Beinart: Regular Democrats Just Aren't Worried About Bernie

[DanTex]

A good article. Among activists and party insiders, it can seem like a "civil war" of Bernie vs everyone else, which explains where the "75% voted against Bernie" talking point comes from. These pundits assume that, since the pundit class is roughly divided into "pro-Bernie" and "anti-Bernie", the voters are as well. But that's just not the case. Among actual voters, not only is Bernie the most popular of the candidates, but voters who choose one of the other five or six leading contenders also have a positive opinion of Bernie, they just happen to prefer one of the others.

Judging by media coverage and the comments of party luminaries, you might think Democrats are bitterly polarized over Bernie Sanders’s presidential bid. Last month, Hillary Clinton declared that “nobody likes” the Vermont senator. Last week, James Carville, who ran Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, said he was “scared to death” of the Sanders campaign, which he likened to “a cult.” Since the beginning of the year, news organization after news organization has speculated that Sanders’s success may set off a Democratic “civil war.”

But polls of Democratic voters show nothing of the sort. Among ordinary Democrats, Sanders is strikingly popular, even with voters who favor his rivals. He sparks less opposition—in some cases far less—than his major competitors. On paper, he appears well positioned to unify the party should he win its presidential nomination.

So why all the talk of civil war? Because Sanders is far more divisive among Democratic elites—who prize institutional loyalty and ideological moderation—than Democratic voters. The danger is that by projecting their own anxieties onto rank-and-file Democrats, party insiders are exaggerating the risk of a schism if Sanders wins the nomination, and overlooking the greater risk that the party could fracture if they engineer his defeat.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/regular-democrats-arent-least-bit-worried-about-bernie/606688/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I'm just a regular Democrat and not a party luminary or "elite,"

and there's no way in Hell that Bernie will get my primary vote.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. That's why we have primaries.

[stopdiggin]

26. I can't even SEE elite from here

and I'm pullin' the covers over my head ...

(also calling BS on this opinion piece. Sanders people keep putting this stuff out. Nobody's buying.)

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

2. People have I believe a more clear head

Once they are at the actual vote.

[brooklynite]

4. On the other hand, they don't seem worried about Bloomberg either.

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Not yet anyway. But the vast majority of voters up until now have only seen

Bloomberg with his best foot forward, presented the way he himself has had his life edited. That starts to change tonight, which may or may not change how the public currently views him.

[justhanginon]

6. As a long time actual member of the democratic party,

I would not vote for sanders for the nomination even if he was the only one running.

[BlueIdaho]

7. I am.

And I’ve been a Democrat for 50 years.

[Turin_C3PO]

8. It's not doom and gloom if Sanders wins.

I just have my doubts he can pull it off. I agree with his policies but not his methods. He doesn’t like compromise, which will be necessary to move forward any progressive legislation, and he can be pretty abrasive. Plus he has a contingent, albeit small, that are bullies and haters of the highest magnitude. I’ve seen them on Twitter and Facebook.

[left-of-center2012]

9. What the heck is an "ordinary Democrat"?

Sounds like the Atlantic is saying,
people who don't like Bernie aren't "ordinary Democrats"?

[George II]

11. Don't forget, there's this new thing out there, "Establishment Democrats"!

[KPN]

14. Common Democrats who aren't party leaders That includes you perhaps,

but the article was about polls reflecting the view of the majority of common/ordinary Democrats.

[NoMoreRepugs]

10. Sorry Atlantic, I have tremendous apprehension that

Bernie will get obliterated if he is our nominee, my middle name is ordinary.

[redstateblues]

16. I share your apprehension

Socialism has very very lo numbers

[KPN]

12. I have no doubt the party will fracture if they engineer his

defeat. It would be best not to do that. Unfortunately, there are already appearances that the “elites” are attempting to do that. Appearances do count.

I prefer Warren over Sanders, but right now I think Sanders is a better prospect head-to-head with tRump. I also think he’s our best prospect among all candidates partly for the reason pointed out in the The Atlantic article, and because that reason applies to I’s as well.

[stopdiggin]

28. nobody is "engineering" anyone's defeat

stop playing the Sanders "They're always screwing me!" card. Sanders had a lot to do with organizing the rules for the way the game is played this time around. And still .. it's all so "unfair." Sh** gets old!

