Time is running out for Kamala Harris to break with Biden on the Gaza catastrophe
Time is running out for Kamala Harris to break with Biden on the Gaza catastrophe
Biden’s approach to Israel has been disastrous, both morally and strategically – and it could cost Harris dearly
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21396569
Moira Donegan
Mon 14 Oct 2024 06.07 EDT
I know that the hold that Israel (and the military industrial complex) has on both major political parties is money, Money, MONEY. But there has got to be a breaking point. I thought the breaking point would be the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent children, but alas.
I mean, I will still vote for Harris, because I’m not stupid. I know the alternative is far worse. But I’d rather not have innocent blood on my hands after I fill out that ballot.
If you (or anyone else) will never change your vote about it, why would they adjust their position?
You've given them no downside to continuing to support genocide other than the weight of thousands of innocent dead on their consciences. It should be fairly obvious how much that affects them.
Following polls, they would have an upside of about a 6 point boost if they changed on policy. Which is certainly significant with the race as close as it is.
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Our first matchup tested a Democrat and a Republican who “both agree with Israel’s current approach to the conflict in Gaza”. In this case, the generic candidates tied 44–44. The second matchup saw the same Republican facing a Democrat supporting “an immediate ceasefire and a halt of military aid and arms sales to Israel”. Interestingly, the Democrat led 49–43, with Independents and 2020 non-voters driving the bulk of this shift.
- Split Ticket (July 2024)
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In Pennsylvania, 34% of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic nominee if the nominee vowed to withhold weapons to Israel, compared to 7% who said they would be less likely. The rest said it would make no difference. In Arizona, 35% said they’d be more likely, while 5% would be less likely. And in Georgia, 39% said they’d be more likely, also compared to 5% who would be less likely.
- New Poll Suggests Gaza Ceasefire and Arms Embargo Would Help Dems with Swing State Voters (Full YouGov Report) (May 2024)
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- Data For Progress Poll (May 2024)
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Majorities of Democrats (67%) and Independents (55%) believe the US should either end support for Israel’s war effort or make that support conditional on a ceasefire. Only 8% of Democrats but 42% of Republicans think the US must support Israel unconditionally.
Republicans and Independents most often point to immigration as one of Biden’s top foreign policy failures. Democrats most often select the US response to the war in Gaza.
If you (or anyone else)
Voters are a spectrum. Some number of people in OhStepYellingAtMe's rough demographic either started out less engaged or have a more visceral reaction and won't vote. A reliable Democratic vote being demotivated means an unreliable vote may already be lost. Not threatening to withhold your individual vote doesn't mean comments like this aren't a warning sign.
Welcome to two party systems. The only way out is to abolish FPTP voting, the electoral college and (In the case of local/state elections) gerrymandering.
I know that the hold that Israel (and the military industrial complex) has on both major political parties is money, Money, MONEY.
The Israeli lobby is the American lobby. Israel is useful to US' state and capitalist domination of the region and the US backs it to the hilt. It is not just that there are moneyed PACs, though there are. It is also that the entire state imperial apparatus recognizes that Israel is a tool against pan-Arabism, that it is important for maintaining the petrodollar, that it helps suppress Iran in its sovereign development. And US business interests are closely tied to those of Israel, so Israel's loss is also their loss (and thanks to the resistance, they are feeling those losses right now!).
But there has got to be a breaking point.
There is no inherent moral breaking point. The US and its proxies will commit genocide unimpinged without dedicated efforts against them.
The American people are miseducated and racist, they cannot oppose this simply because it is wrong, they must first overcome the barriers of their miseducation and their chauvinism. They must understand what has been done to Palestine and they must consider Palestinians to be fellow people deserving of just as much as themselves and their neighbors. This is an effort that requires dedicated work and organization in left organizations, commitment to work over years and years.
The greatest forces of resistance are everywhere else. They are the forces of the al-Aqsa flood, the greater resistance forces, of Yemeni solidarity against genocide (they have faced their own by American proxies and Americans aren't even aware of it), the countries standing increasingly in solidarity with Palestine and the resistance and pushing back against the narratives of the gemociders.
I mean, I will still vote for Harris, because I’m not stupid.
You should take a look at yourself if you think there should be a breaking point for supporting genocide. You are complicit, announcing your support for one of the genociders! Why aren't you working against the genocide? Doing nothing would be better than offering them free support.
I know the alternative is far worse.
