On HBO’s “Real Time” broadcast Friday, host Bill Maher said “Democrats should move on from identity politics,” in part because “the more we cling to identity, the more essential it is to winning.” “It will ignore serious issues.” And lose the election. ”
Maher first called for St. Patrick’s Day to end as a public holiday, saying, “I’ve never understood the pride of the Irish or any pride other than what they’ve actually achieved. And as the holiday approaches, St. Patty’s is somehow… The atmosphere is grim: no presents like Christmas, no sweets like Easter, no joyless promised sex like Valentine’s Day. No Peanuts specials. There’s just a parade. And what right are we marching for, the right to drink during the day? Do we still need to take to the streets and publicly express our support for Irish immigration? I think now, more than ever, we need to stop talking about what makes Americans different from each other and start respecting what makes us the same. So let my people, the Irish, lead the way, because after all, what about Ireland? do not worry. But I don’t care who wins the next election, and outdated racial pandering is one of the reasons Democrats lose elections. ”
He added, “The liberal group MoveOn.org was formed in 1998 to urge Republicans to move on from impeaching Clinton. Today’s Democratic Party needs to move on from identity politics. For them and for us.” That doesn’t work. Democrats are hemorrhaging the very voters they think they’re pandering to. financial times newspaper “Democrats are losing ground faster with voters of color than with any other demographic,” they wrote. And the reason, he suggests, is that “an America with less racial division is one in which people vote based on their beliefs rather than their identities.” that’s right. Far-left liberals live within an old paradigm. Americans no longer fit into neat little boxes. ”
Maher concluded that “Democrats need to get a memo that they can no longer win elections by automatically assuming they can win over all the voters who are not participating in elections.” [white and male]. The more we cling to identity, the more we ignore the important issues that matter to winning or losing an election. The real problem is class, not race, the real disparity is the degree gap, and the real future of the party and perhaps democracy depends on whether Democrats understand that. ”
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