Here is M.J. Lee, Jamie Gangel, and Jeff Zeleny: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told President Joe Biden in a recent conversation that polling shows that the president cannot defeat Donald Trump and that Biden could destroy Democrats’ chances […]
Democratic Party
Democrats are divided on what to do about Biden
They also seemed divided in their own heads. Here is Ashley Parker at The Washington Post: The Monday after President Biden’s dismal debate, Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) — who helped deliver the Democratic nomination to Biden four years ago […]
Kamala Harris may be the reason Biden is not stepping aside
This is a really interesting piece from Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine. A taste: After absorbing the initial waves of shock from Thursday night’s debate debacle, allies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have begun whispering to the media their reasons why the Democratic ticket must consist of […]
Damon Linker urges Democrats to pick a new presidential candidate
Writer Damon Linker, a former conservative (he was once editor of First Things), is the latest to claim that Biden’s decision to run again is a selfish act. He makes the case today at The Atlantic: The Democratic Party is […]
Just how progressive is Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman?
Can a politician still be a “progressive” in today’s Democratic Party if he supports Israel and wants restrictions at the southern border? Adam Gabbatt of The Guardian tackles this question in a piece on Fetterman. Here is a taste: There […]
The Author’s Corner with Scott Kamen
Scott Kamen is Assistant Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, Valencia. This interview is based on his new book, From Union Halls to the Suburbs: Americans for Democratic Action and the Transformation of Postwar Liberalism (University of […]
Liz Cheney, one of the most conservative politicians in the United States, is pulling for Democrats in 2024
Here is Kelly Garrity at Politico: Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney would rather cede power to Democrats than see members of her own party win in 2024, she said, calling a Republican majority a “threat,” and warning of an existential […]
Brownstein: Democrats are performing better “at the polls than in the polls”
Here is Ron Brownstein at The Atlantic: Democrats yesterday continued to perform better at the polls than in the polls. Even as many Democrats have been driven to a near panic by a succession of recent polls showing President Joe Biden’s extreme vulnerability, the […]
“I want to keep politics out of schools”
I’ve been doing some last minute homework before I enter the ballot box tomorrow. As I was researching my local school board candidates I was struck by how many of them use their platforms to say something like this: “Politics […]
Gallup: 63% of Americans want a third major political party
Here is Jeffrey Jones at Gallup: WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults currently agree with the statement that the Republican and Democratic parties do “such a poor job” of representing the American people that “a third major party […]
Michael Tomasky on the “quixotic” and “corrosive” Cornel West and RFK Jr. campaigns for president
The editor of The New Republic thinks Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, and No Labels “are effectively surrogates for Donald Trump’s 2024 bid.” Here is a taste of his piece: You might think, in a two-party democracy where the […]
Is West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin running for president?
If Manchin runs as a third-party candidate there is a good chance that Donald Trump or another Republican will be the next president. Here is John Wagner at The Washington Post: Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) plans to headline an […]
Joe Biden is amassing an electable resumĂ© “without making a big show of it”
Here is a taste of Michael Tomasky’s New Republic piece “Democrats, Wake the Hell Up!”: Nobody seems to have noticed this, but over the course of the spring, the country’s four leading freight rail carriers agreed to grant the vast majority of […]
The Christian Right “Road to Majority” conference opens with a sermon: “Blacks have become the cheap prostitutes of the Democratic Party”
Ralph Reed’s Christian Right gathering this weekend began with a sermon by Black preacher John M. Amanchukwu. Amanchukwu is a former North Carolina State football player, a graduate of Liberty University, and appears on shows such as The Charlie Kirk […]
Democrats heading to Chicago in 2024
The Democratic Party will return to Chicago in 2024. It will be held from August 19-22. You can get the details from any news website, but we thought we would call your attention to previous Chicago conventions. This will be […]
Anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president
Here is Kelly Garrity at Politico: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, is running for president as a Democrat, according to a statement of candidacy filed with the […]
Jamie Raskin gives his House GOP colleagues a grammar lesson
Earlier this year we shared historian Lawrence Glickman’s piece at Slate on why Republicans insist on calling their political opponents the “Democrat Party.” Read it here. I thought about this piece today after I watched Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin respond […]
Why do Republicans call it the “Democrat Party”
Cornell historian Lawrence Glickman explains in a piece at Slate: So, what is the history of this strange locution? Tracking the origins of the missing “ic” provides an instructive window into the evolution of modern conservatism. For although “Democrat party” has been […]
Matt Gaetz: “If Democrats join up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign from the House of Representatives”
Up until this point in the GOP battle for the Speaker of the House, compromised Florida congressman Matt Gaetz has been treating the whole affair as if he is a high school kid playing some kind of game, perhaps the […]
Does Krysten Sinema want another term in the U.S. Senate?
Krysten Sinema left the Democratic Party today. She registered as an Independent. Watch: I applaud Sinema’s independence. But from a political perspective, this looks likes suicide. If she runs again in 2024 as an Independent, the non-GOP vote (we can […]