I'm in the age cohort of Connelly. What the hell are they all thinking? It's a demonstration of a flat learning curve! The low hanging fruit of septuagenarian wisdom is to pass the baton to the next generation. (we're useful in many other ways by the way)
you want to alienate young voters keep acting like they don’t exist, my kids while liberal in their views feel completely ignored by the democratic party, they joke about the oldsters in power wondering if they can efficiently use an app on their phones
Wasn’t Connelly the one who brought a bucket of chicken or something to one of the impeachment hearings? To call witnesses chickens I guess. It was infuriating to me, that was SERIOUS and they’re doing dumb unfunny stupid stunts.
AOC wouldn’t do stupid theatrics. She knows why she’s there.
Pelosi has to GO!!! She is a shit disturber and is focused on her personal gains. Check her stock transactions. How much money does she and for that matter ALL politicians need. There needs to be a law limiting the money ALL politicians can earn while in office above their salary!!!
That photo is so very layered, their positioning, the naked fear/suspicion/envy on Pelosi’s face, the lighting difference. Perfect illustration to accompany this excellent piece
The brutal, simple fact here is that no one has heard of Connolly. In this media environment that is a gross negative. If you cannot get attention you cannot effectively deliver a message. Period.
We need to withhold $ from the entire party until they put up a fight. When it comes to contesting Trump's legitimacy—the most urgent issue in U.S. politics right now—even AOC and her fellow progressives are doing far too little. It's got to change and it's going to change.
Honestly, what AOC shows about how different she is from normal Dems; she's had two high profile committee defeats for her career so far, but voters see she cares and keeps trying.
I retired two years ago in large part because I RECOGNIZED MY TIME WAS OVER !! Especially in my ability to communicate with the younger colleagues I was supposed to be leading. Discernment is important.
Very few people, even when it becomes obvious to everyone around them, can bring themselves to the reckoning that it it’s time for them to give up their drivers license.
This is a completely insane take on Gerry Connolly but I guess it will get a lot of reposts on here. Greetings in advance to everyone who chimes in to tell me what a shill/idiot/sellout I am but Gerry Connolly knows how to fight Trump and has done it adeptly including leading up to the 2018 midterm
No, he was voted into office by the voters & people shld maybe take ownership of l-& examine that- instead of continuing to elevate politicians to saints or potential saviors
He will be taking on the leadership of the committee while undergoing chemotherapy and immunotherapy (most often used in advanced cancers). Esophageal cancer is often only detected at more advanced stages.
The thing for me is it shows that Dems think they don’t have a gerontocracy problem. This doesn’t even get into the fact that I’m not sure the party is taking its issues with Latino voters seriously enough considering they passed over a 35 year old Latino woman who’s excellent at communicating.
His record on the committee is actually very good and he’s a ranking member (that matters) but nobody wants to hear that & wld rather get mad if you say or so just be mad abt everything like committee assignments instead of mobilizing abt actual legislation
She’s a lightening rod for RW bs yet people still want to sit on a high horse of reactionary & mad about everything & claim it wld be the correct politics when it may very well be the case that a putting a junior member who will rank low on a key committee is not good politics
He has fucking cancer. If absolutely nothing else, I'd like to have someone on the GODDAMN OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE, OUT OF ALL OF THEM JESUS CHRIST that has fighting back against fascism as their #1 priority, not trying to survive cancer. I wish him the best, but not while trying to do both at once.
I had a lot of faith in these old lions back in 2019, in part because in 2007, their equivalents (Waxman, Miller, et al) did a good job. Since Trump came along, fealty to Dem leadership has correlated with anemic oversight, even by senior members who want to fight harder.
Waxman was old-style establishment. Fought against progressives a lot on the ground (In LA, the Waxman-Berman machine was integral to the local Dem establishment) but had killer staff who knew what they were doing fighting GOP in DC. Their 2003 report re Bush politicizing science was legendary.
I have much more faith that AOC would be an independent and ambitious chair of that committee in 2026 than in 76 year old Connolly, under the thumb of the leadership.
