Editorials & Other Articles
Showing Original Post only (View all)The Bernie Bros and sisters are coming to Republicans' rescue [View all]
By Dana Milbank (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bernie-bros-and-sisters-are-coming-to-the-republicans-rescue/2017/08/11/caacbad0-7e9f-11e7-9d08-b79f191668ed_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.ea73dd40681c
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President Trump is woefully unpopular, feuding with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other Republicans. The GOP cant manage to repeal Obamacare or do much of anything. Voters say theyd like Democrats to run Congress.
But here come the Bernie Bros and sisters to the Republicans rescue: Theyre sowing division in the Democratic Party and attempting to enact a purge of the ideologically impure just the sort of thing that made the Republican Party the ungovernable mess it is today.
Bernie Sanderss advisers are promoting a litmus test under which Democrats who dont swear to implement single-payer health care would be booted from the party in primaries. Sanders pollster Ben Tulchin penned an op-ed with a colleague under the headline Universal health care is the new litmus test for Democrats. Nina Turner, head of the Sanders group Our Revolution, told Politico this week that theres something wrong with Democrats who wont unequivocally embrace Medicare-for-all.
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But to force Democrats to take some kind of single-payer purity oath would set back the cause. Democrats need to pick up 24 seats to take control of the House, yet there are only 23 Republicans in districts won by Clinton and only eight of those were won by President Barack Obama in 2012. There are a dozen Democrats in districts Trump won. In such swing districts, it would be suicidal to pledge support for something Republicans will brand as socialism.
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Dear potential alerter:
This WaPo opinion piece is not an attack on Democratic public figures or groups, it is a criticism of STRATEGY regarding how best to win back Congress and get to universal health coverage. Much more facts and reasoning are presented at the link, but I am limited to 4 paragraphs in the OP. If you think Dana Milbank is wrong, please present your case in a reply so that we can have a substantive discussion on this important issue.
SunSeeker