Yes, my complaints for years at the local & state level, the unhealthy dependence on the national Dems to tell us what issues candidates should campaign on, what THEY determine to be our winning priorities while minimizing major issues to voters like gun violence / Iowa cancer rates / Iowa water quality. The reliance on top down direction is clearly not working. We need stronger voices and actions everywhere otherwise they are as effective as “thoughts & prayers.”
Good speech by an up-and-coming dem. I admire his principled stand on issues. Thanks for flagging.
@Laura, do you think he was brought in to rouse the crowd, or could he be seeking to expand his profile nationally, even testing the waters for a run at the presidency?
Much of what was said, Ibelieve to be true, and especially in Iowa! Democratic power is based in the very old style "bottom up' base" but the Iowa Democratic Party sees it so very differently! As does the National Party who appear to think they have all the answers and even as wrong as they have been for election cycle after election cycle, they continue believing in "experts"! These "experts" are costly and quite often wrongf! The party continue to fight against the very people they are supposed to be supporting, paying no attention to the very voices coming from Iowa on what the issues really are on the ground in Iowa! From my view, they went outof their way to stop Bernie Sanders run for President mostly because he wasn't a "true Democrat" although in his very important way of addressing the issues he reflected a large majority of Iowan's and others who found his prospective more favorable than Biden's. With respect for those whgo have won in the past in Iowa, simply winning is not what makes for great politics. Chet Culver and name recognition may have got him elected, but failure to perform, ended him in one term. Vilsack fell under the sway of Monsanto and their lackies they have put into play at ISU that his terms as Ag Secretary have not helped improve water quality, or farmers in the long run, but certainly garnered monitary support from Big Ag, the Fsarm Bureau, National Corn and Soybean organizations, and a host of others made rich and powerful because of him. Obama also had his problems of sticking to his programs he ran on. He didn't close the prison camp in Cuba as he said he would, and putting Vilsack as head of USDA, wasn't a well thought out plan, likely it was a pay off for Vilsack ending his "favorite son" campaign for President that was supported by Monsanto! The local and rural organizations in this state are currently organizing themselves as a force across county lines to win elections for their candidates. Something the Iowa Democratic Party has abandoned and as a result, they are in the pickle they have been in of late! THe Party spends the bulk of its money and resources in the most wealthy and easy winable districts. Fine, but when you abandon all the rest, the obvious results have been what we have seen the previous and especially this past year! The only hopeful change has been created by the local democratic party organizations working across county lines to put boots on the ground door knocking and phone calling to win these few special elections that are very short operations that the locals can handle very well when not faced with huge ad campaigns and advertising! They have managed using this organization to end the super-majority of the Senate in winning just a few special elections! Places the State Party ignores, they chose to fight for and the results are there in front of God and everybody, if you want to win, you have to fight!
In short, they need to run on Bernie Sanders economic policies, not on just identity politics and culture war issues. But we both know that will never happen, as the party showed its true colors on that when they screwed him out of the nomination twice, when he most likely would have won both times, and we would never have gotten Trump, even once. But winning elections is not what the Dem Party leaders care about, for the reasons I laid out above. Once you catch onto that, everything the national Dem Party does, makes perfect sense, rather than appearing to be incompetency or being worse than the Repubs..
Any time a national politician comes to our state I assume it's with presidential aspirations. As former Ohio Gov. John Kasich once said to NBC's Brian Williams: "You and I were both basketball players. You know if you hang around the rim long enough, something's gonna happen."
But the senator's sentiments should echo thorugh the foundations of our republic. I remember the warning of a Republican, Cassidy Hutchinson, before last fall's election, echoed by Liz Cheney, that the outcome of that vote may determine if we ever again have an election again like the ones to which we're accustomed -- or, consequently, a democracy. That should be a clarion call to all of us no matter our party affiliation, if any. And we're going to have to look beyond party affiliation to preserve our democracy -- as was the case in 1974 when Barry Goldwater looked President Nixon in the eye and told him he did not have the votes in the Senate to escape conviction and removal from office at an impeachment trial.
I don't think they ever will be again, and deservedly so, after the way they were screwed up, and rigged, against Bernie in 2016 and 2020. The Iowa Dem Party is not trusted anymore on that by the public, nor should they be.., besides the fact of Iowa being way more white than most states..
That one quote says it all, that "People don't trust the Democrats to take on those interests", and rightly, deservedly so. Because they never have, starting with the DLC in the late 80s. And they cynicism of people, including me, is that they never will, as long as they keep getting the corporate campaign money and are still able to cash in on their bribed service to those donors after they leave office, thru becoming lobbyists or being rewarded with cushy corporate jobs, often for their family members as well.
Excellent. Van Hollen sends the message that we need to follow--bit by bit, piece by piece. Big Oil, Big Ag...downward spiral. Meanwhile, why did folks vote for tRump, a lying sycophant?
