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Should Bernie compromise a bit to gain voters?

Feb 9, 2013
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Interesting piece on whether Sanders should pull back from some of his further left positions to better appeal to the middle - thoughts?

. . .

Before going further, I want to make clear that this is not a column urging Democrats to return to Clintonian centrism. I’m making a different case — that the left is hurting its own ability to win elections and enact sweeping change, by insisting on an orthodox version of progressivism.

To put it another way: Can you think of one way that Bernie Sanders is signaling respect to voters outside of his base?

He has taken a nearly maximalist liberal position on every major issue. It’s especially striking from him, because he has shown over his career that he grasps the importance of building a coalition.

Sanders once won over blue-collar Vermonters with help from a moderate position on guns. “We need a sensible debate about gun control which overcomes the cultural divide that exists in this country,” he said in 2015, “and I think I can play an important role in this.” He was also once an heir to organized labor’s skepticism of large-scale immigration. “At a time when the middle class is shrinking, the last thing we need is to bring over in a period of years, millions of people into this country who are prepared to lower wages for American workers,” he said in 2007.

Now, though, Sanders has evidently decided that progressives will no longer accept impurities — or even much tactical vagueness. He, along with Elizabeth Warren, has embraced policies that are popular on the left and nowhere else: a ban on fracking; the decriminalization of border crossings; the provision of federal health benefits to undocumented immigrants; the elimination of private health insurance.

For many progressives, each of these issues has become a moral litmus test. Any restriction of immigration is considered a denial of human rights. Any compromise on guns or health care is an acceptance of preventable deaths.

And I understand the progressive arguments on these issues. But turning every compromise into an existential moral failing is not a smart way to practice politics. It comforts the persuaded while alienating the persuadable.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/02/23/opinion/bernie-sanders-trump-2020.amp.html?0p19G=0038
 
Being that his positions all poll 60% and upwards I would say he has already negotiated with the people.

Should he negotiate with establishment neoliberals? Hell no.
 
Bernie's like that flat earth rocket guy that just killed himself.
 
th

Corporate Governance owns the Country. These people in office are Puppets and make a Fortune doing it.
 
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It's too late, he's already shown us who he is. He could scale back his positions but he would be lying, and we all know it.
 
Being that his positions all poll 60% and upwards I would say he has already negotiated with the people.

Should he negotiate with establishment neoliberals? Hell no.

Put Yang on the ticket. An unmistakable capitalist who can articulate the vision from a capitalist perspective. He or Pete would be good counterweights. Reagan did so with Bush, even though Reagan hated Bush (no jokes please). But Reagan was good at this thing called "winning".

In other words, be the *ahem* Yang to Bernie's Yin...I'll show myself out.
 
He can’t, but he could throw a big time olive branch by picking a fairly centrist Veep. It certainly won’t cost him any votes from the left, and given his age, it’ll probably be the most scrutinized VP pick ever because people know damn well there’s a good chance they would become President at some point.

so it would probably be smart to pick someone who’s already been pretty heavily vetted by this current campaign. Mayor Pete is probably a really good choice given a) he has built a pretty decent base over the last year and is easily the 2nd biggest crowd draw, b) he wouldn’t vacate a Senate seat and c) he does really well in all the areas Bernie is likely to struggle, white sururbanites and older people.

Picking a young firebrand progressive would be a huge tactical error.
 
Bernie isn't going to compromise on anything,... He's old, angry, and since the heart attack he's got attitude...
 
Put Yang on the ticket. An unmistakable capitalist who can articulate the vision from a capitalist perspective. He or Pete would be good counterweights. Reagan did so with Bush, even though Reagan hated Bush (no jokes please). But Reagan was good at this thing called "winning".

In other words, be the *ahem* Yang to Bernie's Yin...I'll show myself out.

I would be happy with Yang. There is just no way it will be Pete and this is why.

Uq0tiar.jpg
 
Yang would be perfect. Two guys that can’t pay for their ideas.

UBI about $2.8 trillion annually.

no big deal for a country that has $5.5 trillion in retail sales. Just need a 50% national sales tax on top of state and local sales tax.

unless you think companies won’t pass VAT right down the line to the consumer.
 
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Should some of the moderate candidates compromise to get progressive support?

Ouch, Tulsi lost to uncommitted.

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There’s always shifts from the primary to the general. The difference here is Bernie is in that far left lane alone and all the moderates are scrapping for the middle. That gives Bernie a big plurality if Dems which he may mistake for a majority and feel he doesn’t need to go back towards the middle for the general. Will be interesting.
One thing we know for sure, is that there’s gonna be a buncha people feeling slighted and pissed when their guys doesn’t get the VP nod.
 
There’s always shifts from the primary to the general. The difference here is Bernie is in that far left lane alone and all the moderates are scrapping for the middle. That gives Bernie a big plurality if Dems which he may mistake for a majority and feel he doesn’t need to go back towards the middle for the general. Will be interesting.
One thing we know for sure, is that there’s gonna be a buncha people feeling slighted and pissed when their guys doesn’t get the VP nod.

Left lane is Warren, Sanders, Tulsi, and arguably Steyer. Centrists have Biden, Pete, Amy, and Bloomberg.
 
There’s always shifts from the primary to the general. The difference here is Bernie is in that far left lane alone and all the moderates are scrapping for the middle. That gives Bernie a big plurality if Dems which he may mistake for a majority and feel he doesn’t need to go back towards the middle for the general. Will be interesting.
One thing we know for sure, is that there’s gonna be a buncha people feeling slighted and pissed when their guys doesn’t get the VP nod.
Cynically, it could be that Sanders recognizes his best shot for getting the nomination is to stay in that far-left lane through the primaries because he has that all to himself, with 4-6 other people fighting over the other 65-70% of the votes. Thus, no incentive for Sanders to "moderate" his positions.

While this is probably the smartest play for Bernie, it scares the hell out of me because I think he'll have a real hard time getting moderates (dem or rep) to vote for him in the general. Now, he could veer back to the middle once the nomination is secured, but that is probably just wishful thinking on my part.
 
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No fool like an old fool. Bernie's great strength is that he actually believes in the stuff he is proposing. Bernie's great weakness is that he actually believes in the stuff he is proposing.
 
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Cynically, it could be that Sanders recognizes his best shot for getting the nomination is to stay in that far-left lane through the primaries because he has that all to himself, with 4-6 other people fighting over the other 65-70% of the votes. Thus, no incentive for Sanders to "moderate" his positions.

While this is probably the smartest play for Bernie, it scares the hell out of me because I think he'll have a real hard time getting moderates (dem or rep) to vote for him in the general. Now, he could veer back to the middle once the nomination is secured, but that is probably just wishful thinking on my part.

Bernie gained on the second alignment in Nevada which means he was picking up moderates. He also won the moderate and minority moderate demographics.

Moderate democrats would go to Sanders in the general. During the primary things are a bit more dug in. He also exceeds with independents.
 
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