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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  3334 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A Case Against Bernie Sanders by Barney Frank

'Acrimony' is the word that comes to mind when I think about Ron Paul's base after the 2012 GOP primary concluded. Holding a shadow convention isn't conciliatory.

If the Dems decide to go down a similar route with Sanders, they'd best be careful. Sanders is still building name recognition, but he's already got a bigger slice of the pie than Paul had at this point in the 2012 run up.

    His very unwillingness to be confined by existing voter attitudes, as part of a long-term strategy to change them, is both a very valuable contribution to the democratic dialogue and an obvious bar to winning support from the majority of these very voters in the near term.

This is actually why I think trying to marginalize his supporters is dangerous. Falling in line after the primaries is questionably productive for them. Frank is banking that Clinton is non-divisive enough and the GOP specter is scary enough to drive that movement. If Sander's base feels both are harmful...