A few thoughts from CADEM 2017

A repost of my original twitter thread, with some addendums and corrections in boldface.

A few thoughts on what I saw at this years #CADEM2017 (1)

First of all, it goes without saying that Sacramento absolutely deserves to host a #CADEM Convention (2)

But their facilities lacked for size. The bottom level of their Convention Center was just too damn small for a Convention of our size. (3)

But what I really wanted to talk about was all the “New Blood” that has come into the party, and my very mixed feelings about them (4)

Is it good to have new blood in a Political Party? Of course it is. New blood and new ideas help spur growth and change. (5)

But when the central core of those “new ideas” is that “The Party” sucks, well that’s never going to go over well. (6)

I mean, I spent the weekend being told what an absolute failure the Democratic Party was, and how it needed to change or die. (6.1)

Really? Last I checked, my Party got 3 Million more votes than the other guy. With California in particular doing SPECTACULARLY well for Hillary in 2016. (7)

So…what exactly are we failing at? Oh, that’s right. We’re not immediately signing to your new ideas. (8)

Thus we come to the crux of the problem. The new Berniecrats complete and utter failure to do the one key thing in politics: PERSUADE! (9)

Obama Volunteers in 2007–2008 were masters at this. They recognized the need to persuade, to convince others he was okay to vote for (10)

This was not an easy sell. Like in 2016, Hillary was a known commodity, and…hell Obama was black for pity’s sake. (11)

Some Democrats actually said the election was too important to take a chance on a Black Man. (11.1)

But OFA Volunteers recognized that fact. They took the time to talk to folks, they answered peoples’ questions, they…yes…PERSUADED!! (12)

If someone was a no-go on Obama, they moved on to the next person go with no ill feelings (why waste the time?) They were professional and moved on to the next gettable voter. (13)

The people I saw in Sacramento (not all, but way too many) were not doing that. (14)

They basically approached people with the attitude of “You’re failing” and “It’s your fault for making it fail” (15)

The response from many a Democratic Delegate or Voter was “Uh, Excuse me?” (16)

It wasn’t so much nasty, as it was arrogant. Arrogance of youth, perhaps. (17)

If you worked in 2016 as hard as I did (to the point of being diagnosed with a case of Type II Diabetes), it’s a little insulting to hear (18)

Example: All throughout the first day’s floor session there were chants for SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE! (19)

Yes. At a DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONVENTION, people were chanting at OTHER DEMOCRATS over SINGLE-FREAKING-PAYER (20)

Our outgoing Chairman, John Burton, took the podium at one point and asked “IS THERE SOMETHING DEMOCRATS FIND CONTROVERSIAL ABOUT SINGLE PAYER??” (21)

John Burton, and why we love him so. He DGAF and lets you know it.

Yes, there is a Bill going through the Legislative Process in Sacramento, and yes pressure needs to be applied, but WHAT KIND OF PRESSURE? (22)

I could also tell you about the time a Liberal tried to convince an ARMENIAN-AMERICAN that there was nothing wrong with the name The Young Turks, but that’s a whole other thread. (22.1)

And should I mention how some of the more (ahem) active Berniecrat delegates tried to shout down DNC Chair Tom Perez at the Chairman’s Reception Friday Night, only to have John Burton tell them to shut the fuck up and go outside? (Video here.)(22.2)

Side note: We love and will miss John Burton at CADEM. (22.3)

The idea is to rally your friends, not confuse them…or worse…piss them off. (23)

It also did not help that Bernie Sanders’ name was invoked at the Convention way more than the former nominee, Hillary Clinton (24)

Granted, I know that people love them some Bernie (for whatever reason), but I also know that Bernie is not a member of this party. (25)

Not trying to be insulting, that’s just the way it is. He…is not…a Democrat. (26)

It also did not help that the so-called “Bernie” candidate for California Democratic Party Chair (Kimberly Ellis — nice woman. Former Executive Director of Emerge CA), brought on Nina Turner (whom I’m not nearly as fond of) to give her introduction. (27)

This would be the same Nina Turner who’s been bashing Democrats all the live long day since dumping Hillary for Bernie, and dumping her in the most public way she could think of… (28)

Kimberly Ellis.