Normalizing support for genocide is why the political class can genocide without fear of repercussions. What are you going to do, not vote for them? Obviously not, you are still entrapped by their false logic into being their loyal sheepdog. Of course anyone that can understand politics beyond a 1-month time frame can see that this is self-defeating logic, and, per your own rhetoric, is something you should consider snapping out of when faced with supporting those that burn refugee children alive in their tents.
But I’d rather not have innocent blood on my hands after I fill out that ballot.
Then don't vote for genociders, let alone sheepdog for others to do the same, and do something actually politically helpful. Become educated and join organizations that have had solidarity with Palestine from day 1.
Then don’t vote for genociders, let alone sheepdog for others to do the same, and do something actually politically helpful. Become educated and join organizations that have had solidarity with Palestine from day 1.
Something politically helpful like letting Trump get elected and go full genocide against Israel, migrants, and most likely a portion of the US. Yeah, that will be very politically helpful compared to voting against Trump.
The slaughter of innocent children makes no difference to sociopaths.
If there is one thing this Genocide on its way to Holocaust has shown us. is that the Democrat Party leadership are without a doubt sociopaths of the worst kind: a normal person with the power they have would not be actively helping it by sending the Neue Nazis the very weapons which they know are being used to massacre children.
There really is no other possible conclusion: no normal person would go "yeah but our campaign contributions from the AIPAC are more important than tens of thousands of dead children" or "yeah but the profits of the MIC shareholders are more important than tens of thousands of dead children".
If there is one thing this Genocide on its way to Holocaust has shown us. is that the Democrat Party leadership are without a doubt sociopaths of the worst kind
Nah, they're normal people well adjusted to an evil system. The trial of the nazis showed that it wasn't mental illness, just normal people doing very evil things.
According to some, we all have innocent blood on our hands just by being American. ;)
We do if we pay taxes. Our tax money is going to funding a genocide whether we like it or not. But we can also help change the current administration's policies and be part of the resistance, whether small or large, both help.
https://uscpr.org/take-action/
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963
You're correct, we do. We all assist the operation of this war machine. It may not be in our control, but that does not nullify it. We bloody our hands to live instead of choosing to die, and we are all culpable to an extent for it. Some more than others, though.
People in all societies have to ignore a multitude of moral contradictions in order to live normal lives. That is the manufactured consent all states impose upon their people.
Probably get hate for this around here, but it would be pants-on-head retarded for a political candidate to propose a major policy shift 3-weeks before a national election.
It'd be genius, if anything. Soon enough that people will know it and vote for her (the majority of Democrats support conditioning Israeli aid), too late for AIPAC'd propaganda machine to push the election towards Trump.
And that's ignoring the fact that Gaza is consistently polling at the bottom of issues that will sway voters
Dems would rather lose and keep their donors happy than win and lose funding. It's really that simple.
Time is running for Harris to break with Biden ON ANYTHING. You saw a jump in poll numbers between Biden and Harris because people thought she would be different. Every interview she gives saying "I am the status quo" pushes her numbers back to Biden.
When is Trump going to break with it?
When the election is over, what are centrists going to do when they can't pretend that anyone who doesn't support genocide is a trumper?
Call them antisemitic like they did with the antiwar protests. And they'll have all the centrist press reinforcing it so they'll never need to consider whether there's any deeper issue they should be thinking about.
Replace Trump with some other scarecrow if needed for 2028.
Ha, that is not how it will go. Without Trump there will be no existential threat to american democracy to leverage and I'll be surprised if the media does not go dark on it. When people, like yourself try to rally you'll find half the support you depend on was only there because it was election time and the rest will be deaf ears because everyone else would like to go back to their normal lives.
Not saying it's a good thing just the only thing keeping the discussion alive is how much it hurts the dems. It's clearly an attack vector that had been amplified and you thinking your moral stance is what props it up is hubris.
I have decided based on your post history that you are a troll, a Trump supporter, and are doing everything possible to spread FUD with no actual reasonable discourse.
You are now blocked. Maybe stop wasting so much effort going against someone and start working to find a viable option for the next election — if indeed you’re not a troll and a MAGA moron.
You should look at my post history a little harder. I have posted a lot on Palestine, and very few have centered on Harris. I consider the election choices very painful for anyone who wants to keep Trump out while not supporting an administration which is clearly collaborating in a genocide with Israel. Most likely I will hold my nose and vote for Harris, but I'm not sure yet. If I don't, I would be voting for Jill Stein.
It's a race to the end of the month. Can we reach voting day while keeping a lid on discontent with the genocide?
They're pretty clearly locked in on that. What you might see is a declaration a couple days before if her team figures they're losing and they need a desperate play.
Stay the course!