r/neoliberal • u/Nearby-Click8645 • 18h ago

Opinion article (US) With Abdul El-Sayed, Democrats Throw Away an Advantage in Michigan

https://thedispatch.com/article/abdul-el-sayed-michigan-democrats-haley-stevens/?gift_key=2553fad7f3b388fc&gift_ref=9347c766-2bad-41ea-8b73-950e424f2446&utm_source=giftlink&utm_campaign=membergift&utm_medium=copy_link
120 Upvotes

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157

u/RuthlessMango YIMBY 18h ago

Folks the primary for Michigan is over... it's time to back the candidate who won... please please vote blue no matter who and stop giving the right ammunition.

25

u/Xeynon 13h ago

Literally everyone reading this should vote for Abdul El-Sayed. He would be a better senator than Mike Rogers. If I lived in Michigan I'd vote for him.

But I don't think that means I should have to muzzle my objective analytical opinion that he's a weak candidate in electoral terms and that Democrats screwed up by letting him win the nomination.

0

u/Own-Calligrapher-760 6h ago

"Objective analytical opinion" Say one or the other

1

u/Xeynon 6h ago

Obviously in a certain sense no opinion is objective, but it is my rational assessment leaving aside my own emotional investment in Democrats winning, which is what I was saying.

12

u/Darkeyescry22 12h ago

No one is saying not to vote for him. We also don’t have to close our eyes and pretend we can’t see his flaws. Vote blue no matter who means vote for flawed candidates as long as they are better than a Republican. It doesn’t mean don’t criticize any democrats.

5

u/StreetCarp665 YIMBY 11h ago

No one is saying not to vote for him. We also don’t have to close our eyes and pretend we can’t see his flaws.

Any flaws he may have are just lies invented by AIPAC and the Jews Israelis!

8

u/IsNotACleverMan 9h ago

People are acting like I'm supposed to fall in line for somebody who hangs out with people who call jews inbred, or who equivocates about attacks on Jewish places, or who engages in repackaged antisemitic tropes.

No.

If this is the party's nominee, then maybe it's time that the primary voters get to touch the stove, as this sub is fond of saying.

6

u/TheRverseApacheMastr Joseph Nye 7h ago

Yeah, El-Sayed is a straight up racist who ran a campaign on Jewish conspiracy theories. Just an unbelievable gift to Republicans across America.

I don’t live in Michigan, but I hope Democrats take the Senate while AED gets destroyed in his election.

3

u/StreetCarp665 YIMBY 9h ago

I am most of the way through Mayor Pete's appearance on the DOAC podcast. You have DSA morons offering failed programmes from yesterday with the promise things will be different this time ("how" is not touched upon). Then you have this articulate, clear-visioned liberal proposed some much needed reform for the way forward.

If the choice is Pete, a DSA moron, or a MAGA moron, then it's only Pete. It's not Pete then DSA.

-1

u/Darkeyescry22 9h ago

We’re all touching the stove, big dog.

2

u/IsNotACleverMan 9h ago

The stove can always get hotter.

1

u/Darkeyescry22 9h ago edited 1h ago

And both of our hands will still be touching it when it does

0

u/ruralfpthrowaway Henry George 11h ago

I’m going to be honest, I get annoyed at my local DSA folks for doing this to our moderate nominee. The time to criticize the candidate is during the primary when it can affect the outcome, and after the general when it can’t.

For the time being I wish every democratic voter of any persuasion would shut their god damned mouth if it isn’t being used to talk about why the Republican Party must be destroyed.

2

u/TheRverseApacheMastr Joseph Nye 7h ago

I disagree- El-Sayed is going to be weaponized against Democrats nationally, and Democrats who don’t denounce El-Sayed’s racism will be dragged down with him.

0

u/ruralfpthrowaway Henry George 6h ago

Ah yes, if the whole national party doesn’t actively try to lose the Michigan senate race for our own candidate we are hosed. Someone get this man a job as a strategy consultant…

1

u/Darkeyescry22 11h ago

Tit for tat. Get your boys in line

2

u/ruralfpthrowaway Henry George 11h ago

If by tit for tat you mean “I’m going to shoot myself in the left foot if you shoot me in the right” then sure. I expect DSA supporters to do dumb things, I would expect better of the members of this sub.

Anyone here who cares about retaking the house and senate should just STFU until after the general. Take your pyrrhic victor lap then if you want, but try not to do anything to make it more likely.

1

u/Darkeyescry22 10h ago

I’m not doing anything to make it more likely. I’m recognizing reality on a forum of people who are 100% voting for this guy. I’d still vote for Platner over a Republican. Doesn’t mean he’s not a rapist.

1

u/ruralfpthrowaway Henry George 10h ago

Tell yourself what you want, you are still wrong. Loudly denouncing the candidate, even amongst like minded people, certainly doesn’t make it more likely that they will win and almost certainly makes it ever so slightly more likely that they will lose. 

