New York Democrats Lurch Further Left [Updated]
[guest post by JVW]
In what is looking like an Eric Cantor moment for Democrats, Congressman Joe Crowley of New York’s 14th District (parts of the Bronx and Queens) was defeated in today’s Democrat primary by newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Bernie Sanders acolyte who won the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America. The 14th district is roughly 50% Hispanic and a mere 18.4% white, so an old Irish blarney artist like Crowley no doubt was smothered by the incessant drone of “toxic white masculinity” and “white privilege” beloved of social justice warriors.
Crowley was a political lifer who crawled his way up through the sewers of New York politics, working as a Congressional aide before serving six terms in the New York State Assembly. He was essentially deeded his House seat by the retiring incumbent, Thomas Manton, who waited to retire until after the filing deadline for the primary had passed then slotted his former aide Crowley into his position on the ballot. As a ten-term Congressman, Crowley maintained an impeccably left-wing voting record, favoring public spending in virtually all cases save for defense, supporting ObamaCare first and subsequently joining the “Medicare for All” chorus, and desiring a tax system with higher brackets for the wealthy. In his large Hispanic district, he was a loud voice against President Trump’s immigration policies. Crowley’s reliable party-line voting record had allowed him to rise to the Chairmanship of the House Democrat Caucus, the fourth ranking position in the House minority leadership, positioning him as a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi as party leader.
But that was not enough to get him past his 28-year-old challenger, a Boston University alumna and former Ted Kennedy staffer who returned to her native Bronx to work as a — wait for it! — community organizer. Outspent by a factor of 18:1, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez nevertheless parlayed her endorsements from the Democratic Socialists of America and MoveOn to beat Crowley, who had not faced a primary challenger in the past fourteen years. She too supports Medicare for All as well as abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez now goes on to face some poor Republican schlub (if the party bothered to nominate anybody) in a district that Hillary Clinton won by 58 points two years ago, so I think it’s a safe bet to assume she’s going to Washington. Meanwhile, tonight in New York some old party hacks are beginning to realize that they are no longer the ringmasters of the Democrat circus.
UPDATE: The more I read about it, the more I feel like congratulating Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on her victory. Sure, I find her politics to be detestable, but it is very clear that she just kicked ass on the entire corrupt and fetid New York Democrat machine. Look at Crowley’s endorsements: a bunch of SEIU chapters, a bunch of NY AFL-CIO chapters, teachers unions, and every other organized labor group that has their hand in the till, alongside of Moms Demand Action, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, a bunch of gay and lesbian organizations, Kristin Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Andrew Cuomo, Maxine Waters (yeah, seriously, Maxine Waters), and a whole other assortment of knaves, liars, and fools. All of these groups are now going to line up behind Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, but this was a giant Eff-you to the NY Democrat party and should strike fear in the hearts of all the time-servers that their day is coming to a close. In that regard, well done to the party’s new nominee.
– JVW
Maybe it’s a good thing that the GOP moves further right and the Dems move further left. Let’s have a party of Ted Cruz versus party of Bernie Sanders sort of election and test the notion once and for all as to whether we really are a center-right nation. I know though that other figures in the two parties, the President for instance, complicate the task of making it cut-and-dried.
JVW (42615e) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:01 pmMs. Ocasio-Cortez is not exactly hard on the eyes. Yeah, I denounce myself.
JVW (42615e) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:03 pmYvette clarke (of the awan matter) is being strongly cintestee by a leftwing Harvard graduate of Ugandan background
narciso (d1f714) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:04 pmThe further left they go, the more they will show up in Republican campaign ads.
https://mobile.twitter.com/WiredSources/status/1011770187228569601/video/1
I’m pretty sure this will continue because they haven’t the brains to understand the value of civil society.
harkin (e5c973) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:05 pmGet woke, go broke……
Red Hen Owner Resigns As Director Of Volunteer Business Organization After Backlash
Probably not a good idea for the leader of an ‘economic prosperity’ group to boast about denying service to people she disagrees with.
harkin (e5c973) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:13 pmUnlike gosnells gal, she fits their profile:
http://www.vogue.com/article/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-interview-primary-election
Narciso (0da37e) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:14 pm“When the American government willy-nilly hands out citizenship papers to millions of foreigners every year, it is, in effect, stealing the value of your citizenship and giving it to someone else. This is no different than a company diluting the value of its shares, by selling additional shares. It’s why open borders fanatics swear that immigration makes us all richer, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary. They know it is essential that people believe this as even the sacred immigrant is not enough to justify theft.
Now, the argument from open borders people and libertarian loons is that immigration is not just holy and beneficial, but that the duly elected officials are passing these laws, so it is legitimate. The trouble is, we don’t live in a democracy. When 50% plus one vote to rob the 50% minus one, it is still theft, even if it comes after an election. This is why America is not a democracy and it is also why democracy was famously called two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch. The very nature of democracy makes it an immoral form of rule…. The immigrant now has a superior place in the moral order. The state is now in service to foreigners. ”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=14158
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:29 pmHer election confirms my thought that the newest Americans want to retain their old country ways but with a more generous caudillo. Or a more generous Evita!
