Bernie is the most popular politician by far in the country at 61% As Dem Centrists Ignore the Message

Sanders has made himself and his platform relevant to Americans in a way Clinton and her crowd never did and still won't.  Fine, investigate the Russian - Trump connection but start talking about things that matter enough to people to get them voting. ... comment on NYCEducation listserve

Since Democrats have done things to reduce the role of government, they are in a poor position to defend against Republican attacks on government... On the Media

Words to make the Obama/Clinton wing that controls the Democratic Party cringe. I read somewhere that when leading Dems were asked whether they would go to the Bernie type economic message they said - nahhh, not now -- we'll stick with going after Trump and Russia and taxes --- go ask me if I'll sign another damn petition to see Trump's taxes.

I've been engaging in some debates over the concentration on the Russian issue and Trump taxes and how Bernie doesn't spend a lot of time there and stays on the economic message and health care. Diane Ravitch has chipped in and we are not on the same page on this issue. Here are some of thoughts I shared on that listserve.

The Clinton/Obama wing failed so miserably to address these issues in the campaign.

The Russians don't seem to have hacked the Senate, The House and all those states under total Republican control - or even in our own "liberal" NY state under the thumb of the Republican corrupt Senate and the renegade Democrats. Or the election of Cuomo and his charter giveaways.

Until we go after the roots and stop living in the tree tops we will see the Republicans increase their stranglehold on this nation.

If any other Republican had won we would still be facing the same kinds of cuts. People are comparing this to what Reagan did but at least he didn't control the whole ball of wax.

Instead of defending a flawed Obamacare, Dems need to be bold and call for single payer even if it looks like pie  in the sky -- let's convince the public that will end up being the best program for people.
Focus on Russia instead of health care is a distraction from the real work which is organizing a political fight back - not just resistance.Hillary spent the campaign talking about Russia and attacking Trump - we watched the debates screaming in frustration at missed opportunities to teach the American public.

Like we spend 9500 a person for health care while France spends half of much with a top level single payer system.

How come no one knows about that when Hillary had a massive audience to tell them? 

The message needs to be about people in this country, not Putin.

And funny how only the left over the decades were the ones screaming about American interference and assassinations all over the world. Invasion of Iraq, anyone? And then there are those Obama drones.

The very Dems screaming today were part and parcel all that time.

 I was recently on a family cruise, some of whom are Trump supporters. Spending a week with our niece, hubby and 2 little girls -- the most decent people in the world - makes it hard for me to see them as enemies of the people. We have 25 people coming for passover -- we will be out of the liberal bubble that day.

I saw Reagan and Bush and their crews as deplorable - I mean Cheney/Rumsfeld, etc -- I have no scale of deplorable more than them. Count the dead.
So Trump is more despicable which is off the scale I guess.

They prepared the way for Trump and the Dems were handmaidens.

I See Pence as a religious zealot who would love to see Atwood's Handmaiden's Tale become reality.

We liberals spend a lot of time chasing after every single thing Trump does every day instead of being relentless like Republicans -- shaping our message and vision --- the difference maker in Bernie is that he is always on message -- relentless -- no matter how press tries to distract he stays on course.

If the Russia stuff never pans out -- then what a victory for Trump. All fake news and even the people who marginally support him move towards him.

We trashed wilileaks on Clinton but we embrace the spooks when they dish Trump?

This morning on CBS they did a story on Denmark - a managed capitalist social democratic nation with a 60% tax rate. The Democratic party doesn't want to go near there -- which is why Bernie has not been part of that centrist party that echos Republicans of the 60s and 70s. Instead of challenging Reaganism the Dems moved in that direction,

The Dems don't want to hear about Denmark or social democracy because that would mean stepping on their corporate buddies.

My relatives all went to college and I consider them quite bright. But they do listen on issues related to the economy and a rational discussion of health care. They will have to live through the consequences of Trump but I still don't hold out much hope when the world view is so narrow and they live in their bubbles. What I noticed a few weeks before the election when they thought Hillary would win was actual fear and a sort of desperation -- it astounded me and also made me feel something real was there and I started listening more carefully. 

I have engaged in discussions with them and I listen to them -- they are misinformed on many issues I believe but I have given up trying to inform FOX listeners.  

I try not to forget that my neighborhood voted 75% for Trump -- my block alone has a number of first responders -- they are not deplorable.