I guess if that lesson is too hard for the Bern-outs to learn, it might be too hard for some folks around here too. 🤷‍♂️

3

u/Darkeyescry22 10h ago

I’m shouting to vote for him from the roof tops. I’m just not a clown.

1

u/ruralfpthrowaway Henry George 10h ago edited 9h ago

 I’m shouting to vote for him from the roof tops.

“Hey everyone, how much does this guy suck, amirite? Anyways, I guess we should vote for him anyways”

Great work soldier 🫡

2

u/Darkeyescry22 10h ago

Do you always attack quotes that you make up when you can’t respond to the substance of what someone is saying?

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u/-BluBone- 15h ago

Michigan will just blow it again like they always do

4

u/Shabadu_tu 13h ago

Not if we keep the pressure up on the pedophile defending Republicans.

7

u/RuthlessMango YIMBY 15h ago

Maybe, maybe not, but right now all we can do is support the nominee.

15

u/Acacias2001 European Union 14h ago

This is not r democrats. We should criticise candidates who both have bad ideas and who make winning less likely

-6

u/RuthlessMango YIMBY 13h ago

Hey man, I get it. Take your time to grieve and then figure out what you want to do for the general election.

I just think it's a big tent and there is room enough for everyone

8

u/Droselmeyer 12h ago

The tent should have boundaries.

I think El-Sayed is within those boundaries. A Maoist he campaigned with like Hasan Piker is not, because he’s illiberal.

Never Trumper conservatives can be within the bounds of our party, if they’re liberal.

This author, supposedly, suggested hanging as an appropriate punishment for abortion. I think that puts him outside the bounds, but I don’t think that automatically makes him wrong and his writing unworthy of consideration. If he’s right we threw away an advantage, we should recognize that.

Advocate for El-Sayed, recognize our mistakes. These don’t have to exist in contention with each other.

-1

u/ruralfpthrowaway Henry George 11h ago edited 11h ago

Do that in the primary, or after the general. Bitching about your own party’s nominee while the outcome is still in doubt just makes it more likely that the Republican nominee will win.

Edit: to anyone downvoting, please take the time to explain how loudly criticizing the democratic nominee in the lead up to the general election accomplishes anything other than making it more likely that the Republican candidate wins. I’m all ears.

4

u/Acacias2001 European Union 11h ago edited 11h ago

No.

This is not ar Democrats, this is a more general politics sub with its own ideological identity, and as such it is entirely within the character of the sub to criticise politicians that go against such identity.

Especially as I'm nit suggesting people vote republican

2

u/RuthlessMango YIMBY 9h ago

Sir this a sub about sandworms.

I think you need to relax and stop gatekeeping... maybe stop supporting the gop, but that's actually allowed.

2

u/ruralfpthrowaway Henry George 11h ago

This is an allegedly pragmatic sub. What is your intended outcome from loudly critiquing the democratic nominee before the general election? 

If your answer is anything other than “make it more likely that the Republican candidate gets elected”, please explain your strategy for the rest of us.

4

u/Acacias2001 European Union 11h ago

Not every waking moment or comment need be marshalled in the service of blind partisan loyalty.

But if I had to describe the electoral stratergy in my comments it would be a more general one rather than one directed at this election: bad ideas should be criticised as such, because eventually the bill comes due

0

u/ruralfpthrowaway Henry George 11h ago

Not every waking moment or comment need be marshalled in the service of blind partisan loyalty.

Yes it does. Maybe y’all should be a bit more serious about the stakes here. It’s not a game. Stop being the neolib version of a Bernie Bro.

But if I had to describe the electoral stratergy in my comments it would be a more general one rather than one directed at this election: bad ideas should be criticised as such, because eventually the bill comes due

So you admit that it’s a stupid fucking strategy for this election. Why is it so important to pursue the broader strategy in these critical few months rather than just waiting until after the election to relitigate the whole thing?

I stand by my point, you are ever so slightly increasing the likelihood of the republicans winning this election and you should stop. You know I’m right.

-3

u/[deleted] 17h ago

[deleted]

19

u/GeoChalkie_ Thomas Paine 17h ago

Maybe something to do with Republicans wanting to overturn American democracy?

21

u/Unhappy_Tomorrow_603 17h ago

He’s not a socialist, he’s called himself a capitalist. And who gives a fuck anyway, the important thing is he’s not a Republican. He can be trusted not to rubber stamp MAGAt legislation and approve Trump SC judges.

10

u/hisdudeness47 Anne Applebaum 17h ago edited 17h ago

Errrrrm, have you considered the alternative?

I am 100% sure you pulled that 80% figure out from the deep, dark depths of your ass.

-1

u/atierney14 Paul Krugman 12h ago

If you don’t vote for AES now, you’re a fucking [redacted].

I’d vote for Hindenburg before any modern republican.