Offering asides, recommended links, blogworthy quotations, and more, In Brief is the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog of world, national, and local politics.
“I’m actually gonna twist this around a bit and say that I’m disappointed in people on our side… For being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women who are in our party. Who are sitting in the White House. Who brag about their extramarital affairs. Who brag about mistreating women. And because he happens to have an R after his name, we look the other way, we don’t complain.”
Launch
“Too often, liberal candidates write off red states. But their policies could find a willing audience there,” writes Ivy Bashear.
Launch
Columnist Danny Westneat calls out the Washington State Republican Party and its legislative caucuses for their divisive, counterproductive Seattle-bashing, which they’ve said they intend to do even more of in 2018, even though it hasn’t worked for them in the past.
Launch
The New York Times examines the Democratic Party’s candidate recruiting successes and concludes the party is doing a good job of returning to the fifty-state strategy championed by Howard Dean.
Launch
Burn Donald Trump to the ground if you ever want to win another vote from a woman, a black person or a Latino… Look at
Launch
“In Virginia, New Jersey and Washington, a blue wave rises,” writes The Huffington Post’s Nick Baumann, Amanda Terkel, and Igor Bobic.
Launch
We could face a bloodbath. I think that we have a potential of seeing a Watergate-level blowout. — Ted Cruz, telling donors at the Koch-aligned
Launch
Today, with Trump in office, the problems of the right are the problems of all Americans. And the worst part of it is that we—conservatives—did
Launch
“During his time as governor, Mr. Pence was the most divisive leader this state had ever seen. If he had not accepted Mr. Trump’s offer to be his running mate, he most likely would have lost a bid for a second term.”
Launch
Arizona had prepared Trump’s path in more spiritual ways that long predated that transformative 2015 rally. With an economy built on real-estate deals, and some
Launch
McCain talks a good game to reporters, at times providing them with juicy quotes criticizing his party’s excesses. But his voting record in recent years
Launch
“How did the Democrats lose a once progressive and populist hotbed like Wisconsin?” The Nation’s Sarah Jones asks.
Launch
The Democratic Party is on its way to finding its way out of the wilderness thanks to a willngness by elected Democrats to listen to the grassroots, writes David Atkins.
Launch
“It’s hard to think of a term that causes more confusion, yet is more frequently used in political debate, than neoliberalism. It’s one thing to argue that the term should be discouraged or retired from public discussions, because it generates heat instead of light, but it is another to say that it doesn’t have any meaning or use,” writes Mike Konczal.
Launch
The Los Angeles Times profiles New Mexico Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Launch
Trump’s victory exposed the party establishment as utterly broken – now Dems hope to rebuild in time for a 2018 comeback.
Launch
“The movement has been seized by a kind of discrediting madness, in which conspiracy delusions figure prominently,” writes Michael Gerson.
Launch
What we ended up with, from Bill Clinton onward, is a status quo party and an “undo the system” party, where the Democrats became the
Launch
“If Democrats want to do well in 2018, they need to start spending money now on programs to increase voter turnout then. Over the past decade, the party whose voters have been least inspired to participate in the midterms has lost control of the House of Representatives,” writes progressive strategist and author Steve Phillips.
LaunchConstituents of South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham weren’t thrilled when he adamantly declared his support for Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch and vowed that Gorsuch would be confirmed at any cost.
Launch
Democrats must make tough, data-driven decisions about how to prioritize their work. Right now, too many are using bad math and faulty logic to push
Launch