Posted on 11/12/2018 5:40:29 PM PST by Kaslin
Former West Virginia state senator and retired U.S. Army major Richard Ojeda has made things official. He plans to run for president as a Democrat in 2020, despite a highly-anticipated, overly-packed Democratic field of contenders. Ojeda made the decision after losing his congressional bid in WV-03 last Tuesday, The Intercept reported.
Ojeda's plan is simple: to go back to the Democratic Party's roots. He believes the Democrats can win over working people if they paint President Donald Trump out to be a populist fraud and paint a stark contract to Trump's inability to "drain the swamp."
"I have been a Democrat ever since I registered to vote, and I’ll stay a Democrat, but that’s because of what the Democratic Party was supposed to be,” he told The Intercept. “The reason why the Democratic Party fell from grace is because they become nothing more than elitist. That was it. Goldman Sachs, that’s who they were. The Democratic Party is supposed to be the party that fights for the working class, and that’s exactly what I do. I will stand with unions wholeheartedly, and that’s the problem: the Democratic Party wants to say that, but their actions do not mirror that.”
The failed congressional candidate decided to run for president after concluding that those considering a run in 2020 wouldn't be able to stand up to Trump and draw the clear contract that the Democrats need to win.
"We’re going to have quite a few lifetime politicians that are going to throw their hat in the ring, but I guarantee you there’s going to be a hell of a lot more of them than there are people like myself — that is, a working-class person that basically can relate to the people on the ground, the people that are actually struggling,” he said. “I’m not trying to throw stones at people that are rich, but once again, we will have a field that will be full of millionaires and, I’m sure, a few billionaires.”
Although Ojeda lacks political experience, he sees that as an asset, not a liability. He believes it makes him more relatable to working class folks, like those he hopes to represent.
From The Intercept:
The Democratic Party’s coalition is fueled by women and an increasingly diverse base. When I asked if a white man from West Virginia could understand what was behind the Black Lives Matter movement, he argued that his experience living in and among the working class — which is heavily made up of black and Hispanic people — gives him insight into that struggle. “I can understand it far better than the millionaires and billionaires sitting around the conference tables in Washington, D.C. That’s a fact. Guess what? I’ve worked side by side with those people; I’ve served in the military with the people that lived in those communities,” he said. “I know far more about that life than [elites in Washington] know about that life. So when someone stands up that has a bank account that’s got $50 or $60 million in it, I personally could care less what they have to say about how they’re gonna … how they know what a single parent who is trying to put food on the table feels. Because they don’t.”
Although he lacks political experience, Ojeda believes his experience in the Military would provide him with the necessary tools to create a political organization and structure that could be successful.
While he enlisted in the Army as a private out of high school, he said, he rose through the ranks to oversee a vast operation. “When I started in the military, I started as a private, the lowest rank you could possibly go, but I was also the chief of operations for the 20th Airborne engineers in Iraq, where we were in control of over 7,000 engineers. And every single operation that went on throughout the entire country of Iraq went through my JOC, and I was the chief of operations,” he said. The military helped put Ojeda through college and graduate school, and he now uses his experience overseas to argue against militarism and in favor of a diplomatic approach.
Other likely 2020 contenders include Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Kristen Gillibrand, billionaire Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Because they are termites?
He believes in what the Democrat party used to be all about? Slavery and handouts?
[ Ojeda ]
Looks like the O-—neders.
I hope they run 50 candidate, lets turn it into a zoo
Let them all bash each other till they all bleed
Makes Trump’s job easy
[Trump’s inability to “drain the swamp.”]
Because The Swamp consists of Democrats and GOPe NeverTrumpers embedded for decades.
And, it’s PRESIDENT Trump.
The Democratic Party is supposed to be the party that fights for the working class, .............
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Funny stuff. The democrats are the party for the gibsmedat crowd.
He can’t even get the people of Logan county to vote for him!
And the media laughed when a field of Republicans threw in their hats while all the Dems could come up with were two feeble senior citizens who lived on the east coast.
“Funny stuff. The democrats are the party for the gibsmedat crowd.”
I remember when they were more conservative than today’s Republicans.
Liberal warrior. I don’t get it. Is he one of the vets against violence or something?
Roots? Slavery, the KKK, segregation, and Jim Crow. And for the last fifty years anti-Americanism and socialism.
