AUGUST 18, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


WE DEMOCRATS WHO ARE UNHAPPY WITH OUR PARTY, HAVE LARGELY MERGED INTO THE “PROGRESSIVE” AND DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST GROUPS. THE “CENTER,” I.E. THE RIGHT, ARE UNACCEPTABLE FOR MY VOTE UNLESS SANDERS AGAIN ASKS US TO VOTE FOR SUCH A CANDIDATE. PERSONALLY, I’M READY FOR A FORMAL SPLIT IN THE PARTY, BECAUSE I’M INTERESTED IN THE IDEA OF FOUR SMALLER PARTIES THAN TWO UNWIELDY AND UNUNITED GROUPS LIKE WE HAVE TODAY. THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT REPUBLICANS WHO HAVE EITHER DROPPED OUT IN PROTEST OR WHO ARE CRITICAL OF TRUMP – THE KISS OF DEATH. REMEMBER THE LIBERAL REPUBLICANS SUCH AS NELSON ROCKEFELLER AND MARIO CUOMO? SEE THIS VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE ON THE ROCKEFELLER OR LIBERAL REPUBLICANS AND THE SPLIT FORCED BY BARRY GOLDWATER. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Republican.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-warnings-grow-from-forgotten-republicans/
AP August 18, 2018, 8:47 AM
Trump warnings grow from forgotten Republicans

VIDEO -- Ohio special election too close to call

The ranks of forgotten Republicans are growing.

Some were forced out, such as Tim Pawlenty, a former two-term Minnesota governor who lost this week's bid for a political comeback. Some, such as the retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker, chose to leave on their own. Others still serve, but with a muted voice.

Whether members of Congress, governors or state party leaders, they are struggling to fit into President Donald Trump's Republican Party.

The expanding list of marginalized GOP leaders underscores how thoroughly Mr. Trump has dominated — and changed — the Republican Party in the nearly two years since he seized the presidency. The overwhelming majority of elected officials, candidates and rank-and-file voters now follow the president with extraordinary loyalty, even if he strays far from the values and traditions many know and love.

The Republicans left behind are warning their party with increasing urgency, though it's unclear whether anyone's listening.

"I hope this is a very temporary place for the Republican Party," said Corker. "I hope that very soon we will return to our roots as a party that's very different, especially in tone, from we've seen coming out of the White House."

The forgotten Republicans — people like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — have been unwilling to sit quietly as Mr. Trump steers the GOP away from free trade, fiscal responsibility, consistent foreign policy and civility.

Isolation and political exile have been their rewards.

Their diminished roles leave fewer Republican leaders willing to challenge Mr. Trump under any circumstances, even in his darkest moments.

Fact checkers have recorded an extraordinary level of false and misleading statements flowing out of the White House. And beyond dishonesty, some of the forgotten have decried a disturbing pattern of racially charged rhetoric on issues like immigration, NFL anthem protests and Confederate monuments.

"White nationalism isn't something I'm ever going to be comfortable with. But it is embraced by, or simply doesn't bother, a lot of Republicans," said former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges, once a Trump confidant who was forced from his leadership post after criticizing Trump in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election.

After Mr. Trump's victory, Borges returned to practicing law, while he continues to play a modest role in local politics.

"To me, it became a matter of how much of your soul are you willing to sell. I would be the wrong person to be leading this party right now," Borges said.

Mr. Trump remains popular among rank-and-file Republicans. And the vast majority of Republican candidates across the country this midterm season are pledging unconditional loyalty — and being rewarded with primary victories.

Gallup found that 82 percent of Republicans approved of the president's job performance earlier this month. That's compared to just 34 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats.

Kasich, who has not ruled out a primary bid against Mr. Trump in 2020, said the president's approval is misleading because the universe of people identifying as Republican is shrinking.

"We're dealing with a remnant of the Republican Party. The party is not what it was," Kasich said in an interview.

The term-limited governor said he's content to focus quietly on addressing issues like the opioid epidemic and urban violence on a bipartisan basis while the Trump-led GOP focuses on partisan squabbling.

