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By Tim Carpenter, PDA National Director
Well, our good friend and National Board Member Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey made it official Monday–she’s stepping down from Congress, after almost two decades of cutting-edge activism on behalf of peace and humanity. She will be missed, because she never wavered in the fight for a more fair and peaceful nation.
Representative Woolsey founded the Out of Iraq Caucus with Rep. Barbara Lee and Rep. Maxine Waters. She served as Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. No member of Congress has done more to help build PDA from day one and grow the progressive movement.
Congresswoman Woolsey served on the PDA Advisory Board for years. She did events with us, both in California and outside of it. Lynn Woolsey even donated her own money to us, invoking the Woolsey “shoe theory” of higher finance–making the case that everyone should donate to PDA at least as much as they paid for the pair of shoes they were wearing!
Become a PDA Change Makes Change sustaining partner!
We will miss our friend, and her staff members, past and present, Nora Matus, Jennifer Goedke, and Wendy Friefeld, who served with generosity and humility. That’s the sad news. The good news is, another good friend of PDA’s, Norman Solomon, is stepping up to run for her now-open seat, in a Northern California district which can be won by a genuine progressive candidate.
Norman Solomon is a personal friend to many of us in PDA. He is an author, anti-nuclear activist, and an antiwar grassroots organizer for his entire life. With Donna Smith, Norman serves as Co-Chair of our “Healthcare NOT Warfare” campaign, and he has done numerous events for PDA through the years. In addition, PDA members from Norman’s district are playing key roles in his campaign, which has already demonstrated its seriousness by raising more than $100,000 before he has to file his first financial report after June 30th.
If you would like to help PDA elect someone who defines what a “better Democrat” truly is, someone who will carry on in the peace and justice spirit that Lynn Woolsey embodied, please give to our “Change Makes Change” program now.
Become a PDA Change Makes Change sustaining partner!
With your help, we can give Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey the best goodbye present possible: A replacement who carries out his duties with the same high standards for peace and justice that she always demonstrated.
Goodbye, Rep. Woolsey, we love you–thanks for everything!
Hello, Norman Solomon–he’s the real deal!
Teamwork!
Wishing you a great July 4th weekend!
57 Comments
Editors Note: Mike, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but in general we’d prefer that folks keep themselves to two post a day, unless it is some major news event. Thanks!
The fact that Lynn Woolsey was a member of your organization does not help your recruiting efforts. She is not remembered fondly around here.
Woolsey was an awful co-chair for the progressive caucus, and her missteps and outright misleading statements during the health care fiasco were most unhelpful. She was the very picture of an ineffectual woolley-headed liberal.
She made promises she couldn’t keep, and threats that no one believed she could follow through on. She turned a deaf ear to her critics who wanted her to fight the malefactors of great wealth, and not have tea with them. And she stood in the way of more staunch liberals like Raul Grijalva who wished to turn the caucus into a political force to be reckoned with, rather than a garden party.
Let’s hope that with her gone, the progressive caucus in congress finally starts to put up a fight.
I encourage anyone who wants to help Norman Solomon win that seat to donate through Act Blue, which will make sure that your hard-earned money goes directly to the candidate.
Abso-fucking-lutely!
And Norman Solomon will be no better. How do I know?
a) He’s an allegedly “progressive” Democrat, which is defined as “someone without principles who folds under orders from Zero”.
b) He’s endorsed/supported by Mike Hersh and Tim Carpenter and the other sellout Veal pen shills from PDA, an organization that wouldn’t know a “genuine progressive” if he (or she) bit it in the ass.
I disagree with you about Solomon.
I will admit that, if elected, he will most likely end up being a disappointment, yes. But go read up on his history. Go read some of his columns. I don’t think you can credibly accuse Solomon – at this point, anyway – of being an appeaser, of being someone that that tends to back down from a fight.
Read his columns? You mean like reading Zero’s speeches and campaign website promises?
Sorry; nothing short of a complete restoration the New Deal will convince me that any Dems, esp. at the national level, are not neoliberal corporatist/facsist POS sellouts.
Solomon doesn’t even have a chance of being elected nor does he deserve to be elected. Solomon helped to derail the single-payer universal health care movement working right along with Donna Smith and John Conyers.
No doubt Solomon will be supporting Obama in 2012 and no progressive could support Obama’s Wall Street agenda.
In fact, it is downright dishonest that Solomon and PDA refuse to disclose they are supporting Obama’s re-election when they know full well as long as Obama is running for re-election they will support him.
It’s a waste of energy to support Solomon. Let’s hear about the other candidates who will be running for this seat.
“are not neoliberal corporatist/facsist POS sellouts”
LMAO. Thank you. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Honestly, it’s like these people are barely human. I mean, do they sell their souls for the almighty dollar right away, or do they wait the appropriate 3 days?
These days, they start at what you wrote and just get worse. I can barely stomach it.
Mr. Hersh, many things have been mentioned by the preceding comments. Issues and topics that need to be discussed, addressed, and thoroughly answered.
I truly hope you do. EACH AND EVERY SINGLE comment.
If you don’t and this is a fly-by ad blitz BS thing, you and your organization are going never going to get people like me.
With respect, those serious questions need to be answered. ALL of them.
Also, Mr. Hersh, please answer the issue of whether PDA supports O and/or will support O in 2012.
This question is a must to answer for many.
Also please answer the other issues brought up.
Thank you.
Could you provide some proof of that assertion? All I can find from Solomon during the health care fiasco are articles that look like they could be frontpaged here.
I hope you’re not holding your breath, tambershall…!
I agree, got some links for us?
I’ve answered these charges, accusations and questions several times. If anyone has any questions about PDA, please visit our website: http://www.pdamerica.org We’ve posted countless actions, policies, blogs, materials, and so on.
