Bernie has a warning for the Democrats

[magicguido]

[liberal N proud]

1. Oh, come on!

[kansasobama]

2. Bernie does not have legs

I love Bernie but Bernie has been a problem in all the rural America. His message does not resonate in rural America. It is so misguided. Liberals in red America cannot even improve margins because Bernie and AOC, despite great ideas, never step into purple and red areas to help us liberals out. Bernie, try talking to purple/read America to understand.

[Rebl2]

25. Exactly right!

Why don’t they come to VERY RED Missouri, go into rural areas or even red suburbs of Kansas City or St. Louis and help Democrats here. There are really few of us and WE NEED help apparently, because the few of us are getting no where. I never see them come here. Obama came here after the tornado in Joplin, but he did not come here enough when he was President and neither did Biden when he was vice-president.

[Indykatie]

28. Until the Bernie/AOC Wing of the Party Show They Can Flip Red or Even Purple Seats

They need to get on board supporting moderate candidates who CAN flip those kinds of districts instead of screaming and demanding purity and support for M4All. Should they find they can't manage to support a moderate candidate then they need to stand down and stop trying to win the primary to only go on and lose in the General or just shut up.

[McKim]

38. I thought they DID!!!

I thought the Bernie supporters have already supported a moderate candidate, Joe Biden!

[empedocles]

3. We have enough trouble in Georgia.

[kansasobama]

5. I know Georgia

We struggle in Kansas and I am so proud we have somehow elected Sharice Davids. Bernie and AOC are a problem for us to expand elsewhere. They have to mouth off. Work behind the scenes. Do they not understand?

Who are these working class people? You know, some do not want to retrain for the new world. We have been retraining ourselves all life. These working class rural America will not budge an inch. They want everything as it was in 1960. Not happening!

Let Bernie convince purple and red states to accept education and retraining for the 21st century. Instead of talking from Washington, come down here!

[Rebl2]

26. Absolutely Right.

I live right next door in RED Missouri. It makes me mad when Democrats from West and East coasts sound off like they do, but they don’t ever step foot in our states and help out. It will never happen.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. For Bernie leftward drift is always the solution

but being practical there's a lot to repair, our majorities are slim, some significant portion of old time Main Street republicans will move to the middle, so 2022 and 2024 is the art of getting something done while not alienating the center and right.

Joe Biden's reasonableness and agenda is what's available. He must move with EO's on progressive ideas and absorb the heat from the right. His ace is build back better - growing the economy from the COVID crisis. It's not all about AOC and Bernie Sanders. It's about America, and Joe Biden's long term political career testifies to his abilities to get that done.

[kansasobama]

6. Well said

We just cannot lose the House.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. 2018 we caught them sleeping

2020 they overperformed to reject Trump and voted Republican anyway. Question is will those GOP reluctant voters continue to vote, or was it a one-off, and can we register new voters like they did, because we did underperform in new registrations quite significantly.

Whoever reaches their max outreach potential is cooked.

[Me.]

8. We've JUst Had 4 Years Of Threats & Warnings

are we looking at 4 more? Enough!

[George II]

9. What?

How do we avoid future authoritarians? Winning back the working class is key.

When did Democrats lose the working class that we now have to "win back"??????

[Newest Reality]

10. That's how good politics works for us...

That's how good politics works for us.

It was a push from the socialist and communist parties that gave the impetus for change in the 30's, not going with a safe, Status Quo.

A push from the progressive left is in order. It's not like it hurts. It is a good reminder of what may be necessary to assure viability of our party in the future.

[lapucelle]

13. Socialists and communists were not responsible for the New Deal. A Democratic president was.

Which of the F.D.R. Wannabes Actually Understands New Deal Liberalism?

Suddenly ... Roosevelt is alive again in the 2020 Democratic primary campaign: His ideas for using government to improve lives echo through stump speeches across Iowa and New Hampshire.

snip==================================================================================

But there’s a right way and a wrong way to revive Roosevelt. Before we allow anyone to assume his mantle, let’s separate candidates merely seeking inspiration for big ideas from those misappropriating his legacy.

snip=================================================================================

...Roosevelt was an improvisational pragmatist — a “juggler,” he called himself — not a socialist. While his idea for Social Security contained socialistic elements (as did George W. Bush’s 2008 bank bailout), he understood that in a nation of strivers, the concept is a political loser.

When asked his political philosophy, he replied: “I’m a Christian and a Democrat, that’s all.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/opinion/fdr-democrats-2020.html

[Thomas Hurt]

14. I am afraid that most of America doesn't understand that distinction. Trumpers certainly don't...

and will not ever.