"Let those in the Republican Party who want to be ideological and partisan, let them wallow in their own failures," said Kasich.

Other GOP leaders aren't feeling quite so emboldened.

Pawlenty's quest for a third term collapsed after Republican primary voters determined his experience — and his years-old description of Trump as "unfit and unhinged" — weren't welcome.

Pawlenty politely declined to be interviewed, but a former aide, Alex Conant, said this week's result, like other primary elections this year, sent a clear message about the modern GOP.

"There's not a lot of room for dissent in the Republican Party right now," Conant said. "Moderates don't feel welcome. And if you're not loyal to Trump, there's not necessarily room for you."

The details may be different, but Pawlenty's unexpected exit is reminiscent of other public officials who have struggled to find their footing in the Trump era.

Bush, another Trump critic, declined to comment for this story. He has been forced into silence, at least in part, for fear of hurting his son's political career. In June, Donald Trump Jr. withdrew from a fundraiser for Texas land commissioner George P. Bush after Jeb Bush criticized the president's policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the border.

Another periodic Trump critic, former House Speaker John Boehner, is in the midst of a 20-stop bus tour to help raise money for vulnerable House Republicans.

Just don't ask whom he's raising money for.

Spokesman David Schnittger said it was up to each of the campaigns involved to disclose Boehner's help. "I'm not sure anyone has exercised that option to date," he said.

Boehner's successor, Paul Ryan, has seen his once sky-high career prospects flounder in the Trump era. The 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee has occasionally criticized Trump, but he is retiring at the end of the year.

In South Carolina, Republican Congressman Mark Sanford narrowly lost his June primary hours after Mr. Trump tweeted he had been "very unhelpful" and highlighted the congressman's extramarital affair.

Days later, Sanford described Trumpism as "a cancerous growth." As he prepares to leave Congress, he's warning the GOP the cancer is spreading.

"We have a president that will tell numerous dis-truths in the course of a day, yet that's not challenged," Sanford said in an interview. "What's cancerous here is in an open political system, there has to be some measure of objective truth."

180619-getty-trump-sanford-split.jpg
President Trump (L), Rep. Mark Sanford GETTY

"I'm baffled by the way so many people have looked the other way," he said.

Asked whether he feels like he fits in today's GOP, Sanford said simply, "No."

Back in Ohio, Borges vowed that his departure from politics was only temporary.

"The Trump phenomenon is going to end at some point in time. That might be six years, that might be two years, that might be sooner. No one knows," the former Ohio GOP chairman said. "When it does end, it's the job of a lot of us ... to make sure that the party is still populated by good, honest, decent candidates and officeholders who we can continue to be proud of."

© 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



PARENTS NEED TO SPEND MORE TIME TALKING TO THEIR KIDS, ESPECIALLY ABOUT CHOOSING FRIENDS, ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES, THINKING AHEAD, IMPULSE CONTROL (WHICH IS WHAT THIS WAS, I THINK), WHEN TO SAY, “NO! I WON’T!! LEAVE ME ALONE!” WE TEND TO TRAIN OUR KIDS TO “BE NICE” AT ALL TIMES, BUT SITUATIONS ARISE DAILY THAT DON’T FIT INTO THAT SCENARIO. FOR INFORMATION ON “IMPULSE CONTROL DISORDERS,” GO TO WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impulse_control_disorder.

ALSO, TEENS BY THEIR VERY NATURE HAVE A TENDENCY TO BE TOO GROUP-ORIENTED IN LOTS OF WAYS, BUT THIS MATTER OF DOING BLATANTLY UNINTELLIGENT THINGS IS THE WORST. MOST OF THE CASES I’VE READ ABOUT HAVE OCCURRED WITH BOYS RATHER THAN GIRLS, THOUGH. TEENS ARE NOT YET MATURE IN THIS AREA AND NEED TO BE MONITORED. PARENTS NEED TO SAY, “WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WITH WHOM, BE HOME BY 6:00 PM, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET THERE, WHO’S DRIVING?” PARENTS AND SCHOOL TEACHERS SHOULD LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT WHICH KIDS HAVE DANGEROUS TENDENCIES, AND WHICH ARE TOO TIMID, PASSIVE OR SUBMISSIVE, BECAUSE THOSE CHARACTERISTICS ARE THE OTHER HALF OF THE PROBLEM. THE BULLY IS ENABLED IN THEIR ACTIONS BY THE VICTIM.

