Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

You cannot shame the shameless.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

When we show up, we win.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Election 2020 Open Thread: Bernie Sanders Is Reliable, in His Own Way

Election 2020 Open Thread: Bernie Sanders Is Reliable, in His Own Way

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No wonder he’s Donald Trump’s preferred opponent:

… “A track record matters,” Shakir added, “especially in these places that are the pathway to the presidency. Voters in places like Michigan and Pennsylvania want to know that someone has been fighting for them from the beginning. This is not about re-litigating the past. It is about what the past can tell you about the future.”…

A track record, such as Bernie’s…

But we’re under attack by the nasty Democrats! The party is plotting against us, by switching to forums that don’t allow threats & screaming to overwhelm honest debate!

Reader Interactions

101Comments

  1. 1.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Hilarious.

    When a blogger at Thinkprogress posted a mild, tame observation that Wilmer stop demonizing all millionaires once he became on himself Wilmer went the the garbage Vichey Times and screamed bloody murder, spawning a hit job on Neera Tanden’s mother.

  2. 2.

    frosty

    I’m so phucking* tired of non-Democrats slagging Democrats in the Democratic primary. Just take your bat and ball and GTFO.

    * h/t rikyrah

  4. 4.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    According to Shakir, Biden’s position on trade will continue to be a point of special emphasis for Sanders

    Those farmers in Iowa and New Hampshire hate the trade war.

  5. 5.

    wmd

    Anyone remember 2008 primary? How there weren’t any attacks, just promoting policies?

    Or maybe not. My recollection is my preferred candidate had his opponent say he couldn’t get white votes (that’s not even a dog whistle, it just blatant). PUMA?

    Seems like Obama won the primary and general, even though PUMAs voted heavily for McCain.

    My preferred candidate for 2020 has been attacking Joe Biden. She voted for bankruptcy protections, Joe voted for predatory credit card and student loan issuers.

  7. 7.

    My Side of Town

    Bernie is a not Democrat. He should primary Trump, as I’ve messaged him every time he asks me for money.

  8. 8.

    My Side of Town

    My focus at this point is to try to shame my friends who are Trump supporters (as if that is possible.) I’m still registered independent in Florida, but that could change. I’m keeping my powder dry as if my one vote could effect anything. So I posted this on FB to attempt to persuade:

    The current president is a white supremacist and racist (see the Charlottesville); has stated disregard for the Constitution he is sworn to uphold (see attacks on media, violating separation of powers, etc.); has violated its emoluments clause (see shoveling foreign diplomats into his hotels); is an active threat to national security (see, e.g., giving intelligence away to Russia, or damaging immigration policies [which, yes, is a national security matter]); stated his intent not to respect any election results not in his favor (see 2016 and now the midterms campaign); is a sexual predator and degenerate (see Hollywood Access tape, paying off a porn star to keep quiet); incites to violence (see his rallies); has cheated on innumerable business ventures (see, e.g., Trump U) and his spouses (see all of them); invited and assisted a foreign adversary to interfere in our electoral process and done nothing about it (see July 2016, “Russia, if you’re listening”); indulged in nepotism (see his family); advocates against education (see “I love the uneducated” + DeVos); has deep deep ties to Putin (see hour long solo meetings at two summits and Helsinki), and praised other authoritarians; is willfully destroying the environment, consequences be damned (as the Hurricane Maria response shows); is willfully destroying 70 years of US alliances and effective soft power abroad (see the pathetic leakage of our diplomatic corps).

    Yeah, and I know Trump supporters think this kind of message makes them look dumb and they resent it, but they think their behavior pisses Democrats off and that is the extent of their thought on the matter. On the other hand they don’t care about conservative credibility in the least.

  9. 9.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @wmd: in 2008, Hillary worked her ass off to get Obama elected. In 2016, Wilmer refused to concede, spent the year calling her “crooked”, shouted down everyone at the convention and pushed conspiracy theories that the nomination was stolen. It’s as if he was running the Russian playbook.

  10. 10.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Biden’s and Warren’s recent jump in the polls are in appreciate of their support for impeachment. Meanwhile, Wilmer still panders to Dump and his racist voters while savaging Democrats.

