Aggressive Progressives: July 27, 2017

In Aggressive Progressives - On Demand, Membership by ldebruin68 Comments

Jimmy Dore, Stef Zamorano & Steve Oh on this week’s Aggressive Progressives. The trio talk about John McCain’s healthcare vote, mainstream media smear campaigns and Trump’s new reason for staying in Afghanistan.

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  1. I love AP but did we really need Jimmy to re-read some random smear article for an entire third of the show? Ugh.

  2. Thanks for that clarification. I was totally confused as to why they were so angry with McCain because I watched him vote no.

  3. I’m so confused? ? ? I watched McCain vote NO with the thumbs down motion. What vote was this?

  4. I am a Jew and I don’t see criticism of Israel’s policies as antisemitism. In fact, many of the Jews that I know and live with and talk to, do not support some of the policies implemented by the right wing in Israel.

    1. I am of Jewish decent (mother’s side), and I am deeply bothered with Israeli treatment of Palestinians. I think the occupation and apartheid of Palestinians (in Palestinian land) is hurting Israel in the long term. Some of the biggest critics of Israeli foreign policy are from Israel and Jewish. Just look at Haaretz.

      Noam Chomsky formed his idea of an ideal society from living in a Kibbutz in Israel…and he is an enormous critic of Israeli foreign policy. I love this clip of Chomsky, and it applies to Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Z05xyGB0c

      Israel’s domestic policy is probably the best in the Middle East, but it has nothing to do with Israel’s foreign policy.

      1. I am well familiar with Chomsky’s viewpoint on current Israeli-Palestinian dialectics in the region. He often notes current Zionism as the bastardisation of the actual Zionism movement which was based on a coalescing collective peaceful lifestyle in cooperation with the Palestinians. Unfortunately our viewpoint on Israel and its future got hijacked somewhere along the line and we turned out to live in a mess that we are in now – notably depriving millions of Palestinians and left wing Israelis of a chance to live in a peaceful modern society devoid of racism and hatred. Let us hope that future brings us a world in which people can live alongside one another with no prejudices and preconceived notions. I am hopeful. It falls on us to get the word around and do the best we can.

  5. Great, Steve-Oh-Shit-I-Have-No-Business-Being-On-This-Show is back and now I have to fast forward through all his whining. Not an aggressive bone in his body. Go back on holiday, Steve. There was more aggression without you. Thanks.

  6. This Is my first time watching the show. Well, I was listening while working on some coursework, but I found it very fascinating. We as progressives need to pull liberals further our direction. However, it isn’t going to be an easy task, and will probably involve a fair bit of psychology. The Democratic party is like my girlfriend and me’s flatmate: very messy, with some bad habits, but with some coaxing and diplomacy, we’ve gotten him to start doing his fair share of the chores. I know this is overgeneralizing, but it is a possible tactic to use.

  7. Here is a very interesting reporting on Labour’s relationship to Israel showing the ugly face of a media campaign framing Labour leaders and the pro-Palestinians as anti semitic.

    >Officials assist in smearing critics, advising supporters and funding trips to Israel, Al Jazeera investigation reveals.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/thelobby/

    2. Joined cause of this show. Also, donated money to get more people hired for TYT during their fund raiser but I am done with TYT. I’m actually also done with Justice Democrats too-new slogan “A Better Deal”. Nope, can’t deal with that. Going back to Independent Party affiliation. TYT is becoming very similar to corporate media. Would rather spend my money and time elsewhere. Will miss this show but currently supporting J. Dore through his website and other independent news makers via Patreon. Going to cancel before next billing cycle.

      1. Justice Democrats’ new slogan isn’t “A Better Deal”. It’s the establishment/corporatist DNC’s new slogan. Justice Democrats are the exact opposite of the DNC. Obviously you don’t follow politics that closely.

        As far as TYT becoming more like MSM, well I would say in defense of Cenk is that he’s trying to make it more professional than how it was in the old YouTube days when it was a little rough around the edges. He’s trying to get a wider audience of progressive listeners. How it’s NOT like MSM is there’s little advertisement except for TYT shows during their short breaks. Okay, Aspirion (can’t remember how it is spelled) Bank is one outside advertiser. Also he tells you time and again to NOT just take his word for anything and that you can look and research for yourself and form your OWN opinions. MSM never tells you to do that.