I THINK PUSHING ANYBODY OFF OF ANYTHING, EVEN AS LOW AS ONE FOOT SHOWS A MENTAL IMBALANCE, ESPECIALLY AT THE AGE OF 18 YEARS OLD. INJURIES CAN HAPPEN WITH ANY FALL AT ALL, SO SUCH HAZING AS OCCURRED HERE SHOULD BE CONFRONTED BY PARENTS AND SCHOOL OFFICIALS. OUR SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS ARE MUCH TOO PASSIVE WHEN THEY NEED TO BE STRONG, SOMETIMES. I THINK THEY DON’T WANT TO ENDANGER THEIR OWN POSITION IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM BY CRITICIZING AND CONFRONTING EITHER PARENTS OR STUDENTS, EVEN IF IT IS BADLY NEEDED. OF COURSE, SCHOOLS WITH A STUDENT POPULATION UP IN THE THOUSANDS ARE VERY HARD TO SUPERVISE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jordan-holgerson-video-pushed-off-bridge-taylor-smith-charged-today-2018-08-17/
CBS/AP August 17, 2018, 8:58 PM
Teen charged with pushing girl off bridge after video of incident goes viral

PHOTOGRAPH – Before the incident KOIN

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- A woman accused of injuring her 16-year-old friend when she pushed the teen off a bridge in Washington state has been charged with reckless endangerment following a shove captured on video that went viral. KGW television station reported Friday that charging documents filed by the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's office say Taylor Smith, 18, created "a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury" to the 16-year-old girl.

Jordan Holgerson was pushed off a bridge Aug. 7 at Moulton Falls northeast of Vancouver, Washington, and fell 60 feet. She suffered injuries ranging from broken ribs to punctured lungs.

New video obtained by NBC News shows a woman urging Holgerson to jump. In it a woman tells Holgerson to "just go" and "I'm going to push you."

Video that was posted earlier on YouTube and later removed shows Holgerson standing on the bridge with friends. Then a woman is seen forcefully pushing her off the span.

Jordan's sister, Vanessa, told CBS Portland affiliate KOIN she believed Smith "tried to do it jokingly and didn't think what could have happened."

"You don't really play around at 60 feet," Vanessa said.

Reckless endangerment is a gross misdemeanor in Washington state, punishable by up to a year in jail.

It was not immediately clear if Smith had an attorney. She previously told ABC that "apologized several times" and tried to visit her in the hospital but was asked to leave.

Jordan met with media last week, saying she was happy to have survived.

According to KOIN, Jordan said that as she was falling, she "wasn't thinking about anything, just what to do. What am I supposed to do?"

She did say that while she was in the air she tried "to push myself straight so my feet would hit first. That didn't work."

When she hit the water, she said she "couldn't breathe. So that's all I was thinking about."

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


"I REALLY THOUGHT MOST LYNCHINGS WERE IN THE COVER OF NIGHT AND KLAN OUTFITS, AND NOT THAT IT WAS A PART OF LIFE TO THAT DEGREE — THAT THE TOWN WOULD TURN OUT TO WATCH IT HAPPEN IN BROAD DAYLIGHT," SAYS FAGER, WHO FEELS THAT MANY VIEWERS WILL LEARN A LOT FROM THE STORY.” FOR AN UPDATE ON THIS PROBLEM – SOMETHING WHICH HAS NOT TOTALLY DISAPPEARED DURING MY LIFETIME – VISIT THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER WEBSITE FOR MORE ABOUT THE ISSUE WITH SPECIFIC EXAMPLES. THERE ARE A LARGE AND GROWING NUMBER OF DANGEROUS ORGANIZATIONS NOW WHO WOULD LIKE TO SEE THESE THINGS BECOME THE NORM AGAIN. WHY? BECAUSE THEY FEEL INSUFFICIENTLY IMPORTANT WITHOUT PEOPLE TO KICK WHEN THEY ARE ANGRY, OR SAD, OR JUST BORED. BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN BROUGHT UP WITHOUT GENTLENESS, AND THEREFORE HAVE TOO LITTLE TOWARD OTHERS.

