"Both Parties"

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

\

So should we say, because of Sanders becoming the face of the party, that Democrats are becoming the face of the extreme left? No, just like we shouldn't say the opposite.

And it's Alabama.  Running someone like Moore against someone like Phil Scott in Vermont isn't going to work.

Bernie is intellectually ideological and that's fine and many may disagree but his ideology is rooted in an intellectually consistent belief in things like social democracy. I disagree with him on several things and I supported Hillary in 2016. But there are essentially 0 Democrats who have an insidious, toxic mere presence in the vein of Trump or Moore. The whole embrace of Trump as the conservative populist savior is intellectually inconsistent and dishonest. It's breathtaking.

Coraxion, genocide deniers The Young Turks, Antifa, and Occupy Wall Street might want to talk to you. Come on - Pramila Jayapal, Ben Jealous, Kshama Sawant, David Zuckerman... A lot of very left wing people are beginning to gain popularity. The Democrats almost elected Keith Ellison as their DNC Chair.

Name one way Keith Ellison is remotely is toxic as a thousand top Republicans from Trump et al other than being from a scary scary religion

Well, he's got dark skin (that isn't orange). I understand that triggers Republicans pretty badly.

[OSR stands with Israel]

The only reason the democrats don't have the extremist wing of their party take over is due to the fact they have super delegates and have a proportional based primary system .

Clinton would've won the primary without superdelegates.

Its not only super delegates , its that their primaries dont have as much winner take all , or near winner take all delegate states as the GOP one does.

[Deblano]

I'd say the problem is that Americans are highly encouraged to choose from the grey slop with a D on it or the grey slop with an R on it, so they get very furious and brush off both parties as being "extreme" since neither of them represent the American people that well.

The bigger problem IMO is while the Republicans are much more extreme than the Democrats, they are both horrifically corrupt and only seek to gain power and nothing more. The Republicans also have a lot more ideologies that can't get along with each other even on stuff like healthcare or tax cuts, while the Democrats are more streamlined in ideology (since they do a """better""" job of keeping the Berniecrats and Blue Dogs on the back seat and wagging their finger at them).

In summary, both parties are not equally extreme, but both parties are pretty corrupt and not very representative of the people. If we allowed more minor parties to have a seat at the table and participate in debates (as opposed to this stupid 15% in polls to be allowed in presidential debates rule), I think this sentiment would ease a bit since voters would have more options to choose from without being shamed for "wasting their vote" or "spoiling an election".

Of course, do not expect serious electoral reform any time soon, since that interrupts the gravy train.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

So should we say, because of Sanders becoming the face of the party, that Democrats are becoming the face of the extreme left? No, just like we shouldn't say the opposite.

And it's Alabama.  Running someone like Moore against someone like Phil Scott in Vermont isn't going to work.

Bernie is intellectually ideological and that's fine and many may disagree but his ideology is rooted in an intellectually consistent belief in things like social democracy. I disagree with him on several things and I supported Hillary in 2016. But there are essentially 0 Democrats who have an insidious, toxic mere presence in the vein of Trump or Moore. The whole embrace of Trump as the conservative populist savior is intellectually inconsistent and dishonest. It's breathtaking.

Coraxion, genocide deniers The Young Turks, Antifa, and Occupy Wall Street might want to talk to you. Come on - Pramila Jayapal, Ben Jealous, Kshama Sawant, David Zuckerman... A lot of very left wing people are beginning to gain popularity. The Democrats almost elected Keith Ellison as their DNC Chair.

Because distance from the center is the sole determinant of deplorability.

[darklordoftech]

MLK Jr., Hubert Humphrey, and many more would be considered bigots by modern liberal standards.

Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, and Justin Amash would be considered socialists by the founding fathers. Ending slavery was considered an extreme position at one time, as was women's suffrage. My point is, just because something was the norm in the past doesn't mean that it should be considered moderate or even acceptable today.

[Kingpoleon]

So should we say, because of Sanders becoming the face of the party, that Democrats are becoming the face of the extreme left? No, just like we shouldn't say the opposite.

And it's Alabama.  Running someone like Moore against someone like Phil Scott in Vermont isn't going to work.

Bernie is intellectually ideological and that's fine and many may disagree but his ideology is rooted in an intellectually consistent belief in things like social democracy. I disagree with him on several things and I supported Hillary in 2016. But there are essentially 0 Democrats who have an insidious, toxic mere presence in the vein of Trump or Moore. The whole embrace of Trump as the conservative populist savior is intellectually inconsistent and dishonest. It's breathtaking.

