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I fear that my senator is falling into a "bipartisanship" trap [1]

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Date: 2022-07-31

Let me start by saying that I have supported and contributed to both of Raphael Warnock’s campaigns, and sincerely pray that he is reelected. However, I have serious reservations about what I learned in this article, not because I do not want him to work across the aisle when there is good reason to do so and a chance that something good will come of it, but because I understand that “bipartisan” is a code word for giving up things that Democrats believe in. Using it as an election theme has only been a loser for Democrats in Georgia over the past two decades, and it is a trap that tassel-loafer election consultants here just love to lead their clients straight into.

I have a genuine question for anyone who might read this story: have you or any Democrat you might know ever voted for a Democratic candidate purely or even partially on the basis that they promised to “work with Republicans?” Do you think any Republican alive has ever voted for a Democratic candidate on that basis, regardless of how wretched the Republican in the race was?

I have years of experience listening to Georgia Democratic Party officials saying that it is imperative for our candidates to “move right” and avoid being called a liberal. In all that time I have never seen a Republican fail to attack every Democratic candidate as a liberal, including Senator Sam Nunn, who was anything but a liberal.

While it may get Senator Warnock a few favorable mentions in outlets like Politico, I do not believe campaigning on being “bipartisan” is going to do anything but gloss over Herschel Walker’s obvious and consistently-demonstrated faults and blur the distinction between the parties. It’s a snipe hunt in the never-ending obsession with “swing voters” that has killed so many Democratic campaigns in my state.

Bipartisanship is a means to an end, not a goal in itself. If we had two rational parties, anything manifestly good for the country (like, say, voting to take care of veterans) would be “bipartisan” by its very nature. As it stands, the term is only blared out in the press when Democrats control vital parts of the government, and goes out the window like a burned casserole when Republicans are in charge. Warnock has a great chance if he doesn’t let some consultant who gets paid whether he wins or loses tell him to blow it.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/31/2113686/-I-fear-that-my-senator-is-falling-into-a-biaprtisanship-trap

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