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1 posted on 03/03/2020 9:12:17 AM PST by Kaslin
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The Washington Post’s Philip Bump, a man whose analytical skills do not include understanding where babies come from, wrote the paper’s analysis, “Moderate Democrats are doing what Republicans refused to do in 2016: Getting out of the way.” Incidentally, “moderate” is the media’s preferred term for the collection of candidates whose views are far to the left of the average American but who are nevertheless not Bernie Sanders.

It’s absolutely true that the Democratic establishment figured out that a smaller field would help them get their preferred candidate. Who knows what sorcery and secret deals were made to get two viable candidates to leave the field prematurely.

But perhaps it’s worth noting the minor detail that Republicans won the 2016 general election by not doing what these pundits suggest should have been done that year. Not only did they win a presidency that experts had predicted might not be won by a Republican for many years to come, they did not face the catastrophic House and Senate outcomes that the experts predicted would accompany a Donald Trump candidacy.

The failure to stop Trump from winning the Republican nomination at the very least contributed to the fact that Republican voters got two Supreme Court Justices, 191 other federal judges, tax cuts, tax reform, departure from the administrative state-emboldening Paris Climate Accord, departure from the Iran nuclear deal, an unprecedented rollback of federal regulations, and a more restrained foreign policy.

By being unable to stop a Trump candidacy, the Republican Party managed to tackle some very difficult divides between its establishment and the voters who enabled their power, including on policies that seemed to exclusively benefit corporations and the wealthy, immigration, trade deals, the U.S. relationship with China, regular entry into wars, failure to end wars, and whether to cower in the face of unfair media attacks. The result is a party that is more unified than it’s been in a while. It didn’t just survive the 2018 midterms, it gained Senate seats even as it experienced the expected House losses. The party even has majority approval for the first time since 2005.

Why would the lesson for Democrats be that they must stop this type of possibility?

It is absolutely true that Sanders is an outsider the establishment resents, just like the establishment opposed Trump. And it’s true that the D.C. establishment in both parties would prefer to hold power in a minority situation than to win elections.

Sanders is a threat to that establishment. He really does have a different foreign policy than Biden about interventionist wars.

I do not believe we will defeat Donald Trump with a candidate like Joe Biden who supported the Iraq War. pic.twitter.com/8tII7O3Mal

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 2, 2020

He disagrees with the establishment’s trade deals with China, and has for many years:

Since the China trade deal I voted against, America has lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs.

It’s wrong to pretend that China isn’t one of our major economic competitors.

When we are in the White House we will win that competition by fixing our trade policies.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 2, 2019

And he certainly has less cozy ties to the corporate class than many of the establishment.

Joe Biden has received contributions from more than 60 billionaires.

Does anybody think that we’re going to bring about the change that we need when you are indebted to 60 billionaires? pic.twitter.com/jGAwc6uTPA

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 3, 2020

He represents a sizable contingent in the party. Yes, Democrats might be able to help Biden live to fight another day, until he once again reveals his apparent senility to voters. But in so doing, they might be killing their one candidate with energy and excitement in an effort to nominate someone like Biden.

Biden’s campaign is seeing strong fundraising and polling numbers, that can’t be disputed. Yet one of their more vulnerable constituencies are college-aged voters. This other TikTok featuring the same “please don’t make me vote for Joe Biden” tune has 48k likes. pic.twitter.com/5TG454OSNn

— Brittany L. Shepherd (@blrshepherd) January 2, 2020

If one didn’t know better, this idea that the Democrats need to learn from Republicans’ election-winning and party-unifying “mistake” sounds like they are following a playbook to not only lose the election but keep their nice little sinecures and perches at the networks, think tanks, newspapers, and other establishment positions.

2 posted on 03/03/2020 9:16:46 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

They are really working overtime not to make the same mistake Republicans did in 2016.
That mistake? Winning the election.


3 posted on 03/03/2020 9:17:05 AM PST by LouieFisk
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To: Kaslin

Unlike what happened in the GOP, where the bulk of the core voters supported Trump and got what they wanted, the Dems are deliberately ALIENATING their core voters who want Bernie.

It won’t end well for them.


8 posted on 03/03/2020 9:56:00 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: Kaslin
Democrats Are Learning The Wrong Lesson From 2016 GOP Primary

Plan "B" if Biden fails is to go ahead with their original plan "A", COMMUNISM for all (Except the ruling elite)

10 posted on 03/03/2020 9:58:20 AM PST by Don Corleone (The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth)
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To: Kaslin
Biden getting the bulk of the support from the triple exit of Steyer, Buttigieg and Klobuchar. Whatever the actual numbers are, today's Super Tuesday results could shift them pretty radically:

