It would be nice if the far left, for once, did some introspection.

[zentrum]

366. "The Stupidity of the Left". Wow.

Actually—-it’s been convincingly debated that Nader did not cost Gore the election. Math and exit polls dispute the premise quite well. What emerges as far more causal was Gore not demanding and I mean, demanding—-a full hand count of Florida’s election. He backed down because of pressure from the Dem establishment. Very well-bred of him.

In any event, collapsing the left into the Greens, Nader and Stein is a cheap shot. The left has never lead with the Green banner. The left’s commitment towards environmental protection is simply a natural by-product of protecting workers, addressing pollution in minority neighborhoods, regulating business, de-escalating the military industrial complex globally, etc. Neo-liberals know that quite well, which is why they like to conflate Greens with the left as a way to diminish the social/economic/justice analysis of the latter.

Dems stayed home in surprisingly large numbers in 2016 in different locations. Bernie and the left did not cost the Dems the drip, drip attrition of the house, and the Senate, and the State Houses and Boards of Ed., and Commissions and countless other local offices across the country. Bernie was not the reason the DNC decided to not pour resources into the ground operation in the states that 45 won, though the local Dems were frantically begging for help. The left is not the reason the Mainstream Dems did not deal with voter suppression in Congress for the last two decades. The left and Bernie are not the reason we are subject to gerrymandering, which we are, because the Dems ceded control of local state governments, slowly, over time, under the eyes of the DNC.

No doubt Hedges is a purist, but Hedges is not hurting anything. He’s part of the spine you always need at your back, as I said, to mount a strong pre-DLC Democratic argument. Every damn thing you say the left did not accomplish, was accomplished by the Congressional Democrats because of pressure from us. As Obama said, “Make me!” We tried. We lefties tried for single payer/medicare for all and didn’t get it. But now it’s on the mainstream table. And everyone is talking about it as the Dem answer to “fixing” the ACA. Thanks lefties!

Not sure what you’re recommending—-that the Democratic Party keep doing what it did in 2016 and see how that pans out? You’re harrumphing against lefties now for what exactly? Really?Did you see Feinstein’s recent town hall, the first she’s held in 25 years? Clearly, there is huge discontent out there, and demands for a leftward change are in the air. Bernie did not create that. Nor did the Russians.

I get where you’re coming from, but I’m done, because frankly I’m too tired making calls for Ossoff today, to continue a useless argument over Democratic strategies which have not been working for us since O’s first mid-terms.The losses for Dems over many years ain’t because of the left. Rather blame Citizen’s United—-a neoliberal wet dream if ever there was one. Meantime, glad we have Bernie, Warren, Ellison, Barbara Lee. Glad we have Perez instead of the old DNC. And now we may have Ossoff! Progress!