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NEW YORKER: Beto O’Rourke endorsed a GOP candidate over a Democratic one in a competitive race last year

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Deleted member 22490

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He's a centrist, through and through.


It was a border-town stop for Beto O'Rourke's Senate campaign, but another Democratic politician commanded particular attention: Gina Ortiz Jones, a history-making congressional candidate — gay, Filipina-American, an Iraq war veteran — hoping to turn a majority-Hispanic district blue. "Really special person," Mr. O'Rourke said, as Ms. Jones stood and waved.

But soon, a county chairwoman posed an uncomfortable question. Mr. O'Rourke had not endorsed Ms. Jones. In fact, he had elevated her Republican opponent, Representative Will Hurd, with frequent praise and, most memorably, a live-streamed bipartisan road trip that helped jump-start their midterm campaigns. Would Mr. O'Rourke support the Democrat?

He would not.

"This is a place where my politics and my job and my commitment to this country come into conflict," Mr. O'Rourke said. "I'm going to put country over party."

Some supporters of Ms. Jones saw it differently: Beto O'Rourke was once again putting Beto O'Rourke first.
 

Deleted member 8860

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None of this is news. It was very public throughout 2017.

Hurd only defeated the Democrat in the race by 900 votes; Beto could easily have changed that.

Beto is not a leftist or a progressive liberal, but a centrist Democrat. He's way better than Cruz, of course, but that Senate race is over. (In fact, he didn't do much better in that race than a generic D.)

That's not to say that he's not valuable as a charismatic speaker. He'd probably even be fine as a VP pick.

_Karooo said:
Any specific reason for endorsing the Republican?
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They're buddies.
 
hydrophilic attack

hydrophilic attack

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wow fuck off beto

can't wait for the liberals explaining how he's still the only choice really because "blue first" only matters when you're finding reasons not to vote for the progressive, but for centrists this kind of thing is ok because of reasons
 
Kusagari

Kusagari

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Any Democrat who still endorses Republicans should be kicked out of the party at this point.

Same reason I hated Debbie for years, becaus
 
Killthee

Killthee

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_Karooo said:
Any specific reason for endorsing the Republican?
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He bonded with the republican during a road trip in 2017 and used his viral road trip with him to brand himself as a moderate darling.

Through a fluke of weather, timing and internet trendsetting, Mr. Hurd sits at the intersection of it all. Until March 2017, he and Mr. O'Rourke had been friendly enough as district neighbors, but never especially close. Then, after a snowstorm grounded their flights from Texas to Washington, Mr. O'Rourke suggested they drive instead — and record themselves for all 1,600 miles, answering questions from followers along the way.

Alone in their rented Chevy Impala, they sang along to Willie Nelson, hashed out health care and trade policy and made a late-night doughnut run in Tennessee, attracting hundreds of thousands of viewers and wide-scale media coverage. Newt Gingrich called in to salute them. Mark Zuckerberg chimed in approvingly on Facebook.
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Mr. O'Rourke and his team seemed to recognize this. The ride registered as his campaign's unofficial kickoff. And he was quick to invoke his relationship with Mr. Hurd, to deflect attacks from Mr. Cruz that he was too far left for Texas, and to burnish his self-styled standing as a high-minded antidote to the Capitol's seemingly intransigent partisanship.

"I know how disappointing it is to people," Mr. O'Rourke said in an interview last summer, explaining his decision not to support Ms. Jones. "It's disappointing for very legitimate, really important reasons. Like, I also want to be in the majority."
He added that Ms. Jones would make an excellent congresswoman if elected.
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He was a good candidate for Cruz's seat, but he's not someone you want as President if you're looking for a progressive candidate that isn't willing to bend to republicans in the name of bipartisanship.
 
rjinaz

rjinaz

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Thorn said:
We are going to eat ourselves alive.
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I still favor Beto, for now as I feel he's the best candidate to beat Trump, but calling out this shit is important. He has a long journey ahead of him, explaining himself and how or if he's going to be different. In the end, the people will vote but before I vote I want all the facts. There is a long ways to go until the primaries, a year. And for Beto, it's best if ALL of this comes out early if he can still rise above it.
 
