2022 Midterm Elections (Abandon hope all ye who enter here) butnahhh. or maybe?

Bernie wouldn’t have been an insider even if he won. It would have been like Carter. Pete might have played Kennedy’s part and been the one to try to primary Bernie.

So you don’t think Pete is a naked careerist who would latch onto whoever he thought would advance his ambitions the most and instead has actual principles that he would prioritize over winning?

See previous response. Bernie would never have been an in$ider. He would never have been seen as a good career move by Pete.

It wasn’t even ideological with Carter. He just didn’t roll with the right people.

Come on, you expect a consistent position when it comes to Pete? Easier to believe what they’re told by Nathan Robinson or whoever.

Imagine a hypothetical world where Pete believes that supporting Bernie would be what was best for his career. For example, let’s say Bernie was doing well enough and Pete had enough support to where he had something worth trading in exchange for the VP slot. I think he jumps if that was a realistic possibility.

Who has an inconsistent position on Pete?

And I barely recognize the name “Nathan Robinson”.

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My study of public opinion suggests that most people don’t have consistent opinions, but it’s worth examining why people believe what they do.

That’s very hypothetical and it’s probably a Bernie I would not have been terribly enthusiastic about.

i would be out there voting twice (if i could) for any candidate, pete or bernie, over any republican post 2000. but come on, bernie and pete are actually somewhat similar as they started as mayors. if you showed pete bernie’s way, and proposed that he too could have a chance to be an outsider running for prez nom at 70, i hope he’d go, “fuck, none of us can wait that long.”

Pete would not not want to support Bernie because deep in his heart he just doesn’t want people having health care. He would not support Bernie because Bernie will never be favored by the large donors and would always depend on an unreliable horde of hippies who will never ever pay him millions of dollars in speaking fees.

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It’s just one scenario and whether you would like that Bernie isn’t really important. My question is about what you think motivates someone like Pete.

If the endgame for a Bernie primary win was having to except an establishment VP in exchange for the DNC falling in line, shouldn’t he take that deal? And if Pete could maneuver to be that VP, wouldn’t he try for the spot?

The Democratic establishment might not be happy about a Bernie win, but I think they would mostly recognize that he’s still much better than Trump and would want to come to an accommodation if his nomination became inevitable. Once you take away their preferred option, most people become more reasonable about accepting their second preference.

No. I don’t doubt he has some principles. I’m suggesting he would see a better future by aligning with the interests of the Democratic Party’s donor class. That class is not trying to eliminate health care or anything extreme, but they will never support Bernie.

Also the Party will never support him because he isn’t really a party member, or mostly hasn’t been anyway.

Unreliable in voting, anyway

Bernie was simply way too nice. Repeatedly.

Probably not. The DNC would mostly have been forced to fall in line at that point. And if not, he’d still have gotten money in 2020. The DNC probably would have mounted a fight against Bernie in 2024, just like they did against Carter in 1980.

That’s true, but it is substantially harder to vote when you’re young and poor. It’s not that it’s that hard, but it’s just trivially easy when you’re old and rich. When you look at big numbers, millions of people, that makes a big difference.

Fixed that for you.

Pete is a sell out and a loser but would have been light years better than Biden and light years worse than Bernie. I’m not sure that is really even debatable at this point.

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If you want consistency regarding Pete, you can always ask me! I think he’s a naked careerist AND his policy positions and understanding of issues are complete trash!

A perfect example is his advocacy for the ATA position on the “trucker shortage” that we should pay people even LESS to be truckers, and have 2 or 3 eighteen year olds living in every truck so it can roll 24/7