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Ayanna Pressley's issue with black leaders from outside the 7th congressional district
By adamg on Sun, 05/20/2018 - 10:00am
The New York Times takes note of the Congressional Black Caucus and Deval Patrick endorsing Pressley's opponent, incumbent Mike Capuano - and John Lewis's trip to the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury to speak for Capuano.
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A Lot Of Shine Came Off Of Lewis's Star
After he dishonestly attacked Bernie Sanders while shilling for the Clinton machine during their campaign. Bernie was belittled by Lewis, who went to great effort to seek out TV cameras to explain how he never knew Bernie during the Civil Rights struggle and never had heard of him ever doing anything to advance the cause of civil rights for people of color - as opposed to his good friend Hillary who had marched alongside him on the battlefield.
It took about 24 hours for the whole world to figure out that Hillary was a Goldwater Girl high school student at the height of the civil rights movement, and for a Chicago newspaper to unearth an old photo of Bernie being arrested in Chicago protesting housing discrimination for SNCC - Lewis's own organization!
John Lewis was once a proud advocate for the people. And none of his accomplishments should ever be taken away from him or diminished. But he became just another party machine hack long ago. And he's proven that he's not above rank dishonesty and grandstanding - and riding on his resume - in the service of the machine.
Lewis is known for wasting tons of money on vanity projects
I hail from Atlanta and have had multiple meetings with the Rep. His big vanity project has been a streetcar train that runs between Downtown ATL and the MLK Ctr. Its been a disaster since day one. No matter how many times the numbers showed the project would be a disaster, Lewis would just push and push. The ATL streetcar fail may one day eclipse your Big Dig fail. Lewis went ahead with this project because he knew he was "untouchable". Despite being all talk and no action on important issues, he will never be replaced. Ironically I hear the same things about your rep Capuano and his own vanity-untouchable streetcar project. May he heed the warnings from Atlanta
Between that and the Braves stadium
Georgia excels at pissing away money. Time to cut off that welfare state.
Lewis also endorsed Clinton over Obama
And then switched. His endorsements mean nothing
Thanks
Thanks for the link Adam. Interesting article, this is a topic you'd figure a Globe writer would tackle.
District federal funding graphics always help
I know in the South you'll see the funding maps of each rep across the district. They're designed to show balance or imbalance by the rep. Sounds like Capuano is a good imbalance candidate.
Lewis recognizes an excellent legislator
And supports keeping an excellent legislator, rather than just changing for the sake of change, perhaps?
Pressley wants to label anyone who supports Capuano as establishment or racist, rather than recognizing that there are many of us who are making the conscious choice not to support her. Nothing to do with race or gender but everything to do with a view that she is a grandstander with few actual accomplishments, though a regular at riding others’ coattails or claiming a larger role than deserved.
False accusation
Unless you have a verifiable examp!e of Ayanna Pressly calling Capuano supporters racist your accusation is false. The times article makes note of the fact that she has not played the race card in this way.
hasnt she though?
"Capuano leaned heavily on his 10-term record and progressive bona fides, while Pressley argued that the district is in need of a candidate who will bring a demographically representative and an empathetic lens to the federal stage."
""This has less to do with anything the congressman hasn’t done and more what I bring and what I will do, and that is because I’m proven,” she said."
“These are issues I’ve been able to champion because of my lived experience,” she said.
"“Those who are closest to the pain should be closest to the power,” she said."
All of these are subtle to not-so-subtle ways of saying she should be voted in not because of her policies (which are similar to Capuano's), but because of her identity.
https://www.dotnews.com/2018/roxbury-forum-it-s-capuanos-record-vs-press...
No
Advocating for representation is not the same as calling Capuano supporters racist.
agreed
She has definitely not called anyone racist.
But she has definitely tried to play the race card. Not explicitly, I'll give her credit for that, but it's implicit in all of those comments.
In short
She mentions race without explicitly mentioning race. That’s very white of her.