Coraxion, genocide deniers The Young Turks, Antifa, and Occupy Wall Street might want to talk to you. Come on - Pramila Jayapal, Ben Jealous, Kshama Sawant, David Zuckerman... A lot of very left wing people are beginning to gain popularity. The Democrats almost elected Keith Ellison as their DNC Chair.

Name one way Keith Ellison is remotely is toxic as a thousand top Republicans from Trump et al other than being from a scary scary religion

Pardon me if I'm distracting from your, I assume clever-as-ever, point, but please don't accuse me of Islamophobia using an implication. I doubt you meant to do so, but please, please don't try that with me.

[RINO Tom]

People very rarely associate far left weirdos with the likes of Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or even the Democratic Party, while anyone who identifies as a Republican cannot escape constant association with White supremacists and homophobes.  I don't think that necessarily means the far left is smaller than the far right or that the average Republican is more extreme than the average Democrat, though.

[AtorBoltox]

People very rarely associate far left weirdos with the likes of Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or even the Democratic Party, while anyone who identifies as a Republican cannot escape constant association with White supremacists and homophobes.  I don't think that necessarily means the far left is smaller than the far right or that the average Republican is more extreme than the average Democrat, though.

Maybe because the current President and public face of the GOP is a white supremacist and a homophobe?

[TheSaint250]

People very rarely associate far left weirdos with the likes of Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or even the Democratic Party, while anyone who identifies as a Republican cannot escape constant association with White supremacists and homophobes.  I don't think that necessarily means the far left is smaller than the far right or that the average Republican is more extreme than the average Democrat, though.

Maybe because the current President and public face of the GOP is a white supremacist and a homophobe?

lol

[Badger]

So should we say, because of Sanders becoming the face of the party, that Democrats are becoming the face of the extreme left? No, just like we shouldn't say the opposite.

And it's Alabama.  Running someone like Moore against someone like Phil Scott in Vermont isn't going to work.

Bernie is intellectually ideological and that's fine and many may disagree but his ideology is rooted in an intellectually consistent belief in things like social democracy. I disagree with him on several things and I supported Hillary in 2016. But there are essentially 0 Democrats who have an insidious, toxic mere presence in the vein of Trump or Moore. The whole embrace of Trump as the conservative populist savior is intellectually inconsistent and dishonest. It's breathtaking.

Coraxion, genocide deniers The Young Turks, Antifa, and Occupy Wall Street might want to talk to you. Come on - Pramila Jayapal, Ben Jealous, Kshama Sawant, David Zuckerman... A lot of very left wing people are beginning to gain popularity. The Democrats almost elected Keith Ellison as their DNC Chair.

Name one way Keith Ellison is remotely is toxic as a thousand top Republicans from Trump et al other than being from a scary scary religion

Pardon me if I'm distracting from your, I assume clever-as-ever, point, but please don't accuse me of Islamophobia using an implication. I doubt you meant to do so, but please, please don't try that with me.

You are the one that listed Ellison among the supposedly toxic radicals of the democratic party. His voting record it really isn't any more liberal then most of the Congressional Black Caucus and a substantial number of white Democrats as well. So why would you possibly include him on that list. I don't think you even did it intentionally out of personal islamophobia, but I do think you're so affected by this stupid the other side's just as bad argument that you're regurgitating talking points that inevitably do list Ellison because of his religion.

Again, it's your comparison listing him as an example for otherwise in decipherable reasons, and yours alone.

[WMS]

Interrupting with some facts for a moment...

https://xkcd.com/1127/

"The New Deal wave consisted almost entirely of centrist Democrats. Over the course of the 20th century, these centrists generally lost ground to left and far-left Democrats--a slow-motion version of the process that has happened more rapidly and completely among House Republicans." DW-NOMINATE scores were used for this, by the way.

http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/

"Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines – and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive – than at any point in the last two decades. These trends manifest themselves in myriad ways, both in politics and in everyday life. And a new survey of 10,000 adults nationwide finds that these divisions are greatest among those who are the most engaged and active in the political process."

http://www.people-press.org/2016/04/26/a-wider-ideological-gap-between-more-and-less-educated-adults/

"Overall, 38% of the public expresses a mix of liberal and conservative positions. In both 1994 and 2004, nearly half (49%) had mixed attitudes. As our 2014 polarization study found, Republicans and Democrats increasingly are on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum."

http://www.people-press.org/topics/political-polarization/

Lots more on that topic at that link if anyone is interested.