Presidential Democrats?

W.J. Astore

Tom Tomorrow has the perfect comic to sum up America’s recent Democratic primaries for president:

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How can Bernie Sanders be electable when he keeps winning elections?  A paradox for sure.

Of course, the whole argument against Bernie Sanders is as dishonest as the primary process is long.  Let’s imagine Bernie Sanders gains the nomination and then defeats Trump in November.  Is Bernie going to become a dictator and enact all his “crazy” socialist ideas by fiat?  Surely, mainstream Republicans and Democrats in Congress are just going to roll over and approve all of Bernie’s “radical socialist” agenda.  Right?

If Bernie were to win, he’d obviously face strong opposition from establishment elites, who would oppose and try to block everything he’d try to do.  That said, the rich and privileged obviously don’t want to bother with such battles; they’d rather just nominate a “safe” centrist, or, even better, a person from their own ranks, like Mike Bloomberg.  You can count on Bloomberg acting to protect Wall Street and the 1%.  He’s got billions of reasons to do so.

As Bloomberg is foisted upon us by the lapdog media, other centrist candidates continue to fight for whatever money is left to sustain their campaigns.  Mayor Pete is flitting from fund raiser to fund raiser (shaking more money trees in wine caves?); Elizabeth Warren is making appeals to party unity (good luck with that); Joe Biden is straining to remain relevant (no more malarkey?); and Amy Klobuchar is seeking any traction she can find in a campaign characterized by market-tested bromides (“I know you, and I will fight for you,” a variant of Bill Clinton’s “I feel your pain”).

The best way to judge the candidates is by the enemies they make, which is why I strongly support Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard.  Yes, Tulsi is still in the running, perhaps only until Super Tuesday on March 3rd, but her message against regime-change wars and the military-industrial complex is much needed.

Go Bernie.  Go Tulsi.  We need leaders who are unafraid to speak truth.

17 thoughts on “Presidential Democrats?”

    1. Who is AIPAC targeting with a campaign to paint Bernie as an “anti-semite”? I believe the great majority of American Jews have been thoroughly conditioned to be knee-jerk supporters of the state of Israel. I don’t think they need goading to turn against Bernie, whose only “crime” has been a very tepid statement that Palestinians should be entitled to human rights. That that fairly brave act was catapulted into a big deal summarizes the situation here in the US. Thou shalt not criticize Israel (though it’s perfectly okay for Netanyahu’s best friend, Donald J. Trump, to align himself with American Nazis!!), and thou shalt not preach “socialism.” This is America, after all!! With each passing day I move closer to accepting–as a fact, not as something winning my moral approval–that we will have four more years of a shithole nation to live in. Bloomberg to the rescue? I absolutely don’t see him as a candidate who can win the hearts and minds of potential Democratic voters.

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      1. Yes, Mr Sandres has not said anything about BDS or holding Israeli govt accountable for horrible crimes committed against Palestinians. However, that the lobby groups supporting Israeli govt feel threatened by the fact that he may win the nomination does say something about Mr Sanders postilion vis a vis Isarel/Palestine conflict. At least he is better that all the other candidates.

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    1. Thanks for this link; I seldom take the time to follow links. I am rather shocked to learn of Pete’s father’s background. A respected “Marxist” historian-scholar?!? But my understanding was that Buttigieg is of Norwegian origin, so what’s with the father having been from Malta??

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        1. Interesting! Didn’t become a naturalized US citizen until 1979. So Pete can spin some tales of being offspring of immigrants. (On my father’s side, FWIW, I am only the second generation born here.) If I live long enuf, I would like to read Gramsci’s prison diaries.

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  4. Was channel surfing and happened on MSDNC and Chris – The Pompous – Matthews. He and his guests spent most of the time worrying about the Corporate Democrats – Centrists as they say- beating themselves up and Bernie slips in to be nominated. Bloomberg, alarms them not because he is a billionaire oligarch happy with the way the system works for Bloomberg but, that Bloomberg further divides the Centrists vote. By the way watching Matthews is like chewing aspirin and trying to swallow it without water.

    I did like Bernie’s comment in one of the debates in 2016, when he said he was not going to take orders from Netanyahu. When Hillary said during the debate she had Kissinger’s endorsement, Bernie said he would not have wanted Kissinger’s endorsement or words to that effect.

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  5. Wondering if this one was just for me (check the beginning of the post ; )
    “The best way to judge the candidates is by the enemies they make…” and “We need leaders who are unafraid to speak truth.” Rock on, Mr. Astore.

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  6. Saw this headline this AM: “Past remarks are challenging for Bloomberg, and fair game for rivals”

    I love that word: “challenging.” You know: those racist, sexist, remarks Bloomberg has made sure are “challenging.” But he’s said he’s sorry so let’s forgive and look forward not backward.

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    2. Today’s (Feb. 18) big news is that Bloomberg is “SURGING,” a Marist Poll putting him right up in SECOND PLACE!! (I’m guessing Bernie is holding at #1.) Well, we know the incredible power of MARKETING, but I find this a bit hard to swallow. “Fake news”??

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        1. Given the absolutely overwhelming (90+%) “certainty” of “the chattering class” in 2016 that Clinton would trounce The Donald, we should probably start totally ignoring these polls forthwith!

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  7. I’m not privy to the details, of course – who was targeted to participate and how the questions were presented – but why do I get the feeling the recent NPR/PBS/News Hour/Marist poll was not unlike asking Jesuits who they prefer: the Lamb of God or the Antichrist?

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    1. Tom Steyer lost his place on the “debate” stage to Bloomberg. If we “HAVE TO” be governed by a billionaire, I’ll take Steyer over ‘Little Mike’ any day of the year!! They both made their fortunes in finance, but I think Steyer is sincere, coming out publicly for impeachment while Pelosi was still doing a Rip Van Winkle act.

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