[Newest Reality]

15. There is more to it...

That's okay though.

[lapucelle]

17. More to what? It's not "OK though". How self-serving it is to co-opt the legacy of a Democrat

and re-purpose it as some kind of nouveau-socialist narrative. It results in misleading independent, young, and new voters into believing that it is and was always someone/something else that was "really" responsible for things like The New Deal and The Great Society.

Core Democratic Party values are core Democratic Party values.

[TwilightZone]

20. Nonsense.

"It was a push from the socialist and communist parties that gave the impetus for change in the 30's, not going with a safe, Status Quo. "

That's one of the funniest things I've ever read on DU.

[TimeToGo]

36. Not sure that's exactly so

[lapucelle]

11. Democrats understand the dangers of demagogues and idealogues. N/T

[Thekaspervote]

12. Bernie always has a message for the Dems and it's usually nothing positive

[Cha]

16. A "warning" as it were.. how's that

working out for him? Rhetorical!

Aloha Kasper..

[OnDoutside]

18. 48-52

[doc03]

19. I agree but the Republicans refused to pass anything Obama brought up.

"Our goal is to make Obama fail". As long as Republicans control the Senate nothing can be done.

[LiberalLovinLug]

21. He is correct. Its so obvious.

If we want new voters. And past voters that have lost confidence in government doing ANYTHING for them, we should heed this advice.

We have to offer real advancements. Real progress. And get behind them as a unit. Progressives get shat on all the time for causing arguments, and are scolded that their ideas are fairy tales. No matter that the majority of Americans support things like M4A. And that all the candidates that also vocally supported M4A won their seats.

But each time its progressives that must relent for the sake of unity. Leaving way for conservative minded, even Republicans, to be appointed into key positions. And policy reflects that. And each time that happens more and more of the younger, engaged, or even old school FDR supporters, get disillusioned with the Democratic Party.

Just running on - we're not them - only works so far.
The party has always had to balance just how far they could go with social progress vs. making sure no one could accuse them of being anti-capitalist. But they always count on leaning more right, to the so-called "moderate" Republican, to push them over the top. They do not realize that

1. That "moderate" Republican is going the way of the Dodo.
2. That the future of the Democratic party is people like AOC. And fighting for what are basic entitelments in every other democratic county will actually gain you more votes than you will lose from the supporters of Republicans like Kasich who advise moving even further to the right. Will the Democratic leadership budge? We'll see. I pray they see the light soon.

[My Pet Orangutan]

24. White working class voters are the Republican base.

Last edited Fri Nov 27, 2020, 07:29 PM - Edit history (1)

It's a fool's game to concentrate on them. And that's what Bernie means by working class - WHITE working class. The winning strategy is -

1. Increase turnout of POC
2. Double down women's right to choose, sexual harassment, and equal pay.
2. Make further inroads into the suburbs, capitalizing on the GOP's move to the right.

When you talk about 'entitlements', you are ignoring the fact that the '(white) working class' are very - VERY prepared to vote against their economic interests. A heavy majority are addicted to racism, hatred, and bigotry. The further the GOP move to the right, the more enthusiastic they become about voting for them.

[kansasobama]

29. You are 100% correct

Who are these white working class? Republican base that does not want to retrain for jobs of 2021 and beyond (like energy efficiency, less global warming friendly?). They cannot be sticking to their guns on education. We cannot be polluting the land. Why don't Bernie go to these areas and convince about real progressive issues-climate change, clean air, clean water, racial justice etc. He will soon realize they are merely about keeping old defunct job.

Not to mention, racism is rampant in these groups. Yes, I know they were Democrats. Guess what? They are Republicans now. Uneducated white working class is the GOP base. They are very different from educated whites and women. They also are sexist. They voted against Hillary just because they "don't like her." Translation- We do not want women.

[My Pet Orangutan]

31. As the GOP has dumbed down, educated whites are moving strongly in our direction.

It's not ideology that moves them, but reasonable considered argument.

[LiberalLovinLug]

30. I think its a bit disingenuous to insinuate Bernie means WHITE when he talks about working class

Fundamentally he would like to get more working class voters, of all stripes, to see that the Democrats have the best platform for them to live a happier more secure life.

Its a fact that the majority of working class folks are white. And its the white workers that the Democrats are losing. So by deduction one could say that since that is the group we need to come back to us, Bernie must be only talking about them.

But that's bad logic. It doesn't mean he does not support the issues of non-white workers along with white workers.
Standing up for workers rights, and the social rights outside of work, will obviously impact more whites than non-whites. That's simple math.

