Huge South Carolina turnout surge was widespread but led most by old, rich, & white people rather than new young voters— Matt Grossmann (@MattGrossmann) March 2, 2020
https://t.co/QngIhy62Vb
Bernie's "young" revolution has been postponed. Again.
A data point: turnout in Virginia surged by over 500,000 voters from 2016 to 2020 and Sanders managed to get only about 30,000 more of them.— billbindc (@BillBindc) March 4, 2020
Case closed.
And your reminder:
You daily reminder that old people vote.— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) March 4, 2020
Just can't get past reality, although so many people try to:
There is also a profound tendency to ignore or discount the votes of the most important D constituency, black voters. Left-wing contempt for them, attributing Biden’s wins to “corporate Democrats” (in SC?!), attempted to erase such voters https://t.co/20O5ax8Ypp— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) March 4, 2020
Yeah, I'm getting tired of that word "corporate" being used as an all-purpose pejorative. And it's not that I'm suddenly a fan of people like Rick Wilson (a GOP operative who worked for Cheney) or George Conway (a Beltway lawyer who prefers right wing Republicans) or even Jennifer Rubin (or of corporations, for that matter). I saw a tweet from Ilhan Omar (whose politics I agree with far more than Wilson's, Conway's, or Rubin's) trying to argue that "progressives" needed to consolidate as "moderate" Democrats had, in order to achieve victory. The sad fact is (and take it from a liberal Democrat who has lived almost his entire life in Texas), there is no progressive majority in the Democratic party. Sanders and Warren together never garnered as much as 30% of the primary votes. The other 70+% was splintered among the moderates, which gave Sanders an edge to claim victory (though he never had much in the way of delegates. Biden blew past Sanders in delegates with South Carolina alone.). Even consolidated, the progressive vote in the Democratic party is not 1/3rd of the voters in the primaries, who are supposed to be the most liberal of the electorate.
We can go for purity, or we can go for victory. I learned from LBJ to go for victory, and do what you can when you get the power. Donald Trump is doing the same thing, though he's a bull in a china shop, a toddler with a shotgun: he has no idea what he's doing, and he's only destructive. Still, without victory, you end up on the outside looking in. And please, I never again want to hear the old myth that if you make things bad enough, people will see what must be done and rise up in revolution against whatever enemy or for whatever paradise you have in mind. Revolution is nadir, not apotheosis. The American Revolution worked because the Constitution consolidated power; not because the revolution returned power to "the people." And enough, too, with the conspiracy theories.
— Counterchekist (@counterchekist) March 4, 2020
In the end, this is what we're up against:
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) March 4, 2020
And the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
I took the totally extremist step of reading through Joe Biden's policy positions on his campaign site. He is to the left of Hillary who was to the left of pretty much all the candidates going back to LBJ. Biden wants universal healthcare, to make it affordable. He wants to strengthen and increase Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He has a fascinating set of plans for schools, he specifically has programs for low income communities of color (he recognizes the needs of communities of color, I wonder why he did so well in South Carolina?). There is so much more. His platform addresses problems I hadn't even considered or recognized. As an example, he wants to place child development experts in pediatric offices with high numbers of Medicaid and CHIP patients. What a good idea! This isn't the platform of Bill Clinton, or Al Gore or even Barack Obama. It goes beyond that of Hillary Clinton. My point is that Biden is presenting a full throat liberal agenda. The difference is that he doesn't think you need to burn it all down to accomplish these goals.
ReplyDeleteWhat is now considered "progressive" looks more and more like totems or virtue signalling. "Medicare for All" is much more narrow and restrictive than affordable universal healthcare. (You will take your M4A and like it!!). The same with any other number of slogans that are ultimately reductionist and simplistic. Eliminating "Big Banks" won't stop predatory lending, excess fees, higher rates for people of color. Those changes come through boring but important regulation and enforcement within the banking system.
Biden wasn't my first choice, but as the mainstream Democrat he represents a solidly liberal agenda. I am not remotely surprised he is popular, if this is moderate we are going in the right direction.
On a side note, I want to thank you for the support comments as I have been looking for a new job. I signed an offer letter yesterday, which is a small relief but also now makes real all that needs to follow. I will be starting the end of the month a new job in New Hampshire (those Live Free or Die crazies, do I need to switch to defending NH as the first in the nation primary?), and we will be moving the rest of the family at the end of the school year. We need to frantically pull our well worn house in upstate NY together so we can sell it, find a new place (damn, East Coast housing is really expensive, especially if you want decent schools) and move this summer. Finding a job in your 50's is not fun. Less money, more work, but I am still grateful to have found a decent place to work. It's going to be rough on child number 3, moving at the end of your sophomore year of high school is rough, the youngest is actually excited to start middle school somewhere else. Wish us luck.