Going into the belly of the beast
by digby
I can hardly believe that I’m hearing liberals once again making the case that you can entice hard core right wing conservatives to vote for ultra liberal candidates if only Democrats would stop being so rigid on that icky abortion issues and would make a pitch for white, blue collar Republicans. Oy vey, I’ve been hearing this, literally, for 30 years and it’s never worked. Hardcore right wingers do not like Democrats. Period. In fact, they hate them. They will never vote for them.
This is not to say that Bernie Sanders trip to Liberty U is a bad thing to do. It’s the opposite. Ed Kilgore makes the right case for why it made good sense for him to do it:
I figured Sanders might be making two points by doing this: (1) running against the ever-cautious, often-cosseted Hillary Clinton, he’s willing to go anywhere and expose himself to all sorts of potentially hostile reactions, which is a useful trait to have in a presidential nominee; and (2) you don’t have to be one a them squishy, spineless “centrists” to have a civil conversation with people on the other side of political or ideological barricades.
Making these points—and getting the kind of guaranteed publicity that Nixon-goes-to-China moments always get—struck me as worth the trouble and the limited danger involved.
Exactly.
He goes on to note one of the anti-abortion liberals Elizabeth Bruenig, hoping for a miracle:
Since Bruenig herself is a self-proclaimed Christian Socialist (albeit a Catholic, not an evangelical) who is also opposed to abortion, she seems to be hoping against hope that someone will convince conservative evangelicals that their scripturally-required commitment to the poor ought to outweigh their antichoice convictions and their traditions of solidarity with the GOP. So she’s praying Bernie began a trend:
[A]s previously strong relations between evangelicals and the GOP appear poised to fracture and circumstances grow too dire for Christians to leave the troubles of politics to their fellows, an option like the package of policies presented by Sanders seems prime for Christian support.
The odd thing about this comment is that progressive policies already have “Christian support” among the millions of Christians who are pro-choice and haven’t gotten in the habit of marching to Zion with Fox News and the GOP. It disappoints me that Bruenig seems to have forgotten about us as she gazes hopefully towards those students at Liberty.
It happens so often that it’s almost shocking when it doesn’t. Yes, Virginia, there are millions and millions of Christians in America who vote for Democrats. But I’m willing to bet my meager IRA that the kids who are going to the most right wing evangelical college in America are not ever going to be among them. There could be some moderate GOP evangelicals out there somewhere who could be convinced to vote for a centrist like Clinton over a libertine like Trump, but even that’s a long shot. They are conservatives for a reason. They believe in conservatism.
But never let that stop the anti-abortion lefty from hoping she can turn the Democrats into an anti-abortion party by flooding it with conservatives —who then turn it into a conservative party. We tried that. It didn’t end well.
As for the blue collar workers coming back home to Bernie, let’s just say that most of them are in their dotage by now and will be shuffling off their mortal coil before they vote for a left wing liberal guy from Vermont who calls himself a socialist. There could conceivably be some younger blue collar workers who might vote for Bernie but I don’t think Liberty U is the place they will be found. Those kids aren’t exactly working class.
And by the way, way too many white working class types, even millennials, don’t want to be in the party of African Americans:
Baby Boomers stick out as the more revolutionary generation, at least compared to the Silent Generation that immediately preceded it (and was born before 1946). Boomers are between 8 and 17 points less apt than the Silent Generation to express openly prejudiced views toward blacks, amounting to the greatest shift from one generation to the next. Xers are less prejudiced than Boomers on just one of five measures, interracial marriage.
Beyond generational comparisons, the poll suggests substantial minorities of white millennials hold racial prejudices against blacks. Over 3 in 10 white millennials believe blacks to be lazier or less hardworking than whites, and a similar number say lack of motivation is a reason why they are less financially well off as a group. Just under a quarter believes blacks are less intelligent, while fewer express opposition to interracial marriage or living in a 50-percent black neighborhood. Holding these attitudes is not the same as making racist comments in public or even among close friends, but there’s clearly an audience for race-based judgment among the Millennial generation.
Yes, things are getting better. But the dynamics still hold as you can see by the Trump phenomenon.
Anyway, none of this is to say that politicians shouldn’t speak to anyone who’s willing to listen. They should! You never know who might be convinced. But when liberals start pinning their hopes on building coalitions between far right conservatives and far left liberals it’s time to sober up. That won’t happen. It never does.
.