MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews closed Tuesday’s program by reminding viewers that, while he’s a cartoonish rich, white liberal, he’s still more of a Democrat from yesteryear given his career on the Hill and in the White House, as opposed to a rabid socialist. Matthews illustrated that by reminding 2020 Democrats that their far-left proposals might not fly in a general election.
Matthews began by wondering if the Democratic Party’s nominee “supports the key progressive issues of today, getting rid of the electoral college, increasing the size of the U.S. Supreme Court, creating a government-run, national health system, paying a significant chunk of college tuition, liberalizing abortion laws, especially late in term and presenting immigration policies that would allow interpretation as open borders.”
“How will this choice strike the voters in such electoral swing states as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, even Virginia and North Carolina,” Matthews astutely wondered.
The MSNBC pundit continued to make even more sense when he observed that it’s become “hard is to identify a leading candidate that is resisting the move to the left” since all of them “seem determined to hold their own among those young, strongly progressive, often minority voters expected to make up the voting base in the early states.”
Showing his age, Matthews noted the case of Democrats in 1972 when “the party went hard to the left” with George McGovern. Even though “[e]veryone enjoyed themselves,” the election didn’t pan out as McGovern lost 49 states to Richard Nixon, who took “60 percent of the popular vote.”
He concluded by making clear that things could change and these extreme views could still not be enough for Trump to overcome, but he added these rebuttals:
But these are facts to consider. One, almost half the Democratic Party electorate is either moderate or conservative. In other words, to the right of the Progressives. Two, independent voters are also to the right of the Democratic progressives. Three, so are the straight Republican voters a Democratic nominee might need. Bottom line, going into the Democratic primaries is not the same as going to the country.
Well, at least Matthews was honest. It’s doubtful many of his MSNBC colleagues or most anyone at CNN would have the cojones to admit the same.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on April 2, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Hardball
April 2, 2019
7:54 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]CHRIS MATTHEWS: Up next, what will progressive Democratic candidates do to appeal to voters in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio, the other swing states to win in 2020. We’re back in a minute.
(....)
7:58 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: I have been thinking about who is going to take back the White House, who’s going to win the Democratic nomination next spring then go on to defeat Donald Trump in November 2020. What if the Democrats nominated a candidate who supports the key progressive issues of today, getting rid of the electoral college, increasing the size of the U.S. Supreme Court, creating a government-run, national health system, paying a significant chunk of college tuition, liberalizing abortion laws, especially late in term and presenting immigration policies that would allow interpretation as open borders, including socialists, by the way, in the Democratic coalition. Suppose the candidate, she or he, carrying all those positions is the one picked to go up against Donald Trump. How will this choice strike the voters in such electoral swing states as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, even Virginia and North Carolina. What’s hard is to identify a leading candidate that is resisting the move to the left. Very hard because all seem determined to hold their own among those young, strongly progressive, often minority voters expected to make up the voting base in the early states. I have a strong memory of how this pattern of Democratic Party behavior worked out the last time the party went hard to the left. It was 1972. George McGovern was the chosen nominee. Everyone enjoyed themselves. The convention was giddy with excitement even if not that well organized. I was there watching the Massachusetts delegation actually dancing in a circle, they were so happy. The Democrats lost 49 states that year to Richard Nixon who not only carried the electoral college, losing only Massachusetts and D.C., but 60 percent of the popular vote. It could all be different, of course, on election night in 2020. Trump could get licked no matter who the Democrats put up. But these are facts to consider. One, almost half the Democratic Party electorate is either moderate or conservative. In other words, to the right of the Progressives. Two, independent voters are also to the right of the Democratic progressives. Three, so are the straight Republican voters a Democratic nominee might need. Bottom line, going into the Democratic primaries is not the same as going to the country.