AS I’ve mentioned before, PDA’s members vote on all our endorsements. We’re a grass roots organization. I have one vote on who to endorse in my congressional district, and one vote in state wide and national endorsements. I have no standing to commit our membership to support or oppose anyone. Neither does anyone else.
Norman Solomon, Donna Smith and John Conyers worked with PDA to strengthen the healthcare plank in the Democratic Platform. Norman is a terrific human being, who’s worked tirelessly as a national co-chair of PDA’s healthcare not warfare campaign.
While I wish I had the time to be the personal Google for everyone, It seems that every time I post explanations of PDA’s endorsement policies and other matters, it ends the questions. Until I post again and then some of the same people pop up and ask the same questions again.
For those who haven’t seen these answers before–I’m not referring to you. I am referring to people who insinuate that I haven’t exhaustively answered questions when I have–repeatedly. I’d appreciate consideration of that, and I consider conduct which ignores questions asked and answered as low-grade trolling.
I am starting to think some people here hate all Democrats–even the vast majority of Progressives who are Democrats–and they are trying to waste our time and / or misleading people on FDL. That’s not a very Progressive or fair or decent thing to do! Again, if anyone has any questions about PDA, our endorsement process, who we support and why, etc. please visit our website: http://www.pdamerica.org
As someone who worked with Norman Solomon, and helped with the platform effort, I can attest that Norman is a terrific human being, who’s worked tirelessly as a national co-chair of PDA’s healthcare not warfare campaign. I know–because I was involved–that Norman Solomon, Donna Smith and John Conyers worked with PDA to strengthen–not weaken–the healthcare plank in the Democratic Platform. Any suggestions to the contrary are ridiculous.
Alan Maki has made dozens of outlandish accusations, and never substantiated any of them. Because he can’t. I’ve asked around, and some of the people Alan accused feel very sorry for him. So I won’t go beyond saying I’ve watched Alan’s actions online, and I agree, and I feel sorry for him as well.
We’re happy to welcome all the progressives who admire Lynn Woolsey. I’ve worked closely with her and her co-chairs of the Out of Iraq Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and so on. If anyone thinks Lynn Woolsey isn’t a worthy person or member of Congress, then they don’t have to join PDA. We tend to work with those with more positive, inclusive and thoughtful approaches.
We’re happy to welcome all the progressives who admire Lynn Woolsey.
Well, you won’t find to many of those here. Especially when you consider that Jane Hamsher herself wrote on the front page of this very blog that Lynn Woolsey should step down as co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus.
When I talk about Woolsey’s missteps, misleading statements, idiotic threats and ineffectual leadership, I have evidence to back up what I say.
Woolsey was a lousy CPC co-chair, and I can only hope that Keith Ellison isn’t half as spineless an squishy as Woolsey was, and that the CPC really takes off under Grijalva’s leadership.
Like I said, touting Woolsey as a wonderful example of a progressive is not going to help your recruiting efforts here. With a little research you could have avoided such a blunder.
BeachPopulist– If your view is that “Dems, esp. at the national level” are all “neoliberal corporatist/facsist POS sellouts,” then I strongly disagree.
PDA works with terrific progressives on the federal level, who are anything but corporatist sellouts. I’ve worked with Rep. Kucinich and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and so on. PDA is working with our friends in the CPC to advance the People’s Budget.
I’ve been working with Congressman John Conyers and his staff on a 21st Century Full Employment Act; Expanded Improved Medicare for All; and Saving Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. We’re very busy, so I apologize if I don’t always answer every question every time it’s asked on every thread on FDL. Please check out what PDA is up to here: http://www.pdamerica.org
PDA and our allies are working with the vast majority of progressives who are Democrats on a wide range of issues. To reverse global warming and protect the environment, for single payer healthcare, for economic and social justice, for fair clean and transparent elections, for a amendment to end corporate “personhood” and a campaign to end corporate rule.
We’ve passed important progressive measures at the local, state and federal level. If people want to help us, we welcome you! http://www.pdamerica.org
Good points, willf,
Norman Solomon founded a media watchdog organization Institute for Public Accuracy. He’s written excellent books and championed progress and peace on national TV. Norman has been a hard-working advocate for people. He’s truly gentle and kind, thoughtful and intelligent. He has a great chance to win, especially if people like us support him.
Check out his website: http://www.normansolomon.com/ and his campaign website: http://www.solomonforcongress.com/
Some highlights of his career:
Co-chair of the Commission on a Green New Deal for the North Bay
Healthcare Not Warfare national campaign co-chair, along with Congressman John Conyers and Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association
Former member of the national advisory board for Progressive Democrats of America
Author of a dozen books on media, political discourse and public policy, including “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death”
Elected as an Obama delegate from Sonoma and Marin counties to the 2008 Democratic National Convention
Now in third term as an elected delegate from the North Bay to the California Democratic Party’s state central committee
Co-chair of the state Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus foreign policy committee
Received the first Alex Forman Peace Award from the Marin County Democratic Party.
Recent keynote speaker at the Marin ACLU annual dinner, the North Bay Labor Council COPE annual dinner, and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey’s 2010 “Honoring Local Doves” event
Organized and went on three missions to Baghdad prior to the invasion of Iraq — including one led by Congressman Nick Rahall and former U.S. Senator James Abourezk — seeking alternatives to war
One of the lone voices on national television against invading Iraq before the start of the Iraq war in early 2003, appearing on CNN and other major TV networks more than a dozen times to argue for diplomacy instead of a U.S. attack
Organized and went on fact-finding trip to Afghanistan in 2009
The New York Times Magazine has called him “a leading progressive activist.” The Los Angeles Times has called him “a formidable thinker and activist.”
