Why?????????? Damn!!!!

[Warren DeMontague]

206. I think talk of a "cabal" is perhaps much ado about little, if not nothing.

I think we who spend our time ankle-deep in political drama like to imagine that we are part of a "Crowd", or that there are these monolithic forces at work represented by a few select loud voices.

(Although I admit I myself studiously ignore most talking heads--- unless their names are Byrne, Weymouth, Harrison, etc.)

People see and hear what they want to see and hear, and filter the data to fit their narratives. Good God, this place alone is evidence enough of that.

Oh, I'm sure there are a few people who fit that description you gave in your post, who are spoiling for a fight like you describe--- just as I'm sure there are a few other people also spoiling for a fight who have their hyper-tuned antennae up looking out for those few people who fit that description.

It's a feedback loop, albeit a silly one. Made even more silly by the fact that it's August of 2017.

For 2020 I want a big, broad bench, a wide field of candidates, a vigorous issue-oriented debate. We don't need a single front runner yet any more than we need to start disqualifying people. A split party with two sides? Fuck that, if we're going to have the conversations this party and country needs, there should be twenty sides, with ever-shifting boundaries and a fluid, active, intelligent back and forth discussion going on behind the lines.

I'm optimistic, because our party has some great people. People like Senator Harris. In the meantime, I think she'll be fine, because what she's good at she's already in DC, doing.