Too bad. Lots of promise but her mind is mush.
Patricia (3363ec) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:37 pmMs. Ocasio-Cortez now goes on to face some poor Republican schlub (if the party bothered to nominate anybody) in a district that Hillary Clinton won by 58 points two years ago, so I think it’s a safe bet to assume she’s going to Washington.
Meh. The TeeVee talkers note this district was once the fictional home of “Archie Bunker.” The demographics have certainly changed.
“Aw, Jeez…”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/26/2018 @ 8:44 pmDanRiehl
harkin (e5c973) — 6/26/2018 @ 9:12 pm@DanRiehl
The media is about to make a 28 yr old self-avowed anti-capitalist and hardcore Socialist the face of the “new” Democrat Party heading right into the mid-terms. Blue wave succumbs to Red tide? 😂
One has to figure the ones that are challenging Republican seats.
Narciso (9ee94d) — 6/26/2018 @ 9:17 pmFlorida liberals lurching too! Heck of a job, lefties!
“A man from Stuart, Florida is in jail after being accused of threatening to harm the children of Republican Rep. Brian Mast (Fla.).
Mast, who represents the state’s 18th Congressional District has three young children, all under the age of 8. The arrested man, Laurence Wayne Key, is facing federal charges for the offense of “communication of a threat to kidnap or injure a person.” He threatened Mast’s children in response to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, according to NBC affiliate WPTV.
A criminal complaint alleges Key called Mast’s Washington, D.C. office and told an intern he would “find the Congressman’s kids and kill them.” He continued, “If you’re going to separate kids at the border, I’m going to kill his kids. Don’t try to find me because you won’t.”
http://freebeacon.com/politics/florida-man-arrested-allegedly-threatening-kill-children-gop-congressman-immigration-policies/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
harkin (e5c973) — 6/26/2018 @ 9:25 pmShe too supports Medicare for All as well as abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Sounds like an honest Democrat.
random viking (6a54c2) — 6/26/2018 @ 10:12 pmThanks for the Vogue link, Narciso. I liked this part from our heroine:
Yeah, no, honey. What socialism means is that the power shifts from being shared by the wealthy and the political class solely to the political class, and that successful people are gradually brought down in status until everyone (except again for the political class) is brought under heel and languishes in mediocrity.
JVW (42615e) — 6/26/2018 @ 10:27 pmThe Seattle city council elected a couple of socialists and it has gone badly, but they have an influential 22% of the vote versus 0.23% for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, assuming she gets elected. She’ll be like a shiny bauble for a short period and then we’ll see if she has chops.
Paul Montagu (00b59c) — 6/26/2018 @ 10:46 pmI fully support the DSA in all of their endeavors, they’re an extremely reliable way to filter out the actually reachable Berniebros from the Fully Automatic Gay Space Communism LARPers. Urban liberals seem to no longer care about reaching across the aisle or what’s feasible in real life, and I look forward to their clash with the neoliberal contingent of their party (i.e. what any ‘Republican’ would look like if they ran and won in those districts, and the part of the party that actually brings in the Wall Street money.)
Also is it too late to make a joke about the Irishman finally getting undercut by someone willing to sell out more cheaply than him?
Dysphoria Sam (312848) — 6/26/2018 @ 11:05 pmUPDATE: The more I read about it, the more I feel like congratulating Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on her victory. Sure, I find her politics to be detestable, but it is very clear that she just kicked ass on the entire corrupt and fetid New York Democrat machine. Look at Crowley’s endorsements: a bunch of SEIU chapters, a bunch of NY AFL-CIO chapters, teachers unions, and every other organized labor group that has their hand in the till, alongside of Moms Demand Action, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, a bunch of gay and lesbian organizations, Kristin Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Andrew Cuomo, Maxine Waters (yeah, seriously, Maxine Waters), and a whole other assortment of knaves, liars, and fools. All of these groups are now going to line up behind Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, but this was a giant Eff-you to the NY Democrat party and should strike fear in the hearts of all the time-servers that their day is coming to a close. In that regard, well done to the party’s new nominee.
JVW (42615e) — 6/26/2018 @ 11:07 pm@14. Turn out was low to be sure, but it says more about the old doofus who assumed his seat was safe and the changing complexion of the district itself; she rec’d just 15,000-plus votes and pulled off the upset; the youngest woman ever elected to the House at just 28.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/26/2018 @ 11:10 pmRemarkable that she didn’t just squeak by, either; she destroyed the establishment hack.
Also: Mittens is headed for the Senate!
Dave (445e97) — 6/26/2018 @ 11:41 pmSuave Dave is a happy person
mg (9e54f8) — 6/27/2018 @ 12:02 amMittens!
And now happyfeet will have someone to hate on 24 x 7 even after McCain passes.
Dave (445e97) — 6/27/2018 @ 12:28 amWho will pick the grapes?
