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David Lehnherr's avatar

Regardless of his skill past or present, the optics of an old white guy who isn't tearing things up a bit, like Bernie, are terrible. Biden was in the same boat. The optics matter, for better or worse. Time for Chuck to step aside.

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Jeff Tiedrich's avatar

I kinda agree somewhat about Bernie, but at this point I'll take help from anyone willing to fight

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

Bernie has more fight in him than most of his fucking colleagues!!

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Jeanne Leduc's avatar

He always has!

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mary's avatar

I give Bernie lots of credit for hitting the road trying to save the feckless congressional leadership from themselves. Don't criticize unless you're willing to follow in his footsteps.

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Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

No, he doesn't. He's not even a major progressive leader in reality. There's a senator from Vermont who's currently ranked the 6th most progressive in the Senate тАФ and it's not Sanders, it's Peter Welch. Bernie is ranked #20.

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Richard Spruill's avatar

Finally! Will no one scream to high heavens that Bernie IS NOT A DEMOCRAT! I will never forgive him for screwing Hillary over when he could have helped her win and beat trump the first time. I look forward to your angry letters.

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Chuck's avatar

Who fucking CARES what his label is, Richard? He's out there speaking the truth. Which is a lot more than we can say about dyed-in-the-wool Democrats like Chuck Shumer.

I mean, c'mon man. For fuck's sake.

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David Skoglund's avatar

You are wrong! Bernie got fucked over by Donna Brazile and Debbie Wasserman Shultz. They fed Hillary debate questions in advance. You have your history all wrong.

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Marlene Lerner-Bigley (CA)'s avatar

Correct! They refused to include him or listen to him. i absolutely agree with you. Look, I wasnтАЩt a Bernie fan but honestly, he has never not been out to harm people. He has consistently been the advocate for everyone, especially those less fortunate. I give him so much credit for these rallies.

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Outdoorluvr's avatar

If any of you actually stopped to listen to yourselves for the last 9 years, you might realize how dumb it sounds to harp about someone feeding debate questions to Hillary Clinton and helping her win. To actually believe that a politician with so much administrative and foreign experience wouldn't already know the questions that moderators would ask, plus about 50 more... and have answers already in mind ... well, y'all just to find some common sense. Bernie didn't get enough votes, period. No one cheated him. ЁЯЩД

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David Skoglund's avatar

Shut up

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Outdoorluvr's avatar

Freedom of speech is still a thing in this country. If you don't like being called out for doing Putin's work for him (division), then stop advertising your opinions as facts. Even Bernie doesn't agree with you, lol!

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Charles Austin's avatar

He DID help her! Hillary's consultants shit on Bernie's delegates at the convention.

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David Skoglund's avatar

Bernie held his nose and endorsed her. He is, and always has been a team player.

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Denise Donaldson's avatar

Hillary? The unabashed Wall Street shill and war hawk? The corporate establishment Dem? The one who couldn't be bothered to campaign in flyover country? Yeah, she was a real prize. At least as much Republican-lite as her husband. I say this as a woman and Dem voter.

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David Skoglund's avatar

Hokum for the yokels!

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WendyЁЯП│я╕ПтАНтЪзя╕ПЁЯП│я╕ПтАНЁЯМИЁЯМИ's avatar

I dont think you are wrong. I think it more comes down to a statement of Conservative vs Liberal (in mindset). Remembering of course that Liberal and Conservative arent entirely relegated to Democrat or Republican. There are conservative and moderate democrats, as there are , shockingly enough, Liberal and moderate Republicans.

No matter the case, its time for the Democratic party to shape up and clear its ranks of the ones not in the fight or trying to maintain the status quo.

100%

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Linda Weide's avatar

What American Historian Jefferson Cowie says is that populists win.

https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/is-populism-the-way-to-go?r=f0qfn

Obama was a populist. No break is his terms. We have to hear the populist message from whoever is out there. So, one part of the fight is confronting it. Kudos to Jazmine, AOC, Sanders, Raskin, and others who are out there. The other part is offering the people a message of what things could be should be. Like, from birth to death you will be able to take care of yourself because we will provide the supports you need. You should not have to worry about housing, medical expenses, child care, or basic needs.