    It’s telling how uncomfortable and awkward Wilmer was at the “She The People” conference, while he felt so at home at the Fox News town hall.

  11. 11.

    My Side of Town

    It’s as if he was running the Russian playbook.

    He was as much of a Russian asset as Trump and Stein.

  14. 14.

    Ruckus

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
    I’m not disagreeing with you but is it possible that BS is just a flaming asshole with an ego the size of Russia and the common sense of a piece of week old toast?
    Sure seems like a possibility.

  15. 15.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    We need to rewrite the rules so only registered Dems are allowed to run in our primary; that doesn’t seem like much to ask, really.

    We have two possible outcomes with Bernie: he gets the nomination and we lose the election or he loses the primary and spends the rest of his life screeching that the ghost of Hillary Clinton stole his strawberries.

    Neither option appeals to me.

  21. 21.

    My Side of Town

    We need to rewrite the rules so only registered Dems are allowed to run in our primary; that doesn’t seem like much to ask, really.

    Since only Dems may vote in the Dem primary, it’s like wtf ? (at least here) I can vote for a Russian Asset?

  24. 24.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @My Side of Town: Wisconsin has the opposite problem. We have open primaries, and you can’t really register as a Dem. You are a Democrat if you say you are one.

  26. 26.

    My Side of Town

    “But later studies found that between 24% and 25% of voters who supported Clinton in the primary voted for McCain in the general election.[48]”

    An indication of how powerful the POC vote was, which we should recognize in 2020. Kamala will be the energizer bunny!

  28. 28.

    Damien

    Fucking pathetic. Bernie can’t even go a month sticking to his promises.

    Warren/Harris FTW

  29. 29.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    BTW, I know this is off-topic but I only start reading the B-Juice at bedtime, long after all the other threads are dead.

    I don’t want to tone-police anyone and I certainly understand where the resentment is coming from but I really think the Mayor Pete hate is misguided.

    He’s not responsible for all the attention he’s getting; Pete can’t dictate who does and who does not get a flattering article in the Style Section. It’s the fucking media trying to scam low-information Democrats into choosing an un-electable candidate.

    The issue isn’t Pete’s attention hog proclivities; he’s running for office and all candidates are glad to take any media attention offered to them (even from FauxNews, apparently!). The issue is the media trying to fuck us just like they did with Hillary; if Pete gets the nomination it will be 24/7 pearl-clutching about his inexperience and the visceral mechanics of gay sex.

    Like noted thespian Ice-T told us in the ’90s: don’t hate the player hate the game.

  32. 32.

    My Side of Town

    a suspect portion of PUMA’s and PUMA orgs were rethug rattucking.

    Of course. It makes sense, that the last thing they would want was BHO.

  33. 33.

    Bobby Thomson

    @wmd: you are so full of shit. I was as anti-Clinton as anyone in 2008 and I can tell you that even before the primaries had ended she put the word out to all her surrogates to back Obama all the way. PUMA was a Republican-backed group that had all of a few dozen people behind it.
    By contrast, Sanders himself whined from the beginning through the damn convention and used his campaign’s own crimes as proof that everything was rigged against him. He did nothing to discourage his people from booing Stacey Abrams and John Lewis and kept the money coming from people who couldn’t afford it with a lie that he was going to flip the supers during the convention week. His supposed campaigning for Clinton in 2016 was just a continuation of his own campaign.

    Your candidate made a massive miscalculation in backing Sanders up with that rigged primary bullshit.

    In conclusion, please go fuck yourself.

  34. 34.

    Bobby Thomson

    @hervevillechaizelounge:

    He’s not responsible for all the attention he’s getting; Pete can’t dictate who does and who does not get a flattering article in the Style Section. It’s the fucking media trying to scam low-information Democrats into choosing an un-electable candidate.

    Bullshit. His comms director was quoted as saying she wanted his name and picture everywhere. She’s a nasty ratfucker and those stories didn’t come from nowhere. They never do.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    Well. Look who still hasn’t fucked off to the forest and taken up knitting.

    Fuck Bernie since the 2016 DNC. Pouty Asshole.

  38. 38.