BocoDragon

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Oh no, a centrist. That's pretty scary... he almost seems electable! God forbid a candidate could steal back votes from the people who voted for Obama and later voted for Trump and aren't lifelong partisan warriors.
 
Heromanz

Heromanz

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BocoDragon said:
Oh no, a centrist. That's pretty scary... he almost seems electable! God forbid a candidate could steal back votes from the people who voted for Obama and later voted for Trump and aren't lifelong partisan warriors.
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Why the fuck would i want people who voted for trump and dont like black people apart of this party?
 
hydrophilic attack

hydrophilic attack

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imagine if someone like bernie had done something like this

certain people would NEVER stop talking about it as reason not to vote for him, i fully expect them to come into this thread and denounce beto too now (lol)
 
Trojita

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The OP thread title is inaccurate. He never endorsed the GOP candidate. What he did do is not endorse the democratic challenger nor did he denounce the Republican challenger he had become friends with since their road trip.

It's likely he was prioritizing a senate seat (and probably himself too) over a house seat.

Edit: Also this is the New York Times, not the New Yorker. How did you screw that up? Along with your made up thread title?
 
Pwnz

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He's not a centrist, he is a centrist Democrat. This was discussed in detail on one of the many David Sirota shitarticle threads, some one can dig up the votes. Even with Sirotas cherry picking Beto was within 1% of median Dems.

If this is the worst blunder by Beto, I'll enthusiastically vote for him.
 
OP
OP

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Trojita said:
The OP thread title is inaccurate. He never endorsed the GOP candidate. What he did do is not endorse the democratic challenger nor did he denounce the Republican challenger he had become friends with since their road trip.

It's likely he was prioritizing a senate seat (and probably himself too) over a house seat.

Edit: Also this is the New York Times, not the New Yorker. How did you screw that up? Along with your made up thread title?
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I saw the logo in a tweet I used for a link and got my logos mixed up. I'll get a mod to change it.
 
marrec

marrec

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So this shows he has good decision making and political instincts, qualities necessary for winning a presidency.

I'm still not sold on him however.
 
_Karooo

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Killthee said:
He bonded with the republican during a road trip in 2017 and used his viral road trip with him to brand himself as a moderate darling.

He was a good candidate for Cruz's seat, but he's not someone you want as President if you're looking for a progressive candidate that isn't willing to bend to republicans in the name of bipartisanship.
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Trojita said:
The OP thread title is inaccurate. He never endorsed the GOP candidate. What he did do is not endorse the democratic challenger nor did he denounce the Republican challenger he had become friends with since their road trip.

It's likely he was prioritizing a senate seat (and probably himself too) over a house seat.

Edit: Also this is the New York Times, not the New Yorker. How did you screw that up? Along with your made up thread title?
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Yeah, Trojita's post makes me feel a bit better.
 
Clefargle

Clefargle

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So the last few weeks have taught me:

Beto = meh/nay
Warren = pretty good
Bernie = ????? (Is he running?)
Gabbard = nay
Gillibrand = pretty good
Harris = meh sure
 
skeezx

skeezx

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texas politics isn't as cut and dry as the national level in way of D vs R hardlining. if you're a texas democrat in elected office you're probably still golfing and having beers with marginally sane republicans in the meantime
 
Hrodulf

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"I'm going to put country over party" is something a lot of red state Democrats like to say. Heard it quite a bit during election time last year.
 
hydrophilic attack

hydrophilic attack

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the title is wrong but this is still really bad

not endorsing the (non-white, female, LGBT) democratic candidate who had a great shot at winning and using language that suggested the other candidate would be better as explanation for your non-endorsement is really bad
 
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