The Democratic Debate Showed the Left Is Winning

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

The night started out with an extended section on health-care policy. This set the stage for the rest of the night, as it quickly became obvious that it was Bernie and Liz against the world. The moderators recycled tired talking points against Medicare for All, hammering again and again that it would “raise middle-class taxes,” as if the electorate has some bizarre preference for giving their money to insurance companies rather than the government. John Delaney responded with what the centrists clearly believed to be their trump card — that Medicare for All would take away union health-care benefits.

Yet the fact that this is what centrists fell back on reveals just how weak their position is. Union density in the United States is just above 10 percent. The vast majority of the US workforce does not have a union health plan. The Republicans have had no small amount of success in the last decade stirring up resentment against well-compensated union workers. But Delaney and company seem to think that trumpeting the privileges union workers have while fighting against the expansion of those privileges to the rest of the workforce is the route to electability. Though people might not have heard of Delaney before the debate, by the end, few had any questions as to why he is struggling to crack 2 percent in the polls.

Sanders and Warren were merciless in their responses to this kind of disingenuousness. Warren pointed out, quite correctly, that scaremongering about taking people’s insurance away is a Republican talking point. Sanders went for the jugular. When Delaney bragged about having been a health-care executive, Sanders snapped, “Maybe you did that and made money off of health care, but our job is to run a nonprofit health-care system.” And after the umpteenth ridiculous question about taxes from the moderators, Sanders reminded the audience that “[the health-care industry] will be advertising [during the debate] with that talking point.”

(snip)

[But it also exposed something important about the debates. The debates, after all, are not run by the Democratic Party. They are put on by CNN. And CNN’s main concern is not generating the most substantive back-and-forth, or trying to ensure that the best candidate rises to the top. Its concern is maximizing ad revenue by pulling in as many viewers as possible. This, ultimately, is why viewers were treated to reality TV–style tricks to stoke conflict. And why a nonentity like John Delaney was gifted with speaking time and again — because the producers knew his dour centrism was the key to creating conflict onstage.

(snip)

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/07/democratic-debate-primary-2020-election-presidential-bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-cnn

[lapucelle]

1. E Warren made the case for Democrats brilliantly.

"We are the Democrats. We are not about trying to take away health care from anyone."

as opposed to

"I'm a little bit tired of Democrats afraid of big ideas. Republicans are not afraid of big ideas".

This is why liberal Democrat Elizabeth Warren is winning.

Neither "We are the left" nor "Republicans are not afraid of big ideas" are winning messages for our party.

[sheshe2]

2. +1

[silentEcho]

5. Correct. Yes.

[Trumpocalypse]

8. Let's wait until votes cast

before declaring victory.

[elocs]

3. Not a single vote has been cast yet, but the Left is winning.

Right.

[silentEcho]

4. Warren is a solid Democrat. She is aligned with our other Democrats.

[ehrnst]

15. Consider the source. Jacobin.

Under the delusion that the GOP and Democrats are equally bad because Wall Street exists.

One of UJ's favorite sources of "analysis."

[wyldwolf]

6. this sentiment has been echoed since 1948. Wasn't true then...

... and if by "the left" you mean Bernie Sanders-style, then it isn't true now.

[Thekaspervote]

7. This!

[crazytown]

11. LBJ?

Civil Rights
Voting Rights
Medicare
Medicaid
'War on Poverty'
'Great Society'
Education Act
Public Broadcasting Act
Gun Control Act

[wyldwolf]

12. why, yes. Yes LBJ

NOT a Bernie Sanders-style Leftist.

[ehrnst]

14. Oh, those.

[Demsrule86]

9. Winning what? Certainly not the general election...we could even lose the House if

We run on MFA...as we have no way to make it happen...and it will cost jobs and end workplace insurance...as for the rest reparations, basic income, and make crossing the border not a crime...etc. We will lose in a landslide if any supporting those policies wins the primary...probably the house as well.

[DeminPennswoods]

10. Heard a snippet of David Jolley on Andrea Mitchell's

show today. I almost fell over when he said that the progressive agenda is where the country is headed and Dems should embrace it (or words to that effect).

[ehrnst]

13. Jacobin: Such an authority on Democrats.

[GulfCoast66]

16. No matter who wins the primary, the left wins!

There is no Right Wing in our candidates.