It also didn’t help that Nina wound up speaking (where she introduced Kimberly) for three of Kimberly’s alloted seven minutes of speaking time. (28.1)

Nina Turner at a Kimberly Ellis event.

In the end, Kimberly lost the California Democratic Party Chair race to Eric Bauman by 62 Votes. A good friend of mine, also a Bernie and Kimberly supporter, lost his Region 11 Director race. (29)

Eric Bauman

Instead of asking “Gee? What can we do better next time” too many Bernie/Kimberly instead they blamed the Delegates who didn’t agree with them. (30)

And there’s the problem, you can’t start from the proposition that you’re right and everyone who disagrees with you is wrong. (31)

You can’t lose an election, then blame the people who didn’t agree with you, or worse, claim that there was cheating or “Dirty Tricks” (32)

And PROTIP: maybe, not so much with the legal challenges (link). (32.1)

And PROTIP: maybe not so much with the booing of the guy who got more votes. (What is it about the winner is the one with the most votes do these folks not understand?) (link) (32.2)

Run a mother@#$%^&* better race. Convince more people. Hell, GET MORE VOTES!!! (33)

Don’t say that the party is “fundamentally corrupt” because they didn’t vote the way you wanted them to. (34)

I saw way too many signs at #CADEM2017 saying just that, and it’s too self-absorbed for words. (35)

As I said…

Do what my friend who lost his Region 11 Director’s race did, shake your opponent’s hand and ask what you can do to help (36)

Inevitably, that offer will be accepted, and when you get together, the subject of your differences in the campaign WILL come up (37)

Any differences in between you and that opponent will be discussed, not necessarily resolved, but hearing each other out is important (38)

Maintain a good attitude. Be a happy warrior. In this case, these are Dem on Dem races. The winners are all Democrats. (39)

In the Region 11 race, I thought my friend’s opponent was a damn good candidate, and would do a great job as Director. (40)

He’s also a good Union guy with the UCFW. (40.1)

I went into the race going. Hell, HE’S my backup plan? Win-Win! Embarrassment of freaking riches! (41)

I do not view him as my enemy for having won. He’s going to do a good job, and I volunteered my help to him in every way I can (42)

Where’s that attitude among the newcomers? It’s there in some cases, but in way too many it was not. (42)

If you didn’t see the result you wanted in these races, please…keep going to Democratic Club meetings, but don’t just go to listen to your own ideas inside a bubble, go and find out where other Democrats stand. (43)

You don’t need to shift your views, but you do need to understand what others believe, but also (and more importantly) WHY they believe what they believe (44)

You don’t have to agree with their position, but you do have to understand it in order to compete in the field of ideas. (44.1)

I understand why Berniecrats believe what they believe. We generally agree on them, just not in order of priority (45)

We also disagree on approach to getting things done, and the good being the enemy of the perfect (intentional reversal) (46)

And yet, because I don’t fall into lockstep with how they view the world, I’m viewed as a “Neoliberal” and “Fundamentally corrupt” (47)

That’s fine, I view them as clueless and about as deft politically as a sledgehammer being used to dry the dishes. (48)

In short…in my mind: Berniecrats are long on ideas and short on Political acuity. (49)

What makes me mad is, some of the Berniecrats are actually quite proud of being short on Political acuity. They see it as Feature not a bug (50)

So we’ll have to see. The Berniecrats of the world need to add some charm and polish to their resume of ideas in order to succeed. (51)

And no, Berniecrats…you’re not above using charm to get what you want. (51.1)

You don’t have to change the nature of your ideas, or even your overall position. But you do have to think about how approach people, particularly other Democrats with whom you want agreement. (52)

Do that, and you can accomplish the things you SAY you want to accomplish. (53)

But what really scares me about the Berniecrats is they may be on a martyrdom kick. They’d rather be pure than succeed. (54)

That attitude kept us from getting Health Care Reform for a century. (55)

That attitude loses us elections. (56)

Now, I’m only about stopping Republicans, particularly the Republican we have in office now. (57)

The only reason I’m against you…is if you get in my way while I’m trying to fight him. END THREAD (58)