re: #394 Weaselone

The other huge advantage is that the Tea Party actually had a legitimate workable plan on how to take over the party.
Step 1. Be a member of the party or at least part of that party’s base
Step 2. Vote in every election, especially the party primaries
Step 3. Vote for the candidates most aligned with you in the primaries
Step 4. If your candidates lose the primary, vote for the party candidates in the general
Step 5. Continuously demand ideological fealty from your politicians
Step 6. Vote for an even more ideologically aligned candidate in the primaries next time.
Step 7. Lather, rinse and repeat

The Greens/Left plan
1. Don’t bother to vote
2. Pick a favored candidate, but don’t vote for them in the primary either because you can’t be bothered or you’re not actually a party member and can’t
3. Whine if your favored candidate loses
4. Don’t bother to vote in the general or vote third party vanity candidate
5. If Democrat wins whine about his/her impurity. If Democrat loses, insist your candidate would have won
6. Pick another real, true progressive to pin all your hopes to
7. Lather rinse and repeat.

The reason the left is irritating is specifically because they are not behaving like the Tea Party. They aren’t making themselves an indispensable and dependable part of the Party base. If they were active parts of the coalition and voting for all Democrats they’d have a bigger, more prominent seat as the table.

Exactly. And how to get them to notice it is beyond me.