[KPN]

30. HRC, Obama, Carville, Frank and others coming out with negative attacks or statements either

about Sanders directly or indirectly by way of saying now is not the time to be proposing "pie-in-the-sky" "unrealistic" goals like free higher education and Medicare for All is exactly that -- the "establishment" doing everything it can to undermine the Sanders campaign.

This denial gets old and defense of the "our way or the highway", "we are the ones who know whats best" and how to lead mentality is what is old. Call it whatever you want, it's intentional, deliberate and appears to be an orchestrated effort to undermine the Sanders campaign on the part of the epitome of "established" Democratic Party stalwarts. To me, that's the establishment engineering a Sanders defeat.

[stopdiggin]

31. but then, that's not "rigging" the game is it?

that's a lot of people (high and low) just flat out saying, "I don't think this guy is a good choice!" .. right out there in the open. Nothing back room or behind the scenes about it.

(late edit: And you notice, if you care to, that not a single one of those names carries a title as of this moment. That say anything to you?)

"Call it whatever you want, it's intentional, deliberate and appears to be an orchestrated effort to undermine the Sanders campaign"

You might have noticed that there's a lot of very similar "orchestration" going on here on this site .. and the DU mob is about as "orchestrated" as a herd of cats. So it might just be that a LOT of Democrats share the same feelings towards Mr. Sanders (and his candidacy).

But you see .. Sanders has been preaching this "they're out to get me" nonsense for about 30-40 years. And, in that time, I suppose it inevitable that he catch the ear of a few of the like minded. There are those folks after all that are permanently and perpetually aggrieved .. about everything. (you've certainly met some of them along the way) And Mr. Sanders makes a fine standard bearer for those poor downtrodden. For the rest of us .. it gets pretty old!

[KPN]

32. Lol. No it's not because the system is already

rigged.

[stopdiggin]

33. oh, yes .. the "system"

which everyone in the world (except Mr. Sanders) is party to.
Those jack booted Democratic thugs ...
But, WE ... we know the truth!

[KPN]

34. Laugh all you want. Easy to ridicule dissenters

who are outside the accepted box. The problem is there are increasingly more of them and at some point, the box collapses. That’s what we are now experiencing. But go ahead and ignore, deride and ridicule.

[R B Garr]

29. So the party only gets fractured the way he says it

does. I don’t think he’s the only one dictating terms, sorry.

[sheshe2]

13. What is a regular Democrat?

Does that make the rest of us irregular Democrats?

[Rilgin]

17. No

It makes your opinions about Sanders not the opinion of other democrats not you. Further, it makes your opinion about what the majority of other democrats think about Sanders not actually the opinion the majority of other democrats. Obviously people share your opinions including those who are not party insiders (office holders, pundits, campaign officials) but the polls show this is not a majority and all of us are democrats.

Your opinion is your opinion and is your right to hold but constant expression of your negative opinions about a candidate liked by a lot of other democrats negative and disunifying and constitutes a dismissal of their right to be democrats holding a different opinion than yours. This has particular hubris because of the constant attacks against Sanders claiming that he is not a democrat and thus by implication his supporters not democrats either.

[intrepdish]

15. This is a strange 'democratic' forum

It's odd that there is so much excitement about Sanders among rank and file democrats and so little taste for him here. Instead we see people who support candidates some of whose whose positions in terms of political economy would have made them Republicans in the pre-Reagan era while Sanders' positions would have been far more compatible with FDR and LBJ's policies.

The way forward for the party is clear: a re-injection of economic populism i.e. higher minimum wages, comprehensive medical coverage and a far more robust public sector more generally to address the absurd inequalities which characterize American life, far more than any comparable OECD country.

These are the areas in which the DP in the US built its legacy and cemented its most significant majorities in the past and reduced the RP to a footnote.

In spite of the corporate barrage of misinformation, it is obvious that Sanders (and to a lesser degree Warren) is the national politician most associated with this take on the world.

[Garrett78]

22. The feedback loop leads people to believe DU is representative of the population as a whole.

Actually, I've seen people claim Sanders is *more* popular at DU than outside of DU, which is positively nuts.

