So you want Cory Booker?

Next to Chuck Schumer and Diane Feinstein it’s arguable that the Democrat who most carries the New Democrat/DLC/Blue Dog Neo Liberal banner is Cory Booker, much floated by the equally Neo Liberal Legacy Media and D.C. Versailles Villagers as a potential presidential contender in 2020.

Because, frankly, he’s African-American and they think a “Black” candidate will magically resurrect the “Obama” coalition.

I’ll let the racism just drip off that whether you think it’s mine or theirs.

After all it’s not anti-Semitic to think Jews will vote for Shumer or Feinstein because they’re Jewish right? Politics is demographic and tribal and policy doesn’t matter. And just like Hispanics will vote for the Hispanic guy and Catholics will vote for the Catholic guy and Gays will vote for the Gay guy and Women will vote for the Woman…

Oh wait, that didn’t quite work out, did it?

It repells me, more so because it comes from people who label themselves Democrats and are of the opinion their shit doesn’t stink and they are far, far, far evolved beyond mere petty prejudice and bigotry.

Big Pharma-Backed Dems Join GOP to Block Sanders Effort to End Drug Price Gouging
by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams
Thursday, January 12, 2017

While the Republican Party is publicly dismantling millions of Americans’ health safety net, more than a dozen Democrats late Wednesday quietly threw their weight behind Big Pharma and voted down an amendment that would have allowed pharmacists to import identical—but much less expensive—drugs from Canada and other countries.

The “power and wealth of the pharmaceutical industry and their 1,300 lobbyists and unlimited sums of money have bought the United States Congress,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declared in a speech on the Senate floor while introducing the amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), which would have been attached to the chamber’s budget resolution. It came amid a flurry of legislative activity during Wednesday evening’s “vote-a-rama.”

“Year after year the same old takes place: the pharmaceutical industry makes more and more money and the American people pay higher ad higher prices,” Sanders continued, asking his colleagues if they “have the guts finally to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and their lobbyists and their campaign contributions and fight for the American consumer?”

It turns out, no.

In fact, 13 Democrats voted against the measure (roll call here), siding with the Republican majority and drawing sharp rebuke from observers, who pointed out that many who voted “no” receive substantial contributions from the pharmaceutical industry.
…
Many were particularly dismayed that Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had sided with Big Pharma after winning liberal praise for his unprecedented testimony against Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). Notably, 12 Republicans and two Independents, including Sanders, voted for the measure.

Seventy-two percent of Americans support such a rule, according to Sanders, who noted that the price differences between the U.S. and Canada are “dramatic.”

The thing about “Populism” is that it is popular. How can you think that working against the interests of the vast majority (72% is pretty big folks) is a path to electoral victory?

You know, illness has no race, creed, ethnicity. sexual orientation, gender, or tribe. Every single one of those 13 Democrats should be disqualified from further Party endorsement.

And, oh yeah, both Connecticut Senators voted in favor and it’s had to imagine a State more in the pocket of Big Pharma.

Except for New Jersey. Menendez voted against it too, and he’s just as tribal as Booker but lacks the Presidential aspirations and anticipation. If Booker is the candidate look forward to another 4 years of The Donald.