Opinions Bernie Sanders is the new Ronald Reagan

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Democratic Party elders are bewildered. Don’t voters understand how unpopular Sen. Bernie Sanders is in Washington? “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done,” Hillary Clinton, still smarting from the wound he inflicted on her 2016 presidential campaign, said in January. “It’s all just baloney, and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.” The consequences, the party establishment fears, could be dire: Sanders will be George McGovern all over again — roundly thrashed in the general election by a sinister incumbent, just like the unexpected lefty winner of the 1972 primaries.

Sanders does have a historical forerunner, but it isn’t McGovern. It’s Ronald Reagan.

The comparison looks implausible. The genial, soothing Reagan, with his Hollywood polish, script-reading skills and two terms as governor of California, seems a long way from the cantankerous socialist senator, with his accent scraped off the Brooklyn sidewalks and his following formed in tiny, remote, hippie Vermont.

But Reagan was also labeled a fringe figure — of the right, not the left. Mainstream Republicans viewed him with alarm and ridiculed his proposals as simple and kooky. Like Sanders, Reagan shrugged off his detractors. Like Sanders, he bore little allegiance to the party. Like Sanders, he was said to appeal to only a narrow slice of voters. The two have something else in common. Both waged a hard-fought battle in a previous presidential primary contest, seeding their insurgent movements and building bases of young voters undeterred by the candidates’ advanced ages. Reagan was a spoiler turned tribune to a new Republican Party. Sanders, a spoiler in 2016, is on his way to remaking the Democratic Party.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/opinions-bernie-sanders-is-the-new-ronald-reagan/ar-BB10G9zR

I don't believe anyone who leans left appreciates being compared to Ronald Reagan.

I have to disagree with the editorial however. Mainstream Republicans were fine and dandy with Ronald Reagan. These days they revere him like a saint.

[relayerbob]

1. Yeah, that article wasn't written by someone alive at the time

While there are a few vague similarities, it ends there.

[Bev54]

2. I do not understand

why the repubs are always comparing people to Ronald Reagan, he was a shit president and his economics failed and they keep trying the same policies and they continue to fail at every level. Is this the best they have? When I think about it I guess yes who else? Nixon? GW? Wow why does anyone vote republican?

[walkingman]

3. The GOP thinks of Reagan as their GOD much like they do these days with Trump. Reagan represented a

ideology that blamed government for all of our ills, thought that the answer to everything was tax cuts and supply side economics, and was a blatant racist - all similar traits of Trump. Make no mistake the Reaganites make up most of the Trump base and until the workers of America standup and say "Enough" these folks will continue to cram their BS down our throats with glee and arrogance.

[andym]

4. Reagan was an effective governor--too effective

For example, changed University of California from a tuition free university to one requiring tuition--these days up to 13000/year.

[Farmer-Rick]

5. No way is Bernie a Reagan

1st All RepubliCONS loved the idiot when he ran.

2nd he was even popular with more conservative Dems.

3rd his stupid ideas were very mainstream, establishment supported, were loved by all the filthy rich and were very status quo.

4th he was a very clear racist.

5th he was a criminal and because of his brain disease he was spared jail.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Reagan's backers were Moral Majority types

that assembled post-Goldwater era. That was the money and organization behind Reagan from what I've read. It was a Fundamentalist Elite movement.

In American politics fringe movements become important when economic times turn bad and voters throw out the bums. Change means whatever's available at the time. We came really close to Huey Long, and Dewey. LaRouche was a perennial candidate, and Perot and John Andersen pondered reality for a spin from the fringe. Andersen more than anyone else elected Reagan.

[dweller]

8. Movement Conservatives

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_conservatism
Ronald Reagan was a key figure in expanding the popularity of movement conservatism from intellectual circles into the popular mainstream, by emphasizing the dangers of an excessively large federal government. In October 1964, Reagan delivered a speech as part of his support for candidate Goldwater titled "A Time for Choosing". The speech represented the ideology of movement conservatism, arguing against big government bureaucracy and welfare while also denouncing foreign aid. The speech was widely applauded and gave Reagan a national audience. He was elected Governor of California in 1966 and 1970

more at link
✌🏼

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Yeah, that's it

Once I put on my fuzzy thinking cap and engage the wayback machine, it's as muddled as Reagan. Thanks!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. MSN picked up the story from the Washington Post

I can't get the picture to link.

Perspective
Bernie Sanders is the new Ronald Reagan



Roberto Parada for The Washington Post