Do Not Ignore The King

India Walton can do us all, if not herself, a favor.

On June 22, 2021 Walton defeated incumbent Byron Brown in the Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo, seemingly ending Brown's bid for a fifth term. The Intercept's Akela Lacy then wrote of the union organizer and activist

As the Democratic nominee in a heavily Democratic city without a Republican contender, Walton will all but definitely win Buffalo’s general mayoral election in November. A former member and representative for 1199 SEIU (the union that endorsed her opponent), and backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, the Working Families Party, and the Buffalo Teachers Federation, Walton will be the first mayor in the U.S. identifying as a socialist in more than half a century.

However, a few days later, Brown announced that he would mount a write-in challenge in the heavily Democratic, mid-sized Rust Belt city. And now

If the Buffalo mayoral election was held today, a majority of likely voters say they would vote for incumbent mayor Byron Brown over Democratic nominee India Walton, according to an exclusive WIVB/Emerson College poll.

Brown has a 10-point lead in the poll, with 50.2 percent of respondents supporting the mayor in his quest for a fifth term versus 40.1 percent who said they’d vote for Walton. 7.9 percent of respondents said they were unsure and 1.9 percent said they supported someone else.

Asked whether their opinion of the two candidates is favorable or unfavorable, opinions of Walton were mixed while Brown was viewed very favorably. Moreover, a plurality expressed an unfavorable view of socialism, responding to a question that may as well have been planted by Brown, who has claimed residents "have said to me that they do not want a radical socialist occupying the mayor's office in Buffalo."

For balance, the pollsters might have asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable impression of the real estate industry- reportedly backing the incumbent- or of the rights of renters, given that Walton, according to Lacy, has "focused on strengthening tenants' rights." 

Alas, there was no such question which would have provided needed balance. But Walton has the advantage not only of being the only candidate on the ballot, but also of being the Democratic nominee.

The challenger must maximize that advantage.  She can do so by requesting the endorsement of arguably the second most important Democrat in the nation and most influential Democrat-President Biden included- electorally.

A few days after the elections, in which Democrats underperformed, House Majority Whip James Clyburn denounced the slogan "defund the police," remarking

We saw the same thing happening here. We can’t pick up these things just because it makes a good headline. It sometimes destroys headway.

As an example, Clyburn cited the defeat of South Carolina US Senate hopeful Jaime Harrison, who ended up beaten comprehensively by the incumbent Republican Lindsey Graham in a race many had hoped he would win after he turned a longshot campaign into a real contest.

“Jaime Harrison started to plateau when ‘defund the police’ showed up with a caption on TV, ran across his head,” Clyburn said in a separate Sunday appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“That stuff hurt Jaime. And that’s why I spoke out against it a long time ago. I’ve always said that these headlines can kill a political effort.”

These headlines can kill a political effort.  It appears that Clyburn is deeply concerned with the strength of the Democratic Party and getting Democrats elected. And he is no ordinary Democrat, nor an ordinary African-American Democrat. He is a kingmaker, as Bernie Sanders, and more recently Nina Turner, have found out.

So let's put the South Carolinian to the test. The Democratic Party nominee for mayor of a major American city, albeit one in decline the last several decades, is in danger of losing a race no Democrat should lose. India Walton should contact Jim Clyburn and ask- plead, if necessary- for his help.

Clyburn has made it clear that he is no socialist and has little patience for the most outspokenly progressive members of his caucus. He is aligned with the moneyed interests which dominate the establishment wing and still holds most of the power in the Party. But he has immense influence among Democratic voters and politicians, particularly in the African-American community. He also is a Democrat- or so he fervently maintains- and his support might make the difference for the candidate Democratic primary voters opted for in a free and fair primary.

 Clyburn is likely to decline, as India Walton probably realizes. But we don't know that, and neither does Walton. For the good of her Party and herself, she should give him a chance to call her bluff.

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If Only We Could Vaccinate Masks

No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.

                                                                                                     -H.L. Mencken, 9/18/26

 

Even eight years of Ronald (6) Wilson (6) Reagan (6) and of George W Bush and four years of Donald J. Trump did not convince me that Mencken was right. However, now

Parents of school-aged children are supportive of some, but not all coronavirus restrictions as kids gear up to return to the classroom this fall, a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation released Wednesday shows.

