Will Bernie Sanders cause Hillary Clinton to go "too far left" ?

[kentuck]

I heard some talking head, on the talk shows this morning, harken back to the race of Bush, Sr when he was challenged by Patrick Buchanan. He/She said that Buchanan was getting about 30% in the race but it weakened Bush by making him go too far right, paraphrasing.

Hillary has come out with some very strong comments on guns. Bernie has not. Hillary has also said she did not agree with the "fast track" for the President, I have also read. Do these moves to the left hurt Hillary in the general election? Is she going "too far left"?

[99th_Monkey]

1. Yes. WAY too far Left

for the likes of the .01% greed-heads on Wall St.

But NOT for We the People.

GO BERNIE!!!!!!!!!!!

[kath]

24. Ha! Nailed it.

[madokie]

2. Hillary has shown that she will say and do whatever the heck it takes to get a persons vote

follow up I doubt it as follow up doesn't seem to be her stronger suit.

[Purveyor]

10. Yeppers and the reason her trustworthiness is above 50% in the polling. She won't be elected with

those numbers...

[elehhhhna]

3. talk.left, govern right

Like obama

[SheilaT]

4. Don't I wish.

Except that there will not be an ounce of sincerity in her supposed move left, and if she's elected, a couple of years on everyone will be saying, Oh, dear, I just NEVER thought she wasn't a real liberal.

[sgtbenobo]

32. Mic Drop....

....you are a hound dog after my heart.

Carry-the-fuck-On!

[still_one]

5. I think that analysis is all off. Bush senior was hurt by Perot, not

Buchanan, who was far more extreme than bush senior. His son, bush jr. Was extreme right, and the repukes during seniors time were used set with him because the extreme right said bush senior lied when he said no taxes.

[djean111]

6. I honestly think that most people recognize the difference between campaign rhetoric and

what a politician is actually going to do. And the difference between campaign rhetoric and what can actually be done.

(Hillary's comments on Fast Track don't actually mean squat at this point in time.)

[L0oniX]

21. When "campaign rhetoric" is just lies wrapped in roses.

Kinda like the batterers syndrome.

[merrily]

26. I sure hope so. I worry about low info voters.

[HereSince1628]

7. Nothing she has said hasn't been generally safe

The talk about the TPP isn't really anti international banking, it doesn't threaten foreign manufacturers or importers.

Her statements about gun control is what republicans expect anyway. Even if she said nothing about guns, the right would think some democratic group is plotting more gun control.

It would be controversial if she said that HSD and the FBI should work with the NSA to capture and identify all digital communication between government employees and hate groups.

[Grilled Charlie]

8. It exposes her lack of vision and principles

Right now she leaning heavily to the left with her vague statements - talking about affordable college and a higher minimum wage. Were she to be elected, she'd lean heavily to the right of those same vague statements and we'll discover that "affordable college" means lower interest rates on student loans and that a higher minimum wage means 8.50 and hour. In other words, she'd go 'all Obama on us'

[L0oniX]

20. ...and no pay apprenticeships for the few with no job guarantees.

Mean while fuck roads bridges harbors railways etc.

[99th_Monkey]

9. Another lame attempt to "Naderize" Bernie - FAIL nt

[zappaman]

11. No. n/t

[Eleanors38]

12. Think of the horror: Someone moving half way toward LBJ!

[L0oniX]

19. Shouldn't be a problem for someone who claims to following in FDR's foot steps.

[merrily]

28. LOL!

Yes, I, too, have nightmares that the Post Office might not get privatized after all or, worse, that our economy might get a huge boost from the most cost effective health plan in the nation.



Fucking left. Where is Joe McCarthy, now that we really need him?

[Betty Karlson]

35. Laughing Out Loud here. What a wonderfully witty choice of words.

Thanks for the laugh.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

13. Possible, but I think unlikely.

Yes, it's a risk to be considered, but I think that the advantages of pushing Hillary further left (possibility of doing more good if she wins, although in practice the Republican-dominated congress will mean that it won't make much difference) outweigh the disadvantages (arguably a slightly lower chance of winning).

[merrily]

29. Actually, left positions on issues poll extremely well, as long as no one labels them.

80% approval from Americans of all political persuasions on some issues.

If that were not the case, I very much doubt Hillary would be running on them.

The idea that such issues make a candidate unelectable seem to have been a DLC myth. Besides, the DLC made THE most intractable issues, the ones tied up religious beliefs, the cynosure of the differences betweeh Democrats and Republicans, while dropping and discrediting the popular ones in the name of greater electability. Go figure.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

34. Arrange the following from left to right.

Mondale, Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama.

Yes, single-issue polls sometimes produce results pleasing to the left-wing eye. But declared preference matters far less than revealed preference; of the last 8 presidential elections Democrats have won four and lost four, and I would argue that the two candidates who won were all probably more centrist than the four who lost.

[newfie11]

14. What's to far left? Nt

[aspirant]

15. LEFT behind at the finish line

[L0oniX]

18. The Day After & Left Behind ...they aren't just movies.

[newfie11]

22. Oh in that case

Heck yeah!!!!
Go Bernie!!!

[merrily]

30. Violent overthrow of the government.

Well, maybe

I kid.

[sadoldgirl]

16. Most voters should take her

campaign rhetoric as just that, and then for themselves
add to each of her newly found left proposals the words:
perhaps, if circumstances allow it, if it were possible, etc.
in addition to asking themselves whether they could take
these to the bank.

[L0oniX]

17. Don't worry ...it will be temporary in order to get enough votes ...then comes bus time.

[SaranchaIsWaiting]

23. Where she goes for expediency sake doesn't matter, it's where she's been.

And she can't change that.

[Ron Green]

25. Is this just about "God, Guns, Gays?"

Is that how she goes "left?" Enough of the Culture War! The biggest favor Bernie could do for Hillary would be to drive her not to the left, but to the truth.

[mahina]

27. lols

[Thinkingabout]

31. Hillary is strong enough to run her campaign where she wants to go, she has her opinions.

She is right on the gun issue, BTW most Americans agree with gun control bills. Actually many thinks she will go further to the right in the general.

[Jamastiene]

33. What is this too far left of which you speak?

I think the country is so evenly split at this point that the answer to your question is I don't know. It could go either way, as far as I can tell.