Bedard is invoking a now-familiar argument among American liberals — namely that their party should always be pitching compromises rather than making maximalist demands. And perhaps at the end of drawn-out legislative fights, that logic occasionally might make a bit of sense. But what’s new here is that this argument — which had resulted in so many surrenders, including Barack Obama’s surrender of his single payer promise and then his public option promise — is now being made by liberals even before Democrats are in any kind of policy fight at all.
That, of course, is the intended effect of the Searchlight Institute’s proposals — to get liberals to help stop a Medicare for All fight before one even unfolds.
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Notably, Searchlight’s own executive director, Adam Jentleson, once criticized that game in 2019 when Pete Buttigieg suddenly dialed back his support for Medicare for All. Back then, Jentleson impugned Buttigieg, saying he “supported Medicare for All for 15 years, then flipped and started attacking other Dems over it after raising a ton of money from the health care industry.” Jentleson added: “A reasonable person might conclude that the health care industry bought Pete’s opposition - and did so pretty easily.”
Fast forward seven years, and the health care crisis is worse, but Jentleson is now playing that game. And my question is: Why would anyone fall for such an obvious parlor trick? This impulse by liberals to constantly back down and make apologies for capitulating Democrats is just weird — and it’s ultimately why so many Americans think Democrats stand for nothing.
Election results say otherwise. You should leave your echo chambers every once in a while. It’s the leftists that are so unpopular they have to latch onto the DNC to even have a voice.
I’m not insisting Democrats do anything. I am trying to snap you back into reality where there is only a tiny amount of leftists in a democracy and they aren’t willing to work with the largest voting groups: centrists and right wing.
You don’t have any actual elections you can point to. And shit birds like you are why this country devolved into fascism. Go be the republican you are in your heart.
I’m pointing at all the elections neoliberals have won in every election cycle for decades.
Shit birds like you are the reason Trump won and the rest of us are suffering from Trump while you try to convince us both sides are the same.
Good luck writing the history with this perception, because the world has moved on without you, and its pretty well established that the shitlibs are to blame.
Again, leftists aren’t the ones winning the popularity contests aka elections.
Please go take your advice, and use it to throw elections on behalf of Republicans and instead of doing so on behalf of Democrats.
Throwing elections is when you demand your way or the highway and as a result get nothing but Trump and fascism.
Throwing elections is all neolibs are good for. We got this result precisely because shitlibs wanted to win their way or the highway and the American people simply aren’t interested in yours or their bullshit any more.
The NPR liberal is a worthless ally who loses you elections every cycle because they believe in a fantastic version of white-saviorism with their identity always needing to be centered within the DNC. Seriously. Just go be the fucking republican you actually are at heart, because we could have actually stopped fascism had you not been in the coalition.
Again, neoliberals have more voters than leftists by a long shot. In a democracy the smallest voting group (leftists) don’t get to decide the candidate, because neoliberals are the people’s choice.
Leftists don’t want a democracy where the people choose. They want to find excuses to let the government slide further right by sabotaging the furthest option to the left (neoliberals) instead of taking action against the right.
This is why leftists are a liability. They are unable to organize or make progress because they are so willing to hurt themselves in their own temper tantrum. They actively attack the democrats that give them a platform instead of attacking the fascists.
Liberals have won the majority of nationwide elections for decades now but everytime they lose an election, leftists (the group that loses the most elections) acts like they know how to run a campaign better. It is as if leftists are completely oblivious to how unpopular they are.