A majority of parents — 58 percent — don't want their child's school to require COVID-19 vaccinations. The results were split along party lines, with 66 percent of Democratic voters supporting vaccine requirements compared to just 13 percent of Republican voters, but even among Democrats the rate was lower than the 82 percent who have age-eligible children who have already received the vaccine.

The question was premised on the FDA fully approving the use of a Covid-19 vaccine in children. Yet

.... most parents do support mask requirements for students and staff who remain unvaccinated, though it's not clear what percentage backs masking for those who have received their shots.

If respondents are being honest, parents would rather their children wear masks throughout the school day (other than, presumably, while eating) than to have them vaccinated. 

This is barely comprehensible and suggests H.L. Mencken's perspective would apply today. Mencken referred to "intelligence." But whether "intelligence" or "common sense" or some other word most accurately describes the American people (at least the ones in this survey),  something is seriously awry.

However, thinking is far more awry, and dangerous, among residents of Franklin County, Tennessee, who have taken displeasure at wearing masks to a frenzied extreme:

The pandemic is going to last far longer than it has to because millions of parents in this country are irresponsible guardians for their children. https://t.co/QZURZAAZSp

— Pé (@4everNeverTrump) August 11, 2021

 

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McConnell Forgot To Say "Guys, Don't Do Anything Stupid"

This is hard to believe. En route to approving a budget resolution as the first step in passing a $3.5 trillion "soft infrastructure" bill by budget reconciliation

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) tried to offer a nonbinding change to the budget related to opposing defunding the police.

"The far-left rally cry of defund the price is not just D.C. rhetoric, they're actually acting on it," Tuberville said from the Senate floor.

Actually, they're not. Article after article trumpets the decision (or attempt) to cut funds from police departments. Typically, those municipalities have redirected funds from law enforcement needs to social service needs. But there is no recorded instance of a town actually defunding the police. So recognizing a hanging curve when he saw it

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who has been involved in police reform negotiations, gave an energetic rebuttal — urging every senator to "sashay" to the center of the chamber and vote for the amendment.

"I am sure I will see no political ads attacking anybody here over defund the police," Booker quipped.

As the New Jersey senator realizes, there still will be some ads while the ranks of Democratic members of Congress who support actual defunding of the police run the ideological gamut from Cori Bush to Rashida Tlaib, or from A to B. But few others want police departments eliminated, and fewer still are rising to the chant of "defund the police," heeding the warning of House Majority Whip James Clyburn.

Tuberville should have realized that; Mitch McConnell evidently does because

After Democrats supported the amendment, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) office blasted out a press release entitled "Democrats Are Still The Party Of Defunding The Police." And Tuberville's office sent out a press release characterizing the vote as Democrats pouncing "at the chance to distance themselves from 'defund police' rhetoric.

When you have to say "my opponent still is," the war may not be lost but the battle is. And when the Senator who (successfully) sponsored the amendment concedes his opponents (Democrats) eagerly accepted the "chance to distance themselves," the message is clear: they did.

Booker has reason to gloat. Senator Tuberville's amendment  "to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to decreasing Federal funding for local jurisdictions that defund the police." If the Alabaman had chosen not to grandstand, he could have moved "to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to decreasing Federal funding for local jurisdictions that endanger public safety by reducing spending for law enforcement and/or police." That would have put most Democratic senators in a bind, with a vote in favor leaving them open to criticism from much of their base, a vote against a liability in a general election.

But he chose not to do so, thereby enabling Democrats to stand side by side with Republicans in supporting police and public safety by merely rejecting an idea that no Democratic member of the Senate and very few in the House want to be associated with, anyway.  That may be only fitting; Republicans like to portray themselves as godlike, and Tuberville's move seems like a gift from heaven, a veritable act of grace.

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Staggering Contrast

I was going to say that, three days after Cori Bush was confronted on CBS about supporting defunding the police while enjoying private security, she had no answer on CNN's Reliable Sources. (Full transcript of this segment is below.)

Cori Bush was not confronted about being hypocritical Instead, Dana Bash merely diplomatically asked whether her comments the congresswoman made, the focus of attack ads against her fellow Democrats, might be harmful. A couple of minutes later, the congresswoman still had not addressed that concern.

