DFA endorses Lautenberg

good for DFA (1.00 / 5)

I'm glad to see that they didn't allow a lack of activity or consensus at the grassroots level to prevent them from recognizing the clear ideological differences that exist between Lautenberg and Andrews.

It will be interesting to see what Jay and Silent Jeff (literally on this issue) have to say about this on Blue Jersey Radio this Tuesday night.

Will Silent Jeff stand with his broadcasting partner, who thinks that being younger, hipper, and more tech-savvy equals being more progressive, or will he stand with the organization, of which he has been a member since Dean for America became Democracy for America.

I for one might have to tear myself away from the West Virginia primary coverage for a half hour and tune in.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 13:56:18 PM CDT

Yes (4.00 / 1)

How dare Jeff trust people to make up their own minds!  What a tyrant!  What a communist!  What a sycophant!

Get the rail ready - after we hot-tar and feather him, we'll ride him out of town on it.

Will commit political science for food.

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by: Thurman Hart @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 14:06:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

buh-bye. (4.00 / 6)

Bertin,

I think you've been away from DFA for a long enough period of time that you're not in a credible position to evaluate what we are or are not doing on the ground.

That is, literally, the nicest thing it is possible to say to you after your long history, both what was valuable and the considerable amount that was destructive. So, I will leave it at that.

Rosi Efthim
NJ for Democracy/DFA, co-Chair

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 14:18:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

credibility is in the eye of the beholder (0.00 / 0)

When you consider the facts that Blue Jersey is probably (or should be) the best place for a former member of DFA to keep up with what NJ for Democracy and the DFA local groups are doing (with regards to endorsements at the very least) and I had to do a Google search to find out that Morris DFA/PDA had endorsed Frank Lautenberg, I don't think that the position from which I evaluated the activity or consensus (or lack thereof) on this issue was lacking that much credibility.

I am sorry if you took my comment as a slight, when it was intended to commend the national organization for taking the initiative to take its own stand in an important primary race in a state where it was not clear if any local activity or consensus on this issue existed.

As far as the valuable and destructive qualities of my history with the organization goes, I don't quite understand what either have to do with the subject at hand, but I'd like to think my positive contributions vastly outweighed my negative ones.

I don't expect you to agree with that assessment, considering our history, but I'd like to think that there are more people that would agree with me on this than not.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 16:16:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Blue Jersey (0.00 / 0)

is not the mouthpiece for DFA in New Jersey.  You should expect to get as much information about DFA as you would about any other autonomous group.

Will commit political science for food.

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by: Thurman Hart @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 16:21:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

you're absolutely right (0.00 / 0)

But if NJ for Democracy or any DFA locals had endorsed Andrews or Lautenberg, I would have expected someone to post something somewhere here the way that Steven did when he announced GSE's endorsement.

I am not saying that that this is a BJ front-pager's responsibility, but when you consider the reach that Blue Jersey has, it would only make sense that if endorsements had been made, one of the members of the state group or local groups would have posted a diary about it.

Have there been endorsements made by any entity other than DFA or Morris DFA/PDA that I could have read about elsewhere?  If so, then someone was asleep at the switch when they didn't post it here.  It should be a no-brainer.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 16:36:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

We are largely dependent on others (0.00 / 0)

There is a real limit to how much the front-pagers can cover.  For my part, I've never seen Hudson DFA post anything here.  To me, it's more of a miracle to get someone to actually use this space we provide than it is to see people pass it by.


Will commit political science for food.

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by: Thurman Hart @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 17:54:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

you're right (0.00 / 0)

I am not saying that anybody involved with Blue Jersey should be promoting DFA or its state/local groups.

What I am saying is that DFA members should be using Blue Jersey to promote DFA.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 18:31:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

So why name Jeff (4.00 / 1)

surely there are more members than one?

Will commit political science for food.

