Emissary Of Night | ليلى: And beyond that bloc, J-Street has cultivated somewhere between 40-80 Democrats who are willing to pretend Israel is not an apartheid state but who are nonetheless meaningfully critical of the occupation and want to see a policy change of some kind. AIPAC has undeniably lost influence.

I don't really see a good reason to think Bowman will win, but it's striking that they can't even wait until he actually loses to write the left-punching political obituaries

Rep. Bowman's downfall isn't just about Gaza or AIPAC's cash flood. It's about voting against infrastructure, aligning with fringe groups, and forgetting that real politics needs more than just fiery rhetoric.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman's base eats itself, and that could cost him his seatwww.dailykos.com If polls are to be believed, as well as vibes by those in the district, New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman will lose Tuesday in a Democratic primary race framed around the war in Gaza, following AIPAC’s unpr...

What doomed Bowman? Was it the $15M in money that was dumped into his district by the pro-Netanyahu lobby that bought hundreds of ads and a deluge of mailers? Or was it a handful of activists who booed AOC? Opinions differ!

The underlying argument Kos makes isn't even wrong, but he has to dishonestly attribute actions and views to Bowman that Bowman doesn't hold, conflating some extremist pro-Palestinian protesters with Bowman himself, using Bowman's presumed defeat as evidence bsky.app/profile/drin...

amazing what the daily kos was seen as or represented in like 2005 vs what it is today

Idk it seems like to a great degree "the left" has been very supportive of Bowman. Kos's evidence that's not the case is fundraising numbers, but why a Dem on Dem primary fight is seen as a sensible investment of money for *anyone* is kinda suspect! bsky.app/profile/thew...

Yeah - I do think there's at least something to "Bowman put himself on the line for Palestine in Congress, and it's bad that some Palestinian activist groups don't have his back" but it's not enough to be decisive in an election.

Even if Bowman pulls out a miracle victory, AIPAC's point will have been made. If you oppose Netanyahu, they will parachute into any race and flood it with money and much of the Dem establishment will stand idly by or even side with AIPAC against you (as Hillary Clinton did) bsky.app/profile/onet...

and this is only going to embolden AIPAC and do the opposite to any principled politicians who don’t want a genocide done with our money.

this... is very much not the 2024 experience, though? AIPAC only targeted two D incumbents.

I once again think people are missing forest for the trees, the fact that AIPAC has had to try and make bids against Democrats at all, and that AIPAC spends openly in races now in of itself, is indicative of the waning, not growing, influence of the lobby.

I agree--but I think that a big victory is going to turn that around for them; now they'll be seen as kingmakers (obviously they've failed pathetically 9/10 times but it's the narrative that matters).

I doubt it, narratively speaking just 10 years ago there was not one Democrat in Congress willing to say that Israel is an apartheid state and now there are anywhere between 4 and 10 at any given moment. A small bloc for now but if their goal is to reverse this entirely it won't happen.

And beyond that bloc, J-Street has cultivated somewhere between 40-80 Democrats who are willing to pretend Israel is not an apartheid state but who are nonetheless meaningfully critical of the occupation and want to see a policy change of some kind. AIPAC has undeniably lost influence.

I do still fear the perception among Dem elites that AIPAC is powerful and not worth crossing, encouraging them to pass more legislation like the "antisemitism" bill--as a Jew the idea of a bunch of protestants being able to decide the definition of antisemitism is more than a little scary.

conflict is the sign of progress after living under a sovereign evil for so long

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