Post Primary Campaign Rhetoric

First things first: workout notes:
weights only:
rotator cuff
pull ups (15-15-10-10…slowly, no swinging)
bench press: 10 x 135, 5 x 185, 10 x 170 (strong)
incline press: 10 x 135
military: 3 sets of 10 x 40 dumbbell standing
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 200 Hammer machine
abs: headstand, planks (front/side/front/side done twice), twist crunch (2 sets of 12) yoga leg lifts

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The Democratic campaign is effectively over, though the Sanders camp won’t admit that. So, expect the following:

1. Increasingly, our left wants to channel the Republican far right:

This has become especially obvious in the waning days of the Democratic primary: you can watch data journalists like the two Nates (Cohn and Silver) growing increasingly exasperated with Sanders supporters who keep insisting that Hillary is stealing the nomination with superdelegates, when it’s actually the Sanders campaign talking about getting supers to overturn the pledged delegate count and the popular vote. […]

I was therefore primed to notice when Sanders declared that Democrats need their own version of Fox News. What does he mean, exactly? Should the proposed network engage in similar factual distortions and outright falsehoods, except this time in the service of progressive goals?

By the way, it wouldn’t work. Fox caters to an audience of angry old white men; the angry young white guys who would want a left-wing version of this message are fewer in number, have less purchasing power, and anyway don’t get their news from TV. But that’s a side point.

The main point, instead, is that what we’re seeing is that the sort of people who really care about getting facts right – who see facing up to inconvenient truths as an important value – are largely on the center-left. Care with evidence appears to matter if you are, say, the 11th most liberal senator; this is in contrast not just with the right, but also with some of the left.

This is exasperating for many reasons. Denial of facts is bad enough. But what some on our left don’t seem to get is that the Democrats won’t control Congress without some “Blue Dogs” (conservative Democrats) getting elected in relatively conservative regions. Something too leftist isn’t going to be supported by the people of such districts.

2. Traditionally, the Democratic candidate’s campaign “takes over the DNC” as the candidate is considered to be the “head of the party”. That has nothing to do with “rigging” but simply the result of Clinton getting more votes and more delegates. Yes, most of the officials who are super delegates will be Clinton supporters as ..well, she leads super delegates by 523-39 (according to Real Clear Politics) and, of course, has a commanding lead in pledged delegates (285 by fivethirtyeight.com).

3. Now of course, Sanders supporters can have some influence in the party platform, but it is likely to be far more subtle than they’d like. Why? Well, we had a vote and one side won. Unfortunately, some see “not getting their way” as being “shut out”. Expect to hear some major league bellyaching.

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