The Lifelong Republicans Who Love Bernie Sanders

[pinebox]

Despite some of a certain camp yelling "ya, Republicans in VT helped get Bernie elected but VT is the entire US!" to threads on DU trashing Bernie getting crossover support from Rand Paul voters, now that some are beginning to realize that Bernie has something Hillary will never have; crossover appeal.

That is how you WIN the White House in a general election!

And today, The Atlantic has a great article on who these Republicans are that support Bernie. This is how you get shit done and how you bring in more people and get them involved in politics. In a day and age where a clean cut majority are sick and tired of Washington and have lost faith in our political system, this is refreshing to see.

Is Bernie "The Great Uniter"? Yup, he sure as hell is! He's the real deal! Yes, there are Ike Republicans out there and they're supporting Bernie. That is a beautiful thing!

The Lifelong Republicans Who Love Bernie Sanders

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-lifelong-conservatives-who-love-bernie-sanders/417441/

These Republicans for Sanders defy neat categorization. Some are fed up with the status quo in Washington, and believe that Sanders, with his fiery populist message, is the presidential contender most likely to disrupt it. Others have voted Republican for years, but feel alarmed by what they see as the sharp right turn the party has taken.

“I have been a conservative Republican my entire life. But the Republican party as a whole has gotten so far out of touch with the American people,” says Bryan Brown, a 47-year-old Oregon resident. “I switched my registration so that I could vote for Sanders in the primary, but the day the primary is over I’m going to register as an Independent.”

Anger and alienation have turned conventional wisdom upside down in this presidential election. Self-styled outsider candidates like Donald Trump and Ben Carson have surged in the polls. And as Republican candidates debate their conservative credentials, support for Sanders shows how difficult it can be to pin down what exactly it means to be conservative.

“Once you get out of Washington ‘conservative’ can mean all sorts of different things. Voters are often left of center on some issues and right of center on others. So someone like Trump or Sanders who talks about themselves in a way that doesn’t fit into a pre-ordained box could be appealing to a lot of people,” says Chris Ellis, a political science professor at Bucknell University.

In some cases, longtime Republican voters who have decided to support Sanders, like MacMillan, are rethinking their political affiliation entirely. (“I’m inclined to say I might stay with the Democratic Party because the Republican Party has changed and it’s not the way it used to be,” MacMillan says.) Far from claiming to have experienced a political conversion, other Republicans argue that Sanders actually embodies conservative values.

?1448342304

[99th_Monkey]

1. It's hilariously disingenuous of Clintonistas to keep harping on Bernie's strong cross-over appeal

.. esp. because out of the other side of their mouths, they love touting Hillary as the "serious" candidate
who's 'feared and despised' by GOP voters, never seeming to notice or care that this means she will have
ZERO cross-over GOP voters, which means she will most certainly lose the GE.

[Beartracks]

3. Beyond a lack of crossover appeal....

I fear she's a lightning rod that will absolutely galvanize Republicans to flock to the polls en masse to keep HER, specifically, out of office.

=============

[smiley]

4. Willful ignorance...

is the only explanation I can come up with for those who believe she is a shoe-in to win the GE.
😊

[LWolf]

5. It's amazing to me

to note that many seem to spend more time posting about Bernie than they do posting about Clinton.

I mean, I get why they do, but still...

[pacalo]

2. Good read.

That story may sound improbable, but MacMillan isn’t the only longtime conservative supporting Sanders. There are Facebook groups and Reddit forums devoted entirely to Republicans who adore the Vermont senator.

These Republicans for Sanders defy neat categorization. Some are fed up with the status quo in Washington, and believe that Sanders, with his fiery populist message, is the presidential contender most likely to disrupt it. Others have voted Republican for years, but feel alarmed by what they see as the sharp right turn the party has taken.

(...)

“I’m not 100 percent behind his platform but I like him as a person. For me it really comes down to authenticity,” says Edwards. “We’ve seen so much deadlock in Congress and I think people are looking for someone who can be passionate and authentic rather than being partisan.”

Republicans who support Sanders don’t like being labeled liberals either, but that’s not enough to deter them: “There’s a mentality of ‘you’re either this or you’re that’, but the world doesn’t work that way,” DeFelice says. “Things aren’t always black or white. The world operates in shades of gray.”

[Renew Deal]

6. This post is interesting in the context of your earlier post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251844786#post38

[NCTraveler]

7. Sanders being described as a uniter is laughable at best.

He has no support from his colleagues, he is a career politician with very few major accomplishments to show for it, and is fighting for runner up status in the primary.

The rhetoric is becoming laughable at this point. The uniter can't even get his colleagues to endorse him.

Additionally, the funniest part is, that it is you who brings this op here. A true tale of hypocrisy. You have stated you will never vote for Clinton.

It's extremely clear from the rhetoric that Sanders is doing well with conservatives when compared to our other two candidates. All I have to do is read du to figure that out. So I agree with you there.

[Armstead]

9. You are kind of missing the point

The familiar paradigm is that we all have to fit into one of two boxes. The Blue box if you follow a straight line of "acceptable" centrist socially liberal but economically conservative corporate opinions. The Red Box if you follow a straight line of conservative social views and the crazy right wing corporate version of those same economic views.

But increasingly many people feel uncomfortable and frustrated and angry with both boxes. They may be too socially liberal for the Red Box or too economically skeptical of the impact of the corporate/big money/big politics conservative agenda, and the concentration of wealth and power that has resulted.

Life is not as simple as the "winning team" metaphor. And the more the democrats stick with tghat stale bread, the less relevant they become. Only by opening up and realizing why there is so much support for "outsider" break the mold candidates will the Democratic Party capitalize on the realignments and growing independence of voters.

[JoePhilly]

10. Describe the Republican policies that a Republican Bernie supporter supports.

And be clear on my question ... don't just tell me about the Democratic positions that Bernie holds that these Republicans hold, tell me the REPUBLICAN positions that they hold.

Why are they still Republicans?

[Armstead]

11. The reasons would be individual

Many may have been Republicans by default, but have decided to become independents (or Democrats) for a variety of reasons.

Some might be turned off by the dark ages positions on social issues (or specific social issues) of the GOP.

Others may share the concern of many progressives/liberals that right-wing economics, and/or Corporate Crony Capitalism, isn't working for them, or a majority of the population.

Disenchanted with the excesses of Reaganomics, believing that more regulation is necessary to restore truly competitive and non-monopolistic forms of capitalism.

Some may have been convinced by Sanders populist positions and message that we need to become more oriented to "we" instead of "just me."

They may be equally alarmed and angry at the concentration of wealth and power that has occurred, and agree with Bernie that individuals and corporations who have accumulated too much need to be tamed. They may not like the close interrelationship between Big Government and Big Business and the Oligarchs.

Any number of legitimate reasons.

[yallerdawg]

8. If you argue everyone serves their master...

and Republican crossover votes get you elected - who do you serve?

This does clarify some of the voting history of Senator Sanders (I-VT) throughout his political life, from the beginning.

As Mayor, Bernie Sanders Was More Pragmatist Than Socialist.

And if you need Republican votes to win an election, why would you want a (D) after your name on the ballot?

Until you need the (D), of course. No one runs to not get elected.

Another way of looking at it? From the perspective of an "anachronistic" Yellow Dog Democrat?