Ds trying to remove candidates from the ballot in an effort to save democracy

[mspart]

Good article.   Good read.

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/08/27/democrats-lose-effort-to-block-cornel-west-from-michigan-ballot/

For months, we have been discussing the concerted effort of Democrats to bar challengers to President Joe Biden from primary ballots and block third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Cornel West from appearing on the November ballots. As both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris insisted that “Democracy is on the ballot,” their allies sought to deny the ability of voters to cast their ballots for other candidates. Now, a state judge has issued a stinging denial of the effort of Democratic officials to block West from the Michigan ballots.

Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson helped lead the effort to prevent citizens from being able to vote for West in Michigan.

Judge James Robert Redford issued the ruling days after West was kicked off the ballot due to technical issues.

West issued a statement: “Victory in Michigan! We brought thousands of voices to the table, and the court listened, rejecting the Democrats’ technical challenges. This is a win for democracy and for every person fighting for truth, justice, and love. Onward!” He is running with Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah.

Democrats are still pushing to strip them from the ballots in other states to prevent voters from having a choice in the election.

Another such effort failed in Maine recently.

The press and pundits have been largely silent about this effort despite the glaring contradiction with the campaign rhetoric of the DNC on saving democracy from imminent destruction.

The media does not appear at all alarmed or critical of the effort to limit democratic choice. The Washington Post stated clinically “Democrats are taking third-party threats seriously this time.” Taking it seriously appears to mean using legal means to keep them from the ballots.

It is true that the main political parties have challenged qualification signatures and paperwork in the past. However, the reports indicate a systemic effort geared toward reducing the choices for voters. What is striking is that this is coming from democratic groups and the DNC, which are raising money on the “save democracy” narrative.

The contradiction is spellbinding. On the same sites promising to oppose the third party candidates, the DNC and other groups push the narrative that only the Democrats are working to protect the right to vote.

The Post reports that Democrats have studied the Hillary Clinton campaign and vowed not to allow third party candidates to drain away millions of voters as they did in 2016.

This well-funded campaign to block other candidates is continuing. It was cited by Kennedy as one of the reasons that he pulled out of the race and endorsed former president Donald Trump.

West is now a threat with independents looking for an alternative to Trump and Harris. West has long been a charismatic figure in academia. Decades ago, I was his editor on what may have been his first law review publication as a young, rising divinity professor at Princeton.

One does not have to support Trump, West, or the other third-party opponents to find this effort repulsive. While some of us have challenged that hyperbolic claim that this “may be our last election,” the one thing that may not be on the ballot is choice, if the self-appointed defenders of Democracy have anything to say about it.

I added the bold and underlined at the end here.   Any open fair minded individual can see that the Ds are not doing this to protect democracy.   They are doing this to protect themselves at the expense of democracy.   This is insidious and as noted, is not being reported widely.   Again, I say media is the enemy of the people as they are constantly showing themselves to be. 

mspart

 

[Offthemat]

41 minutes ago, mspart said:

Good article.   Good read.

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/08/27/democrats-lose-effort-to-block-cornel-west-from-michigan-ballot/

For months, we have been discussing the concerted effort of Democrats to bar challengers to President Joe Biden from primary ballots and block third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Cornel West from appearing on the November ballots. As both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris insisted that “Democracy is on the ballot,” their allies sought to deny the ability of voters to cast their ballots for other candidates. Now, a state judge has issued a stinging denial of the effort of Democratic officials to block West from the Michigan ballots.

Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson helped lead the effort to prevent citizens from being able to vote for West in Michigan.

Judge James Robert Redford issued the ruling days after West was kicked off the ballot due to technical issues.

West issued a statement: “Victory in Michigan! We brought thousands of voices to the table, and the court listened, rejecting the Democrats’ technical challenges. This is a win for democracy and for every person fighting for truth, justice, and love. Onward!” He is running with Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah.

Democrats are still pushing to strip them from the ballots in other states to prevent voters from having a choice in the election.

Another such effort failed in Maine recently.

The press and pundits have been largely silent about this effort despite the glaring contradiction with the campaign rhetoric of the DNC on saving democracy from imminent destruction.

The media does not appear at all alarmed or critical of the effort to limit democratic choice. The Washington Post stated clinically “Democrats are taking third-party threats seriously this time.” Taking it seriously appears to mean using legal means to keep them from the ballots.

It is true that the main political parties have challenged qualification signatures and paperwork in the past. However, the reports indicate a systemic effort geared toward reducing the choices for voters. What is striking is that this is coming from democratic groups and the DNC, which are raising money on the “save democracy” narrative.

