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.
Hilarious … the only way to beat the old Democratic party is to wait for them to die
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.
Let’s not pretend super old democrats are the only bad ones.
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
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.
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…
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).
Did you know that the oldest mummy found was actually found in the United States?
Cue Pelosi…
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.
“Hatshepsut has more energy than I do!”
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
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
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.
I agree, but it’s weird as fuck that people on Lemmy say this while asking for Bernie
That’s out of pure desperation.
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.
Bernie is the compromise.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Geriatric democrats trying to keep their grip on their right wing agenda.
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!
thanks pelosi, you lich. i hope they find your phylactery.
This is literally the epitaph of the Democratic party.
Ahh, Mr. Guy whose turn it was next.
Glad he got to try being useless in an important position before he died.
The Democrats are like ancient kings who killed their children for fear of usurping their rule. Now the enemy is at the gates and they have no generals, the few champions they do have were cowed long ago.
Almost.
Establishment democrats are still living great lives under trump. They’re not enemies because trump doesn’t fuck with their money, unlike Bernie.
It’s the working class that has to suffer.
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.
