Democrat Speaker of US Congress meets Corbyn but does little except underline why the Democratic Party cannot afford to reject Sanders if they want to spare world second Trump term
Leading US Democrat Nancy Pelosi – who infamously said she didn’t see anything ‘inappropriate’ in the next most senior Democrat in Congress ‘rigging’ a primary contest – met Jeremy Corbyn yesterday at his Westminster office. The Democrats were accused, by 2020 Democrat presidential contender Elizabeth Warren among others, of rigging the 2016 selection against socialist Bernie Sanders and in favour of Hillary Clinton, who eventually lost the presidential election to Donald Trump.
Pelosi, whose organisation was condemned last year for an antisemitism smear against actress and candidate Cynthia Nixon, whose children are being raised in the Jewish faith, then went on to meet – and effectively endorse – the quitter MPs who left Labour earlier this year.
The SKWAWKBOX understands that Pelosi made a distinctly unpleasant impression during her meeting with Corbyn and his team, although of course she was politely heard. The word ‘underwhelming’ was probably the kindest descriptor.
Ms Pelosi, a thoroughly Establishment politician, embodies the reasons the Democrats should fear Donald Trump next year, though she appears to have learned nothing from the outcome of writing off the popular appeal of genuine left-wing candidates.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took the US by storm by defeating the chair of the ‘Democratic caucus’ in the US House of Representatives to win selection as the party’s candidate in her district – and then defeating her Republican opponent to become the youngest woman elected to Congress. But just yesterday, Pelosi tried to dismiss the significance of the socialist “AOC”‘s victory:
Pelosi had told 60 Minutes that the Democrats had to ‘hold the center, go down the mainstream’:
Ms Pelosi was corrected by the Democratic Socialists of America – who famously sang ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’ at their national conference to celebrate Labour’s destruction of Theresa May’s majority in the 2017 general election:
The DSA’s question is a very relevant one. Nancy Pelosi’s desperate clinging to the so-called ‘centre’ is all too typical of the ‘more of the same’ politics and politicians rejected in the US in 2016 and increasingly internationally. It’s a ‘centrism’ that is essentially indistinguishable – just like that of the quitter-group MPs she praised – from the right-wing Establishment politics now widely and increasingly despised by an electorate sick of it being used as cover for the stripping of rights and social safety nets.
World-renowned author and activist Naomi Klein – whose book The Shock Doctrine is an outstanding analysis of how the type of politics and economics espoused by the right and so-called ‘centre’ is used to strip whole countries and regions of their assets and freedom – pulled no punches in publicly damning Pelosi’s endorsement of the ex-Labour quitters:
Bernie Sanders is now the favourite candidate among Democratic Party members to fight Donald Trump in 2020:
In sharp contrast to Pelosi’s drab endorsement of dreary centrism, Sanders has spoken frankly in praise of Jeremy Corbyn’s achievements and their significance:
SKWAWKBOX comment:
Nancy Pelosi’s behaviour this week demonstrated that she has nothing to teach the Labour Party – and has learned nothing from Corbyn’s success or that of left-wingers in her own party in the US.
The Democrats have learned nothing from their catastrophic loss to Trump in 2016 – and in their supposed ‘mainstream’ they have nothing new to offer the US electorate. Worse, they have not learned even to cease undermining their best candidates, as Pelosi’s latest comments about Ocasio-Cortez and the Democrats’ smears against Cynthia Nixon late last year demonstrate.
Sanders is once again the favourite candidate of Democrat members. If Pelosi and her party persist in their wilful blindness and again work against his candidacy – none of the other hopefuls have anything like his profile or politics – they will likely be condemning the US and the rest of the world to another four years of Trump’s dystopia.
Thank whatever force you wish that the Labour Party now has leadership that isn’t impressed by big-name political bankruptcy and instead both promises genuine change and carries the popular appeal to begin to deliver it at the next general election.