The contradiction is spellbinding. On the same sites promising to oppose the third party candidates, the DNC and other groups push the narrative that only the Democrats are working to protect the right to vote.

The Post reports that Democrats have studied the Hillary Clinton campaign and vowed not to allow third party candidates to drain away millions of voters as they did in 2016.

This well-funded campaign to block other candidates is continuing. It was cited by Kennedy as one of the reasons that he pulled out of the race and endorsed former president Donald Trump.

West is now a threat with independents looking for an alternative to Trump and Harris. West has long been a charismatic figure in academia. Decades ago, I was his editor on what may have been his first law review publication as a young, rising divinity professor at Princeton.

One does not have to support Trump, West, or the other third-party opponents to find this effort repulsive. While some of us have challenged that hyperbolic claim that this “may be our last election,” the one thing that may not be on the ballot is choice, if the self-appointed defenders of Democracy have anything to say about it.

I added the bold and underlined at the end here.   Any open fair minded individual can see that the Ds are not doing this to protect democracy.   They are doing this to protect themselves at the expense of democracy.   This is insidious and as noted, is not being reported widely.   Again, I say media is the enemy of the people as they are constantly showing themselves to be. 

mspart

 

They’re about as democratic as North Korea. 

[WrestlingRasta]

Well there are in fact things that disqualify you from running for president. I’d have to read up to see if things like…being a drug addict, abusing your wife to the point of suicide, sexually assaulting your babysitter…are among them.  But I’m okay with someone with those types of characteristics not being on the ballot. 

[Offthemat]

2 minutes ago, WrestlingRasta said:

Well there are in fact things that disqualify you from running for president. I’d have to read up to see if things like…being a drug addict, abusing your wife to the point of suicide, sexually assaulting your babysitter…are among them.  But I’m okay with someone with those types of characteristics not being on the ballot. 

You get back to us when you figure it out. 

[WrestlingRasta]

4 minutes ago, Offthemat said:

You get back to us when you figure it out. 

Good boy. Now go ***duck** yourself….again. 

[Offthemat]

3 minutes ago, WrestlingRasta said:

Good boy. Now go ***duck** yourself….again. 

You’ve got a real talent.

[Danny Deck]

Meanwhile, RFK Jr has been unable to remove himself from swing state ballots. Could be pretty awkward around Trump HQ if a member of his transition team causes him to lose.

Democrats should just trust that enough people learned their lesson in 2016 and that sometimes you have to vote strategically and not idealistically.

[mspart]

Strategically as in 4 more years of the same thing we have had the last 4 years as opposed to Trump?   Or idealistically as in Kamala's people say she has changed and that is good enough for me, glad Biden isn't going to be there anymore and even though the last four years have been tough, they are better than when Trump was in there?

mspart

[Danny Deck]

Strategically in that if you were otherwise a Stein or West voter, Harris is much closer to your desired policy outcomes than Trump, and she could win. 

Idealistically would be voting for the candidate that you feel most accurately matches your policy preferences, in this case Stein or West even though they will not win. 

[mspart]

Gotcha!

mspart

[Bigbrog]

3 hours ago, Danny Deck said:

Strategically in that if you were otherwise a Stein or West voter, Harris is much closer to your desired policy outcomes than Trump, and she could win. 

Idealistically would be voting for the candidate that you feel most accurately matches your policy preferences, in this case Stein or West even though they will not win. 

What are those policies of Harris'??

[Offthemat]

25 minutes ago, Bigbrog said:

What are those policies of Harris'??

They seem to be changing significantly with the passage of time. 

[Bigbrog]

I have a feeling a lot of the lefties on here are taking a page out of Kamala's playbook and staying in hiding and not answering questions from anyone.  Or they come on here, make word salad in a post and then run.

[Danny Deck]

This is really more about the policies of West and Stein. Which you can find here:

https://www.jillstein2024.com/platform

https://www.cornelwest2024.com/platform

Even with Harris seemingly making a pivot to the right, a Democratic administration is going to be far closer to these policies for the most part. It looks like there would be some overlap with Trump in foreign policy, but on the domestic front there is no overlap. 

If you're generally aligned with one of these platforms and hope to have policy move in this direction on the domestic front, even if you don't know Harris's platform, it seems fairly obvious the Democrats are going to go more in this direction than the Republicans. So if you're voting with actually seeing policy enacted in mind, you would vote for the Democrats, if you only want to vote symbolically, you can vote for one of these two.