CA Governor Calls For Dems To Play Hardball Against 'Ruthless' GOP
Governor Gavin Newsom spoke the truth most of us have been thinking or expressing over the past several years: It's time for Democrats to quit expecting to make nice with Republicans who operate with "ruthlessness" and start organizing to win.
"You have to also recognize that what you're up against, and right now we're up against the ruthlessness of the Republican party," Newsom warned. And I say that not naively. I don't say that blithely. That's not a cheap shot."
That's the God's truth. No cheap shot, Republicans across this country are so vested in taking power any way they can -- whether through legitimate or illegitimate means -- that Democrats are playing on a completely different playing field.
He continued, "You see what's happening to all the progress we've made in the 21st century, all of the rights that we have many ways of taken for granted that have been afforded since the sixties are being rolled back in real time."
"This is a totally different moment, and we have to wake up with a different mindset and not just old mindset in terms of just a collaborative mindset, a cup of tea and everyone's going to work together and get along.
Then he got right to the point: "Democrats need the Democratic party, not the president, not a speaker, not an elected office holder. The party, the infrastructure, I think, has to organize with more ferocity of focus, more determination to set the agenda, set the course, and put the other party on the defense."