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by: Thurman Hart @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 18:51:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

to create some drama for his radio show (0.00 / 0)

Knowing that his radio partner supports Andrews and that he is a major player in DFA, I figured that it would be fun to try to spark some interest in what Jeff might have to say in advance of or during this week's show.

I didn't expect the response to my initial post to inspire as much hostility as it did.  But it shouldn't be that surprising, when you consider the cliqueish nature of this site.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Sat May 10, 2008 at 23:21:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Or maybe (0.00 / 0)

consider your continued hostility towards the site and/or particular members of it.

I'm willing to accept that your comment was meant in jest, but it just didn't come across that way.  Sorry to misunderstand.  It's a limitation of the medium.  I think it's unfair to blame everyone else for misunderstanding you, though.  It's also unfair to depict legitimate friendships and relationships as somehow being childish.  It doesn't do anything to get you over the hurdles you've erected.

Will commit political science for food.

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by: Thurman Hart @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 11:40:42 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

not hostile to Blue Jersey in the least (0.00 / 0)

I have all the respect in the world for what Juan and the front-pagers here have created.  Blue Jersey is a fantastic forum for political conversation and has the potential to be much more than that if someone (not necessarily Juan or one of the front pagers) would take the initiative to make it a place for action as well as talk.

As far as its cliqueish nature goes, I think that if people are somewhat analytical and introspective, they will realize that the legitimate friendships and relationships that exist amongst the site's many participants have the potential to create a culture of exclusionary conversational norms.

I am not sure who you are referring to when you refer to my continued hostility towards particular members of the site.  I hope that you aren't inferring that I have any hostility towards Jeff.

He is one of my favorite people in politics, and I would never even think of poking fun at him about his support for John Edwards (and every other Dean supporter, who for some reason that I still cannot fathom to this day settled on Edwards - the polar opposite of Dean with regards to honesty and integrity - as their 2008 Presidential candidate of choice) or trying to stoke up some friction between him and his radio partner (because their deferential style is so sickly sweet at times that I fear it might cause a diabetes epidemic) if I didn't feel comfortable enough with our own rapport to do so.

As fas as the hurdles that I've erected go, I think that a plural pronoun would be more accurate.  I will be the first person to admit that I have made some, if not many, mistakes in my political communications, both here and elsewhere and I regret most, if not all of them.

But at the same time, the conflicts that I have been involved with over time have never occurred in a vacuum.  There have been as many situations that have resulted from me  responding to the words and/or deeds of others as there have been situations that my words and/or deeds have instigated.

I appreciate the constructive criticism that you have offered to me at times, no matter how rough the language you may have employed in offering it has been.  I hope that you and others here recognize that whatever issues you might have with my communications style, decision-making processes, and/or degree of passion for any particular issue that I might advoate, when push comes to shove my intentions are almost always, if not always positive.

Then again, if the road to hell is truly paved with good intentions, then I will probably be taking that road to hell in a bucket, but at least I'll be enjoying the ride.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Mon May 12, 2008 at 01:21:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

For the record (4.00 / 1)

The current effective leader of Morris DFA/PDA has a new babe in the house - and I don't think he was much of a BJ blogger to start

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by: Tom Wyka @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 22:11:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

that's fine (0.00 / 0)

I was able to find the Morris endorsment by doing a Google search.  But if any other local group or NJ4D endorsed either Andrews or Lautenberg, I couldn't find any mention of it anywhere.

The primary purpose of my post was to commend DFA national, not indict local DFAs.  In the past, I have taken issue with DFA's slowness to endorse a worthwhile candidate because they often wait for a sign of activity at the grassroots level before they endorse.  Linda Stender in 2006 was a perfect example of this.

But I was happy to see that in the case of Lautenberg, they weren't going to wait for several local DFAs or NJ4D to endorse.  They saw that one candidate was clearly more progressive than the other and they acted.

Good for them and for Morris to be ahead of the pack.  My guess is that the Morris endorsement enabled DFA to say that they were acting on grassroots activity.  If so, kudos to them.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Sat May 10, 2008 at 23:29:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Its no longer Hudson DFA (0.00 / 0)

Per that email that went out Last year.