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT SET OF MATERIALS TO WATCH FOR ALL MORAL AND ETHICAL PEOPLE. AM I BEING OVERLY DRAMATIC? NO, I’M NOT. WATCH THIS VIDEO. REMEMBER, ALL HUMANS ARE DEEPLY FALLIBLE, AND THE POTENTIAL TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS IS INBORN WITH US ALL. IT DOESN'T HAPPEN OFTEN, BUT IT STILL CAN. THAT MEANS THAT UNLESS EACH GENERATION EDUCATES THEIR CHILDREN THOROUGHLY, THE VERY SAME HORRIFIC FLAWS WILL EMERGE AGAIN SOMEWHERE AND SOMETIME. WHY IS THE FREE PRESS FOCUSING ON THESE THINGS NOW? THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO, RIGHT? WELL, THE TIMES HAVE CYCLED BACK AROUND WITHIN THE LAST TEN YEARS, AND ESPECIALLY SINCE THE TEA PARTY TOOK OVER THE FORMERLY FAIRLY REASONABLE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WITH THE RESULT THAT HUMAN LIFE IN THE USA IS AGAIN IN DANGER.

YOU DON’T BELIEVE THAT? READ THE NEWS, AND FROM SOURCES OTHER THAN FOX AND BREITBART. LOOK AT THE WEBSITES FOR KKK, NEO-NAZISM, WHITE SUPREMACY, ETC. AND SEE IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE ONE OF THEIR FOLLOWERS. SEARCH YOUR HEART FOR THE OPENNESS AND GENTLENESS TO BELIEVE THAT FOSTERING SOCIAL IMPROVEMENTS TOWARD INCLUSIVENESS ARE NOT “COMMUNISM,” OR “LENIENCY,” BUT INCREASED FAIRNESS. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR MOST PEOPLE TO TURN AWAY FROM THOSE THINGS, BUT IT WILL TAKE SOME WORK AND A GENUINE DESIRE TO DO SO. WHEN THAT HAPPENS, HOPEFULLY SOONER RATHER THAN LATER, WE WON’T HAVE TO KEEP LIVING THROUGH THIS.

WHEN THOSE OF US WHO ARE SCIENTIFICALLY ORIENTED SAY THAT HUMANS ARE “ANIMALS,” WE AREN’T TRYING TO CONTRADICT THE BIBLE, BUT TO STATE AN OBVIOUS AND IMPORTANT FACT. WE ARE BORN WITH INSTINCTS THAT HAVE TO BE MODULATED RATHER THAN TOTALLY FOLLOWED OR TOTALLY KILLED. INSTINCTS ARE PART OF OUR BUILT-IN PROTECTIONS. MY AUNT, A CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN BECAME ANGERED WHEN I SAID THAT; AND REPLIED THAT ANIMALS ARE LISTED SEPARATELY IN THE CREATION STORY OF THE BIBLE FROM HUMANS. I SAID TO HER THAT EXISTENCE IS DIVIDED INTO “ANIMAL, VEGETABLE AND MINERAL,” AND HUMANS ARE ANIMALS. SHE WAS STILL UNHAPPY WITH ME, BUT SAID NO MORE.

