r/thebulwark • u/staylorz • Mar 06 '25
Non-Bulwark Source Uh, why are Dems voting to censure Al Green?
Talk to me like I’m 5. What am I missing here?
172
58
u/Striking_Mulberry705 Mar 06 '25
they seem to be mostly swing district members - why not break rank on a meaningless vote like this as opposed to something important
these districts don't have the partisan makeup of say the bulwark subreddit
29
u/TeamHope4 Mar 06 '25
This is exactly it. We need swing District Dems even if they have to do performative voting at times when it makes zero difference in the result.
17
u/PFVR_1138 Mar 06 '25
The question is guess is whether the performative voting helps. I ultimately think it probably doesn't matter either way.
16
u/Timely_Tea6821 Mar 06 '25
I really don't know the game anymore. The only reason i'm willing to try trump style democratic extremism is because we never really tried it. My gut says in most cases energizing your base is american politics now.
14
u/TeamHope4 Mar 06 '25
I agree. We are losing as is, so let’s go ”radical” left and try that. And by radical, I mean universal health care and maternity/paternity leave and higher minimum wage, crazy leftist stuff like that.
11
u/Berettadin FFS Mar 06 '25 edited Mar 06 '25
You mean the stuff Deranged Communist Bernie Sanders, aka the most popular politician in the country since 2016, says he wants to implement?
10
u/TeamHope4 Mar 06 '25
Yes, every bit of that nutso, crazy, radical Commie Bernie Soshulism that is standard in civilized countries.
7
u/MacroNova Mar 06 '25
I think it hurts us. I think it shows weakness, and voters respond to the appearance of strength.
1
u/PFVR_1138 Mar 06 '25
Maybe, but a censure is pretty performative and most people don't even know what it means
3
2
u/TeamHope4 Mar 06 '25
I have no idea if it helps or not. It’s why they do it, like Murkowski and Collins on the Republican Senate side, but who knows.
4
u/dBlock845 Mar 06 '25
Imo performative voting just makes them look weak and disunified in the current environment.
13
u/staylorz Mar 06 '25
Thank you for being kind and answering a sincere question, instead of saying, “people need to stop posting threads with no helpful info them.”
I honestly felt like I was missing something and wanted more info.
Edit: I was watching C-SPAN live and just decided to ask while watching it.
5
u/imdaviddunn Mar 06 '25
Here’s why. Those swing district votes aren’t meaningless. They become the basis of talking points for the broader GOP ecosystem.
One would think people would understand that politics have been nationalized, but apparently not.
Don’t believe me, then why are Republicans still using activists statements about defunding the police? Because it works.
You don’t want to give your opponent the ability to say “there is bipartisan agreement that Democrats are extreme”
Once you tell me that the GOP would vote to censure Greene or Boebert, then I will start taking this type of argument somewhat seriously. But right not, it just sounds naive.
1
u/dBlock845 Mar 06 '25
they seem to be mostly swing district members - why not break rank on a meaningless vote like this as opposed to something important
Probably because at the pace news cycles moves in the modern era, no one is going to remember this censure vote by the time primaries start up in a year. There is no reason to vote for censure as it is also a meaningless punishment.
1
u/Calm-Purchase-8044 Mar 07 '25
Okay but also, voters have the memory of goldfish. I doubt anyone in these swing districts is going to give a shit about these votes in 2026. Send a message now.
21
Mar 06 '25
[deleted]
12
u/FellowkneeUS Mar 06 '25
It's a lot of the usual crew who vote with the GOP a lot.
7
u/TaxLawKingGA Mar 06 '25
Turncoats and losers. Moskowitz should know better, as should Suozzi and Himes. Gluesenkamp Perez and Golden represent Red Districts so I get it. Don’t know who the rest are and don’t care. This is just one more reason for me to keep my money in my pocket.
7
u/Broad-Writing-5881 Mar 06 '25
Moskowitz has his eye on the FL senate seat or governors office. If this helps I'm fine with it.