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

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by: FogerRox @ Sat May 10, 2008 at 22:02:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Must not have gotten it (0.00 / 0)

whatever they are calling themselves, I don't see a lot of activity - but it's a busy county and I might just be looking in the wrong direction.

Will commit political science for food.

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by: Thurman Hart @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 11:41:48 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Rule #4 (4.00 / 7)

Be civil. Do not "call out" other users by name in diaries. Don't write diaries whose main purpose is to deliberately inflame.

It applies to comments, too.  And probably to life in most cases.

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by: huntsu @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 14:24:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yup. (4.00 / 1)

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

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by: FogerRox @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 15:22:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

inflaming was not my comments main purpose (0.00 / 0)

It was mostly to commend DFA for not waiting for a consensus of NJ's DFA locals or the statewide organization to weigh in for there to be what should have been an obvious endorsement for a progressive organization.

To the best of my knowledge and a cursory Google-search, I am only aware of Morris DFA/PDA's endorsement of Lautenberg.

I hope that Jeff knows that my purpose in mentioning the potential for conflict between his on-air relationship with Jay and his loyalty to DFA was solely to draw attention to their program.

Anyone who does a search on Blue Jersey will find that this is not the first time that I have referred to them as "Jay and Silent Jeff", something I do as an homage to the Kevin Smith/View Askew characters, "Jay and Silent Bob" moreso than to accuse Jay of not having an opinion about important issues, something that anybody who is a regular here knows isn't the case.

This is the main reason that I put (literally on this issue in parentheses), simply because Jeff had not yet weighed in on who he was supporting.

Once again, I would like to raise the point that there seems to a double-standard on this site with regards to who is allowed to contribute playful banter and who isn't.

I'd like to think that I know Jeff long enough that I can have some fun at his expense with regards to his undying loyalties to John Edwards or the careful manner with which he picks and chooses his spots to weigh in on issues at times.

But if not, I think that he can tell me when I have crossed a line.  He doesn't need others to do it for him.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 15:57:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

He did (4.00 / 1)

I don't think anyone read this as playful banter, and if you look at the ratings of your comment you'll see how Jeff felt about it.  And that's an upgrade from his original rating.

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by: huntsu @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 16:27:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I don't give a flying fig about ratings (0.00 / 0)

I understand that everybody else here does and that is fine.

I am sorry that Jeff didn't realize that I was trying to have some fun with him.

I am sorry if any NJ4D/DFA-local member thought that I was slighting the organization that I helped to build, instead of giving the national organization its due.

But for the last time, I am going to say in my defense that there are some people here who are given a considerable amount of room for levity and others who are given absolutely none.

Blue Jersey has an in-crowd/outsider atmosphere at times that is eerily reminiscent of high school.  What is particularly ironic about this is that I am going to guess that most, if not all of us, probably spent most of our high school years on the outside, looking in.

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by: rachael'sdad @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 16:43:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Outrageous!! (4.00 / 3)

Any good listener knows the show is this Wednesday night.

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by: Jeff Gardner @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 15:16:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

my bad (0.00 / 0)

I stopped listening since you took the show to prime time.

Since the two of you left Saturday mornings, has the show always been on Wednesday nights or was it ever on Tuesday nights?

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by: rachael'sdad @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 15:37:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yayyyyy!!!! (4.00 / 1)

I'm sure this endorsement is one that will be especially rewarding to Senator Lautenberg.

Kudos to DFA leadership on this one!!!

Arshad said it well,

"Sen. Lautenberg's long-record make him the only real choice for progressives on June 3rd in New Jersey."

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by: Nick Lento @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 14:57:44 PM CDT

This is a great endorsement for Lautenberg (0.00 / 0)

help mobilize the progressive vote - Visit www.pdamerica.org

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by: vingopal @ Sat May 10, 2008 at 17:35:52 PM CDT