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Earlier I watched the 2005 film A Very Social Secretary, which centres around the affair between Blunkett and Spectator publisher Kimberly Quinn, a brilliant exposé of everything that was wrong with New Labour and its triangulation/centrist politics with scary portrayals of Blunkett by Bernard Hill but also of Blair and Campbell by Robert Lindsay and Alex Jennings. It’s here:
Sanders’ warm-up speaker in 2016 was Tulsi Gabbard, who is a candidate in her own right for 2020. She has already spoken up for Julian Assange, where Sanders’ silence on the issue to date speaks volumes. Perhaps it’s time Sanders handed on the mantle to the next generation; I’m certain that Gabbard would eat Trump before dinner.
https://www.tulsi2020.com/
Bernie is great but I worry that his age will count against him. 78 by polling day. As old as Reagan at the end of his 2nd term.
On the other hand anyone in 2020 will be up against a 73 year old Trump.
I that link doesn’t work it seems to be easy enough to find the film online.
Having Pelosi In Charge of Democrats in Congress is a bit like having Margaret Hodge leading the Labour Party.
Paul! Please!!
Some of us want to be able to sleep at night.
At the moment, Hodge is leading Labour by the nose and certain people within the machinery are supporting her. How else is she getting away with it?
The Trump administration has submitted a budget request of $750 bn for the military in the next year.
Pelosi has responded by proposing $733 bn. This is absolutely pathetic as Trump himself had fairly recently advocated a figure of $700 bn.
If Biden is nominated then I think it will be a second term for Trump.
Sadly, there are still some in the Labour Party that refuse to oppose the government in this country as this awful example clearly illustrates:
https://cnduk.org/why-is-the-defence-committee-cheerleading-for-trump/
Just look at Corbyn’s body language. Tells you all you need to know about this meeting.
There is a special place in hell reserved for Nancy Pelosi.
Bernie Sanders aged 78……….what’s the problem with you ageists?
The only problem with Sanders is that he is Zionist and will not stand up to the Israel.
I don’t doubt your word but I would like to see some proof or evidence of this
links please
Rob, see this. Sanders uneasy when asked straightforward questions.
youtu.be/piWbS2bAvTY?t=…
Jack, I’m not sure he’s uneasy, I’d probably be happier if he was. He’s clearly quite some way away from what the posters on this site think about Israel. Doesn’t support BDS, still holds on to the idea that somehow a 2 state solution remains viable.
It’s worrying and aggravating, especially as he’s sound for the rest of the interview topics.
Still better than most of the rest though.
Thanks Jack T for the video clip (notable the original commentator has failed so far to substantiate the claim).
It’s an interesting interview my thoughts are similar to Simon Dewsburys below, does it mean I would stop supporting Bernie Sanders as the American best alternative ….. absolutely not, I think he is the best chance they have got as a nation and the world moving forward for something more fair and just .
Watching his body language and his reaction and responses to some of the questions you can see that he is clearly thinking things through in a very difficult situation being an independent within the democratic party not wanting to alienate his base.
This is what I would expect of a politician especially one in the USA which is such a major supporter of the state of Israel .
Does this make him a Zionist as accused of by of by Nasil Ali ,,, not in my opinion .
Clearly he wasn’t asked the question directly but I would imagine he would probably answer in the negative to it but who knows .
Does this mean he will not criticise Israel , clearly he did so several times during the interview
I think from the substance of this interview I do not believe him to be a Zionist he has trod a very delicate path between the rights of Israel and Palestine to exist as in a two-party state however difficult that may now be.
But IMO I don’t see any evidence that he is a Zionist as accused of by Nasir Ali.
Pelosi ,, soooo meh! Same ole same ole
Can just see JC thinking …… an I gave up an hour on me allotment for this tool.
Dream ticket Sanders POTUS AOC VP and Elizabeth Warren Speaker of the House.
I think your head has been turned: such a ticket might be better than Trump or a Clintonite clone but “dream” is OTT. This is Uncle Sam/the cesspit of terror ffs, lest we forget.
