Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, who edged out New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) for a top Democratic post in December before stepping down, died from esophageal cancer on Wednesday, becoming the third Democrat to die in office this term.
The late congressman made headlines in December when, with support from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he defeated AOC to lead the House Oversight Committee, despite reportedly violating stock trading laws, according to Raw Story. AOC would have been the youngest Democrat to chair a House committee at 35 years old.
Ahh, Mr. Guy whose turn it was next.
Glad he got to try being useless in an important position before he died.
Hilarious … the only way to beat the old Democratic party is to wait for them to die
Let’s not pretend super old democrats are the only bad ones.
The problem isn’t that they’re old. The problem is that seniority trumps everything else. He was worse for the position, but he got it because he had seniority.
He wasn’t bad because he was old, he was just worse and got it because he was old.
No, just most of them, including almost all of the ones with the most power.
Name two people under 70 who’s amongst the 10 highest ranking in the party leadership.
I’ll even give you Hakeem Jeffries for free so you only have to find one.
Yeah, age isn’t so much the issue when we have decent older people like Bernie Sanders and younger douchebags like Josh Gottheimer running around, the problem is that newly elected Democratic party members have all been told that they need to vote for the people who have been in DC the longest and one day eventually it will be their turn
That would be bad enough on its own, but coupled with the destruction of any kind of campaign finance regulations making it a lot easier for moderate Democratic party members to secretly work work with rich donors and Republicans to make sure progressives don’t stay in DC for long, we’ve ended up with a senior group of Democratic lawmakers who have shitty policies their voters hate and only know how to solve their problems through hippie punching
There’s always plenty of gerontocrats to take over.
This is sounding more and more like a Lord of the Rings sequel every time
The gift humans had in LOTR is shorter lives, so new ideas can flourish, grow, and change between generations.
Makes you really want that gift in 2025.
So she’ll be replacing him, right?!
Or did Democrats just shit themselves in the for again and that seat will now remain empty like they did with that cryptkeeper lady from California who wasn’t even different enough to go to Congress and do her job
They will just hand it to the guy he named in his place “temporarily” and refuse to have new committee elections
Seems like she doesn’t want it any more and is setting up for a Senate or presidential run.
It would be so goddamn funny and on brand if the democratic establishment’s plan to keep AOC out of that committee chair backfires so hard that she becomes president or 360 no scopes Schumer.
she becomes president or 360 no scopes Schumer.
Biggest “¿por que no los dos?” ever
Because I don’t think you’re allowed to be a Senator and the President at the same time. Although I can’t remember which part of the Constitution says that, so maybe it’s one of those things that’s a norm instead of a rule?
Let’s gooo!
We need to remove neo-liberals from the conversation.
Are the good policy choices here in the room with us?
/s
They would be if the DNC didn’t stranglehold the idea of “let’s use taxes for good things instead of war”.
Even conservative think tanks agree, universal healthcare AT WORST would cover every American and cost the same as we are currently paying.
So, we pay the same to not cover every American or we pay the same to cover every American. Which is the good policy choice?
A: The policy choice that continues to funnel money to politicians fundraising activities (and pockets).
This is HORRIBLE! There’s only So Many OLD WHITE GUYS WITH CANCER we can Appoint to IMPORTANT ROLES before we have LITERALLY NO CHOICE but to Concede LITERALLY EVERY RACE to the Republicans!
Stole the house seat from AOC. Call me Gerry Atric.
DNC death numer three. That’s a Gerry Hattrick.
Replaced with someone over 70? You know the party’s Democratic
I would read your book of poetry
Well done.
May he rot in hell…
“Hatshepsut has more energy than I do!”
I don’t know, guys. Hatshepsut has a proven track record of breaking political barriers for females, leading recovery from a foreign occupation into prosperity, and commanding prolific building projects including some masterpieces of ancient architecture: she delivers. What has AOC done? Dismissing all that accomplishment would be a mistake.
Did you know that the oldest mummy found was actually found in the United States?
Cue Pelosi…
So we’ll have someone with fresh ideas on how to stop Trump now, right?
Who will below retirement age, and support major refreshment of polices and politicians, right?
