If Bernie DOES move HRC "further left"-this is purely a GOOD thing.

[Ken Burch]

Last edited Mon May 4, 2015, 01:06 AM - Edit history (1)

This election will be won on turnout and ground game-we can't(and should never try to) out-money the GOPtocracy,but we can outwork and out-hustle them.

To do that, we need a nominee, whoever it is, who can get us heading out of the convention in Philly with real fire, real passion, and a visceral belief that the contest is about living, real issues and values that will actually affect people-not the usual dreary non-show, where convention week is about telling the people whose help will be needed to shut up and know their place.

A truly progressive ticket, speaking with conviction and without apology for what we as a party stand for at heart, is precisely the way to do that.

Embrace the fact that Bernie's declaration is for the good of all, and that his effect on 2016 will be purely good. Be happy.

[Thinkingabout]

1. Hillary needs to remain where she is, perhaps she can pull Bernie to the right.

[Ken Burch]

2. Why? There's not much life where she is.

Last edited Mon May 4, 2015, 01:07 AM - Edit history (1)

We need to come out of Philly with passion and fire...as a people's crusade.

[Thinkingabout]

4. It would be good for Bernie to move left. Hillary is far enough left.

[Scootaloo]

8. It's like you're speaking English, I recognize the words, but can't understand the sentence

[Major Hogwash]

9. It's because he just contradicted himself.

He probably learned how to do that by listening to Hillary.

[polichick]

13. Triangulese.

[JaneyVee]

6. Isn't the convention in Philadelphia?

[Ken Burch]

7. Thanks. Changed it. n/t.

[DJ13]

3. You remember a toy called "Stretch Armstrong"?

Hillary's like that, she can be stretched, pulled, and twisted in the primaries, and she'll spring right back into the same shape she used to sell her 1% benefactors into supporting her by the GE.

[Bonobo]

5. I ate the inside of Stretch Monster and am still alive 40 years later.

It was red. It was sweet. Like alien blood.

[Recursion]

10. I mean, it's great until it takes her below 270 electoral votes

At which point it becomes very very not great.

The problem is we have no idea what that "limit" is.

[Ken Burch]

11. No reason to think it would.

There is very little Bernie stands for that is actually unpopular.

[Recursion]

12. Democratic views are very popular until Democrats espouse them

That said, I'll be more than happy to see what kind of national standard bearer Sanders turns out to be.

[True Blue Door]

14. It would just be empty rhetoric, instantly ignored if not repudiated in the General Election.

Hillary goes to truly farcical lengths to confirm the worst impressions about her, and I have zero doubt that she would dig new depths of disgrace if she wins the nomination.

So, the Sanders candidacy has to be real, or our best-case scenario is a razor-thin margin with no coattails or mandate and one term of our version of Richard Nixon likely haunting us forever. And our worst case scenario is absolute disaster: Both defeat and disgrace, with people abandoning the Party and voting in general in despair and disgust for years to come.

With Sanders, our best case scenario is everything. And our worst case scenario is what - that a socialist managed to run for President openly on a major party ticket, beat the establishment over the head with issues they desperately want to ignore and bury, and gave the American people a novel choice for a new direction. The worst that can happen is that he fucks it up and democratic socialism goes back to being merely 50x more viable than it was before rather than 500x.

His is a candidacy that would have coattails even in general election defeat. But he has to win the nomination for the potential to be realized - merely changing Hillary's rhetoric for a few months before she returns to form would not have lasting impact.

[marmar]

15. Problem is it would only be temporary .....

..... she'll tell us what we want to hear during the campaign, then drift right once elected. We've seen this movie before.