Recipient of numerous awards including the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language, and the Annual Ruben Salazar Journalism Award
From 1997 to 2010, as founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, oversaw policy research and liaison with thousands of experts on global warming, foreign policy, labor rights, “welfare reform,” economic equity, lax enforcement of federal regulations, civil liberties and a wide range of other topics related to federal, state and local government policies nationwide
If that’s so, willf, then it is what it is.
Rep. Woolsey did some terrific things as CPC Co-Chair. When she and Rep. Barbara Lee took on this effort, the caucus was essentially defunct. These two women revitalized the CPC and made it into an effective voice. Based on that alone, she was a terrific CPC co-chair, as evidenced by her re-election to that post. Her peers appreciated her work.
I know Rep. Lynn Woolsey, and I respect her efforts. If anyone thinks she’s to blame for the messes we’re in…. Well, I wish it were that simple. Rep. Woolsey took to the House floor 100s of times to tell the truth about the wars and other policies responsible for the problems we face. She sponsored too many bills to mention to advance progress. She’s been a conscience of the Congress, and she deserves thanks from all progressives.
Congressmen Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva were selected as co-chairs by CPC members. I’ve worked with both of them, and they are great leaders. Rather than picking on people like Rep. Lynn Woolsey as she ends a long and storied career in the House, I hope progressives will work together to help the CPC achieve more progress for everyone.
Mike -
I’d like to believe you; really I do. But I’ve been burned so many times by Democrats, it’s hard to get excited over this stuff, to put it mildly.
I do not like it when people on the left attach each other either, but it seems as though you believe it is a one-sided affair, which it is not. You may find this hard to believe, but most progressive Democrats hate non-Democratic progressives *more* than they hate Republicans.
Many of us have been kicked, spit on, and treated like trash by fellow progressives who you spend a lot of time with, so you’ll have to forgive us for our skepticism, which has been well earned over the years.
But again, I really want to believe you. Past experience just makes it difficult.
jest—
No one PDA works with kicks, spits on, or treats anyone like trash. PDA doesn’t work with people who do things like that. It’s pretty clear that some people stereotype PDA because we have “Democrats” in our name. Some people can’t stand that. So those people shouldn’t join PDA. But they shouldn’t jump to unfounded assumptions much less misinform people about us.
No one I work with hates Progressives. In fact, PDA people are Progressives constantly attacked by the corporatists and sell-outs. They attack us because we challenge and defeat their darlings in the primaries. We target big name incumbents and criticize Democrats who don’t do what we elected them to do. And yes, that certainly includes Obama whose feet we hold to the fire every day in every way we can. We could use help doing it!
Please look into who PDA really is, and don’t mistake us for blue dogs or party hacks. Look at who is on our National Board, and which issues we work on. Look at who our state coordinators are, and see what our Issue Organizing Teams do. Consider joining our Campaign to End Corporate Rule and our Brown Bag Lunch Vigils as we protest against corporate “personhood” and cuts to needed services, while demanding healthcare not warfare. See for yourself: http://www.pdamerica.org
MikeHersh, did you even read the link willf provided to Janes post?
It’s one thing to take to the floor and make speeches and another to effectively whip the progressive caucus to vote against clotures when the leverage is much greater, or to buck party leadership and bring amendements to the floor during calendar wednesday.
The problem I’m seeing with your engagement is not taking what has been presented seriously and brushing it off, then going into apologia mode, even after you have been provided with proof that refutes.
What you have accused Alan Maki @ 5:37 of is exactly the same thing you are doing. We like facts, minutia, we like to get into the detail, to discuss how the sausage gets made, not float above them with generalities.
Generally speaking, Woolsey was a good person and she said some nice things, but as far as effectiveness.. hmm well, her record speaks for itself.
Well Mike, why don’t you do what you’ve accused Alan of doing..You are both new to this site so I have no bias.
What do you call this?
Since you were involved in the healthcare not warfare campaign and are making this assertion, you please substantiate for us exactly how Normon Solomon worked to strengthen–not weaken–the healthcare plank in the Democratic Platform..
What kind of achievements did he make on the anti-war front? Do you have links?
well, knee-jerk cynicism doesn’t move the ball towards the New Deal and it’s a lot more contagious than enthusiasm is. The only way to determine what he’s made of is to look at his history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz9KVC6g8sA&feature=channel
What is his position on Israel? Do you know?
I doubt he’ll answer that one, as the answer is pretty obvious…
Mike -
If your organization is as progressive as you make it out to be, getting kicked and spit on should be a daily occurrence for you. Yes, even by progressives. (You seemed to be getting kicked in this post, to be honest with you.)
The left is nowhere as unified as you make it out to be, and just because you have had pleasant experiences with all progressives, please do not dismiss our negative experiences. The whole “don’t believe your lying eyes” argument is tired, and it really pisses us off.
That being said, I do think many of the criticisms of the PDA here in the comments are unduly harsh and unfair. However, that does not make all of them unwarranted; there are a few criticisms here I can agree with.
I was sincere when I said I want to believe you, and I wish you the best of luck, as our goals (not methods) are similar. I hope you prove a lot of us wrong.
Before everyone jumps down Solomon’s throat, it would be a good idea to let the man speak for himself:
http://buildingapowerfulleft.org/2011/02/04/show-5-february-4-2011/
Here’s an mp3 interview he did earlier in the year; Chomsky, Nader, and West are also interviewed as well, if you’re not all that interested in hearing Solomon.
“And yes, that certainly includes Obama whose feet we hold to the fire every day in every way we can. We could use help doing it!”
Not really. When did PDA ever demand that Obama apologize for his deal with Tauzin? When did PDA ever undertake to educate the American public on Obama’s healthcare perfidy, so as to make it clear to him that there’d be a significant political price to pay for stabbing his supporters – and the American public, in general – in the back? All the while using this unfortunate act of betrayal as a teaching opportunity?
