Democratic Primaries
Showing Original Post only (View all)Can we have an honest conversation about Bernie? [View all]
There are facts that simply cant be ignored.
Bernie is an extremely divisive figure in our party. Many Democrats resent his use of our party when its convenient for him, rather than being committed to the party full stop. And saying but he votes with/caucuses with the Dems most of the time doesnt make him a Democrat, no matter how many times it's said.
Even when Bernie runs on the Democratic ticket, he attacks the party. That doesnt exactly endear him to committed party members especially in todays political environment, when being a united party is key. By stating that the Democratic establishment AND the Republican establishment cant stop him, he is being extremely divisive by putting himself out as someone who is actually running against BOTH parties, and not as someone who is running FOR the party that he is supposedly running on behalf of.
The constant cries about how being a Democratic socialist doesnt mean he IS a communist-type socialist is a moot point. Unless you plan to go door-to-door and explain the difference to all of the voters who equate socialism with USSR communism, you are not going to change their minds. They hear socialist, and they attach their own (albeit ill-informed) meaning to the term and its NOT the style of government they will vote for.
Ive seen this repeatedly on the sites I participate in where both Dems and Repubs post: I dont want Trump to be re-elected but Ill be damned if Ill vote for a communist. You can shout all you want about how these people dont understand what socialism is, or how what Bernie is proposing isnt socialism as they perceive it. But people vote according to what they believe, and not according to what you think they should believe.
It is also a fact that many Bernie supporters tend to be vitriolic towards those who disagree with them. We saw it in 2016, and were seeing it again now. You can blame it on Russian bots, or people pretending to be Bernie supporters all you want but the fact remains that the vitriol is there, and it is as divisive as it is appalling.
Here on DU, we have been told repeatedly that those who arent in lockstep behind Bernie are Bernie haters. What is notable about that meme is that we dont see any OPs here about Amy haters, Biden haters, Buttigieg haters, or Warren haters. The fact that Bernie supporters alone push the idea that not supporting Bernie is a result of some unfounded hatred rather than a well thought-out preference for someone else speaks for itself.
I have many problems with Bernie and I have often stated them. But my biggest problem is the fact that so many Bernie supporters are simply ignoring the facts. Bernie is divisive at a time when we need to be united and that doesnt bode well for beating Trump in November. If Bernie cant unite Democrats, he wont be uniting the country any time soon.
We know that most Democrats will vote for Bernie over Trump. But we need more than that. We need to persuade those who are disgruntled with Trump to see us as a viable alternative. We need a candidate who offers viable solutions to the nations problems NOT a candidate who is causing division among our own party members, while making pie-in-the-sky campaign promises that have zero chance of ever coming to fruition.
We know that Trump, the Russians, and the GOP are dying to see Bernie as the Dem nominee. Thats not because as many Bernie supporters keep saying theyre afraid of Bernie. No, theyre not. They are promoting Bernie because they already know that defeating him will be an easy task. They started collecting the oppo-research in 2016 when it seemed possible he would be the Dem candidate and they have now redoubled their effiorts to collect even more.
I am only writing this to say that there are legitimate reasons for many of us not wanting Bernie to be the nominee and insisting that Bernie hatred is the root of the problem is not only insulting and condescending, it is self-defeating.
If you want to see Bernie as our 2020 candidate, thats fine. But ignoring the facts about his chances is political suicide. Saying things like everyone will eventually come around to supporting Bernie is a pipe dream. Insisting that moderate Republicans will somehow come around to realizing that Bernies idea of socialism is not what they perceive it as is ludicrous.
In summary, my biggest problem with Bernie supporters is not that they lack a way to educate the populace about the facts but instead keep insisting that the facts simply dont exist.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden