to think Bernie loses the general election. Comparing Bernie in 2016 to McGovern in 1972, saying Bernie loses like George did is a bit of a stretch. One should remember that the 1972 Democratic primary was a 4 man race, Humphrey [4.1 million], Wallace [3.7] & Muskie [1.8] got 9.6 million votes to McGoverns 4 million. Humphrey would have been the nominee on the basis of the popular primary vote. While in the general election McGovern was stabbed in the back by the party machinery, some of whom openly supported Nixon and suffered from the Eagleton affair. Its going to be fairly difficult to see a similar situation develop that comes close to what happened in the 1972 Democratic primary, which played a role in the results of the 1972 general election.
There will have to be a shitstorm to equal all that happened in 1972 for Bernie to go down like George did in 1972. TO claim all that will happen agian is a tad unrealistic.
If the major vote getters are Bernie and Hillary in the 2016 Democratic primary there will be no comparison to the 1972 primary. And quite frankly if Bernie does compete with the skilled and experienced HRC campaign, if he beats her in the primary, he's poised to go all the way. IF Bernies campaign has what it takes to beat Hillary, its just flat out silly to think Ted Cruz or Donald Trump or any other bat shit crazy mofo would stand a chance against Bernie. Its not like beating Hillary in the primaries means Bernie comes out of the convention with zero momentum. In fact he'll be the big story of the summer if he pulls out the nomination.
When Bernie gets to the general election, issues like breaking up the too big to fail banks resonates with Fiscal Conservatives & Libertarians. While Bernies infrastructure spending plan to create millions of jobs is hard to vote against, if you're not a Tea Party type. If you're young looking for a good job, or have a bunch of student debt or an Independent, you just might find your way into the voting booth in November and pulling the lever for Bernie.
Looking at the GOP field today, there isn't one Republican hopeful that won't get hosed by Bernie in a debate. If you voted for Muskie or McGovern in 1972 vs Nixon, you're going to vote for Bernie, if you voted for Edwards, Obama, Kucinich or Clinton in the 2008 primaries, you're probably going to vote for Bernie. How many Nader voters are going to go for Bernie? If you voted for Reagan twice then Clinton twice, you're probably going to vote for Bernie. If you embraced Occupy Wall St, you're probably going to vote for Bernie. If you voted for Bobby in 1968, I'll bet you ten bucks you're going to vote for Bernie. If you voted for Dukakis in 1988 I know you're voting for Bernie.
The number one reason Bernie can't win? No one named Bernie is going to make it to the White House. The number 2 reason Bernie would lose the general election is if half of the people who voted Bernie in the primaries turned around and voted for some extremist right wing nut job like Ted Cruz in the general election.
So go ahead, make the case Bernie can't win in November. I'm listening.
10:24 AM PT: Cross posted from
http://www.caucus99percent.com/...