Bernie's massive miscalculations

[Prism]

And let me say upfront, I am guilty of these two massive miscalculations myself. I misread everything. So did the media. So did the Clinton campaign.

Miscalculation #1 - Bernie's candidacy is a long shot.

I thought this. The Establishment thought this. The media thought this. They basically ignored the man for eight months. And while I still think his nomination is improbable, I no longer believe it unthinkable. He has risen as Hillary self-destructed, much like 2008. Everyone and their step-sister is scrambling to prop her up from herself. If he can make a significant dent in the early states, he has a chance. I'm cynical, and I don't put anything past the absolute ratfucking we've witnessed from our own party in the last month or so. They're scared. They're ramping up. If Sanders takes Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, be prepared. The Party will come down with the fury of hell. But the full-fledged crazy coming out is a sign that the Party now sees him as a viable threat.

Miscalculation #2 - Bernie's candidacy would pull Hillary to the left.

I thought this also. He would engage enough where Clinton would feel the need to sound vaguely progressive when she is traditionally anything but. And we got a lot of early hints of this when she disavowed the TPP and muttered about Keystone. (Oh, don't get me wrong, I fully believe a President Clinton would sign TPP without blinking while declaring, "Oh, no, we totally fixed it. Promise!&quot

And yet the total opposite has happened. Clinton and the party have gone full-fledged Republican in their opposition. As soon as Sanders posed even a vague threat from the Left, rather than move left, Clinton, her surrogates, her campaign, and too many of her supporters all decided jagging wildly to the Right was the best path forward.

I did not see this coming. At all. I don't think many people did. The general belief, from my perception, was that many of us thought Clinton would just pretend to be much more liberal than she is. But newp. She went whole hog conservative.

Tax cuts are all that matters. The Democratic belief, the plank belief, the foundational belief, that tax increases are fine if they are in service to strengthening the social safety net? Out the window. "Taxes!" is now a battle cry to instill fear in the masses. Just as a Republican would do.

Single payer is terrible. Forget that Sanders would never end Obamacare unless he had something better in the offing. Forget that Democrats have been fighting for single payer for 80 years. It now deserves denigration for even thinking about it. And if you can throw your daughter out there to sell this in the most hilariously awful manner possible, all the better.

Iran is the enemy. Even though President Obama bent over fucking backwards and wielded every diplomatic tool imaginable to find peace with the Republicans' current target of war boner salivation, Hillary is having none of it. She's a full on, neo-con hawk. And that's ok! It's other people's kids who will die. No big whoop.

Wall Street's money is corrupting our political process? Laugh disdainfully when asked. Don't address it. Don't do anything about it. Just dismiss the peons who point out, "Uhm, maybe taking millions from the banks that fucked us isn't awesome?" Stupid idiot simpletons. Don't they know Wall Street money is awesome, this time? Just like this last hit of heroin will be amazing. But just this last hit. After that, no more. I swear!

We love LGBT people! Well, now. Not before. They just wouldn't shut the fuck up before. But now? Awesome! Totally supported them the entire time. BFFs practically (personal note: you're terrible people, and I remember each and every one of your insincere asses on this message board).

Racial policies. Last time, she was all about white people. This time, she's totally for whatever accent that her campaign manager decided she needed to adopt this week. And btw, her opponent, whoever he is, is totally racist. For reasons. Private prisons, war on drugs, cutting welfare to the bone because they're all lazy shits. Totally fine. But, she totally cares and shit. Also, she busted out a Spanish-English dictionary and figured out there's a word for grandparent. How do you not feel the care?

Yeah.

I miscalculated. I did not think we, as Democrats, would be spending all this time being Republicans.

Whoops.