I think Kaine will be fine. [UPDATE: I’m no longer so sure.]
When I posted this earlier today it was because I had just read an article about these letters Kaine had joined other members of Congress in signing last week. The article wasn’t the one I just linked to; I can’t find the one I read. But I misunderstood it in two respects: I thought the letters were recommending reduction in the Dodd-Frank capitalization requirements for all banks, and I thought they were objecting to important new regulations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Instead, the signers want the capitalization requirements reduced for community-type banks and credit unions, in order to make it easier for them to compete with the mega-banks.
That’s not a bad thing, in my opinion. Anything that makes community banks more able to compete with the internationals is probably a good thing, I think. Of course, reinstating Glass-Steagall would help, too.
In any event, here is an article I just read about Kaine that makes me think he’ll be fine. Freed from the constraints of Virginia politics, he could become quite progressive. We’ll see. He does seem to be genuinely intelligent and thoughtful.
And anyway, he’s not Hickenlooper.
Time to rally around Clinton-Kaine.
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UPDATE: This excerpt from a just-posted Washington Post article contains one of the quotes in the earlier article I read that prompted me to post this earlier today:
In recent television interviews, Sanders has praised Kaine, but some of his supporters have sharply questioned his progressive bona fides, pointing to Kaine’s support of trade deals and regulations favorable to big banks.
Charles Chamberlain, executive director of the activist network Democracy for America, which backed Sanders in the primaries, said Thursday that it should be “disqualifying” for any potential Democratic vice-presidential nominee to “help banks dodge consumer protection standards.”
Those two paragraphs in the Post article are followed by these:
And on Friday, Norman Solomon, the coordinator of a group billing itself as the Bernie Delegates Network, called Kaine “a loyal servant of oligarchy.”
“If Clinton has reached out to Bernie supporters, it appears that she has done so to stick triangulating thumbs in their eyes,” said Solomon, whose organization claims to represent hundreds of Sanders delegates attending the convention in Philadelphia but is not coordinating with the campaign.
In a way I wish I knew the specifics of what Chamberlain and Solomon are talking about, but in a way I don’t. I’ll be voting for this ticket no matter what. And right now I just want to see what Kaine says.
Added 7/22 at 10:24 p.m.
Plus, given the fact that the governor is a Democrat, they won’t be risking the senate.
Yes. Definitely a big deal, although that would be true for Vilsack (whom I’d have preferred), too.
I wonder whether there will be a special election to (hopefully) replace Kaine, or instead the new appointee will serve until after the 2018 election.
“Freed from the constraints of Virginia politics, he could become quite progressive.”
To quote Teddy Kennedy – “…the hope lives on, the dream shall never die.” And you think Bernie’s supporters are nuts?
You need to go back and write about economics because you don’t know squat about politics.
Bev, very good to see it when a primary poster highlights when they got something in error.
The characterizations parroted about by the Post editorials were designed to mislead and undermine, not report on a widespread view, truly held and apparent, or explain the essence of the policy points.
Alas, it was one more reason not to trust the Post. Good editors ought to challenge an author who is hiding and mischaracterizing for a political attack purpose (that could be stated in one clear declarative sentence). Alas, it seems the editors agree that this is an ok approach. Propaganda.
I want better.
Anybody who continues to rant against “triangulating” has forfeited any right to be taken seriously. Politicians inevitably must do, just as Sanders did when he saw it as necessary. Governance is by definition triangulating.
Anyone who reflexively attaches the word to the Bill Clinton administration needs to study the history of the 80s and 90s more thoroughly.
Oh, please. Don’t conflate compromise with triangulation, which is a concerted political strategy to be a centrist Democrat.
You really should know the difference, Urban Legend. I do.