Battle of extremes 2016: Sanders vs. Rubio

[Peter the Lefty]

All right.  This has no chance of happening whatsoever, but it would be an interesting match-up.  I don't have time for a more detailed timeline, but hopefully this will suffice.  Say Obama wins in 2012, guts Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid again in another "grand bargain" with the Republicans, keeps the troops in Afghanistan, and does nothing about gay marriage or taxing the wealthy (or even cuts them).  He also gives more power to the fracking industry.  Meanwhile, the Tea Party takes control over the Republican party even more, saying that Romney lost due to being insufficiently conservative.  The nation, however, moves to the left in general, and the Occupy movement resurges. 

Sanders becomes the face of the Occupy movement and beats out Andrew Cuomo (pro-fracking, corporate-serving anti-union Wall Street puppet), Martin O'Malley (damaged by his trainwreck of a convention speech in 2012), Deval Patrick (attacked as an anti-union guy who distorts the facts in his speeches), Brian Schweitzer (whose inability to say whether he supports gay marriage and opposition to gun control harms him), and a bunch of other minor candidates. 

Rubio harnesses the conservative and rightward movement within the Republican party while also calling for generational change, and beats Chris Christie, Jon Hunstman, Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Paul Ryan. 

[Vosem]

Rubio is pretty mainstream in the Republican Party, while Sanders is so far to the left (by American standards) he isn't actually a member of the Democratic Party.

[Peter the Lefty]

Sanders picks Van Jones as his running mate.  Jones is considered a smart choice.  Not only is he black as a bit of a counterweight to Rubio being Hispanic in terms of minority appeal (since Sanders' Jewishness isn't enough), but he's also very young, countering Rubio in another way.  He also brings many middle-class concerns to the ticket, being a staunch environmentalist.  While Sanders does have a very reliably environmentalist voting-record, it's less of a signature issue for him, being more economically oriented.  However, it doesn't bring in moderate Democratic and Independent voters.  

Rubio chooses Jim DeMint as his running mate.  DeMint brings an "old/middle-aged white guy" demographic to the ticket, giving Rubio help among Southern whites, but still alienating moderates.  

[Peter the Lefty]

Rubio is pretty mainstream in the Republican Party, while Sanders is so far to the left (by American standards) he isn't actually a member of the Democratic Party.

Among the Democratic establishment, Sanders is considered extreme.  Among the Democratic base, the word "socialism" makes him sound extreme, but when it comes down to the actual issues, he's quite popular among actual Democrats. 

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Calling Marco Rubio extreme is like calling Justin Bieber death metal.

[Peter the Lefty]

Calling Marco Rubio extreme is like calling Justin Bieber death metal.

No offense, but I take that with a grain of salt coming from someone who supports the Constitutionalist Party.  

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Calling Marco Rubio extreme is like calling Justin Bieber death metal.

No offense, but I take that with a grain of salt coming from someone who supports the Constitutionalist Party.  

I don't. I support the Republican Party, but wear the C-PA avatar A. because I don't want to be confused with Krazen and/or Phil and B. because I am a Constitutionalist.

[Donerail]

Rubio wins easily. Why? Conservatism is mainstream. Socialism isn't. All in all, probably the most massive GOP margin since '84.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Martin O'Malley (damaged by his trainwreck of a convention speech in 2012)

Remember that guy Clinton from Arkansas? He seemed promising. Maybe he could have beaten Cuomo in the 1992 primaries had he not given such a bad speech in 1988.

[Peter the Lefty]

Martin O'Malley (damaged by his trainwreck of a convention speech in 2012)

Remember that guy Clinton from Arkansas? He seemed promising. Maybe he could have beaten Cuomo in the 1992 primaries had he not given such a bad speech in 1988.

Fair enough.  But Clinton was much more charismatic too. 

[Mr. Morden]

Rubio is basically just a generic Republican, as far as I can tell.  Is there really any reason why he's associated with the Tea Party, other than the fact that he was first elected in 2010?  If he'd been elected a few years earlier, then he would have had the same "tarnished" voting record as every other Republican on TARP, Medicare Part D, etc.  Because he was elected in the Obama years, he didn't have to go along with any of the stuff in the Bush years that conservatives don't like.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Yeah, Rubio isn't exceptionally right-wing. He was only TP-backed because his opponent was Charlie Crist.

[Comrade Funk]

It wouldn't be a blow out. I'm telling you, Jews in the Northeast would support a fellow Northeastern Jew. That's a huge boost in the already left-wing states in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic. Rubio would win with over 300 EVs easily though.

If you want to do a real "Battle of the Extremes", have it be Bernie vs. Palin or Paul.

[morgieb]

Rubio's not that extreme. Try Paul or DeMint or someone if you want right-wing extremism.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Calling Marco Rubio extreme is like calling Justin Bieber death metal.

No offense, but I take that with a grain of salt coming from someone who supports the Constitutionalist Party.  

If you read the Constitution Party platform, you would be surprised to see that they are a Ron Paul party, not the neocon Santorum machine they are made out to be. As a Floridian, who has met Rubio, I can tell you that he is a Cuban version of Charlie Crist. He is not at all extreme. Rand Paul vs Bernie Sanders...that would be a battle of extremes

[Grumpier Than Thou]

A battle of the extremes in this context would be Sanders v. Santorum

[Donerail]

Calling Marco Rubio extreme is like calling Justin Bieber death metal.

No offense, but I take that with a grain of salt coming from someone who supports the Constitutionalist Party.  

If you read the Constitution Party platform, you would be surprised to see that they are a Ron Paul party, not the neocon theocratic Santorum machine they are made out to be. As a Floridian, who has met Rubio, I can tell you that he is a Cuban version of Charlie Crist. He is not at all extreme. Rand Paul vs Bernie Sanders...that would be a battle of extremes

[Peter the Lefty]

Wow, this is news.  I always thought Rubio was a Tea Party guy. 

[Peter the Lefty]

I suppose I should try a Sanders vs. Rand Paul one.  This is disappointing. 

[NHI]

Rubio: 406
Sanders: 132

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Sanders wins comfortably, if not by a landslide.  Easy, because people are more afraid of right-wing extremism than left-wing extremism.  (They think Stalin is better than Hitler, although Stalin killed four times as many people and Hitler was hardly a right-winger in many of his policies.)  Later on, I hope to post a map on this.

[ag]

It's hard to think of Sanders as scary

Still, he would loose pretty badly everywhere outside the Northeast/West coast strongholds, and even there his margins would be underwhelming. For the simple reason, that he is, indeed, quite marginal. Now, of course, his chances of ever winning (or, for that matter, entering) a Dem primary are pretty much nil - to begin with, he'd have to become a Dem in the first place.

[BM]

Using Stalin and Hitler as examples of left/right in American politics? LOL

As others have said, Rubio wins easily because far right conservatism is more mainstream than far left liberalism in America, but Rubio isn't even that far right by Republican standards today, unfortunately. Sanders is way out of the box.

But perhaps more importantly, Rubio is attractive, charismatic, compelling, and from Florida while Sanders is a short, hideous, elderly curmudgeony midget from Vermont with wild hair, a hunchback, and an obnoxious accent.

[independent-lefty]

Well, Sanders voted for the Heritage Foundation health insurance company/pharma bailouts, so are we talking about extremes of the same side?