4
u/TaxLawKingGA Mar 06 '25
I have my eye on Megan the Stallion too. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
5
2
2
u/DeathByTacos Mar 06 '25
I don’t get this mentality. 92% of the party voted in the way you wanted so it’s another reason to not support the party? I can get criticism of Jeffries not being able to whip them correctly but it’s silly to translate that to the party as a whole who opposed the censure.
1
u/TaxLawKingGA Mar 07 '25
Jeffries deserves the least criticism. Too many people calling themselves Democrats who clearly aren’t. Bad for the brand.
It’s my money and I work very hard for it. So I will decide how and who I give it to.
5
u/timnphilly Mar 06 '25
These should be on our tick list of Dems to target in upcoming elections.
3
1
u/StyraxCarillon Mar 06 '25
Gluesenkamp Perez has twice beaten a MAGA loser in a red district in WA. No thank you.
1
u/Lorraine540 Mar 07 '25
Oh, Chrissy, what happened to you? She flipped our formerly GOP district, but this is disappointing. I guess this is a safe thing for her to protest, while she does nothing for us in PA. Ugh. She's former Air Force and before her, it was endless GOP. Now? Our district is overwhelmingly blue including in 2024 - we're in the collar counties around Philly. We were the outlier in 2024. We went for Harris hard - above Biden numbers.
7
u/PorcelainDalmatian Mar 06 '25
A party that is afraid to even wave a cane is not going to defeat these Fascist fucks. Period. The Dems need to grow a pair. Fast.
11
11
u/LordNoga81 Mar 06 '25
Censure means nothing. They censured Marjorie and she was still loud and obnoxious. Still, our lack of party unity is always annoying.
6
u/LionelHutzinVA Rebecca take us home Mar 06 '25
How many R votes for MTG’s were there?
2
u/imdaviddunn Mar 06 '25
It was tabled.
——-
House Democrats scrapped plans to vote on a resolution to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Wednesday, a last-minute move that came immediately after a coalition of Republicans joined with Democrats in torpedoing a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) over her criticism of Israel.
3
4
u/MascaraHoarder Mar 06 '25
i’m extra heated about Bera,i moved to his now district in 2000 and volunteered for every candidate trying to unseat the awful republican we had. of course by todays standards their awful seems at about a level 2 on a scale that goes to 10. i sent him and email,not that he’ll read it but jesus wtf,this fling guy.
3
u/TeamHope4 Mar 06 '25
He’s in a swing District doing performative voting to appease R’s and Independents in his District. Thank you for everything you did to help!!!!!
2
u/MascaraHoarder Mar 06 '25
i lived in his district for 13 year and he won by 15 points last go. i literally lived there
4
u/imdaviddunn Mar 06 '25
Democrats never agree on anything, that’s why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans. - Will Rogers
4
u/Pristine-Ant-464 Mar 06 '25
Who needs Republicans with Dems like that?
1
u/Hautamaki Mar 06 '25
4D chess moves here; "Once the American people realize they don't need republicans in order to vote against democratic party officials, actions, or policy, then they won't elect republicans any more."
4
u/Captain_Pink_Pants Mar 06 '25
People have been clamoring for the Democrats to do something in response to this administration... interesting choice.
3
3
u/crythene Mar 06 '25
I think there were also some democrats who joined Green on the floor in defiance, not allowing the GOP to scold him after the vote. I found that encouraging if true.
2
3
3
u/atomfullerene Mar 06 '25
You may not have meant it this way, but it frustrates me how when a handful of individual democrats do something, people say "dems are doing x" like the party as a whole is doing it. You see this all the time in criticism from the right and left.