IN MY GROWING UP I HAVE SEEN SOCIAL DISTINCTION AND CLASS BASED UNKINDNESS, MAINLY IN THE FORM OF SNUBS, VERBAL SLURS AND RACIAL JOKES, WITH VIRTUALLY NO VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION ACROSS THE COLOR LINES. WE REALLY NEED TO EXAMINE OUR REASONS, OR RATHER EXCUSES, FOR THOSE, AND WORK AWAY FROM THAT PATTERN. I ALWAYS TEND TO THINK THAT THE PROBLEM IS A LACK OF EDUCATION, BUT IT’S REALLY A COMBINATION – LACK OF EDUCATION, LACK OF INCOME BASED SATISFACTIONS SUCH AS GOOD CLOTHING, INHERITED OR ENVIRONMENTALLY BASED MENTAL ILLNESS, AND ALL THE THINGS THAT CREATE AN UNDERCLASS. BOTH THE POOR BLACKS AND THE POOR WHITES ARE IN THIS UNDERCLASS, AND THE RESULT IS HOSTILITY ON BOTH SIDES. WE NEED DESPERATELY TO SEE THESE THINGS AS CHANGEABLE, AND THEN SET ABOUT CHANGING THEM. AS FOR PRAYING AND WAITING FOR GOD TO CHANGE THEM, THAT COULD TAKE A LONG TIME. DO PRAY, BUT WORK TOO. INVITE YOUR BLACK NEIGHBOR OVER FOR COFFEE AND CAKE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-60-minutes-aired-photos-of-lynchings-in-report-by-oprah-winfrey/
Why 60 Minutes aired photos of lynchings in report by Oprah
The reason behind the broadcast's decision to show graphic photographs of lynchings in this week's report by contributor Oprah Winfrey
Aug 12, 2018
BY Brit McCandless Farmer

VIDEO – THE SCULPTURE OF SLAVERY 1:23M DURATION
VIDEO – DESCENDANT OF LYNCHING VICTIM ON “THE TALK” 1:35
AUDIO INTERVIEW -- Winfrey's 60 Minutes piece included a photo of the lynching of Jesse Washington
PHOTOGRAPH -- HANGING, WATCHED BY HUNDREDS OF VIEWERS IN A FARMER’S FIELD

Wes Johnson was about 18 years old when he was murdered in a cotton field in southern Alabama. It was 1937, and according to newspaper reports at the time, a mob of men had dragged him from his jail cell before he could stand trial for the charge against him: assaulting a white woman. Today, only one photograph is known to exist of Johnson, a single picture to preserve his image for posterity—his lifeless body hanging from a tree.

Bryan Stevenson wants to honor the legacy of Johnson, and thousands like him, with a new memorial for victims of lynching in America. Stevenson is a lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment. His team has spent a decade investigating the lynchings of African Americans. To commemorate the victims whose cases they've examined, the organization recently bought six acres of land in Montgomery, Alabama and constructed a memorial.

ot-lynchingphotosi.jpg
The Equal Justice Initiative found evidence of more than 4,000 lynchings in states throughout the country.

This week on 60 Minutes, Oprah Winfrey gets an early look at the memorial, which will open to the public on April 26. The memorial contains 805 steel markers, one for each county where lynchings occurred for more than 70 years following the Civil War. The markers are suspended in air to evoke the horror of being hanged.

To tell that story on 60 Minutes, Winfrey and a team of producers felt it was important to show historical photos of lynchings, images that are likely to disturb many viewers. In an interview with 60 Minutes Overtime, Denise Schrier Cetta, the producer of the story, and Jeff Fager, the executive producer of the broadcast, explain their decision to air such upsetting photographs.

"I don't think the story exists without those photos," Fager says.

News executives have a tendency to self-censor too much, he says, out of concern that viewers will be turned off. For him, the decision to show the photos was about reporting important facts about a little-known but important chapter of history.

ot-lynchingphotose-getty.jpg
GETTY IMAGES

"That's reality; that's what happened," he tells 60 Minutes Overtime's Ann Silvio in the video above. "Our story is about a part of history, really almost 80 years of American history, that isn't in the history books. We don't see these pictures. We don't talk about it."

One photograph that surprises Fager the most is an image of a crowd that showed up in Waco, Texas to watch the lynching of a man named Jesse Washington. The hanging tree stands in the center of the photograph, Washington's tortured body lies beneath it, and hundreds of well-dressed white people look on.