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Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

We ARE offering that message and people don't listen. Kamala Harris offered that message. Here in Ohio, Sherrod Brown hammered that message. And you know what happened? Billionaires bought his opponent, Bernie Moreno, a flood of ads saying "Trans people are coming to rape your daughter." And they worked! A study found people you played the ads for were 85% more likely to vote for Moreno. I'd love to know what the answer is when people are more worried about non-existent transgender rapists than about their job, access to health care, affordable housing, their kids' schools, enough food to eat. I don't get it and I don't know what the answer is, but it's not "talk more about helping working people," unless you have a new way of getting across a message we already have.

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Bikracer's avatar

ЁЯСЖExactly! Being a 75 yo widow who lives in a rural area, I was super excited about Medicare covering in home care for seniors who need it but noooo They voted for the lunatic!

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Denise Donaldson's avatar

Couldn't agree more, Anastasia. As you know, Sherrod started his campaign early, and his ads were excellent; probably the best political ads I've ever seen. He talked about corporations ripping off average people, showing price gouging in graphic terms. There's absolutely no question that he fights for his constituents.

Then came Peter Thiel and others, flooding the zone with many millions of dollars' worth of Moreno kabuki ads with ridiculous themes. The clueless people in rural areas (much of Ohio) bought it, and we lost the best senator we've had in at least 50 years.

Now, if Moreno even responds to a message or call---not often---it's with a never-changing, meaningless letter saying that he appreciates hearing from constituents. WORTHLESS!!

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Marlene Lerner-Bigley (CA)'s avatar

Their messaging has ALWAYS been better than ours! The Lincoln Project people offered their services years ago and no one took them up on it. SighтАж

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Charles Austin's avatar

Moreno is a crook, pure and simple.

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Anne Whitney's avatar

I was crushed about Brown, he is as truly one of the good ones - super articulate, very rational and clear thinking, interested in solving problems for people vs corps. He put up a great piece of legislation his last term to recalculate SSI benefits which have literally not changed amount since the 1970s.

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

IтАЩve been screaming into the void, get these old blue haired fucks out of the Democratic Party for many years! The long lost ability to lead by vacuous minds, body and souls shouldnтАЩt be part of the party planтАжclearly there must be better options!!

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Karen Livolsi's avatar

Me too! IтАЩm 67 and I want the young, clear sightedness. I want those people who understand this world now, not 30 years ago! You had your chances, time and again to DO something about Republicans and Russian assets infiltrating our system of government. You knew, some of you were Russian assets, and you did NOTHING!

You helped yourselves to millions using insider trading. You used your positions after Citizens United to buy and sell power, a means to an end.

YouтАЩll walk away with so much more than you earned.

All of your kowtowing and тАЬbipartisanshipтАЭ lead us this.

ItтАЩs inconceivable the damage being done, and you hid from us.

Reps Crockett and Cortez, Sen Sanders, Gov Tim Walz Sen Chris Murphy are rousing the citizens to get together and protest against this administration. Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries is on a book tour? IтАЩm sure heтАЩs a fine statesman, in a knife/gunfight sort of way.

Blue hairs and goldbrickers, step aside, we have a democracy to save.

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Denise Donaldson's avatar

One of the best statements of our current reality I've seen, Karen. BRAVO!

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Charles Austin's avatar

ЁЯСНЁЯСНЁЯСНЁЯСН

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Anne Whitney's avatar

Yay Karen, well put.

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Bonnie Council's avatar

I guess I have to agree. I was all for Schumer's stance on the government shutdown - I still believe keeping it from shutting down was the right thing to do, because they were salivating for the chance to blame democrats for a shutdown. But now I'm beyond ready for Democrats to put some teeth into this thing. It's insanity for us to keep trying to play nice. Insane and foolhardy.

