Different Levels of Democratic Sins

A comment about keeping perspective. I already discussed the Democratic response to the Trump speech to Congress. The news barrage this morning should not lead us to skip over another matter. 

We have here an attack on "Democrats" for the actions of ten of them. They voted to censure Rep. Al Green for acting out at Trump's speech. More than one of them is from a conservative leaning district. The Minority Leader, before the speech, cautioned against just such attention-getting tactics. Democrats criticized Republicans for comparable antics. 

I don't begrudge Al Green for his protest. There is a place for such things, and if not now, when? As to how useful it is at a wider level, who the hell knows? You can say that about lots of protests. The people who voted for him also probably expect such political theater. It's part of politics.

My bottom line is that I am not APPALLED that the Democrats voted for a censure measure. Their level of Trump complicity is rather low. It is, at best, a venial sin. The argument for decorum is not completely phony. And, many of THEIR voters expect it.

So, no, I don't think they all deserve to be primaried. Maybe a few warrant more attention if they truly are in safe blue districts. I'm annoyed, but not by much.

OTOH, Governor Newsom of California platforming anti-LGBTQ, conservative influencer Charles Kirk alone is a major problem. On top of that, he repeatedly endorsed his anti-trans views and framing. 

And, no, even if trans issues were not being used as a hypocritical conservative bludgeon, I do not think there is much of a reasonable debate on these issues akin to age guidelines in sports. Not the same thing. 

Congressional Democrats can aid and abet Trump, including by agreeing with him on various things. I was quite upset when Democrats (including my representative) censured a fellow Democrat for her alleged over-the-line pro-Palestinian views. 

OTOH, the censure measure here was a mild concern overall. Newsom is the true problem. As someone noted in the comments, this is akin to the scare in the mid-2000s (and 1990s) over gay rights. 

Supporting DOMA was oh so politically reasonable. It was not. And, neither is this crap.