Tell me about it. I don’t know how any vet can be a democrat especially after the reign of B. Hussein. “OK you while guys fight I’ll release these 200 Gitmo Jihadists to reinforce the enemy, and while I do that, I’ll also honor a defector to the enemy as soon I release these 5 Taliban commanders. Oh yeah, and if you guys need medical care just wait as I gotta put these illegals first and foremost”
Damn Blue Falcon.
Anyone who served in the military and is a democrat is a traitor just like bradley manning, and bowe bergdahl.
“...retired U.S. Army major...”
This has been a major and intentional effort by the Left to find people with military experience to run for office on the Left.
They think (and with some justification) that there are many people who hear that someone served in the military, and they conclude they are reliable and conservative...when they aren’t.
They have been vamping for every single little percent of votes they can get and this is just one part. I encountered it in my travel out of state to Maine, and I was curious about their candidates.
A good example of this move by the Left was Jared Golden, a DEMOCRAT running for the house in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.
From the website at: https://jaredgoldenforcongress.com/
**************************
MEET JARED GOLDEN
Jared was born and raised in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. Following the September 11th attacks, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. After returning home, Jared had three jobs, working nights and weekends. He attended Bates College and then served as an aide to Senator Susan Collins.
In the State Legislature, Jared represents his hometown of Lewiston, and works across party lines to get things done. In Congress, Jared will continue working hard, every day, to help Maine families. Jared and his wife, Isobel, live in Lewiston.
**************************
I happened to be in Maine leading up to the election, and I saw some ads on television for him. Nowhere in the ad did it mention he was a Democrat. (And if you go to his web page above, NOWHERE does it say he is a DEMOCRAT. And...you can see he was aligning himself with Susan Collins, a Republican (albeit a squishy one)
It showed him shooting a rifle at a target and talking about guns and stressing his military service in a way that definitely led you to believe he was a 2nd Amendment rights advocate...and...a conservative.
Out of curiousity (I don’t live in Maine) I looked him up, he is against conceal carry, for a gun database, and got a “D” rating from the NRA.
I was flabbergasted. I know Leftists lie and conceal, it is what they do.
But this was so misleading, I even thought “Hey, here is a decent candidate...” and then when I investigated further...well, you learn the truth. Read about his stances when you drill down in his website, and he is far Left. It really bugged, me, but...he missed getting elected by a few thousands of votes, apparently.
I found out that this element of military service was obviously part of a known deliberate and concerted effort by the Left. Disgusting.
See my post above at #15. I wish I could remember where I read it, that the left was actively supporting and promoting candidates with military experience specifically as a diversion from what they really believe, and this guy is no different.
democrat party roots: slavery, jim crow laws, the kkk, gun control, poll taxes, segregation, never ending taxes and welfare budget busting...
go for it baby!
I have been to many demonstrations in Washington DC as a counterprotester against the Code Pinkos, MoveOn and other antiwar types, and invariably we would encounter the “Veterans for Peace” douchebags.
Before I actually encountered them in real life, I had always thought that I would give those people a lot of leeway and consideration in their views, until I saw them with my eyes, read their signs, and listened to their words. The vast majority of them are leftists first and foremost, and veterans second. I really grew to despise them in particular, and I wasn’t alone.
We had some active duty Marines counter-protesting with us once, and those guys really took issue with them, one dickhead on their side got one of the Marines so riled up his buddies had to hold him back. There was a picture of the enraged Marine being held back by his buddies that showed up on the front page of one of the Washington papers the next day, might have even been the Washington Post. These were young guys who had all done two or three tours, and they had fought in Fallujah. Rough stuff. I bumped into them over in Arlington as they paid respects to one of their buddies who had been killed.
To a person with one single exception, every single one of those “Veterans for Peace” people looked like they were trying to find a way back to the demonstrations of the 1960s. I am not kidding. In both dress and manner, even wearing the old style fatigue jackets with peace signs on them. They filled me with contempt.
The lone exception for me was a Korean War vet marching with them who I had a discussion with at the gates surrounding the White House...I felt bad for the guy. He was sincere, and just didn’t want to see anyone fighting in a war. He wasn’t a stupid unhinged leftist like nearly all of them, he just seemed hurt and tired by war. It was sad, and he seemed so lost, as I pondered how he came to be with that group, I figured he must have just been looking for a way to make his voice heard and got mixed up with the wrong crowd. He just seemed so confused and hurt.
All the rest of them were abject jackasses.
Fine with me. I want 15-20 Dems running in 2020. Cash them out!
Some days I still can’t BELEIVE that President Trump RAN THE TABLES against SEVENTEEN of our ‘TOP’ GOPe/RINOS...and WON!
MAGA!
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