The Media loves to say those crazy leftist Dems hurt the Party's chances

[edhopper]

But it's two centrist/conservative corporatist Democrats that have stymied our agenda and put the Democratic majority in jeopardy.

Every time I read something about The Squad being a problem for voters, I just say, why 3/4 of the voters want the same things passed.

[sop]

1. What they really mean to say is "those crazy leftist Dems" will hurt corporate ownership.

[The Magistrate]

2. Absolutely, Sir

The Party's progressive wing were team players, the odd-ball pair were dishonest saboteurs.

To claim the progressive wing is the problem is to state one Senator from the reddest state in the Union, and one ex-Green flibbertigibbet ought to set the policy for the entire Party, and for the people and our country. That, anyone can see is flat nonesense.

[YorkRd]

3. Without "defund the police" we might have enough senators that we don't need Manchin & Sinema

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/defund-the-police-campaign-attacks-pennsylvania-trump-biden-maria-panaritis-20201120.html

[edhopper]

6. What Dem

lost the Senate in PA.
Which Senators lost anywhere because of this?
Which Democrats ran for the Senate and said this?

[Beastly Boy]

10. Thankfully, few of the radicals who advanced the slogan ran for Congress

And those few lost in the Democratic primaries.

Those who unambiguously rejected the slogan, like Warnock and Ossoff, won.

[Demsrule86]

14. How about North Carolina?

[unc70]

17. No. Infidelity tanked NC race for Senate

[YorkRd]

18. Elections aren't really lost over 1 issue but "defund the police " is deadly meme for GOP everywhere

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

4. I'd like to comment candidly on this, but

don't want to get another post hidden for criticizing these two centrist/conservative corporatist Democrats of which you speak.

[Beastly Boy]

5. Tell me the 2016 election never happened.

And all the devastating effects of it don't count.

Because... two centrist/conservative Democrats.

Truth be told, those crazy leftist Dems DO hurt the Party's chances in general elections. And the 3/4 of the voters who want things passed are in line with mainstream Democrats, who, purely by accident I am sure, want those things passed as well. It is not where the Squad is in full agreement with the mainstream Democrats that is the problem, it is the part where the leftist Dems are in opposition to mainstream Dems that is the problem. And there are plenty of those.

[edhopper]

7. My point is

The problem is not passing the agenda. If the Democrats gave Americans the things the need and want, the would have something to run on.
Running on a platform of "I'm not like the Democratic Party" is a recipe for failure.

Also the Democrats have allowed 5he Republicans to paint the Party as run by The Squad.
Democrats have to stop acting like that is true.

Also, the Democrats picked up both House and Senate seats in 2016 and won the popular vote. So I don't know what your point is.
We then won the House in 2018 and the Senate in 2020.
We will lose it all this year because two Senators stopped the Biden agenda.
We will not lose it because of a few liberal House members.

[Beastly Boy]

8. I thought your point was that the media is wrong to suggest that

the leftists are a problem and an obstacle in electing Democrats. And you base your point not on the leftist agenda, but on the tolerance by the mainstream Democrats of two conservative members of the Senate, who, BTW, are the only two people standing in the way of McConnel being majority leader (I am not saying this in their defense, I am just stating facts).

And, with all due respect, it is the Squad that allows the Republicans to paint the entire Democratic Party as leftist extremists, not "the Democrats".

On edit: my point about 2016 is that the the leftist persistent rejection of the mainstream Democrats enabled Trump and Trumpism to take a suffocating hold in America's politics. A few short-term gains in the House are hardly worth it.

[edhopper]

9. I don't agree with you last sentence

But would rather not rehash the 2016 election.

I don't get why the Democrats should run on a "We are all not leftist" platform, while Republicans never need to deal with their supremacist, fascist wing.

And "those two" are turning over the Senate to McConnell this year. If they did not block everything, that would not happen.

[Beastly Boy]

12. I will never forget 2016. And I will "rehash" it every chance I get.

And, although the Democratic Party never ran on a "we are not the leftists" platform, I reject any parallels to what the Republicans are doing as a guide to or excuse for anything the Democrats should or shouldn't run on.

Just to repeat what I posted before: the alternative to "those two" being in the Senate is the republican-controlled senate, with McConnel in full control of blocking EVERYTHING he desires. Given the two choices, I reject the all or nothing attitude so often present in the rhetoric of the left, and choose to tolerate the two conservatives whose only saving grace may be to keep Schumer in the driver's seat.

Yes, I am a "middle of the road" "third way" 'neoliberal" "incrementalist" that the extreme left so consistently scorns. Just another reminder of 2016.

[edhopper]

20. Okay let's rehash

Hilary lost because of James Comey, period full stop. Not because she was too leftist.

[Beastly Boy]

21. Surely you are not serious!

Up to 12% of Bernie's supporters, including the likes of Susan Sarandon, voted for Trump, while Bernie looked idly on (https://www.npr.org/2017/08/24/545812242/1-in-10-sanders-primary-voters-ended-up-supporting-trump-survey-finds). There is no telling how many of them sat the election out. That's the supporters of a DEMOCRATIC runner-up at the time, who lost the primary to Hillary.

Comey only had one vote to cast.

[edhopper]

23. First

Sarandon is not a left wing member of the Democratic Party.
Your point is pointless.

Second.
https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/1/11/14215930/comey-email-election-clinton-campaign

[Beastly Boy]

25. Third,

Your link has a chart that shows a 1% overall difference between pre-Comey and pre-election polls, and not how the post-Comey shift affected the election RESULTS. With all the Vox talking points, no reference to election results are given.

Here's a link that shows the number of Bernie voters for Trump vs the margin of Trump's ELECTION victory over Hillary. Results, not polls. You can see the numbers yourself. The Bernie supporters' vote for Trump well exceeds Trump's margin of victory in battleground states.
https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-trump-2016-election-654320

Fourth, Bernie was not a Democrat, period, yet he ran as a Democrat, and his supporters who voted for Trump took votes away from a Democratic nominee and gave it to Trump, not Bernie. While Sarandon is a leftist radical, who gives a crap about her party affiliation! She supported Bernie and voted for Trump, no?

[comradebillyboy]

11. Well said Beastly Boy.

[Demsrule86]

13. Well we had a bigger majority in the House and they blamed those on the left fairly or unfairly...

for their loss in 20. We have to consider what is needed to win elections. if we had a bigger majority... those two centrists wouldn't matter. And one has to wonder what the hell is going on when we see some on the left primarying sitting Democrats. We need to elect more Democrats. And Justice Democrats want to take over the party and don't care if they lose...the bottom line is we need more Democrats...no agenda will ever get through without the numbers.

And consider our agenda may not be the moderate's agenda...we may have to compromise...for example, I don't think we get paid family leave anytime soon...but we can get some of our agenda through if we have a good majority. We need Senators from moderate to red states and they won't vote like the squad IMHO. So a compromise must be reached no matter what. The most important thing however is to win the midterms.

[edhopper]

24. The Sguad

And left Democrats did compromise on all the Bills.
It's these two centrist who stopped all progress, killed Bidens platform and will doom the Dems in November.

[Happy Hoosier]

19. And yet, those ideas don't seem to sweep elections. Why?

Because politics is way more complicated than that and "The Squad" is kinda bad at it.

[jalan48]

22. The ugly truth is that politician's have to balance the wishes of their constituents

with the demands of their corporate donors and one of those factions has way more influence. It's the system we have and some would like to change it while others accept it as a given.