    Dan B

    @hervevillechaizelounge: Thanks. Reading the fury aimed at the first openly gay presidential candidate feels personal. There’s a belief that LGBT people are mainstream or there is little harm to us. We only suffer from having a hard time getting wedding cakes. The stories of daily gay bashings don’t make it into the MSM. My partner and I never touch in public. It’s automatic but the fear of being attacked is barely beneath our consciousness. It took Pete until his 30’s to come out because of the fear of not being able to realize his dreams. Mine got squashed in college.

    The other piece of Pete’s success, besides being this strange new thing, is he seems to grasp the rules of, and power of, rhetoric. Obama seemed to have that as well. Part of that is weaving your message into a narrative. He makes it easy for the media – a profession living under non stop deadlines.

  39. 39.

    Kattails

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Bernie’s from Vermont, which is actually a different state from NH, across the river and to the left looking at a map with North at the top. NH is 80% forested, & some of the rest involves water, and a good deal more involves rock; so the farms are pretty much teensy and sell to the locals, just FYI. :-) Trade issues might involve maple syrup production.
    OK to be absolutely bloody accurate there have been trade issues involving electrical generation and some sort of gas pipeline (which did not affect me) coming down from Up Noath but it’s too late to remember and describe the details. But we ain’t freakin’ Iowa, dammit.

  40. 40.

    Jay

    @Bobby Thomson:

    Yup.

    In Canada, you have to be a paid up Party member to vote.

    When just before an election, Party Membership balloons, ratfuckery is afoot.

    Once Obama was the nominee, rethug pro-Obama ratfuckery was a null, and just disappeared.

  41. 41.

    Jay

    @Bobby Thomson:

    That’s what Comm’s Directors are supposed to do,

    However, given the accomplished field, it’s the MSM buying in, not the Comm’s Director,

    Shiny object not a wymmen.

  43. 43.

    Jay

    @Dan B:

    I don’t have any fury at Pete.

    Not everybody here isn’t a Russian Troll, Rethug ratfucker or someone with an agenda.

    : )

  45. 45.

    opiejeanne

    @NotMax: I thought that was going to be a different song, for some reason I thought of “Why Can’t You Behave?”

  46. 46.

    Aleta

    A spokesperson for Biden announced the former vice president’s support yesterday for a congressional override of Trump’s veto of (legislation to end US involvement in Saudi-led war in Yemen), a decision that effectively condemned the policy initiated during his time serving under President Barack Obama.

    “I thank my friend @JoeBiden for joining our effort to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi military campaign in Yemen” Sanders said. “We must override @realDonaldTrump’s veto.”
    …
    “Switching his position on big issues like these will force voters to ask ‘what are (Biden’s) core convictions?'” Shakir said. “If that is where he was then and this is where he is now — where will he be in the future?”

    So cynical. Changing opinions and shifting positions are part of our belief in democracy.

  51. 51.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Kattails: Thank you for the correction. Not farmers, but there are a lot of trade jobs

    Canada is by far New Hampshire’s top trading partner, according to state government statistics, with nearly 40,000 jobs in the Granite State dependent on that trade.

    And that’s got congresswoman Annie Kuster worried.

    “Industries such as brewing and auto parts manufacturing, which support thousands of Granite State jobs, could be impacted,” the Democrat from Hopkinton said.

    “I am concerned that this action by the president could negatively affect a number of other manufacturing industries and is not a substitution for the comprehensive reforms necessary to ensure that our trading partners are not undermining free and fair trade” Kuster added.

    But Levi Sanders, the newest Democratic candidate in the state’s 1st Congressional District agreed with the president.

    The son of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said the tariffs are “a very good idea.”

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    @Aleta

    Not quite, anymore.

    Although Southern California is famous for its avocado groves, coffee is now also grown alongside the avocado as part of an experimental project. There are several coffee farms between San Diego and Santa Barbara where coffee is grown under the canopies of old avocado trees. Although the conditions in California do not favor coffee production, local farmers have devised an irrigation system to help coffee beans thrive. The California beans are in high demand across the country, especially as the public wants to know how they taste.… Source

  55. 55.

    Jay

    @Aleta:

    Grows coffee, everywhere, even Not ‘Murika makes coffee.

