https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/7/republican-former-vp-dick-cheney-says-he-will-vote-for-kamala-harris

Caitlin Johnstone nailed it. Snip:

The Biden-Harris administration is knowingly helping the Israeli government wage a campaign of extermination in Gaza that has shocked and horrified the entire world, so obviously the real villain we need to focus on here is Jill Stein.

No serious person believes a bunch of socialists and peaceniks are going to vote for a capitalist warmongering party. Democrats don’t bitch about the Green Party because of lost votes, they do it because they hate being reminded that their party’s a lie and their values are fake.

Democrats saying the Green Party steals their votes makes as much sense as Republicans saying the Green Party steals their votes. The Democratic Party is not a left wing party. It’s a warmongering capitalist party that is presently engaged in genocide and nuclear brinkmanship.

All academic since it would never actually happen, but it seems like 3rd parties enjoy more success under parliamentary systems, and super unpopular governments can be tossed out more easily. Would things be any better?

Hello all, leftist who's never voted for a major party beyond the municipal level.

Wanted to ask if there's been any downballot races you've been watching this cycle. I feel like there's been some decent enough candidates who've slipped in during previous cycles, but I haven't heard much talk about anything this year. Obviously not putting much hope into anything, just curious if there's anything to look out for.

linky to tweet, has a poll as well

A polling app for the 2024 elections with a familiar logo

The bar is below ground so maybe. 🤷

(from a MoveOn mailer)

Remember when the dems controlled all 3 houses

I figure I'll vote PSL again like I did last time since they seem to be among the most principled leftist parties we have in this hellscape. I've seen a lot of support for Jill Stein but iirc she has some very weird reactionary conspiracy-brained views. How we feeling? Is running this time around?

edit: to be clear I assume most of the based parties will not be on the ballot in most states, I've written in my picks before and I'll do it again KKKopmala

I'm just going to outline some stuff that's been floating around in my head since observing the monstrosity that was the DNC this week.

• The uncommitted movement caused the Democratic Party to flinch and push for Biden's removal. This seems clear to me.
• Piggy backing on the Uncommitted Movement were disillusioned liberals who were convinced Biden was not going to win a second term. They were Uncommitted based on that belief and nothing more.
• The resolution of this tension, through Biden dropping out and Kamala taking the rains, caused those disillusioned liberals who voted uncommitted to finally be set free. They have fully embraced Kamala as the new candidate uncritically.
• After several weeks of strong polling numbers, it becomes clear that the number of uncommitted voters has now been shrunk dramatically. Only those whose original position was centered on Gaza remain. For those now freed liberals, Gaza came to become a conditional issue instead of a primary issue.
• Harris lets the mask slip at a rally, telling the remaining uncommitted movement "I'm speaking now", which grants a license to the Islamophobic members of the party to go mask off. Turning the phrase into a shibboleth of sorts, signaling their disdain for Muslims at large.
• This mask off moment comes into full bloom at the DNC. Shouting down fellow Palestinian members. Physically accosting them with their "I ♥ Joe" signs. The complete absence of their mention by anyone on stage. The blatant lies about the efforts towards a ceasefire. These Islamophobes have been here the whole time, waiting for their license to finally free themselves from the performance art that is their care for the minority.

In this group of liberals, there exists two kinds:

1. The Islamophobic majority, ready and willing to perform a transfer of suffering out of the empirical core and to Palestinians and Muslims abroad.
2. The abused minority, who know their only survival is to plug their ears and walk fast so that their conscious does not catch them. They know, because the Democrats tell them so, that if they vote any other way, they will be the ones who suffer as well. So they too hope to cast their suffering abroad onto others to save themselves.

It's clear to both these groups that the Democrats will be moving on with their plans regardless. This is also apparent in the spectacle that was the DNC and the Kamala campaign at large. A distinct lack of detailed policy talk, and a very apparent parade of circus members to keep the vibes high and the thoughts empty.

One thing that I think people should take away from this is that the uncommitted movement was effective. It played chicken with the Democratic Party and the party flinched. They made moves that ultimately satisfied, quenched the fear and uncertainty that was festering among some of the movement members.

However, it leads me to some speculation:

Should this next 4 years result in a larger movement, where those abused minorities realize they were always going to be abused regardless, it likely means that any real pushback against the Democratic Party and its goals will lead to the party loosing in congressional elections and even the presidential elections. Republicans often win when voter turnout for the Democratic Party is low. They have to make serious moves to win when turnout is high. Weaponizing the Electoral Collage and the Supreme Court as a couple of examples.

