Bernie Sanders lambasts 'absolute failure' of Democratic party's strategy

[TomCADem]

To recall, Bernie made the 2017 comments below after his surrogates were invited to play a key role in writing the Democratic party's platform. Indeed, even after the 2018 elections when Democrats took the house, Bernie is still attacking the so-called "Democratic establishment" as part of his standard stump speech in 2020. You would think that Bernie should focus on what is going on in the White House, the Supreme Court or the Senate, but no, Bernie blames it on Democrats.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/11/bernie-sanders-lambasts-absolute-failure-of-democratic-partys-strategy

Bernie Sanders has criticised the Democratic party’s current direction as “an absolute failure” in a speech at the People’s Summit in Chicago.

Speaking to a crowd of 4,000 activists, Sanders hailed the “enormous progress in advancing the progressive agenda”, saying the increasing House and Senate support for a $15 minimum wage and the opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership showed the success of the movement.

But the Vermont senator said that establishment Democrats were standing in the way of further progress.

“The current model and the current strategy of the Democratic party is an absolute failure,” Sanders said.

[Midnight Writer]

1. Sounds like a winning strategy.

[NNadir]

2. He is free to hate Democrats, since he isn't one. And let's be clear, he DOES hate Democrats. n/t.

[TomCADem]

3. The Irony Is That The Democratic Party Has Moved Sharply to the Left

He could even take credit for this since his surrogates played a direct role in preparing the Democratic party platform, and he did run for the nomination back in 2016. But Bernie doesn't. Instead he continues to disparage the Democratic party.

If anything, Bernie is as part of the "Democratic Establishment" as anyone since he is running for the Democratic party nomination again. Yet, Bernie continues to demonize the Democratic party.

If Bernie were the nominee, and Republicans attacked with his own words, what could he say if they challenged him to identify the difference between his platform and the "Democratic Establishment," since his representatives helped draft the platform back in 2016, yet he has since continued to rip on the party to this day.

[msongs]

5. running as a democrat gives him access to the political machine, which is what he wants IMO nt

[DownriverDem]

36. Exactly why

I only support true members of the Democratic Party. Too bad some folks don't seem to understand this.

[Skittles]

4. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Thekaspervote]

6. It's what many have come to expect from him!!! Sad

I will be happy when the primary is over and he goes back to VT

[DURHAM D]

7. If he didn't have Democrats to push on he would fall over. nt

[SunSeeker]

8. He's wrong.

[NYMinute]

9. He only has one path forward

Be a nice guy and a Democratic team player and concede the nomination or go scorched earth and make sure that neither he nor any Democrat can win the GE. I have seen this movie before and he will choose the latter.

[DownriverDem]

37. Then

he will complain for the next 4 years.

[Ford_Prefect]

10. Those who facilitated the political fall backs under Bill Clinton are now backbone of the party ?

While Sanders' remarks seem rather strong I think those who were swept under the bus in 2016 and 2018 have reason to complain. We wouldn't be where we are now had previous Democratic Senate and Congress members not yielded so persistently to the logic of meeting the conservatives 1/2 way on so many issues.

The future we now face requires bolder action and deeper commitment to confronting issues than Neo-liberal policies allow for. Our centrist party leadership seems unwilling to offend wall street and other entrenched corporate interests. They risk alienating voters whom they should recognize as the core of the party. They mute and shame elected members who speak out for those whom the party has forgotten over the last 30 years.

“The Democratic party needs fundamental change. What it needs is to open up its doors to working people, and young people, and older people who are prepared to fight for social and economic justice.

“The Democratic party must understand what side it is on. And that cannot be the side of Wall Street, or the fossil fuel industry, or the drug companies.”

[betsuni]

12. "swept under the bus"

"meeting the conservatives 1/2 way on so many issues"
"Neo-liberal polices"
"Our centrist party leadership seems unwilling to offend Wall Street and other entrenched corporate interests"
"They risk alienating voters whom they should recognize as the core of the party"
"They mute and shame elected members who speak out for those whom the party has forgotten for the last 30 years"

Everything's Bill Clinton's fault! Neoliberal! You forgot "establishment" "elitist" and "status quo."

[Ford_Prefect]

15. Yes, Bill Clinton, and some other moderates, and corporatists have a few things to answer for.

The late Bill Greider had much to say on the subject. Below is taken from "William Greider Knew What Ailed the Democratic Party
…and how to fix it."
By John Nichols {The Nation, December 27, 2019}

The parties have begun to delineate themselves a bit more in recent years. But not sufficiently, as Bill explained in scorchingly honest articles for The Nation. He spoke inconvenient truths about the roots of our current politics, especially when he explained that “the Democratic Party’s crude betrayal of the working class was carried out by Bill Clinton and Al Gore when those ‘New Democrats’ won power in 1992. The Clinton-Gore administration swiftly enacted NAFTA, with Republican votes, sealing the deal with Republican policy-makers and selling out the remnants of organized labor.” Bill recognized the necessity of understanding this history in order to explain the rise of Trump and Trumpism.

Above all, Bill argued that for Democrats to seize the high ground, morally and electorally, they had to stop being a “managerial party” and reacquaint themselves with the message FDR delivered during an epically successful 1936 reelection run. That was the year when Roosevelt declared that:

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.

https://www.thenation.com/article/william-greider-economic-policy/

[betsuni]

16. Republican obstruction.

FDR didn't have it. He had a majority and if Republicans didn't do anything about the Depression they would've been voted out.

[Ford_Prefect]

18. Actually he did. They were able to un-plug much of the New Deal over succeeding years.

Republicans and some Democrats with wealthy friends worked tirelessly to blunt FDR's goals and his early legislative successes. This continued even through the war years.