At a job I worked a little over a year ago, there was discussion about Obamacare, and all I heard were Dem and Repub talking points. So I asked my co-workers what they thought of Obama’s deal with Tauzin. Nobody even know who Tauzin was.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it, again – PDA is not aggressive enough.
Another criticism of PDA – why does it not demand that Congress critters that it helps elect, turn around and help organize and grow a progressive movement in the US? E.g., the PDA (warts and all)?
Has Donna Edwards ever attended a rally in the NYY metro area to boost PDA membership, or else other organized progressive groups? I’ve never heard of her doing such a thing. Sure, her main responsibility is to her constituents. But if progressives all over the country helped her get elected, is not some reciprocity quite natural?
I tried to suggest to Edwards that she participate in such an effort – which is yet another obvious example of bits of missing ‘democratic infrastructure’, here. Ah, but she had to run, didn’t answer then, and never returned to give an answer.
I’ll bet she’s made lots of time for meeting lobbyists on K-Street, though. What do you think? The corporations and banksters have all the K-Street type democracy-corrupting infrastructure, already in place, that they could possibly desire. But what is Donna Edwards doing to help build up a countervailing infrastructure? And what is PDA doing to push her, and other claimed progressives that hold office, in that direction?
Working on legislation is good as far as it goes, but not also working to build progressive political muscle – which means organizing voters – is not very smart. The Progressive Caucus is too small; as we saw with their folding on Obamacare, they’re also not aggressive and, frankly, honest enough.
What is PDA doing to correct this? IMO, PDA should demand that supported candidates for office reciprocate, by helping build up an organized progressive movement. And furthermore, such support should be detailed, with the candidate signing off on each bullet point. And even beyond that – that the candidate, if elected, update a public web page each time the fulfill one of the bullet points that have they agreed to during their campaign. (Or else explain any failure, such as due to illness, death in the family, etc.)
If a so-called “progressive” candidate for office anticipates being too busy to help grow the political muscle of progressives, or is too dumb to see why that’s necessary, then IMO PDA should not support them.
One of the dumbest examples of wasted opportunity, for progressives, that I’ve witnessed in the last decade or so, was Dennis Kucinich’s 2008 Presidential run, where he failed to mention the PDA at every campaign event. (In fact, I’ll guess that he never mentioned the PDA.)
I can’t speak for him on that with specificity.
If there’s nothing about Israel on his website, let me know and I’ll ask him to post something.
I explained in another thread how PDA, Norman, Donna, and Rep. Conyers replaced pro-insurance company language in the platform with a call for universal healthcare. There was no “secret deal” as Alan Maki claims, but there was a concerted, well-organized effort to persuade enough delegates to win a floor fight over the language.
Actually Jest, I answered that question several times.
Just because people don’t like the answer, choose not to believe it, or don’t get that PDA is not a top-down organization that tells our members what to do is no reason to ignore the answer.
Thank you Jest–
Your points are well-taken. PDA has been kicked (metaphorically) and we’re working to unite as much of the left as is willing to be united.
We’re doing what we’re doing because it works. We helped elect some truly progressive people, and we’ve successfully pushed for progressive positions on many issues. we’re working and getting things done. Other people can have success other ways, but there’s no reason to dump on PDA the way some people have.
Some people seem more interested in fighting other progressives online, rather than working to make real progress in real life. It seems a few people are following me around on FDL, hoping to drive me away from this site and /or confuse FDLers about who PDA is and what we’re really doing.
People who want to make up their own mind can see for themselves here: http://www.pdamerica.org
Please help me here. Is this kind of “discourse” acceptable on FDL, or do most FDLers expect and demand more accurate, more positive, more reasonable discussions?
Check PDA’s website, metamars. Almost all the questions you have asked are answered there. If you’re too busy to do that, then please stop assuming that you’re always perfectly informed about PDA. You’re absolutely not aware of what we do. Anyone who’s interested in the truth can see for themselves here: http://www.pdamerica.org
metamars says, “legislation is good as far as it goes.” It’s more than that. We apparently strongly disagree about how important legislation is. PDA is working to lift the ban on Medicare negotiating with Rx companies on price. We’re working on jobs, election reform, healthcare, peace and countless other bills and resolutions in Congress.
PDA is also working to build the progressive movement. You claim you want us to do that, ignoring that we already are. If you don’t want to join us, then fine, but please don’t tell people we’re not doing what we are doing, and don’t dismiss our efforts as somehow not essentially important.
Here’s why it’s inaccurate to disparage PDA’s efforts. Even if we didn’t do absolutely everything metamars thinks we should, (and in fact we’ve done just about everything he’s asked about) that doesn’t mean we don’t hold Obama’s feet to the fire. Has metamars done everything we think he should have done? No. Has anyone? No. No one can do everything. If metamars insists on holding PDA and others to impossible standards, then he invites us to turn the tables on him. So, metamars. What exactly have you done to make a real difference?
We hear metamars keep saying PDA isn’t aggressive enough for him, but he has no idea what we’re doing. He keeps demanding we do things we’re already doing! How would he know how aggressive we are? Complaining is easy. Progress is hard. Rather than complain, why doesn’t he pitch in to help?
So metamars, if you’re not happy with what Rep. Dennis Kucinich says and does, please take it up with him. We do not control him. Same with Rep. Donna Edwards. Take it up with her. I’m sorry if you don’t approve of them doing that as opposed to rallying people in NYC. I can assure you Rep. Edwards is not meeting with lobbyists on K Street. Why would you even make such an accusation?
