During negotiations with the DNC and the Harris campaign, we were repeatedly told by interlocutors that Harris couldn’t meet any of our basic requests (a policy shift from Biden, a Palestinian speaker at the DNC, a statement distinguishing herself from Trump on Israel, or even a meeting with Michigan families who lost loved ones to Israeli bombs) because of AIPAC-aligned politicians like Fetterman, who might take to TV, rile up suburban white and Jewish voters, and fracture the party’s coalition in a swing state.
That political calculus alienated a key voting bloc, although likely not large enough to have shifted the ultimate election outcomes, that should be part of a durable Democratic majority. But few will ever be held accountable for that choice.
A Fetterman staffer condemning Uncommitted for not advocating for Palestinians ‘the right way’ is like an arsonist scolding the fire department for using the wrong hose.
The leftist spectrum includes liberals, ultraliberals, and radicals. You are trying to redefine the word “leftist” to mean “radical” because the word “radical” sounds bad to many people. Radicals should just own the word “radical” but are too afraid too.
The very same problem occurs on the rightist spectrum of conservatives, archconservatives, and reactionaries. Reactionaries don’t want to be called that because it sounds bad so they always pretend to be “conservatives” even though there is a clear difference in the definitions.
Leftist means left-wing politics, which means anti-capitalism. Liberals are not anti-capitalist in any sense, hence they cannot be left, they are on the right, which is capitalist politics. Leftism would include leftists like socialist, communists, anarchists, socdems and even revisionists that might that believe that socialism is the path to go, but through electoral reforms. Liberals, support capitalism, and they CANNOT be on the left.