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Anne Whitney's avatar

His position makes sense on the face of it with rational people, but the problem is that this situation is a race to the bottom which is literally a gvmt shutdown. They did have a moment when the admin couldn't cut medicaid legally without Dems going along with it, but because they folded they now have zero leverage and it's going to happen anyway with a permission slip from 10 out 258 Dems. I think those numbers speak volumes. People want AOC to lead but who's watching out for her? Not Schumer and Gillebrand.

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Anne Whitney's avatar

I'm responding mostly to this conversation I had with a 78yr elder who saw him on the view after the cr vote. Many older women are scared shitless of not getting their SS check so anything akin to a shutdown freaks them out, and he was smart like a fox going on the view the next day to sell his version of why he rolled over to our retired elders. They don't really know how these operational votes happen or why they can't all just vote to stop shutdowns and then go back to the table. They don't understand there's no going back, the medicaid cuts are already voted in. That was the fight and he gave up and got nothing in return.

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Marla's avatar

Rational people? What about this current crop of crazypants assholes is rational?

You have to meet the crazy where you find it.

Chuck's problem is that he's practicing the politics of the 90s. It's not those times any longer.

Not ready to make nice. Take the 'L', pick up your marbles and go home.

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Anne Whitney's avatar

I'm saying what chuck is saying makes sense in a totally other universe where the people involved are rational and we're responding to things in a rational timeline. It is totally 365/24/7 crazypants and we need someone who can walk sideways and throw a punch from left field in 4D. We need people young and angry enough to stand their ground. He 100% needs to GTFO and I called his office multiple times prior to the CR vote and then after to tell him he should be done, step aside and let someone who's able take the fight.

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Marlene Lerner-Bigley (CA)'s avatar

ItтАЩs clearly a stupid thing for us to do!

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Paul's avatar

In what can only be seen as a near-Trumpian level of self-delusion, MINORITY leader Schumer says his skill is winning Senate seats!

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Douglas's avatar

Chuck is peeing on our legs and telling us that it's just a spring shower. Remember the Vichy French???

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DR Darke's avatar

Oh.

Oh, yes!

A Vichy Frenchman is the perfect analogue for Schmuck Schumer!

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

Sadly, a bigger, more profound joke can not be found Paul!!

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Charles Austin's avatar

Really?? He's picked loser after loser.

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DR Darke's avatar

Well, that sure ain't Schumer!

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Stephen Brady's avatar

I promise to break line every day until April 5th to post the link to Hands Off so anyone who wants to, can find a protest near them. Good one, Jeff!

https://handsoff2025.com

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Dr J's Sanity Space's avatar

With you, Jeff, on this

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Dan Halfeldt's avatar

Love ya, Jeff. I said the same thing about Schumer when this happened. Said it to him on Bluesky. Because he just joined. Boy there's a lot of pissed off democrats on Bluesky.

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Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

He's not "willing to fight" for anyone but himself and his image. He's openly telling people not to run as Democrats but as independents, which makes him de facto MAGA.

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David Skoglund's avatar

Bullshit!

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Mar 24
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George in Atlanta's avatar

Our side of the barricade is growing quickly, and it's hardly a united, homogeneous mass. It's a swirling, squabbling mess, just like... America. There's going to be plenty of those squabbles to go around, and there's no guarantee that they'll be resolved long enough to win together, but it's all we've got. I predict our bedfellows will get even stranger in the future.

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CAM from ЁЯЗиЁЯЗж's avatar

Time to chuck Chuck out of the Senate. AOC has to run in his district. SheтАЩs a barn burner and will breath new life into the Old Farts House.

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arne link's avatar

He's in until 2028, I believe. USA will be burnt to the ground by then if we don't get moving.