[betsuni]

19. He had majorities in the legislature for years.

Clinton had two years, Obama had a filibuster-proof 60 vote majority in the Senate for four months and ten days. The modern Republican Party has no relationship with that of the '30s.

[zentrum]

35. ++++++

[betsuni]

14. "If you pay attention to what Bernie is saying he's talking about the money hungry DNC"

"The DNC is fighting against the Progressive candidates they are even funding corporate candidates agains the progressive candidates."
"During the 2018 elections the DNC would NOT help the Progressive candidates no matter how corrupt the DNC candidates are."
"Read the DNC charter and you're going to think you're reading the RNC charter."

WRONG.

[Cha]

20. Oh really?

Where do they get this hogwash from? Poor DNC needs money.. they have how much compared to #45IMPEACHED's "$300 Million"?

[betsuni]

22. Ugh. Hogwash and horseradish.

Annoying!

[Cha]

23. lol@ horseradish..

[DownriverDem]

39. Folks need to Focus

on who can win enough states to beat trump. That's all that matters. Progressive goals will die with a trump second term. Look at who will be voting in November 2020. We are a Center/Left country. Ignoring who the voters are will be disastrous. It's call political strategy and ignoring that too means trump will win.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. This would be more convincing if you didn't have to go back 2 and a half years to find a quote

There was a wave of new Democratic candidates elected in 2018; Sanders can easily point to that and say "people listened". Your thread title uses the wrong tense.

[betsuni]

26. He does it all the time.

Listen to which one gets the loudest boos. Not Trump and Republicans. Democrats.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=390955

"People listened" -- to what? That the Democratic Party is "ideologically bankrupt" corrupt, failed, full of elites, etc.?

[Cha]

21. Yeah, I remember a quote from BS saying

he didn't think we were going to have a "Blue Wave".. we did anyway with mostly moderate Dems.. saved the Midterms!

[samnsara]

24. well we get enough of that criticism from the other side.. why do we need to do this to ourselves?

[Pachamama]

25. Sanders/Gabbard 2020

Those two are so supportive of the Democratic Party....

[empedocles]

28. Hard to believe that BS/TG get support from Dems.

[Great for traitortrump]

[brutus smith]

27. So dismissing a large block of Elizabeth and Bernie supporters is a winning strategy?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

29. Apparently divisiveness wins... who knew?!

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together & can't be bought!!
Jump on the Bernie Bandwagon & join the revolution!!

[George II]

31. No it doesn't, as we've seen in the past.

[efhmc]

41. This feminist will NEVER get on that band wagon on any wagon with his name on it.

[George II]

32. Who dismissed large blocks of Warren and Sanders supporters?

[NNadir]

33. So, dismissing a large block of Democrats is a winning strategy?

What would be "winning" in the mind of Bernie supporters? Gloating over the re-election of Trump and claiming that it happened because people didn't kiss Bernie Sanders tired dogmatic ass?

Probably.

This mentality goes back to the days of Ralph Nader, where a minority feels like the majority has to kiss its ass no matter how insane people like Trump and Bush are.

I think that the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis might doubt that "Bush is the same as Gore."

By the way, don't paint Ms. Warren with this brush. She is a lot smarter, and a lot more flexible in the mind that Bernie Sanders. She is a Democrat, and as the purity trolls in the Sanders camp, are keen to remind us, at least were when she was ahead, she used to be a Republican. This means that she has changed her mind, something Bernie Sanders hasn't done in his adult life.

He's still running against Richard Nixon. The problem is that it is not 1968, and Nixon is dead. Trump isn't.

[brutus smith]

47. Sure seems like you and others on here want the "pure" candidate.

Bernie nor Elizabeth are so called "pure" candidates. Don't dismiss the Elizabeth and Bernie voters as wanting a "pure" candidate.

[George II]

30. Someone should give him a copy of Dale Carnegie's book.

[Skya Rhen]

34. This is why Bernie is not viewed as a serious contender. I'm certain that he'll never be the nominee

of a Party that he constantly bashes.

[brutus smith]

48. The biggest one being bashed on here is Bernie.

If I were to point out all of Joe's "faults", I'd be called a criminal.

[redstatebluegirl]

38. He is not, and never has been a Democrat.

He uses our party to run for President that is it. The minute he is no longer a candidate for President he goes back to his Independent status and not doing anything in the Senate.

[efhmc]

40. I have been here since 2002 and got my only post removed for reporting his

followers' behavior at the Texas Dem convention. I could not "say bad things about a fellow Democrat".

[redstatebluegirl]

42. I had one removed in 2016 because I dared to say the truth about him.

If they remove this one so be it.

[efhmc]

43. I was so angry that I went to twitter and swore never to come back.

You can see how that worked out.

[redstatebluegirl]

44. Yes, I have sworn it off a couple of times and come back.

[efhmc]

50. I still like twitter better because I can see whatever I want and can

blast those non Dems for what they are.

[comradebillyboy]

45. Bernie is angry that the Democratic Party isn't Bernie's party.

This man of meager accomplishment hasn't earned the right to dictate to the party he has refused to join.

[TomCADem]

53. It is ironic that Bernie is Now Attacking Biden...

...for not being sufficiently loyal to Democrats based on his statements that he would be willing to work with Republicans.

[Gothmog]

46. I am a proud member of the Democratic Party

I strongly disagree with sanders on these positions. I note that sanders has not really accomplished anything in the Senate and so I have trouble taking sanders attacks seriously.

[brutus smith]

49. Anita Hill, bankruptcy laws. I could say the same about Joe.

[BeyondGeography]

51. They're playing your song

[bucolic_frolic]

52. If Bernie had backed off in April 2016

we might not have had a Trump presidency, and he could be dragging the party leftward today.

Or so I think, but I'm so focused on removing Trump that I don't follow the political nuances of competing Democratic strains.