Polling Data

Poll Date Sample
Sanders
Biden
Bloomberg
Warren
Buttigieg
Klobuchar
Steyer
Gabbard
Spread
RCP Average 2/20 - 3/3 -- 26.8 23.8 15.3 14.8 9.0 4.7 2.0 1.0 Sanders +3.0
Morning Consult 3/2 - 3/3 961 LV 28 36 19 14 -- -- -- -- Biden +8
Morning Consult 3/1 - 3/1 2656 LV 29 26 17 11 10 3 -- -- Sanders +3
Reuters/Ipsos 2/28 - 3/2 469 RV 29 18 15 10 10 4 2 1 Sanders +11
Yahoo News/YouGov 2/26 - 2/27 811 RV 27 21 14 18 10 4 2 1 Sanders +6
Morning Consult 2/26 - 2/27 5334 LV 33 21 17 11 10 4 3 2 Sanders +12
IBD/TIPP 2/20 - 2/29 325 RV 23 20 13 17 7 6 -- -- Sanders +3
FOX News 2/23 - 2/26 507 LV 31 18 16 10 12 5 2 1 Sanders +13
Economist/YouGov 2/23 - 2/25 584 RV 30 20 11 16 9 4 1 4 Sanders +10
The Hill/HarrisX 2/23 - 2/24 470 RV 28 17 19 8 12 3 3 2 Sanders +9
Reuters/Ipsos 2/19 - 2/25 1808 RV 29 17 16 12 11 4 3 1 Sanders +12

12 posted on 03/03/2020 10:19:23 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Kaslin

Sanders is an outsider?


13 posted on 03/03/2020 10:21:15 AM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: Kaslin
Texas primary poll:

Polling Data

Poll Date Sample
Sanders
Biden
Bloomberg
Warren
Buttigieg
Klobuchar
Gabbard
Steyer
Spread
RCP Average 2/28 - 3/2 -- 29.5 28.0 18.0 14.5 4.5 3.5 2.0   Sanders +1.5
Data for Progress (D) 2/28 - 3/2 300 LV 28 30 20 15 4 3 1 -- Biden +2
Emerson 2/29 - 3/1 450 LV 31 26 16 14 5 4 3 2 Sanders +5
CBS News/YouGov 2/27 - 2/29 635 LV 30 26 13 17 6 6 0 1 Sanders +4
Data for Progress (D) 2/23 - 2/27 513 LV 30 21 21 13 9 5 1 1 Sanders +9
NBC News/Marist 2/23 - 2/27 556 LV 34 19 15 10 8 3 1 1 Sanders +15
CNN 2/22 - 2/26 387 LV 29 20 18 15 8 3 0 1 Sanders +9
Univision/U. of Houston 2/21 - 2/26 527 LV 26 20 20 11 6 2 1 2 Sanders +6
Dallas Morning News 2/17 - 2/26 586 LV 29 19 21 10 8 4 1 1 Sanders +8
UMass Lowell 2/12 - 2/18 600 LV 23 20 18 14 7 9 4 -- Sanders +3
University of Houston 2/6 - 2/18 1352 LV 20 20 12 17 11 7 3 1 Tie

14 posted on 03/03/2020 10:22:59 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Kaslin
CA primary polls:

Polling Data

Poll Date Sample
Sanders
Biden
Warren
Bloomberg
Buttigieg
Klobuchar
Steyer
Gabbard
Spread
RCP Average 2/28 - 3/2 -- 35.0 23.0 16.0 14.0 6.0 4.0   1.5 Sanders +12.0
Data for Progress (D) 2/28 - 3/2 516 LV 32 25 16 17 5 3 -- 2 Sanders +7
Emerson 2/29 - 3/1 545 LV 38 21 16 11 7 5 2 1 Sanders +17
CBS News/YouGov 2/27 - 2/29 1411 LV 31 19 18 12 9 4 3 1 Sanders +12
USA Today/Suffolk 2/26 - 2/29 500 LV 35 14 12 16 7 5 3 3 Sanders +19
Stanford/YouGov 2/26 - 2/28 1020 RV 28 19 18 13 9 6 4 3 Sanders +9
CNN 2/22 - 2/26 488 LV 35 13 14 12 7 6 3 1 Sanders +21
Berkeley IGS 2/20 - 2/25 3002 LV 34 8 17 12 11 6 2 -- Sanders +17
KQED/NPR 2/20 - 2/23 1069 LV 37 12 20 6 11 5 3 2 Sanders +17
Monmouth 2/16 - 2/19 408 LV 24 17 10 13 9 4 5 2 Sanders +7
UMass Lowell 2/12 - 2/20 450 LV 24 13 16 12 12 7 2 4 Sanders +8

15 posted on 03/03/2020 10:23:27 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Kaslin

I think that the Demonrats got spooked by all of the sob stories that the bought-and-paid-for RINOs told them about lost campaign donations and kickbacks that they will never get thanks to President Trump.


16 posted on 03/03/2020 10:24:31 AM PST by wildcard_redneck (If the Trump Administration doesn't prosecute the coup plotters he loses the election in 2020)
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To: Kaslin

>>And it’s true that the D.C. establishment in both parties would prefer to hold power in a minority situation than to win elections.<<

Money quote! It’s all about power and with the power comes money. Lots and lots of money. Socialism is alive and well in the Fake Congress. We have our money taken from us and they take it for all the “hard work” they do.


17 posted on 03/03/2020 10:44:13 AM PST by NTHockey (R yRules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: Kaslin

The GOP would have suffered a dumpster-fire disaster in 2016 if it made a bunch of backroom deals to clear the way for establishment favorite Jeb Bush to win the nomination.


19 posted on 03/03/2020 10:58:59 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("Oh, but it's hard to live by the rules; I never could and still never do.")
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