Criticism against Democrats for being sanctimonious supporters of defunding the police (largely unjustified) are likely to be more effective, more determining, in swing districts than in Bush's own urban district in the St. Louis area.  Unconcerned with members of her own Party, she is selfish, hypocritical and consumed with herself.  "My job is to save lives," boasts Bush, equal parts police officer, firefighter, and heart surgeon.  

Dana Bash asks Rep. Cori Bush to explain comments she made endorsing defunding the police while also talking about having private security for herself pic.twitter.com/OQqbnAAUCG

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 8, 2021

But then Andrew Cuomo resigned.   Immediately, his critics eased up, recognizing that, while investigations must continue, he is deserving at least of a little credit for realizing that it was in his own, and the state's, interests to go relatively promptly and quietly, maintaining a modicum of dignity.

Of course I'm kidding.  Within minutes, Cuomo was being castigated while denunciation of Cori Bush is abating.  She is still in the US Congress, grandstanding, with no Democrat willing to take her on for anything. Yet, Al Franken, Eliot Spritzer, Anthony Weiner, Katie Hill, and now Andrew Cuomo, all resigned, albeit the latter's transgressions clearly the worst. Their colleagues, some of them even supporters, fled like rats from a sinking ship.

Perhaps it's because those four committed sexual improprieties or (at least in the case of Franken) alleged sexual improprieties, while Cori Bush advocates leaving communities defenseless from violent crime. Still, it's stunning that they all fell on their sword and Cori Bush is unrepentant and openly defiant. There may be a lesson in that for Democrats.

BASH: Congresswoman, I want to ask about the criticism that you're facing about comments you made in an interview this past week.

I want our viewers to listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I'm going to make sure I have security because I know I have had attempts on my life. And I have too much work to do, there are too many people that need help right now for me to allow that.

So, if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend 10 more dollars on it, you know what, I get to be here to do the work. So, suck it up. And defunding the police has to happen. We need to defund the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, I know you have seen that Republicans are pointing to the fact that you said you have your own security, while, almost in the same breath, advocating for defunding the police.

Now, I do want to emphasize I understand you have security protection because you have received multiple death threats. But the clip that I displayed is being used in attack ads against not you, but -- not just you, but other Democrats.

So, could those comments end up being harmful to your fellow Democrats, politically speaking?

BUSH: I think what we have to look at is the fact that I made it to Congress in 2020, I was elected to Congress, and we are still fighting this same fight. We're still fighting to save black lives.

That was not -- that work was not done before I got here. This is the reason why I ran, was to save lives, to save my son's life. It was because Michael Brown, who we're fighting for, and still trying to get justice for. It's because he didn't get justice, and Vonderrit Myers didn't get justice, and Kajieme Powell didn't get justice, and so many others. That is why.

And because that was not -- that was not fixed before I got here, to then come at me and say you're the reason why we have these problems, no, the reason why we have these problems is because those that were in power and could have fixed this problem before now didn't and cost -- it cost lives.

And so now that I'm here, I -- we just -- we just introduced the People's Response Act to make sure that we are looking at the money that -- the money that should be going to social safety nets to make sure that our community members who are living with mental health issues are able to function and live in society... BASH: So...

BUSH: ... the way that anyone would ask to.

So, I don't believe -- as far as my -- as far as my colleagues, I absolutely empathize. I empathize. But you know what? The same thing that the Republicans will do, which is figure out how to work with this on the comms spaces, that's what we have to do.

My job is to save lives, the lives of my community, because, when we're when we're talking about every single year increasing the budget for police, and then the budget for, like, Health and Human Services continuing to shrink, and St. Louis being number one for police violence year after year after year, number one, number two for homicides year and year, after year...

BASH: Congresswoman...

BUSH: So, when we're adding more money to the police, but we're still dying.

BASH: Congresswoman, I...

BUSH: So, something has to change.

BASH: Congresswoman, I -- yes. And I hear what you're saying. But I also heard you say that you think it's a comms problem.

Is it that? Because...

BUSH: No, I'm saying that we can also -- that that's another way that you can tackle this.