        Tonight’s show was very good. Jimmy brought us news about the mineral deal in Afghanistan that I haven’t heard anywhere else. It just goes to reaffirm, once again, that the USA is a colonial power, and that human beings haven’t changed. The same thing happened when Spain invaded Mexico for their minerals and colonized them.

    1. Still weekly. They were off last week. I would assume Jimmy was on vacation. He did mention going to Mexico City at the top of the show.

  12. The article about Corbyn and the Labour Party shows just how easy it is to attack a politician in the press. When we hear attacks on politicians it’s important to withhold judgment until all the facts are in.

    Unfortunately, this segment went out before all the facts were in on McCain. It doesn’t save him from criticism about the years he spent as a Republican helping to screw up the republic. But at least on this he seems to have reserved a vote that (so far) has saved a lot of people’s lives.

    And, as for Franken, you need to keep after him on single payer. He’s one of the people who could have held out for at least a public option in ACA, but didn’t. So, keep hounding him on single payer, and not just him, but the rest of the Democrats. I want them to pledge they will have hearings on single payer when they next take over one of the houses of Congress. And, I want those hearings to include publicly funded healthcare, where all essential health care is paid by the government out of a progressive tax. Just single payer isn’t good enough. It has to come from a progressive tax, because if it comes out of general funds it’s going to be only mildly progressive and then poor people are going to continue to pay for the healthcare of the rich.

    So, demand a hearing on single payer, and demand it include publicly funded healthcare. That’s a completely reasonable request, and it’s a good test of whether Democrats are progressives or just corporatists.

    1. Exactly my thoughts about Jimmy’s premature attack on McCain. The brain surgery probably must have changed his line of thinking a bit. Remember, the same McCain voted yes for all the earlier dumbass repeal efforts.

  13. I think Jimmy, Steph and Steve owe McCain an apology — that is if you believe in intellectual honesty.

    Celan

    1. I disagree. I think anyone who depended on the ACA owe Jimmy, Steph, Steve, all the protesters who showed up on Tuesday , and every other critic online a big THANK YOU. I don’t believe for a second that pointing out McCain’s hypocrisy and priviledge did not give him pause.

      1. hlogan – You make a good point. Let me be the first to say thank you to myself and all the other protesters who showed up on Tuesday. That said, when someone from the other side of the isle does something right for a change, we need to show up too. This is big and LIBERALS should be all over it just as much as they were when he voted no. Go McCain!!!!

  14. When are you going to Sam Seder’s show, Jimmy? Why are you so scared to go there or having him on your show? Afraid he might humiliate you again? Don’t be a coward, Jimmy.

    1. What, are you trying to hustle viewers for Sam?

      Stopped watching him a loooong time ago.
      He’s of the Michael Shure/DNC/Democrat Apologist variety.

      Sam is not worth the time.
      He’s also not very interesting to listen to, he reminds me of Chris Hayes.

  16. How many thought John McCain was going to vote it down. 0 John McCain was talking about regular order in the Senate the voted to proceed. John McCain refused to demand regular order when it came to giving Obama nominee to Supreme Court a hearing. Now after all that we will take his no vote.

  17. I love you guys, but I just can’t watch this anymore. I don’t know if it has always been like this or I’m changing, but it just seems to be about tearing things down lately. I agree with some of it, maybe even most of it, but I’d rather focus on policy and supporting causes. I want to build stuff instead of pointing at people, bitching, and tearing people down. This is all way to cynical for me now.

    2. I know that it can be depressing to watch, there just seems to be a constant stream of bad news, but the media must call the politicians out on their shameless lies. We can’t be nice and we can’t ignore the atrocious decisions elected representatives are making, supposedly on behalf of their constituents. If Jimmy doesn’t say it, who will? The citizens have to know the truth. I like that Jimmy really gives it to them when they deserve it; these elites aren’t used to being challenged and it’s high time that somebody spoke up. Maybe take a break from watching for a little while, Jimmy and the crew will continue fighting the good fight :)

  18. If anyone else said, “I woulda tore that shithole up” in reference to MSNBC I’d think yah whatever. But I believe it when Jimmy says it.