Notice its only other people that define Sanders audience for him. When in fact Sanders had the most diverse group of supporters in the primary than any other candidate.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sanders-supporters-bernie-bro-poll-less-white-women-2020-democrat-candidates-a9070531.html

Based on polls of registered Democrat or “Democrat-leaning” voters, just 49 per cent of Sanders supporters are white. Elsewhere, white people account for 56 per cent of Joe Biden’s supporters, with Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren tallying at 59 per cent and 71 per cent respectively.

More women support Sanders than his two female frontrunner opponents too. Women make up 53 per cent of Sanders supporters, compared to 49 per cent of Warren supporters and 48 per cent of those who support Biden and Harris.


So much for the Bernie Bro myth.

I'll include reacting to your post beneath,
"Bernie's endless justifications of the word 'Socialist' cost us votes all over the nation"

Pure poppycock. Every single progressive vocal supporter of M4A won their seat. More than a few incumbents that gave a thumbs down to M4A lost. Now I agree that for Sanders it is not politically savvy to bandy about the word "socialist". There is a certain made-in-America poison to the word. (even though things like the military are funded in a "socialized" centralized way too).

But if a more savvy leader like AOC or another charismatic candidate in the future can parse it in other language and explain it better ......ie..it will cost half as much, and everyone will be covered. All your lives, no matter where you live or move to, or what job, if you have a job...from cradle to grave. No more losing your house to pay to keep someone alive. Also to put it in terms such as, private and government run insurance company work the same way...the more clients you have in the pool, the cheaper the cost will be. Or should be. The more the cost is spread out, and so it CAN be more inclusive, to also absorb things like pre-existing conditions.

[My Pet Orangutan]

33. Mediare for all is not socialism,

it is cutting out a parasite middleman (private health insurance) interposed between public funding, doctors, and their patients.

[LiberalLovinLug]

34. It doesn't matter if you yourself don't think its socialism

It will be painted that way. That is the main point.
I've said, I do not think Sanders should promote the word. Not for logical reasons but for political reasons.

But M4A, a single payer system, is administered centrally. And payed for by a single payer, the tax payer. That will be interpreted by many as socialism. At least the funding for it is done in a socialized way. Like military, police, fire fighters, public schools....

Some western countries have different mixes of public/private, and some will say that because of that it is not single payer. But in all those countries, there is a basic standard of care that applies to all citizens. And that includes expensive treatments if needed. Some countries add in private clinics for specialists and for labs. You can pay extra insurance, or your company can. But the basic core of universal care is built into the laws. Even if the federal government allows states or provinces to implement it, they have to abide by the federal laws basic care requirements, which includes everyone can get any doctor, and can see them about anything. And hospital care is covered.

You don't think all of those progressive Democrats that publicly supported M4A, but won anyways, were not attacked by their R opponents as being for socialism based on things like their support for M4A?

[Jim_S]

39. You are so correct!

Last edited Sat Nov 28, 2020, 01:44 AM - Edit history (1)

If Bernie had one failure it was to let his opponents continuously focus on one word. Socialist. You are so correct in recognizing that AOC is much savvier in her presentations on what a more progressive agenda would be. In my opinion, the results of this last election were a failure of the Democratic leadership. The Republican party is abhorrent and should have been forced to defend the 'trump' at every turn. Trump should have been 'tied around the neck' of every Republican running for office in the entire U.S. They should have had to defend his every move. But it was not the case. There was an obvious case of denouncing the trump, but not his party. That was a losing strategy by the Democratic leadership.

[My Pet Orangutan]

22. Bernie's endless justifications of the word 'Socialist'

cost us votes all over the nation.

Winning the white working class (because that's what he means) and losing the suburbs and latinos, does not seem like a winning strategy to me.

[JI7]

42. He actually defended Castro also

[Cozmo]

23. Enough already, Bernie

HoHum

[geretogo]

27. I totally agree with the video . Bernie is in the middle in a country that has gone to the extreme

right over the last forty years . The majority agree with Bernie . The polling says so .

[murielm99]

40. The "polling" says that Biden won,

not Bernie.

Maybe we should have a warning for Bernie: Go back to the Senate and do your job, Bernie!

[JI7]

41. Sanders Lost Iowa to Pete Buttigieg .

[Gore1FL]

32. He's right.

The endless push the the right yields little, and we keep doing it every election.

The citizenry is to the left, not the center-right.

[Skittles]

35. zzzzzzzzzz

[Nitram]

37. The end of the World is coming! I had a dream last night and I am warning all of you.