The Democratic National Committee, the people who run the least popular political party in recorded U.S. polling, do not get the respect they deserve especially when they take a bold, principled stand for a genocide, as they did on Tuesday, voting down a resolution for an arms embargo on Israel.
For one thing, a full 8 percent of Democrats in the United States support the war on Gaza, and I have yet to read a single piece of commentary addressing the remarkable job that the DNC is doing of representing them. Commentators either blame the so-called corrupting influences of war profiteers, the military, the corporate media, and so on through the entire list of conspiracy theories, or they make it all about that other 92 percent of Democrats as if they dont get enough attention already. My god, there are 92 percent of them. Looking out for that other 8 percent is the definition of democracy.
Heres a typical quote from the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project:
New polling from YouGov and The Economist found that 69% of Democrats, including 77% of Harris 2024 voters, believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. A poll released this week by the University of Maryland found just 6% of Democrats say they sympathize with the Israelis. A poll released earlier this month found the Democratic Partys favorability sank to -32 percentage points, the lowest rating for either party going back to at least 1996 when the question was first polled.
And heres Norman Solomon, according to whom backing an unpopular war is . . .
an approach that helped to defeat the Democratic ticket last year, as polling clearly shows. Recycling it now is even more oblivious to the roar of public opinion. . . . More than ever, on the subject of Israel and Palestinian people, its DNC leadership versus a huge majority of Democrats nationwide. One poll after another this year has found thatin the words of a headline over a Brookings analysis this month support for Israel continues to deteriorate, especially among Democrats and young people. A Gallup poll in July found that only 8 percent of Democrats said they approved of Israels military action in Gaza. That poll lines up with the conclusions from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other (including Israeli) human rights organizations that have reported Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
And heres a statement from RootsAction:
The DNCs rejection of the arms-embargo resolution amounts to rejection of human decency as well as rejection of the vast majority of Democrats across the country. A party that refuses to call for an end to arming genocide is a party that is continuing the moral collapse of the Biden administration that made the start of the genocide possible. Across the United States, young Democrats and others have worked tirelessly to offer the party the opportunity to turn away from its complicity with Israels continuous mass killing of civilians in Gaza. The election of a new DNC chair could have made creative and essential use of that opportunity. Instead, the leadership of the new chair Ken Martin accompanied by the sheepership of so many DNC members has reinforced and perpetuated the shameful refusal to stand up and speak out for a halt to U.S. enabling of the ongoing large-scale atrocities against Palestinian people. RootsAction will continue to work with grassroots activists and organizations to challenge the insidious culture of conformity and participation in the destructive politics of militarism. In an era when the Trump regime is becoming ever more cruel and fascistic, the solution is the opposite of accommodation to the U.S.-Israeli policies of mass slaughter. The solution includes solidarity with Palestinian people and all others who suffer from injustice, oppression and horrific violence.
Yes, in fact, these people all make perfect sense, and the DNC is rotten to the core. But I did want to test what percentage of angry email writers read headlines only, and what percentage dislike satire more than genocide. Ill let you know the results.
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