MA-1: Morse accused of inappropriate sexual relations with college students

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

So the straight person won correct?

[coloradocowboi]

So gross. This will discourage young, gay progressives from running for office in the future. But I look forward to all the cis-het red avatars lecturing me about how the Democrats, who spent the 2000s throwing us under the bus, are the LGBTQ+ party...

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Wasserman calls it for Neal.

[Pyro]

Shameful that the homophobic smear campaign dragged a promising candidate through the mud.

Here's hoping Morse comes back in 2022 and annihilates Neal.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Wasserman calls it for Neal.

Glorious news

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Wasserman calls it for Neal.

Glorious news

Why? Lloyd Doggett would have been a better Ways and Means chair. Neal is far worse than even the average moderate Democrat when it comes to being compromised by corporate influence.

[Horus]

Wasserman calls it for Neal.

Glorious news

Why? Lloyd Doggett would have been a far better Ways and Means chair. Neal is far worse than even the average moderate Democrat when it comes to being compromised by corporate influence.

He's a guilty until proven innocent type.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Wasserman calls it for Neal.

Glorious news

Why? Lloyd Doggett would have been a far better Ways and Means chair. Neal is far worse than even the average moderate Democrat when it comes to being compromised by corporate influence.

He's a guilty until proven innocent type.

Even if one considers Morse abusive of power, Neal's removal would still be a net positive. It's not as if Morse has the seniority to immediately take up a leadership role within the House.

[LtNOWIS]

So gross. This will discourage young, gay progressives from running for office in the future. But I look forward to all the cis-het red avatars lecturing me about how the Democrats, who spent the 2000s throwing us under the bus, are the LGBTQ+ party...

All the incumbents won in Massachusetts. It's a state full of establishment Dems who don't want to throw out incumbents who haven't had serious screw-ups.

That being said, there may well be unconscious bias against unmarried gays. A Buttigieg type person who is in a TV-friendly marriage might fare better.

[Figueira]

So gross. This will discourage young, gay progressives from running for office in the future. But I look forward to all the cis-het red avatars lecturing me about how the Democrats, who spent the 2000s throwing us under the bus, are the LGBTQ+ party...

All the incumbents won in Massachusetts. It's a state full of establishment Dems who don't want to throw out incumbents who haven't had serious screw-ups.

That being said, there may well be unconscious bias against unmarried gays. A Buttigieg type person who is in a TV-friendly marriage might fare better.

Massachusetts has had two successful House primary challenges in the last decade (Moulton and Pressley)

[Alben Barkley]

It’s amazing. It truly is.

Ed Markey:

— Voted for NAFTA
— Voted for the 1994 crime bill
— Voted for the Iraq War
— Didn’t support busing back in the day
— Is an old career politician in office for about 50 years

Alex Morse:

— Has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior

Joe Biden did all these things or similar, and was crucified by self-styled “progressives” for them. Yet they give a free pass for the same things or worse to these two and twist their brains into knots trying to pretend it isn’t the blatant hypocrisy and double standard that it is. We all know damn well that if these two were considered the “establishment” pick, progressives would be screaming bloody murder about these horrible, evil, corrupt, corporate Democrats. Instead they are actively rooting for them. Celebrating the victory of Markey and lamenting the loss of Morse.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The “progressive” label is fake. The word has had its original definition stripped and been rebranded to mean “whoever Bernie and/or AOC and/or TYT endorses, or whoever isn’t who I think is ‘the establishment’ candidate.” It is all style, no substance. No ideological consistency. No integrity. It is literally just about sticking it to “the man” and absolutely nothing else. At least nothing else with any consistency or conviction whatsoever.

So with that in mind, the so-called “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party would be more accurately called the “contrarian” tribe. Because that is exactly what it is. It’s a bunch of people who never grew out of their high school phase of being non-conformists who hate authority, or are still in it. Except ironically they are the ultimate conformists, because they just go along with whatever the Twitter mob tells them to without thinking for themselves.

[Donerail]

Congratulations to Andrew Abramson and Timothy Ennis on their new employment in the office of Congressman Neal!

[Ferguson97]

I'm not sure I understand how "don't date students if you're a professor" is homophobic?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's funny how neoliberals quickly drop the identity politics when it'd favor the progressive.

[Meatball Ron]

Shameful that the homophobic smear campaign dragged a promising candidate through the mud.

Here's hoping Morse comes back in 2022 and annihilates Neal.

High probability that redistricting removes some of the more progressive Morse-friendly towns from this district and Neal becomes even safer

Massachusetts has had two successful House primary challenges in the last decade (Moulton and Pressley)

Not quite a fair comp, Moulton took out a fairly corrupted incumbent who almost lost the general the previous year despite it being a Dem district and a good Dem year, and MA-07 has the activist types. Otherwise MA remains a very incumbent-friendly state.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

It’s amazing. It truly is.

Ed Markey:

— Voted for NAFTA
— Voted for the 1994 crime bill
— Voted for the Iraq War
— Didn’t support busing back in the day
— Is an old career politician in office for about 50 years

Alex Morse:

— Has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior

Joe Biden did all these things or similar, and was crucified by self-styled “progressives” for them. Yet they give a free pass for the same things or worse to these two and twist their brains into knots trying to pretend it isn’t the blatant hypocrisy and double standard that it is. We all know damn well that if these two were considered the “establishment” pick, progressives would be screaming bloody murder about these horrible, evil, corrupt, corporate Democrats. Instead they are actively rooting for them. Celebrating the victory of Markey and lamenting the loss of Morse.

Breaking news: political types alleged to 'minimise the flaws of the better candidate in one race while maximising the flaws of the worse candidate in another race'. Never before has this been seen outside of this dangerous faction.

