I have homework to do and then going to my old law office to help them on a project. But, here is my take of last night:
It appears nearly half the voters who voted yesterday made up their minds in the last 48 hours. It appears too many Democratic Party voters are still trusting corporate media narratives in a way Republican voters rejected years ago. However, unlike Republican voters, who left corporate media narratives for Trumpist narratives that rely on hate and delusion, Democratic Party voters stayed with the corporate narratives out of fear and lack of self-esteem, trusting television pundits who, time and time again, have been proven wrong in their analyses. Corporate media continue to borrow from the Marx Brothers' great comedy, Duck Soup, where Chico, dressed like Groucho, tells an astonished Margaret Dumont, "Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" And, yesterday, it appears the late voters decided to believe the corporate media instead of their own eyes.
To prove my pointed joke, let's ask ourselves:
1. Of the people who suddenly decided to vote for Biden, how many actually endorse policies that look like Bernie's or at least Warren's? We know most of Bernie's policies are embraced by 70% of Democrats from consistent polling. And, we know it would be higher when people actually learn the costs of staying in the same medical insurance system is more than Bernie's plan. The consistent media message is Biden is somehow more "electable," when Bernie is the most trusted of candidates on issues people most care about. And no matter how much television pundits talk about the "moderate" Republican who will possibly vote for Biden, they ignore the white working class who often vote Republican are more interested in Bernie than every other Democratic Party candidate. That is because, as Krystal Ball has emphasized in her opinion pieces, the people who operate in corporate media erase working class voices, and push those who watch them into self-doubt. Again, Chico Marx to Margaret Dumont.
2. Did Elizabeth Warren's refusal to bow out account for Bernie's loss to Biden in Massachusetts and possibly Texas? Yes. Unlike Klobuchar, Beto, and Mayor Pete, she did not circle progressive wagons the way those three did with the corporate Democrats. Anyone who voted for Warren in this Super Tuesday, who voted after the results of the first three electoral contests, voted for Biden. There is no principle involved in a vote for Warren when the need is to overcome the Democratic Party establishment, which led us to Trump. No principle at all. None. One is either a progressive or one is not. I am not saying all of Warren's votes would have gone to Bernie. Far from it. I am saying that same half would have, and maybe more because a person voting for Warren knows Biden is a very vulnerable candidate. As The Son and I remarked last night, we are both of the view Biden is suffering from early dementia, which is increasing. I am calling it Biden's brain melt. Last night, Biden mixed up his wife's and sister's names, continuing his string of weird gaffes. I am waiting next for him to mistake his wife for a hat. Again, people voting for Biden voted for what corporate media people want voters to do, to stay in a cage out of fear.
3. Should we be concerned Biden's largest victories came in states which have not voted for the Democratic Party presidential candidate in fifty years, and show no signs of changing with Biden especially as the nominee? Again, how does that mean Biden is more electable, which is what people on television keep saying--and people who watch television, or have been trained by television, keep repeating? From what we see, African-American voters in the Confederacy voted out of fear, not realizing Biden's ascension means lower Democratic Party base excitement in states Democrats would normally win, which, in turn, undermines voter turnout in the fall. Latino voters held for Bernie in Texas as well as California, which shows how little the pundits understand the diversity among Latinos across the nation, as these media pundits constantly worried about old anti-Castro Cubans in Florida, as if those particular voters were going to otherwise vote for Bernie.
The exit polls show an increased voter turnout, but not enough young people. I have consistently called upon the young people to save us older folks and old folks from ourselves. Too bad for all of us. As a species, we are still our own meteor. The problem is something we have to face as we move forward, knowing Bernie is still doing well overall as the race comes down to Biden and Bernie: Too many Democratic Party voters continue to believe the people on television instead of what they themselves see. They refuse to put on the glasses (and note how this scene shows a black man fighting against putting on the glasses because of fear, which to me represents Southern African-American voters yesterday, while the white guy is the BernieBro, demonized by the true rulers, who are aliens from another planet). Zizek has the best explication of this scene from They Live---and that is because Zizek read the guy who Mayor Pete's Dad translated into English, Antonio Gramsci, who posited the idea of cultural hegemony.
Too many of us in the Democratic Party refuse to put on the glasses. However, lots more of us than last time have already put on the glasses, and the rest of this campaign is about pushing more people to put on the glasses. And, this time, we are all out of bubble gum.
