radiofreetom.bsky.social profile picture

Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social

The failures of the 1970s; the emergence of Clinton's "ignore my character, I'll give you what you want" deal; dividing the center/left coalition in the face of Trump; the party's takeover by too many young activists. If you can't see how the Dems also failed, I can't spend Sunday explaining it.

brianmcelroy.bsky.social profile picture

Brian @brianmcelroy.bsky.social

"a party whose excesses and feckless decisions also had a lot to do with the rise of authoritarian populism. (Populism was once a thing among the Democrats.)" can you expand on that? Because that sounds an awful lot like "baby boomer bothsidesing".

Replies

  1. cmmu.bsky.social profile picture

    @cmmu.bsky.social

    “The party’s takeover by too many young activists”. That’s a cause of the Ds troubles? Not the complacency of the older centrists who don’t want to rock any single boat???

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  2. enricofermi.bsky.social profile picture

    Fermi's Political Paradox @enricofermi.bsky.social

    At this late date, it is stunning that you're equating Clinton's sexual misadventures with Trump's sexual misadventures + a lifetime of fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, pathological lying, sadism, refusal to accept responsibility, contempt for the law and norms, & ignorance of American history.

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  3. sbyrnes.bsky.social profile picture

    Sean Byrnes 🇺🇸 @sbyrnes.bsky.social

    Everyone has some blame in the rise of the current situation but it is certainly not equal. We don't have a third party so to fight the GOP we have to use the Democratic party or do nothing at all.

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  4. rictho1966.bsky.social profile picture

    @rictho1966.bsky.social

    Dems continue to fail even given the authoritarian decisions by the Trump circus and institutions that keep capitulating. But, the way the GOP has fallen stuns in comparison. Every single value I was given by my GOP parents is gone. Nothing matters unless it glorifies Trump. Pedophilia? What's that?

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  5. marybuggie-hunt.bsky.social profile picture

    Mary Buggie-Hunt @marybuggie-hunt.bsky.social

    Exactly. And the problem of "too many young activists" hijacking the Democratic Party is documented every time some kid---without any knowledge and less understanding of the political history of the United States, uses the term "Boomer" thinking it's a generational slur.

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  6. bribleck.bsky.social profile picture

    Bribleck @bribleck.bsky.social

    Sigh Tom you really like making Bsky angry don’t you lol. This is like your opinion. I disagree. I think Ds must enact a liberal agenda that helps people, and they have been stymied by a number of things, partly self-inflicted.

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  8. diogenetics.bsky.social profile picture

    Jack McUndisclosed @diogenetics.bsky.social

    I am not seeing the young activist takeover part. Buttigieg? Warren and Berinie are too old. AOC? Perhaps but, like Bernie, her voice is limited within the party itself. Hogg is out. More like the Democratic Party is as milquetoast and non-activist as can be, which is a problem in these times.

    1
  10. dave11281947.bsky.social profile picture

    David Pancost @dave11281947.bsky.social

    The country as a whole is responsible for the mess we're in, including people like me. That acknowledgement, however, doesn't lessen the GOP's responsibility. It's leadership has had plenty of opportunities to get rid of him, many more than anyone else.

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  12. jcrowrva.bsky.social profile picture

    @jcrowrva.bsky.social

    If the Democrats were as feckless and corrupt as described I imagine Trump would have taken over their party. But he took over the GOP. If you want to see something feckless and corrupt, just follow the careers of most 2015-era centrist Republicans.

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  13. happyrumrunner.bsky.social profile picture

    @happyrumrunner.bsky.social

    if voters weren't ready to "ignore character" there would have been half as many Republican presidents in the last 100 years as there were

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  14. paul-newengland.bsky.social profile picture

    paul-NewEngland @paul-newengland.bsky.social

    I never voted for Clinton. My snake charmer alarm went off on first sight. I did vote for Ralph Nader a few times. Ralph's heart is in the right place. He walks his talk. (huge respect of this rare character trait)

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  15. ericowens.bsky.social profile picture

    Eric Owens @ericowens.bsky.social

    Another issue is that Democrats became the party of "we'll give this $117 tax cut." Democrats and particularly progressives deal, bizarrely, in policy minutiae. "A public grocery store!"

