Dangerous Precedent': Record AIPAC Spending Helps George Latimer Defeat Jamaal Bowman ( www.commondreams.org )

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16955018

"Jamaal and our movement were such a threat to right-wing power, to GOP megadonors, and to AIPAC's influence in Congress that they had to spend $15 million to defeat us," said one progressive organizer.

zerog_bandit ,

Yes, it's a dangerous precedent to have someone in office who calls rape and sexual violence "propaganda".

Dkarma ,

Lattimer looks like he has brain worms

exanime ,

Precedent? I don't even know why they bother when they can simply legally and openly bribe whomever wins anyway

Shyfer ,

Right? I was about to say, this can't be the first politician AIPAC has bought and placed into our government.

makeasnek , (edited )
@makeasnek@lemmy.ml avatar

That's an awfully... interesting way of saying he lost his primary, which as an incumbent is not a particularly easy to do. Blame foreign money all you want, your voters voted for who they wanted. Primary voters are the most politically aware kind of voters, most people don't vote, even fewer take the time to vote in primaries. Apparently those voters wanted somebody new.

TokenBoomer OP ,

Then why did they spend $15 million on a primary campaign? Why does a campaign for President costs $1 billion now? Maybe 🤔 they just like spending money.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/eecb0f70-6149-4dcd-9dd9-7e587ad4e32b.jpeg

11111one11111 , (edited )

Eli5: How does record AIPAC spending prevent people from voting? It still comes down to people voting so isn't it safe to say more people voted for the person who won than people who voted for the losing candidate?

Edit: come on this isn't reddit. I'm not concerned with this question of who was running and what they are in favor of. As far as I have been attentive to politics there has always been campaign contributions from lobbyists with the intent to have their interests protected. I do not understand why or how that would affect the outcome of the election unless one candidates total campaign funds were a pot more than the others. I also don't understand why is thes any new precedent? Hopefully with this added clarity the down votes won't burry the comment and further discussion can be had.

Pfeffy ,

Do you think that people are pouring millions of dollars into elections because they are stupid and wasting it? This seems like a bad faith question.

11111one11111 ,

But how does that keep people from voting? I'm not being a dick it's a genuine question. Corporations dump trillions into advertising but that doesn't prevent me from comparing products and choosing the product that best fits my needs. Matter of fact, there was a post today I saw that was about the futility of targeted ads having no better results than traditional marketing.

JimSamtanko ,

Well said and good point.

mdd ,

It does not prevent people from voting.

It may, however, amplify distortions of the truth or bold-face lies.

With regards to AIPAC it amplifies the voice of a group that is ONLY concerned with the advancement of Israeli interests.

makeasnek ,
@makeasnek@lemmy.ml avatar

Sorry you're getting downvoted to hell. You're right. Sometimes people want everything to be a conspiracy or something aside from the simpler truth which is that voters just wanted somebody different.

HobbitFoot ,

Organization trumps money. The problem is that a lot of progressive organizations aren't able to mobilize voters for elections like this.

Crashumbc ,

It hasn't yet, so that's a false statement.

Aqarius ,

Organising requires funds, though.

JimSamtanko ,

It doesn’t. But it puts their agenda up front and center for those that can be manipulated by it a whole lot easier.

Sort of similar to how people here will urge you to not vote for Biden. Most people will see this as people essentially just shitting into a fan, but at its core, it’s really a way to circumvent having to directly show support for Trump on a left-leaning social media platform where they’d get banned.

11111one11111 ,

So where did all the pro-Isreal propaganda get pushed to? The anti-Isreal propaganda is everywhere. (I don't know a better word than propaganda to use here but I don't mean it as any sense of invalidating or dismissing eirher the anti-Isreal/pro-Isreal sentiment)

tiefling ,

TV, Facebook, Instagram, radio ads, billboards, etc. Basically all the places where boomers bask

JimSamtanko ,

Personally, I think there’s a fuck-ton of nuance to the issue and I find that it’s best not to listen to a bunch of high-school kids lecturing everyone on who to vote for based on foreign affairs that they weren’t even aware were happening less than a year ago.

Where the others went?

This is lemmy. You’re not allowed to accept that the situation is nuance led as fuck. Even if you mostly agree with the hive.

Ensign_Crab ,

high-school kids

"Anyone who disagrees with me on anything must be younger than me and therefore wrong." - Boomer logic.

JimSamtanko , (edited )

Yawn…. Is there anything that doesn’t offend you? Seriously man. I’m not engaging with you on this anymore.

Ensign_Crab ,

You said you were gonna ignore me last time you spewed your hatred for the anti-genocide left.

That does not obligate me to ignore you.