  19. What would I do without Jimmy Fucking Dore and the Aggressive Progressives!

    Thanks to all the crew working on this show!

  20. I will say that painting all liberals in a negative light is very detrimental to the left winning. There are many great liberals, just because they aren’t insanely progressive on all issues, doesn’t mean they are trash. I consider myself somewhere in between a liberal and a progressive. It’s more of a spectrum. Maybe we just have better liberals in Canada, who knows. Progressives need to work with liberals to make progress happen, trust me on that one. Trump is in office for many reasons, one of them is because of progressives that were too proud to step down a peg.

  21. Finally someone calling out John McCain for who he really is. Fuck that man. I don’t give a shit that he voted no on the actual repeal, he could have stopped the nonsense sooner.

  22. All Jews should see that if you want to protect Israel and Israelis from harm, you need to allow for a Palestinian state. Right now the Palestinians are an occupied people, and as long as a people remain occupied they will use whatever means are available to them to be free. That is the course humanity always takes. Occupiers and oppressors will eventually be overthrown, so to save the state of Israel you need to free the Palestinians and give them their own state.

  23. Just to reiterate what others have said because of the importance of this, the first segment of the show is not valid. John McCain only voted yes to allow the debate, that was not a vote on the bill like Jimmy said, that was a procedural vote to allow debate to continue. Then when the vote was held on the actual skinny repeal, McCain voted No!

    1. yah, sort of. We’re all glad McCain voted no on his second chance, but he could have ended it the first chance. Voting left opened a window and didn’t add up with his rhetoric knowing the Republican bill was worse than Ocare. See, he KNEW his vote could shut it down and didn’t.

  24. Stef: “It (the refusal to give We-The-People the Health System we demand) makes no sense, except that it’s tied to economics.”

    This is what it all comes down to.

    Steve Oh: “In that instance, I don’t think it’s that bad that he (Al Franken) didn’t answer her question.”

    That was my thought, immediately. It was such a short question and response, when he was clearly in a rush. It might well be that Franken needs more than a sound bite, to explain where he stands. This is a non-issue. It becomes an issue, if a reporter asks him at a news conference, and he evades the question.

    McCain – totally expected. He couldn’t act any other way. Not in this universe.

  25. Painful watching this after McCain brought the bill down. Feel sorry for Jimmy and Steve! They weren’t to know!

  26. Sorry folks, did I miss something ? I live in Arizona and I have both he and the “flake” on speed dial…THEY BOTH SUCK! Ok, now that I got that off my chest: I agree with Cenk and Jimmy and I will NOT call his office and apologize (for all my hateful troll calls) until I see his name on a single-payer- medicare- for- ALL- Bill. Until then, this is a a charade…He dragged his corporatist/capitalist ass to DC to vote to KILL Obama care…We haven’t yet seen what they will replace it with…He is still fucked until further notice!

    1. I’ll double down on that, I live in Tucson. They are both a disgrace to humanity. I emailed McCain’s sorry ass on the day he whisked himself back to DC and voted YES to keep it alive….. and I emailed again today after his personal grandstand to thank him for said grandstanding, and added that since he is suddenly considering LIFE over DEATH on a domestic issue, maybe he would now spread that love to voting down money and arms to the Saudis/terrorists and end his support for the murderous never-ending war? LOL! McCain is political scum no matter how you slice or dice it–never any need at all to feel bad about letting him know that at every legislative opportunity.

  27. If only Al Gore was for Single-payer when he was running for office and actually had real power. It might as well be Hillary Clinton coming out and saying she’s for single-payer now. Like what’s even the point? Go back into hiding, you have no power and we don’t need you.

    1. The insurance crisis was not visible at the time (largely because it affected minorities since whites who were not insured chose to be so because the unemployment rate for them was below 3.5%) even though the number of uninsured was higher than now.

      It was the de-industrialization during the Bush era (a net of 5 million manufacturing jobs lost almost exclusively in the so called “middle America”) that pulverized the insurance market and brought healthcare to the forefront by 2008.

      The ACA was always meant to be the start of something bigger (it allowed the HHS to dramatically expand its staff and budget and establish the management structures necessary to begin more expansion), but the loss of 2010 ended all hopes.

