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3/3 Bernie & Progressive News Roundup + Open Thread –Afternoon/Eve Edition

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Hi Birdies,

Opening another thread since Bernie’s second rally is in a couple of hours.

See you in the comments!

3/1 Progressive News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Good Morning Birdies, TGIF!

Please post your news below!

2/28 Progressive News Roundup & Open Thread

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Judge blocks GOP effort to purge voting rolls in Texas, saying it is ‘ham-handed’ and ‘threatening’ A federal judge has ordered Texas election officials to halt a planned purge of electoral rolls, calling their effort “ham-handed” and “threatening” and saying there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the state. The Wednesday ruling, a relief for voting rights activists, puts a temporary stop to the Secretary of State’s search for noncitizens who may have voted illegally — a probe that proved deeply flawed just days after it began. In late January, Texas Secretary of State David Whitley made the … Continue reading →

2/25 BNR Evening & Open Thread: CNN Town Hall at 8ET Live Blog

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CNN is hosting Bernie Sanders in a town hall. From Newsweek:

Following the announcement of his 2020 presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders will head to Washington D.C. to talk policy and field questions from voters during a nationally-televised town hall event.

Monday evening’s town hall, which will be moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, will air at 8 p.m. eastern time. The event can be watched live on the cable news channel or streamed online at Sanders’s official Twitter account @berniesanders and CNN.com.

Sanders announced his candidacy for the presidency last week, telling Vermont Public Radio that “what I promise to do is, as I go around the country, is to take the values that all of us in Vermont are proud of—a belief in justice, in community, in grassroots politics, in town meetings—that’s what I’m going to carry all over this country.”

This will be Sanders’s second shot at the Oval Office. In 2016 the Vermont senator lost the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, though his grassroots campaign gave the former secretary of state a serious primary challenge. Sanders won 23 primaries and caucuses before conceding defeat to Clinton. According to CNN, Sanders will “address a host of issues” during the prime-time event. It is the first town hall of Sanders’s 2020 campaign, which was launched less than a week ago on February 19.

You can also watch it via TYT.com on YT or TYT via Pluto Channel if you have a Roku streaming device.

Follow me below for more BNR as well as your other news. Open Thread.

Update: good soundbite from the TH: “Damn right I will’ raise taxes on the rich.”

2/21 BNR Breaking News: Rep Ro Khanna, OR Pres Nina Turner, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, & Ben Cohen Named Co-Chairs of Sanders Campaign

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Please add more Bernie news in this thread! I will add details as I find them.

Imagine

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Is today some kind of holiday? Because I’m just sitting here waiting for @BernieSanders to announce that he’s going to change the world and run for President again. #OurRevolution pic.twitter.com/vproOmjMuW — Josh Fox (@joshfoxfilm) February 19, 2019 This is an open thread. Post a song you like or a photo…or whatever. H/t Emma Vigeland at TYT for the picture. … Continue reading →

1/9/2019 Afternoon/Evening Open Thread: Jeff Weaver Will not be Campaign Mgr for Bernie2020; Steyer Sits Out of 2020 & News

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Jeff Weaver will not return as Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager in 2020

Jeff Weaver, the longtime aide who led his 2016 bid, will not return to the role if Sanders enters the race, a source familiar with the planning process told CNN.
Weaver confirmed in an interview that his position will be changing, most likely to senior strategic adviser to Sanders, who is being encouraged by supporters to enter the race soon. A decision is expected in the coming weeks or months.

The move also underscores an understanding, both among Sanders’ close aides and outside backers, that the Vermont Independent will need a more robust infrastructure and diverse staff in order to reach or exceed the support he received during the 2016 contest.

The source said the decision for Weaver to return in a different capacity was made well in advance of new reports about sexual harassment by staffers working on the 2016 campaign. Sanders, Weaver and the senator’s campaign committee have all since expressed regret over the inappropriate behavior and pledged to provide stronger safeguards going forward.
“I am not going to sit here and tell you that we did everything right in terms of human resources, in terms of addressing the needs that I’m hearing from now, that women felt disrespected, that there was sexual harassment, which was not dealt with as effectively as possible,” Sanders told CNN’s Anderson Cooper last week, apologizing to “any woman who feels like she was not treated appropriately.”