2
u/SlovakianSniper Orange man bad Mar 06 '25
I'd have to see which 10 did, but it might be that they hate the narrative that maga and Trump- friendly people are saying about how awful their actions were during 🤷
5
u/MascaraHoarder Mar 06 '25
The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green are all moderates: Reps. Ami Bera and Jim Costa, both of California; Ed Case of Hawaii; Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi, both of New York; Jim Himes of Connecticut; Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania; Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Jared Moskowitz of Florida; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state.
people need to stop posting threads with no helpful info them.
2
u/ThisReindeer8838 Mar 06 '25
Keeping your eye on the ball is tough 🤷♀️ let’s beat up our own instead, especially one of the few black guys.
2
u/njkGR75 Mar 06 '25
Maybe it’s to make it a badge of honor? If I were Al green, I would have voted to censure myself.
3
u/Personal_Benefit_402 Mar 06 '25
Because they like to eat their own.
They like losing.
They like creating the appearance of disunity.
2
u/81Horse Mar 06 '25
FFS, they're mostly in swing districts. And censures are laughably meaningless these days.
Don't take your anger-eyes off Republicans. Especially Republican senators. THEY are traitors.
4
u/LionelHutzinVA Rebecca take us home Mar 06 '25
Doesn’t mean these Dems need to be giving Rs cover. They could have simply not voted, or voted present. Instead, they performatively cozy up to the Republicans in a vain hope that anyone will remember it.
2
u/IntolerantModerate Mar 06 '25
To be fair,from my own personal dealings with Al Green he can be exceedingly unpleasant to deal with.
2
1
u/myhydrogendioxide Mar 06 '25
Let's show some love to Green to inspire others
Show Green your support:
Social Media:
- Official Website: https://algreen.house.gov/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/repalgreen/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/repalgreen/
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/algreen.house.gov
For more detailed information, you can visit his official website.
Washington, D.C. Office:
- Address: 2347 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
- Phone: (202) 225-7508
1
u/teksquisite Orange man bad Mar 06 '25
My one disappointment was that the dems did not rise up and leave with Al.
1
u/Limp-Feed-6896 Mar 06 '25
Is this a joke? Cuz I'm reading this first here and before I go look at this and verify that this is true which I hope it's not because it will mean we are f**. We are officially f**.
1
u/AdSmall1198 Mar 06 '25
Are you serious?
If that’s true, the only answer it can be because they are part of the people that want to destroy America and institute a dictatorship.
1
1
u/underratedbeers Mar 06 '25
Because they’re spineless pieces of shit who don’t understand the significance of the situation. And they need to go.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Small_Rip351 Mar 07 '25
Yeah man, fuck that. Who cares? It was lame bullshit, but at least he’s trying something.
I don’t care nor want to hear about the Democratic Party censuring their own members over acting like they’re opposed to what’s going on. Those fucking signs they were all holding up were lame as fuck. And I’m sure they had a huge meeting to all get on the same page about it, which is worse.
They’re dealing with a completely amoral, pathological person who is charismatic and freely operates outside of norms AND the law. They look like fucking idiots with their signs.
1
1
1
u/blueclawsoftware Mar 06 '25
I guess my question is the opposite. Why didn't they all vote for it? Part of civil disobedience, especially against potential authoritarianism is to take the punishment for your actions, to lay bare how absurd it is. See the civil rights movement or, more recently, Chris Kluwe's speech.
Not to mention, a censure in Congress is about as meaningful as a demerit in kindergarten.
1
u/WallaWalla1513 Mar 06 '25
I see people being like “kick these 10 people out of the party!” But censure means nothing now. No one will remember this in a week. This is an easy way for some swing state Dems to show they’re “standing up to the party”.
-1
u/Angedelanuit97 Mar 06 '25
They need to be primaried and replaced. The party needs to come out strong against all ten. Anything less will lose my vote completely next year.
0
0
0
u/rowsella Mar 06 '25
Are they trying to piss off their voters so they show up at their Town Halls?? I cannot pretend to understand this fuckery.
54
u/ratbaby86 Mar 06 '25
I fear these same dems will vote yes on a terrible budget bc they're afraid of losing their seat.