By Tim Marcin
Newsweek (7/11/18)
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders might have lost his 2016 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he certainly won a number of supporters along the way.
To wit: A new poll released Wednesday by YouGov showed that a majority of Democrats want candidates in 2018 to be more like the independent, democratic socialist candidate.
The polling firm asked: “Do you wish the candidates who run for Congress this year will be more or less like Bernie Sanders?”
A full 57 percent of Democratic respondents said “more like Bernie Sanders” in response. Sixteen percent said less while 27 percent responded “not sure.” Not surprisingly, Sanders was less popular with conservatives. Only 13 percent of Republicans said they wanted candidates to be more like Sanders, while 74 percent said less. Independents were split. Twenty-seven percent said more like Sanders, while 35 percent said less, and 38 percent said “not sure.”
The survey from YouGov interviewed 1,500 U.S. adults from July 8 through July 10. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. …
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Don’t Expect Corporate Dems To Step Aside Gracefully: Crowley Has Yet To Concede To Ocasio-Cortez
By Addy Baird
ThinkProgress (7/12/18)
Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) has not conceded to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the young socialist challenger who beat him in last month’s primary, Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday.
“[He] stated on live TV that he would absolutely support my candidacy,” she tweeted Thursday morning. “Instead, he’s stood me up for all 3 scheduled concession calls.”
Crowley pushed back against Ocasio-Cortez Thursday.
“We’ve scheduled phone calls and your team has not followed through,” he tweeted.
Crowley did not comment on why, as The New York Times reported Thursday, he has refused to vacate the Working Families Party line, meaning he’ll remain on the ballot in November as a third party candidate.
Crowley won the Working Families Party nomination, a minor but powerful third party in the state, but after he lost the Democratic nomination to Ocasio-Cortez, the state director of Working Families Party, Bill Lipton, reportedly reached out to Crowley and asked the congressman to vacate the line. Crowley declined.
“You’d think that given the moment we’re in that Democratic leaders would want to help progressive forces to unite,” Lipton told the Times.
Why Crowley refuses to vacate the line is unclear, as his campaign told the Times, “Joe Crowley is a Democrat. He’s made clear he is not running for Congress and supports the Democratic nominee in NY-14.” …
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“The Old Order Is Disappearing”: How Progressive Grassroots Movements Are Sweeping The U.K. & U.S.
Pundits and Democratic heavyweights were stunned when 28-year-old Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat 10-term incumbent Representative Joe Crowley in New York in last month’s Democratic primary. We speak with George Monbiot, British journalist and author, and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, about what her win means for the future of the Democratic Party and the progressive movement.
Link to Story, Transcript and 6-Minute Video
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Town Hall No-Show Chuck Schumer TERRIFIED Of Regular People
Jimmy Dore and the Young Turks Aggressive Progressive panel go after democratic New York Sen. Chuck Schumer who recently chickened out on showing up for his own Town Hall meeting with constituents. Undeterred, citizens went ahead asking their questions and making their statements. Dore lays out the case how Wall Street corporate democrats like Schumer paved the runway for Trump and the far right.