Why do Democrats love limp dishrag centrism?

These losers just don't know how to win

Washing hands of Hillary-esque centrism.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock/Serenethos,)

Bernie Sanders, the famously cantankerous democratic socialist loner, appears to have finally found a protégé of sorts in the form of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old leftist who pulled off a stunning upset victory in the primary for New York's 14th congressional district — knocking off the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House in the process. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have been touring famously red Kansas to enthusiastic crowds, stumping for Sanders allies in local elections there.

America's centrist grandees have reacted with slackjawed horror to this development. The United States needs wise, moderate leadership, they moaned in unison, not irresponsible leftism. Former FBI Director James Comey begged Democrats to not "lose your minds and rush to the socialist left." Third Way, the deep-pocketed centrist think tank, plans to fight Sanders just as hard as Trump, report Gabriel Debenedetti and Alex Seitz-Wald, supposedly because they want to win in 2020.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.