And actually do something this time, instead of thinking out loud and acting like that is the same thing as doing something, right?
…Right?
No, next they’ll get someone who’s…
Well, the others were obviously lacking life experience to manage, so even MORE experience is the only way to go.
Stop waiting & hoping for DNC to do the right thing, create a new party. Democrats are just as corrupt as Republicans
I’m a big fan of the hostile takeover proposal.
I think as time goes on, well find these problems can’t be solved without guillotines.
History repeats
NEXT!
Stay classy, telling a reporter to “kill yourself” for factually reporting on Connolly publicly announcing his cancer diagnosis.
Why does the party value fealty and seniority so implicitly? There’s a place for the ‘elder statesman’ voice to share institutional wisdom and tribal knowledge, but this man cannot seriously have had more vigor and energy to pour into leadership than someone under half his age…
delete yourself and kill yourself or not the same thing
Go on and delete yourself, then.
So clever.
Ok then what does it mean, o enlightened one?
Yeah I do agree in this case I think she meant delete the account the whole time. Now if it was from a republican…
Remember:
- your side always has good intentions
- the other side is always doing what your side is doing but with malice
Whats with these old fucks not stepping down and enjoying what little they have left of their lives. Same with biden
congressional healthcare is insane!!! why give that up in the years you need it the most!!!
They don’t need that, they’re rich.
Don’t they keep it for life?
I believe you have to serve 2 or 3 terms to keep it for life.
It’s the addiction of power. Once someone has acquired it, they can’t give it up. Only exceptional people have the strength to resist and step down. Take Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had been teetering on the line between this world and the next for years, if she had retired while Obama was president, the SCOTUS wouldn’t be so out of balance now. But she just couldn’t do it.
Becase they then become like his, iirrelevant, and its too much to think about for them.
I agree, but it’s weird as fuck that people on Lemmy say this while asking for Bernie
That’s out of pure desperation.
Bernie is the compromise.
I haven’t seen much asking for Bernie. Lots of praising Bernie for doing what’s right and we should have had him in 2016, but I see a lot more asking for AOC.
Nothing is black and white. Bernie may be a geezer, but he has consistently good policy positions for his entire career, and has more integrity than the rest of the senate combined.
Bernie has passed the baton to aoc, bernie supporters want him to run, and hes fighting for a good cause to change a corrupt system completely different then the old fucks clinging to power
He was somewhat apprehensive about his first term; he just didn’t want Trump to get in.
When he came back for round two, he seemed to have unfinished business tho
They’re literally unable to do anything else except remain in their protected little cocoons arguing with each other while people fawn over them and pay them for their favor.
They’re like the minor peerage of old. All trying to hang on to their name and title to keep their ego afloat.
that’s what you get for keeping fossils in office the Democrats need to wake the fuck up
Before the Dems can take on the MAGA Nazis, and win, they have to take back their own party from the Republican Lites. Time to make those DINOs extinct.
They don’t. They’re quite awake. You think that old fart got that position because of ambition? No. He got that position due to politicizing and internal maneuvering.
He was put there specifically so AOC would not have that seat and screw everything and everyone else.
If I recall correctly it was Nancy Pelosi who maneuver to get him into that spot. They knew he had late stage cancer at the time.
What do you think I meant by waking up? I swear no one on social media thinks before they respond.
The point is, this didn’t happen because the Democrats made a mistake. This happened because the Democrats knew exactly what they were doing and did it on purpose.
Geriatric democrats trying to keep their grip on their right wing agenda.
When Alexander the Great died, his empire devolved into infighting and instability. Why would he plan for his successor at such a young age?
These democrats dying in office, leaving no protege nor successor in the wings, are doing the same thing to America but they have no excuse.
These ancient centrist fucks are the reason we’re in this mess. We don’t want their proteges in power. We need new blood that will fight instead of trying to maintain the status quo.
True, look at Pelosi’s choice to succeed her, Hakeem Jeffries. I thought he seemed good at first but he’s turned out to be just another hand-wringing wimp. So it’s not simply a matter of being too old, it’s a matter of clinging to the old ways.
edit: IOW, getting younger people in is necessary but not sufficient.