[ibegurpard]

23. Many of the people that supported Sanders in the past

Left this forum or were run off. And the anti-Sanders sentiment has just festered unchecked. Honestly I was hoping that he wouldn't run again because so many people flat-out loathe him now...fair or not.

[ehrnst]

25. By "corporate barrage of misinformation" do you mean stuff like this?

For the second day in a row, Briahna Joy Gray — the National Press Secretary for the Bernie Sanders campaign — backtracked on a baseless claim about Michael Bloomberg.

Gray gave an interview to CNN on Wednesday, where she claimed that the former New York City mayor “has suffered heart attacks in the past.” This came as Gray defended Sanders’ refusal to release his complete medical records, drawing a comparison between birtherism and the “smear campaign” from those who’ve raised concerns about the senator’s health since his heart attack last year.

There’s no proof Bloomberg ever had “heart attacks” as Gray claimed, though Bloomberg “did undergo a stent procedure in 2000 after Mr. Bloomberg complained of discomfort and tiredness,” according to the Bloomberg-friendly source who spoke to the New York Times in 2007.

Gray got on Twitter after her interview to acknowledge this fact and admit she “misspoke” about Bloomberg
.............................................................................
This comes a day after Gray falsely claimed on CNN that 64 sexual assault allegations have been made against Bloomberg. Sexual harassment claims have been made against Bloomberg’s company. Gray has said she “misspoke” about this as well.

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/bernie-sanders-spokesperson-releases-second-correction-in-two-days-about-mike-bloomberg/

[0rganism]

18. personally, Trump's got a lock on my worry juice

i don't have major concerns about who the Democrats nominate, cos right now i don't see any of them winning.

yes, please cite the latest national polls to prove me wrong. i just saw an article describing statewide polls of WI, MI, and PA. Trump is winning in PA and runs damn close in WI. as far as i can tell, we've already ceded FL and OH, so it's upper-midwest-or-bust, and it's looking pretty busty right now.

i wouldn't blame any of the Democratic candidates for down-ballot losses either, Trump's bunch is running a strong campaign, holding rallies in every district with a competitive house race. this is powerful motivation for a lot of Americans. he "graced" the Daytona 500 with his infernal presence, guaranteeing his base will be fully engaged come November.

we are heading full-speed into outright fascism. arguing over whether socialism is more of a losing proposition than Obama-era centrism is tantamount to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. imho.

[Happy Hoosier]

19. Wait until the hand-wringing in the GE.

If Sanders is nominated, I think he'[ll be ripped the shreds. And then we'll get all the "how did we not see this coming!?" comments. Well, I see it coming.

Again, I hope I'm wrong.

[Garrett78]

20. As I posted in your other thread:

I've actually seen posts here that claim Sanders is more popular at DU than outside of DU.

In other words, there are a lot of really warped perspectives inside the DU bubble.

[LanternWaste]

21. Ironic as you recently criticized another poster for using the term "real Democrats"

then you turn around and predicate an entire argument by doing precisely the same. (this is where the irrational pretend 'real Democrats' and "regular Democrats' possess relevant differences.

We get it. "IOKIYABS" (It's ok if you're a Bernie supporter...)

People often get pissed when they're informed they hold themselves to a much lower standard they hold others to... but getting pissed about one's own ethical discrepancies doesn't make them go away.

[Scotch-Irish]

24. I wish everyone on DU would bookmark this article and link it to every anti-bernie

fear-mongering post.

I'm sick to death of everyone trying to trash liberal candidates.

[Blue_Tires]

27. "Among ordinary Democrats, Sanders is strikingly popular"

1. "Ordinary" is another word for "white"... Please stop with this.

2. I'd love to fucking know which "ordinary Dems" he's talking to because they don't reflect the thoughts of the ones I know...

3. I'll go on a limb and say the "ordinary" Dems who love St. Bern never go on twitter, because if they ever encountered his online zoo of fanatics they'd change their minds...

4. Because nobody has ever answered this for me: If St. Bern is the perfectly lovable candidate who everybody loves and is all things to all people, WHY DID HILLARY CLINTON MOP THE FLOOR WITH HIM?

5. Berners are in for a rude awakening when all those republicans and Russian troll farms propping up his numbers in the primary vanish after he's the nominee... I do this out of love, so don't ever say I didn't fucking try to warn you.