NY-16: How Jamaal Bowman Blew Up His Own Coalition

[RandySF]

The role of AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying organization, has dominated coverage of the race between Bowman and current Westchester county executive George Latimer. And it is true that AIPAC has ploughed a fortune into the race in hopes of defeating Bowman, who has staked out increasingly hostile positions since October 7.

But AIPAC also spent heavily against Bowman when he first ran and won, unseating longtime Israel champion Elliot Engel in 2020. The same reason Bowman overcame the impact of AIPAC spending four years ago, but faces an uphill struggle to do so now, is that he has moved significantly to the left on Israel. As a result of that continued shift, he drew an attractive challenger, Latimer, into the race, compounding his challenge.

The easiest way to measure the change is that in 2020, Bowman had J Street’s endorsement. J Street is a liberal pro-Israel group that has a fraction of AIPAC’s budget and also lacks its decades of institutional ties to the Jewish community. But J Street, which believes in the two-state solution and assigns Israel’s government a large share of the blame for its failure to materialize, represents a significant and growing share of Jewish opinion.

This year, J Street withdrew its endorsement of Bowman. That devastating move followed a series of comments Bowman had made that aligned himself with left-wing protesters rather than with liberal Zionists. The final straw was Bowman’s appearance with Norman Finkelstein, a hyperbolic critic of Israel and author of The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering. That episode, which Bowman did apologize for, followed a long string of comments, including a podcast where he stated, “The money to Israel is part of supporting another settler colonial project, which Israel is.” The phrase “settler colonial project” evokes an antisemitic left-wing theory.




https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jamaal-bowman-george-latimer-aipac-israel-zionism-new-york-race.html

[brush]

1. HOw did he blow it, by calling for a permanent ceasefire to save innocent Palistinian lives?

[tritsofme]

5. Maybe voting against President Biden's infrastructure bill, voting against the heroes who stood against the J6

insurrection, all the while dabbling in 9/11 truther nonsense?

Maybe some of that counts?

[brush]

6. The Squad is backing him, so a link pls to prove all that.

And do you not approve of a ceasefire and saving lives form continual bombing?

[tritsofme]

7. It's all in #2.

I support Hamas surrendering.

[Igel]

11. That's surely some of it.

At the same time, accusing Jews of conspiring against him--and his family--isn't a good look when you've denied for as long as possible Hamas atrocities.

Jewish money was green in before and acceptable. Now, suddenly, he demands that they change their politics to support his antisemitism. Like all Jews are Neturei Karta, convinced that Jews should be oppressed until they've suffered enough for their transgression, and that the exile and punishment will be ended by divine intervention not a UN resolution and a Jewish victory in war.

[tritsofme]

12. 🦗 🦗 🦗 🦗

[brush]

14. He called for a ceasefire and an end to the bombing and deaths. That's good with me.

Seems warmonger netanyahu will never stop.

[oasis]

8. Bowman's fire alarm stunt. Not helpful.

[Cha]

9. YOu don't have to prove anything to me.. many

of us have been paying Attention and know it's Exactly True.

Facts Matter... Thank You!

[betsuni]

15. I don't even understand the reason given for not voting for the infrastructure bill.

A deal was made but then compromises had to be made to get the votes to pass it at all: voted no. But that's what happens all the time, compromise, that's the job. Have to have large enough majorities or one or two stubborn people are in a position to veto unless they get their way. The ACA says hi.

My favorite reason for voting against the infrastructure bill was the one who said Biden had promised lead pipes would be replaced and all the children in America have clean drinking water. But there wasn't enough money to literally replace every lead pipe in America, so one day the American people will realize that Biden had, like, broken his promise and they'll be so disappointed and sad that they'll never ever ever ever ever vote again. Huh?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Look at Bowman's voting record

There are some good reasons why Bowman is NOT doing well

Link to tweet

[yardwork]

3. Bowman's campaign appears to be in disarray.

He's held campaign events outside his district. In fact, he doesn't seem to be clear on where his district is - that's weird.

There was also the embarrassing fire alarm episode with Congress.

[betsuni]

4. K&R

[PeaceWave]

10. Not exactly rocket science...Siding with terrorists has its consequences.

[LiberalFighter]

13. His voting record very questionable.

Along with the other squad.

[oasis]

16. He'll get the "heave ho" comes Election Day.

From there, Bowman needs to bow out of politics.