Why leftists don't trust Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Deval Patrick

[prehnite]

The contest for control of the Democratic Party between left and center is continuing apace. The latest battleground is over a handful of minority Democrats being groomed by the centrist establishment to run for office: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

If the center wants to win

Comments

[queerbychoice]

https://www.bustle.com/p/what-kamala-harris-critics-dont-understand-about-female-politicians-74317

[lightframes]

Thanks.

Regarding the corporate money, that's basically how I felt about HRC - I didn't hate her for taking the money, I wish the system wasn't built that way to start with so she didn't have to.

[queerbychoice]

Me too

[lightframes]

Even the article admits Harris supports a lot of the things leftists are looking for, so she's off to a great start imo

I don't think she'll have a hard time explaining her past either. All she has to do is say she wants to change the criminal justice system she worked within and can now work to change on a large scale. All our state attorney said was she won't pursue the death penalty because it's applied unfairly (it is) and our governor is trying to ruin her career. I hate this system that makes it so hard for people to do what's right. I don't think that excuses Harris but it explains it.

[natyanayaki]

-- i don't think focusing on how awful trump is, is going to help defeat him, or the republicans in 2018/2020. it certainly didn't help hrc.

-- why shouldn't politicians be asked about their record, especially this early out? that's the same response people had when criticizing hrc and that likely turned many people who weren't sold on her off of her. the democrats shouldn't be so afraid of challenges.

aside from dean, do you remember who were kerry's primary challengers?

[queerbychoice]

-- It's not enough all by itself, but I still think it needs to be focused on.

-- "Asking about" Kamala Harris's record is one thing, but I've recently encountered several Internet people screaming that she must be brought down, that the Democratic Party has already decided to make her their 2020 candidate and that she must be stopped at all costs, etc., which I thin is utter foolishness.

-- John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich.

[natyanayaki]

-- fair enough, and i don't disagree i'm just worried that it'll give us more trump, ya know?

-- i haven't seen that, but i'm not surprised by it. i think there are a lot of people who feel that hrc was kind of "chosen" going into the last election and that has kind of scarred the way some people see the democratic party (and the way some people respond doesn't help the party's image, if that makes sense), and i do think there are racist, sexists who'll latch onto the tiniest ish to count her out (and play victims). luckily (for me), most of the conversations i've had or seen with leftists are more like "she could be swayed so don't count her out" or "i wonder what she'd say now."

-- right, thanks!

[jeliza]

I have to ask, why hate on the Clintons for DADT? I've seen this come up before, and really don't understand the rationale. It was such a massive improvement and I don't think anyone had the political capital to go from the pre-DADT system to removing all barriers to LGBQ open service at the time.

[queerbychoice]

It wasn't a massive improvement; it actually caused a vast increase in the numbers of people being dishonorably discharged from the military for being gay. And the fact that he had campaigned on the idea of allowing gay people to serve openly, and people elected him, suggests to me that he did have quite a bit of political capital to do what he had said he was going to do.