But we liberals live in our bubbles.

I just was listening to On the Media -- and I highly recommend this segment - http://www.wnyc.org/story/view-poverty

Below is the description of the segment --

The extent to which the [Trump] proposals would punish the poor was shocking to many in the media -- and statements made by Trump administration officials didn't help. Someone who wasn't shocked was Jack Frech, former welfare director in Athens County, Ohio (and guide for our series, "Busted: America's Poverty Myths"), who has been working with those in poverty for over 30 years. In that time, he has seen many proposals like these, chipping away at the few services available to the poor. Frech talks to Brooke about what he recognizes in the GOP proposals, why he believes the Democrats have often failed to do better, and why many who would be hurt under these plans are still holding out hope that Trump might deliver for them.

Fench points out that no Democrat has admitted they erred - the only one who says things straight out is Bernie. Call for single payer and show how it could work and people will start to listen. Unlike Palin they can't see Russia from here.

Fench points to the liberal media not really listening but trying to get Trump supporters to admit they made a mistake rather than listen to why they voted for Trump -- the liberal attitude they are dumb is what will keep Trump and his ilk in power - I actually see a one party system as center Dems continue on the path and put down the left.

I see the Russia thing as a way to avoid coming to grips with the failures.

Jack Frech points out how the Democrats over the past 30 years have enabled the Republican assault and the rise of Trump by agreeing that government was too big and must be cut and aided and abetted in that process -- both Clinton and Obama ---

Did the Dems get up and defend govt and point out the important things even in inefficient govt has done over time?

----where was the same outrage then from all the people complaining about Trump cuts?

Attacking welfare was OK. Where was the outrage when the Dems and Republicans - and the UFT/AFT pushed through NCLB and ed deform with no push back --- it was the Susan Ohanians and George Schmidts and a few others who were a tiny minority against testing mania in the 90s --- Betsy DeVos could not exist without the Democrats.

That more people lost food stamps under Obama than under Reagan. That public service workers declined under Obama -- that the Clinton and Obama admins did little or nothing for labor unions -- did they show up in Wisconsin?

REALLY, REALLY, REALLY --  listen to this segment:
http://www.wnyc.org/story/view-poverty

Leonie Haimson, often the smartest person in the room, chipped in with this:

Latest Fox News poll finds Sanders the most popular politician by far in the country at 61%.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/15/fox-news-poll-34-voters-favor-gop-health-care-plan.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2017/03/15/fox-news-poll-315/

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-politician-in-the-us-bernie-sanders-fox-news-poll-2017-3

Reasons are pretty clear if you watched the MSNBC town hall from West Virginia with Sanders – with an audience made up of mostly Trump voters-- probably the best thing I’ve seen on TV in months. If you didn’t, I strongly suggest you watch it online.

Amazing, moving, informative show; and explains the anger and the total sense of devastation in these communities – where life expectancy and employment has been falling for years, and opioid addiction is rife. Not that Trump will likely reverse this trend; quite the opposite – as Sanders and others pointed out repeatedly. Here are some clips:

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/5-remarkable-moments-bernie-sanders-town-hall-heart-coal-country

longer clip here: http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/can-trump-bring-boom-days-of-mining-back-to-wv-897150531732

The fact that Sanders isn’t a member of the Democratic party is completely irrelevant. The fact that the Democratic establishment successfully pushed for Tom Perez over Keith Ellison as DNC chair is very discouraging for many reasons, and really does suggest that the Clinton wing of the party hasn’t learned the real lessons from the election.

Perez is an awful spokesperson, with an unclear message; Keith Ellison is not only far more compelling speaker but is smart and has his finger on the overwhelming anger and discontent of millions of voters. He has been repeatedly been elected from a district with a majority white working class voters and knows how to appeal to a far broader constituency.

After Princeton economists Angus Deaton and Ann Case came out with their groundbreaking report showing white mortality rates rising sharply, likely for the first time in US history, Keith Ellison was the ONLY person from Congress to call him to ask why.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/03/angus-deaton-qa/518880/

Deaton: …I’ll tell you another interesting thing: There’s only one Congressman in all of Congress who called us up to make an appointment to talk to us about the dying white people, because they were in his constituency and he was really concerned about them. Guess who it was.

Lowrey: Who?

Deaton: Keith Ellison! I was really impressed.