    As a Canadjan Socialist I pride myself on making at least two pots a day of fair trade, organic, french press, dark roast, 454 Horsepower, local roast.

  56. 56.

    Mohagan

    @NotMax: Being in California, I had a hard time telling NH and VT apart also. Then I learned that Vermont is Ben & Jerry’s, and New Hamshire is “Live Free or Die”. I gather that NH is a little more flinty than Vermont :-)

  57. 57.

    Mohagan

    @Dan B: Although my top two favorites are SPW and Harris, I like Mayor Pete a lot. He would make a great VP candidate, and his husband is so cute!

  61. 61.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Jay: Who could ever forget the great White pumpkin riots of New Hampshire

    (photo)

    (BBC) – An annual pumpkin festival in Keene, New Hampshire, turned violent as the event descended into a night of rioting.

    I love it when White people riot – imagine the reaction if POC did this: (photo)

  63. 63.

    Amir Khalid

    @Patricia Kayden:
    Unfortunately, Biden can’t stop. One of his selling points is his claimed talent at outreach: “Oh stewardess, I can speak Republican.”

  68. 68.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mohagan:

    Then I learned that Vermont is Ben & Jerry’s, and New Hamshire is “Live Free or Die”. I gather that NH is a little more flinty than Vermont :-)

    From my personal experience, you can immediately tell when you’re crossing the border between NH and VT — Vermont is much prettier, but there are no off-ramps to fast-food strips & very few rest stops. Which is all in the Green Mountain State’s favor, until you’re on the freeway in the pre-dawn hours searching for a bathroom…

    It’s like the difference between Ireland and Scotland; they seem to have a lot in common, but neither one will forgive you for confusing the two!

  74. 74.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    population of an average congressional district: 710,767

    population of District of Columbia: 702,455

    population of Vermont: 626,299

  75. 75.

    Pete Downunder

    Just finished reading “Shortest Way Home”, Mayor Pete’s autobiography. It is actually excellent and worth your time.Whether or not he’s electable is another issue; but I would not write him off just yet.

  78. 78.

    Qui-Gon Jinn

    Elizabeth Warren has a very timely grudge with Joe Biden

    https://qz.com/1607913/elizabeth-warren-vs-joe-biden-has-been-a-grudge-match-since-2005/

    Who will be first to slag Senator Professor Warren in a similar fashion? Anyone?….

    It’s strangely comforting to know that as the rightward drift of the Democratic Party slowly circles back to its FDR/New Deal progressive roots, the bulk of the BJ commentariat remains steadfastly entrenched with the increasingly transparent (and self-serving) ethos of Third Way/New Dem neoliberal corporatism.

    Even in times as dark as these, the sun is slowly rising. Shadows and light….

  79. 79.

    John S.

    @Anne Laurie:

    Hell, sometimes people in Ireland have that reaction to other parts of Ireland.

    I remember driving in the car out in western Ireland (County Kerry) with a colleague from Dublin. As we pulled into a village where a client was located, he exclaimed “What the fock is this shite!?”

    I don’t think he had ever been out there before, and his reaction was quite funny. Sort of like a New Yorker visiting West Virginia. (/ducks from Cole)

  81. 81.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Qui-Gon Jinn:
    The poor we will always have with us. And the nym changing trolls who show up every four years out of the delusion that it’s a good use of their time.

  82. 82.

    Anne Laurie

    @JR:

    there aren’t farmers in NH, not really

    You’re overlooking NH’s main industry, tourism. Or, as they call it, fleecing the outlanders. They’re very agricultural about it, too! — like those shows where Aussie experts remove the pelts from Merino sheep in one piece, taking only minutes to do so.

  83. 83.

    trnc

    @My Side of Town: You could add “Engaged in money laundering (see 6 failed casinos, Deutsche Bank)”. For context, Deutsche Bank has been fined for money laundering, and is the only bank who would lend to DT in later years. No investor would front him for casinos after bankrupting 1 or 2 of them unless bankrupting casinos was the business model.