Anger in Chelsea
Damali Vidot is president of the Chelsea City Council:
"establishment"
Can someone explain to my why being a 10th term Congressman is fundamentally a bad thing? Or can anyone point to a single thing that makes Capuano a bad congressman? Like a legitimate argument that doesn't involve the fact that he is an incumbent?
I am an extremely liberal Democrat, but I feel like this race represents the aspects of identity politics that many people are upset with. According to Pressley herself, just about the only difference between her and Capuano is that she is a younger black woman and he is an older white man. When asked why people should vote for her, her answer was the same thing - "I more accurately represent the demographics of the district".
To say that he doesn't deserve to continue doing his job, or that she deserves the job more than him because of the color of her skin or her gender is preposterous. Why should we vote to replace a member of congress who has done a great job for years just because he has been doing it for years?
Capuano: Somerville gets billions, everyone else gets pennies
Next question.
Why shouldn't we?
I think the question is posed wrong.
Why shouldn't we vote in someone new even if the person that's been there for 10 years is doing a good job?
There's a risk that she won't be as good...but I think that's a small risk given her track record to now and the likelihood that the way Democrats will screw up is to allow things to return to the way they were and I doubt she's likely to want to do that as she'll be new and full of new ideas to champion too. There's a risk that people won't vote for her in the same way they vote for the incumbent and the party will lose the seat...but I think that risk is so low that it's not even worth considering (even Lewis/Patrick/et al agree to that).
So, if this isn't really a risky decision (an embarrassment of riches of a sort)...then I think you could just as easily ask why shouldn't we. I think that opens the counter-question: what risk is there of leaving Capuano in place? I think the longer a politician remains in the same position, the more risk there is of corruption setting in...that he's more beholden to his own interests and those of the people that would pay him for his vote than to his constituents. I'm not making that claim...just that the risk increases for every year he's in position and he's given more seniority and more control over the levers of government. I think there's a risk that his views on things will age poorly and it's better to get the latest views on things from someone more new. Again, this is a risk that grows with time. So, I think there are a few risks with leaving Capuano in place.
And that's why the endorsement of other career politicians really doesn't amount to much to me. They're all tied with these same risks. Some day Pressley will face the fallout of these same risks too. Until we put more rules in place to reduce these risks with politicians, then we're stuck with a system where we almost *need* to replace the politicians frequently or suffer the consequences of them being there long enough to corrupt.
So, why shouldn't we vote him out? If he's done a good job, it's only a matter of time until he doesn't.
context vs theory vs pure speculation
While I agree with some of your points in theory, it seems like you could also separate the purely theoretical notion of an incumbent vs. a challenger from what we actually do know, and from this actual race.
For instance:
"There's a risk that she won't be as good...but I think that's a small risk given her track record to now"
Her track record til now is continually seeking higher office, and tackling issues that are tied to her identity as a minority, a woman, and a survivor of sexual violence. The risks there are that she is not beholden to her values or constituents, but to gaining achievements, power, and recognition, and that the issues she focuses on, while very important, may be slightly narrow.
Vs.
"What risk is there of leaving Capuano in place? I think the longer a politician remains in the same position, the more risk there is of corruption setting in....I think there's a risk that his views on things will age poorly and it's better to get the latest views on things from someone more new"
This is pure speculation that, you said yourself, don't even believe. It's purely hypothetical. It's been 20 years and neither has happened.
So in reality, we have an incumbent who has a 20 year record of achievement vs. someone who may or may not be able to meet the same level of achievement.
It seems to me anyways that common sense would tell you to stick with a representative with demonstrated 20 yr record vs. representative who may or may not be able to even meet that same level of achievement.
another twit
announced her intention to ignore her elected job within weeks of winning her seat - how can anybody think she's going to be a dedicated public servant?
WTF is up with these people!!!!
I've always said
She'd be a good Member of Congress. Too bad she decided to become a city councilor. Then she became a city councilor angling for another job, just like John Connolly and Stephen Murphy were. So she's in their class to me. Now, it's too bad she's running against a decent Member of Congress, which makes her look like the position is more important than doing the work.