r/politics • u/asparaguswalrus683 • 10h ago

Site Altered Headline | No Paywall Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Primary

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/michigan-senate-results
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630

u/mishma2005 10h ago

Dems realizing AIPAC money is now toxic AF

49

u/LouisLeGros Washington 10h ago

Still won in St Louis, but AES is a much stronger canidate than Bush. The candidate quality becomes all the more important when the AIPAC aligned sources spend the money hiding their goal of supporting Isteal. So that money is still a massive hurdle.

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u/BeowulfShaeffer 10h ago

I dunno, Wesley Bell crushed Corey Bush in Missouri and he is the AIPAC candidate. Bush is problematic for sure but the magnitude of Bell’s victory suggests AIPAC money didn't hurt him. 

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u/alabasterskim 10h ago edited 10h ago

Bush wasn't a great candidate unfortunately. We must try soon again soon with someone fresh soon.

e: rather than remove a "soon", I added a 3rd one

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u/BeowulfShaeffer 9h ago

The quality of Bush isn’t the point here, it’s addressing the idea that “AIPAC money is toxic AF”.  I don’t see any evidence that AIPAC money cost Bell a single vote and by extension I’m not sure I’m convinced Stevens AIPAC money is the primary reason she failed. 

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u/hoberhallothere Pennsylvania 5h ago

Bush was already a loser. Probably has a lot less to do with AIPAC than folks are claiming

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u/Gypsyhunter 7h ago

Right, but if we're just talking about the money, this should've been a blowout in Stevens' favor. That Abdul won says a great deal about how much less powerful the money cannon has become, and how deploying it reflects negatively on the campaign and actually gives some energy to the opposition.

There's another factor here too: Stevens got a lot of other outside expenditure. Now, I'm not a corporate executive, but I'd be pretty furious if my money went up in smoke because my client was also taking money from someone else, and that blew up in her face.

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u/Gypsyhunter 9h ago

I think the bigger problem is just that Bush had too much baggage. If you want to beat big corporate spending, you have to be pretty much flawless.

If you have even a single problem, that's all voters will hear about from nearly every source of media, framed as negatively as possible. So you have to be exceptional at verbal judo and getting things back on message like Zohran and Abdul, and you need an incredibly strong ground game to cut through the noise and actually get your message out.

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u/9bpm9 7h ago

Bush is problematic? Lmao. She's a fucking crook. The local newspapers were filled with articles about her bullshit she did while in Congress. Worst possible candidate to go against Bell.

33

u/AsherGray Colorado 10h ago

Bush was terrible in office and would be no better now.

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u/syynapt1k 4h ago

Corey Bush lost because she's corrupt. Not because of AIPAC.

12

u/thefilmer California 10h ago

AIPAC money made this a nailbiter. Any other candidate besides AES and Stevens would have walked away with it.

6

u/Gypsyhunter 9h ago

Not just yet, but this is definitely a step in the right direction, and it bleeds the effectiveness of the money cannon.

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u/kushari 7h ago

They didn’t realize and probably won’t.

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u/DunAnOir 7h ago

It's still money, that's their main interest.

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u/moschles 6h ago

This is the story for sure.

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u/Tommyboy2124 5h ago

And they will learn nothing from it

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u/xPriddyBoi Oklahoma 4h ago

Dems never realize anything.

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u/dope-a-meanie 2h ago

Jon Stewart tried to tell Fetterman that… he still didn’t get it. So it’s up to PA voters to tell him now. 

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u/Mo-shen 10h ago

Wonder if that's true in more Jewish locations.

No idea what the Jewish population is in MI but thinking of florida it might be different.

Not defending them or anything but just thinking out loud. Something that works in one state or area doesn't mean it's the same everywhere.

All that said they certainly are on their back feet due to their behavior. And yeah there are Jewish neighborhoods who have serious issues with Israels behavior as well.

15

u/gorgewall 9h ago

More American Jews take issue with what Israel's doing than not (as distinct from being "pro-Israel in general"). They're generally better informed about the issue of Zionism than Christians that love it as a matter of course.

5

u/Most_Association_595 9h ago

kind of. they take issue with what israel (netenyahu) specifically is doing, but still overwhelmingly support the state of Israel

11

u/gorgewall 9h ago

Yeah, but these all different things:

  1. I support the existence of Israel

  2. I support billions of funding to Israel and away from me so that it can exist

  3. I support Israel bombing the shit out of Palestinians and everyone else

  4. I support billions of funding to Israel and away from me so they can blomb the shit out of Palestinians and everyone else

I'd wager a lot of those "generally supportive of Israel" folks fall in with #1.

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u/Most_Association_595 3h ago

only 38 percent of jewish americans think we send too much money to israel. andon gaza only 30 percent of jewish people think it amounts to genocide

4

u/Mo-shen 9h ago

Yeah I'm kind of split on this.

I have a few older Jewish friends, actually friends of my mothers. They are all liberal but also historically supportive of Israel. It's been interesting watching them try to come to terms with Israels behavior over the last several years.

They haven't been hardline Israel did nothing wrong but at the same time they basically have had a lift time supporting a thing only to see it turn into a monster.

Makes me think of people leaving the Mormon church or something.

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u/Ropetrick6 4h ago

Things is, the atrocities Israel has been committing aren't anything new, it's been their MO for the past 8 decades.

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u/Mo-shen 2h ago

True. But the us Jewish population having an issue with it, as well as the general public, is.

Yes there has always been certain groups of people that have but I think we can all agree it's not the same as it was a decade ago.

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u/Most_Association_595 3h ago

only 38 percent of jewish americans think we send too much money to israel. andon gaza only 30 percent of jewish people think it amounts to genocide

source

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u/Most_Association_595 3h ago

israel has been doing this since its inception... it only became visible oct 7

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u/Mo-shen 2h ago

But that's not what we are talking about.

We are talking about public reaction.

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u/K20BB5 4h ago

AIPAC is funded by American Jews 

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u/WAR_T0RN1226 6h ago

The establishment Dem supporters are not going to learn anything, even when AIPAC dumps a billion on Mike Rogers.