This is more a quick thought than a diary, but it’s been on my mind today.
How do we win Iowa? Yes, I know the voting already happened, but the total delegate difference is negligible. We win Iowa if the media stories are things like:
Hillary says we should make improvements to Obamacare, challenges Bernie to explain how he can pay for “Medicare for All.”
Bernie says all college should be free, says Hillary is coming up short by limiting to two years of community college and reducing loan payments.
Planned Parenthood endorses Hillary; Bernie counters by bringing out women leaders and says he too will fight the Republicans on women’s issues.
Hillary challenges Bernie’s past gun votes; Bernie says we have to find ways to deal with gun violence and says he would vote to hold manufacturers liable if bill came up today.
Bernie challenges Hillary on Iraq war vote; Hillary admits error, says experience as Secretary of State helping remove Iran’s nuclear capability taught her that diplomacy can address world issues better than war.
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Now — how do we lose Iowa? We lose Iowa if the stories are:
Late breaking news that Hillary had classified emails on her server undercut Hillary in must-win primary. Is country ready to vote for a Socialist who wants to tax us into oblivion? [As a note, what I understand is that these emails cover things that were already in the press but still technically can’t be released, and items that were not classified at the time but have been retroactively classified. Am sure that Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice had some of both on their personal servers]
Bernie says Planned Parenthood is part of the Establishment pissing off women. Hillary takes millions from big banks while getting Planned Parenthood endorsement.
Bernie Bros slam Hillary with Sexist comments; and remember Chavez, Castro, and Stalin were Socialists like Bernie
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My point — if the discussion is about the difference between the two on the issues, then everyone wins. The media is now interested in the horse race, because Sanders will cruise in NH and SC/NV are a ways off. Instead of covering Trump/Cruz/Rubio and playing over and over how Fiorina says Planned Parenthood chops up live babies to sell their parts for millions, they are going to turn an eye towards us. If our issues are out there, and people can make emotional connections with us, then we can win in the fall. If the story about the Democratic campaign is just about the right-wing talking points about both candidates — the hopelessly corrupt Clinton against the misogynistic pro-NRA socialist Sanders — then we lose, because we give up the opportunity to move the Overton window.
I wrote the above before checking on the coverage — this is what I see on memeorandum right now:
“A Tie in Iowa is a Win for Hillary”— the Atlantic
“Bernie Sanders wants raw vote count released after tight finish in Iowa caucuses.”— the Guardian
“Why a ‘Virtual Tie’ in Iowa is better for Clinton than Sanders’— New York Times
“Sanders rally change: ‘She’s a liar!’” — Politico
“The surprising success of Bernie Sanders’s insurgency should be a wake-up call to the Democratic establishment”— Vox
“How Iowa went wrong for Hillary Clinton”— Politico
“Clinton takes Iowa, beating back Sanders’ strong challenge”
Most of the coverage is strict vote tally. The Vox piece basically says that Clinton is part of the establishment and the establishment can’t force a candidate on the people, and of course the Politico fluff piece which is 6 sentences saying that at Bernie’s campaign HQ the audience shouted “She’s a liar” when Hillary came on to talk. Nothing super rough in that. So I’m more talking about the future coverage.
If you’re thinking about pushing right wing talking points (about socialism, misogyny, untrustworthy or Benghazi or email server) — think about who benefits from doing that. It’s not Bernie or Hillary. Either one of them will win among the high information Democrats/Liberals against anyone the Republicans nominate. (The PUMA’s voted Obama in the end, for example). If Rush Limbaugh says it and the liberal blogs say it, it must be true — and it sounds like Hillary violated laws with her email server, so she shouldn’t be president. (She didn’t violate laws, Bernie says this is a stupid issue). Benghazi was a tragedy, exacerbated by the Republicans denying the funding requests, and there were numerous suggestions for how to fix things. Reagan had worse in Beirut. Bernie feels that Planned Parenthood is one of the core historically Democratic groups, and that those groups are lining up to support Hillary and doesn’t like that. Bernie would do more to advance women’s rights than anyone else in this campaign except possibly Hillary Clinton, and I say possibly because they are both so far on the good side that I can’t tell you who is better. Socialism is not a dirty word. It got turned into that because of the McCarthy-era anti-Communist stuff. Liberal isn’t a dirty word either. Socialism is just another word for our obligations to take care of each other. You can believe in Socialism and also believe in Capitalism — companies are still allowed to and encouraged to make profits and people who have good ideas can get wealthy if they add value. They just tend to share that wealth with the people who work at the company more than companies do in the US. Bernie Sanders is not pro-gun. He is not in favor of laws that allow domestic terrorists to walk into churches and kill people or gun down innocent people in the street. He has said as recently as December that he wants to enforce the existing background check system (which is abused since there is a backlog due to underfunding and if your check isn’t completed you are allowed to get the gun) he wants to close the gun show loophole and require background checks for all purchases, he wants to ban assault weapons, and he wants to invest in our mental health system. There’s more, I just had the time to find one quote.
We need to agree that the best person to be the next president of the United States is either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, and if that person can’t win then the second best person to be the next president of the United States is the other one of Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.
Choosing Hillary vs. Bernie isn’t choosing the lesser of two evils. Choosing Bernie vs. Trump is not choosing the lesser of two evils. Choosing Hillary vs. Rubio isn’t choosing the lesser of two evils. Neither Hillary nor Bernie are evil. They may not be as liberal on any given issue as we’d like; or they may not be as moderate on any given issue as we’d like. But if I offered you a deal — I could promise you that the candidate you oppose in the primary would be president, or you could take a shot at your candidate winning the primary and the general and who knows what would happen — every single one of us (if we were being calm and rational) would take the sure thing of having a liberal Democrat in the White House for four more years, instead of gambling on getting something that may be a little “better” but could be a ton worse.
Ya’ll decide. Is the rec list going to be filled with “Bernie News Updates” and “Hillary on the Trail?” Is it going to be filled with “Here’s why Bernie is better on Health care?” Or is it going to be filled with “Bernie can’t win because he’s an old Jewish Socialist” and “Hillary’s middle name is Goldman Sachs?”