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Mary Brock's avatar

Just maybe the White House. Canada is pissed.... ;->

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CAM from ЁЯЗиЁЯЗж's avatar

Thanks Arne. You are correct. ЁЯПЕ

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

Sad truths Arne!!

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Anne Whitney's avatar

And Gillebrand until 2030. We can't get rid of them and they know it.

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Douglas's avatar

'28 huh?? That why he's playing rope a dope with us....he just wants more money in his pension. And he refuses to step-down from leadership. I guess he still has more destruction to do for his boss Trump. I heard he's also defending Biden. He's doubling down.

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DR Darke's avatar

Schumer's a Senator, so she's "in his district", which is the whole of New York State.

The problem is that New York (my former home state) HAS good progressive Democrats like AOC and Zephyr Teachout. Unfortunately, we not not only have Schmuck Schumer, we ALSO have Corrupt Corporate Clinton NeoLiberals like, well, Hillary Rodham Clinton (may she BERN in Hell!), Joe Crowley (whose ass AOC kicked to win the Democratic Primary in 2018), my former Congressman Dan Maffei (who I personally liked, but he was too focused on process and not enough on kicking the Fat Hypocrite Ass of the Anti-Choice Homophobic KKKhrister Right like his once-opponent Anna Marie Buerkle!)...AND we have the Geronticidal Sexual Predator that is Andrew Cuomo trying to slither back into power!

Guess which side Wall Street has the back of...?

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Ellen McKenzie's avatar

I have heard that Hillary Clinton is corrupt. I havenтАЩt seen references or evidence. IтАЩm open to new information. Please point me to reliable evidence to support the charge of corruption. Thank you!

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Denise Donaldson's avatar

The fact that she was Wall Street's darling is enough for me.

Oh, yeah, and she was a big admirer of Kissinger. In fact, she fawned over him. That's as damning as it gets, in my book.

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DR Darke's avatar

Yes. Thank you.

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DR Darke's avatar

She's slammed and slimed Bernie Sanders, one of the few DECENT people in Congress, without letup, even in 2020 when she accused him of being a "Russian Asset"! That is all I need to hate on her.

But, despite there seeming to be an online whitewash of her? The Clinton Foundation's activities as a response to the 2010 Haitian Earthquake are pretty telling: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/11/haiti-and-the-failed-promise-of-us-aid

Her "private e-mail server" was wiped of all data before the FBI got their hands on itтАФand Hillary's response was "Oh, you mean wiped, like with a cloth?" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/clinton-lawyer-says-email-server-wiped-clean

Bill Clinton had a meeting on the Phoenix, AZ airport tarmac with Attorney General Letticia James in 2016, shortly before the FBI decided not to press forward with charges against herтАФhttps://www.vox.com/2016/7/1/12079366/bill-clinton-loretta-lynch-plane-meeting

Oh, and Hillary's name came up in the list of people who flew Jeffrey Epstein's Pedophile AirтАФhttps://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-list-hillary-clinton-named-in-the-paedophiles-list-101704502932011.html

The worst part is? Donald Trump is as corrupt as the day is long, obviously engaged in pedophilic sexual predation on Epstein Island, and WE KNEW ALL THAT BEFORE he even started running in 2016! So what we had, at the end of the day, were two deeply corrupt, compromised major party candidates running for President...and Bernie Sanders trying to steer the 2016 election away from Oligarchs Versus Oligarchs....

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Outdoorluvr's avatar

Wow, talk about having a hard-on for someone. You bought it all, with no discernment. (BTW, it wasn't Leticia James. It was Lynch. So good at the spewing, that you had to Google "reasons to hate Hillary", huh?) smh. And y'all wonder why Dems don't win - the party that eats itself alive, lol!

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Outdoorluvr's avatar

And by the way, genius, Hillary Clinton was listed as a possible witness for court proceedings on those sensational released docs in January - not a contact of Epstein's, not on the flight logs, and not a visitor to his island. In fact, about 80% of the names listed in social media posts as Epstein "friends or conspirators" were complete bogus, geared toward purveyors of hateful misinformation just like yourself. Hindustan Times, really? ЁЯдгЁЯдгЁЯдг

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DR Darke's avatar

I needed a source who hadn't whitewashed Hillary like YOU just did, you sellout.

