MA-SEN Megathread: Senator Markey wins

[S019]

Kennedy hasn't run a great campaign, but Markey's campaign has been despicable.

He's been turning this race into a referendum on the Kennedy family and allied himself with these absolute assholes on the far-left who act as his shock troops doing everything they can to trash JKIII and the Kennedys as a whole.  Most of them had no idea who Kennedy or Markey were three months ago and now they're turned "Vote for Markey" into a progressive litmus test.

And you want to talk personal attacks?  Markey fired first.  But really, he's been firing throughout this campaign by letting Rose Twitter do the dirty work of oppo and character assassination against JKIII.

Such a shame that JKIII fell into this bear trap.  He was a rising star in the party, and ordinarily, running a primary campaign against a 74-year-old incumbent who's lost touch with his district is something we're cool with.  Right, AOC and Cori Bush fans?

Unfortunately, Markey used this destructive, divisive strategy, and now even if JKIII wins his career is going to be forever kneecapped by the relentless demonization and character assassination he's endured from the progressive left, for nothing other than the crime of challenging The Great Ed Markey, who I repeat, none of these people actually knows anything about other than that he's AOC's buddy.  Imagine if someone told them he voted for the Iraq War.  According to Bernie, that's a disqualifying mistake.

Stay mad lol

No, but GMA has a point here. All of you cheerleaded primaries against Clay, Engel, Crowley, etc., arguing that they were too old or deserved a challenge or whatever. It does puzzle me that some people can't apply the same standard to Markey. Also GMA is right, most people probably don't even know about his long voting record.

[S019]

AOC firing shots as well 👀

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1296498853517176832

She clearly isn't aware that Pelosi has a policy of endorsing House incumbents, and that to Pelosi, this is about supporting her fellow caucus member, not about the Senate race. AOC, of all people, should know this given that Pelosi endorsed her and Omar, as well as Lipinski and Cuellar, there's no ideological motive here.

I still support Markey in this race, but after all I don't know if I want to support him. And not because I was affected by Pelosi endorsement. And not because my opinion of Markey has deteriorated, I considered and still consider him a great Senator.

But because most far-left fanatics now talk about Pelosi, who likes fascists more than socialists, and Kennedy, who is a far-right trumpist

Never said anything of the sort about Kennedy.

The Pelosi **** was more of an indictment on the entire establishment, but she showed her true colors today. Hopefully the new wave of JDs torpedoes her leadership bid over this.

Also this would arguably be worse for the left, as this is the perfect chance for Steny Hoyer to run for the Speakership, and he is well to Pelosi's right.

[S019]

Just remember:

We are watching you.

We will remember you.

And come January, when you ask for our help to keep your gavel, we will replace you.

There are too few for that. Pelosi will get another term. I could see the caucus getting too hostile for Hoyer by 2022, in which case that's one more reason for him to curse the boss who denied him the Speakership for so long.

If it isn't Hoyer or Pelosi, then it will be Clyburn or Jeffries

[S019]

The worst part is is that Pelosi has cracked down hard on primaries before. It's obvious hypocrisy.

I try to be objective on primaries, judge them on the merits of the challenger and the incumbent. I supported Omar's challenger for instance, I opposed AOC's challenger, and and I supported neither Jones or Tlaib.

In this race I've made the judgement and as I've stated before I back Markey. Pelosi can't seem to make up her mind on how she views challenges. She's been a good Speaker this term, but she needs to go.

Sigh, all she's doing is endorsing House incumbents, she wants to send a message that she'll always be loyal to her caucus. It's why she pushed Bass for VP among a number of other things. Her loyalty is to her caucus, not the Senate caucus.

[S019]

The worst part is is that Pelosi has cracked down hard on primaries before. It's obvious hypocrisy.

I try to be objective on primaries, judge them on the merits of the challenger and the incumbent. I supported Omar's challenger for instance, I opposed AOC's challenger, and and I supported neither Jones or Tlaib.

In this race I've made the judgement and as I've stated before I back Markey. Pelosi can't seem to make up her mind on how she views challenges. She's been a good Speaker this term, but she needs to go.

Sigh, all she's doing is endorsing House incumbents, she wants to send a message that she'll always be loyal to her caucus. It's why she pushed Bass for VP among a number of other things. Her loyalty is to her caucus, not the Senate caucus.

Her loyalty should be to the party, and of course the country. And she should not set standards for others that she is prepared to ignore for herself.

That's not how it works though, the Blacklist policy is for the House, not the Senate. Also I love how progressives decide to pretend that the policy didn't exist (and that they hated it) when Engel or Clay were facing primaries, but now it's taken as gospel... Besides, in the unlikely case that a Senator tried to primary a sitting representative, I'm sure Schumer would do the same thing as Pelosi and back his caucus. You want to send a message of loyalty to your caucus, but I do see a double standard here among many progressives, since they clearly didn't care about the blacklist rule during the Engel, Clay, or even the Neal primaries.

[S019]

The DCCC will still blacklist you if you dare to challenge one of their sh**tty incumbents while the Speaker just endorsed against a Senate incumbent. It's so obvious that they want anyone remotely progressive gone. Markey isn't some progressive dream, but he's a hell of a lot better than Kennedy.

Then why didn't Pelosi endorse Caruso-Cabrera or Melton-Meaux, if they want all progressives gone?

[S019]

All of this turnout in areas favorable to Kennedy probably means that either Markey is doing very well among absentee voters or Kennedy still has a chance, leaning towards the latter though, if Kennedy somehow pulls this off, it would be a major upset.