The first shows why the mainstream media barfs me more and more. The second shows why, in national elections, I'M not a Democrat, and am becoming even less one. (If only Texas had a Socialist AND a Green Party.)
Bump makes his MSM case even worse by trotting out the hoary myth of the "Berniebro" just one-quarter the way in.
He then comes off sounding like a paid shill for Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman:
What's important to note is that Sanders isn't just hijacking the party's processes -- he's hijacking the results.Fact is, Bump on a Log, the Democrats have long had open primaries, and some candidates have long gotten more support from independents. The only "hijacking" is the hijacking of that history on your part. Well, no; if the Peter Principle in the MSM, especially Inside the Beltway, is hijacking, then Bump(er) Pool is guilty in the first degree.
(Sidebar: WaPost Net staff? It's called a em-dash. Different browsers support it. Stop using two hyphens.)
At least Bump has the honesty to note that, for Sanders, the Democrats are "a party with which he has caucused for years." Of course, that was inescapable.
In addition, in this piece, Bump went beyond analysis, which is what I've understood The Fix to be about, to pure opining.
On to J.R. Behrman.
First, Sanders isn't an independent. That's for both you and Speed Bump.
The actual reality is, as I have blogged before, that Sanders really is a Democrat and has been since he first got elected to the House more than 25 years ago. The "I" that he has as his "last initial" is camouflage, spin, or Bernie playing to his own ego.
Democratic snowflake sheepdoggers, if they don't know the answer, need to be told that someone as "librul" as Bernie Sanders really is a Democrat in all but name, and has been for 25 years.
That said, he's a New Deal Dem, maybe an LBJ Dem. (Remember him, J.R.?) Bernie's not a socialist. Trust me, I'm more of a socialist than he is, and I'm only halfway a socialist.
Next, the claim about Green parties in Europe, or parties of the left? Puhleeze. It's easy to shoot the Greek fish in a barrel of Syriza while ignoring Jeremy Corbyn taking over Labour, making it Old Labour in new wineskins, and getting shot with the slings and arrows of outrageous slurs by the British equivalents of you, J.R. And, it also ignores that, in European parliamentary governments, there are multiple parties of the left. Whether you like them or not, for example, Die Linke seems to be growing in Germany.
And, your statement about the Greens isn't true. In 2013, the Greens in Germany got nearly the same Bundestag numbers as in 2009. The Red-Green Alliance in Denmark has steadily gained ground. Swedish Greens gained national ground until 2010 and held steady in 2014.
J.R., that's enough right there to prove that you're full of crap when you say:
Even venerable socialist governments and even the formidable Green parties in Europe or charismatic leaders like Yanis Varoufakis are struggling to dump obsolete or delusional intellectual frameworks to govern their own parties, and to fix a broken socialist international.
And, "Socialist International"? Sounds like a smear job to me. Sadly, the U.S. has no party officially affiliated with the actual Socialist International. (The Greens, who are primarily an environmental party, though expanding their scope, don't count. The Dems, who are diminishing their scope as we speak, can't count.)
As for "build a strong party" within the Democratic Party. Erm, you've held Democratic positions, per Brains' link. Shouldn't you be looking in the mirror with part of that critique? Beyond that, Sanders has done Congressional/Senatorial fundraisers for Democrats. At least you admit the Texas Democratic Party has reached sad state. You really think attacking Bernie Sanders is going to help that, is going to help you recruit young voters to possibly get involved with the party more?
Update, June 1: Matt Yglesias agrees with me: Bernie's a Democrat, has been for decades.
As for other Texas Dems who don't like me having posted this on what was the top post on Behrman's Facebook page, originally, even though it was actually a post by somebody else that was on Behrman's wall?
If they objected due to it seeming inappropriate because of his wife's passing, nobody forced him to write what he did in the first place. So, don't go blaming me for a public response.
If they objected because it went to other Harris County Dems ... maybe they needed to see it. Maybe some of them feel the same as Behrman. Maybe some Sanders backers didn't know he felt this way.
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