    Republicans deal in and themes and only themes.

    I wish Democrats would wake up.

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  16. martingeorge.bsky.social profile picture

    martin george @martingeorge.bsky.social

    Of the things responsible for the current state of affairs, Bill Clinton? Really? No mention of Bush 2's Iraq War and Middle East adventurism, which set off most of the current refugee crises and the resultant anti-immigration sentiments pounced on by right wing populist authoritarians? But CLINTON?

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  23. martingiannini.bsky.social profile picture

    @martingiannini.bsky.social

    You’ve got to go back to Clinton, who governed as a consensus building centrist, obsessed over policy detail, fetishized good governance, and paid a massive political price for his character, to suggest Dem as equally complicit in “ignore my character, I’ll give you what you want” culture? Pathetic.

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  24. @frh.bsky.social

    Only one on which I disagree is the failures of the 70s. Chalk more of them up to Republicans in hindsight, though at the time I blamed Carter. Especially lean into the Clinton point. How different the world would be had the Congressional Dems had a Goldwater to push back on him lying under oath.

    1
  26. mrfrench.bsky.social profile picture

    Mr French @mrfrench.bsky.social

    Ah, yes, because “too many activists” and “too many racists” are both equal sides of the problem coin. I grew up in Mississippi. They were still having KKK meetings in the 80s. I grew up hearing racist jokes there until the day I moved out of that state in 2010. But sure, Dems are equally to blame 🙄

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  28. lisamikol3369.bsky.social profile picture

    @lisamikol3369.bsky.social

    I have to agree. I think Bernie did a lot of damage to the Democratic Party and he’s not even a Democrat. He gave a lot of voters the wrong idea the President could just give everyone free healthcare & free school & forgive student loans when he promised those things if elected.

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  29. shawnkevin.bsky.social profile picture

    @shawnkevin.bsky.social

    The party's takeover by too many young activists?

    1. The gerontocracy seems to still be leading the party.
    2. Every election the gerontocracy wants to mobilize younger voters, but doesn't want to put them in leadership roles, adopt policies that attract them, or represent them.

    Signed, Boomer.

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  30. russellmartin.bsky.social profile picture

    @russellmartin.bsky.social

    The Dems failed themselves. The Republicans have failed the Founders. Very different failures—like calling a dermatologist to treat the unsightly acne on the face of a patient with a bullet hole in the gut.

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  31. randyt72.bsky.social profile picture

    @randyt72.bsky.social

    I'll give you most of this, but if you won't stop rolling your eyes everytime someone complains about Reagan, you gotta stop reaching all the way back to the 70s and Carter to trash the dems. The majority of Americans today weren't even alive then.

    1
  32. kellylmiller.bsky.social profile picture

    Kelly Miller @kellylmiller.bsky.social

    Add to it the ossification of the party’s leadership, some of whom still hold out a candle for the day the GOP snaps finally out of it and becomes the party of Bob Dole and Howard Baker again.

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  33. johnmctigue.bsky.social profile picture

    @johnmctigue.bsky.social

    The problem with being Center-Left, is that there is nobody in the Center anymore. If the Democrats had enough courage, they could stand up to the Wall Street gangsters and oligarchs, and their popularity would skyrocket.

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  34. richardmarxist.bsky.social profile picture

    Raoul Warren @richardmarxist.bsky.social

    “Takeover by young activists.” Uh, until recently the party was run by Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden. I think you’re grossly overestimating the power of the youth wing of the dems.

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  36. foxesofwi.bsky.social profile picture

    Foxes Of WI @foxesofwi.bsky.social

    Remember kids: Democrats have to be absolutely perfect to be elected.

    Republicans can get away with murder, pedophilia and concentration camps without msm pushback

    This has been the rule since 2015.

    3
  37. janus303.bsky.social profile picture

    Michael Ditto @janus303.bsky.social

    I’ll GenX both-sides about some baby boomers: boomer do-gooders on both sides like John McCain and Russ Feingold spent decades stripping parties of their power and influence, putting it in the hands of dark money 527s, PACs, and 501(c)(4)s instead of big bad (but elected) party bosses.