"I really thought most lynchings were in the cover of night and Klan outfits, and not that it was a part of life to that degree—that the town would turn out to watch it happen in broad daylight," says Fager, who feels that many viewers will learn a lot from the story.

ot-lynchingphotosc.jpg
Winfrey's 60 Minutes piece included a photo of the lynching of Jesse Washington

Cetta says Jesse Washington's lynching was one of the more remarkable images in this story. In the crowd, one spectator can be seen holding up another man so he can get a better view. "There was a lot of community acceptance of these crimes," she says. "You can see that clearly in this photograph."

Mobs didn't just lynch men. Cetta came across a photo of a woman named Laura Nelson, who is seen hanging from a bridge; the people who lynched her also hanged her teenage son on the other side of the bridge.

"If a lynch mob gathered and they were looking for someone, and they couldn't find that person, sometimes they would turn and lynch a random black man they could get their hands on or a family member," Cetta says, explaining how random the violence was. "This is a very disturbing image because you don't think of women being lynched."

Cetta hopes the images of lynchings—the murdered men and women, the smiling onlookers—will be a teacher and strong deterrent for today's generation.

"I think if you look through history one thing that becomes obvious is that any group of people can be whipped into a frenzy or a fury, can do things that are abhorrent," she says. "And education is one way to make sure those things don't happen."

While reporting the story, the 60 Minutes team met James Johnson and Faye Walker Howell, two descendants of Wes Johnson. Both wanted the image of their relative to be seen.

"I think that seeing what actually happened will open up the eyes of the American people, the same thing that happened with the Emmett Till situation," James Johnson told Winfrey. "His mother wanted the world to see what hatred had done."

ot-lynchingphotosh.jpg
Faye Walker Howell, a descendant of lynching victim Wes Johnson, wants people to see the photo of Johnson's lynching.

As the Equal Justice Initiative has found, lynching happened nationwide. Evidence exists of more than 4,000 lynchings in states throughout the country—not just in the South. In addition to the memorial, Stevenson is also opening a museum in Montgomery to teach visitors about what he calls "the ugly parts" of American history.

Outside the museum, he's included a sculpture depicting enslaved Africans.

"We wanted to literally make the connection to Africa, because that's where the story of the black experience in America begins, just the experience of being captured, chained, imprisoned," Stevenson says in the clip above.

Stevenson thinks understanding the history of slavery is vital for appreciating the hatred that persisted for decades after emancipation.

"These folks were promised freedom after emancipation," he says, "and what they got instead was terror, trauma, lynching."

This article was originally posted on April 8, 2018.

The video at the top of the page was original published in April and produced by Ann Silvio and Lisa Orlando. It was edited by Lisa Orlando with an assist from Will Croxton.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



I DO HATE IT WHEN THESE NEWS SOURCES SAY "AN HOUR AGO," “YESTERDAY,” OR “TODAY” AS THE PUBLICATION DATE. I WANT IT TO SAY “AUGUST 17, 2018 6:30 PM,” IF THAT IS THE CORRECT DATE, WHICH IT SHOULD BE IN THIS CASE. SOMETIMES IT WILL SAY SOMETHING LIKE "13 HOURS AGO." PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME JUMP THROUGH HOOPS TO FIGURE IT OUT. OBVIOUSLY, THEY ARE TRYING TO SAY THAT THEIR ARTICLE IS "FRESHER" THAN THE OTHERS, BUT THEY CAN DO THAT EQUALLY WELL BY STATING THE EXACT INFORMATION UP FRONT. OTHER THAN THAT, THANK YOU TAMPA BAY.COM FOR THIS NICE ARTICLE ABOUT BERNIE SANDERS AND THE PROGRESSIVES.

https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/08/17/bernie-sanders-andrew-gillum-can-transform-florida-politically/
THE BUZZ
Bernie Sanders: Andrew Gillum can politically transform Florida
Friday's Tampa rally, which drew at least 1,000 people, exposed a conundrum for Democrats: Stay blue and true with a progressive, or play it safe and go with a centrist.
By Adam C. Smith and Kirby Wilson
Yesterday (i.e., August 17, 2018, I THINK.)

