“I go crazy with all these Democrats saying you have to go conservative to win, you have to go cautious to win. These damned consultants come in and say, ‘This is how you have to run,’ and it’s always the same: raise money, spend it on television, don’t say anything that will offend anyone. And the Democrats do it and then they end up in tight races, worried about whether they’ll make it,” says Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats but rarely takes advice from anyone in Washington.
“For the life of me, I can’t figure out why progressives listen to consultants. Building movements, making progress on progressive issues— you have to talk to people, educate people, organize people.”
Quote of the Year
Say what you want about Boner, but he’s not stupid enough to put himself in the position of violating international law. Yet. He also isn’t stupid enough to put Congress in the position of violating international law either. Yet. Bombing Syria is a violation of international law. The UN hasn’t authorized any country to bomb Syria. By bombing Syria, Obama is violating international law. Obama must be impeached if Progressives believe in the rule of law. Otherwise the Left is as hypocritical as anybody on the Right. By the way why hasn’t that 6300 page Senate report outlining the CIA’s torture been released by Obama yet? You can not trust incumbents on any level.
The Republican thesis is that the real cause of the economic decline is that you’re paying too much in taxes and all of that money is going to unwed mothers and that really what the problem is. And it became quote-unquote “good politics” for some Democrats to pick up on. And it caused a lot of pain.
“These things, along with bank deregulation—one of the sticking points for people like me is that these were all accomplished by a Democratic president.”
Yes. Why should that be a sticking point? Why are you shocked?
“That’s supposedly the party of working people.”
No. I don’t think anyone thinks that.
Oh Bernie, that would be great if that were true. Unfortunately, the DNC still gets plenty of mileage out of that outdated trope. Far too many democrats still think that the DNC is the party of working people.
There are far fewer registered Democrats today than there were 10 years ago. Those who still call themselves Democrats are far less dogmatic than they were even 5 years ago. That’s because people now understand that a few billionaires on either side are funding the entire political process and that in the end it really doesn’t matter whether there is a (D) or an (R) beside a candidates name. If you actually want to shake the system to its foundation—-pull off a revolution if you will—-then vote every incumbent out of office in 2014. Then do it again in 2016. After that the billionaires will find a different hobby.