uncommitted

As Outrage Over Gaza Grows, Biden Hides From Protests Amid High-Stakes Election

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Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Members of the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace join others in protesting President Joe Biden’s visit to New York due to his continued support for Israel on February 7, 2024.  (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“A Democratic campaign that is scared of college campuses is not a campaign that can win given today’s coalitions,” said one journalist.

Public opposition to U.S. President Joe Biden’s support for Israel pushed more than 100,000 primary voters in the key state of Michigan this week to vote “uncommitted” instead of backing him, but while the Biden campaign brushed the protest votes off with promises to “listen to what folks’ concerns are,” the president is reportedly intent on avoiding contact with pro-Palestinian constituents as much as possible.

As NBC News reported Friday, Biden’s campaign is considering hiring a private firm to vet attendees of a major upcoming fundraiser in New York in order to “weed out potential protesters.”

The fundraiser is one of several campaign events that the Biden team has planned with a new level of secrecy following protests that disrupted speeches he gave earlier this year.

According to NBC, the event will likely be held at Radio City Music Hall, but the campaign hasn’t confirmed the location and has only publicized the date—March 28.

The campaign also kept the location of Biden’s recent event in Culver City, California under wraps beforehand, and Biden opted to announced a $1.2 billion student loan forgiveness program in front of a small group at a public library there instead of speaking about the issue at a college campus.

Campuses are among the places that have become hotbeds of pro-Palestinian activism in recent months, but Intercept journalist Ryan Grim said that avoiding the youngest voters—who helped secure Biden’s victory in 2020—is no way for the president to win in November.

“To avoid protests against Biden’s support for Israel’s carnage in Gaza, the Biden campaign is among other things avoiding college campuses. Yes, you read that right: HE’S AVOIDING YOUNG PEOPLE. He is literally hiding from his base,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

The campaign told NBC News that “larger-scale events” are planned in the coming weeks, “including on college campuses,” but critics on social media said the report raises larger concerns about the president’s ability to gather the support he needs as the U.S. continues to shield Israel from accountability for its indiscriminate killing of more than 30,000 people in Gaza in less than five months.

“Having a foreign policy so unpopular that you must avoid large crowds is definitely totally fine and not a problem for a presidential candidate,” Beth Miller, political director for Jewish Voice for Peace, said sarcastically.

While Biden has faced fewer protests at events in the past five weeks, since the campaign implemented the new strategy after demonstrators disrupted a speech he gave on abortion rights in Virginia several times, one ally of the president told NBC that the secrecy and smaller events are a risk he is taking.

“The downside is that means he doesn’t reach as many voters,” the person told NBC. “The point is to reach as many voters as you can, and those small events don’t.”

The campaign’s strategy is the latest sign that Biden’s “Israel stubbornness continues to trump even his seeming top goal: reelection,” said HuffPost senior diplomatic correspondent Akbar Shahid Ahmed.

The report came a day after journalist Mehdi Hasan appeared on CNN and expressed shock that Biden has continued to support Israel despite mounting evidence not only that the country is targeting civilians instead of Hamas, but also that the issue is increasingly a political liability for him, with more than three-quarters of Democrats calling for a permanent cease-fire.

“Joe Biden has rightly said for the last few years that [former President] Donald Trump poses an existential threat to our democracy,” said Hasan. “The idea that he would risk not only his own presidency, but the future of American democracy for the sake of [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and [National Security Minister] Itamar Ben-Gvir and [Finance Minister] Bezalel Smotrich and the rest of the fascists in Israel is bizarre and inexplicable to me.”

Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

dizzy: Suggest that it is wise to have contingencies in place for neither Trump nor Biden being presidential candidates.

Continue ReadingAs Outrage Over Gaza Grows, Biden Hides From Protests Amid High-Stakes Election

‘We Need Joe Biden to Listen’: 100,000+ Michigan Primary Voters Mark Uncommitted

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Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A supporter of the “Listen to Michigan” campaign places a sign on the podium during an election night watch party in Dearborn, Michigan on February 27, 2024. (Photo: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

The results “represent a historic inflection point for creating a Democratic Party that aligns with the majority of its voters who want a cease-fire,” said one organizer.

