Current Events > David Sirota on why Bernie Lost

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://sirota.substack.com/p/the-tyranny-of-decorum
@Balrog0 , because I remember seeing you express interest in this sort of thing. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of drama to be had in Sirota's post-mortem, linked above.
Key takeaways:

1) Sirota thinks Bernie did not do enough to draw distinctions between himself and other candidates, especially Biden, particularly in regards to their records. He feels this is because Bernie was loathe to go negative on people he largely considers to be his friends and co-workers. He feels Bernie, in spite of his criticism of it, really believes in the Democratic Party and hates to be seen as tearing it down.

2) Electability was the electorate's primary concern, and former Vice Presidents are perceived as very electable in the eyes of voters (even though their track record in the general election isn't great).

3) Polite, civil, pleasant primaries are bad for the party and this tendency to silence any criticism(and primary challengers) will hurt the party going forward.

4) He decries the villainization of himself, Nina Turner, and Briahna Gray, for pointing out other candidate's records on Twitter.

Make of it what you will. Primary sources are always useful and interesting, even though they unfailingly favor the source and their position.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

He feels Bernie, in spite of his criticism of it, really believes in the Democratic Party and hates to be seen as tearing it down.

I dunno, man. He's been an independent all his life, switched to dem to run in 2016, went back to being an independent, switched BACK to being a dem for this election, and even while signing his "I promise to govern like a dem" pledge he registered as an independent for the 2024 election. He may have many dem friends, but he very clearly doesn't believe in the party.

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s0nicfan posted...

I dunno, man. He's been an independent all his life, switched to dem to run in 2016, went back to being an independent, switched BACK to being a dem for this election, and even while signing his "I promise to govern like a dem" pledge he registered as an independent for the 2024 election. He may have many dem friends, but he very clearly doesn't believe in the party.

I think the intent is that even though he has misgivings, he doesn't want to destroy it and is very sensitive to being perceived as wanting to, and that this has made him loathe to even be perceived as going negative.
It certainly jives with Bernie going out of his way to disavow a Zephyr Teachout op-ed criticizing Biden for cronyism over his son Hunter that Sirota promoted on Twitter. He doesn't seem to like going negative, and he considers Biden to be a friend.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

I think the intent is that even though he has misgivings, he doesn't want to destroy it and is very sensitive to being perceived as wanting to, and that this has made him loathe to even be perceived as going negative.
It certainly jives with Bernie going out of his way to disavow a Zephyr Teachout op-ed criticizing Biden for cronyism over his son Hunter that Sirota promoted on Twitter. He doesn't seem to like going negative, and he considers Biden to be a friend.

He literally called his campaign a revolution. He wants to tear down dems just as much as republicans. He just wants to do it from within because he knows that's easier. Here, here's a list of a bunch of times he shit on the democrat party:
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/mar/03/what-bernie-sanders-has-said-about-democrats-over-/


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1. He hired people like Sirota to run his campaign