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  38. thegoodword.bsky.social profile picture

    @thegoodword.bsky.social

    Don't forget the Reagan "give all the money to the rich and a few pennies might trickle down" approach to destroying the economy.

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  40. missmarygri.bsky.social profile picture

    MissMaryG.bsky.social @missmarygri.bsky.social

    And here I thought the Ds 'failures' evolved from LBJ & Civil Rights movement. US elected Tricky Dick twice cause of his lies. And then for GOP to redeem the party chose a professional B-movie actor to repeat the Nixon lies. Dems can be pretty feable but don't hold a candle to the GOP.

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  41. brianmcelroy.bsky.social profile picture

    Brian @brianmcelroy.bsky.social

    I'm 41, Tom. "The failures of the 1970s; the emergence of Clinton's "ignore my character, I'll give you what you want" deal" sounds an awful lot like "Chappaquiddick, Chappaquiddick, Chappaquiddick" and some Limbaugh-vintage spittle flecked Clinton Rage.

    2
  42. metsgirl84.bsky.social profile picture

    Metsgirl84 @metsgirl84.bsky.social

    Well Trump did win with “ignore my character, I’ll give you what you want”. It even worked on the Evangelicals who condemned Clinton in the 90s, stating he should not be president with his “moral failings”.

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  43. dougers00.bsky.social profile picture

    Dougers @dougers00.bsky.social

    Reagan is the one that put us on the path to Trump and Project 2025. Still waiting for the "trickle down" to fill my wallet. If you can't see how the Republican party failed America, I can't spend Sunday explaining it.

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  45. theog563.bsky.social profile picture

    @theog563.bsky.social

    The same way it was the abolitionists fault because they prevented the spread of slavery.

    Sometimes we just have to admit we have always had one side that is clearly un-American and doesn’t care about preserving this Republic.

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  46. barnett-matt.bsky.social profile picture

    Matthew Barnett @barnett-matt.bsky.social

    I’m with you on most of this, but “The party’s takeover by too many young activists” is a fever dream of older centrists and has no basis in reality.

    3
  47. aaronmfc.bsky.social profile picture

    @aaronmfc.bsky.social

    “Too many young activists”

    Yeah because the feckless gerontocracy in charge really knows what they’re doing. They’re the fucking worst.

    1
  48. chuckmcmanis.bsky.social profile picture

    Chuck @chuckmcmanis.bsky.social

    Strongly agree with this. Democrats planted the seeds of their own dysfunction when they opted to 'look away' from President Clinton perjuring himself. The core idea that the quality of your service is more important than the quality of your character is, in my opinion, exactly wrong.

    1
  50. donlinn.bsky.social profile picture

    Don Linn @donlinn.bsky.social

    Which 'young activists' took over the party? I can't think of any. A look at Congressional leadership, DNC chairman and staff, and the big donors all suggest exactly the opposite. And please don't cite Kamala Harris. She was the candidate by default.

    Declare victory and walk away much?

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  51. bobbryan2.bsky.social profile picture

    Gorgon Zola @bobbryan2.bsky.social

    I don't agree with half of your examples. The other half are limp 'everyone is at fault a little'

    Also. Those young activists were right on Gaza.

    You weren't.

    All that time explaining how it wasn't genocide... only for the genocide to continue until it wasn't debatable anymore

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  53. swaffordaustin.bsky.social profile picture

    Austin Swafford @swaffordaustin.bsky.social

    I feel like the jab at Clinton is just a way to avoid dealing with the fact that all the Republican talk about morality turned out to be nothing but opportunistic BS.

    Also news to me that Clinton of don’t ask don’t tell, welfare reform, and Glass Steagall repeal was a populist.

    1
  55. shawnmcc.bsky.social profile picture

    Shawn McCullough @shawnmcc.bsky.social

    Also, let’s not pretend that Democrats are against unconstitutional executive orders or over reaching court decisions as long as they produce the outcome they desire.

    1