Markey was the more progressive candidate (though not by that much) in MA-SEN and Neal was the less progressive candidate in MA-01. Fans of more progressive candidates therefore rallied around Markey's and Morse's candidacies while the likes of you started cheering for Kennedy despite decrying the most prominent backers of the ideas he claimed to believe in. Biden would probably have caught less flack to begin with if the only other candidate in the presidential primary was someone to the right of him, like Manchin.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The “progressive” label is fake. The word has had its original definition stripped and been rebranded to mean “whoever Bernie and/or AOC and/or TYT endorses, or whoever isn’t who I think is ‘the establishment’ candidate.” It is all style, no substance. No ideological consistency. No integrity. It is literally just about sticking it to “the man” and absolutely nothing else. At least nothing else with any consistency or conviction whatsoever.

There's certainly some performative outrage/dishonesty in online political rhetoric, but not much more than in the biases prevalent in traditional forms of media. The support for the more progressive candidate in a given race seems fairly consistent.

So with that in mind, the so-called “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party would be more accurately called the “contrarian” tribe. Because that is exactly what it is. It’s a bunch of people who never grew out of their high school phase of being non-conformists who hate authority, or are still in it. Except ironically they are the ultimate conformists, because they just go along with whatever the Twitter mob tells them to without thinking for themselves.

At what point would a free-thinking incrementalist start cheering for a Ways & Means Chair with little interest in any sort of incremental progress?

[free my dawg]

Biden would probably have caught less flack to begin with if the only other candidate in the presidential primary was someone to the right of him, like Manchin.

I'd argue that the presence of Bloomberg and Buttigieg helped Biden. Sure, Buttigieg was to Biden's left, but he symbolized everything progressives hate about the Democratic Party. He seemed like a moderate hero straight out of central casting - not to mention him being much worse on police reform than Biden was much more recently.

Overall, you summed up a lot of my thoughts. I don't think Alben would be above the hypocrisy - it's rather human that you'd give people you agree with a chance.

[Pyro]

Morse's concession speech starts at about 9:30, for those interested.

https://twitter.com/AlexBMorse/status/1300978791011897345

[Figueira]

Shameful that the homophobic smear campaign dragged a promising candidate through the mud.

Here's hoping Morse comes back in 2022 and annihilates Neal.

High probability that redistricting removes some of the more progressive Morse-friendly towns from this district and Neal becomes even safer

Massachusetts has had two successful House primary challenges in the last decade (Moulton and Pressley)

Not quite a fair comp, Moulton took out a fairly corrupted incumbent who almost lost the general the previous year despite it being a Dem district and a good Dem year, and MA-07 has the activist types. Otherwise MA remains a very incumbent-friendly state.

Every state is "incumbent-friendly" in primaries. Successful primary challenges don't happen nearly as often as often as people think they do (although they are happening a little bit more this year).

[Zaybay]

Shameful that the homophobic smear campaign dragged a promising candidate through the mud.

Here's hoping Morse comes back in 2022 and annihilates Neal.

High probability that redistricting removes some of the more progressive Morse-friendly towns from this district and Neal becomes even safer

That'd be incredibly difficult to do. Many of Morse's best towns were from Berkshire county, which borders Vermont. It'd be very difficult to finagle MA-01 and MA-02 to get rid of these towns, especially since both seats need to expand eastward.

It's much more likely that Neal's seat becomes less safe for him after redistricting just due to population trends, not vice versa.

[KaiserDave]

I agree with Alben on the distortion of the progressive label. TYT is a “progressive” flagship now smh

[new_patomic]

I'm not sure I understand how "don't date students if you're a professor" is homophobic?

Because people were alluding to him being a predator with the typical trope of older gay men creeping on and taking advantage of the young/vulnerable.

When his actual position, instead of professor, is... an adjunct lecturer who taught a single class once a semester. And who has never been accused of dating any students he himself ever taught. Or had anything other than totally consensual relationships.

Like if people want to make this about all university employees being barred from relationships with undergraduates, sure, we can have that conversation. But he wasn't an academic advisor, a dean, or someone with any actual power. So if we're going to say him as someone in that position, and in their 20s, is gross then we better be sure every single PhD and Masters Student is held to the same standard of no relationships with anyone at that institution, too.

[LtNOWIS]

I would have voted for Neal, as a centrist. But the accusations against Morse now strike me as totally bogus, ginned up by College Dems who were acting in bad faith. That's not good for actual victims of inappropriate sexual behavior.

Massachusetts has had two successful House primary challenges in the last decade (Moulton and Pressley)

You're right that I wasn't thinking about the Pressley/Capuano race a couple years ago, which is amazing since I was following that race and had family vote in it.

But there are some instructive differences, as Pressley had national left wing support, and a fair amount of local establishment support from Maura Healey, various newspapers, and other Massachusetts politicians.

[Pulaski]

It’s amazing. It truly is.

Ed Markey:

— Voted for NAFTA
— Voted for the 1994 crime bill
— Voted for the Iraq War
— Didn’t support busing back in the day
— Is an old career politician in office for about 50 years

You know, it's funny; I thought progressives were the ones perpetuating cancel culture by demanding ideological purity from every candidate. But you'd have us as compromising hypocrites.

Surely Markey's victory proves that if you make concessions to the left, you'll win a substantial amount of their support, even if you have made mistakes in the past. Come to think of it, the fact that Biden's cleaning up with progressives in polls probably proves that too - but I understand the narrative that "progressives are immature!!!111" needs to be maintained as an insurance scapegoat in case your guy loses.

I don't particularly mind you guys demonising the left - we're used to it by now - but at least have a consistent caricature.

[Intell]

I supported Neal at the start but because of the ridiculous puritan and homophobic, don't date college students otherwise you're a sexual assaulter, I was hoping Morse would win.