All of that said, I’ve learned this week about one Democratic woman in particular whom I would be excited to have a chance to vote for. Not because she’s a woman, but because she’s a rational human being. And in today’s political environment, that really stands out.
I urge you to go listen to this episode of The Daily from earlier this week.
Here’s the text intro that accompanies it:
The Freshmen: Mikie Sherrill
An outspoken progressive wing in the House has seized the country’s attention. But the path to power for Democrats may depend on moderates, who have a very different vision for the party. Meet one of them.
I don’t know where they get that “may” in “may depend on moderates.” It does depend on moderates, period. What’s more, the fate of the country depends on them, not the members of the “look at me” crowd who get all the coverage normally.
From the Democratic perspective, the moderates are the reason, and the only reason, that the party currently holds power in the House. AOC replaced a Democrat. AOC’s district will continue to be Democratic, but Mikie Sherrill replaced a Republican, and she will only continue to hold her seat if she serves the way both Democrats and Republicans in her district want her to do. And if she and others like her don’t hold onto their seats, not only will the Dems lose their majority, but the country will spin ever faster out into partisan extremes.
Rep. Sherrill may only be a freshman, but she was already an accomplished person before she was elected — unlike some other people who get more attention. She’s a former United States Navy helicopter pilot, and a former federal prosecutor. She’s been places and done things, worthwhile things, things to serve her country.
On the day that Barr was releasing the Mueller report and other Dems were in Washington polishing their reactions, Rep. Sherrill was in her New Jersey district meeting about something her constituents all care about: traffic. A lot of them commute into New York, you see, and the trains are in bad enough shape that a lot of them are forced to drive.
She is almost completely focused on issues that all her constituents care about, regardless of their political affiliation. She concentrates on what unites us rather than dividing us. Which, you know, is what all officeholders should do.
I’m not going to recite all the sensible things she has to say — I want you to go listen to the podcast yourself. And what I want you to listen for is what I heard throughout the episode: The voice of a grownup. Of a grownup saying rational things.
It’s refreshing. I wish I could vote for her. In any case, everyone should hear this voice, and what it says, and realize that there are people like this out there serving their country, and that you don’t have to choose between Trumpism and “democratic socialism.”
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Impressive resume. Love the fact she was a helicopter pilot. Dang. That’s tough.
But of course, Trump has again succeeded in drawing everyone’s attention to members of the irrelevant “Squad”…
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/world/middleeast/trump-israel-omar-tlaib.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
You know, if I were the paranoid, easily-deluded type — the type who would vote for a Donald Trump — right now I’d be subscribing to a conspiracy theory.
And it would be this: That the news media in this country are all working for Trump, doing their best to get him re-elected.
From the exaggerated coverage of every little slip-up that Joe Biden utters to this incredible willingness to act like the Squad are THE story in American politics at the moment, they are going out of their way to push narratives that help Trump.
Something like this Israeli thing — this completely unnecessary conflict over nothing — helps Trump, and it helps the Squad because they’re all about the attention. But it hurts the country… Actually, the “countries,” plural. Because it’s not great for Israel, either.
In a normal world run by grownups, they would have gone on their junket, and come back with pictures and anecdotes (no doubt painting Israel as a bully) to share with their friends, and the rest of us would have ignored them…
I wish I could wave a wand that would magically ensure that Mikie Sherrill and members like her automatically get exactly as much coverage as AOC and the gang. (Actually, MORE coverage, since they are far more representative of the Democratic House majority — are in fact the REASON such a majority exists.)
It would do a great deal to restore sanity to our country…
Agree.
Fox won’t even mention her because she is non controversial , has a military background and is a Democrat. Same reason they won’t even interview Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
MSNBC and CNN isn’t interested because she doesn’t say crazy things and is competent.
Congresswoman Sherrill is a welcome addition to the Democratic side of the aisle. The Democratic party is a big tent and is always eager to bring in new members with plans big and small. Sherrill is pushing infrastructure, which seems to be popular across party lines. A couple other freshmen who are quietly working for their constituents interests – Katie Porter and South Carolina’s own Joe Cunningham. Porter’s focus is on accountability in the banking and financial sector. She is bright and at 45 years of age very knowledgeable in this area. She’s shown in public hearings with bank CEOs that she can hold her own and then some to ensure the interests of bank customers. Cunningham’s focus is on the environment, particularly the coastal environment. He too has shown a willingness to work hard for his constituents to keep the beaches of South Carolina clean and also protect ocean wildlife from destructive oil exploration practices. Bravo to the freshman class of the United States congress!
Bud and I have been arguing with each other a lot lately, and I get the sense that he’s getting pretty fed up with me.
And because of that, I regret that I neglected to give a big thumbs-up to this comment of his a couple of weeks ago.
YES!