Any truly progressive movement, I think, will result in some of the strongest wins for the Republican Party, if only because of the stubbornness of the Democratic Party at large.

There could be other ways these contradictions will eventually resolve, but based on the motions of the Democratic Party so far this cycle, I feel they've become emboldened to be their full selves, and will believe that if they can achieve victory again this time around, they can continue the same platform of empire with little pushback. This has been historically true, but what isn't historically true is the unprecedented visibility of the atrocities being committed by the party and the global disdain for the empire's actions.

I think their stubborn commitment to this project of empire, and the broadcasting of its disastrous results, could begin to chip away at the "Progressive Left", and push them even further left. However, in doing so, it is going to lead to several years of suffering at the hands of Republican rule. This could create a cycle of awakening, leading to a broader mass movement, but there is no way to know for sure.

Artist behind iconic Obama ‘Hope’ poster crafts new artwork for Harris

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/16/politics/kamala-harris-forward-shepard-fairey/index.html

Not left, not right

Yes, we all know the media class is awful, and this isn't anything particularly new - but the reporting around the price gouging proposal is some of the worst I have ever seen. NYT, CNN all completely blowing the proportions of what the bill does completely out of the water.

The proposal would not affect the current record high grocery prices at all - it only prevents gouging during or immediately after a national disaster. So if there were another nation wide pandemic - the proposal would come into play.

37/50 states or something like that already have similar laws on the book - and yet you have economists out here acting like this will single highhandedly tank the economy, when it isn't likely to affect anything very much in our entire lifetimes.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills from both ends. The bill itsself is basically a nothing burger and I was really disappointed when I looked into it - the media's response to it makes zero sense except in the context of class war for class war's sake.

I kinda feel like Kamala's team are purposefully announcing policies that sound progressive but don't actually do anything on purpose. I hate this shit. I hate the media. I hate dems.

Theories

1. Its literally just because Hillary Clinton sucks so hard and people didnt want to hear that shit from her
2. Deplorables is too much of a vocabulary word, weird is a word everyone knows. So deplorable just comes off more elitist, from a woman who is already seen that way. To quote a friend I asked "I think deplorable has a negative connotation that speaks to core personhood, in a way that comes off as both mean spirited and elitist"
3. The GOP hadnt gotten unhinged enough yet, so America wasnt ready for a campaign that is dismissive of them and still expected bipartisan respect and shit, but are now because the "weird" shit is so out there all the time
4. "Weird" is simply a more effective word to describe the situation at hand
5. Deplorables would have worked fine with the young people who can vote now but couldnt in 2008.
6. Kamala and especially Walz are better representations of "not weird" than Hillary was a representation of "not deplorable".
7. "Weird" hits them harder, insults them worse, and thus makes them spiral more in a way deplorable didnt
8. Deplorable would have worked fine if it wasnt just a one off comment but a sustained campaign message (this one im thinking probably not)
9. The Vance effect, he's just that weird.
10. People who are tired of Democrats being respectful like weird a lot

chuds are testing idpol for italians as oppo. it's never been more over. absurd levels of cooked

can't believe they make you donate half a million just to have a place to sit down though

I was sure it was going to be professional genocide ghoul Shapiro. Color me surprised.

Continuing this from the thread in !chapotraphouse@hexbear.net Have the Democrats finally hit on a good messaging strategy in calling Trump "weird?"

Original Post by @Philosoraptor@hexbear.net

Inspired by this post and the fact that I'm seeing a lot of regular libs start to coverage on "these guys are weird little freaks" as a messaging policy, which really seems to be bringing out the in the far right. It's working much better for them than all of Biden's attempts to portray Trump as some kind of existential threat to .

This is interesting, and only surprising in the sense that it is surprising to see the Democrats do something kind of effective for once. Fascists thrive on being seen as cool, powerful, and dangerous; those aesthetics are central to the brand. Every time Biden gave a big speech about how the future of democracy was on the line in the election, it played into that aesthetic. Every time CNN calls January 6 a "coup attempt," it plays into that aesthetic.

Calling these people weird little freaks with weird dumb ideas and weird creepy fixations does not play into that aesthetic. It breaks the illusion that all the freaks at the RNC wearing bandages on their ears are actually normal and represent normal people. They aren't, and they don't. This is yet another thing that the left has known for some time now, but that libs seem to maybe be catching on to: taking these idiots seriously empowers them. Actually realizing that and using it is one of the smarter things that the Dems have done in a while.