2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: The Idea that Bernie is a Democrat at heart is sort of laughable [View all]Hortensis
(58,785 posts)The party includes people like him from the Far Left, libertarians of mostly the left-wing variety, liberals across the liberal spectrum, moderate liberal-conservatives, and some conservatives for whom being "Democrat" is traditional in their area.
But never "at heart," for sure. He is rock-solid on that one.
By personality, Bernie is a left-wing radical, or extremist. He is a proud anti-Democrat by history and an anti-liberal.
By personality, although there are a couple important differences between extremists on the far right and the far left, Bernie is much closer and more similar to the Far Right than he is to liberals.
As for Bernie's morals, registering as a Democrat undoubtedly required rationalizing, of the "end justifies the means" variety. He was proud of not, nor never having been, a liberal or a Democrat.
Oh, yes, and like any extremist he believes his own propaganda, like being "astonished" that Bill Clinton would have raised taxes on the wealthy and lowered them for the poor. Profoundly dishonest. He may have been cynically lying or he may have come to believe that lie so much he regurgitated it sincerely at that moment, but in either case don't expect worries about dishonesty in the pursuit of righteousness to bother Bernie. Extremists are called that because they ignore lines that constrain others, knowing implicitly that their ends justify their means.