Impeachment?

[LDAHL]

There are definitely opportunities. Assuming the republicans don’t cheat too much.

I think if the Democrats spent less time searching for someone to blame for their failures and more time working to win elections, they would do better.

If I were a Democratic Poobah, I would take the more traditional tack of claiming Trump wanted to gut Social Security out of pure cruelty. That might undermine his base support, which skews older, as well as energize the entitlements-are-rights crowd without sounding too dangerously socialist.

The identity politics stuff doesn’t seem to have much mass appeal outside Brooklyn and Berkeley, and despite the best efforts of the media the class war stuff doesn’t seem to have gained that much traction. Why not go back to the formula that helped the party dominate the 30s through the 70s?

[catherine]

If I were a Democratic Poobah, I would take the more traditional tack of claiming Trump wanted to gut Social Security out of pure cruelty. That might undermine his base support, which skews older, as well as energize the entitlements-are-rights crowd without sounding too dangerously socialist.

This is an election for our future, not an AARP meeting. You think the younger voters are going to scramble for Social Security protection like silver foxes scrambling for baguettes to stuff in their purses at a Boca Raton buffet?

The issues that the New Democrats are passionate about are issues that will help everybody, not just themselves--Medicare for all, protection of the environment, support for working families. As Bernie's slogan says, "Not me--US." So far, it looks like that message is working across demographics.

I love this video from 2016--still applies in 2020:

[LDAHL]

This is an election for our future, not an AARP meeting. You think the younger voters are going to scramble for Social Security protection like silver foxes scrambling for baguettes to stuff in their purses at a Boca Raton buffet?

The issues that the New Democrats are passionate about are issues that will help everybody, not just themselves--Medicare for all, protection of the environment, support for working families. As Bernie's slogan says, "Not me--US." So far, it looks like that message is working across demographics.

I love this video from 2016--still applies in 2020:

If that’s true, why does the DNC seem to be acting on the assumption that Bernie would be electoral poison? Are they simply too corrupt or stupid to see his potential appeal?

[catherine]

If that’s true, why does the DNC seem to be acting on the assumption that Bernie would be electoral poison? Are they simply too corrupt or stupid to see his potential appeal?

Yes.

And I already have my speech for them ready the next time they call me to ask for a donation. I'm pretty much going to use your words.

[catherine]

From the Guardian:

Bernie Sanders' real obstacle is not Trump. It's the Democratic establishment

"The fact that Sanders can succeed without the party machine enrages those who sacrificed their idealism to play the game"

"Trump represents the dark path of racism, nationalism and division; Bernie represents the other path, of socialism, multiculturalism and solidarity. The Democratic establishment, left over from a political era they don’t know has already disappeared, imagines that a Biden or a Bloomberg or a Buttigieg might be able to keep the whole structure from falling apart. But they’re wrong. America has already started down a path away from what got us here. The only question is which path that will be.

"Any sane and moral political party should want to do everything possible to make Sanders’ vision become a reality. The alternative is not a fresh flowering of centrism. It is something much, much worse."

Yes, the Democrats are corrupt, short-sighted, and living in their own bubble--a bubble that's going to burst when Trump gets re-elected.

[catherine]

And for the very first time I agree with Pat Buchanan:

“If… Bernie’s last chance at the nomination is aborted by an establishment piling on, party super PACs running attack ads against him, and major media taking time out from trashing Trump to break Sanders, the Democratic Party will have the devil’s time of it bringing Bernie’s backers home in the fall. Bernie’s believers might just conclude that the real obstacle to their dream of remaking America is neither the radical right nor Donald Trump, but the elites within their own party.”
Patrick J. Buchanan, The American Conservative

Touché

[LDAHL]

And for the very first time I agree with Pat Buchanan:

“If… Bernie’s last chance at the nomination is aborted by an establishment piling on, party super PACs running attack ads against him, and major media taking time out from trashing Trump to break Sanders, the Democratic Party will have the devil’s time of it bringing Bernie’s backers home in the fall. Bernie’s believers might just conclude that the real obstacle to their dream of remaking America is neither the radical right nor Donald Trump, but the elites within their own party.”
Patrick J. Buchanan, The American Conservative

Touché

Didn’t that happen to some degree in 2016? Maybe enough to make a difference in some of the closer-run states even though he himself campaigned for Hillary? I heard mentioning her got booed at a Bernie rally.

[bae]

From the Guardian:

"The Democratic establishment, left over from a political era they don’t know has already disappeared, imagines that a Biden or a Bloomberg or a Buttigieg might be able to keep the whole structure from falling apart. "

It is also interesting watching the Democratic Party try to marginalize Buttigieg.

[catherine]

Didn’t that happen to some degree in 2016? Maybe enough to make a difference in some of the closer-run states even though he himself campaigned for Hillary? I heard mentioning her got booed at a Bernie rally.

It absolutely did. There was the whole Wasserman-Schultz/Hillary thing that undermined Bernie's campaign. Donna Brazile has corroborated that.

The booing took place recently--Bernie wasn't there, but I believe many Bernie supporters believe that Hillary threw him under the bus and then expected him to campaign for her, and to give up his delegates at the Convention.

[catherine]

It is also interesting watching the Democratic Party try to marginalize Buttigieg.

It's frustrating. They're not good at listening. It's just like when my market research clients pay me a lot of money to find out what people want and then they stand there and argue with what people want instead of just giving it to them.

ETA: If I were running a poll (I've never worked as a market researcher in polling so I don't know how political polls are done, frankly), I would take into account three variables: 1) who would they vote for given a choice between A&B, 2) how likely are they to vote and what would be the barriers to voting, and 3) and how strong are their feelings about voting?

I've heard it said that while the "rational" approach is Biden, what will make a difference is how many people actually vote. I would count on the Highly Motivateds to steer the election.