That’s not the only absurd attack you’ve made on her. You claimed Rep. Edwards ran off when you asked her a question. Based on the link you gave, nothing like that actually happened. This is the link that shows your claims about what happened are not substantiated. Your post was at the end of the online event, they announced they were having technical problems, and the Congresswoman had to leave to vote in Congress. You think she should have skipped votes to indulge you?
I’m tired of all these leading questions, accusations, and illogical/inaccurate assertions. If you don’t want to work with PDA, fine. Don’t. But don’t make up BS about us and the people who work with us. That includes countless Progressives who want to work with PDA. They do not deserve these untrue and unfair attacks. Neither do Rep. Donna Edwards or Rep. Dennis Kucinich or the other accomplished Progressives we work with. I’m thinking it’s a mistake to even dignify such vicious accusations with any reply at all.
I ask again: Please help me here. Is this kind of “discourse” acceptable on FDL, or do most FDLers expect and demand more accurate, more positive, more reasonable discussions?
Hey, Mike — here’s a quote from your post yesterday @8:55 p.m:
“Now in third term as an elected delegate from the North Bay to the California Democratic Party’s state central committee
Co-chair of the state Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus foreign policy committee
Received the first Alex Forman Peace Award from the Marin County Democratic Party.
Recent keynote speaker at the Marin ACLU annual dinner, the North Bay Labor Council COPE annual dinner, and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey’s 2010 “Honoring Local Doves” event”
You don’t even get it, do you? These things you cite as evidence of his progressive credentials only serve to prove that he’s a Dem party insider, an apparatchik. You expect us to rally behind someone who’s part of the state Democratic Central Committee? Someone who’s been honored by Woolsley, who many of us detest?
And your invocation of Dennis Kucinich — I mean, Dennis Kaving-inich — is a plunder of monumental proportions. Kaving-inich was the SINGLE BIGGEST SELL-OUT on HCR. He was the one guy we counted on to oppose Obama’s gift to the Health Insurance Complex. Do you even know that after his sellout he was forced to refund many thousands of dollars in contributions made to his campaign by FDL members via an FDL solicitation?
I know you’re getting paid to spin this drivel but you have no idea — NONE — of the antipathy toward the Dem party and Veal Pen orgs like yours by true progressives. And as for holding Obama to “impossible standards” I refer you to this outstanding article in New York Magazine by the gifted Frank Rich:
http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/obama-economy/presidents-failure/index1.html
Obama’s Original Sin
Typo: should be “blunder”, not “plunder” in my second graph.
Hey, Mike, one more thing:
If your org is so progressive, is it leading the fight to find a primary challenger for Zero?
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Beach–
If you really think Norman Solomon is a “Dem party insider, an apparatchik” and that Rep. Dennis Kucinich was “the SINGLE BIGGEST SELL-OUT on HCR,” then that explains everything. We’re not seeing anything the same way. You’re living on a different planet from me. If you consider Rep. Kucinich insufficiently progressive, then you can hold your rallies in an elevator.
You’re pretty good at flaming, but I’m not interested in that. At this point, I just have to agree to disagree with you, laugh, and walk away. Have a great life!
Everyone else: look at the links presented about Norman Solomon. If you like what you see, and if you think we need more–not fewer–progressives like Rep. Dennis Kucinich in Congress, then work with PDA: http://www.pdamerica.org
Hey Beach–
One last thing before I forget I ever “met” you:
Asked and answered. PDA takes actions based on our members’ views and commitment. We’re leading on countless things our members believe in and support. Sorry if grassroots action and true democracy confuses you, but that’s how we operate.
Now, take care and see you never.
Boy, guess I got under sensitive widdle Mikey’s skin, didn’t I?
And if the PDA’s members decide to support Zero and his Dem party faux progressive enablers, then that’s just more reason not to support the PDA or the candidates it endorses.
“If you consider Rep. Kucinich insufficiently progressive, then you can hold your rallies in an elevator.”
What you and your ilk don’t seem to get is that HCR was the THE TOUCHSTONE ISSUE for many of us. It was the line in the sand, the over-riding supreme issue on which we expected Democrats like Woolsley and Kucinich to stand firm for a genuine, robust Public Option. It wasn’t some recurring issue like an appropriations bill or even financial reform. It was THE issue, THE test. They talked a good line, then folded. IOW, they LIED and SOLD OUT. In so doing, they demonstrated that they have both NO principles whatsoever, and NO courage. After that we asked ourselves, “What good are so-called progressives if they won’t match their words with their votes?” The answer we came up with was, “They’re not good for anything.” That’s what happens why you lie to your supporters; they see no further reason to support you.
PDA’s history on healthcare is 100% clear. Since our founding, PDA has always championed Single Payer healthcare, and only Single Payer. We never slid over to public option or the ACA. Never. Not for one second since we were founded in 2004. Never. Not at all. Alan Maki has been informed repeatedly that PDA never undermined Single Payer. Never. Ever. Not once. It just didn’t happen. PDA worked with our allies to replace the odious term “coverage” with “care” in the 2004 Democratic Platform, in a floor fight at the Democratic Platform drafting conferences. We never backed language for “affordable care.” Never. Every time Alan Maki claims otherwise, he is lying.
Alan’s little cheerleading squad that supports his nonsense should put down their pompoms and ask themselves: Why can’t their hero provide the text of any of these emails only he knows about? Where are all these news articles he claims show Donna Smith and Norman Solomon in cahoots with an ever changing roster of meanies? Why doesn’t he ever offer anything resembling proof? How can anyone fall for such a con job?
