Rep. Jim Clyburn sounds alarm about midterms amid Democratic Party divisions

[brooklynite]

Source: Jewish Insider

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the third-highest ranking Democrat in the House, warned on Wednesday night that his party is not currently positioned to maintain its majorities in the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections due to divisions among the party’s various factions.

“We are not going to do what we need to do next year until we build enough intestinal fortitude to start operating a little outside or beyond our comfort zones,” Clyburn told a virtual audience from the Charleston Jewish Federation. “We’re not there yet. I’m hopeful that we can get there. Will we ever get there? That remains to be seen.”

“I think we can. I’m not sure we will,” Clyburn added. “My dad used to say to me all the time, ‘Wherever there is a will, there is a way.’ I’m not too sure that Democrats have yet developed the will to win in 2022.”

The South Carolina Democrat characterized the current ideological divides in his party as the major threat to its tissue-thin majorities in the House and Senate. These divides have been on stark display during the ongoing negotiations over the bipartisan infrastructure bill and “Build Back Better” social spending bill, with intra-party trust between the center and the left severely tested.

Read more: https://jewishinsider.com/2021/10/rep-jim-clyburn-sounds-alarm-about-midterms-amid-democratic-party-divisions/

[HUAJIAO]

1. I wouldn't call it exactly an ideological divide, .. rather two assholes.

[brooklynite]

2. Sinema and Manchin are easy targets...

...there are also divisions between progressives and moderates in the House.

[FBaggins]

4. There are also differences in priorities between other members

IOW - When cutting from $3.5T to $1.75T, which programs to cut is not unanimously agreed upon.

[Irish_Dem]

3. So Sinema and Manchin are tearing apart the party, which may mean losses in the midterm?

Maybe that is part of their plan.

[Wuddles440]

6. After losing Georgia...

and majority rule of the Senate, it's become increasing more apparent that Moscow Mitch has co-opted Manchin and Sinema as his firewall for obstruction.

[Irish_Dem]

11. My thoughts as well. Sinema and Manchin were Turtle's Plan B.

He had everything lined up in advance.

[hamsterjill]

13. Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have a winner.

Why isn’t that blatantly obvious to some here on DU?

[Irish_Dem]

14. Because it is difficult to face the reality of so much evil, sociopathic behavior.

Many are having a hard time wrapping their heads around it.

[hamsterjill]

19. I'm sure you are right.

When I suggest on DU that these two should be “brought in line by whatever means necessary”, I invariably get the gasped response that the only thing we can do is to win more seats in the midterms. Okay. That’s lovely and I’m all for it.

But we have to WIN those seats before that helps us and that is questionable at best.

[Delphinus]

22. It is indeed

difficult to think there are those who have such hate in their hearts. Many don't know how to fight it - love certainly doesn't seem to overcome it.

[Irish_Dem]

23. We are up against cunning, ruthless sociopaths.

Who will stop at nothing to gain power, wealth and control.
And who relish killing and tormenting others.

We need to chart our course accordingly.

[Elessar Zappa]

15. Manchin and Sinema

are still voting for Biden’s judges. That’s huge. They suck on other issues but it’s still better that we have them and that Moscow Mitch isn’t the majority leader. If he was, he’d block every judicial appointment.

[Irish_Dem]

18. Right, Mitch knew he couldn't get it all, but he could get a big chunk of what he wanted.

[Wild blueberry]

5. Dems need better, simpler messaging

Democratic policies are great for most Americans. RepubliQans no longer have any policy, just Dumpy. Let's say so, often!
Learn from the Lincoln Project, Steve Schmidt, and Rick Wilson.

[Historic NY]

10. They need one leader not millions all with individual ADGENDA'S

the every man is a general isn't working.

[JudyM]

20. This. Our messaging needs to be pithy and powerful

enough to consistently break through the RWMedia.

[question everything]

7. He correctly identified the "defunding the police" as a major cause for losing

many seats in the House. Now we have the Critical Race Theory that Alex Wagner exposed in the Virginia gubernatorial campaign in the Circus program and yesterday on Nicole Wallace’s one.

The Democratic party is now controlled by the left wing members who are blind to the fact that we do not have LBJ majority, not even Obama’s.

The other day PBS NewsHour had several people talking about family leave and one of them. a cafe owner, said she would not be able to stay in business if forced to offer family leave. No doubt, many here will comment that she should not stay in business and I have to wonder how many here are small business owners who know first hand what it involves.

As Nicole Wallace pointed: CRT is not taught in Virginia but it does not matter.

Our image is now of a socialist party that is out of touch with main stream.

Yes, of course, when the details of the proposed social safety bill are detailed, many like it. But most voters will not accept anything with a socialist label on it. We saw it when Biden won.

[JohnSJ]

8. What saved us from that idiotic slogan "defund the police" was Biden pushing back on

it.

It doesn’t matter how they want to explain it, the “socialist label” will hurt us, and trying to explain what socialism really means is not a winning strategy

If you have to explain what something “really means”, you have already lost the argument

[Deminpenn]

9. Same dog whistles, just a different name

And read "Peril" for an inside look at how Clyburn extracted a promise from Biden on Clyburn's priorities in order to win Clyburn's endorsement in the then critical SC Dem primary.

It's a little disingenuous for Clyburn to be criticizing other Dems now for fighting for their priorities now.

Further, the "defunding the police" narrative is simply wrong. For some reason Democrats cannot bring themselves to admit that Trump inspired many first time and irregular voters to come out and vote. That, along with the "never Trump" Rs generated more votes down ballot for Rs. It explains why Biden won fairly handily, but Rs did much better on the non-president offices.

[Elessar Zappa]

17. Any business that can't provide a living wage

and benefits absolutely deserves to fail. Workers aren’t slaves. And Biden supported the entire 3.5 trillion bill. Are you calling Biden a left winger?

[SayitAintSo]

12. A lot of Democrats have become single-issue voters

Over authoritarian positions that Dems have staked out. There is a growing common lane between Republicans and Democrats that will create Democratic swing voters for the right... the midterms are in jeopardy I fear.

[Vinca]

16. I'm glad one elected Democrat sees it. It feels like this is the Titanic and we're about to hit

the iceberg. Not only are Democrats failing to deliver (apparently because one faction or the other must have everything their way), but on the things they do accomplish it's a giant secret. None of the genpop ever hears about it. We know because we follow everything that happens all the time. We're the minority. Genpop is now listening to big Pharma ads about how negotiating drug prices is going to kill them and they're believing every word of it. They're believing the right wing hate machine which is neverending and loud on everything from vaccines and how bad they are (current meme - the one for kids will make them sterile) to Ted Cruz pointing out that the Nazi salute at school board meetings should not be considered a bad thing. It's all driving me nuts. I fear we'll be waking up one morning in November of 2022 to find Mitch McConnell in charge of the Senate again and that ignoramus Kevin McCarthy in the Speaker's chair.

[P-Nutt]

21. A Majority Of Americans

Were seeking a much more progressive agenda from this Administration and this Congress. The Centrists Democrats have all but assured that we will go back to reich wing Contgressional leaders for the next 2 years.

By then, Democrats will have an opportunity to elect a much more progressive Congress and maybe then, Legislate an agenda more to the liking of the voting public.

[Turbineguy]

24. There are a lot of Americans who hate this country.

Republicans have a strong chance of winning.