A beautiful essay by Jonathan Cohn
When I wrote this post today I wasn’t aware of this piece by Jonathan Cohn (a longtime favorite of mine, dating to his time at The New Republic). It was published early this morning but I just learned of it (h/t Paul Waldman). But it makes the same key point that I do in mine.
Which is that Sanders supporters will know that their vote for Clinton in November will mean something much more than just a vote for Clinton or a vote against Trump. Most of us will be out en force on election day, voting not because of Clinton but because of Sanders. And voting, really, not for Clinton but for Sanders. As well as for progressives in the down-ballot contests.
Negative ghost rider. This life long democrat and liberal will be voting for Trump. If the choice is between the status quo and burning down the house, I’ll take the conflagration.
If you look at Trump’s actual fiscal and healthcare policy proposals posted on his campaign’s website, you’ll see that they’re the status quo to a “T”, actually written by Republican operatives. Washington Post blogger Paul Waldman has good post today detailing this, at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/04/27/the-coming-struggle-over-policy-between-donald-trump-and-the-gop/.
So, good luck with that conflagration thing, if Trump’s elected.
The moment Bernie implores his supporters to support Clinton and the rest of the neoDems is the moment I stop supporting Sanders.
Clinton will play nice and make promises to progressives right up until the election is safely in hand , at which time she’ll flip them off just as all Dem leaders have for decades , and we’ll get a presidential administration that the Koch Bros. can easily live with , and Bernie Bros will surely despise.
The Hillary Hos are already getting their marching orders : ” Lay off on the Bernie Bros until after the election – we might need their votes. Then , have fun giving those Commies hell ! ”
http://www.bradford-delong.com/2016/04/live-from-la-farine-duncan-black-is-anxious-duncan-black-hard-to-kick-the-habithttpwwweschatonblogcom2016.html
You should read Cohn’s article or my earlier post, neither of which says anything at all about simply following a request by Sanders to support Clinton. The Cohn article and my post both say that Sanders, joined by Warren and a few others, will be poised to play a significant role in determining what legislation is enacted and who won’t be appointed to, say, Treasury positions, and such. But of course that’s only if Clinton wins and the Dems gain control of the Senate and make significant gains in the House.
Big fan of Cohn, but I think Jamelle Bouie’s column is much better.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/04/why_bernie_sanders_should_stay_in_the_race.html
It’s not, EMichael. Period. Cohn is right. Bouie is wrong. Do not argue with me about this.
Bev,
Wrong?
When he says this?
” But Sanders still has an unprecedented opportunity to leave a stamp on the Democratic Party. By fighting in remaining primaries and caucuses—by raising huge sums and drawing massive crowds—Sanders can show the extent to which his message resonates with millions of Democrats, including the young voters and activists poised to lead the party in the future. He shows, in other words, the extent to which the party belongs to his ideas, even if it doesn’t belong to him—a fact he can underscore with new polls showing a large leftward swing among millennial voters, and a similar swing among Democrats writ large.
It’s also an opportunity to bring his support to down-ballot candidates. For the Sanders campaign to make lasting change as a Sanders movement, it needs to seed like-minded politicians throughout every office from the Senate to the school board. A presidential campaign of the size and scale attained by Sanders is a perfect opportunity to build a counterestablishment movement within the Democratic Party. Liberal groups like Democracy for America and the Progressive Campaign Change Committee have endorsed candidates vying for seats in upcoming states like California and New Jersey. Team Sanders can showcase them and even encourage donations to their campaigns, providing a tangible assist and building the kinds of political ties that last. And if Sanders can help elect these progressive Democrats, he has allies for when he returns to the Senate.”
Now now, EMichael, You are showing what a girly wuss you are. You need to be a macho Bernie bro, ready to burn down the house. I mean any serious progressive knows that the movement will really get stimulated if we have a complete right wing GOP takeover of the entire country and all its governing bodies. This will really inspire progressive activism!
Bark,
I don’t see it that way. Bev is obviously disappointed in the last couple of weeks, but I found it strange that she rejected Bouie(to the point of calling him wrong) when Bouie was in total agreement with Cohn and even took it further.
Guess cause Bouie pointed out a couple of months ago that Sanders’ weakness with minorities was going to cost him his chance at the nomination. But in this article Bouie praises Sanders and implores him to inspire a more progressive movement in the party.
Ooops. Guess I should have read Bouie’s post rather than reading things into what I read ABOUT his post.
I don’t have time to read it now, but I will later today.
It sure looked to me like Cohn and Bouie are saying the same basic thing, urging him to continue as a force within the Democratic Party. Is there some subtle point we’re missing that makes one “right” and the other one “wrong.”?
EMichael,
I hope you realize that I was joking, just as I was when I praised Bev for revealing what a scoundrel Hillary is for issuing so many statements with factual data in them.
You all can’t take a joke!
Real change won’t be a scam from Clinton, or any implication she will listen to Bernie or Liz Warren.
The differences between Trump and Clinton are: he is leery about permanent war by the usual losers inside the beltway, tough guys, and walls.
November watch the indies either stay home of go for the Donald!