You have to tackle it from more than one place. We have to work on what we want to say, what is our message, but then we also have to understand that we have to save lives too. St. Louis can't keep being put on the back burner. And I'm here to stand up for my community.

[09:40:12]

BASH: Congresswoman Cori Bush, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

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Stacked Deck

In their "Breaking Points" podcast, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti feature an August 3 Politico article which noted that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Executive Director

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) followed that bleak forecast, which was confirmed by multiple people familiar with the conversation, with new polling that showed Democrats falling behind Republicans by a half-dozen points on a generic ballot in battleground districts. Maloney advised the party to course-correct ahead of 2022 by doing more to promote President Joe Biden’s agenda, which remains popular with swing voters.

The polling was commissioned by the DCCC itself, which suggests the Democratic Party is even further behind, as Enjeti noted.  He maintained that Republicans are poised to take control of the House of Representatives with "all culture war all the time"- pandemic restrictions; a "defund the police" message amidst a soaring murder rate; critical race theory; immigration. Enjeti cited a bad "optimism number" among the American people, and co-host Ball pointed out that the out party typically loses congressional seats in an off-year election, with GOP gerrymandering another obstacle to overcome.

Democrats don't seem to understand that those culture war factors are critical, as Politico adds

A Democratic messaging blitz this month on Biden's priorities is set to get help from a White House communications war room that will activate while members are back in their districts. Around the country, Biden’s Cabinet is being dispatched to talk up jobs and infrastructure in swing districts in states such as Iowa, New York and New Jersey.

But "jobs and infrastructure" won't be enough.  Politico identifies Democrats' "strong tool in their arsenal" as that

Much of Biden’s agenda polls strongly, including the party’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill that included aid for small businesses as well as huge safety net expansions.

The problem, congressional Democrats say, is making sure they get the credit.

If the bipartisan infrastructure bill is passed and signed into law without the reconciliation bill, the legislation the Administration and its surrogates tout as the President's major accomplishment will be a bill passed with bipartisan support. The White House will crow about the President's success at "reaching across the aisle" working with Republicans.

It would be a replay of the 2020 presidential election/congressional elections. Democrats were able to retake the Senate only because President Trump's campaigning there backfired, as it was likely to do.  Still, the Democratic senatorial candidates in Georgia barely won and a Senate majority effected only with the vice-president's vote. Democrats were expected to gain many seats in the House and instead suffered a net loss of ten.

By contrast, Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump with voters opting for the Democrat touting his bipartisan bonafides and predicting that the GOP "fever" would subside if he were elected. Why not, voters concluded, vote for Biden and for Republicans down the ballot if it would bring about comity in government? They could have their cake and eat it, too. Kumbaya, my Lord.

Those culture war issues will be difficult to overcome. Congressional Democrats must continue demanding that the bipartisan infrastructure bill be enacted only with the bolder, more meaningful, Democratic reconciliation bill, which in the Senate would need only 50 votes for approval .  Otherwise, voters are likely to conclude once again that the combination of President Biden and a Republican Congress is the perfect ticket.

 

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Premise

This is a reasonable question. It's also answered, by the very words of someone clearly defending critical race theory while claiming it doesn't exist.

If you feel guilty when our country's history of slavery and official racial discrimination are brought up, since your weren't involved in those things, what exactly are you feeling guilty about? https://t.co/bSFiWFYvQF

— Pé (@4everNeverTrump) August 7, 2021

 

At :36 of the complete video of the topic aired on Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher, the host asks each of his two guests to explain what he believes constitutes Critical Race Theory.

After Ben Shapiro gives his explanation, Malcolm Nance (at 2:34) maintains

It's not just African-Americans, right, it's also the Scalp Act of 1749, where for 300 modern dollars you had to cut off the head or the hair of an Indian to prove that you've got them out of the way so they could settle. That's a little bit of American history that people should know about. The Chinese exclusion acts of the 1840s. These are things we don't talk about.

That's inaccurate. The Scalp Act of 1749 was an act (rescinded a few years later) imposed by the British colonial government.  The law to which Nance refers dates to 1756 and the government of Pennsylvania.

That's not a trivial error, or at least not off-topic, because Critical Race Theory pertains to American government. Making today's Americans feel guilty, or accept accountability,  for the past applies to what the American- not British- government is responsible for.

