Billy_T wrote:

He’s running a strong campaign, and may well take the first three primaries.

I noticed a recent shift in Dem propaganda via the MSM. It seemed that, for a wee bit of time, they were trying to play nice with Bernie. But now that he looks like he may actually win the nom, they’re freaking out and openly saying Dems are freaking out.

One of those ex-Republican talking heads (on MSNBC) said today that Americans would rather vote for a sociopath (Trump) than a socialist. I just wish someone would speak up for the socialist tradition, for once, in public, cuz it’s not hard at all to shred that nonsense.

Please, someone just let the audience know that MLK, Gandhi, Einstein, Orwell, Camus, the Dalai Lama, Dorothy Day, Helen Keller, Emma Lazarus, Kafka and Bertrand Russell (just for starters) . . . were all lifelong socialists. Follow up the tellin’ by asking the audience, “Wouldn’t you vote for them over Trump?” And, “Do these great men and women scare you?”

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Well if Bernie wins a primary or two, its gonna get Super-Ugly.

Did you see the Chris Matthews (gag me) vid in another thread. zn posted it. Matthews almost looks like he’s going to cry. He talked about the Nixon vs McGovern thing. I think a LOT of ‘centrist dems’ are just pro-corporate-capitalists. But some of them ‘centrists’ are somethin a bit different. Some of em just dont think a progressive can win. They think of themselves as ‘pragmatists’ or ‘realists.’ A LOT of them were forever scarred by the McGovern thing, i think. Maybe. In a way it makes perfect sense — the American people usually DONT vote for progressive folks. They…just…dont. Usually.

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This is the vid that made me rethink my notion of who Rogan is. I had bought into the DNC-Dem idea that he was a rightwing-thug, but after i watched this i started to see, Rogan is a lot of things. Many contradictory things. This is worth watching, imho:

The Corporate take on things.
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NYT:https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/25/us/politics/democratic-iowa-poll-sanders.html

Sanders Seizes Lead in Volatile Iowa Race, Times Poll Finds

With solid support from liberals, Mr. Sanders appears to be peaking just as the caucuses approach. But many Iowa voters said they could still change their mind.

DES MOINES — Senator Bernie Sanders has opened up a lead in Iowa just over a week before the Democratic caucuses, consolidating support from liberals and benefiting from divisions among more moderate presidential candidates who are clustered behind him, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll of likely caucusgoers.

Mr. Sanders has gained six points since the last Times-Siena survey, in late October, and is now capturing 25 percent of the vote in Iowa. Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. have remained stagnant since the fall, with Mr. Buttigieg capturing 18 percent and Mr. Biden 17 percent.

The rise of Mr. Sanders has come at the expense of his fellow progressive, Senator Elizabeth Warren: she dropped from 22 percent in the October poll, enough to lead the field, to 15 percent in this survey. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is garnering 8 percent, is the only other candidate approaching double digits.
Live Updates
There are eight days until the Iowa caucuses. Follow our reporters live on the campaign trail.

The changing fortunes of the leading candidates underscores the volatile nature of the primary after more than a year of campaigning, as voters wrestle with which candidate can defeat President Trump. Despite the ascent of Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, the poll also highlighted the combined appeal of the centrists: 55 percent of those surveyed said they preferred a standard-bearer who is “more moderate than most Democrats.” Just 38 percent said they wanted one who is “more liberal than most Democrats.”
As the strength of the other leading candidates has ebbed and flowed, Mr. Sanders, making his second run for the White House, appears to be peaking at the right time. This month was the first time he has finished atop a poll in Iowa, after also leading a Des Moines Register-CNN survey two weeks ago. The Times-Siena poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

A victory by Mr. Sanders in Iowa, where he suffered a narrow loss to Hillary Clinton four years ago, would represent a remarkable comeback for a 78-year-old candidate whose heart attack in October threatened to upend his candidacy. It would also create a moment of high anxiety for establishment-aligned Democrats who are deeply alarmed about a potential Sanders nomination.

Should he prevail in Iowa and face a similarly fractured field of mainstream rivals in New Hampshire, where he also currently leads in the polls, Mr. Sanders could be difficult to slow.

Several voters who backed Mr. Sanders cited the consistency of his positions over the course of his career, and their ideological alignment with his views.

“Bernie’s authentic,” said Austin Sturch, 25, of Evansdale, adding, “Pretty much everything he’s saying — I can’t put it better than he can.”
Need a Recap?
Here’s what happened on the campaign trail this week.

Still, much here remains uncertain. Iowa voters are famous for settling on a candidate late, and this year is no different; Mr. Sanders, along with the other senators in the race, is pinned down in Washington during Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial and unable to campaign here on weekdays.

And the final results could turn on two factors that will not be known until caucus night: the size and composition of the electorate, and the preferences of voters whose first choices are eliminated because of the arcane caucus rules.
If the other leading candidates finish bunched together on caucus night on Feb. 3, it is unlikely any of them will drop out of the race after Iowa. Each of the three top hopefuls trailing Mr. Sanders has the money to compete in New Hampshire, which is just a week later.

And should no clear moderate alternative to Mr. Sanders emerge from the early nominating states, the self-financing Michael R. Bloomberg, who has already spent more than $260 million on advertising and hired more than 1,000 staff members, is awaiting the field on Super Tuesday in early March….

Rogan said he’d probly vote for Bernie