Bernie Sanders: Why Democrats Can't Win Midterms 2018 Without Him (or with him) - Newsweek
By many measures, hes right. In the two years since his insurgent campaign for the White House succumbed to the Clinton juggernaut, Sanders has gone from cult hero to mainstream dynamo. Larry David can mock him on Saturday Night Live as a cranky, quixotic septuagenarian, but when Sanders endorses an idea, many of his peers in the Senate listen without laughing. The American public has become increasingly receptive to his brand of democratic socialism; once-skeptical centrists have seen the polls and have followed accordingly.
This has resulted in a high-stakes ideological war to out-Bernie Bernie. In March, for example, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York endorsed a proposal that would ensure the government guarantees a job to every American. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey followed with modest legislation, before Sanders bested both lawmakers with a national plan (pay rate: $15 an hour, of course).
More...http://www.newsweek.com/2018/06/01/bernie-sanders-clinton-democrats-939875.html
sunRISEnow
(217 posts)RandySF
(58,832 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)dawg day
(7,947 posts)Then I guess the point is... we can't win?
I think this is to be ignored.
And the notion that "Bernie is the only progressive!" is ill-informed and biased against the many people in the Democratic party who are just as progressive on economics but even MORE progressive on other issues.
Plus, seriously, not all potential Democratic voters are "progressive". I live in a red state, and no one's going to win here yelling "free college!" (I'm all for free college myself, but most people don't go to college here.)
but you know what? Obama won here (once). He did it by getting out the base in the cities (that is, typical Democratic voters, not just Bernie's).
I hope Bernie Sanders can get his voters out to vote for Democratic candidates. But they have to vote not just for the Bernie-style "free college" candidates, but the worker-safety/strengthen Medicaid/let's not cut defense spending ones.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)But now that it happened, it is no longer about him.
murielm99
(30,741 posts)at least those mentioned in the OP. Bernie took those ideas from others and claimed them.
It was never about him. He is the past. We need to look at what is happening now. And contrary to what Bernie is saying, we have been winning a lot. The candidates he endorses usually lose.
BlueStater
(7,596 posts)Oh, wait...
BlueWI
(1,736 posts)A lot of elected Republicans and Democrats failed to hear this and backslid on financial reform. Good thing Bernie's voice and Elizabeth Warren's are advocating for the consumer and the main Street economy.
Response to progressoid (Original post)
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Cha
(297,237 posts)WINS are doing great without him. And, we'll continue to do so.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)Funny how that shit works.