact, I mentioned Wednesday morning in my election wrap-up that Democrats had a huge win in a deeply red district that no one expected to see flip. Orthodox Jewish leaders wanted to elect one of their own, homophobic psychopath Avi Schnall, to the majority party so he could push their un-American issues (vouchers for yeshivas for one). “To do so, they had to supercharge turnout in Lakewood and get huge numbers of Orthodox voters to pull the lever for Schnall, a longtime Orthodox leader (with shallow connections to the Democratic Party). In the end, flying under the radar Schnall took 27,562 votes to incumbent Republican Ned Thomson’s 17,676. An Orthodox Jewish super PAC spent $9 million to do that. During his victory speech, Schnall warned the Democrats that he’s going to be the Joe Manchin of their caucus. Democrats don't need him for their majority status. They're fools to not kick him out of the party and let him join the GOP, since he sees eye to eye with them on nearky every issue.