TAMPA — The Bernie Sanders revolution came to Tampa Bay to help elect Andrew Gillum as the first unabashedly liberal governor in Florida history.

"Right here in Florida, you have the opportunity to not only transform this state politically by electing a strong progressive but you have an opportunity to send a message that will be heard all over the country," the Vermont Senator and unexpectedly formidable 2016 presidential contender declared to an overflow crowd of at least 1,000 people at Tampa's Armature Works.

The rally, two weeks before voters pick their nominees for governor, underscored a never-ending debate within the Democratic Party:

Should loyal Democrats back a true, blue progressive who can excite voters and motivate people who rarely vote?

Or are they more likely to win with centrist candidates who don't turn off swing voters wary of supporting someone perceived as too liberal.

Bernie Sanders and Andrew Gillum cheer after Sanders spoke at a Friday campaign event for Gillum for governor at Armature Works. [MONICA HERNDON | Tampa Bay Times]

“That’s what they said about Bernie, that he was too far to the left. The lesson may be that we should vote with our hearts more often,” said Kay Howell, a retired state worker holding a “Vote as if your life depends on it!” sign.

She voted for Hillary Clinton over Sanders in 2016, but in hindsight, she thinks Sanders would have been a stronger candidate against Donald Trump. Now she is still undecided between the proudly liberal and charismatic Tallahassee Mayor Gillum and Gwen Graham, who often reminds voters that she won over Republicans and moderate voters when she won her conservative north Florida congressional seat in 2014.

"Centrism, which is really right of center, has given us nothing — nothing," said Alex Symington, a semi-retired gardener from St. Petersburg. "We've tried that route and it hasn't worked. Let's try something different."

RELATED COVERAGE: Bernie Sanders draws a crowd for Andrew Gillum in Tampa

Indeed, Democrats have lost the last five governors races, mostly fielding cautious and conventional centrists from Tampa Bay — Bill McBride, Jim Davis, Alex Sink, and Charlie Crist. Between that track record and Trump's upset defeat of Clinton, the divide between the Democratic establishment and the liberal base is especially sharp this year.

"Progressives get ridiculed and stomped on in party primaries, but once the general election rolls around values-based left-leaning voters are expected to compromise and support the candidate with a D next to their names.

When the Democrat inevitably loses the General Election as 21 of the last 22 statewide candidates not named Bill Nelson have, progressives are blamed for depressing turnout or not enthusiastically backing the nominee," liberal Florida activist Kartik Krishnaiyer fumed earlier this week on his blog, The Florida Squeeze.

"Some of the people in this race for governor believe we've got to run as Republican flight in order to win Florida ….Our voters are going to stay home if they have choose between someone pretending to be a Republican and someone who is a real Republican," Gillum, 39, said Friday.

An African-American, the only non-millionaire in the race, and consistently the Democrat who can fire up crowds, Gillum contends he is best equipped to motivate infrequent voters who often stay at home in midterm elections.

The counter argument is that the Democratic base already is fired up by President Trump and Rick Scott. Polls consistently show Trump's support among college-educated women has fallen since his election, giving Democrats a prime opportunity to win over disaffected Republican women and moderate independents. Democrats lost the last two gubernatorial campaigns by about 1 percentage point, so it would not take much.

But someone perceived as too liberal — say a Tallahassee mayor who in a recent forum declined to say whether he considers himself a capitalist or a socialist — would turn them off, the thinking goes.

"You have to do both, and you have to do it authentically," Democratic pollster David Beattie said of the debate over statewide candidates focusing on swing voters or energizing the base. "Florida is a 50/50 state, which means you can't ignore one and win with the other."

Sanders, 76, has had an uneven track record in terms of his endorsed progressives going on to win Democratic primaries, but he told the boisterous Tampa crowd that a progressive agenda is a mainstream agenda.

"I have the radical idea that in Florida and throughout this country we need a government that represents all of us, not the 1 percent," said Sanders, periodically drawing chants of Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!

"Andrew and I are going to help lead the country on Medicare for all," he said.

