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

[DanTex]

381. Yes. The far left in this country is quite stupid.

And a good example of this is their continued denial of responsibility for 2000. The math clearly and uncontrovertibly shows that Nader cost Gore Florida: if even 1% of the Nader votes had gone to Gore, there's no recount and no SCOTUS. If Nader isn't on the ballot (not to mention if he doesn't go around telling his naive/ignorant followers that there's no difference between Bush and Gore), Gore wins comfortably.

In any event, collapsing the left into the Greens, Nader and Stein is a cheap shot.

No it's not. The Green Party is the political vehicle of the far left. It is through the Green Party that the far left actually accomplishes anything at all. What they accomplish is throwing elections to Republicans. And, by their own words, they do this on purpose. Nader and Stein both made it clear that they preferred the GOP candidate to the Dem.

No doubt Hedges is a purist, but Hedges is not hurting anything.

Yes, he and the rest of the far-left authors like him are definitely hurting the country. Because he has an audience. And he tells that audience that they should not vote for the Democratic Party. He couldn't be a more useful ally of the right-wing in this country if he tried: pretend to care about progressive causes, and then go around depressing Democratic turnout.

I saw one interview with him that was just mind-boggling. He pointed out (correctly) that the clock is running out on climate change, the earth is at risk. And then, when asked about the single most important thing in the entire world that could affect that trajectory -- whether Clinton or Trump become president -- he said he would vote Green. Truly idiotic. If Chris Hedges is part of our "spine", then we're pretty well screwed.

Every damn thing you say the left did not accomplish, was accomplished by the Congressional Democrats because of pressure from us.

That's a joke. One of the delusions that far leftists tell themselves. They act like they are the only people with progressive views, and mainstream Dems are inherently evil and untrustworthy and only do progressive things because of "pressure" from Susan Sarandon types. Wrong. Obama enacted progressive policies them because of his own progressive beliefs. Same goes for Hillary and congressional Dems. Sorry, the far left doesn't get to, on one hand, continually help Republicans get elected, and on the other hand, claim credit for the accomplishments of the Democratic Party that they despise.

Not sure what you’re recommending—-that the Democratic Party keep doing what it did in 2016 and see how that pans out?

No, I'm recommending they do what they did in 2008. Find a charismatic candidate and run on a platform that can win nationally. I find it fairly ironic that the far left keeps trying to use Trump's victory as a sign that the party needs to dive to the left, because the 2016 platform and campaign were the most progressive that the Dems have ever run. More so than 2008 and certainly more so than 1992. If anything, the lesson from 2016 versus those victory years is: don't bother trying to placate the far left, it won't get us votes.