Well aware of your beef with our leadership but this feels Ahab-like to me, that take has nothing to do with him. He isn't "frightened" of replacement, even a slightly fair review of his work on the committee during and after Trump would recognize that the guy is a fighter through and through
I appreciate that you admire Connolly. I have no particular beef with him. It’s the machine that’s making me (and many others) so disconsolate. Here was an opportunity to say ‘we recognize our formula isn’t working and we’ll try something new and refreshing.’ And they actively fought against it.
Great, a septuagenarian with cancer to lead the charge.
Reminds me of Dec. 2019 when Democrats in the House had finally reached the stage to announce the first articles of impeachment and Pelosi delivered the news while sounding awful with a cold.
As to Connolly, I agree he’s pugnacious on the rostrum. But even if he weren’t old and sick, a) he lacks AOC’s reach and understanding of how to reach people, and b) I’ve seen this over and over. Pelosi handcuffed similarly pugnacious senior Dems. Some of them have written books about it…
And the notion that Dems are letting the old guard hang on and holding back the next generation is just empirically false. House Dems replaced their entire leadership team two years ago. They replaced the senior ranking members on several committees, including Judiciary and Agriculture, this year.
The guy they just voted in over AOC is 74 years old and has throat cancer, what the hell are we doing here?how in gods name can any of you defend it. Oh, I know, your wealthy old dems who see no problem with the direction of the party, which is why it lost the pop votes for the 1st time in 20 yrs.
There's a boatload of Democratic septuagenarians in Congress, and there must be talented younger folks in some of those districts/states. Train up new generations or wither on the vine.
Better than AOC? What's your reasoning? Let me guess: "she's not experienced enough." Please explain why an old white man is AGAIN (and again and again and again and again and..)the best choice to fight for an American populace that is far, far younger than Connolly?
So excited for Connolly to start missing key votes because he can’t travel due to health issues. Give the job to someone with a stake in the future. Enough with the fossils.
Kudos to @aoc.bsky.social for realizing that she can win a race without insulting her worthy opponent for being old. She is a force. More younger people should follow her lead-do the work, learn from elders, step up. No whining from the sidelines. Congrats AOC.
Just the perfect distillation of the current state of the Democrats. Give critical important positions to 74 year old white male centrists with cancer because the geriatric leadership rewards besties vs rewarding effectiveness.
Hope you're right, but it's been six years since then and Connolly is now 74 with a cancer diagnosis. House and Senate Dem lethargy and inaction has been a big problem and this doesn't dispel those worries.
Seems certain members of the Party learned something from MAGA world…cry and whine when you don’t get what you wanted. Demonize leaders of the Party because you lost. When do they start wearing the red caps?
Are they cowering, or just acting in their own self-interest as very affluent straight white people? I feel like the cowardice narrative overestimates their core beliefs and values.
It feels like we’ve moved beyond the “OK Boomer” stage, to shut the fuck up grandpa/grandma and quit getting in the way with your naps and bullshit, when there is shit to do
People see through the half-measures and empty platitudes about equality and justice that come from the gerontocracy. Their undermining of democracy and progress with their ceaseless self-dealing and clueless navel-gazing has only helped Trump seize total power.
and yet regular Democrats (by which I mean just us voters out here in voterland) saw AOC's run for the leadership as a sign of life in the party. We WANT the party to live.
So you're right, but the yearning for the AOCs isn't wrong.
Yes. I'm old enough (like old) to see this as a positive step forward in her career. Someone said "no one hits the bull's-eye with the first arrow." And I like Connelly, ha.
I just read through your comments, and they're super helpful. I'm remembered that AOC and Connelly are on the same team!
You’re (uncharacteristically) treating the case in point as if it’s the whole critique. The immediate stakes of this specific development are probably low. Medium and longer term are unclear. Dem leadership organizing against all efforts to update the party’s strategic approach is a disaster.
Beat them with their own cynicism is fine. The notion that the caucus would be rallying to aggressively resist if only AOC had sent 25 more members a $2000 check seems like a lot.
Heck, Angie Craig (52! a woman! a lesbian!) just won ranking member of the Agriculture committee, and we all know how important the price of groceries is, and there isn't a single skeet w more than 250 likes mentioning her, and most posts are days old.
