We ended up with a Republican majority in 2014 same way Nixon got elected in 1968

[Triana]

I'll let the late Allen Ginsberg explain. Listen carefully:

&t=55m53s

Nothing's changed. When the LEFT gets pissy and gets their panties in a bunch and doesn't bother to VOTE, we end up with Republicans. It's not rocket science. Happens every time.

[wyldwolf]

1. of course. This has always been accepted in political/historical accounts

There are some on DU (and the 'netroots' in general) who deny it or have never heard such a thing because they've been existing in a bubble, led to believe 'progressives' are the 'base' and the base ALWAYS votes and that the left are/were 'traditional' Democrats at war with 'corporatism' and other such buzz phrases.

You're going to get beat up over your OP, and I will, to, because of my reply.

@@^@@%@@ DLC!! @%!%%@&^FUCK YOU!!! #%@%!@@

on edit: see reply #2. LOL.

[hobbit709]

2. It wasn't the left that didn't vote in 2014. It was the middle that weren't given a clear choice.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. What happened in 72 ?

The only reason 68 was close was because Wallace siphoned off a lot of voters who would have voted for Nixon in a two man race. Wallace gets shot in 72, doesn't run, there is no third party to divide the right wing vote and Nixon wins the biggest Electoral College landslide in the modern era.

[Reter]

4. No, Reagan got more EV's in 1984

It wasn't "biggest Electoral College landslide in the modern era." Nixon won 520 Electoral Votes. Reagan won 525 in 1984. 525 is the record, modern or old. Nixon, however, did win by a slightly larger percentage of the popular vote.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. I forgot. Mondale carried his home state + DC

Poor George only carried Massachusetts and DC


And the reason Dem's don't fare well in mid terms has more to do with voter demographics than ideology.

[MohRokTah]

6. The Left won the primaries, nominated McGovern who chose Eagleton

'72 was the perfect example of what happens when the Left over reaches in this country.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. Eagleton was not the final vice presidential nominee

Eagleton had been McGovern's original choice, but it was revealed that he had undergone psychiatric care at one time, so he was labeled a "loony" and unfit to serve as Vice President. McGovern came under harsh criticism for not vetting his VP choice well enough, and he never recovered from that. The actual Democratic VP candidate in '72 was Sargent Shriver, who was a fellow World War II vet, architect of the Peace Corps, and member of the Kennedy family.

And 1972 was the year that Nixon's "plumbers" broke into the Watergate Hotel and helped themselves to the Democrats' strategies for the '72 elections.

So '72 was not a perfect example of "overreach" by the Left. It was instead a perfect example of what can happen when the choice of a running mate is labeled a loony for having undergone psychiatric care, and when one party steals information about election strategies from the other party.

[MohRokTah]

8. McGovern chose Eagleton

And that was really the straw that guaranteed the loss.

Then, in '84, the Left over reached yet again with Mondale.

When the Left over reaches, we lose.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. I would disagree with the Mondale example.

The Republicans were able to portray McGovern as out of the mainstream and therefore unacceptable. Mondale was a pretty conventional candidate, he was the former vice president. The Republicans were able to portray him as a little bit effete and a little bit feckless...

The composition of the electorate has changed so much since those debacles. The Democrats would have to really, really... really try to get those kind of ass whuppins.

[MohRokTah]

12. Mondale's biggest problem was that he was honest

He admitted he would raise taxes.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Looking at the demographics it would be hard to repeat those debacles...

But the scary thing is it seems there a lot of our fellow Democrats who are eager to try.

[MohRokTah]

20. The prime examples of how to run a Democratic Presidential Campaign are obvious.

The Clinton campaigns of '92 and '96 as well as the Obama campaigns of '08 and '12.

Deviating from the fundamentals of those campaigns will result in a higher chance of loss.

[madokie]

9. divide and conquer is how they do it

so many of our fellow dems will let the perfect destroy the good. Happens all the time

[MineralMan]

11. Many DUers have zero memory of 1968 or 1972.

I'm not sure what the numbers are, but I think it may be a majority of DUers who do not remember those elections. I do. I remember them very well. It did not go well for the nation.

I will always remember those two elections.

[thucythucy]

13. Bookmarked for later viewing.

Thanks for posting this.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. The problem with your application of Gingberg's words to the current times is the reality that the

States with more liberal and left leaning voters did so much better in 2014 than States that have less liberal voters. The entire West Coast did just fine, Oregon had a 70% turnout, which is low for us, elected Democrats, legalized cannabis, that sort of stuff.
Meanwhile, in other States 'Democrats' who would not even say they voted for the Democratic President lost while parsing out their 'bipartisan centrism'.
So it's regional, not national. That means if there is something amiss with 'the left' that is also regional, not what is happening everywhere. Not coast to coast, not across the country. Just in some places.

Spending your time trying to assign blame instead of trying to find solutions is not wise. Many of the States with crappy turnout have crappy election systems and even voter suppression. Right now is the time that any thinking voter in any such State should be focused like a laser on their own State's election laws, systems and habits. That is vital. But what is likely is that most will spend the between elections time nattering away and then about Oct 20th 2016 they will start whining about how the Republicans are running all the elections to their favor, suppressing the vote, etc.

[sendero]

18. "the Left"..

.... stayed home because there was no candidate to vote for? You guys keep acting like a Democrat is automatically better than a Republican, by a sufficient margin for it to matter at all.

If the choice is between a blue dog and a Repuke, I'm no longer voting either. It simply does not matter.

[octoberlib]

22. +1

[brooklynite]

15. That's not entirely true...

...Nixon got elected in part because the anti-war protests BY people who had given up on the political process were seem as a break down in civil order, and Nixon was able to use that to push a law and order platform.

[TM99]

17. I am part of the problem. Why?

Because I am a registered Independent. I lean left and fit a more populist model in the style of an FDR Democrat and an Teddy Roosevelt Republican.

I did not vote for Obama in 2008 but neither did I vote for McCain.

I now regret voting for Obama in 2012. Why?

Because if I had wanted a fucking moderate Republican, I would have voted for one.

I left the Republican party because it was unchangeable from the inside. It had gone to extremes. What I find in the Democratic party is a take over by the Third Way/DLC which is just another type of Republican - neo-liberal in economics and neo-con in foreign policy.

Republicans vote for their own. Democrats vote for their own. Stop lambasting your own damned party members. Listen to their complaints and take seriously the problem of the Third Way. It is the independents that you must convince. Put forth another Republican-lite Third Way Presidential candidate like HRC and see what happens in 2016. I won't vote for her. I and many others will not hold our noses and vote for the lesser of two evils.

[sendero]

21. I wrote my reply...

.... above before I read this.

EXACTLY.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. LBJ should have stopped his war and taken the wind out of the sails of the Left.

But, he wanted to show he was a "strong" leader and real anti-Communist. And, Humphrey backed him.

I voted 3rd Party in '68. And, I'd do it again.

[Scuba]

23. I miss the unrec button.