We need a lot of dem primary challenges in 2012

[franzia99]

People with good ideas about the economy need to challenge incumbents in the primaries. It's clear the political status quo (on both sides) isn't doing jack about the economy. Paul Krugman wrote a good article on it (below). We have years of economic misery ahead to look forward to if we don't get in some politicians who are actually good.

I'm sure incumbents won't like this message, but eff you. If you don't like it then do something about the economy between now and 2012 to prove you're worth keeping.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/opinion/03krugman.html?scp=2&sq=krugman&st=cse

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a blog post about the “mistake of 1937,” the premature fiscal and monetary pullback that aborted an ongoing economic recovery and prolonged the Great Depression. As Gauti Eggertsson, the post’s author (with whom I have done research) points out, economic conditions today — with output growing, some prices rising, but unemployment still very high — bear a strong resemblance to those in 1936-37. So are modern policy makers going to make the same mistake?

Back when the original 2009 Obama stimulus was enacted, some of us warned that it was both too small and too short-lived. In particular, the effects of the stimulus would start fading out in 2010 — and given the fact that financial crises are usually followed by prolonged slumps, it was unlikely that the economy would have a vigorous self-sustaining recovery under way by then.

By the beginning of 2010, it was already obvious that these concerns had been justified. Yet somehow an overwhelming consensus emerged among policy makers and pundits that nothing more should be done to create jobs, that, on the contrary, there should be a turn toward fiscal austerity.

And the news has, indeed, been bad. As the stimulus has faded out, so have hopes of strong economic recovery. Yes, there has been some job creation — but at a pace barely keeping up with population growth. The percentage of American adults with jobs, which plunged between 2007 and 2009, has barely budged since then. And the latest numbers suggest that even this modest, inadequate job growth is sputtering out.

[andym]

1. the consensus to cut the budget came from the midterm election results

these results came from the too many citizens not remembering or understanding how the economic crisis arose and certainly not understanding how the US economy works (as you point out about the lesson of 1937).

[theophilus]

2. This is a great TRUTH, imo, and the only way we have a chance as a species. n/t

[obxhead]

3. Starting at the very top.

*sigh*, I have no delusions though, I know it's not going to happen.

[TexasProgresive]

4. IMO what you suggest would cause a bad situation to become worse.

Strong primary challenges of incumbents often results in the seat being turned over to the opposing side. But if you feel so strongly then enter the fray yourself.

[franzia99]

5. Didn't Tea Party candidates unseat a lot of incumbent repubs and go on to win the gen election?

Also, didn't huge numbers of incumbents lose their seats in 2010? I predict we're going to have the same anti-incumbent sentiment in the 2012 elections. So we can't expect things to happen as usual. If anything, primary challenges may help the dems' chance of winning since it'll allow people to throw out do nothing dem incumbents without having to vote for republicans.

There was this good article in WaPo a while back. It said that during the decade following a financial crisis there's a lot of political upheaval and it's fairly common for a large number of incumbents to be thrown out each election cycle, as voters express their frustration over the incumbents' failure to improve the economy (yes the economy will probably be bad for 10 years or so following the most recent financial crisis absent masterful government intervention).

[JTFrog]

6. I predict anti-Republican sentiment.

They screwed the pooch with the Ryan plan. There will be no backing out of it now. Expect to see this point hammered away in every Democratic campaign ad.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[JTFrog]

10. You hope they lose? Yea, let's just stop at we disagree.

On everything.

:shrug:

[Ikonoklast]

11. Ah, Purity! The losing strategy!

Yeah, that's the ticket, all or nothing!


Third-party supoporters spout this rhetoric, you know, the people that never get ANYTHING done.

[franzia99]

17. Getting some of the establishment dems is like getting nothing.

[Name removed]

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[Maru Kitteh]

14. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. n/t

[franzia99]

15. Isn't that what voters said to dems in 2010?

And they'll be saying it again in 2012. Voters don't like it when you don't listen to them. So long.

[Maru Kitteh]

16. Bye.

:hi:

[franzia99]

18. You're so cool.

[Maru Kitteh]

22. Still here eh?

Well - bye. Again.

[Tesha]

28. The idea that primary challenges lead to losses springs out of the fact...

...that many of our candidates are fundamentally weak,
ashamed of their own positions. So when they are
confronted by those positions, they shrivel up
and die.

This wasn't true for Teabaggers (although some of
them *DID* lose their general elections.)

Tesha

[Motown_Johnny]

7. Yes, lets spend what money we have fighting each other while the Citizens United

money pours into the conservative war chests


Brilliant!

BRILLIANT I SAY!!!!!



:sarcasm:

[mmonk]

9. I agree 100%. Wherever possible.

This game of not as bad as the other guy WILL NOT get us out of this mess. Bad ideology is bad ideology whether presented by a politician, Pope, or you favorite celebrity or football team.

[Cleita]

13. I would settle for one Dem running against my

Repub Congressman. He's gone unchallenged the last three elections. Not a single Dem has stepped up to the plate.

[franzia99]

19. You guys need to find someone to challenge him.There'll be a lot of anti-incumbent sentiment in 2012

Use it. People have to stop thinking that it's going to be an ordinary year. We saw a lot of solid incumbents who'd been in office for decades lose in 2010. It's all about finding someone with good ideas and framing your incumbent as the problem.

[hfojvt]

23. that's too bad

can Democrats redistrict it to make it more competetive, or is that part of the plan - to make it very uncompetitive for Democrats so many of the others can be uncompetetive for Republicans?

Do they know that carpet-baggers can run? At least according to the Kansas SoS, the Constitution does not specify that a Congressperson has to live in the district. It blew my mind. I faced a primary challenge, such as it was, from a candidate who lives in the 3rd district. This, when I was running in the 2nd.

[Cleita]

27. I would love if Dennis Kucinich would consider but

he seems to have his sites set on Seattle. He knows about us cause he was here campaigning when he ran for President. Also, I don't know what's going to come up when they redistrict.

[cali]

20. No dem will run against my Senator and I think everyone on DU is glad of it.

And the repubs are having trouble finding anyone to run against him too.

[franzia99]

21. I'm not saying they all need to be challenged. It depends on what they've done in office.

[cali]

24. Well, my Senator's not a dem- or a republican. And that should

clue you in to who he is.

[quaker bill]

25. We should focus on challenging the Rs first.

A minority of real progressives might sound nice, but would remain fairly useless. We need to run a large number of these freshly elected teabaggers out of office. If there is no other choice, then its better a bluedog than a teabagger.

I know we can't count on bluedogs all the time, but we can count on teabaggers to do truly destructive things on every occasion.

[Bluenorthwest]

26. So it is good then for the various 'dogs' to have the teabaggers

around, no? If ethics are relative and one need only be better than the very worst, seems like a set up that serves those dogs well. Sure I slander your family and steal a million, but they slander your family and steal ten million, vote for me.
It is just a sad state of affairs. Not so bad for mainstream people doing well in the status quo, members of religious groups, that sort of thing. All is well for some. And the dogs serve them.
So should they use 'Better Than A Bagger' as an actual slogan, I wonder?