Why is the attitude towards Bernie, 'stay out of the way if you're not going to join the party',..

[alarimer]

90. Democrats LOVED Joe Lieberman, though he ditched the party when he could.

And pretty much stabbed them in the back at every opportunity. Nearly derailed the ACA, if I recall correctly.

So, it's pretty fucking hilarious to me that Democrats cheered Joe Lieberman when he ditched the party after LOSING and then continue to bitch about Bernie Sanders. I'll take a principled independent any day of the week, over a weasel like Lieberman.

Are you going to be happy when Joe Manchin or Heidi Heitkamp (nominally Democrats) vote against SS or the ACA? Because they surely cannot be counted on a principled vote when it matters. Stuff like Cabinet nominees aren't that important, really, but the ACA repeal is coming up and that vote will be a squeaker. Any Republican "reform" will, of course, suck, and I'm counting on all Democrats and independents to vote against it. But I think Manchin and Heitkamp will ultimately vote WITH the Republicans to gut the ACA. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

More and more registered voters in this country are not affiliated with either party. If Tom Perez, Keith Ellison, Elizabeth Warren and, yes, Bernie Sanders can change what it means to me "establishment", I think it might lead to reversing that trend. I actually don't think Perez is as "establishment" as most in the media seem to think. Sure, maybe relatively speaking, compared to the other candidates in the DNC race, but considering his career, he doesn't seem all that different from Ellison. So I'm okay with this.