Tim Pool: "I'm Not Sure I'm A Democrat Anymore"
He botches some stuff, but overall, this is pretty good.
He largely discusses this NYT story on America's disappearing political "center of gravity."
One of the points of the story is that the GOP is further right than the Dems are to the left--if we compare them to European parties. That's of interest, though it's not clear to me how informative/important it is (especially given Pool's point discussed below). And progressive bias is so common in this sort of thing that one always has to keep grains of salt ready. Though, needless to say, false positives about that stuff are as bad as false negatives.
It's the third diagram from the top, showing how far the Dems have moved left since '08, that is of most interest to me. (Sadly, I can't find a version of it that I can copy; perhaps tellingly, the Manifesto project does not include that diagram on their Twitter feed...only the one showing how allegedly far right the GOP is...)
Pool makes some good points about the diagram.
First, it says that 2016 Dems are further from 2008 Dems than 2008 Dems were from 2008 Pubs--more than twice as far, actually.
Note also: that's 2016 Dems. They've radicalized even more since then, and their pace of radicalization has picked up significantly. There's no doubt that they're way further left today than they were three years ago. For example: as many have noted, a 2008 Barack Obama, in favor of defending the border and opposed to same-sex marriage, wouldn't have a chance in the primaries today.
Second, this diagram casts doubt on the significance of the diagram showing the Pubs on the far right when compared to European parties, in that it seems to mean that the 2008 Dems would be on the fairly-far right if they were represented on it. That's a great point, actually, that I don't think I'd have thought of.
Anyway, I'm with Pool and the #WalkAwayers (#WalkersAway?) and many other people: the Dems have Reaganed me: I didn't leave them, they left me.
In fact, I don't see how anyone who was a Dem in '08 could be a Dem today. Unless, of course, they were angrily voting for the leftest available party despite the fact that they considered it far too conservative. But I mean: I don't see how anyone could have been a fairly enthusiastic Dem in '08 and also a fairly enthusiastic Dem today. Nor how anyone would have been enthusiastically pro-Obama then and enthusiastically pro-generic-Dem now.
He largely discusses this NYT story on America's disappearing political "center of gravity."
One of the points of the story is that the GOP is further right than the Dems are to the left--if we compare them to European parties. That's of interest, though it's not clear to me how informative/important it is (especially given Pool's point discussed below). And progressive bias is so common in this sort of thing that one always has to keep grains of salt ready. Though, needless to say, false positives about that stuff are as bad as false negatives.
It's the third diagram from the top, showing how far the Dems have moved left since '08, that is of most interest to me. (Sadly, I can't find a version of it that I can copy; perhaps tellingly, the Manifesto project does not include that diagram on their Twitter feed...only the one showing how allegedly far right the GOP is...)
Pool makes some good points about the diagram.
First, it says that 2016 Dems are further from 2008 Dems than 2008 Dems were from 2008 Pubs--more than twice as far, actually.
Note also: that's 2016 Dems. They've radicalized even more since then, and their pace of radicalization has picked up significantly. There's no doubt that they're way further left today than they were three years ago. For example: as many have noted, a 2008 Barack Obama, in favor of defending the border and opposed to same-sex marriage, wouldn't have a chance in the primaries today.
Second, this diagram casts doubt on the significance of the diagram showing the Pubs on the far right when compared to European parties, in that it seems to mean that the 2008 Dems would be on the fairly-far right if they were represented on it. That's a great point, actually, that I don't think I'd have thought of.
Anyway, I'm with Pool and the #WalkAwayers (#WalkersAway?) and many other people: the Dems have Reaganed me: I didn't leave them, they left me.
In fact, I don't see how anyone who was a Dem in '08 could be a Dem today. Unless, of course, they were angrily voting for the leftest available party despite the fact that they considered it far too conservative. But I mean: I don't see how anyone could have been a fairly enthusiastic Dem in '08 and also a fairly enthusiastic Dem today. Nor how anyone would have been enthusiastically pro-Obama then and enthusiastically pro-generic-Dem now.
posted by Winston Smith at
11:02 AM
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