At the April 20 rally in Omaha, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont
independent who sought the Democratic presidential nomination last year,
endorsed Mello, telling thousands, “Are you ready for a political
revolution?”
Yes!!! A revolution that includes subjugation of women when it comes to making decisions about that healthcare! You rock, Bernie!
lemme guess: you’re a big Pelosi fan.
anyway, more to the point: wonder if knee-jerk anti-Bernie vitriol on this Mello issue had anything to do with him losing? if so, good job our team! we lose again!
Because Stothert is going to be sooo much better. Apparently some purity unicorns are more important than others.
Women’s healthcare is a purity unicorn. Got it.
I don’t know is wanting to address income inequality a purity unicorn? Is wanting to address LGBT issues a purity unicorn? Is wanting to address environmental issues a purity unicorn? Is expecting a Democratic Senator not to provide cover for Republicans stealing a Supreme Court seat a purity unicorn? Or is it only a purity unicorn when it is the progressive wing of the party complaining about the compromises being made to win in a red state, not when it is the party establishment throwing a Democratic candidate under the bus?
One of the most consistent critiques, not unjustified, of Bernie supporters on this site is their purity tests and unwillingness to compromise on Liberal dogma when necessary to win in red states, yet when they do compromise they are attacked for compromising on the wrong issues. So what is it are purity tests bad or is it just certain purity test that are unacceptable?
Of course this also ignores how Mello’s positions on abortion and his work with Planned Parenthood in this state have been evolving as touched on in this Nation article on the issue: https://www.thenation.com/article/why-was-heath-mello-thrown-under-the-bus/
Hell as one of the previous TPM articles on this race notes:
Mello’s campaign fundraising co-chairwoman, Andy Holland, is the past president of Planned Parenthood of Nebraska.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/abortion-issues-dems-effort-promote-next-gen
He has a former president of Planned Parenthood Nebraska as one of his chief fundraisers, I mean obviously the issue is more complicated then it is being treated at the national level.
Edit: Look if he had taken a more hard-line anti-abortion stance in his replies in that Nation piece and if he didn’t seem to have some of the local support from people that seem credible on the issue I would be with you on saying that abortion is a deal breaker, but given the responses he did give and the support he does appear to have the severity of this backlash seems unjustified and not worth what it has cost us… four more years of Stothert.
This doesn’t need to be so complicated. In every election make the best choice possible between the candidates on the ballot. Between Stothert and Mello? That’s a real easy one.
If we keep doing this inconsistently-applied standards game where we decide not to support this or that best-option-in-the-race Democrat bc of x/y/z issue where they fall short…we are just throwing elections away.
Exactly. We piss and moan (rightly) about “single-issue voters” who give the country over to Trump because of immigration (for example), but then we behave in exactly the same way to deny votes to an otherwise moderate progressive who could make significant progress locally. The Mayor of Omaha has fuckall to do with abortion policy!
Also, sweet jeebus I can’t believe this needs to be said, who is going to be better for women’s rights? The Republican?!?
Thanks a fucking lot litmus testers. Now we get nothing. Less than nothing, actually, since Jean Stothert is going to continue dragging this city backwards for another four years.