It's hard to evaluate Shapiro's reply, that in fact we do talk about it, because Nance never made it clear whom the "we" is..

Nonetheless, Nance had suggested that Shapiro and/or others would like to erase history and  responsibility for it. That was a harbinger of his remark that demonstrated that, contrary to Pe's implication, proponents of Critical Race Theory are intent on making individuals (potential allies) feel guilty. At 3:31, Nance began an answer with

You know, when my great-great-grandfather ran away from slavery to join the 111th U.S. Colored Troops and fight against the south keeping human beings as slaves, he didn't think, you know what, in 150 years my great-great-grandson's gonna have to sit on stage and argue with a guy who thinks that's all right.

"A guy who thinks that's all right" is only slightly more diplomatic than I know that you actually support slavery. There was, and is, no indication that slavery pleases Ben Shapiro.  But there was Malcolm Nance claiming that Shapiro is so enamored of keeping human beings enslaved that Nance, as he put it, has to sit on stage to argue otherwise.

Supporters of Critical Race Theory have not denied that guilt is a fundamental premise of Critical Race Theory. Transferring the sins of the father to the sons and daughters is an old and divisive strategy, and in this case likely to backfire.

 

 

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Tweet Of The Day- Cori Bush's America

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, who has given us a glimpse of life with fully defunded police forces.

um, yes, this lawmaker actually does say that https://t.co/Pl0KbKtQkD

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 5, 2021

  

Surely you exaggerate, Mr. Neuer. 

Not in the least, it turns out, because Bush, a member of "The Squad" elected to the House of Representatives in 2020, remarks as seen in the video below (complete video here)

But this is the thing- I won't let them get off. You can't get that off. I'm going to make sure that I have security because I know I have had attempts on my life and I have too much work to do, there are too many people that need help right now for e to allow that.

So if I end  up spending 299,000,if I spend 10 more dollars on it- you know what, I got to be here to do the work. So suck it up and defunding the police has to happen. We need to defund the police and put that money into social service safety net.

However, as Representative Bush herself would say.... this is the thing. Undermining police and transferring money into social services is an interim measure for Cori Bush. She would go much further.

With all due respect, Mr. President—let’s talk about losing people. We lost Michael Brown Jr. We lost Breonna Taylor. We’re losing our loved ones to police violence.

It’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive. Defund the police. https://t.co/Wsxp1Y1bBi

— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) December 2, 2020

With all due respect, Mr. President—let’s talk about losing people. We lost Michael Brown Jr. We lost Breonna Taylor. We’re losing our loved ones to police violence.

It’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive. Defund the police.

Shorter Bush: "A slogan? No, we really mean defund all the police." One resident of Bush's district, who supports the congresswoman generally and on this issue, understands the latter's intent. She comments

We’re all concerned about security and want to be safe in our communities but I think that the police itself as an institution has a really traumatic history that is highly problematic. I support her efforts to want to defund the police and I also think it’s important simultaneously to try and figure out how to have the safe communities that we all want without necessarily continuing with institution of the police.

But the implications of Bush's position, discontinuing the institution of the police, and its implications are understood best by this journalist:

The use of incredibly expensive private security by those pushing to defund/abolish police is a prime example of neoliberalism in action. It’s easy to demonize the public sector if you can afford the private, whether it’s in education, health care or in this case, safety.

— Lee Fang (@lhfang) August 5, 2021

As Cori Bush herself is demonstrating, people will always need security and will demand it. Defund the police, public sector employees paid by the public and ultimately accountable to it, and there still will be private companies providing security. They will be assuring safety for the rich- or, as in the case of Representative Bush, those with campaign funds to pay for it.

Increasingly huddled in gated communities, the very well off will have all the desired armed security acting with all the rights of private companies.  All others, such as the people of the city of St. Louis (who dominate Bush's district) will have to fend for themselves. The two Americas, wealthy and the non-wealthy, will be increasingly distinguished one from another and increasingly hostile to each other.

That will apply, as Lee Fang notes, "whether it's in education, health care, or in this case, safety." Or as Cori Bush would herself put it, "suck it up, suckers."

 

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