Pinandpuller (66fc0c) — 6/27/2018 @ 12:51 amSuave Dave is a happy person
mg (9e54f8) — 6/27/2018 @ 12:02 am
He reminds me of a bass patch called “Precise Bottom”.
That’s for you, Mr Colonel Haiku.
Pinandpuller (66fc0c) — 6/27/2018 @ 1:20 amI posted the democratic establishment has been discredited in the eyes of the democratic party. they tried to rig primary just as they did in 2016 against sanders. coumo will have pull out all the stops against nixon now no more mr. nice guy!
wendell (aba54e) — 6/27/2018 @ 2:51 amDemocratic base sided with aunti maxine waters over democratic corporate stooges play nice crap. pelosi schemer have been discredited.
wendell (aba54e) — 6/27/2018 @ 2:53 amThis is pretty funny – she was being interviewed when (I guess) the results came up on the screen where she was at, showing she was going to win.
For an instant, she reacts like a contestant who just won the Showcase Showdown on The Price Is Right, or something…
Dave (445e97) — 6/27/2018 @ 3:02 am22, she’s of the subgroup that takes 5 cofee/smoke breaks per shift, so not many per hour/bushel.
urbanleftbehind (760d23) — 6/27/2018 @ 3:27 amHm. Like with the Republican establishment, the Democratic establishment pretty much deserves everything that happens to them. Problem is, we the people don’t deserve what these folks want to do.
Appalled (96665e) — 6/27/2018 @ 5:24 amDemocrats say race is the deciding factor when it comes to experience and life. So their constituents vote accordingly.
NJRob (b00189) — 6/27/2018 @ 5:50 amJVW has his spin on full blast here. This was in no way a “a giant Eff-you” to the Democratic Party. Actually, it shows that the party is working and can elect fresh, young, vibrant candidates. We can thank your (_|_)-In-Chief for that.
Tillman (d34303) — 6/27/2018 @ 6:45 amTillman:
When the tea party first got going, I sorta thought the very same thing. We’re getting a whole lot of interesting people (along with the interesting people), that will shake up Conservatism in a good way.
Then it became clear — the folks who overthrew the GOP establishment really just wanted someone like Trump. Someone to talk hostile and just beat the other side. And keep some of the easy promises that never got kept. (You know, like moving the embassy to Jerusalem — stuff like that)
Seems to me the RESISTANCE is much the same impulse, and will find the same kind of bombastic fool, who promises blunt action and winning.
Appalled (96665e) — 6/27/2018 @ 7:07 amHmm, a young, charismatic, politically savvy person of color who uses community organizing skills to bypass the entrenched political machine, jump the line, and grind their way to victory with elbow grease and shoe leather…
This feels somehow familiar…is anyone else feeling a tingle going down their leg??
TR (2c5752) — 6/27/2018 @ 7:07 amDid you see what Obama did to the tea party, appalled, good grief man, because they were the only faction that was standing up to him, you were still deluded then,
Narciso (1dffc8) — 6/27/2018 @ 7:11 amFresh young vibrant candidates who hate capitalism, rule of law and Israel.
O-C displays the sort of Occupy delusions which happened way before Trump. Anyone who watched that dumpster fire knows it was completely discredited as it devolved into violence, crime and garbage while creating not a microgram of progress but the SJWs are breathing life back into it.
This was actually a giant Eff You to establishment Democrats, the new vibrant order are preparing to eat their own. It’s fascinating to watch the old timers, almost all totally clueless to the lawless abandonment of civil order they are creating, as they grasp to regain power. When you set the hounds loose on half the country you better be prepared when they turn on you.
harkin (e5c973) — 6/27/2018 @ 7:13 am“Then it became clear — the folks who overthrew the GOP establishment really just wanted someone like Trump. Someone to talk hostile and just beat the other side. And keep some of the easy promises that never got kept. (You know, like moving the embassy to Jerusalem — stuff like that)“
The Tea Party wanted smaller, efficient government, which meant less government intrusion, lower taxes and common sense representation, the opposite of what all Democrats and most Republicans were delivering.
But you’re right for the reason many of them went Trump, they felt he was their only chance to defeat Madame Corruption, who, as unpredictable and wishy-washy as Trump was, portended far worse.
harkin (e5c973) — 6/27/2018 @ 7:20 amWhat was it the Soviets said about giving them the time to indoctrinate the young?
NJRob (b00189) — 6/27/2018 @ 8:01 amThey took proverbs 22:6 to heart, this is why California is a one party state.
narciso (d1f714) — 6/27/2018 @ 8:04 amAs if the statist Groupthink mob was not deranged enough headed into the midterms, now the Kennedy replacement looms.
It was already dialed to 11, it’s going to get truly bizarre/dangerous.
harkin (b63958) — 6/27/2018 @ 12:06 pmTrump tonight:
Think he’s sent her flowers yet?
Dave (445e97) — 6/27/2018 @ 8:37 pmActually, it shows that the party is working and can elect fresh, young, vibrant
candidatesCommunists.Fixed it for you, Tillie!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/27/2018 @ 8:50 pm