Bernie Sanders’ supporters try to keep their movement alive within the Democratic Party: Daily Bullshit, June 20, 2016

Bernie Sanders

It’s already established that the Democratic Party isn’t willing to go where Bernie Sanders would lead it and was so determined to crown Hillary Clinton that it accepted the risk of tilting the contest in her favor.[1] But these idiots keep trying. It’s still the same bullshit with, as Mark Bennett, senior vice president for public affairs at Third Way, a centrist (meaning right-wing nonetheless and therefore dominant within the Democratic Party) think tank, put it, “They [Progressives] don’t have to love her [Clinton], just get behind her. They have to recognize that the revolution has not come – that the change that Bernie is calling for will not come under House Speaker Paul Ryan.”[2] Which sounds a lot like Barack Obama in 2010, as he was losing his Democratic Party majority in both houses in Congress, saying “Don’t compare us to the Almighty, compare us to the alternative.”[3] Or then-Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, that same year, saying “We suck less, you suck if you don’t vote for us. If you’re disappointed, get over it. Also, Michele Bachmann.”[4] Or Joe Biden, also that year, telling Progressives to grow up.[5] Or when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, again that very same year, suggested Progressives should be drug tested.[6] Or when Obama, having, after all that, lost the 2010 election, blamed Progressives for being sanctimonious.[7]

In a 4-way contest without Sanders, 41 percent of Sanders supporters would go to Clinton, according to a recent SurveyUSA poll. But 13 percent would not vote at all; 15 percent would vote for Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson; 11 percent for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein; and 7 percent would shift to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.[8]

Neither side is learning anything here. The Democrats expect Progressives to line up behind their candidate no matter how far to the right they go (which some do because “the other guy is worse”). And Progressives expect the Democratic Party to see their light despite the Party’s verbal abuse.[9] This is just inexcusably stupid.

In the meantime, if you’re really convinced Donald Trump is worse, your best hope may lie with Republicans who are disgusted with him. I don’t know that they can pull anything off.[10] But I still think they’re more likely to defeat him than Clinton is.

William Douglas, “Sanders supporters to Dems: We’re not going away,” McClatchy, June 18, 2016, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article84623587.html?rh=1


Hillary Clinton

It’s hard for me to imagine Elizabeth Warren, notorious for her scathing attacks on Wall Street, signing up with a candidate who defended her own support from and for Wall Street by invoking the 9/11 attacks.[11] And I also can’t imagine a better way of silencing Warren than making her vice president. But Warren is apparently willing[12] and, it looks to me, bucking for the job. Which is to say she’s destroyed her credibility among many of Bernie Sanders’ supporters.

Ben White, “Wall Street donors seek to block Warren VP pick,” Politico, June 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/elizabeth-warren-wall-street-vice-president-224489


Brexit

Riva Gold and Mike Bird, “Tiny Tilt in ‘Brexit’ Polls Roils Global Markets,” Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/tiny-tilt-in-brexit-polls-roils-global-markets-1466454718


Orlando shooting

The failure of the Senate to pass any gun control legislation whatsoever, even in the wake of the Orlando shooting, should be absolutely no surprise to anyone. One thing to bear in mind, however, is that some senators may have been hoping for a better deal in legislation that Susan Collins is developing (but is still likely doomed in the House of Representatives).[13]

Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, “Senate Rejects Restrictions on Guns for Suspected Terrorists,” June 20, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/gun-amendments

Tom LoBianco, Deirdre Walsh, Betsy Klein, and Manu Raju, “Senate rejects series of gun measures,” CNN, June 20, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/20/politics/senate-gun-votes-congress/index.html


Unemployment

No, the story[14] does not really explain why the labor force participation rate (figure 1) has been falling.

Fig. 1. The labor force participation rate crested during the dot-com boom, began to decline, seemed to stabilize prior to the financial crisis, and then slid.

Ylan Q. Mui, “Why America’s men aren’t working,” Washington Post, June 20, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/20/why-americas-men-arent-working/

