2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders needs to embrace being a Democrat.. [View all]still_one
(92,634 posts)The Democratic party, is made of many kinds of demographics. Based on Howard Dean's 50 state strategy, it is an inclusive party. Ironically when FDR started the New Deal, his opponents openly called him a socialist. Similar things were hurled with Johnson's Great Society programs, and we all know the names bandied about with the ACA.
So you may not characterize a Democratic Socialist as a Democrat, but I guarantee you that the republicans, libertarians, tea party members, and many independents view Democrats as the liberal/progressives/socialist party of the United States, even though the reality is that the Democrats are made up of all demographics. There are people on DU who won't accept blue dogs as Democrats. I have to assume that those Democrats don't subscribe to Howard Dean's 50 state strategy. However, they are still Democrats, as are blue dogs.
In contrast, republicans run their shop as an all or nothing shop.