Thursday, August 20, 2020
Nancy Pelosi Endorsing Joe Kennedy Over Ed
Markey, Critics Charge, 'Reveals a Ridiculous Double Standard'
Progressives
accused the House speaker of "proving she's not, in fact, against Dems
primarying Dems, as long as it's to remove anyone who advances halfway
progressive ideas."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came under fire from
progressive activists and advocacy groups in Massachusetts and nationwide on
Thursday for endorsing Rep. Joe Kennedy III in his bid to unseat Sen. Ed
Markey—a move that critics said suggests the Democratic establishment's threat to blacklist firms and strategists that
help primary challengers to incumbents was always about blocking candidates
from running to the left of the party's current members of Congress.
"Never before have the times demanded we
elect courageous leaders as today, and that is why I am proud to endorse Joe
Kennedy for Senate," Pelosi said in a video Thursday, citing Kennedy's
record of campaigning and fundraising across the country during the 2018
midterm cycle, when he served as a mid-Atlantic and New England regional
vice chair for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
"Pelosi's endorsement is both a boon to
Kennedy and a snub of Markey, who was an ally of the California Democrat during
his long tenure in the House," reported the Boston Globe. "In
2007, during her first turn as speaker, Pelosi chose Markey over several other
prominent lawmakers to head a select committee dedicated to energy and global
warming issues, and then supported the 2009 climate legislation he co-wrote,
bringing it to a vote on the House floor."
In response to the endorsement, Markey—who
represented Massachusetts' 7th Congressional District from 1976 to 2013 before
being elected to the Senate—tweeted: "Speaker Pelosi is an effective leader
who has shattered glass ceilings throughout her career. I had the privilege to
work alongside Nancy in the House for decades and any candidate would be proud
to have her endorsement. I congratulate Joe Kennedy on securing her support."
However, some of Markey's supporters and groups
that have worked to elect progressives expressed frustration with Pelosi's
decision to get involved in the high-profile, tight race ahead of the September
1 primary election—particularly given the DCCC's incumbent-favoring blacklist
policy, which Pelosi and other party leaders have stood
behind despite
criticism that it blocks progressives from replicating primary victories like
that of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in 2018.
Justice Democrats, which backed Ocasio-Cortez's
2018 challenge to a longtime Democratic congressman, called Pelosi's decision
to endorse Kennedy "outrageous" in an email Thursday, declaring that
"this move reeks of hypocrisy: the party is setting one standard for
progressives and one entirely different standard for the establishment."
The group's email also highlighted that
Ocasio-Cortez—who is a lead sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution with Markey and has endorsed him in this
race—responded to Pelosi's move in a pair of tweets noting the DCCC's blacklist
policy:
The New York congresswoman was far from alone in
mentioning the policy. The youth-led Sunrise Movement, which advocates for a
Green New Deal and is among the activists and groups backing Markey, pointed
to it in
a statement Thursday.
"This endorsement is an embarrassment for
Speaker Pelosi, and we're honestly shocked she had the gall to invoke social
movements in endorsing Joe Kennedy," Sunrise said. "Despite millions
of dollars from Joe Kennedy's family, Ed Markey is surging because his
movement-connected campaign has inspired genuine grassroots support and because
voters have seen him show throughout the years that he's willing to stand up
for working people and movements when it counts."
"This endorsement is embarrassing because
it plainly reveals a ridiculous double standard," the group continued.
"When progressives challenge incumbent Democratic lawmakers who vote with
Trump two-thirds of the time, Nancy Pelosi cries foul and works with the DCCC
to make a blacklist for anyone helping the challenger. But with today's
announcement, Speaker Pelosi is saying that when she likes the challenger, or
the challenger has a rich and wealthy family, helping challengers is okay."
Sunrise—which has a record of pushing Pelosi to be better on climate
policy—added of the DCCC's blacklist policy that "this has never been
about protecting incumbents, it's been about protecting big Democratic donors
profiting off the status quo."
Journalists and progressives piled on, with Zach
Carter of HuffPost tweeting that "this endorsement makes pretty
clear that Pelosi's leadership is not about protecting incumbents or maximizing
majorities, but realizing a particular vision for the party."
ABC political reporter Johnny Verhovek tweeted Thursday that a
Pelosi aide told one of his colleagues the speaker took issue with Markey's
twist on a famous line of former President John F. Kennedy, his challenger's
great-uncle, in a recent campaign ad.
As Common Dreams reported after Markey's campaign released the ad
last week, the three-minute video won high praise from supporters and political
commentators, who said that it "has the exact right message:
we live in a society, it has a contract, the government can't just let people
die."
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"The master class has always declared the wars; the
subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to
gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and
everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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