Being a shill for the Israeli apartheid regime is the LEAST "maverick" thing you can possibly do in American politics.
To break with the left to join everyone else in enabling genocide isn't a brave and principled stand. It's ignorance at best, but more likely morally bankrupt cowardice.
Go home NBC, you're drunk on neoliberal gaslighting. Again.
Morally bankrupt, fiscally wealthy
Yeah, that's usually how it be in Congress 😮💨
Politician uses leftists to get elected, immediately backs off leftism once in office.
"Maverick" my ass. This isn't a break from the left, it is a stomping down of the coalition that already had to fight tooth and nail against the Democratic Party pushing Conor Lamb.
A mAvEriCk SiDe
he's not some sort of independent thinker charting his own way through the murky waters of american politics, he's bought and paid for with a quarter million dollars of Israeli lobbyist money. I used to believe in Fetterman. I walked picket lines with him in Pittsburgh. I campaigned to help him and Tom Wolf into the governor's mansion in PA. I see this as a betrayal and he'll get neither a vote nor a kind word from me for the rest of his career.
Wait, so you agree with him so much on most issues that you campaigned for him, but disagree with him on a couple of difficult hot-button issues, and so you will never have another kind word for him? This kind of hyper-polarization from one extreme of support to complete vilification is what is wrong with American politics. Politics equals compromise, not going balls-out to completely crush anyone who is slightly further left or right of your position.
Yep, I'm a single issue voter when it comes to genocide.
Believe it or not, a person can be a supporter of Israel without being in favour of killing babies. Israel is an entire country full of different people and opinions. Just like the USA and every other country.
a person can be a supporter of Israel without being in favour of killing babies
maybe you can be, but he's not. he's got a quarter million dollars of AIPAC money in his pocket and he doesn't give a fuck who the IDF kills or why, he's gonna do everything he can to send them more of MY money.
Well, I assume you have met him so you know him better than I do. I would have to defer to your judgment if you really believe he is that kind of guy. I mean he would have to be a very evil person if he genuinely does not care how many people the IDF kills.
Do you think he has changed since you campaigned for him, or was he always a wolf in sheep's clothing? Or is he just prioritizing the needs of his constituents and fellow members of the working class over those of foreigners? Or is he saying that he supports Israel overall in the big picture, and is willing to give Israel wide latitude for a short period of time to deal with Hamas, even if it means many civilian deaths?
What happened to you, Fetterman. You used to be cool.
It's unsurprising, especially since even legitimate leftists often balk at immigration due to the rampant myths around it. Still an obvious and better choice than Oz, or any Republican, and important blueprint for outreach to actual moderates.
God only knows how he can support Israel on moral grounds while being in a position where he has access and time to study the issue, though. Pre-existing biases, one supposes.
The Philly suburbs have a pretty influential Jewish population. Nothing like NYC, of course, but they're politically active and probably donate a lot of money.
But Fetterman has also tried very hard to listen to everyone in the state. He did a tour of all of the counties - even blood red places like Clearfield and Perry - to get people's impressions on marijuana legalization. It's one thing I respect him for.
Sadly, I disagree with most of my fellow state citizens on this issue so I have to go along with the majority and watch children die.
Yay democracy.
The Philly suburbs have a pretty influential Jewish population. Nothing like NYC, of course, but they’re politically active and probably donate a lot of money.
I would very much like to think that "Jewish" and "supportive of Israel's genocidal tactics" are much less synonymous than this comment assumes.
American Jews, in fact, are more likely to be friendly to the cause of Palestinian independence and dignity than the general American population.
Considering how many evangelical Christians are Zionists because they want to trigger the End Times and get Raptured, that doesn't surprise me at all.
Yes, and thank you for mentioning that. A lot of my friends from high school are Jewish and they taught me that it was possible to be anti-Zionist and not antisemitic. They would hate being lumped in with those who support these actions, at least a few of them.
Typical neoliberal scumbag. Buddy up to the left to get elected then as soon as you're on the inside and have the power to actually chnge something, unleash your inner cliche villain and start loudly supporting the worst things you possibly can.
And I was beginning to wonder how dense the one who stated the following about Fetterman
When he said he was 100% for Israel and I saw he took AIPAC and other money from Israeli lobbies and said he was not a progressive my support ended. He lied to us. I hope to vote for a progressive opponent in his next primary.
Whoops! No re-election for you!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is breaking with progressives on hot-button issues with his fiery support for Israel and calls for Democrats to engage on tougher immigration laws, disappointing some on the left as he shows an independent streak.
Fetterman insisted he can be pro-immigration while also favoring policies to restrict the flow of migration to manageable levels, disagreeing with progressives who oppose new limits on asylum and bash some of the ideas in the negotiations as cruel.
The senator added that while it’s “not ideal to have this conversation” about asylum and parole policy in connection with an aid package for Israel and Ukraine, “it’s still one that we should have,” given that Republicans have made it an essential condition to advance the supplemental bill.
Fetterman’s fierce and unwavering support for Israel breaks sharply with demands by Sanders to withdraw U.S. military aid and has drawn searing criticism from the left as the Palestinian death toll soars amid the Israeli government’s bombing campaign in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
“For a lot of Republicans, it’s been a pleasant surprise,” said Christopher Nicholas, a longtime GOP strategist based in Pennsylvania, referring to Fetterman’s stances on Israel, border policy and Menendez.
Fetterman chief of staff Adam Jentleson said the senator has “always had” the policy positions he’s espousing today, even though Republicans wanted to paint him as a socialist in 2022 and “some folks on the left are pretending” he has since changed his beliefs.
The original article contains 1,044 words, the summary contains 247 words. Saved 76%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Ah, so "maverick" is just newspaper-speak for "contrarian asshole." This explains Palin.
Having a conversation about immigration isn’t a bad thing. Going in to that conversation looking to shove your view points down the others side throat IS a bad thing.
The reality is that we need immigrants to fill a ton of holes in our workforce but we also need to fix the system to allow legal immigration to be an easier process and to try to stem the tide of illegal immigration.
I don’t have the answers, but I know the problems exist and there are much smarter people who could help get ideas moving if the ideologues would get out of the way.
Yeah, most people against illegal immigration have no idea how arduous and expensive the process actually is. It's not as simple as going to the border and saying, "One greencard please."
I'm against illegal immigration, but the solution I'd like to see is a more streamlined process so people wouldn't need to pay coyotes to smuggle them across with no guarantee they'd even survive the trip.
If they want to come be productive members of society, why stop them?
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