Bernie made a mistake in his messaging

[Armstead]

In the kerfuffle over which candidate is progressive or not, I think Bernie misspoke when he made a distinction between a "moderate" and a "progressive."

He basically said you can't be a moderate AND a progressive. he made it an eitehr/or choice.

I disagree. IMO this is not a binary choice in that sense. One can certainly be a progressive/liberal and be moderate in many ways. There's plenty of room on that spectrum.

I think Bernie should not have made that distinction. And I will not criticize Clinton for describing herself a "moderate."

But (and you knew there had to be a "but&quot there is a distinction between a "centrist" and a "moderate." A centrist is a code word for corporate conservationism.

For example, the push for "free trade" is centrist, as a corporate giveaway at the expense of American workers. That is not moderate liberal or progressive. It is conservative.

That's distinction I think Bernie should make.

[Nanjeanne]

1. you can't be a moderate for one AUDIENCE and progressive for ANOTHER AUDIENCE

She could say she is a moderate on some things and a progressive on others. But to change according to who she is talking to is why it's hard to know what she really stands for.

That's the distinction he should make.

[Cary]

2. The whole concept is an exercise in stupidity and made Sanders look foolish

Both will be equally constrained by the real enemy and that is real "conservatives." And both will need real Democrats to defeat "conservatives."

It's simple math.

[JaneyVee]

3. Like on guns? Or voting with NRA 5×?

[Armstead]

4. Yes he is right wing on guns...Yawn

On the issue of guns, he is more "moderate" than Clinton (or at least the current version of Clinton, not the gun-rights Clinton of 2008).

But he is not conservative on the issue overall. He is considerably left of center. But you know that

[JaneyVee]

5. But he said you cant be both moderate and progressive.

[el_bryanto]

6. What a brilliant argument - you've successfully convinced me to vote for HRC

I mean yeah - she is soft on Wall Street, unlikely to dismantle the Surveillance State, likely to continue our policy of global belligerence, but hey Bernie is just as bad, because he's soft on Gun Control. They are both moderate pukes, so I guess the only logical thing to do is support Hilary Clinton because . . .

Bryant

[JaneyVee]

8. And Bernie is likely to not be President.

[el_bryanto]

17. You may be right

When Hillary Clinton's hands off approach to Wall Street leads us to lurch from economic crisis to economic crisis, I'll at least be able to say that I supported someone who might have reigned them in a bit.

Bryant

[Armstead]

10. Did you even read the OP apart from being an excuse for a snarky reply?

I said I disagreed with Sanders' characterization of that.

I made an honest statement of my opinion.

[JaneyVee]

11. Yeah and Im agreeing with you.

[NCjack]

7. Bernie is following Hillary down the "label" rabbit hole, taking focus off

the real issues. The "rabbit hole" was the first campaign tactic invented -- when your opponent says something of little consequence, batter the hell out of it. Better for Bernie not to go there, as there is nothing to gain. The winnings are in contrasting Bernie's vision with Hillary's: we expand the middle-class or we strengthen the plutocracy. Let the pundits and the voters examine the label accuracy by themselves.

[Armstead]

14. I think labels are necessary as a basic container -- but they shouldn't be the be-all and end-all

I agree that it is the "vision" that matters, and how it translates into specific actions on specific policies.

[JRLeft]

9. How the fuck can you be corporatist and a progressive?

[Iggy Knorr]

12. or how about a "Progressive Centrist" ROFL

Camp Weathervane makes up new positions on a daily basis.

[JaneyVee]

15. Most of America is progressive on some issues and moderate on others.

Nearly the entire Dem base.

[JRLeft]

18. Hillary is pro corporation on economic issues.

[angrychair]

20. Disagree

What "people" like to say is their political position is on things and where they actually fall in the political spectrum are very different things.

Words have meaning for a reason.

'moderate' and 'progressive' are mutually exclusive terms.

A moderate is a centerist, that values republican ideals as well as Democratic ones. Sometimes even votes Republican.
"The Democratic pollster Peter Brodnitz of the Benenson Strategy Group (DLC, Joel Benenson is HRC's chief strategist) conducted the inaugural "State of the Center" poll (in 2014)"..."They see both parties as overly ideological and wish politicians would compromise more. A plurality are Democrats, but they see themselves as slightly right-of-center ideologically, and one-third say they vote equally for Democrats and Republicans."
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/moderates-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-want/370904/

A progressive is very, very, different.

"We want decent paying jobs and benefits for workers and sustainable economic growth. We want growing businesses producing the world’s best products and services. We want an economy that works for everyone, not just the few. We want all nations to uphold universal human rights and to work together to solve common challenges.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/03/22/1761431/what-it-means-to-be-a-progressive-a-manifesto/

So, as a moderate, you would sometimes vote republican. Do you vote republican?

[JaneyVee]

13. FDR was.

[JRLeft]

16. Hillary is closer to Reagan than FDR. Nice try though.

[JaneyVee]

19. You mean because neither Hill or Reagan had internment camps?

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/how-liberals-win.html

[zalinda]

21. But she does advocate sending illegal children back to South America. eom

[jillan]

22. Hillary can be whatever she wants when ever she wants. It all depends upon

who she is talking to.

[Avalux]

23. A cohesive and CONSISTENT progressive/moderate political message is just fine.

The problem with Hillary - she picks and chooses what she is based on her audience. Her message changes from one crowd to the next, one month to the next, one year to the next. She isn't consistent with anything.

[Armstead]

24. Exactly