try new methods.

with advancing issues so they didn't feel like they were just ATM machines always being asked for money.
Yeah, that was addressed.

implemented. I wish Ds in Congress spent the months before the inauguration coming up with a 100 day plan to fight Trump since they knew what he would be doing. Or at least a unified document about what is going to happen to people based on these immediate rescinding of policies etc.

I still believe Shakir would be more bold and better able to present a different face for the DNC which I think is needed — but we are fortunate to have good people vying for this role. My fear is that whoever is chosen will not dare to remake the DNC so voters can feel a new direction and focus is happening.

I can't tell her priorities is why I ask. Funders want to win, and she says she does, but I'm not sure she's got national organization experience beyond being a presidential candidate, to GOTV of youth; also I'm not sure her leadership would get the backing of major billionaire funders. Just my opinion.

That state party is as vibrant as any in the country and even in 2024 was the best performing swing state for Harris. I also like his focus on the need to do a better job driving the narrative and his emphasis on using non-traditional media.

Loved the Princess Bride fundraiser he organized during Covid! I’m not even from Wisconsin and I thought he did a great job for his state’s candidates!

I think he could be good.

I don't think he would be helpful in influencing the kind of change we need in the party.

...in the Democratic Party status quo.

And for Vice Chair, I'm hoping for David Hogg, because attracting the youth vote is imperative (it is their future after all).

She's invigorated, and really delivers on messaging. Not with keywords or focus groups, but by being real with people. I appreciate that about her.

I love her ideas. Don't agree with all of them, but she's sharp and new ideas are how boundaries get pushed.

There is no wrong answer here, as long as we get people who will fight for the truth and stand up to illegal actions by the new admin.

My apologies! I hit reply to you instead of the thread. Whoops!

there is more than 1 vice chair. I'm sure Hogg will get a seat.

He was born for this.

I've listened to him talk and he has some really good ideas that I think would resonate with many corners of the party.

Sudden enlightenment among Dems that it has to be a mid Westerner does not serve a purpose. Do not expect the MAGAS in midWest and in PA to return to Dems. I listened to Wikler and he tried to say a long sentence that says Dems include this group and that group and what not. Did not look like something a normal person would say. He is good but to think a Midwesterner is the answer is simplifying a complex issue.

The only thing that will teach a lesson is a hard ball tactic from Western States. As far as this is concerned, our country has been very unlucky. California fires have upended that probability. Despite all this, California will dictate where the country will go. There are so many deadbeat red states that depend on California, it is criminal.

Neither Michigan governor or Pennsylvania governor are capable of standing up to MAGAS in their states.

Last edited Thu Jan 23, 2025, 06:24 PM - Edit history (1)

He's not thrown his hat in the ring as a "DECLARED" candidate. So you can say "I like him" but still, how does one interview qualify him to lead the national party?

And how can his election experience in the South Bronx -- one of the smallest districts by area in the country, covering only a few square miles -- scale out to be a model throughout much larger Democratic districts in the other 49 states?

Don't you think he should at least have national electoral experience first?

thanks for the kick.

Vice Chairman

Someone willing to fuck up Motherfucker’s shit on a daily basis and wise enough to throw away the old playbook.

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He has done a great job in Wisconsin, revitalizing our WisDems and getting out to every county to fight.
Recommending him because I know what he's done in Wisconsin, especially after the trauma of Scott Walker and Maga dominance of state legislature. He is courageous and works all out, along with his staff.

Probably some of the others are good, too. We need a fighter in all fifty states, every county, every fight.
(Do not need a corporate lickspittle.)

Excerpts... to read the full interview, use this link.
https://the.ink/p/hard-truths-interview-faiz-shakir-democratic-national-committee-chair

Among the newer contenders is Faiz Shakir — former political director of the ACLU, the head of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign, and current executive director of the media organization More Perfect Union.
Shakir offers a very different vision, of a DNC chair who can refocus the position and the party, with a commitment to rebuilding the Democrats’ traditional working-class base, putting the donor class in its place, and educating its elected members about how to negotiate the media landscape to speak honestly to voters about their needs and dreams...

Giridharadas: ...I feel like the space that has been opened up in the wake of this Trump victory is actually a really big, broad space. So I want to invite you now to fill that space with some of your hardest truths. What are the things that you want to tell people are true now, hard truths about how the Democratic Party has shown up? What are the reasons it shows up that way? And how is it going to have to change?

Shakir: ...My first reaction was, whoa, what the heck are these caucuses? Like, we’ve got to change this structure because very little purpose and meaning is going into this. We are telling people when they join the Democratic Party, “You worked hard, maybe you ran for something, you want it, and now you're a member of the DNC. Great. When you come to our winter meeting, summer meeting, whatever it might be, what do you do there?”

Nothing.

You actually go and join in a little group and you sit over there and you separate yourself out by skin color, or race, or identity, whatever it might be. And then you sit there and there's no mission or purpose.

