Thread by @msbellows

Thread:

Blame Bernie.

Last night wasn't about progressive versus centrist policies. It was about personalities. Bernie Sanders has always openly reviled Democrats. Last night, Democrats returned the compliment.
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I am a Progressive. I endorse Progressive policy goals. I want a Progressive nominee, and then a Progressive president. And we COULD have had a progressive nominee! America's ready for it!

But the nominee will be Joe Biden.
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The Progressive nominee we MIGHT have had could NEVER have been Bernie, because he, personally, as an individual, has made too many enemies.
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Bernie insists he's leading a movement, not a cult of personality. But if that were so, he would have recognized his own negatives (Clintonista resentment, Black concern that he prioritizes economic over racial justice, his age/health), + developed OTHER Progressive leaders.
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Imagine, for instance, how the race might look this morning had Sanders handed his "movement's" mantle to Elizabeth Warren instead of running again himself. A progressive woman candidate, carrying Bernie's vocal support but not Bernie's baggage, could have been a juggernaut.
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But instead, Bernie's ego remained in charge. His "movement" has ALWAYS been about him -- a cult of personality, not a revolution. And so he put himself forward as "the One," ignoring the reality that most of the opposition to him has been opposition to HIM, not to his ideas.
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In the end, it's not The Establishment or Big Money or Elizabeth Warren or even James Clyburn that's driving millions of Democratic voters to consolidate behind Biden. Superdelegates and Wall Street aren't the ones preventing us from nominating a Progressive.

It's Bernie.

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Bernie Sanders, and no one else, is why we're about to nominate an old white centrist instead of the transformative leader the nation desperately needs.

Are you angry that we're about to nominate Biden instead of a visionary?

It could have been otherwise.

Blame Bernie.

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