I won't be leaving, but I will certainly be reducing my participation. I posted my viewpoint already, and won't belabor it further. I think I know what is happening, but I can't be certain, so I'll not go where I might go with my sense of things.

Stick around, if you will, and watch.

Count me in.

charts we navigate blindly.

Schumer is being criticized on a specific act. Why do you equate this to trashing Democrats? Would you really prefer no one here be allowed to call him out? There is one hell of a lot of outrage throughout the left.

Oh well, best of luck, I guess.

Be shocked(again) in 6 months

That bill is going to so much worse

...I'm with those Jews who demonstrated at Trump Tower wearing T shirts and bearing signs that said "Not in our name!" I wouldn't participate in a forum where disagreements among Democrats were not allowed.

Hakeem Jeffries is a courageous leader. He and other House members were working on a 30 day CR to have time to get a CR that didn't cripple working class Americans.

Things didn't work out for Hakeem, but he had a plan.

Oh, what do I do, who do I believe, when numerous Democratic Senators stated that Schumer wasn't being totally honest in his speech?

A lot of Senators are saying that the CR will be worse than a shutdown. (not my words)

A lot of Senators are saying that Krasnov wanted the CR and not the shutdown. (not my words)

Why did Speaker Jeffries believe that the CR would be defeated? He was working on a 30 day CR.

Democrats need to be united so that we know to give them all our love.

I am not one asking for Schumer to resign, especially since this CR neuters Congress and gives control of the purse strings to Musk.

Oh and as far as our Social Security being safe under this CR, that's not what former SSA commissioner Martin O'Malley said at his town hall.

We need new leadership.

Schumer has no fight

We cannot just have blind faith in our "leaders" at this time. It is a fatal error when they are screwing up.

I don't get why ANYONE is loyal to any party, no matter what they do. I am a democrat (small d intended) but also a republican (not in the GOP sense) and I don't have fealty to a party or to any candidate. When either one stops being useful, out in the trash they go.

MAGA are cultists; I am not.

Current leaders of the Democratic party (some of them) have proven to be entirely feckless. It's either fecklessness or, worse, intentional malignance because they are so far removed from what is happening on the ground right now.

This is no time for misplaced loyalty. Schumer ain't gonna resist. He is going to cave every time. This time he caved WITHOUT GETTING ANYTHING IN RETURN. Not one thing in this abortion of a bill.

It’s pretty obvious that nearly ALL DEMOCRATS or DEMOCRATIC VOTERS,

WANT A LEADER THAT ACTUALLY FIGHTS FOR THEM.

Pretty damn simple fact.

Democratic voters expect that “ leaders “.
actually stand and FIGHT as the entire US GOVT gets slashed and burned.

It is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING that they failed us.

FAILED US MISERABLY X1000

Some people find opposition to their belief system intolerable. Be a humble learner. Everyone has something to contribute — and everyone has limitations. Even you.

Maybe take a long break.

I've done it before but end up coming back. This time, it's very different. I find criticism helpful, if it is expressed in an intelligent, reasonable way. We're all fallible human beings. But the crap that goes on here, appears to me to fulfill only one purpose and that is division. End all, be all, and done.

The current leadership is costing us our democracy, change leadership now or lose it forever

and we are facing unprecedented challenges that threaten our very Democracy. NOW is the time for the tough arguments and tough decisions about the direction of our party. I have faith in our party, the "party of the big tent", to survive a period of truth telling and fact facing. We are all big boys and girls.

"Democratic leadership looks weak and unfocused."

Yes, that is my quote. Now, I *didn't* say that Democratic leaders are "just a bunch of cowards who need to get a clue!" although you have included that alongside my quote.


If you can't handle hearing someone say something as mild as "Democratic leadership looks weak and unfocused," then clearly this is not going to be the place for you for the foreseeable future.

When you say, "That's verbatim what some here believe is just fine to post," the "some here" you are talking about is me, the person who owns the site and set its policies. And yes, I do think that it's just fine to post "Democratic leadership looks weak and unfocused," because over the last 24-48 hours, they have looked weak and unfocused.

To be clear, I *don't* think it's fine to say that Democrats are "just a bunch of cowards who need to get a clue!" -- but I didn't say that, nor would I. In fact, I would likely vote to remove it if I were on Jury for it. (Although it seems that plenty of other DUers are clearly in the mood to let that sort of thing slide at the moment.)

You will have noticed that during General Election season last year, I held completely firm to the DU policy that members are not allowed to criticize the Democratic nominee, and I stuck to that policy in the face of half the site wanting Joe Biden to drop out. A number of people ended up taking time away from DU during that period -- or even getting banned because they could not control themselves -- which was unfortunate, but it happened because I stuck to the policy which we have had in place for a couple of decades, and I stand by that policy.

But when we are NOT in General Election season, the standard is different. There is no better time for the party to rebuild and discuss a path forward than immediately after a big election loss, which is where we are right now. We have *always* had these types of conversation at Democratic Underground outside of General Election season, and that is also not going to change.

I will finish by saying that people who continually post insults and yell obscenities at Democrats are certainly taking a chance -- the more they do it, the more likely it is that they will get posts removed, and if they can't control themselves, they'll run into the same problem as the people who couldn't control themselves during General Election season.

Interesting.

I'm a bit older than you, and have been a forum member a few months less than you. For most of those years, I've recognized you not only as a Good Democrat, but a Good Man. Someone that in the past I'd have enjoyed sitting out at my pond with, talking politics. And though that has changed -- I'm confident as much for you as me -- I still think you are an asset to the Democratic Party. And that you often add valid, even important points to a conversation.

I'm sorry that, as BannonsLiver pointed out, this is the second time in recent history that you have posted an OP stating that you are leaving. The stated reason now is because people question "leadership." This, of course, has to do with posts by people who strongly oppose Senator Shumer's recent action. Just as you sometimes mention the valuable things your father taught you, I tend to do the same. My father often said that one could easily predict how many votes republican candidates will have in a given election -- just look at the last election, or ther one before ...... because republicans were incapable of thinking in terms of what was in their own self-interests, but did whatever their leaders told them to do.

It is always interesting to consider what is beneath the surface of what one says or writes. I do that most all the time. When I commented on one of your recent OPs, for example, I could tell by the tone and diction that you were not in a good place. Thus, when you responded to my most recent OP, while I could easily have traded insults, I knew it was better to say, "Thank you," and leave it at that. In part, because I respect that two people can look at the exact same set of facts, and view them differently. Indeed, that is the difference between the Democratic Party and the republicans.

I note that while the express reason in your post's title has to do with opinions on party leadership that you disagree with, thirteen of the fourteen paragraphs focus on you and your feelings. I hope you take a day or two to really think about that, and that you continue to participate on this forum.

What you said.

So we can’t criticize our so called leadership!! WTF are now the gop?

...for Democrats to want to constantly improve our Party's chances by trying to find the best possible people for leadership positions? Or ANY elected positions?

If so, why the heck do we vote among various candidates in primaries??? Or even choose them at all?

"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." --Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789.

Buh bye

Schumer deserves the criticism.

Fixed my own post

We are not like Republicans who will support a canned ham if that's what they are told to support. Republicans are loyal to party first.

We expect the Democratic Party to earn our support in unprecedented times like these. And if that is not happening then we have every right to complain and criticize until it does happen.

I'd like to see you stay, but everyone else here has the right to discuss our current affairs issues without being accused of being trolls, you know. We love our country too, but I for one don't see myself or us here as so fragile that open, honest discussion would break us.