I think the "my preferred candidate or bust" mindset is wrong, but I also think my time and energy is best spent elsewhere.
Right, so if he's called out as a non-ally, so be it. He doesn't need to be treated with kiddie gloves.
Lol, you can't be serious. After fighting against the Dixiecrats for years dying for our right for representation, you think that's why we fall in line???
-pissed that people can't muster the ability to get out and vote against Trump
I make sure my voice is heard and I vote
Wait what?
If you check the latest polls the only supporters who would abstain from voting in the GE are Yang's and Sanders'. That unbelievable to me.
Is it? It feels a little bit bonkers to me to argue what boils down to "well one wing of voters is irrationally holding the rest of the country hostage so give in to their demands or Trump wins."
Even worse is the poorly veiled racism telling people that they're voting against their own interests or uninformed if they don't support a certain candidate. I've heard this shit repeatedly every time I've indicated I prefer Warren for the nomination from Sanders supporters.
It's not so different from the Democratic strategy of appealing to moderates. If you're going to have a better chance at winning by going with the candidate that's going to get the most votes in the General then you should probably nominate that candidate. It's actually better this way since we don't have to worry about electing a moderate who may push a republican-lite/neoliberal agenda while in office.
Because the difference between Biden and Trump is that
People aren't afraid of Bernie or Bust. They're afraid of any small group throwing things because Electoral College.
So let me make sure I'm following. By this argument, if Biden looks more electable then you should probably nominate him?
No one is doing that, I mean Biden is leading the polls no??
Ehn, he specifically said "most votes in the general" not a "Biden or bust" (do these people even exist?) scenario.
Right. That's up to you to decide though. From my perspective, Biden is coasting in this primary on the democrats that trust him to make things normal again. If he gets to the General, the lack of enthusiasm and history of being a trash politician isn't going to gain him any more ground. He'd also be losing a chunk of the "Bernie or Bust" voter block. Combine that with his borderline senility and built in GOP smear narratives and you got a candidate that has a low ceiling for voter growth. He'd be relying on Trump hatred as opposed to being able to excite voters.
I'm definitely not a fan of Biden and I worry about his many flaws in a general but overall I was responding to the notion you put forth that we should nominate the "most electable" candidate. If polling were to bear out that Biden was the most electable would that make you want to support him? Again, I'm just trying to follow the logic here all the way through.
This is the epitome of what I'm trying to say. My point is that (speaking for myself) black people don't have the luxury of this choice at the expense of many rights due to SC and Federal court appointees.
I don't take polling as the most important metric here. It shows a snapshot of what people are thinking right now. I prefer to think more in the abstract of what the General will actually look like. For that, you have to look at a candidate's history, policy, personality, enthusiasm, and overall message. A mix of objective and subjective.
OK maybe I misunderstood your original post then. It seemed to set up an if/ then scenario about who is the most electable (something that I think is pretty difficult to fully grasp) and then nominating that person. So, for instance, if everything broke wonderfully for Biden-- say, he does the right mea culpas, policy ideas that are popular, the right ads, etc-- (and again, I want to stress, Biden is not my pick), would you then say that we should nominate him?
Well I can't tell irrational or obstinate people what to do and obviously there's little point arguing with people who are being deliberately disingenuous - but I will repeat this to those (if there are any) real and entrenched folks till November -- if you're a voter who behaves that way then I will appeal to you to reconsider the logic and remind you that not voting in this climate and electoral system favors Donald Trump statistically - and that choice will not only do tremendous and imminent harm to your fellow citizens but is also polar opposite to the policies and positions of both of those candidates. If you intend to abstain from voting if your preferred democratic candidate doesn't win the nomination then you should probably do some serious introspection about what's important to you, how much you care about the security and prosperity of your fellow citizens -- and ultimately why you're supporting your candidate in the first place.
