In the first of our presentations of the amazing Democratic candidates we have to choose from in next year’s California Senate race, the Anaheim Democrats Club is hell-of honored to welcome East Bay Congresswoman Barbara Lee. In the throes of a whirlwind schedule this week, she will be joining us at 8PM Wednesday night at our usual meeting place, Anaheim’s Unitarian-Universalist Church, 511 South Harbor (at Santa Ana Street.) ALL ARE WELCOME!
If throughout her achievement-studded 25-year Congressional tenure Barbara is best known for anything, it is for being – in the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 attacks – the ONLY member in either house of Congress with the courage and wisdom to vote against giving Bush and Cheney a blank check to invade Middle Eastern nations with the 2001 AUMF (Authorization to Use Military Force.)
The onetime Black Panther did NOT oppose military action after the terrorist attack, but she felt this authorization was way too open-ended to grant to that war-mongering team, and boy did she turn out to be right! For this she was branded a traitor and suffered countless death threats. A little later when opposing the PATRIOT Act and the illegal, based-on-lies, invasion of Iraq, she was no longer alone (she was even joined by our own Loretta Sanchez!) – but at the beginning Barbara stood by herself and took slings and arrows.
What else has Barbara done in these past 25 years? A LOT. Just one paragraph from her web bio:
Congresswoman Lee has long advocated for legislative action to end poverty. In 2007, she worked with a diverse coalition of Members to create the Out of Poverty Caucus. In 2013, she became chair of the Democratic Whip Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity. As chair, she leads more than 100 Members of Congress in crafting and advancing legislation to lift millions of American families out of poverty and into the middle class.
There are other great candidates running to take Dianne Feinstein’s place in the Senate next year besides Barbara – for example, Irvine’s Katie Porter and Glendale’s Adam Schiff – and the Anaheim Democrats will be happy to host them in the coming months as well – after all, nobody has to decide who they’re supporting till next year’s primary. But this week we are jazzed and honored to host the great Barbara Lee. Here’s the trailer to a documentary made about her last year, entitled “Speaking Truth to Power“…
The Anaheim Democrats Club is local chapter of the Democratic Party of OC. Our goals are to work for policies that serve the needs of our communities, to increase Democratic registration and turnout, and to help elect local Democratic candidates in Anaheim. We meet on the first Thursday of each month at 7pm, at the Unitarian-Universalist Church at Harbor and Santa Ana Street.
I’d happily meet her in any context but this one.
Liberal centrist Schiff, Liberal Porter, and Leftist Lee will leave the door open for a centrist (or even right-wing) Democrat to run. So we could see someone like … don’t make me say the name … squeeze into office against those three. A centrist will likely win if it’s just them against three on the left. (And, of course, if Ro Khanna does run, that gets worse.)
And that’s not the worst of it.
Once we have a centrist against 3-4 leftists in the race, that opens the door to two evenly matched Republican candidates — say Larry Elder and Brian Dahle — running against those 4-5 Democrats. And if they both get 20% of the vote, that could easily be enough to win against 4-5 Dems splitting the other 60%.
So we could literally see a Republican Senator elected in 2024 — with potentially disastrous consequences for the country..
Take Lee out of the race and one of Schiff and Porter are likely to make the Top Two at a minimum. There’s not enough room for a center-right Dem to get into the race with any confidence. And then there’s not enough room for two Republicans to shut Dems out of the general election.
Lee deserves gigantic statues built of her in her home district and DC for her brave and prescient stance against AUMFAT. (There were two AUMFs around then, “against Terrorists” and AUMFAI “against Iraq).” But as she’ll be age 78 at the time of the 2024 election, even if she wins she’ll have much more power and influence within Congress for the rest of her life than as a back-bencher in the Senate.
So give her all the love you want today, fellow Club members, but please tell her that she should reverse her course and to run again in the 12th District. It would be one of the vilest ironies in this century’s political history if her running ended up electing Larry Elder and giving Republicans back the Senate.
We’ve now had over a decade of the “Top Two Primary” system — and politicians still don’t seem to grasp its perverse implications.
I’m assuming more were at attendance at Schiff’s shindig in Irvine this past Wednesday evening, Vern.
Schiff around town Wednesday night and the state and nation.
FYI, I am not a member of any Armenian-American organization.
Lee and Porter are DOA.
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2023-02-23/rep-adam-schiff-pitches-senate-bid-at-meet-and-greet-in-irvine
https://m.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=569944791836266&id=100064622506294
https://twitter.com/Portantino/status/1625590190466306049?cxt=HHwWgsDU0cvqoI8tAAAA (what significance of meeting with Portantino)
his establishment of the Select Committee on California, Armenia and Artsakh Mutual Trade, Art and Cultural Exchange in 2017 and the California-Armenia Trade & Services Desk at Impact Hub Yerevan in 2021.
https://ancawr.org/press-release/the-armenian-national-committee-of-america-western-region-anca-wr-endorses-senator-portantino-for-congress/
https://www.oragark.com/anca-local-chapters-hold-community-town-hall-with-california-state-senator-anthony-portantino/
https://twitter.com/ANCA_WR/status/1624521960553328641?cxt=HHwWgsDRybaHu4stAAAA
https://schiff.house.gov/news/press-releases/schiff-announces-nagorno-karabakh-republic-representative-to-the-us-as-his-state-of-the-union-guest
Whatever, I’ll vote for Schiff over a Republican but that’s about it. He’s a corporatist and a militarist.
and PS a big time Zionist.
I think Schiff is taking out of both sides when it comes to Armenians and he is playing them.
He can’t be pro AJC and pro-Armenian.
What “good” work is AJC doing?
Spreading propaganda for Azerbaijan? Lobbying for the UAE??
He supports organizations that are bolstering Azerbaijan while claiming to be pro-Artsakh. Just doesn’t make any sense.
https://www.ajc.org/news/ajc-los-angeles-celebrates-virtual-75th-kaufman-family-annual-meeting
https://m.facebook.com/ajcla/posts/10156507248542653
https://youtu.be/Rd8B5njskHw
https://youtu.be/an8NLDBcDrM
Did you know that we receive reports showing when anyone clicks on one of the links appearing on this blog?
No one’s clicking your links, Lippy.
*Barbara Lee and Katie Porter are both great. Adam however has his name on the
Senate seat.
Why does Congressman Lou Correa pop to my mind ….?
Because you keep thinking he’s gonna run for Senate. I think you put that idea in Greg’s mind too if you look at his first comment.Silver lining if he does: Congressman Moreno!Man crush?
The Senate seat belongs to the Bay Area.
You said it, Tardif, I didn’t.
But yeah, someone like that could maneuver their way through a race with three (perceived or actual) liberal/leftists running.