Yet again, the corporate, most decidedly NOT “liberal media” descends deep into self parody. This time, it’s a column by Washington (Com)Post “national political correspondent and author of The Daily 202” James Hohmann entitled, “The far left is winning the Democratic civil war.” Wait, what is that you ask? Did you miss something? Have Maoists, Marxists-Leninists, swarmed into the Democratic Party recently, without any of us noticing? Yeah, didn’t think so. Yet, according to James Hohmann, the “far left” is upon us, and not only that, it’s winning!!! LOL
First off, let’s get at what Hohmann believes to be “far left.” From his article, a few characteristics include:
- Supporting – wait for this, because it’s SHOCKING, I tell you – Medicare for All.” You know, like letting everyone have access to that crazy, hard-left program known as…(cue scary music; are you sitting down???) Medicare! LOL
- Supporting – again, you really had better get your smelling salts and fainting couch ready, because THIS is wild – “universal background checks to buy guns.” Yeah, that’s right, something that 90% of Americans support is now “far left,” according to the (Com)Post’s national political correspondent.
- OK, now THIS one is super harsh, to claim that anyone who supports “decriminalizing marijuana” is far left, but apparently James Hohmann has never inhaled, nor will he ever inhale. LOL
- And god help you if you are “a liberal social worker and political neophyte,” because James Hohmann will say you’re “far left.” Or if you dare to challenge – let alone defeat – a member of the “establishment.” FAR LEFT!!!
- Oh, and you’d better not say a word about “raising taxes,” which was done multiple times by that notorious “far left” president named Ronald Reagan. And George HW Bush. And pretty much every president. All “far left,” in Hohmann’s view.
- Oh yeah, another great one is that if you run against someone who is a “proud progressive,” you are “far left.” Even worse is if you ran against – and defeated – a candidate who was “a registered Republican until 2016.” And the kicker is if you happen to be “the grandson of Henry Wallace, who was Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president for a term and then ran against Harry Truman, who FDR dumped him for, from the far left in 1948.”
As I said, this shit is beyond parody. But sadly, it’s actually published in today’s Washington Post. One good thing about this article, at least, is the comments section. Check out the top-rated comments, which basically all mock and demolish Hohmann.
- “I love how the media is doing everything to marginalize the liberal wing of the democratic party because being in favor of medicare for all is such a radical act that they should be compared to the tea party, who had people who advocated assassination, witch craft and claiming rape was the woman’s fault.”
- “Medicare for all has been ‘far left’ by American standards in recent decades. In all other first world countries, it’s sound health and economic policy.”
- “There is no such thing as the ‘far left’ in this country. To the extent that there is, it is minimal, and politically a zero. On the other hand, there is absolutely a ‘far right’ in this country. And it is in charge of all branches of government.”
- “That this author thinks these candidates are the far left shows us how far to the right politics in America has moved. These are MODERATES and what they show is that Democrats win when they run as DEMOCRATS, not republican lite. Conservatism has never done ANY nation any good, least of all America.”
Last but not least, let me just point out that, as Vox reports, one candidate (Rich Lazer in PA-5) endorsed by Bernie Sanders lost (by a 28%-15% margin to attorney and School Board member Mary Gay Scanlon), while another (Gregory Edwards in PA-7) endorsed by Our Revolution finished third out of three candidates (behind anti-immigration hardliner John Morganelli and Emily’s List-endorsed Susan Wild). Again, is anyone seeing any sign of the “broader leftward lurch among Democrats across the country” that Hohmann identifies imagines in a malarial fever dream? Nope, me either.
P.S. I wonder how many of Virginia’s Democratic Congressoinal candidates Hohmann would consider “far left,” since I believe almost every single one of them supports some form of path towards universal health care coverage (e.g., Medicare X, single payer), marijuana decriminalization, “universal background checks to buy guns,” etc. Yep, it appears that Hohmann would consider basically every single Democrat running for Congress this year from Virginia to be “far left,” by his laughable criteria.
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
