Senator Dianne Feinstein, one of the most liberal Democratic members in the U.S. Senate, just isn’t liberal enough for the crazy wing of the party.
At the Democrats’ state convention, Feinstein failed to receive the endorsement of the party — a snub that shows just how far left the party has lurched just since the 2016 election.
Riven by conflict between progressive and more moderate forces at the state party’s annual convention here, delegates favored Feinstein’s progressive rival, state Senate leader Kevin de León, over Feinstein by a vote of 54 percent to 37 percent, according to results announced Sunday.
Neither candidate reached the 60 percent threshold required to receive the party endorsement for 2018. But the snubbing of Feinstein led de León to claim a victory for his struggling campaign.
“The outcome of today’s endorsement vote is an astounding rejection of politics as usual, and it boosts our campaign’s momentum as we all stand shoulder-to-shoulder against a complacent status quo,” de León said in a prepared statement. “California Democrats are hungry for new leadership that will fight for California values from the front lines, not equivocate on the sidelines.”
A centrist Democrat, Feinstein has long maintained an uneasy relationship with activists who dominate state party conventions, and the vote this weekend — while embarrassing — was not unexpected. The result followed two days of lobbying by the candidates in convention speeches and throughout the convention halls.
The five-term former mayor of San Francisco used to be thought of as a “liberal’s liberal.” But today, the crazies prefer their candidates to the left of Vladimir Lenin. Her opponent, Kevin de León, president of the California Senate, sounds more like the kind of candidate the wild eyed left can get behind. He has stated that “half of my family” is residing in the United States illegally. He has proposed confiscatory gun control legislation, and was the author of the notorious “affirmative consent” law that denies male college students an affirmative defense (women are always to be believed).
The same sorts of crazies are at work trying to deny Illinois Congressman Dan Lipinski another term by running a crazy woman beholden to the SEIU against him in the primary. All across the country at every level, the Bernie Sanders revolution is taking the Democratic Party to electoral hell.
If they can go after a Dianne Feinstein and a Dan Lipinski, who in the Democratic Party is safe?
De Leon may still be able to win in California despite his radical record, but almost everywhere else, the radicals will be up against more rational, reasonable candidates in swing districts or deep red districts. How will they fare?
National Dems are counting on Trump hatred and ginning up hysterical fears about Republicans to sweep to victory in November. Is that enough? It’s a long way to the midterms and anything can happen, but there would be no historical precedent for it. We’ve heard it a million times: people vote their interests. Even in today’s polarized, ideological struggles, activists will only get you so far. Ordinary voters who are not ideologically extreme or overly partisan will still decide the races.
And no matter how many dresses they try and stick on pigs, the radical liberal agenda will not play in a majority of districts.
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