3 ms·

I give close to zero weight to self-description of political alignment. It often has a poor correlation with what specific beliefs a person holds.

nonethewiser 4y ago
> I give close to zero weight to self-description of political alignment. And what about supporting perhaps the furthest left political candidate in US history, Bernie Sanders?
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > And what about supporting perhaps the furthest left political candidate in US history, Bernie Sanders? Bernie Sanders is not the furthest left candidate in US history. He's also not the furthest left Presidential (primary) candidate in US history. He's also not the furthest left major party Presidential (primary) candidate in U.S. history.
  - hackernewds 4y ago
    A willfully obtuse comment that detracts from the gist of the discussion. Doesn't Tim Poole support of Bernie Sanders imply his far-left leaning bias?
    - dragonwriter 4y ago
      > Doesn’t Tim Poole support of Bernie Sanders imply his far-left leaning bias? Well, no. For one thing, Sanders isn’t “far left”. For another thing, Sanders anti-establishment populism that was seen as particularly aligned against the Democratic establishment was a draw that wasn’t really based on left-right alignment (or in some cases was, in a way directly opposed to the description of him as a leftist, for many of the same reasons he had trouble with core Democratic constituencies on guns, race, and other issues.)
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  - dunslandsboo 4y ago
    Is it the point of "nonethewiser" that l Bernie is the furthest left candidate? No, you are just not facing his actual question. Which is: can you call somebody right if he supports a leftist candidate?
    - dragonwriter 4y ago
      > Which is: can you call somebody right if he supports a leftist candidate? Well, I dunno, Dennis Kucinich, who was arguably a farther left major party Presidential candidate than Sanders, also turned around and supported Trump, who was a far right candidate, up until the Jan. 6 riot. So, yeah, I can easily someone far right supporting Sanders, the flip side of that. Like now-mask-off MAGA rightist Tulsi Gabbard, who also supported Sanders, before running herself. (Actually, a weirdly large number of rightist have come out of the Sanders camp; well, weird if you think of politics as simple one-dimensional spectrum.)
- eega 4y ago
  The left in the US corresponds in many aspects to political middle ground in many parts of Europe. Bernie Sanders‘ views wouldn‘t be particularly left-wing in my country …
- a_shovel 4y ago
  He also supported Donald Trump for president in 2020. On a left-right axis, this is a massive swing, but on a boring-"anti-establishment" axis, it's pretty consistent. So I doubt his support for Sanders was due to a love of leftist politics.

nonethewiser 4y ago

> I give close to zero weight to self-description of political alignment. And what about supporting perhaps the furthest left political candidate in US history, Bernie Sanders?

dragonwriter 4y ago
> And what about supporting perhaps the furthest left political candidate in US history, Bernie Sanders? Bernie Sanders is not the furthest left candidate in US history. He's also not the furthest left Presidential (primary) candidate in US history. He's also not the furthest left major party Presidential (primary) candidate in U.S. history.
- hackernewds 4y ago
  A willfully obtuse comment that detracts from the gist of the discussion. Doesn't Tim Poole support of Bernie Sanders imply his far-left leaning bias?
  - dragonwriter 4y ago
    > Doesn’t Tim Poole support of Bernie Sanders imply his far-left leaning bias? Well, no. For one thing, Sanders isn’t “far left”. For another thing, Sanders anti-establishment populism that was seen as particularly aligned against the Democratic establishment was a draw that wasn’t really based on left-right alignment (or in some cases was, in a way directly opposed to the description of him as a leftist, for many of the same reasons he had trouble with core Democratic constituencies on guns, race, and other issues.)
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- dunslandsboo 4y ago
  Is it the point of "nonethewiser" that l Bernie is the furthest left candidate? No, you are just not facing his actual question. Which is: can you call somebody right if he supports a leftist candidate?
  - dragonwriter 4y ago
    > Which is: can you call somebody right if he supports a leftist candidate? Well, I dunno, Dennis Kucinich, who was arguably a farther left major party Presidential candidate than Sanders, also turned around and supported Trump, who was a far right candidate, up until the Jan. 6 riot. So, yeah, I can easily someone far right supporting Sanders, the flip side of that. Like now-mask-off MAGA rightist Tulsi Gabbard, who also supported Sanders, before running herself. (Actually, a weirdly large number of rightist have come out of the Sanders camp; well, weird if you think of politics as simple one-dimensional spectrum.)
eega 4y ago
The left in the US corresponds in many aspects to political middle ground in many parts of Europe. Bernie Sanders‘ views wouldn‘t be particularly left-wing in my country …
a_shovel 4y ago
He also supported Donald Trump for president in 2020. On a left-right axis, this is a massive swing, but on a boring-"anti-establishment" axis, it's pretty consistent. So I doubt his support for Sanders was due to a love of leftist politics.