2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I'm no longer for the fringe candidate. [View all]JohnnyRingo
(18,614 posts)But after months and months of people claiming Sanders to be the one true liberal candidate, I'm now to understand that he's gone mainstream without changing a thing. That he's a liberal is OK with me, but I stand to the left of the average voter. Moving the goalposts doesn't make Bernie a moderate nor does it land me and Hillary Clinton in the Tea Party. I believe you're trying to say that there is no far left anymore, only moderate, right, and far right, because I see no one in politics to Bernie's left.
People can say that being a liberal is a plus in the general election all they want, but remember that the name had to changed to progressive to avoid negative political blowback. Socialist is a whole new level for the right wing slime machine. Let's hope he didn't say it too much in public because people like Hannity and Levin will devote two hours a day comparing him to history's worst dictators.
Sanders has avoided that trial by fire so far because the right is handily using him as a foil to destroy the one person they see as standing between them and a return to the White House, and the far left is joining them in the fray. Unfortunately.