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Sunday Night Open Thread

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Targetpractice4/11/2016 10:04:52 am PDT

re: #184 Testy Toad T

It’s pretty funny to me that somebody like Weaver thinks it’s productive to whine about how the Democratic Party set up the primary process to be generally resistant to insurgent outsider campaigns.

My reaction is somewhere between “and?”, “so?”, and “thank god”.

Outreach! Coalition-broadening!

It’s why I’ve been reflecting in recent days on the ridiculousness of comparing Sanders to Obama in some effort to suggest that he could succeed. Obama was not an outsider in ‘08, not like Sanders is now. He was a rookie Congressman, but he was also an accomplished state-level legislator as well as the protege of Ted Kennedy. Even in ‘04, when he gave the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, he was already seen as being groomed for a presidential run. So when he ran against Hillary four years later, he did so with the backing of powerful forces in the party.

By contrast, Sanders is an outsider and one who has done nothing to ingratiate himself to the people whose support he needs to be taken seriously as a candidate. The powerful members of the party don’t support him because he’s done little for them and has actually made a name for himself butting heads with them on major legislation. The rank-and-file see an old man with few accomplishment to his name and love for his supposed adopted party. And party supporters only see a man who is bashing his more accomplished opponent in an increasingly negative campaign.

And that’s not even getting into the more rabid of his fanbase, who are largely “independent” voters who are actively trying to divide the party in the hopes of creating a party with major backing that is more to their liking. They lack the initiative or will to build a viable third party, mirroring the same lacking in their candidate who chose to latch onto a major party rather than engage in the heavy-lifting necessary to stage a successful third party run.