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DR Darke's avatar

...and that is the problem right there.

You've already shown you'd accept Lecter and Manson as allies when you let Schmuck Schumer and Ratty Andy Cuomo keep winning rather than getting rid of him in favor of Zephyr Teachout or any other true Progressive.

I'll bet you also consider AOC "not our sort".

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Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

The last person I want to see sacrifice our senate seat in NY is AOC. She would be toxic outside NYC and the GOP already has its ammo ready for her.

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Linda Weide's avatar

I was not bothered by Biden's optics. I am not afraid of old people, in fact, one of my favorite people in the world is 90. That is my mom. However, I am bothered by incompetence and disloyalty. Chuck Schumer did not have the backs of the people in the House who stuck their necks out. He is so unqualified for what he is facing. Clearly Chuck never had a school yard fight with a bully, and he should step aside for those who have. I think Chuck should be challenged to a duel of getting a crowd to hear him talk vs. others who might want to take the lead. He is coming off as a clueless misogynistic ageist. What is his message for Americans? You go do it yourself. Stand up to Trump for me, while I draw a paycheck on your tax dime and don't do a thing to earn it. That is some waste we people should cut.

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

Excellent thoughts Linda!! ThereтАЩs plenty of elderly people I have the utmost respect for, heтАЩs not one of them! SchumтАЩs face has never been bloodied by the local bully, thatтАЩs rather obvious!!

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David Skoglund's avatar

This is a problem with my party, the Democrats. Everyone is pissing and moaning about the Dems being rudderless after Trump wins. Where are the leaders?

So Bernie and AOC show some leadership and then they get attacked by the party. WTF is wrong with people?!

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Douglas's avatar

Bernie is 83 freekin years old....and HE has had to take it upon himself to get out there, become a target of the right, and fight back!!? Does anyone expect ole Dick (it ain't gonna happen) Durbin to fight the good fight?? And has he had a stroke as I've seen him shuffle around?? D has targeted Schumer into submission....as long as he's 'nice' to Trump he won't have to face what an 83 yr. old faces. Yeah....Chuck is a real profile in courage. And I heard he's not gonna step-down either. These effing elderly moderate Democrats brought us to this point & are arrogantly not taking responsibility. If a Japanese leader screwed up as much as these guys they'd take 'responsibility'.

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Punkette's avatar

The Senate Democratic Caucus has the power to vote Chuckles out as their leader. I hope those 46 senators have the guts to take this vote when they return from recess. If they keep Schumer as their leader, then weтАЩll know where we stand.

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Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

Dick Durbin is more progressive than Bernie. I follow Progressive punch's ratings religiously. He's #14, Bernie's at #20. You want real progressives? There's Mazie Hirono and the Massachusetts Two тАФ all over 75. And they are all outspoken and fight like crazy. Warren has been out there, making statements constantly that are a lot more coherent and reactive to current events. But yeah, she's a woman so she doesn't count. We see that. A woman's only value comes from being young and pretty. Just ask Trump. Kristi Noem even got plastic surgery to make herself more attractive to him.

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P123Sunny's avatar

Biden was also busy doing his full-time job at the timeтАж(!) And running ЁЯПЫя╕ПЁЯМОsh*t.

Waiting for the world to notice that тАШmanly manтАЩ donny either plays the victim OR golfs 24/7 - will this spell ever break?.. any day now :/

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Cheryl Fleming's avatar

Sadly, in our present time, optics are EVERYTHING.

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Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

And lies drown out facts and reality. We saw this in the Ohio Senate race. Talking abut lifting up the working class matters less than some imaginary trans rapist.

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Mike Hammer's avatar

Nope. We respect our elders and this is a good sign.

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

Damn straight David!!

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