More than 100,900 Michigan voters marked “uncommitted” on their ballots during the swing state’s Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, a signal to President Joe Biden that his continued support for Israel’s war on Gaza is angering key elements of his base and potentially threatening his reelection chances.

Leaders and supporters of the Listen to Michigan campaign made clear that their goal was not to harm Biden’s general election prospects, but rather to convince him to change course on Gaza, where the U.S.-armed Israeli military has killed nearly 30,000 people in less than five months.

In 2020, Biden defeated former President Donald Trump—his likely general election opponent in November—by 150,000 votes, and Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton four years earlier by roughly 11,000 votes.

“We need Joe Biden to listen to the voice of Michiganders,” Layla Elabed, campaign manager for Listen to Michigan and the sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), told reporters late Tuesday. “Listen to the voice of his core constituents and demand a permanent cease-fire now and the ending of this unconditional, unchecked funding to Israel.”

Biden handily won Michigan’s primary on Tuesday with just over 81% of the vote. But “uncommitted” garnered the support of over 13% of primary voters, beating Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and far surpassing organizers’ expectations. By comparison, fewer than 20,000 Michigan voters chose “uncommitted” in the 2020 Democratic primary.

In Hamtramck and Dearborn—cities with strong Arab American and Muslim populations—the incumbent Democratic president lost to “uncommitted” by significant margins on Tuesday. Many Michigan residents have lost family members to Israel’s war on Gaza, which the Biden administration has fueled with weapons and diplomatic support.

“Tens of thousands of Michigan Democrats, many of whom voted for Biden in 2020, are uncommitted to his reelection due to the war in Gaza,” the Listen to Michigan campaign wrote on social media. “President Biden has funded the bombs falling on the family members of people who live right here in Michigan. People who voted for him, who now feel completely betrayed. President Biden, listen to Michigan. Count us out, Joe.”

“Count Michigan uncommitted for funding of war and genocide in Gaza,” the campaign continued. “While we’ve noticed a small shift in language from Biden as a direct result of this campaign’s pressure, we know that his words are not enough. This isn’t a messaging problem, this is a funding bombs problem.”

Stressing that “we don’t want a Trump presidency,” the campaign said Biden “has put [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu ahead of American democracy.”

“The only way to achieve freedom and justice for Palestinians surviving a genocide is through an immediate and permanent cease-fire. The only way to ensure the safe return of all hostages and prisoners is through an immediate and permanent cease-fire,” Listen to Michigan continued. “Our delegation plans to hold the Democratic nominee accountable to our community’s anti-war agenda at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. See you there.”

“Quite frankly, none of us want Trump to win, which is exactly why we’re doing this.”

Organizers said late Tuesday that they expect “uncommitted” to receive at least one delegate to the Democratic convention. The New York Times noted that “under Michigan’s Democratic primary rules, candidates can receive delegates by earning at least 15% of the vote in a specific congressional district.”

In a statement on the primary results, Biden thanked “every Michigander who made their voice heard today” but did not specifically acknowledge the “uncommitted” campaign, which faced last-minute attacks from a billionaire-funded AIPAC ally that is also working to unseat progressive Democratic lawmakers who have backed a cease-fire in Gaza.

A survey released Tuesday by Data for Progress found that 57% of likely U.S. voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict and 67%—including 77% of Democrats—support a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.

Elabed said Tuesday that the primary results “represent a historic inflection point for creating a Democratic Party that aligns with the majority of its voters who want a cease-fire and end to unrestricted weapons funding for Israel’s war and occupation against the Palestinian people.”

Gaby Santiago-Romero, a member of the Detroit City Council and supporter of the Listen to Michigan campaign, told the Times that “we are no longer in a position to beg Democrats to listen to us.”

“Quite frankly, none of us want Trump to win, which is exactly why we’re doing this,” said Santiago-Romero. “This is the only way we can raise a flag to Democrats that you are going to lose unless you call for an ultimate cease-fire.”

Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

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Continue Reading‘We Need Joe Biden to Listen’: 100,000+ Michigan Primary Voters Mark Uncommitted