"Andrew understands that instead of giving tax breaks to millionaires and large corporations, we're going to invest in our children when we invest in public education. Andrew understands that democracy means one person, one vote — not billionaires buying elections."

Inside the hall, Danielle Quina, 29, was just a few rows back from the stage. Sporting a blue Gillum shirt and matching campaign sign, the self-described "huge progressive" attends Florida Gulf Coast University.

Quina has supported Gillum since she first researched the gubernatorial candidates shortly after he entered the race. "He's the only one speaking about detailed reforms and social justice for people," Quina said.

For her, Sanders' endorsement was the "icing on the cake." Quina was a Sanders supporter in the 2016 Democratic primary, and when he lost out she took her vote to third-party candidate Jill Stein. It's a move she'll consider repeating in this year's governor's race if Gillum does not win the nomination.

Winter Park businessman Chris King is the only other candidate that interests her, she said, as he has an entrepreneurial background and she agrees with his values. The other candidates are too aligned with the establishment.

"I don't want to be complicit in policies that I don't agree with," she said, explaining she does not align herself with the "tribalism of parties." Quina said she appreciates the authenticity of Sanders and Gillum.

The mayor's campaign has been hampered by the shadow of an ongoing FBI corruption investigation into Tallahassee City Hall, but even as he lags in campaign money he remains a favorite among the party's activist base as well as billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer and liberal celebrities from Jane Fonda to Norman Lear.

Gillum said Sanders' endorsement should compensate for the limited money he has had for TV ads.

"It's no secret we haven't won the money war," he said. "It's prohibited us from getting on their TV screens…It's a way to get my candidacy into the mix and the news," especially with people who might still be unaware he is a candidate.

Gillum added Sanders' camp reached out to him, after he completed a questionnaire for Our Revolution and received the endorsement of the group. We "got outreach from Sen. Sanders' office… we didn't actually reach out to them, they reached out to us."

After meeting with some of his advisors, he had a phone call with Sanders, and two weeks after that, Sanders called back: "I'd like to help."

Having a high-profile surrogate come to the state like this and spend a day "campaigning across the (Interstate-4) corridor with me… the timing couldn't be any better," he said.

Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau staff writer Elizabeth Koh and Times staff writer Bre Bradham contributed to this report.

COMMENTS:

Jeffrey Samberg
Maybe the Tampa Times can explain to us why Gillums administration is under investigation by the FBI , funny how that never comes up. Now the carnival huckster shows up with Gillum peddling all the free stuff you can walk away with, of course theres no way to pay for this other then the usual, The rich should pay for this. Of course Bernie has 3 houses valued in the millions and pays almost no taxs.
Like · Reply · 4 · 1d


Ed Smith
They have already reported it jeffi.


James Harold Jackson
Free stuff like universal healthcare? tuition for two years of college like many countries cover, a living wage that is needed to not just exist but able to buy a home for one's family....all that free stuff? Come on. The military budget alone could be trimmed to pay for all of this. Why are we still in Afghanistan?

We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world but one would not know it to talk the average citizen livng paycheck to paycheck. Hey, you have yours, I have mine, let the others go without..........Gillum has it right. He is a member of a generatin that will help us figure things out. The next generation coming up will do even more.


Ray Supper
James Harold Jackson Obama left us with a debt of $20 Trillion. We cannot afford any of the free stuff anymore.
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James Harold Jackson
I could not make it live to the rally but thanks to friends and not the media I was able to watch a live stream. The Armature Works was packed and many, yes legitimally many, could only hear from a lobby. Mayor Gillum is by far the only charismatic person of the 7 candidates running for Governor. He is progressive, he is liberal, he checks all the boxes I care about. I met him a long time ago. He and my son attended the same primary school in Miami, Frank C Martin. He is a success story.

Yes, if Democrats want a "safe" candidate, whoever that is, they may not choose Gillum. But if they truly want a Democrat in the non centrist, blah category, vote Gillum.

I voted weeks ago by mail. Of course Sanders fired up the already passionate crowd. Senator Sandors is not on your ballot Andrew Gillum is. Do your research, make a choice but by all means vote.

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