I'm like, whoa, let's break this. How about mission and purpose? What are some? Well, obviously, you know, we're lacking for ambition there. So I'm going to offer a few...

...working-class people hold us in higher regard. They have a higher bar for us than they do for Republicans. They think of our historical lineage: You fight for the common person. That is what you are.

So I will penalize you greater if I don't feel like you are going to stick your necks out for me in a rigged economy in which I think I'm getting screwed over. And you’re the people who fought for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, I'm expecting you to bring it right now because we're swimming in a sea of selfishness and greed here. So you bring me your passion because I need you now. And when we don't meet it, they penalize us greater. They stay home. They say, hey, I'm out....

OK, this institution, call it the Democratic National Committee, whatever you want to say, labor union. When you have the devolution of power and it goes away from that to super PAC, ... OK, what happens?...

We have to have a conviction-oriented conversation.
So our brand is lacking it right now. It is a sense that the Democratic Party, very polite, very nice, but, you know, very slow, very lethargic, doesn't want to have honest conversations around the things that they truly believe.
So I'm not sure what you truly believe, when I see you agree on the Green New Deal here, now you're not, or you're interested in trans issues at this point, now you're seemingly not as interested.

In my mind, these are all easy to deal with if you have conviction and talk about it.
But when they see you not talking about them, you're going to get penalized.

So my view is that the things you're talking about — of not winning online with some of these forums — is downstream of the fact that upstream, decisions were made that we can not talk about these five things right now. Can we not discuss the challenge of immigration, the border crossings, and what they're doing in Chicago, and how they're hurting the social safety net there in schools and healthcare systems? So it's dicey. It's very difficult. I don't know what you'd have to say. Why don't we not say anything?

Well, people aren't dumb. They're watching. They're seeing that. And my view is that we can solve the downstream things of you being interesting online. But you're going to go on Joe Rogan (or Anand’s show), right? And you're going to get asked, “Hey, so a lot of people are interested in what's your view on border crossings? Has your view changed on that? It seems like back in the day you thought this thing, and now, maybe, do you still think that?”

You gotta answer that one. In my view — this is where I might feel differently than a lot of Democratic operatives — I'm like, I think people out there in the world have different ideologies and they're all over the map. What they're hunting for is, do you know where you stand with any degree of conviction and can you tell me that you believe that?

Like if Donald Trump was reading a poll, he's not gonna keep saying the election is rigged. Like Mr. President, that's a 30 percent issue. Why are you going out with that? He's like, sorry, I believe it. I'm gonna keep saying it. And then he gets rewarded by people who say, well, I don't agree with him, but he believes what he's saying. So he thinks the election was rigged, but I'm going to look past that and I'm going to look at some other things.

This is why I think a lot of people get too scared of talking, but just give me your orientation. Wherever.
On Gaza, Gaza is a great example. Just give me your orientation. You can be John Fetterman, you can be AOC, you can be Bernie Sanders.

Just tell me what you believe and say it.

CANDIDATES' OPINIONS ON THEIR POTENTIAL WIN...

Tells me we will remain in deep trouble.

Link to tweet

ones.

The messaging should be about getting money OUT of politics and the damage that Citizens United has done and that corporations aren't people and that we need to make wealthy people pay their fair share . . . why draw attention to the fact that Dem Party welcomes "good billionaires"? It's stupid messaging and doesn't bode well for the kind of branding change the Democratic Party needs to bring more people out to vote. Which MUST be the target. Not changing people's votes from R to D. Not courting the people who are not aligned with a bold Democratic platform. But encouraging and enthusing those who have given up and are tired of seeing nothing change in their lives.

Think of how arrogant 2 of the "good" billionaires, Diller and Hoffman were regarding Lina Khan. They said publicly they wanted her fired. Harris should have stood shoulder to shoulder with Khan doing ads about how proud she was of her antitrust work.

That didn't happen.

There was a chance to stand against it as a party.

Link to tweet

O'Malley can warn all he wants, but until he helps get out the votes that get us to a 66% majority in Congress to get rid of Citizens United, he's being naive.

O'Malley should also have influenced a NO vote on US Treasury nominee Scott Bessent from 15 Senate Democrats in the congressional caucus, but O'Malley didn't. Those 15 YES Democrats are now complicit in helping the felon turn over the keys of the Treasury to Bessent.

We have the party leadership we have, and David Hogg adds a whole new dynamic to getting the youth vote.

So give the new leadership a chance.

From here we must get used to the fact that we are in oligarch wars now.

The Way Forward has to begin with support for who we have, and who funds us.
Win first, eliminate Citizens United later.

I hope he can make a big blue difference.

Hope so, too. Here's the DNC headquarters phone number, only answered 5 days/wk. Hope he can bereached through this number, or that callers can at least get his email address to write him.


DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE
430 South Capitol Street Southeast
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 863-8000

He is not a change candidate. His election is the affirmation of the status quo.