Feckless In D.C.: Women’s Rights Don’t Matter To Democratic Party Leadership

There are people who think I don’t say enough positive things about Democrats and that might be true under some definitions of “enough”.

The truth is that I think the vast majority of the self serving Villager “elite” are credentialed morons and have an agenda that benefits them and their sponsors personally at the expense of 99% of the populace they supposedly represent. In Republicans it’s naked cruelty motivated by prejudice, bigotry, and a misguided morality that equates outcome and circumstance with virtue and divine favor. They are hopelessly evil and the best thing we, as a society, can do is isolate them so they can cause no further harm.

The latest example of that is Trumpcare (Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite!), the least odious of the proposals removes 11 Million people from insurance policies for no particular reason except to deliver a big chunk of money to 43,000 individuals. As Wendy Corduroy (the coolest person you’ll ever know) says, “They’re slow! Just power-walk away from them!”

Democrats deserve credit for standing united to stop this monstrosity and I give it to them but killing 1d4 Kobolds (pesky anklebiters that can actually bring down the strongest PCs if deployed in sufficient quantity) does not a heroic reputation (or fast level ups) make.

The problem is that they’re a constant hypocritical disappointment. How, for instance, should one greet news like this?

Dem campaign chief vows no litmus test on abortion
By Ben Kamisar and Reid Wilson, The Hill
07/31/17

Democrats will not withhold financial support for candidates who oppose abortion rights, the chairman of the party’s campaign arm in the House said in an interview with The Hill.

Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) said there will be no litmus tests for candidates as Democrats seek to find a winning roster to regain the House majority in 2018.

“There is not a litmus test for Democratic candidates,” said Luján, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman. “As we look at candidates across the country, you need to make sure you have candidates that fit the district, that can win in these districts across America.”

In taking the position, Luján and Democrats risk alienating liberals, as well as groups dedicated to promoting access to abortion and reproductive health services that represent the core of the party’s base.

“Throwing weight behind anti-choice candidates is bad politics that will lead to worse policy,” said Mitchell Stille, who oversees campaigns for NARAL Pro-Choice America. “The idea that jettisoning this issue wins elections for Democrats is folly contradicted by all available data.”

From Raw Story–

No ‘litmus test’: Desperate Democrats are now officially willing to back anti-choice candidates
Sarah K. Burris, Raw Story
31 Jul 2017

Lujan confessed that he has sought counsel from (Rahm) Emanuel. Over the last several months, DNC chair Tom Perez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) drew criticism for campaigning for Heath Mello, an anti-choice candidate running for mayor in Omaha.

Perez justified the decision by saying that the Democratic Party’s job is to support all Democrats that win primary elections and move onto general elections. After the predictable backlash from the base, Perez was forced to release a statement saying that the party’s stance on women’s rights were “non-negotiable.” A staffer for the DNC later told The Hill that Perez doesn’t intend to create a litmus test.
…
“Anyone who actually thinks that Donald Trump and the GOP candidates won in 2016 because of their opposition to abortion rights is sorely mistaken,” NARAL’s Stille told The Hill. “A small minority of voters vote strictly on an anti-choice platform. Those same voters just aren’t going to vote for Democrats anyway — they fundamentally disagree with just about everything Democrats stand for.”

Stille’s comments aren’t just anecdotal. Anti-choice activists have taken to state houses across the country for years. They’re known for delivering white roses to those with 100 percent anti-choice voting records and red roses to anyone who doesn’t meet the 100 percent threshold. Frequently, the anti-choice movement has shown that there is no wiggle-room for them.

About 44 percent of Americans told Gallup pollsters that they identify as “pro-life,” however, only 28 percent actually want to overturn Roe v. Wade and end legal abortions. When asked if people are pro-choice, pro-life, both or neither, the vast majority of Americans choose “both” or “neither” instead of identifying as pro-choice or pro-life.

Lujan, a close ally of Pelosi, would not rule out supporting a candidate who does not back Pelosi’s bid to become Speaker.

“We want to win back the House. Once we win back the House we can have the conversation as to who we’re going to elect as the new Speaker of the House,” Lujan said. “The only way that we’re able to have that real conversation is if we’re able to put the majority in play and win it back.”

Thus far, there are more than 200 Democratic candidates are running for seats currently held by Republicans. The move comes less than a year after the 2016 election in which the Democratic nominee was unapologetic about her pro-choice stance.

The appropriate response to this proposal is- “What?!”

No matter how Neo Liberal you are, the core, bedrock excuse for the fact any given Democrat is bad on the economic and class issues that divide the United States between the 99% and Corporations and Plutocrats is, “Well, at least they’re good on Social Justice.”

Does throwing 51% of the population’s reproductive and healthcare rights under the bus sound like a winning electoral strategy to you?

Maybe next the DCCC should support “Blue Lives Matter” racists.

Do I have a positive solution? Actually I do. There is in fact a “Litmus Test” for being a Democrat, especially in Party leadership, and Ben Ray Luján (NM 3) just failed. Even Republicans disavowed David Duke!

Rather than “promising” change, Democrats should hold people accountable and we should keep supporting with money, activism, and votes, challengers against those who don’t until the rest of them are very, very afraid they won’t keep their phony baloney jobs.