Comments

1

Personally, I'd like to see a Warren/ Buttigieg ticket.
Seeing Pence vs Mayor Pete in the V P debate would be gold.

2

And didja see how Bernie* won over FOX watchers?
People LOVE progressive politics.

They just gotta Love them More than giving Handouts to entitled Billionaires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ozAACcc8I

3

I believe it. If you're wondering how that could be, listen to her 2017 interview on the Axe Files: https://www.axefilespodcast.com/episodes/155-sen-elizabeth-warren.

4

@2 Until the part where they think women with penises should be allowed to shower next to our daughters at the YWCA.

5

Thing is, you can think about the country as divided up between Dems and Reps but this is bullshit. The actual divisions are Dem, Rep and Neither. And the "Neither" group is largest of the three. Bernie and Warren appeal to half the Dems and some of the Neithers- this is true in Trump country as well as in non-Trump country- that's the red herring here.

So the question is about the strategy for the general. There are two strategies, and it's at the core of the dispute in the Dem party right now. The "safe" or "mainstream" strategy is to run a centrist in the hopes that (in the general) most all Dems will vote for them (Biden or Pete or Harris or whoever). Plus they hope to pick up a few Reps (the famed suburban wife of a Rep for example- the Panera strategy). The "opposition" strategy is to run a Lefty in the hopes that (in the general) most all Dems will vote for them (Bernie or Warren). Plus they hope to pick up a few Neithers (the disaffected that don't vote but come out when inspired, the independents, the swing voters).

Ideologically, I could make a case that running a lefty is absolutely necessary in this moment- especially given the people backing the centrists- but even just in terms of simple strategy, I have to say that the moderate/centrist strategy was tested and failed in 2016. The lefty strategy may not work, but it is as yet untested. Bernie and Warren do well with the disaffected b/c they focus on actual policy changes that reach them.

The problem is, what works in the primary- where just a few motivated Dems vote- isn't necessarily a reflection of what will work in the general- where most Dems will vote for whoever the candidate is anyway so the strategy comes down to who can pick up the most non Dem votes who wouldn't have voted in the primary in the first place. For example, it really matters to the primary which side of the Dem party wins some Deep South red states. It matters not at all in the general since the EC will send those votes to the GOP regardless. Our system is so stupid.

For myself, when the primary comes to my state almost a year from now, I will vote for either Bernie or Warren- whichever is in the lead and most likely to win. If it's neither of them, I will sit the Dem primary out altogether b/c I see no one else in that party who is worth the bubble gum stuck on the bottom of my old flip flops. In the general, I'll vote whoever gets it.

6

Thank you, Eli, for a very encouraging article. West Virginians in particular got screwed by Trumpty Dumpty's lame promise to bring back coal. I'm glad that people are finally waking up to Trumpist lies, the usual corporate GOP / FOX propaganda, smoke and mirrors.
@1 patL: Ooohh--I would, too! Warren / Buttigieg 2020! Go, Big D--let's boot out RepubliKKKan trash but good. The future of the planet depends on it.

7

Oh yeah. I had recently discovered that Warren has some surprisingly swanky merch available, and I'd meant to buy some to support her. maybe I'll do that tonight.

8

If you aren't a rich urbanite who is happy with 60+ hour work weeks, you don't support the 'center' in American politics. The Washington consensus has failed the people at large. The Democratic 'centrists' are the ones who will lose to Trump. The 'leftists' are the ones who have a chance.

9

Nice cherry-picking, Eli. That same focus group also said they don’t like any of the current Dem nominees, and they expressed the sentiment that being president is a man’s job.

10

It is almost as if not everyone is just a party-line-toeing partisan bootlicker, and some people can actually think for themselves without an official party platform to recite from.

Crazy.

11

Fewer Bernie supporters voted for Trump than Clinton primary voters voted for McCain in 2008. (6-12% versus 24% for the later) so I wouldn't read too much into this particular crossover of voters. Eli somehow always makes sure to portray Sanders supporters in a poor light. That is what Clintonites do.

This said, Bernie supporters themselves have always said that the critical issue is inequality that is responsible for many being left out of the economic recovery, that worker wages have barely gone up in 30 years while necessities like housing, transportation, child care are less and less affordable for many (Warren's coming collapse of the middle class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A ). This reality is even more brutal in the rust belt and coal country where entire communities have been hollowed out of jobs and services. Instead of campaigning on undoing decades of outsourcing, Clinton campaigned on business as usual, i.e. more of the same Obama goodness during which inequalities increased at the same pace as before. Trump outflanked Clinton from the left on the economy, so yes progressives like Warren have a chance if they aren't first destroyed by corporate media.


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