JimSamtanko , (edited )

I said I was ignoring you then. And I did. And now I’m ignoring your current nonsense now. You see, it’s a thing that can be activated at will. And don’t mistake my responding to you as some form of hypocrisy. Or that your little trolling attempt was successful. I’m fully allowed to respond to whatever bullshit you bring me. That is my right. I will however choose when I wish- to ignore discussing whatever dumb shit you try and bring up as a means to distract from the point to create a straw man as is pretty much ALL you do.

And considering that you’re incapable of stopping yourself from mouthing off at anyone who dares to disagree with your little agenda, it’s pretty easy to do.

You should probably get used to it. I have seen that I’m not the only one that does it.

Oh, and for the record- and on the topic of ignoring things… As I’ve said and you’ve ignored before- I don’t have a problem with the far left.

I have a huge problem with the “far left.” And you should too.

Ensign_Crab ,

You're spectacularly bad at ignoring me.

Two things. Opposition to genocide is not a "little agenda" just because it pisses you off to see people who don't unconditionally support everything centrist Democrats do.

And your distinction about the far left versus the "far left"? Bullshit. You hate everyone to your left and tell yourself that they're to your right to justify it.

Now go back to "ignoring" me.

JimSamtanko , (edited )

Three things:

One- You seem to take GREAT offense to my accusing some people of being fake far lefters. So much so that you can’t help yourself and seem compelled to respond to my every comment about it. It’s almost like… you’re incapable of not responding to my every comment on the topic. It’s like… yOu jUsT cAn’T iGnOre mE! (Waaah!)

Two- gEnOciDe is absolutely a “little agenda.” When positioned from the perspective of the far right trolls that pretend to support it. The same people you get incredibly upset about when people accuse you of being- but adamantly defend them when people go on the offensive on them.

You really need to choose a lane buddy.

And three- you claim time-and-again that you’re going to vote for Biden. At this point: I’m calling bullshit. And I’m pretty sure we both know it’s bullshit. And my evidence is One and Two from just above this paragraph if you need a reference.

K? Bye!

Ensign_Crab ,

This is not what ignoring me looks like. This is utterly indistinguishable from previous conversations we've had, except you've made your genocide support much clearer.

Everything to your left must be all the way to your right. You've never considered once that genocide is wrong and that you're wrong for supporting it.

JimSamtanko ,

Okay buddy. You’re free to falsely accuse me of whatever you’d like. Until you get your boy elected, it’s a free country.

Ensign_Crab ,

You falsely accuse me of being a trumpist constantly.

Like you do to anyone who doesn't support Netanyahu's genocide.

I'm voting for Biden. Lie about me all you want. Not that you need encouragement. You can't even tell the truth about ignoring me.

JimSamtanko ,

Sure thing bud. Keep defending those conservative bots. You’re only telling on yourself.

Ensign_Crab ,

You can't defend your support for genocide, so you pretend that anyone who doesn't support genocide must be to your right. Vote for Biden if you can.

JimSamtanko ,

And you can’t defend your support for Trump. Sooo…. I guess it’s a stalemate.

Ensign_Crab ,

And you can’t defend your support for Trump.

I don't support Trump, no matter how much you interpret my opposition to the genocide you love as such.

JimSamtanko , (edited )

And I don’t support genocide no matter how much you interpret my opposition to MAGA bots parading themselves around as far lefters.

Dude… you’re not getting the point I’ve tried to fucking tell you- over and over again!

I’m not accusing you of shit. If you’re legit- you’re fine. But you HAVE to know here are bad actors among you. And the fact that you STILL constantly come at me when I’m only trying to pull weeds from YOUR garden, makes me think you want them there.

If you’re not in favor of a Trump win and genuinely don’t support him in any way, then why not join me and the others in weeding out those among you that are there in bad faith?

I honestly don’t get your angle here.

Ensign_Crab ,

And I don’t support genocide no matter how much you interpret my opposition to MAGA bots parading themselves around as far lefters.

You have no evidence whatsoever of these "maga bots" except that they oppose Netanyahu's genocide. That's not evidence. That's you making shit up about people you disagree with.

I’m not accusing you of shit.

You keep calling me a trumpist.

But you HAVE to know here are bad actors among you

Yeah, I'm talking to one. You constantly lie about the anti-genocide left because you want to discredit the left, opposition to genocide, or both.

If you’re not in favor of a Trump win and genuinely don’t support him in any way, then why not join me and the others in weeding out those among you that are there in bad faith

I'm not going to join your personal mccarthyist inquisition against everyone to your left just because you've imagined that there's Russian psyops behind every rock.

I honestly don’t get your angle here.

Like I said last time you said this: I criticize those to my right. You should try it sometime.