  28. Can’t wait to hear what Malcolm will say in his “Have A Shitty Birthday” segment on McCain – or Dave Muller on the obituary (which won’t be for awhile we hope)

  31. Jimmy, love you, but you and Cenk make the same mistake about McCain. His yes vote was on procedure, in order to allow discussion and votes on contents of bills. Since then, he has voted no on the bills themselves.

    I have a ton of grievances against John McCain. That said, there’s enough genuine factual material to skewer him on. Nothing good is accomplished by deliberately misinterpreting his procedural vote into something it was not.

    1. True, but he could have killed the debate with a “no” vote at the beginning. And there is something especially disgusting about him getting great healthcare and having his tumor addressed immediately and for free while: millions of people are bankrupted by unexpected medical expenses, veterans have some of the worst healthcare in our country, people die because of the healthcare scam we are stuck with (Not the ACA but the insurance industry). He has voted no on the bills themselves (so far) but this was a disgusting show that shows zero empathy for people in lesser circumstances than he finds himself in

    2. Actually the Bill isn’t dead yet. By opening the debate they put their foot in the door because so long as there was no vote to end the debate and a final vote set the bill is effectively on ice until January of next year and can be brought up at a moment’s notice.

      At least this is what I have understood from the commentary.

      McCain’s attitudes in the senate clearly show that this was a revenge move on his part for what Trump did to him. Had he voted no on the initial vote it would have saved Obamacare until 2018 when republicans won’t touch it with a mile long pole.

  32. Palestinians live in prison ghettos like Warsaw, just say it straight up. Palestinians were subjected to their own Kristalnacht where they were and still are today chased out of their homes for no reason other than their race. Talk to a Palestinian grandmother about running from the bulldozers. Talk about the American Hero Rachel Corrie who stood in front of a Bulldozer, Tiananmen Square style, they ran her down and crushed her to death; an unarmed woman, they crushed her to death. Read the book, “They Dare to Speak Out,” by an American congressman who details the incredible influence of the Israeli Lobby.

    Every American tax payer has given away Billions upon Billions of their hard earned money to Israel so they can have free college and healthcare, how nice of it was of you to support those things, too bad we can’t have them here.

    After all of that said, I still support Israel’s right to the land; they deserve it and they deserve the right to have their temple back. The Palestinians have a Palestinian state already called Jordan. Israel will take in anyone with Jewish blood; no Arab country will allow Palestinians to immigrate; they really do want to keep them there to be a thorn in the side of Israel, I’m sure there is a reason for that too.

    But considering in just a few short decades the Palestinians will outnumber the Israeli’s; it’s time for the Israeli’s to stop murdering the Palestinians.

  34. The Labour party story seems pretty straight forward. Some people are racist but not all people, no shit. NBC has many faults, like Brian Williams but you always go waaaaaaaay overboard on this kind of thing. Take it down a notch, just focus on how shitty they are. You don’t have to over hype them.

  36. John McCain actually just voted “No” on the Skinny Repeal of Obamacare!
    While I agree the show on the Senate Floor the other day was pretty pathetic,
    mostly for the Dems, IMO! I also thought John McCain made a speech that was not bad
    if he meant it and then he goes and votes “I” to move forward.
    So Yes it seemed bad, but he came through in the end, which means You Jimmy owe him an Apology.
    I further realize he is indeed a War-Monger and I disagree with many many of his policies!
    However, You Jimmy were WAY Too Quick on this one, Not Cool.
    That is the type of Shit “They” do, You should have waited Brother!
    Live & Learn.
    Thanks for the Typically Great Show

  37. Jimmy love ya, but Jesus, you kick Hayes and Maddow in the dick way too much. They do spend too much time on Russia but are good honest commenters.

    1. Nothing honest about Maddow. During the primaries she told lie after lie about Bernie, and carried Hillary’s water as a propaganda outlet for the DNC. She was an active member of the Clinton Campaign’s Dirty Tricks Squad.

  39. I agree with Jimmy, he should have took the money and done the weekend show. Then he could bring on Jimmy and other strong progressives.

  40. You guys and Cenk were so wrong in bashing McCain. His previous vote was purely procedural. He did the right thing when it mattered.

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