I don’t care what anyone claims happened. I was there in DC and I worked with people who were there in Pittsburgh when the platform was debated. I was involved with the planning and organizing of rallies, call-ins and lobbying, hearings on the Hill and so on. I was with Jane Hamsher at some of the briefings Rep. Conyers held, and I met with Howard Dean, and so on. Some people did support the ACA. PDA never did. Again, anyone who claims otherwise is wrong. While PDA never embraced the public option, some of our allies did. The House passed a public option bill, but Republicans killed it in the Senate.
It’s important to consider these facts before attacking the heroes who stand up and fight for us every day. No one can do the impossible, and lashing out at those who try hard and fall short says more about those who do the lashing than their targets. PDA walks the walk, unlike people who just make up BS on blogs. PDA is making real progress on Single-Payer healthcare. If anyone wants to help, they can join our team working on single payer here:
http://www.pdamerica.org/get-active/iot/healthcare-for-all/105
Healthcare for All/Single Payer Issue Organizing Team: Healthcare Is a Human Right
It is immoral for a country as wealthy as ours to have 45 million people with no health coverage, and tens of millions more with inadequate or overly expensive coverage. It also makes no economic sense; despite spending twice as much as other industrialized nations on healthcare, our system performs poorly, because the private U.S. insurance bureaucracy soaks up nearly one-third of all health care money in waste, profits, paperwork, and advertising. Poor health and poor healthcare are drags on the economy and job creation; up to half of all personal bankruptcies are caused by health care crises.
PDA supports enhanced Medicare for all. By replacing private insurers and recouping administrative savings of up to $300 billion per year, this single-payer approach provides topnotch healthcare to everyone. Care would be privately delivered by healers and hospitals, but publicly financed—with no bills, co-pays, deductibles, denials, or medically precipitated bankruptcies. PDA also supports healthcare initiatives at the state and local level that move us toward a nonprofit single-payer system.
PDA’s Brown Bag Lunch Vigils—with partners California Nurses Association, Healthcare-NOW!, Democrats.com, and the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare—aim to educate the public and our elected representatives about the costs of the U.S. wars of occupation and the better uses of our tax money for social benefits and programs, such as Medicare for All.
So to sum up: Since our founding, PDA has always championed Single Payer healthcare, and only Single Payer since we were founded in 2004. Alan Maki has been informed repeatedly that PDA never undermined Single Payer. Never. Ever. Not once. It just didn’t happen. PDA worked with our allies to replace the odious term “coverage” with “care” in the 2004 Democratic Platform, in a floor fight at the Democratic Platform drafting conferences. We never backed language for “affordable care.” Never. Every time Alan Maki claims otherwise, he is lying.
@Mike Hersh
“PDA is also working to build the progressive movement. You claim you want us to do that, ignoring that we already are. If you don’t want to join us, then fine, but please don’t tell people we’re not doing what we are doing, and don’t dismiss our efforts as somehow not essentially important.”
I’m not dismissing them, totally, though I suppose you have a legitimate (if minor) complaint about my wording, viz., ” but not also working to build progressive political muscle – which means organizing voters – is not very smart.” The thrust of my post was why PDA is not doing more to leverage the progressives who are in Congress, to grow the progressive movement. To wit, I made very SPECIFIC criticisms/recommendations: ” IMO, PDA should demand that supported candidates for office reciprocate, by helping build up an organized progressive movement. And furthermore, such support should be detailed, with the candidate signing off on each bullet point. And even beyond that – that the candidate, if elected, update a public web page each time the fulfill one of the bullet points that have they agreed to during their campaign.”
You choose to duck my specific complaints/recommendations, and instead focus on some admittedly bad choice of words. For the record (again), I get pda email (being a member), and know about brown bag lunches, etc. My complaints about PDA generally center around PDA’s lack of aggressiveness. Thus, to me, the issue is not whether PDA has ever recruited, or ever sponsored an event that a sympathetic Congress critter (that PDA probably supported) attended. Rather, the issue is why is there not what would call an aggressive recruitment plan, that demands reciprocity to help with such recruitment – on a regular basis – from Congress critters that PDA helped elect?
You apparently feel that PDA’s efforts have been so stellar, that specific criticism about PDA’s lack of aggressiveness (again, as I have defined it, not you), can be just ducked.
“I can assure you Rep. Edwards is not meeting with lobbyists on K Street. Why would you even make such an accusation?”
Now, this I find very interesting. What I said was, “’ll bet she’s made lots of time for meeting lobbyists on K-Street, though. What do you think?”, so clearly this is an assumption, on my part. I would consider it good news if Edwards doesn’t make the rounds of K-Street.
So, please tell us more. How is it that you can make such an assurance? It’s all to the best if you can substantiate your claim.
“That’s not the only absurd attack you’ve made on her. You claimed Rep. Edwards ran off when you asked her a question. Based on the link you gave, nothing like that actually happened. This is the link that shows your claims about what happened are not substantiated. Your post was at the end of the online event, they announced they were having technical problems, and the Congresswoman had to leave to vote in Congress. You think she should have skipped votes to indulge you?”
My posts on the openleft diary that Donna Edwards participated in are timestamped as Fri Jul 10, 2009 at 12:20 and Fri Jul 10, 2009 at 12:50.
Chris Bowers wrote “We are having some technical difficulties, so I am posting the responses from Representative Edwards now…”
at Fri Jul 10, 2009 at 12:46.
Furthermore, his last “Update” on that diary says
(emphasis mine)
I’m pretty sure the Edwards never “came back”. That is from memory (I used to check Openleft every day), but also note that there’s not “update 6″.
You mis-characterized what I wrote. Which, to jog your memory, is, “Ah, but she had to run, didn’t answer then, and never returned to give an answer.” (emphasis mine)
It’s been almost 2 years since then, and Openleft is not longer being updated, so she’s not going to be giving a reply, there.