Angie voted with the R's to give the IRS the power to nuke 501(c)3s and had to be lobbied heavily to change her vote on the second attempt to pass it.
She's okay, but very centrist and not a boat-rocker.
That's good info, but my larger point is she is new blood -- started in Congress in 2018.
More important, she is from the Midwest: I believe she is the only ranking member from a non-Pacific or Atlantic ocean state. It's not great for Dems that both leaders are from NY. We need to be a big party.
The point exactly. It's 2024 and if you have no megaphone, you have no voice, and your message will not be heard. This may matter far less on the ag committee, but it matters hugely on things like judiciary or oversight.
I can't be surprised, most of them are used to being rich and having power, asking them to stop mainlining one and being satisfied with the other alone is, to their minds a bridge too far.
If justice was real, being pro-genocide would become a toxic liability & AOC crushes Jeffries for Speaker. People focus too much on the White House. We need to replace the Democratic Party & that starts in Congress & the states. Alas, we'll keep riding this same sleigh all the way to hell...
This is just the first shot in the war for the soul of the party. Fresh ideas, a vision of America that actually changes lives for the better, energy to make it happen are needed. It will get worse before it gets better as the old guard clings to power and refuses to change.
Maybe that’s sarcasm, but when people live into their 90’s, 74 can still be vibrant and committed. I get your point, but if the guy can do the job well, don’t just kick
him out. If he gets too sick or passes, he’ll be replaced. Maybe we should trust the members that voted for him, right?
there is a cost to a gerontocracy. even if he was in the best of health the life experience and perspectives of a 74 year old who's been in Congress half his life will be skewed, anachronistic, and ultimately self-defeating. And no, we shouldn't trust compromised losers happy in the minority
This is pure ageism. His colleagues perhaps have a better view than we do. They did replace some other older members, so that’s promising if they think others can do better.
E'rybody trynna be the new RBG. Or Feinstein. Or any of a dozen others. It wasn't just that Joe was too old, he was, but all his younger advisors were already too old.
Comments
At least with the voters.
But feel free to blame Nancy for that fact.
AOC wouldn’t do stupid theatrics. She knows why she’s there.
https://bsky.app/profile/flyingpace.bsky.social/post/3lcyqm2sxxs2n
I retired two years ago in large part because I RECOGNIZED MY TIME WAS OVER !! Especially in my ability to communicate with the younger colleagues I was supposed to be leading. Discernment is important.
2) if Connolly actually knew how to fight Trump then why is Trump the fucking president again
I wish him well.
https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6160
Unlike notorious workhorse Gerry Connolly, I've heard people describe Jim Costa (and this was years ago) as sometimes in outer space.
Reminds me of Dec. 2019 when Democrats in the House had finally reached the stage to announce the first articles of impeachment and Pelosi delivered the news while sounding awful with a cold.
Poor optics at the worst possible moment.
What's preventing her from chairing literally this exact same committee in 2027? (That's when the committee is actually up next.)
She's not being purged from the party. What's going to happen? She'll still be the second -ranking member.
dude does not have much fight left in him.
Out the olds
Dems will lose nationally if they continue to believe they can win without a majority of independents.
" Let's hug it out folks"
"Can't we all just get along"
History will not be kind to them.
In 5 years, no one will care who the Ranking Minority Member of the House Government Oversight Committee was.
Probably true in 5 months, if not days.
So you're right, but the yearning for the AOCs isn't wrong.
The way AOC can engage people in something as dry as that is amazing, and you should be proud of recognizing it and participating!
I just read through your comments, and they're super helpful. I'm remembered that AOC and Connelly are on the same team!
Oversight is important, but not the only cmte
She's okay, but very centrist and not a boat-rocker.
More important, she is from the Midwest: I believe she is the only ranking member from a non-Pacific or Atlantic ocean state. It's not great for Dems that both leaders are from NY. We need to be a big party.
https://bsky.app/profile/governorwalz.mn.gov/post/3ldjmsniof22q
You're engaging in quintessential ageism, that someone is disqualified solely because he's "old."
Should we disqualify AOC because she's young?
Says it all about this decrepit bunch.
him out. If he gets too sick or passes, he’ll be replaced. Maybe we should trust the members that voted for him, right?
🤨