  84. 84.

    trnc

    @Aleta:

    A spokesperson for Biden announced the former vice president’s support yesterday for a congressional override of Trump’s veto of (legislation to end US involvement in Saudi-led war in Yemen), a decision that effectively condemned the policy initiated during his time serving under President Barack Obama.

    Biden could easily say that DT is not the honest broker that Obama was. It basically works for any position Biden wants to flip flop on.

  85. 85.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Qui-Gon Jinn:

    Who will be first to slag Senator Professor Warren in a similar fashion? Anyone?….

    Who will be the first? No doubt, it’ll will be Wilmer. He’ll have no qualms about smearing her. That’s what he does.

  86. 86.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Dan B: OK, but how bad does he have to be before we stop giving him a pass just because he’s gay? He fired a whistleblower, fired all the senior police (who happened to be black), jacked up fine collection so that he could evict the poor and gentrify their neighborhoods, sold a public park for the cash, lied about what Clinton said in her campaign (and made a calculated risk to get the nomination by attempting to appeal to Hillary-Hating Bernie Bros), used racially coded language to describe his campaign, and has presented himself as a Biden Lite who can act as the dumbfuck whisperer.

    Not to mention, 37-year-old mayor of a small city run by its civil service bureaucrats with no legislative or foreign policy experience.

  88. 88.

    Qui-Gon Jinn

    @Bobby Thomson:

    You neglected to mention the politically misguided and misinformed.

    Everyone is entitled to their own opinions – but not their own (alternative) facts.

    No Joe!
    Joe Biden’s disastrous legislative legacy

    https://harpers.org/archive/2019/03/joe-biden-record/

    Why So Many Journalists Are Clueless About The Bernie 2020 Campaign

    https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/56335-rsn-why-so-many-journalists-are-clueless-about-the-bernie-2020-campaign

  89. 89.

    But her emails!!!

    @Qui-Gon Jinn:
    I think one of the things I find most irritating about both right wing and Bernie trolls is their use of terms which actually have fairly precise meanings as synonyms for “not the candidate I support”. It robs the terms of meaning and limits their utility in describing actual people and policies. It’s basically the flip side of the coin of Orwell’s newspeak. Instead of limiting language to control thought and the ability to relay concepts, you just drain all meaning from language. You don’t limit language to using only the term ungood, just degrade meaning until all critical words mean ungood and are robbed of additional information and nuance.

  90. 90.

    Citizen Alan

    @My Side of Town:

    Since only Dems may vote in the Dem primary, it’s like wtf ? (at least here) I can vote for a Russian Asset?

    Unfortunately, quite a few of us live in states where Republicans may vote in Dem primaries and often do so to ratfuck us. There was an amusing mini-controversy in the recent Mississippi special election for Senator when one of the GOP candidates attacked the eventual winner, Cindy Hyde-Smith, for having voted for Hillary in the 2008 Dem primary. Left unsaid was the fact that at the time, Rush Limbaugh was encouraging Republicans to cross over where possible to vote for her in order to keep the Dem Primary campaign going and promote division in out party.

  91. 91.

    Citizen Alan

    @Jay:

    “But later studies found that between 24% and 25% of voters who supported Clinton in the primary voted for McCain in the general election.[48]”

    See my previous comment about Republicans supporting Clinton in the primary for ratfucking purposes.

  92. 92.

    chopper

    @Aleta:

    “Switching his position on big issues like these will force voters to ask ‘what are (Biden’s) core convictions?’” Shakir said.

    say, didn’t wilmer decide to change his mind on assault weapons recently?

  94. 94.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Bobby Thomson:

    Bullshit. His comms director was quoted as saying she wanted his name and picture everywhere. She’s a nasty ratfucker and those stories didn’t come from nowhere.

    Some nasty ratfucker:

    Lis Smith is a Democratic campaign communications specialist and co-founder of 50 State Communications in New York.[1] She was the deputy campaign director for Martin O’Malley’s 2016 presidential campaign.[2] Smith previously worked on campaigns for former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), President Barack Obama (D) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D). In 2018, she served as the political press coordinator for Pete Buttigieg’s campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

    Lis Smith began working on campaigns shortly after graduating from Dartmouth College. She was a field representative in South Dakota for then-Sen. Tom Daschle’s unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2004 and press secretary for Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D-Mo.) first campaign in 2006.[4]
    […]
    In 2012, Smith was the rapid response director for Barack Obama’s (D) presidential campaign.