I’m just one person. However, if PDA, which has well over 100,000 members, were to demand reciprocity from Congress critters who benefited from PDA’s support, I believe that PDA would at least get an answer. Not during a vote, bathroom breaks, or the middle of the night, but in a timely fashion, nonetheless.
BTW, there’s nothing magical about NYC. That was an example of the sort of recruiting outreach that progressive congress critters should be supporting. I live near NYC, so am more confident that no such outreach, of the sort that I recommended (which involves large numbers of Congressional progressives) was ever attempted.
Finally, I’ll note that you completely ducked my counter-example to your claim about holding Obama’s feet to the fire:
“And yes, that certainly includes Obama whose feet we hold to the fire every day in every way we can. We could use help doing it!”
No, Mike, PDA didn’t do that “in every way we can”. PDA never demanded an apology from Obama. (Well, not publicly, which is clearly what I mean.) I’m afraid that you’re ignoring the very first point I made is an example of you being dodgy.
Well, maybe you were busy, and simply forgot to address my point. Feel free to address it, now.
Great reply, Mike. Glad to see PDA’s stand on Single Payer and Medicare For All.
Just one problem: how does PDA reconcile those positions with Kucinich’s cave-in? If single payer was “off the table” does that mean that DK gets a pass for caving on the next best alternative? For supporting the Zero/Senate/Dole/Heritage/RomneyCare POS that is about as far from Single Payer as you can get?
See, questions like this are what separates many of us from people like you. On some issues we’ve come to the point where if you’re not for us IN YOUR ACTIONS, then you’re against us. We frankly don’t care what you say, but only WHAT YOU DO. Dennis Kucinich can’t be a true progressive and still support a truly fascist bill which mandates that people buy coverage from private insurers.
DK had a moment of choice: be honest and be a true progressive, or be a sellout to Dem party political loyalties. Sadly, he chose the latter. If he hadn’t, he might be the person we’d be rallying behind to challenge Zero in the primaries or as a third-party candidate. Now I (and many others) frankly don’t give a rat’s ass what he says or what becomes of him. He failed his Profiles In Courage moment.
It’s not made up, shekissesfrogs. People have experienced the personal attacks from Alan and that’s what they told me. So considering the context it’s anything but sinking to Alan’s level. If anyone cares to, they can read accusations Alan’s made with reckless disregard for the truth on just about every thread I’m on here at FDL. If not, I certainly understand. Life is too short for such cynicism, negativism and (self) deception. I’ll leave it at that.
@Mike Hersh
Another thing I’d like to hear from Mike Hersh is whether or not he thinks having progressive Congress critters make joint recruiting efforts (say on every 3rd Saturday, as I have suggested; furthermore, let’s assume that they specifically target PDA as the part of the progressive movement that they are cooperating to grow) has any merit, AT ALL.
I.e., leave aside my question of PDA aggressiveness, whether Mike believes such efforts would actually be less effective than what PDA is doing, already, etc.
I’d like to know if Mike believes that PDA getting this sort of support, every 3rd Saturday, from Congress critters would give PDA a boost in membership growth, or not?
Inquiring minds would like to know if Mike believes that this would be a complete waste of effort, from the point of view of the PDA.
For crying out loud metamars–
All I can say is, check out what PDA is doing, and stop making up things. I am on PDA’s national staff, and don’t know everything PDA is doing. So when you claim PDA didn’t do this or that, you are making no sense at all.
And yes, I am too busy to keep trying to convince you that you are wrong about what PDA is or is not doing. I’m not sure why you think you know everything about PDA when you seem to know almost nothing, but I’m not going to worry about it. Have a nice life!
Not to harp on Edwards, but most of her money, by far, comes from unions:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2010&cid=N00028249&type=I&newmem=N
She gets more money from “other” than she gets from lobbyists…
@MikeHersh July 4th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Well, I hope PDA does not put you in charge of the “Suggestions Box”. You don’t take criticism well, though I do think a lot has been over the top, so some irritation on your part is justified.
Once again (to people reading this, who have not followed all my discussions with Mr. Hersh, which started here), I am generally supportive of PDA’s efforts, but have made specific criticisms on how PDA could be more effective. Mr. Hersh tends not to address my specific criticisms, in their detailed form, but rather resorts to negation of my more generalized complaint.
Thus, when I complained about PDA practicing lesser evilism, I was told that PDA does not practice lesser evilism – even after I spelled out specifically what I meant (i.e, implicitly endorsing it; “it” meaning not working against a bad Dem in a general election.)
In this diary, I have complained about PDA not aggressively demanding reciprocity from people that PDA helped elect, (and spelled out the specific form that such reciprocity should take), but am told that PDA does recruit and that I don’t know what PDA does.
I do think that some FDL’ers have been way over the top in their criticisms of PDA. Unfortunately, since Mr. Hersh tended to be dodgy, this reinforces such people’s notions that PDA is not everything it claims to be, and this may have contributed to some FDL’ers having placed PDA in the Veal Pen. (At FDL, this is like being deemed worthy of Hell.)
As PDA has over 100,000 members, maybe some other knowledgeable member would like to address many of the points raised by critics of the PDA, such as myself, and give Mr. Hersh a rest.
Should somebody in the know appear, to take Mr. Hersh’s place, I would again put the question to them of why PDA did not demand an apology (or at least put up the question of issuing such a demand, to the membership, for a vote.) Hopefully, such a replacement for Mr. Hersh would not simply duck the question, and tell us that he does not know every last thing that the PDA does, and don’cha know that PDA did everything that it could to hold Obama’s feet to the fire, etc.
@jest
My assumptions about Donna Edwards were shaped by watching this damning video, from ANP, called “Capitol Hill:Parties All the Time. This video says that Congress critters spend 1/4 – 1/3 of their time fund-raising. One of the interviewees is Grayson. I don’t believe the the political distance between Grayson and Edwards is all that great.
