2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: So Bernistas are already descending into conspiracy theory land. A little soon, don't you think? [View all]Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)At this point in American politics, the democrats can already write off voters who would be scared off by the word "socialism." That's why the Republicans have been throwing at us since the nineteen-fucking-seventies.
As for independents... Sanders has been an independent for over forty years. His core issues in the campaign center around the sort of things that push people away from the parties to become independent. I can't say sanders has independents in the bag... but if any candidate from either party has a strong chance among them, he's the guy.
Certainly more than Clinton, who is an iconic example of "Washington insider" and who has the unfortunate baggage of running a pure money campaign. There's also that common "dynasty" bugbear. Independents aren't real big fans of nepotism in general, and even if you don't agree with them, I'm sure you realize there are people who would be concerned with having Bill and Hillary back in the white house for another four to eight years.
Now we come to moderates. I will for the sake of argument presume you mean moderate democrats. do you mean yourself? Wil lyou sit 2016 out, or even vote republican, if Sanders is the nominee? I don't think you would, personally (I hope you wouldn't.) But htne are you making the argument that while you would vote for sanders, the group you identify with politically wouldn't? It's not a very convincing argument to make, if that's the case.
And if you're comfortable vouching that moderate dems will sit out the election if sanders is the nominee (and thus hand the presidency to Walker) then you have to also realize the antipathy the left has towards Clinton. Which creates roughly the same problem for her.
Now, I don't think that "moderate dems" have the same level of antipathy towards Sanders that the left does towards Clinton. After all, while the left trends towards idealism, moderates are more "pragmatic" right?
And finally, let's consider the happy reality that the republicans have no serious challengers. I cannot picture a Democrat losing the presidency in 2016. not against anyone from that clown car. I think Walker is probably their best shot, and all it takes is a few news pieces on Wisconsin and his ass is grass. That';s the reality we're going into here. There will not be much of a horse race, no matter who we nominate.
So, we might as well get the most bang for our buck. And that comes from Sanders.