• @pjwestin
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    5 hours ago

    Bill Clinton: After successive Dem losses Bill figured out “it’s the economy stupid”, aka center policy, not leftist policy.

    Perfect example of being willfully obtuse; 19% of the popular vote went to a third-party millionaire that year, but you’re pretending it didn’t happen.

    Gore: You think Gore was centrist? Lol that’s a first for me

    I’m sure it is new to you, but yes, he was considered a centrist since his 1988 run. He picked Joe Lieberman as his running mate, did you think that was progressive?

    He ran on broad “hope” and “yes we can” and having energy, hoping the ambiguity would be enough considering Bush’s disastrous wars.

    First off, “Yes we can,” was his campaign slogan, but, “Hope,” came from artist Shepard Fairey. Second, he actually had very detailed progressive policy proposals and campaign promises, including Universal Healthcare, homeowner bailouts, Wallstreet regulation, codifying Roe, and abolishing warrentless wire taps, and that’s just off the top of my head. If you thought his platform was vague, you weren’t paying attention.

    So what did Hillary learn from the last 6 years of Obama? She learned that the left never shows up.

    And then she traveled to 1965 to tell herself to become a college Republican? And then 1992 to tell herself to support her husband’s gutting of Welfare? And then to 1996 to call black children, “Super Predators?” She didn’t learn anything from Obama. She was always a centrist, and you’re just making stuff up to try to craft a narrative.

    Biden learned from Hillary that you don’t stick your head out left on anything. Not one thing. And he was running against an incumbent, so once again when you do that you run center. And he won.

    Biden has been in politics 20 years longer than Clinton, I don’t think he was looking for notes from her. And, again, despite being pretty centrist (hawkish, tough on crime, strong labor support, mixed record in segregation because he’s 400 years old), he did stick his neck out for the left. The BBB was a huge progressive wishlist, and he’s still trying to get some student debt relief.

    And what were the results? Lost the House of Representatives for years 3 and 4.

    President’s usually take a loss in their first midterm after the, “honeymoon,” wears off, and in 2022, polling was predicting a huge, “Red Wave,” that never happened. The Democrats narrowly lost the House, but the results were generally considered a disappointment for the Republicans.

    Anyway, I skimmed the rest of this, and it’s not worth going over. It basically seemed like a retread of everything you’ve already said, and that’s mostly ahistorical nonsense tied together into a loose narrative with the confidence and understanding of a freshman that just finished POLI SCI 101. Instead, I’ll just leave you with this study from the Pew Research Center that indicates people on either ends of the political spectrum are more likely to vote and donate to campaigns than people moderate views. So, looks like it’s the center, not the left, that doesn’t show up. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    • @someguy3
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      1 hour ago

      Perfect example of being willfully obtuse

      And:

      Anyway, I skimmed the rest of this, and it’s not worth going over

      Fucking lol, hypocritical much? Glad I read to the end first so that I know anything that I say will also be “Skimmed over” and deemed “not worth going over”. So I’ll just hit a few points.

      he was considered a centrist [since his 1988 run

      Oh yeah, once someone runs one platform they can never, never, never change anything 12 years later. Nope. /s

      Gore ran a campaign on climate change. That’s pretty left.

      First off, “Yes we can,” was his campaign slogan, but, “Hope,” came from artist Shepard Fairey.

      I remember that one, what I remember was broad hope (yes), “yes we can” energy. It was all about getting past Bush’s horrible administration and moving on. Homeowner bailout? After the subprime mortgage collapse? Shocked pikachu face. Wallstreet after the great recession? Shocked. Warrantless taps as the war path was starting to fad? These are not far left ideas after that crash and war on terror. Codifying Roe? Didn’t get voters out because voters saw it as secure anyway. That was the car the GOP dog was never supposed to catch. BBB? The infrastructure talk is, frankly, normal. Both sides talk about it.

      And then she traveled to 1965

      Lol yeah you seem to rely on this trick of people can never, never, ever change anything about their platform, or policies, or adjust to information on the ground. Everyone and everything is set in stone for you huh.

      Biden has been in politics 20 years longer than Clinton, I don’t think he was looking for notes from her.

      WOW you really do rely super heavy on this huh, 3rd times the charm. Yes you look at how the most recent election panned out and why lol.

      President’s usually take a loss in their first midterm

      Doesn’t matter, he lost it. And when they lose, they go to the center to find voters. Because they need all 3 to do pretty much anything and they know it.

      Anyway, I skimmed the rest of this, and it’s not worth going over.

      Instead, I’ll just leave you with [this

      You refuse to read what other people say, attack them, and then want them to read your link. Fucking lol. I think it’s because you have no response, especially to how a center voter is worth double.

      *Skimmed (lol) the article. More active posting? Doesn’t matter. More active voting? Voting for who? Voting for 3rd party is the whole problem. Nothing the Dems do will ever be enough for them, they will vote 3rd party like they did to Gore, or do the protest non-vote like they did to Hillary (and 2020 was only to get Trump out of office). You’re going to go after those people who are never satisfied and never show up for Dems, while sacrificing the center worth double? Path to certain loss. No wonder you “skimmed” my reply, you have no response that you’d be an absolute fool to cater to or rely on the left.

      • @pjwestin
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        1 hour ago

        Your ignorance is stunning. Your entire knowledge of Al Gore is that he was pro-environment, and, “environment = left-wing,” but you have no understanding of his role within the Clinton administration, like promoting NAFTA or Welfare reform. I don’t even know why this is a debate, as you’re just factually wrong; here’s the NY Times calling him fiscally conservative in 2000. Here’s the LA times reflecting on his centrist platform in 2004. The idea that he ran as a progressive is nonsense.

        I have no idea what your point is about the Obama administration. You seem to be saying, yes, all of his policies were progressive, but they don’t count because Bush was unpopular. Not sure what the logic is there, but at least you’re tacitly admitting you were wrong when you claimed he his campaign was vague, so that’s something.

        You also seem to think that bringing up people’s past policy positions is some kind of dirty trick I’m playing (which would explain why you have such a poor understanding of history), but for the record, yes, Hillary Clinton’s 25 year record as a centrist was relevant to her 2016 campaign. I don’t know what to tell you, if you have a decades long record as a centrist, then run as a centrist with a centrist running mate, people will think you’re a centrist (true of Gore and HRC).

        I went back and read the bits I skimmed, and yeah, I was right, you just repeated yourself. Maybe edit yourself a bit, especially when you don’t know what you’re talking about. But, for the record, your premise is obviously faulty; if you vote for them when they move to the center, the takeaway isn’t going to be that it’s safe to go to the left, it will be that it’s safe to go to the center. But either way, it doesn’t matter, because the geriatrics that run the party are so haunted by Regan’s legacy that they will never go left, no matter how often they lose trying to gain the center.

        Anyway, still very telling that you won’t address the fact that Ross Perot played a huge part in the 1992 election, but I’m sure you’d have to Google, “Who is Ross Perot?” first. But thanks for, “today’s explanation,” really funny stuff!