  1. [1]Ryan Cooper, “Hillary Clinton and the awful risk of winning ugly,” Week, December 21, 2015, http://theweek.com/articles/595141/hillary-clinton-awful-risk-winning-ugly; Christian Drake, “New Information Shows DNC Violated Its Own Rules When It Shut Down Sanders Campaign Data Access,” Addicting Info, December 19, 2015, http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/12/19/new-information-shows-dnc-violated-its-own-rules-when-it-shut-down-sanders-campaign-data-access/; Nick Gass, “Clinton press secretary: Superdelegates can help Clinton clinch nomination by early June,” Politico, April 14, 2016, http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/hillary-clinton-needs-superdelegates-221943; Lauren McCauley, “Thumb on the Scale? DNC Backs Off Bernie But Questions of Neutrality Linger,” Common Dreams, December 19, 2015, http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/12/19/thumb-scale-dnc-backs-bernie-questions-neutrality-linger; William Rivers Pitt, “Naked Politics: Sanders, Clinton and How to Win When You’re Losing,” Truthout, May 18, 2016, http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/36090-naked-politics-sanders-clinton-and-how-to-win-when-you-re-losing; Michael Sainato, “The Countless Failings of the DNC,” Observer, March 27, 2016, http://observer.com/2016/03/the-countless-failings-of-the-dnc/; Daniel Strauss, “Bernie’s backers rage against Democratic machine,” Politico, April 13, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/bernie-sanders-supporters-democrats-221842; Caitlin Yilek, “Ex-Obama adviser: DNC ‘putting finger on scale’ for Hillary,” Hill, December 18, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/263792-ex-obama-adviser-on-sanders-scandal-dnc-putting-finger-on;
  2. [2]Mark Bennett, quoted in William Douglas, “Sanders supporters to Dems: We’re not going away,” McClatchy, June 18, 2016, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article84623587.html?rh=1
  3. [3]Michael Falcone, “Opposite Day On The Campaign Trail?” ABC News, September 21, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/09/election-2010-opposite-day-on-the-campaign-trail/
  4. [4]Ed Rendell quoted in Blue Texan [pseud.], “Ed Rendell Tells Democratic Base to “Get Over It” on Rachel Maddow,” Firedoglake, September 23, 2010, http://firedoglake.com/2010/09/23/early-morning-swim-ed-rendell-tells-democratic-base-to-get-over-it-on-rachel-maddow/
  5. [5]Stephen Stromberg, “Joe Biden scolds progressives — and he’s right,” Washington Post, September 16, 2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/09/joe_biden_scolds_progressives.html
  6. [6]Sam Youngman, “White House unloads anger over criticism from ‘professional left’,” Hill, August 10, 2010, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/113431-white-house-unloads-on-professional-left
  7. [7]David Neiwert, “President Obama lashes out at his liberal critics: Choice is to ‘get things done’ or feel ‘sanctimonious’,” Crooks and Liars, December 7, 2010, http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/president-obama-lashes-out-his-liber
  8. [8]William Douglas, “Sanders supporters to Dems: We’re not going away,” McClatchy, June 18, 2016, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article84623587.html?rh=1
  9. [9]Blue Texan [pseud.], “Ed Rendell Tells Democratic Base to “Get Over It” on Rachel Maddow,” Firedoglake, September 23, 2010, http://firedoglake.com/2010/09/23/early-morning-swim-ed-rendell-tells-democratic-base-to-get-over-it-on-rachel-maddow/; Blue Texan [pseud.], “Stop Whining, Liberals!” Firedoglake, September 27, 2010, http://firedoglake.com/2010/09/27/late-night-stop-whining-liberals/; Michael Falcone, “Opposite Day On The Campaign Trail?” ABC News, September 21, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/09/election-2010-opposite-day-on-the-campaign-trail/; Glenn Greenwald, “Obama’s view of liberal criticisms,” Salon, September 17, 2010, http://www.salon.com/2010/09/17/obama_139/; David Neiwert, “President Obama lashes out at his liberal critics: Choice is to ‘get things done’ or feel ‘sanctimonious’,” Crooks and Liars, December 7, 2010, http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/president-obama-lashes-out-his-liber; Heather Digby Parton, “‘It’s always the hippies’ fault’: Why the left treats its idealists all wrong,” Salon, February 5, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/02/05/its_always_the_hippies_fault_why_the_left_treats_its_idealists_all_wrong/; Greg Sargent, “Liberal blogger directly confronts David Axelrod, accuses White House of ‘hippie punching’,” Washington Post, September 23, 2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/09/liberal_blogger_directly_confr.html; Stephen Stromberg, “Joe Biden scolds progressives — and he’s right,” Washington Post, September 16, 2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/09/joe_biden_scolds_progressives.html; Sam Youngman, “White House unloads anger over criticism from ‘professional left’,” Hill, August 10, 2010, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/113431-white-house-unloads-on-professional-left
  10. [10]Ed O’Keefe, “Dozens of GOP delegates launch new push to halt Donald Trump,” Washington Post, June 17, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dozens-of-gop-delegates-launch-new-push-to-halt-donald-trump/2016/06/17/e8dcf74e-3491-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html
  11. [11]James Downie, “Hillary Clinton’s unbelievable defense of Wall Street contributions,” Washington Post, November 15, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/11/15/hillary-clintons-unbelievable-defense-of-wall-st-contributions/; New York Times, “Hillary Clinton Botches Wall Street Questions,” November 15, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/opinion/hillary-clinton-botches-wall-street-questions.html; Janell Ross, “Hillary Clinton invoked 9/11 to defend her ties to Wall Street. What?” Washington Post, November 15, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/15/hillary-clinton-invoked-911-to-defend-her-ties-to-wall-street-what/;
  12. [12]Cristiano Lima, “Warren: I’m ready to be commander in chief,” Politico, June 9, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/elizabeth-warren-commander-in-chief-224165
  13. [13]Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, “Senate Rejects Restrictions on Guns for Suspected Terrorists,” June 20, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/gun-amendments; Tom LoBianco, Deirdre Walsh, Betsy Klein, and Manu Raju, “Senate rejects series of gun measures,” CNN, June 20, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/20/politics/senate-gun-votes-congress/index.html
  14. [14]Ylan Q. Mui, “Why America’s men aren’t working,” Washington Post, June 20, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/20/why-americas-men-arent-working/