BTW, a representative for Woolsey is shown, who spoke in “total candor”. She said that they asked for “$250 from individuals, and $1,000 from PACs” to attend their K-Street shindig.
Wow. You demonstrate an utter inability to deal with criticism – justified – of you and your ludicrous organisation. As I said, it’S good we give you plenty of rope to hang yourself for our entertainment. It’s an excellent show you’re putting on. Encore!
I also loved the bit where Alan “kabuki monster” Grayson lost his seat, and where Anthony “my Wiener’s bigger than yours and I’ve got a photo to prove it” Weiner resigned. Good riddance to all of them.
Fact: By a 72% majority the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party state convention delegates passed the strongest single-payer resolution for the state’s “Action Agenda” which PDA CHOSE to disregard and joined in with the Obama hacks to push not just “universal” health care as Mike Hersh claims but “affordable universal health care” without defining what is meant by “affordable.”
PDA’s head man, Tim Carpenter then went on to proclaim the phony single-payer the “Minnesota Health Care Act” to be single-payer universal health care legislation which it isn’t in any way, shape or form since it would require monthly premiums of no less than $750.00 per month from a family of four whose income is $30,000.00 a year. Anyone with half a brain can figure out that many of the people losing their homes to foreclosure and struggling from pay check-to-pay check cannot afford to pay around $9,000.00 a year for health insurance through the state which this legislation would in effect make the state the collection agency for doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.
If there are any progressives here who think the “Minnesota Health Act” authored by PDA member Minnesota DFL State Senator John Marty is the kind of single-payer legislation we are seeking I would like to hear from them.
I wrote to a number of people in PDA including Tim Carpenter, Laura Bonham and Norman Solomon asking them to explain how they could be pushing the Minnesota Health Act as single-payer— they all chose not to respond because they are merely tools used to undermine real health care reform.
I also informed all three of these people concerning the single-payer resolution passed by the state convention delegates to the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party so it isn’t like they didn’t know that there was very significant support for real single-payer initiatives for them to build on. They CHOSE not to build on the MNDFL resolution.
Let us be perfectly honest here. Many PDA chapters are in fact official caucuses in the Democratic Party so unless these PDA chapters want to lose this official designation they have to go along with the final decisions of the Democratic Party or if they worked to oppose these positions they would be kicked out of the Democratic Party.
Activists attempted to work through the Minnesota DFL’s Progressive Caucus to bring a resolution for divesting Minnesota from Israel… the Party Chair stepped in and arbitrarily squelched this resolution and there was not one peep of protest from PDA.
As I pointed out previously, the very fact that these “leaders” of PDA considered the Democratic Party to be “progressive” during FDR’s time in office proves that these people don’t even understand history or even have an inkling of history since Laura Bonham pined that the Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party of FDR’s era.
I would note that even once I brought these facts forward Laura Bonham has not had the intellectual honesty to correct her mis-interpretation of history yet the PDA leaders have misled their followers, at least 100,000 of them so they claim, to think that progressives can take over the Democratic Party as was done during FDR’s time even though progressives never accomplished any such thing.
Anyone can look at the press stories DURING the time the language for the Democratic Party Platform was being drafted to see for themselves the dirty work of John Conyers and Donna Smith as they claimed to be speaking on behalf of single-payer supporters even though not once did they mention the single-payer resolution passed in Minnesota— which I must point out, Minnesota members of PDA did the dirty deed of altering without so much as circulating a draft resolution across the state explaining why they found it necessary to include “affordable” as part of this resolution.
When this resolution was passed after six long years of vigorous and sharp debate in Minnesota; everyone voting for it understood that what was being talked about was the Canadian model of single-payer.
The altering of the resolution at the instigation by a PDA member at the behest of the DFL Chair was done in a very dirty manner where it was included with a whole gaggle of resolutions which were pushed through without any dialog, discussion or debate catching everyone by surprise and off-guard.
The sheer dirtiness and treachery employed by PDA working within the Democratic Party is well-known to all seeking real change.
Mike hersh likes to post a gaggle of “links” to issues; well, let Mr. Hirsh post links to the press stories regarding the work of John Conyers and Donna Smith who worked hand-in-hand with Obama’s hacks and anyone will be able to see how they set in motion the demise of the single-payer movement.
I don’t know of anyone or any organization who gave them the authority to engage in this dirty work on their behalf— the struggle and fight over single-payer should have taken place on the floor of the National Democratic Party Convention in Colorado but PDA sought to shield the Democratic Party from this struggle because had this struggle been brought to the floor of the convention Barack Obama never would have been nominated because there is no way in hell the majority of those convention delegates would have supported the “Affordable Health Care Act.”
And, who inititiated this “compromise” wording for the rest of us? None other then John Conyers and Donna Smith acting on behalf of PDA.
PDA paved the way for Roger Hickey and Robert Borosage of the Campaign for America’s Future to give the single-payer movement its actual burial behind the facade of a coalition of “leaders” who didn’t even have the courage to go to their memberships telling their members they were ditching single-payer to “cover Obama’s back.”
Outstanding rebuttal (dismantling) of Mr. Hersh and the PDA! Truly outstanding. In fact, I believe that services for the late Mr. Hersh must be in the planning stages at this very moment, because you certainly put a stake through the heart of his arguments.
I have only one quibble: you should have identified Borosage’s Veal Pen org as the Campaign For America’s Fucking, because that’s their agenda.
Yeah, karma can be a real bitch.
Alan,
make this into a diary, and watch us send it to the top of the list with recommendations and comments. Then, every time the odious snake, Mr Hersch pops up here again, we will link to your rebuttal.
Please….