Platinum Contributing Member steve from amherst Posted July 17, 2019 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted July 17, 2019 Justin Krebs, a campaign director with MoveOn, isn't interested in hearing pundits debate which 2020 Democratic candidate is the most "electable." "Because exactly four years ago right now there was a messy, crowded primary, with too many candidates, people who were totally unelectable, and Donald Trump was one of them and ended up winning," he pointed out. And in the same vein, many Democrats thought Barack Obama was unelectable until he started winning primaries in 2008. Progressives say this word "electability" is being used as a fear tactic to intimidate voters into choosing a moderate, centrist nominee, specifically, former Vice President Joe Biden. But many of the activists who gathered over the weekend at the Netroots Nation conference insisted that's a foolish strategy. Biden, who has consistently led in early polling, is potentially the worst option for the party, they say, warning that Democrats could repeat the mistakes of 2016. Their main criticism of Biden is two-fold: He's too moderate on economic policy and has a complicated record on criminal justice and race. There isn't unanimous agreement among progressive activists about who they want as a nominee. Some remain deeply loyal to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for his role in pushing the party leftward. Others say they like the policy plans that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been rolling out. And yet others say they like what California Sen. Kamala Harris represents — a black woman who could take on President Trump. But where activists agree is on Biden — they would prefer almost any other 2020 Democrat over him. While they are purists in many ways, if Biden were to become the nominee, activists at Netroots said, they would vote for him, perhaps begrudgingly. Their fear is that others will not. "We need to be able to build a coalition of voters that are excited, that are gonna turn out at historic levels, and we can't rely on it just being based on Trump being on the ballot; that won't be enough," said Maria Urbina, national political director for Indivisible. She didn't single Biden out by name, but she said whoever the nominee is, he or she has to energize the Democratic base, specifically young voters and minorities. Activists also point out that Republicans under a Trump administration have not toned down their rhetoric; why, they ask, should Democrats moderate their message? Many say that Hillary Clinton tried that strategy in 2016, and it clearly failed. They still ponder — maybe, if Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had been the nominee, the Democrats could have won the White House. Allegra Dengler, a Democratic activist from Westchester County, N.Y., one of nearly 4,000 activists who attended Netroots Nation, says people including her own son didn't like Clinton. They were looking for a change-maker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted July 17, 2019 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted July 17, 2019 Can't win the primary as a moderate, can't win the general as a leftist nut bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry ginger Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 he's fucking old, that alone should disqualifying him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleroule Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 strike 1: he's old strike 2: he's white strike 3: he's not a twittering marxist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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