Barney Frank: Democratic Primary Voters Are the Problem

[BeyondGeography]

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) is feeling angsty about the current state of the Democratic presidential primary and he believes that the voters are a big part of the problem. The ever loquacious Massachusetts Democrat said in an interview on Friday that he was disturbed by the degree to which the electorate seemed so easily wooed by candidates who were willing to spend gobs of money on television advertisements.

... Frank’s complaints about voter behavior didn’t end with their susceptibility to well-funded ad campaigns, he also criticized the demands for ideological purity being placed on the candidates. He pinpointed former Vice President Joe Biden’s troubles on the fact that he was being forced to defend a lengthy voting record that he had since evolved on or, in some cases, shared with his fellow candidates. “It's a sad commentary on the electorate by the way because they are too unforgiving,” said Frank. “And frankly, there are people who are critical of Biden now who probably had the same positions back then.”

And he suggested that Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign had stumbled in large part because she tried to moderate her support for Medicare for All by including bridge-legislation that would have seen it implemented in stages. “She understood the political and administrative problems with Medicare for All, but she was afraid of losing the whole left to [Bernie] Sanders,” said Frank. “And by the way, I think that’s a troubling aspect of the Democratic electorate that so many of those people reacted so badly because she tried to be reasonable.”

Frank has not endorsed in the 2020 race and said he had no plans to do so. But he has not been bashful about his disagreements with the current frontrunner. In 2016 he said support for Sanders’ nomination reflected a “lack of information” among voters. On Friday, he said the Vermont Senator was largely a non-entity when it came to legislative accomplishments. Frank said he believed that Sanders legitimately thought he could pass his expansive domestic policy agenda if he became president. But he called it an absurd proposition that would almost certainly backfire on Democrats...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/barney-frank-democratic-primary-voters-are-the-problem?ref=home

[uponit7771]

1. There are fights at Sanders rallies no one else rallies include fist fights.

[NurseJackie]

3. So much pent-up "angst" and testosterone in one room.

So much pent-up "angst" and testosterone in one room... and that's all I'll say about that... you can figure out the rest.

[still_one]

2. I think Frank's analysis is quite accurate

[BlueTsunami2018]

4. He's right but it's sad that Republicans can go full on fascist and we can't even go center left.

They play to their far right base and fear them, our guys hate our base and hold them in contempt. Clearly, the better policies that would benefit the most people are on the left but we can never get there. We hem and haw and worry that we’re going too far by asking for things the rest of the first world takes for granted. Meanwhile, the right is going for the jugular, seeking an actual dictatorship and they don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks. The worst part is that they win by doing this. Sure they cheat and lie and steal and kill but they win by hook or by crook. They hold the line, they stick together. Can you imagine what they’d do if they had filibuster proof majorities the way we did in 2009? I shudder to think of it.

And now it looks like it’s coming down to nominating a Socialist who, because of decades of conditioning, will probably get slaughtered even though he has the better policy positions or nominating a conservative who holds positions that are against everything we stand for and has done horrible things that would never be sanctioned under any other conditions.

We’re killing ourselves here.

[BeyondGeography]

5. Excellent post

Trump has warped the whole thing, but that doesn’t happen without weak-mindedness on our side. There will be a reckoning at some point, I can’t say where, when or what form it will take, but what’s happening now is avoidance behavior on a grand scale. That never ends well.

[Nay]

8. Thank you, BT and BG.This craziness starts and continues because the national

Last edited Wed Feb 19, 2020, 02:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Democratic leadership refuses to admit that they are unwilling to fight the ideological war that needs to be fought. The US needs to bring itself up to modern standards and refute right-wing nonsense, but it cannot do this without leadership. Having 20 candidates beating each other up for a year and a half makes Dems look STUPID. Avoiding leadership on the pressing issues of the time will kill us all. And allowing a rich former Republican to run on the DEM ticket because he has MONEY to throw around? What is that? It's admitting that TRUMP is someone the leadership wants to emulate! What sane leadership does this?? Is it so odd that many of us Dems are totally confused about what's actually going on?

[Recursion]

6. I mean, movement conservatives say the same thing, though

The business types aren't exactly happy with raising tariffs and locking down immigration.

[Beakybird]

7. I'm with Barney, not with Bernie.