Yes, my complaints for years at the local & state level, the unhealthy dependence on the national Dems to tell us what issues candidates should campaign on, what THEY determine to be our winning priorities while minimizing major issues to voters like gun violence / Iowa cancer rates / Iowa water quality. The reliance on top down direction is clearly not working. We need stronger voices and actions everywhere otherwise they are as effective as “thoughts & prayers.”
Good speech by an up-and-coming dem. I admire his principled stand on issues. Thanks for flagging.
@Laura, do you think he was brought in to rouse the crowd, or could he be seeking to expand his profile nationally, even testing the waters for a run at the presidency?
Much of what was said, Ibelieve to be true, and especially in Iowa! Democratic power is based in the very old style "bottom up' base" but the Iowa Democratic Party sees it so very differently! As does the National Party who appear to think they have all the answers and even as wrong as they have been for election cycle after election cycle, they continue believing in "experts"! These "experts" are costly and quite often wrongf! The party continue to fight against the very people they are supposed to be supporting, paying no attention to the very voices coming from Iowa on what the issues really are on the ground in Iowa! From my view, they went outof their way to stop Bernie Sanders run for President mostly because he wasn't a "true Democrat" although in his very important way of addressing the issues he reflected a large majority of Iowan's and others who found his prospective more favorable than Biden's. With respect for those whgo have won in the past in Iowa, simply winning is not what makes for great politics. Chet Culver and name recognition may have got him elected, but failure to perform, ended him in one term. Vilsack fell under the sway of Monsanto and their lackies they have put into play at ISU that his terms as Ag Secretary have not helped improve water quality, or farmers in the long run, but certainly garnered monitary support from Big Ag, the Fsarm Bureau, National Corn and Soybean organizations, and a host of others made rich and powerful because of him. Obama also had his problems of sticking to his programs he ran on. He didn't close the prison camp in Cuba as he said he would, and putting Vilsack as head of USDA, wasn't a well thought out plan, likely it was a pay off for Vilsack ending his "favorite son" campaign for President that was supported by Monsanto! The local and rural organizations in this state are currently organizing themselves as a force across county lines to win elections for their candidates. Something the Iowa Democratic Party has abandoned and as a result, they are in the pickle they have been in of late! THe Party spends the bulk of its money and resources in the most wealthy and easy winable districts. Fine, but when you abandon all the rest, the obvious results have been what we have seen the previous and especially this past year! The only hopeful change has been created by the local democratic party organizations working across county lines to put boots on the ground door knocking and phone calling to win these few special elections that are very short operations that the locals can handle very well when not faced with huge ad campaigns and advertising! They have managed using this organization to end the super-majority of the Senate in winning just a few special elections! Places the State Party ignores, they chose to fight for and the results are there in front of God and everybody, if you want to win, you have to fight!
In short, they need to run on Bernie Sanders economic policies, not on just identity politics and culture war issues. But we both know that will never happen, as the party showed its true colors on that when they screwed him out of the nomination twice, when he most likely would have won both times, and we would never have gotten Trump, even once. But winning elections is not what the Dem Party leaders care about, for the reasons I laid out above. Once you catch onto that, everything the national Dem Party does, makes perfect sense, rather than appearing to be incompetency or being worse than the Repubs..
Any time a national politician comes to our state I assume it's with presidential aspirations. As former Ohio Gov. John Kasich once said to NBC's Brian Williams: "You and I were both basketball players. You know if you hang around the rim long enough, something's gonna happen."
But the senator's sentiments should echo thorugh the foundations of our republic. I remember the warning of a Republican, Cassidy Hutchinson, before last fall's election, echoed by Liz Cheney, that the outcome of that vote may determine if we ever again have an election again like the ones to which we're accustomed -- or, consequently, a democracy. That should be a clarion call to all of us no matter our party affiliation, if any. And we're going to have to look beyond party affiliation to preserve our democracy -- as was the case in 1974 when Barry Goldwater looked President Nixon in the eye and told him he did not have the votes in the Senate to escape conviction and removal from office at an impeachment trial.
I don't think the Iowa caucuses will be first on the Democratic side in 2028. But point taken.
I don't think they ever will be again, and deservedly so, after the way they were screwed up, and rigged, against Bernie in 2016 and 2020. The Iowa Dem Party is not trusted anymore on that by the public, nor should they be.., besides the fact of Iowa being way more white than most states..
That one quote says it all, that "People don't trust the Democrats to take on those interests", and rightly, deservedly so. Because they never have, starting with the DLC in the late 80s. And they cynicism of people, including me, is that they never will, as long as they keep getting the corporate campaign money and are still able to cash in on their bribed service to those donors after they leave office, thru becoming lobbyists or being rewarded with cushy corporate jobs, often for their family members as well.
Excellent. Van Hollen sends the message that we need to follow--bit by bit, piece by piece. Big Oil, Big Ag...downward spiral. Meanwhile, why did folks vote for tRump, a lying sycophant?