Once again I read a story first thing in the morning which prompted me to say into the ether now’s not the time to air these matters which give ammunition to the enemy. The metaphor is intended to go along with the don't shoot yourself in the foot illustration. I used a version of the picture in a previous diary about how two Democrats, Amy McGrath the former Marine fighter pilot and the more progressive Charles Booker, were running against each other in the Kentucky primary to face off against Mitch McConnell. The message of that diary was basically the same as what I will write now. However, it is far more important.
Here’s the Politico article which prompted me to write this:
I have no intention on weighing in on the subject of defunding the police or police reform right now. You can easily do a web search for the numerous articles, pro, con, and in the middle about it. The need and ways to reform the police are complex and important matters but unfortunately the movement to achieve this has given Trump a powerful tagline in three words: defund the police and fear mongering TV ads like this one.
I don’t want my point to be misconstrued. I think one of the strengths of the Democratic Party is that it is diverse and has generally benefitted by having very progressive and more moderate wings. When primary candidates fight it out to be the candidate in a local or general election it is only damaging when the supporters of the loser don’t enthusiastically endorse the winner.
In 2016 the losing Republican candidates and their vocal supporters privately licked their wounds and disappeared or conveniently forgot the damning things they said about Donald Trump. I also don’t want to get into whether a significant enough number of Bernie Sanders supporters, the most zealous of whom got a Wikipedia entry for Bernie bros, decided not to vote to have made a difference.
Daily Kos strongly discouraged diaries that undermined Hillary Clinton towards the end of the primary and then relitigating her nomination once she’d won. (Update/correction: The exact date Kos did this was March 15th with this story: “March 15, and Daily Kos transition to General Election footing.”)
This even made HuffPost: Daily Kos Asks Clinton And Sanders Supporters For Unity.
I don’t have to tell anyone reading this how important this election is and why no Democrat or Democratic group(metaphor alert) should provide Trump with a box of ammunition.
Saturday, Aug 22, 2020 · 4:57:03 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Just to be clear, I believe that all viewpoints must be taken seriously within the Democratic Party, but I think there is a way to express dissatisfaction and differences, and foster change within the party, without giving ammunition to Trump. Rather than go public by granting interviews to websites like Politico, whether they are leaders of BLM or Bernie Sanders supporters, they should work behind the scenes to influence policy. The progressive and BLM movements are the future of the party. Biden knows that. They have a great deal of power without having to jeopardize a decisive Democratic win.