  95. 95.

    JAFD

    IMVAO, fellow jackals;

    One, Mayor Buttigieg is running for Senator or Governor of Indiana. He is accumulating a war chest, a national donor list, a lot of national attention and friendly media contacts; and is NOT saying either Mean Things about fellow Democrats, or quotes that the Hoosier GOP will use to call him ‘extremist’. I wish him well in that.

    Second, as someone who was a volunteer worker in Eugene McCarthy’s campaign in 1968: To run a ‘Send Them A Message’ campaign like that, or like Sen. Sanders’ in 2016, the candidate needs ‘an ego the size of Russia’ and an ability to give his ‘team’ a ‘we few, we happy few, against the world’ spirit – but not the ability, for either himself or his followers, to Play Well With Others.

    Have a great weekend, everyone. Remember the murdered of Kent State, 49 years before tomorrow.

  96. 96.

    gwangung

    @JAFD: Frankly, I have no problem with Buttigieg as VP. Senator would be fine. It’s just that he’s not among my top picks for President.

    And that’s no sin.

  97. 97.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Anne Laurie: Yup. When we did a New England Fall Colors trip in 2016 we definitely felt like NH was way behind VT and MA. Squam Lake was lovely, but in general NH didn’t have anywhere near the charm as MA/VT. But that could also be due to all the damn Trump/Pence signs we saw…

  98. 98.

    Qui-Gon Jinn

    @But her emails!!!:

    These are all ‘terms’ which impart fairly precise meanings and/or political positions, should one choose to explore them.

    BTW, let’s dispense with the disparaging and diminishing term ‘troll’ – one that often appears in the missives of those who cannot bear to consider perspectives that diverge in any significant way from their own. Those who prefer to live in shadows should not make reference to beings that live under bridges. Perhaps, instead, they should learn to build them.

    Here’s a term that has been abused (and perverted) almost beyond measure – electability:

    Democrats Have Created an “Electability” Monster
    And this time, it’s even eating establishment candidates

    https://newrepublic.com/article/153723/democrats-created-electability-monster

    “Electability” is a crock of shit. It is defined, like political “moderation,” only in terms of opposition to things people want, but are told they can’t have, ranging from antiwar politics to left-wing economic populism to even the “cultural liberalism” that is seemingly the cornerstone of the modern Democratic Party. (Back in 2004, supporting civil unions, not even marriage, for same-sex couples was a threat to a Democrat’s perceived “electability.”) While the impulse to vote according to how you think a candidate would appeal to people who don’t share your priorities might make sense in theory, practice has revealed time and time again that no one involved in electoral politics—from the pundits down to the caucus-goers—has a clue who or what Americans will actually vote for. That was supposed to be, as the political scientist Masket says, the main lesson of Trump’s election.

    But Democratic voters did not teach themselves to prioritize electability over their own actual concerns. They were trained to, over many years, by party figures who over-interpreted the loss of George McGovern, or who wanted to use the fear of McGovern to maintain their power over the Democratic candidate pipeline and nomination process. “Electability” is a way to get voters to carry out a contrary agenda—not their own—while convincing them they’re being “responsible.”

  99. 99.

    Dmbeaster

    @wmd: Hillary was on board. The PUMA people were not part of Hilary’s operation. Hilary was a team players, unlike the PUMA jerks.

  100. 100.

    Dmbeaster

    @Qui-Gon Jinn:

    BTW, let’s dispense with the disparaging and diminishing term ‘troll’

    Then do not behave like one. If you do not understand why this accurate description is being made concerning your comments, you have no business complaining about it.

  101. 101.

    No One of Consequence

    @Kattails: We are freaking Iowa. Kindly, fuck directly off with your generalizations and assumptions.

    Are we representative of the nation overall in nearly *any* category? No.
    Should we be the one to go first in our primary process every year? No.
    Is is appropriate to disparage a people/state/anything of which one has a nearly non-existent understanding? Also, no.

    Have a nice day,

    – NOoC

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