Ask a right-wing libertarian who is supporting socialist Bernie Sanders for President

[tjakey]

Calling Sanders a "socialist" doesn't make him one,

Sanders has embraced that label himself.  Can't blame the republicunts for that.  We can blame them for not knowing what it means.

True dat...

[Minimalist]

Columnist, Dana Milbank, in the Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...story.html

Democrats would be insane to nominate Bernie Sanders

It doesn’t speak well of Clinton that, next to her, a 74-year-old guy who has been in politics for four decades is a bright and shiny object. The #feelthebern phenomenon has at least as much to do with Clinton as with Sanders: Democrats are eager for an alternative to her inauthentic politics and cautious policies.

I share their frustration with Clinton. But that doesn’t make Sanders a rational choice.

[Tiberius]

Quote from the article:

Sanders and his supporters boast of polls showing him, on average, matching up slightly better against Trump than Clinton does. But those matchups are misleading: Opponents have been attacking and defining Clinton for a quarter- century, but nobody has really gone to work yet on demonizing Sanders.

That will soon change. If Sanders wins the Iowa and Hew Hampshire primaries (or at least one of them) then he'll be thrust into the spotlight more so than he has been. Then we'll see what the Republicans will do about demonizing him. So far, Hillary has tried to demonize him and the result has been witty comebacks which destroy her positions and out her as a liar, plus the added bonus of a period of increased donations to the Sanders campaign.

[Minimalist]

Not quite.

They are still mainly fighting among themselves.  Once there is a clear GOP nominee THEN they will go after Sanders as Milbank says.  Remember, neither party can elect a president by itself.  The independents decide elections.

[Thumpalumpacus]

In the end it's run by special interests with connections to government lobbying efforts to score contracts and really screw the rest of us over while we believe our government is acting in our best interests.

That sounds awful familiar, but I think the term you're looking for is crony capitalism.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Calling Sanders a "socialist" doesn't make him one, any more than claiming that all climate scientists are part of a liberal conspiracy against the oil and coal companies makes climate change go away. I think of myself as a socialist along the lines of Noam Chomsky, and find Mr. Sanders as the least objectionable among those current running for POTUS. I part ways with Mr. Chomsky at the idea that the Democratic party has fundamental differences with the Republican party. They have media and social differences, mostly as a front to keep throwing dust in the eyes of voters. At the core though, both parties support barely regulated capitalism and the ever elusive "free market."

Mr. Sanders is not actually a Democrat, making his run to be that Party's candidate, at least for me, kind of fun. But the only way he makes much a difference in the trajectory of this country's slow decline is if he manages to be the candidate and then proves to have enormous "coat tails", bringing both the Senate and the House to the Democrats. Even then, the actual Democratic party apparatus will remain in the control of those who control it now. That apparatus is supported by, and supports, big business, big military, big pharmacy, and a militarized police force to protect those interests.  President Sanders will have his "revolution" countered by a thousand Machiavellian assaults from those who run the government, and will watch it die a slow death, bleeding from a thousand little cuts.

Inertia is a bitch.

[Brian37]

Anyone is better than the GOP, that party has held the country and both parties hostage for the past 30 years. At least with a Democrat we have more of a chance of slowing down or reversing some of the bleeding. I am not fatalistic about it. I think if enough voters put the fire to their feet, thing can change for the better.

[Minimalist]

You have more faith in 'murrican voters than I do.

[tjakey]

You have more faith in 'murrican voters than I do.

True dat...