Bernie's supporters made up almost 50% of Democrats who voted in primaries. Hillary barely beat a man in his 70's who was a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist. Hillary lost the general in no small measure because Millennials and traditional, working class Democrats (who made up a rather large share of Bernie's supporters in the primaries) found an establishment Democrat like Hillary so repugnant they didn't show up to vote for her. And yet, somehow, the conventional wisdom of the folks who claim they want to see Democratic candidate victories in future are wasting no time further alienating this rather large slice of their own party's membership. It is an incredibly stupid argument that goes like this: "We've had our asses handed to us for more than 30 years, ever since we turned toward Wall Street and adopted Republican policies as our own. Our inside track Democrats have lost two-thirds of state legislatures and governorships, and our last inside track Democrat was so reviled that she lost to Donald Trump. Miraculously, the answer to the problem does not involve supporting the sorts of policies Democrats had stood for during the entire time they were in power (free state college tuition, Medicare expansion to all, etc., basically, pick a policy Bernie campaigned on); rather, it is to further alienate the half of the Party that has not responded well to our paid-for donor owned candidates. We will ridicule those horrid Bernie supports, we will call them names like "purity ponies" and blame them for our losses. But we will absolutely not do anything different because our policies have broad appeal. That will bring them all back."
To which I say, "Good luck."
On a side note, Hillary supported Trump's 59 missile launch.
http://time.com/4730416/syria-missile-attack-hillary-clinton-assad/
Edit: I read dmcarls' link after I'd written this, but it underscores the point I make here:
To which I say, "Good luck."
On a side note, Hillary supported Trump's 59 missile launch.
http://time.com/4730416/syria-missile-attack-hillary-clinton-assad/
Edit: I read dmcarls' link after I'd written this, but it underscores the point I make here:
If you look at the numbers, Bernie Sanders is the most popular politician in America – and it’s not even close. Yet bizarrely, the Democratic party – out of power across the country and increasingly irrelevant – still refuses to embrace him and his message. It’s increasingly clear they do so at their own peril.
A new Fox News poll out this week shows Sanders has a +28 net favorability rating among the US population, dwarfing all other elected politicians on both ends of the political spectrum. And he’s even more popular among the vaunted “independents”, where he is at a mind boggling +41.
This poll is not just an aberration. Look at this Huffington Post chart that has tracked Sanders’ favorability rating over time, ever since he gained national prominence in 2015 when he started running for the Democratic nomination. The more people got to know him, they more they liked him – the exact opposite of what his critics said would happen when he was running against Clinton.