2024 Primary Elections.

"Bernie wasn't the nominee in 2016, so I give up on everything!! ".

Goddamn, are you sure you're not really a millennial?

The highlighted part is just patently and objectively false.

First off, the Republicans decided to ditch having a platform and just be the Party of Trump.

Secondly the Democratic Party platform is the most popular it has been in decades. Like deep red states such Idaho, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio, Missouri, etc are passing ballot initiatives putting in place main planks like MedicAid expansion, abortion rights, higher minimum wage, marijuana decriminalize, etc etc often by 60% super majorities to make them constitutional amendments to bypass gerrymandered Republican legislatures.

As for Biden not being popular, compared to whom?

He’s what a large and diverse electoral coalition gets you. Not necessarily the person with the most first place picks but the one with the least last place picks.

You can argue that the people are wrong and that party elites should select the presidential nominee and there are reasons to believe that, but you can’t couch it as somehow being in support of democracy.

See my post. He was writing this at 4 a.m. Eastern. I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest some alcohol had been consumed.

Goddamn, are you just as stupid as your posts to UA?

It wasn’t the candidate specifically, rather the message. You fucking kids said you wanted more of the same. No change.

You got it.

no change.

And that's why "The Squad" didn't happen, and it didn't piss Repugs off.

What are you talking about?

And why do you seem so angry at my response?

To the extent that the position of the Democratic Party on those things aligns with public opinion, it's because that also happens to align with significant sections of elite opinion, their real constituency. You will struggle to find any issue where elite and popular opinion diverges and where the Democratic Party reflects the latter.

Examples: significant tax hikes on high incomes, reduction in military spending, universal healthcare, fossil fuel development.

Positions on these issues held by large portions of the public (often a majority) aren't even a serious part of the conversation, and are typically described as "politically impossible", code for the veto of the super-rich exercised through their stooges inside the system.

And people are aware of this disconnect, despite being bombarded with propaganda to disorient them by the corporate media - it's why 65% have a dismal view of politics and large majorities want money taken out of politics.

The question "compared to who?" doesn't make any sense. The very point here is that there are powerful filters in place to prevent anyone with a platform outside of the constraints imposed by elites from being anywhere near the presidential contest. There literally isn't anyone to compare him with except other establishment stooges.

(This almost broke down in 2016 but the establishment rallied to prevent Sanders from running.)

His approval rating is at an all-time low for any candidate seeking re-election to the office in modern times. So no, this isn't "just what you get" - not even within the confines of this form of managed democracy.

It’s almost like a pond, but not quite, Yoda and Kermit live in one. It’s on the tip of my tongue.

https://www.meidastouch.com/news/az-gop-chair-resigns-after-allegedly-attempting-to-bribe-kari-lake

Marsh-al your thoughts

Lol, "you fucking kids", what on Earth are you talking about.



The more establishment candidates were chosen by the exact opposite end of the age scale.

Dude. WTF. You didn’t just move the goal posts you switched the damn end-zones!

You originally said the Dems platform was out of sync with what the majority of voters want, which is bad for democracy.

Once confronted with the fact that the Dem party platform is a damn laundry list of 80/20 issues (it helps that the Rs have abandoned majoritarianism ceding the middle completely to the Dems) you’re saying that THAT is in fact a problem.

Is the fact that the Dem party platform is chock full of middle of the road positions 80% of the electorate supports good or bad from a (small ‘d’) democratic position?

I’m not asking if it is good from a leftist position. You are the one that made this about democracy. From a democratic position is it bad that the Democrats are extremely responsive to public sentiment and are concentrated on building the largest possible electoral coalition?



Speaking of democracy and Biden’s popularity I’ll grant you that an 81 year old Biden is the worst of all possible Dem candidates…

… except for all the others.

Which is the point. You and lots of other folks can say you don’t want Biden. Hell, I was Warren! But Biden what the majority of Dem caucus and primary voters want so Biden is what we are getting.

I was talking about the kids on here. But, sure, boomers have always sucked. And older gen-Xers have never had a clue. So, yea. They all suck.

Your mom's vag?

Ah, I wasn't aware of the primary vote records for WF members, what are they?

The establishment didn't stop Sanders from running, they rigged the damn election in favor of Clinton.

Democrats, the donor class and the establishment Republicans lost big time last night.

They’re not. You do, recognize, that at this point, I’m talking out of my ass, right?

Still. I am still upset that democrats decided to stick with “same as it ever was” rather than go with an actual progressive candidate. Yea. I’m pissed. I still am. I don’t give a shit if Amaris and any other poster wants to bitch about it.

Ever since I lost a mock presidential election in high school (I was the V-P nominee) I’ve alternated between being amused and appalled at how often the voting public will always choose flash over substance when it comes to elections. Once in a while it’s so crushingly obvious how bad the alternative is to be swayed to the more competent candidate. By any objective measures (which of course ff rejects) Biden’s term has been nothing short of amazing, but those who want everything to change, now, now, now or who are just motivated by a desire to watch everything burn are fixated on the fact that he’s a dull guy. Hopefully enough people will be willing to vote for Biden, instead of sulking on election day because they can’t have what they want now, now, now now!

Sure, be pissed. But looking at the stats that's probably what the establishment wants, for you to disengage. Then as more people like you do the same it means those who support the establishment candidates become a bigger and bigger proportion of your age group active in the process.

I think when you turn 50, and wake up with dreds, that's late onset Whoopi.

I have thoughts about Whoopi.

DTF in the right situation. Very much Set and Setting but done well very DTF.

The donor class!!!!!

I hear she has a thing for white dudes.

Whew, we've moved on from Space Laser Lady.

I didn’t say I disengaged. I just don’t believe everyone who calls themselves “liberal” are actually liberal. Just because someone’s lifestyle doesn’t align with “the right” doesn’t make them “liberal”.

You should read my post again. I am pointing out that the Democratic platform is NOT responsive to public sentiment and is NOT "chock full" of positions the electorate supports. It contains SOME positions that the electorate supports - only to the extent that the electorate is aligned with things that the elite (or substantial parts of the elite) also support.
(This is broadly speaking the same as for the Republicans, on different issues.)

Where there is divergence between what elites want and what the public wants, public opinion is NOT part of the conversation, and is dismissed as left-wing extremism or "politically impossible", just as you do here like an obedient little foot soldier.
(Of course it isn't just leftism since large sections of the public have shockingly right-wing views, also not part of the conversation for the same reason.)

Further, people are aware of this and it expresses itself through a distrust in politics itself. It leads directly to the trope where so many candidates market themselves as outsiders and mavericks. And to Donald Trump in particular - who portrays himself as outside of elite control in a way that seems plausible to many, even though he is anything but.

You and other Democrats should pay attention to these things, rather than smugly pretending that your side is a paragon of virtue and writing off half of the electorate. Such is leading you straight for disaster.