The 1%'s “Centrist” Propaganda War: Why Sanders & Warren Are So Threatening to the Establishment

[peecoolyour]

The 1 Percent’s “Centrist” Propaganda War: Why Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren Are So Threatening to the Establishment

After last Novembers elections, the GOP had a bit of a revelation. Once they had gained control of the congress, bipartisanship suddenly became the mature and necessary thing to do. The people spoke, after all, and had given the go ahead for Republican’s to push through their ideology, and it was now the responsibility of the Democrats to play along. “Serious adults are in charge here and we intend to make progress,” said Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, with an air of superiority. Yes, this is the same fellow who made the following remark a few years back: “Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term.” It is also the same party that has fought bitterly against nearly every policy that President Obama has advocated, like health care reform, the economic stimulus, immigration reform, etc.

Of course its all nonsense. The GOP is about as interested in bipartisanship as Reagan was interested in a balanced budget. They say one thing, and do something entirely different. They are politicians, this is what they do.

But still, this does lead to a different question that has been floating around lately, which is whether the Democratic Party should be embracing the liberal movement, led by people like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, or falling back to a more centrist plan that Bill Clinton embraced back in the ’90s. This question seems legitimate, but it actually is not.

Elizabeth Warren and the rising liberal movement have created a real fear within the Republican party and Wall Street. Certain right wing pundits paint Warren as nothing less than a radical socialist, aiming to overthrow the capitalist system. This is fear. Fear that the new liberal movement is not just a fad, and that the future is moving leftward.

The argument for centrism within the Democratic party is a distraction, but also a tactic. After all, what does centrism really mean in Washington? It means corporatism. It means the neoliberal alliance between Wall Street and D.C. that we have seen wreak havoc over the past 30 years. It means the Clinton administration signing financial deregulation into law, and refusing to regulate derivatives. It means the promotion of corporatist trade deals like NAFTA and the TPP.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/06/04/1-percents-centrist-propaganda-war-why-bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-are-so

[WillyT]

1. Huge K & R !!! - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You !!!

[99Forever]

2. Excellent read.

Thanks!

[cali]

3. great article

[cantbeserious]

4. I Will No Longer Settle For The Lesser Of Two Corporate Evils - Go Bernie Go

eom

[glinda]

5. K&R

[BrotherIvan]

6. I'm pretty sure they are confident they can outspend public opinion

And get their employees to break the rules to achieve the desired outcome. Wish it weren't true. Damn, that's cynical.

[RobertEarl]

7. They allowed the 2000 election to be stolen

Who in their right minds would think they would not stop at anything to get their way with our money, our lives and our freedom?

The same people who stole votes in 2000 were the same who made sure electronic vote counting was instituted across the US, and ever since more and more republicans have been getting elected. Sure Obama won but really, McCain would have stunk up the place so bad the counters just gave us that one.

Now how's that for cynical and truthful?

[BrotherIvan]

8. Heads I win, tails you lose

But I do remember an article from some random blog in 2007 that was supposed to be some Republican power Mandarin telling an inner secret. He basically said that when the economy gets bad, they let a Democrat take over for awhile because it gives them cover, and "we can get what we want either way." At the time the article seemed hokey, but when all the things started to happen in education, healthcare and social security, and then running losers like McCain and Romney, it didn't seem so much like science fiction.

[RobertEarl]

9. Counts they win, tails we tuck and run

Odd, isn't it, how the republicans took back the congress and then went on a tear, and then won it again in 2014? Obama was caught and he could barely make a move. And then they blamed Obama for all the country's problems!!

Cynical is no explanation...... the facts are quite explanatory. They own the damn voting machines!!

[Enthusiast]

10. K&R! This post should have hundreds of recommendations!

Elizabeth and Bernie are dead center with the American people on the issues.

Of course the corporations want to paint them as extremists.

Just imagine, holding Wall Street accountable for their criminality. How extreme!