JimSamtanko ,

Holy shit! I don’t think I have ever in my life seen someone choose what they want someone else to say more than you do. And the amount of people you do this to is…. Well. Everyone you disagree with. Your modlog show that.

So it seems you either have a VERY serious reading comprehension problem, or you’re willfully trolling.

My guess is it’s both.

I’m done wasting time with you on this, so go ahead and have the all important last word you always seem to so badly crave. I’m going to go ahead and take the high road out of this embarrassment of a discussion. I’ll be temporarily blocking you so I don’t even get notified that you responded. That’s how little I am interested in hearing what you have to say.

But don’t think to bring this up as some antagonistic bullshit excuse to accuse me of paying attention to your nonsense after I said I wouldn’t. You’re not that good of a troll. I’m just simply done with THIS discussion. As I was done with the other individual discussions.

I’ll be unblocking you when I feel it’s time to.

Until then….

Ensign_Crab ,

I’ll be temporarily blocking you so I don’t even get notified that you responded.

Next time you badmouth the anti-genocide left for being both anti-genocide and to your left, I'll be there. And you will have conveniently unblocked me, just like you totally ignored me.

TheTetrapod ,

Decided to check in on you after Biden's performance at the debate, and I find you getting utterly trounced by someone who seems to be fully on the level. If you can't understand why someone would be at least hesitant to support Genocide Joe (while fully acknowledging that Genocide Donald is our only other option), I just can't take you seriously.

JimSamtanko , (edited )

And if you’re willing to admit that you are fully aware that the genocide isn’t going to get any better under Trump and will actually become worse-

And still suggest people not vote for Biden….

I won’t just not take you seriously, I’ll assume you’re actively trying to get Trump elected.

tearsintherain ,
@tearsintherain@leminal.space avatar

^Holds finger right near your eyeball and says, but i'm not touching you, see, i'm not touching you.

Fades ,

Are you implying that by spending more money they are blocking you from seeing the opposition? That's absolutely not the case.

It would be more like people raising hands around you and you see mostly green hands and only a few blue hands and thus less-informed people will be more likely to lean towards the majority.

BrianTheeBiscuiteer ,

The precedent was the Citizens United ruling. This is just a case in point.

ShittyBeatlesFCPres ,

Remember when the DCCC was mad at AOC and said any consultants who work with candidates trying to unseat incumbents would be blacklisted?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/democratic-leaders-stand-firm-on-incumbent-favor-rule-rebuff-liberal-cries-of-blacklist/2019/04/02/117a7714-54bd-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html

goferking0 ,

Almost like the dnc goal is to always do what fucks over those wanting to move the party left

EleventhHour ,
@EleventhHour@lemmy.world avatar

Like most people, they really really really like money

Ensign_Crab ,

I remember when the party threw its weight behind Henry Cuellar because his opponent was a progressive, and claimed it was because he was an incumbent.

culprit ,
@culprit@lemmy.ml avatar

No mention of Hillary Clinton endorsing the AIPAC candidate.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/06/13/clinton-endorses-bowmans-challenger-house/74082348007/

Sanctus ,
@Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

How is this not foreign interference? It should be doubly so if money is free speech. They are directly influencing our lives, at all.90 winning, I'd even say those tinfoil hat jyoo conspiracy theorists have some credence, its just Israel not the Jewish people.

Ensign_Crab ,

How is this not foreign interference?

Oh, it absolutely is, but it's ok because it was used against a progressive. Which party is gonna do something about it? The one that hates progressives, or the other one that really hates progressives?

Bernie_Sandals ,
@Bernie_Sandals@lemmy.world avatar

How is this not foreign interference?

Because AIPAC doesn't take any foreign money, it's funded entirely from within the U.S.

Sanctus ,
@Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

The only response I have is money needs to be removed from politics.

Bernie_Sandals ,
@Bernie_Sandals@lemmy.world avatar

Oh I completely agree, just wanted to point out that AIPAC is homegrown interventionism, not foreign like people tend to think.

TokenBoomer OP ,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/1cc927b0-840e-42ca-8d94-8660ff941e34.png

Sanctus ,
@Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

Israel definitely has to have some form of contact though. There's absolutely no way they dont.

Viking_Hippie ,

Foreign funding and domestic funding with the express purpose of gaining advantage for a foreign nation is a distinction without any practical difference.

Fades ,

classic emotional response disconnected from reality. AIPAC is not Israel. Take your crying about Jews and apply it to Citizens United please.

Sanctus ,
@Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

You fucken think Israel has no contact with AIPAC? Really?

harrys_balzac ,

Money can't buy happiness but it can buy you the American government.

Boddhisatva ,

It's the best government money can buy!

OmnislashIsACloudApp ,

do you think he means me?

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • politics@lemmy.world
  • random
  • test
  • worldmews
  • mews
  • All magazines
    •