Democrats Will Learn All the Wrong Lessons From Brush With Bernie

[Fozzledick]

Years ago, over many beers in a D.C. bar, a congressional aide colorfully described the House of Representatives, where he worked.

It's "435 heads up 435 asses," he said.

I thought of that person yesterday, while reading the analyses of Hillary Clinton's victories Tuesday night. The arrival of the first female presidential nominee was undoubtedly a huge moment in American history and something even the supporters of Bernie Sanders should recognize as significant and to be celebrated. But the Washington media's assessment of how we got there was convoluted and self-deceiving.

This was no ordinary primary race, not a contest between warring factions within the party establishment, á la Obama-Clinton in '08 or even Gore-Bradley in '00. This was a barely quelled revolt that ought to have sent shock waves up and down the party, especially since the Vote of No Confidence overwhelmingly came from the next generation of voters. Yet editorialists mostly drew the opposite conclusion.

The classic example was James Hohmann's piece in the Washington Post, titled, "Primary wins show Hillary Clinton needs the left less than pro-Sanders liberals think."

Hohmann's thesis was that the "scope and scale" of Clinton's wins Tuesday night meant mainstream Democrats could now safely return to their traditional We won, screw you posture of "minor concessions" toward the "liberal base."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/democrats-will-learn-all-the-wrong-lessons-from-brush-with-bernie-20160609

[Loki Liesmith]

1. That's the spirit

[apcalc]

2. Clinton is a liberal....based on her voting record...

You are rewarding 25 years of Republican lies if you believe otherwise.

[TheKentuckian]

3. When was this 25 years the TeaPubLieKLANS have asserted Clinton isn't liberal?

I say it never happened and sure hasn't been one of the 9 million things they whine and lie about regarding her.

Hell, I don't remember ANY TeaPubLieKLANS calling anyone out as too conservative, too hawkish, or too corporate friendly ever.

You guys need to stop just rolling any criticism as "right wing" or Republican, it just isn't true. You don't have to agree with said criticism but it is silly and dishonest to pretend it is all cut from the same cloth.

[dreamnightwind]

4. This is an excellent article

from the article:

Democratic voters tried to express these frustrations through the Sanders campaign, but the party leaders have been and probably will continue to be too dense to listen. Instead, they'll convince themselves that, as Hohmann's Post article put it, Hillary's latest victories mean any "pressure" they might have felt to change has now been "ameliorated."

The maddening thing about the Democrats is that they refuse to see how easy they could have it. If the party threw its weight behind a truly populist platform, if it stood behind unions and prosecuted Wall Street criminals and stopped taking giant gobs of cash from every crooked transnational bank and job-exporting manufacturer in the world, they would win every election season in a landslide.

This is especially the case now that the Republican Party has collapsed under the weight of its own nativist lunacy. It's exactly the moment when the Democrats should feel free to become a real party of ordinary working people.

I absolutely believe that if our party would quit the corporate money, we could fund clean candidates and would have the public's trust again, and that we'd win far more elections.

People have figured out that both party's candidates (Bernie excepted) are going to represent the large corporate interests who are funding the campaigns.

[democrattotheend]

7. Hopefully Bernie has proven that possible

The first time I gave to Bernie's campaign, I wasn't even sure I was going to vote for him. But I had read that he pledged to raise all of his money from small donors, as had been his practice for his whole career. I wanted to chip in to help show that it is possible to be a viable candidate without cozying up to big donors, and I think there's no question that he has done so.

Hopefully other Democrats will take note of that and realize that they don't have to do things the traditional way anymore. I am sure plenty of elected Democrats would love to spend less time on the phone "dialing for dollars".

[dreamnightwind]

12. That's definitely the right place to focus

Until we get that right, it'll be more corporate-approved "centrism", which mostly serves the upward transfer of wealth.

I would love to see the Progressive Caucus enact a rule which would prohibit members from accepting corporate money, and to see the caucus develop a people-based funding pipeline for its members. That simple change could enable a sizable contingent of clean progressive congress people, then the public would see the contrast between them and the bought people, and it would be game on.

[kadaholo]

8. Right...!!!!

...on!!!

[Garrett78]

11. "...they would win every election season in a landslide."

So, why don't they do those things? Is it because they are "dense," as Taibbi suggests.

Do you think it's that Democrats don't want to win more often and more easily?

[Bettie]

13. It is because they want to get rich too....

You don't get rich without doing as the money people want.

Taking money out of politics would make it significantly less profitable to those involved, so they don't do that.

Honestly, I'm sick of the whole process and do not believe that there is any hope for change, we, the peons simply do not matter because we don't have enough money to get their attention.

[democrattotheend]

5. This is my concern

I am afraid that instead of making the process better, they will make it more restrictive to prevent another Bernie from being able to get as far as he did.

This is why I am not in favor of Bernie "taking it to the convention", so to speak. I fear that if he goes too far it will just create a backlash that makes it harder for the next progressive anti-establishment challenger to compete.

[Ferd Berfel]

9. The Oligarchy will protect itself and it's invesments

regardless of the destruction it causes

I agree they will try to lock it down even further to assure their Corporate

Your future choices will be how much Wall Street, MIC, right wing would you like? The republican fast track or the neo-Democrat "a little slower" track. But the direction is the same

[ancianita]

10. If you're right, if backlash happens, it will solidify to Berners the party's intractability.

The party would be officially rejecting progressivism for American governance. Turning back the clock. Keeping us #21 among OECD countries who support civilized values of human development.

The party would be stupid to blow back on a candidate with 46% of the pledged delegates of their party.

Bernie and Berners have every right to expect more structural inclusion within legislative power nodes of Congress and state downticket funding.

[NurseJackie]

6. Taibbi is such a self-righteous asinine whiner.

Give him a pacifier.