When asked if he knew at the time about the allegations, Sanders said he was not, adding, “I was a little bit busy running around the country trying to make the case” — a remark even close allies worried might undermine his apology.
Sanders and his team took steps after 2016, and before his 2018 Senate re-election campaign, to tighten rules and restrictions, requiring staffers to take training courses before joining and offering them an 800-number for lodging confidential complaints.

“Whether he runs for president or not, he took seriously enough the things he heard after the 2016 campaign to put some measures in place in 2018 and that’s what is most important,” said Nina Turner, a close Sanders confidant and president of Our Revolution, a political action organization spun out of Sanders’ 2016 success.
Weaver on Wednesday said he never intended to reclaim his title from 2016, noting that he has a teen son near college age, but said he expected to have an active role in putting together the infrastructure of a second Sanders presidential campaign.

“It was never my intention to run a subsequent campaign if there is one,” Weaver said on Wednesday. “I think if you look at presidential campaign managers, the number of people who have run multiple campaigns is very few. I think I can be most helpful to Bernie, if he runs, being a strategic adviser that needs to deal with some of the 30,000-foot issues as opposed to the management of a day-to-day campaign.”

Your news, tweets, videos! Open thread!

It’s Not January 2019….Yet

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

I’ve been reading comments from the birdies this week and some of the tweets this week have been about Beto O’Roarke…and should he or should not be a candidate for the POTUS Dem Primaries in 2020.  CNN already likes his chances.  Chris Matthews has been fawning all over him.   There are many at TOP who are fans.   

And they aren’t the only ones.   Shaun King thinks Beto should throw his hat in the ring. 

The Young Turks aren’t crazy about Beto.   They, along with David Sirota, have reasons to believe he is not progressive, that he is a centrist or hinting he’s too much like Obama.  Talks hope, hasn’t gotten too much into a deep dive about policy, and has only served 3 terms in Congress.   He also didn’t pay attention to the $2700 donations by self-identified employees of the oil & gas industry, which may indicate he wasn’t terribly serious about the pledge not to take the donations or else his campaign got tto frantic at the end to notice.     

Beto was asked today if he was a progressive.  He didn’t have much of a response, other than he doesn’t like labels.  Does that mean he’s part of the No Labels group that claims to be bipartisan?  We know he was a member of the New Dems group, which is a rehash of the DLC.   I’m not certain that’s the worst thing about him.   Sure, it would have been better if he hadn’t joined but I’m not certain he knew much about the group when he became a member, just as Rep Mark Pocan was misled about the Harvard Institute of Politics orientations for incoming Congresspersons who are newbies.   Pocan was told it would be bi-partisan, and as we know now from AOC and Rashida, we know that orientation is anything but attempted corporate brainwashing political event.   

Some polls have been posted about Beto but what’s interesting is that Julian Castro, Andrew Gillum or Stacey Abrams aren’t on them.   Markos has said nothing about them becoming candidates either.  What gives, considering GOS has thrown down a prediction that it will be a woman and not any men who are caucasian by birth? 

Historically for the last century, the last Dem presidents have been under the age of 57 when they ran.    Like it or not, there is going to be a lot of ageist commentary about Bernie, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.

I think the field is gonna be crowded in 2020.  And each potential candidate should be examined with a critical eye.   But I for one am not going to join the Not Beto brigade at this juncture; I’m in Shaun’s camp that anyone should be able to run and that candidate needs to be serious about systemic racism as well as be versed in economic policy, plus be able to see the bigger picture in national security and foreign policy.  It’s a tall order.   Bernie hits all of the buttons for me, but at the same time,  I think the climb will be twice as hard for Bernie because of a crowded field.    The fundraising will be more challenging because so many are running.   

I look forward to a vigorous campaign in the 2020 cycle.   And it will be most important in my lifetime and for many women because Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter aren’t getting younger. 

    

12/3 Interview with Bernie Sanders about Climate Change and TH/Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Naomi Klein from The Intercept Interviews Bernie Sanders at the Gathering.

This sets the tone for the Town Hall this evening:

Livestream:

Discuss away…still open thread for this evening.