Centrist House Democrats lash out at liberal colleagues, blame far-left views for costing the party

[shrike3]

94. Again, I respectfully disagree.

They were able to paint moderate old Joe Biden as a socialist. I saw it everywhere. People who should have known better. Imagine what they would have done if an actual Social Democrat had run.

I also think it's a personality thing. Sanders is a fiery personality like Trump. People respond to that more than they do ideas. I'd argue that a lot of people don't even know what Sanders' ideas are. But he has charisma, and they respond to that. I don't know that enough people would have responded to Sanders' charisma. Maybe they would have. Out of the two, Trump would have still attracted more people, I think. Sanders is not a con man; Trump is. Con men are good at this stuff.

I also think many people who aren't politically-minded vote for a candidate based on emotion, rather than ideas. Here's a very extreme example. I was talking to a young man about some of the problems Sanders might have posed as a candidate. The GOP had a playbook on him, and I guess it was brutal. Among other things, he stole electricity from a neighbor when he was a young man. The guy I spoke to said, "Oh, my God. That's hilarious. I can relate to that. That's a relatable candidate, that's what we need." Now this was not some teen-ager. This was a 30-year-old man, married, very responsible job. He wasn't interested in ideas. He wasn't interested in policy. He was into a candidate he could relate to, and he could relate to the guy who stole electricity.

btw, I'm not criticizing Sanders. We've all done things we aren't proud of.