Was Mondale 1984 the last nominee from the left-wing of the Democratic Party?

[Cayahougac]

I'll actually echo that Biden is not overly "moderate," and it's annoying how both the snobby ""moderate"" red avatars who salivate at the idea of a Democratic Party that is a catch-all for anyone too good to vote for a Republican and the socialists who find it necessary to paint the Democratic Party as economically center right both push this.  What is he overly moderate on?  His temperament?  The fact that he has rejected literal democratic socialism?  The fact that he is an old White guy?  Lol

what he did to Anita Hill, his administration's immigration policies, the fact that oil production increased under the Obama administration, his support for Tpp and Nafta, the expanded drone program and failure to close Guantanamo, his 1988 campaign where he laughably had to bow out due to blatant plagiarism. out of the democratic field, he was moderate. He backed crime legislation that many blamed for helping fuel an explosion in prison populations. He eulogized Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), who rose to prominence as a segregationist. He backed the Iraq war.

[SevenEleven]

After Walter Mondale in 1984, were the other democratic nominees considered centrists? Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kery, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden?

In the primaries from 1988 to 2020, there were more left-wing candidates: Jesse Jackson, Tom Harkin, Bill Bradley, Howard Dean, John Edwards, Bernie Sanders.

In 2004, it was a Republican talking point that John Kerry was the most liberal sitting senator.

In 2008, it was a Republican talking point that Barack Obama was the most liberal sitting senator.

Heck, even in 1992, Bill Clinton was attacked as a dangerous "McGovernite".

It's only in retrospect that they seem milquetoast.

The moral of the story is that if you get your talking points from the GOP or "progressive" blogosphere/Twitter, you end up sounding like a moron.

[Alben Barkley]

I'll actually echo that Biden is not overly "moderate," and it's annoying how both the snobby ""moderate"" red avatars who salivate at the idea of a Democratic Party that is a catch-all for anyone too good to vote for a Republican and the socialists who find it necessary to paint the Democratic Party as economically center right both push this.  What is he overly moderate on?  His temperament?  The fact that he has rejected literal democratic socialism?  The fact that he is an old White guy?  Lol

what he did to Anita Hill, his administration's immigration policies, the fact that oil production increased under the Obama administration, his support for Tpp and Nafta, the expanded drone program and failure to close Guantanamo, his 1988 campaign where he laughably had to bow out due to blatant plagiarism. out of the democratic field, he was moderate. He backed crime legislation that many blamed for helping fuel an explosion in prison populations. He eulogized Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), who rose to prominence as a segregationist. He backed the Iraq war.

Bernie voted for the same damn bill. Most of the rest you say is either outright wrong, was not directly under Biden's control, or is something that made sense in the context of the time but that he no longer supports (Iraq, and in that case he turned on it pretty quickly). Or in the case of the trade deals, he was not wrong in the first place. And as for Thurmond, once again Bernie Bros fail to comprehend the very idea that someone can have empathy or respect for people they disagree with, and therefore if you ever say anything remotely nice about anyone you must completely agree with them about everything. Even though Bernie himself is friends with Biden, was friends with John McCain, etc. Thurmond wasn't the same segregationist he was early in his career by the end anyway; he even voted for MLK Day when it wasn't supported by Reagan.

Interesting how many new accounts we have popping up lately only to bash Biden and spread stupid talking points like this, by the way. Very interesting. Wouldn't you agree, comrade?

[Sumner 1868]

once again Bernie Bros fail to comprehend the very idea that someone can have empathy or respect for people they disagree with

[Cayahougac]

I'll actually echo that Biden is not overly "moderate," and it's annoying how both the snobby ""moderate"" red avatars who salivate at the idea of a Democratic Party that is a catch-all for anyone too good to vote for a Republican and the socialists who find it necessary to paint the Democratic Party as economically center right both push this.  What is he overly moderate on?  His temperament?  The fact that he has rejected literal democratic socialism?  The fact that he is an old White guy?  Lol

what he did to Anita Hill, his administration's immigration policies, the fact that oil production increased under the Obama administration, his support for Tpp and Nafta, the expanded drone program and failure to close Guantanamo, his 1988 campaign where he laughably had to bow out due to blatant plagiarism. out of the democratic field, he was moderate. He backed crime legislation that many blamed for helping fuel an explosion in prison populations. He eulogized Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), who rose to prominence as a segregationist. He backed the Iraq war.

Bernie voted for the same damn bill. Most of the rest you say is either outright wrong, was not directly under Biden's control, or is something that made sense in the context of the time but that he no longer supports (Iraq, and in that case he turned on it pretty quickly). Or in the case of the trade deals, he was not wrong in the first place. And as for Thurmond, once again Bernie Bros fail to comprehend the very idea that someone can have empathy or respect for people they disagree with, and therefore if you ever say anything remotely nice about anyone you must completely agree with them about everything. Even though Bernie himself is friends with Biden, was friends with John McCain, etc. Thurmond wasn't the same segregationist he was early in his career by the end anyway; he even voted for MLK Day when it wasn't supported by Reagan.

Interesting how many new accounts we have popping up lately only to bash Biden and spread stupid talking points like this, by the way. Very interesting. Wouldn't you agree, comrade?

funny you omitted his embarrassing 1988 campaign where he plagiarized on more than one occasion. i'd still vote for him but republicans will dig up such dirt on him.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Holy crap, what an unnecessarily hateful sh**tshow of a thread.

Obama was understood to be on the left flank of the party mainstream in 2008, even though he governed from the tepid center-left once elected. Even in 2012 he ran as a softcore #populist in the Midwest at the same time that he pitched a social-liberal message on the coasts. Before him, Mondale was the last nominee who could plausibly have been described as "a progressive" during his campaign, yeah.

McGovern was moonbat-left (by 1972 standards) on the culture war issues of the time, but he was not very interested in economic policy, he blasted Nixon's orthodox-Keynesian wage and price controls, and famously his relationship with organized labor was beyond terrible. He has way more in common with the Third Way nominees of the 90s and 2000s than either his detractors or his apologists like to think.

[MarkD]

John Kerry and Barack Obama certainly had very liberal voting records in the U.S. Senate, as measured by their very high approval scores from the Americans for Democratic Action.

[GeorgeBFree]

What about Obama in 2008? He ran to the left of Hillary in the primary that year, and did try to govern to the left before being obstructed by GOP.

[The Ex-Factor]

Obama and Hillary were almost the exact same policy-wise in 2008, with the exception of the health insurance mandate and certain aspects of foreign policy.

[Orser67]

Gore and especially Bill Clinton were pretty clearly from the centrist wing of the party, but I wouldn't describe Dukakis, Kerry, Obama, or Hillary Clinton as centrists. Ideologically, all four were basically in about the center of the Democratic Party at the time, and to the left of the country as a whole.

[Cayahougac]

once again Bernie Bros fail to comprehend the very idea that someone can have empathy or respect for people they disagree with

thats a great thing to say as im voting for biden you nimrod

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

once again Bernie Bros fail to comprehend the very idea that someone can have empathy or respect for people they disagree with

thats a great thing to say as im voting for biden you nimrod

[Turbo Flame]

No. That title would go to George McGovern.