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Thread: The Invisible Third Party

  1. #11
    Yppej
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    Bernie is leading in NH and I heard an NPR piece today interviewing NH voters, but they didn't interview anyone supporting Bernie. Andrew Yang won a youth poll in Iowa, but all the media focus there is on Biden, Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg and Klobuchar.

    US political parties have died and new ones been born in the past. One can hope. There is a Massachusetts ballot initiative this year to introduce ranked choice voting. It will be interesting to see how much the Democratic machine, which largely controls the state, fights it. This got on the ballot by bypassing the politicians through a voter signature drive.

  2. #12
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    I think Joe Crowley would be surprised to learn that USA Today had reassigned his party affiliation to the GOP.

  3. #13
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    I think Joe Crowley would be surprised to learn that USA Today had reassigned his party affiliation to the GOP.
    Oops.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  4. #14
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    My skepticism of the motives of the DNC is the reason I became an Independent 30-some years ago.

  5. #15
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JaneV2.0 View Post
    My skepticism of the motives of the DNC is the reason I became an Independent 30-some years ago.
    The only reason I affiliated with the Dems instead of going independent was so I could vote in the primaries, but it looks like Vermont has open primaries.

    I'm thrilled I'm now a VT registered voter, because now I can vote on SuperTuesday instead of voting in NJ on the LAST primary date other than the Virgin Islands. It's ridiculous. So many states are absolutely unable to vote for the candidate of their choice unless their candidate is one of the 1 or 2 last candidates standing.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  6. #16
    Yppej
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alan View Post
    That's because he's not a Democrat, he's usurped their brand while maintaining his official status as an Independent because his true affiliation as a Socialist hurts his election prospects. Rather than being a 4th child of the Democratic Party, he's actually a neighbor's offspring hanging out in the popular kids house and fighting for a portion of their inheritance.
    The Dems were happy to have him caucus with them all these years. Not a neighbor's offspring but Cinderella shunned by her step-sisters.

  7. #17
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    I'm just reading an op-ed in the NY Times: bluntly headlined: Bernie Sanders Can't Win. Now that the Times has endorsed Klobuchar/Warren, they are going to do their darnedest to throw Bernie under the bus. The op-ed piece sounds like it was written by any one of the misinformed Red-scare Fox News commentators.

    It's frustrating to see how committed the Democrats are to the idea that a milk toast candidate can rise to the occasion to beat Trump--that their candidate doesn't have to project passion and change--that "never Trump" will be enough. It won't be enough.

    It will be an interesting to see this roll out.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  8. #18
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    Noone knows for certain who can win. Although if their case was Sanders can't win because he will be undermined at every point, including by the Dems, they may have a bit of a point.

    If I give the benefit of the doubt to the certainty some seem to have that someone not centrist enough can't win (well the NYT are probably just lackeys, but they aren't the only ones sure about who can and can't win), I think it's based on politics from 50-55 years ago, neither McGovern (on the left) nor Goldwater (on the right) won, in fact they lost in a landslide.

    The problem is most of the potential electorate wasn't even alive much less political then!

    And look who is in office now, someone who by every possible account COULD NOT EVER WIN (and of course should not have, but that's another matter).
    Trees don't grow on money

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yppej View Post
    The Dems were happy to have him caucus with them all these years. Not a neighbor's offspring but Cinderella shunned by her step-sisters.
    He’s a sort of common-law Democrat.

  10. #20
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    I was just listening to an interview with Ezra Klein, who recently published "Why We're Polarized". The book sounds like a worthwhile read. The basic premise of it being that the 50s/60s/70s, which many of us consider normal, were actually quite abnormal because the two parties were neither "conservative" or "liberal" for however one defines those terms. There were conservative dems, who were mostly in the south and had mostly become democrats because of what Lincoln did to the south, and there were liberal republicans in places like New England. Today the parties are much more distinct from each other than they were back then. Tying back to this thread, it seems unlikely that a centrist will do especially well nationally, regardless of which party they come from. They will just lose the enthusiasm of the party's base without attracting terribly many people from the other party.

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