I think the US constitution has a minimum age to run for president, which might rule out AOC even as vp
Labrebis….
.
Oh do give over it was a flight of fancy a socialist dream but with the right leadership then it will change for the better …. no ? And I don’t need the ffs thanks
Right: we’ll strip you of your rights
Left: we’ll protect your rights
Centre: we will strip you slowly of your rights so you won’t notice.
You guys probably know this but the only reason Pelosi is the leader of the Democrats is because she effectively buys her votes by distributing the donor money she collects.
In return for that money the Democrats don’t back single payer healthcare or bank regulation or a housing or jobs programme or any policy platform that would help people and beat Trump.
They are a completely corrupt party. They don’t really care if Trump wins, as long as the money keeps flowing. They are the same as people like Tom Watson who prefers the Tories staying in power than a socialist Labour government, the Dems prefer Trump to Sanders.
I think that that is also how Lyndon Johnson became leader of the senate in the 1950s.
To call Saunders a Socialist is laughable. It’s all part of the rigging. I’m surprised they don’t have a “Communist” candidate slightly go the right of Tom Watson.
I agree. Sanders told off the British electorate for voting to leave the capitalism-entrenching, concentration-camp-running, European Union. It is quite obvious that he wants to keep capitalism in America not introduce democratic socialism. Cut the hero-worship, Skwarkie.
Danny/lundiel perhaps you’d like to suggest somebody better it’s a very small pool to choose from bearing in mind the USA is the epitome of the capitalist Empire , it’s remarkable that there’s anybody even slightly left wing leaning towards socialism is a remarkable achievement. Small steps,
gently gently as they say
Rob, I agree, new green deal is much more important than ideological purity.
Point taken. However, it doesn’t matter who is Pres, or what they say, Trumps been trumped over and over. Troops out became troops staying. He can fiddle with domestic policy, but under Trump, his wish to develop relations with Russia has resulted in relations becoming far worse. And that’s with him knowing the “Russian influence” was a load of bollocks dreamt up by the Democrats and assisted by British and American security services. Trump must be fuming, he has no power on the global stage.
Americans are indoctrinated from an early age, saluting the flag at school, learning that Socialism is the dead hand of the authoritarian state and “freedom” must be nurtured above all else. The country is hopeless, yet it is sufficiently removed from conflict zones to be able to flex its military muscle and get away with it over and over. It is the worst, most dangerous country in the world.
Bernie Sanders releases 10 years of tax returns, revealing $550,000 in 2018 income – MarketWatch https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bernie-sanders-releases-10-years-of-tax-returns-revealing-550000-in-2018-income-2019-04-15?mod=mw_latestnews
Thanks for the link Sam. It shows that Bernie draws his senator’s salary and has written a very successful book, it’s not suggesting he’s on the boards of companies etc.
The Tinges are clucking with pride https://twitter.com/ChrisLeslieMP/status/1117388124085280770
I love Jeremy’s body language here. Two levels, one hostility to a total fake, and that hostility leaking so profusely, shows his authenticity!
The Democratic Socialists of America in the Democrat Party perhaps need a rule change that ends votes for Super Delegates (Democratic Party Officers) at the Convention which meant Bernie perhaps never had a chance – they need OMOV to make the party belong to rank and file and not the top down bourgeois ‘crumbs for working people’ careerists like Pelosi.
Then Bernie has a chance and could perhaps beat Right Wing Barbarian Trump
and what about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a running mate – now that would be electric!
Yes , Super Delegates is a real fix of the rigged system they have OMOV is a must , be interested to find out Saunders view on it.
As Sanders 2020 Campaign Gains Steam, Corporate Democrats Reportedly ‘Growing Increasingly Nervous’
“Being loathed and feared by the rich is a big reason why Bernie is so appealing, and Democrats who don’t understand this by now will never get it.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/16/sanders-2020-campaign-gains-steam-corporate-democrats-reportedly-growing