Do you think the Our Revolution stamp of approval is helpful or hurtful to Dem primary candidates *

[DemocratSinceBirth]

*As the pollster I will not be voting or commenting as to not introduce bias into the results.

12 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Helpful
	3 (25%)
	Hurtful
	9 (75%)
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[lamp_shade]

1. What is Our Revolution?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Revolution

[lamp_shade]

4. Aha. Thanks.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Beyond supplying objective information I will not comment as not to introduce bias.

[el_bryanto]

5. That link mentions Bernie Sanders; therefore it must be evil! nt

[comradebillyboy]

7. It's his PAC isn't it?

[pampango]

13. A liberal set of goals which I largely agree with. We should welcome

them to a liberal organization like the Democratic Party.

[Me.]

15. No Way

Their so-called liberal agenda includes voting for Cons acording to Nina Turner. I'll stick with the Dems.

[pampango]

18. OR seems to endorse and promote liberals not conservatives.

I too will stick with Dems. I will not exclude ‘imperfect’ liberals from our party. The GOP would love for us to do that.

[Me.]

19. I Will Vote For DEms

but never Cons. And Nina can go fly a kite with that talk.

[pampango]

20. ANYONE who votes for Cons can go fly a kite. Anyone who votes for Liberals

is welcome in my party. I suspect most of OR is in the latter group much to the consternation of Trump and the GOP.

[Me.]

21. I Do Hope So

[karynnj]

12. I think that Our Revolution is similar to Democracy for America - and not controlled by the "hero"

Democracy For America was created by Howard Dean when ended his campaign. His brother Jim Dean has headed DFA since it started. http://www.democracyforamerica.com/

In both cases, you had a campaign that was to some degree defining itself as not the mainstream. As such, the campaigns saw themselves as not just trying to win a nomination, but to move the country to change in some defined way. It was not surprising that they sought a forum after losing where they could continue the process they thought they were creating in the campaign.

It is probably true that there is a bigger difference between Howard Dean and Democracy for America. It is likely that this reflects that the moderate Democratic former governor of Vermont was swept to prominence in a campaign that defined him in a way that ignored that he was a pretty moderate Democrat. The Sanders campaign was based on things Sanders has said for decades.

In addition, it was Dean's example and the support of DFA that led to the creation of Our Revolution. From VTDIGGER:

While Sanders has not always agreed with Dean on policy or political approach, he expanded the model of internet activism and fundraising pioneered by the former Vermont governor.

After the 2004 election, Dean started Democracy for America, a political action committee that has helped elect more than 800 progressives to office across the country at all levels of government. DFA, which is now run by Dean’s brother Jim, endorsed Sanders’ presidential run, providing money and organizing muscle.

Sanders is now organizing a trio of political organizations aimed at electing Sanderistas, including Our Revolution. Dean said DFA officials were helping Sanders set up his electoral organizations.

He said DFA has succeeded because it has listened to its activist members, and he urged Sanders to abandon his reputation as a top-down leader.

https://vtdigger.org/2016/07/29/dean-reflects-on/

In both cases, you can find examples where the activist organization has taken a different position than the politician they are inspired by. No one I know in Burlington was surprised that Dean supported HRC early rather than Sanders, while DFA endorsed Sanders.

Looking at the board of Our Revolution, it is clear that it includes many who are controversial and to the left of Sanders. https://ourrevolution.com/about/#board

[Me.]

16. Sanderistas Is It Now?

Borrowing from Sandinistas? And, OR isn't necessarily interested in electing DEms according to Nina Turner

[karynnj]

22. Sanderistas was a play on words - likely by the reporter

I was answering the question of what is Our Revolution. I am not on their list, do not get their emails and certainly have never contributed to them. As I said, many on their board seem to have their own agendas and are not in line with Sanders positions either now or in 2016.

I thought that the links could be interesting to some actually wanting to understand Our Revolution. We need to understand the landscape of the grassroots organizations on our side. As far back as the 1960s, and likely before then, there have always been groups on the left that some argue as necessary to fuel change while often being and being seen as counter productive by the more mainstream grassroots organizations.

The downside is that I think I am not alone in having gone to demonstrations against the Iraq or Vietnam War and found that many banners and speakers were things that I was distinctly uncomfortable with and disagreed with. This was especially true when I was protesting with teen and preteen daughters.

As to electoral politics, I think that Our Revolution has been very unsuccessful whenever they back someone that the more mainstream Democrats approve in primaries. I think Turner is terrible in her positions and has likely harmed the ability to make Our Revolution actually helpful in changing the balance in power in Congress in the Democrats' favor.

But, I am not an unbiased observer, as I completely disagree with the idea that ultra Progressive candidates in races that are not in solid blue seats. A Bernie Sanders clone could not have won the Connor Lamb seat.

[Me.]

23. I Quite Agree With You About Nina

And I have to say that I sense a bitterness/resentment from that group which is, indeed, counterproductive.

[LeftInTX]

24. In Texas we have a DFA candidate running against an OR candidate

This seat is currently held by a Will Hurd (R). Since 1992, the seat has been Republican except for two terms.


The DFA candidate, Gina Ortiz Jones is mainstream. She is a veteran who worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency. (Will Hurd worked for the CIA) She has the credentials to compete against Will Hurd.

The Our Revolution candidate is Rick Trevino. Rick lost a local city candidate election and is basically a populist. I can't picture a populist winning this congressional district.

[betsuni]

2. Revolutions do not endure, that makes no sense.

I watched Warren Beatty's movie "Reds" on teevee recently and enjoyed it very much.

[Adrahil]

17. The concept of continuous revolution....

was a concept introduced by Lenin. The idea is that "counter-revolutionary" forces are constantly trying to restore oppressive structures and therefore the revolution must be maintained. In states like the Soviet Union, or Venezuela, of course, this also justifies the imposition oppressive and self-perpetuating governmental structures.

Democratic-socialist states often drop that kind of language.

[beachbum bob]

8. we as democrats should just echo, making america, america again....

no need to go further than that

[SidDithers]

9. It's the kiss of death...nt

Sid

[Wwcd]

10. Am beginning to question who "OUR" is.

[Gothmog]

11. The local Our Revolution group attacked an Asian candidate

The local Our Revolution group attacked an Asian Candidate because he had a funny first name, was not "one of us" and this group did not want one of "them" on the ballot https://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Sri-Preston-Kulkarni-congress-cocaine-fort-bend-12628329.php

Kulkarni disclosed the arrest to the Chronicle on Tuesday after the case was raised by the Fort Bend County chapter leader of Our Revolution, a group representing a progressive coalition of activists who supported the 2016 presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Doug Beaton, the leader of the chapter, warned Fort Bend County Democratic officials on Kulkarni's previously undisclosed past in a letter posted Monday on social media. The letter suggested that Kulkarni, whose full first name is Srinivas, is running under an assumed name and that he had previously registered with the Federal Election Commission to run for a congressional seat in Massachusetts.

[Me.]

14. Simple

How many wins/losses have they had?