'You don't just get to say that you're progressive': The left moves to defend its brand

[denverbill]

49. Yes he was. He was Gore's running mate.

And he kept running as a Democrat until he was primaried and continued caucasing with the Democrat his whole career. I'm sure Richard Neal will do the same. After all, he's one of those rare Democrats in a big Trump supporting state (Massachusetts) who has to be moderate to win. The people of Massachusetts certainly don't support Medicare for All, if by the people, you mean the insurance companies.

What Harry Truman said in 1952 is still true today:

"The first rule in my book is that we have to stick by the liberal principles of the Democratic Party. We are not going to get anywhere by trimming or appeasing. And we don't need to try it.

The record the Democratic Party has made in the last 20 years is the greatest political asset any party ever had in the history of the world. We would be foolish to throw it away. There is nothing our enemies would like better and nothing that would do more to help them win an election.

I've seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign."