Appearing on Thursday's New Day, liberal CNN political analyst John Avlon asserted that Hillary Clinton would be "the most liberal nominee of the Democratic party since George McGovern" during a discussion of socialist Bernie Sanders's success in attracting large crowds of left-wing supporters as he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.
The CNN analyst and Daily Beast editor tagged Sanders as a "totally guilt-free snack" that leftists can indulge in if they are not convinced Clinton is one of them. Avlon:
Not a real threat to Hillary Clinton's nomination. But it is a signifier that the progressive left is more active and resurgent in the Democratic party. The true believers want somebody they can truly believe in, and Bernie Sanders represents a totally guilt-free snack. He is not going to be the nominee. You can support him wholeheartedly, you can give him a small donation, but do so without the burden of thinking he's actually going to be the nominee or President of the United States.
After substitute co-host John Berman asked if Clinton should devote much campaign spending to take on Sanders, Avlon responded:
You do not want to stomp Uncle Fluffy to death. That is a dumb idea. The point is here, is that she really needs to build that war chest up for a general election campaign. She's focused on the general. She does not, in my opinion, need to overcompensate for the left. She's already probably the only figure who can bridge those divides. And more importantly, just a reality check. Just if you look at her policies, she'is probably the most liberal nominee of the Democratic party since George McGovern.
After co-host Alisyn Camerota wondered, "You think she's more liberal today than Barack Obama was eight years ago?" Avlon added:
I do. Yeah. Not only is she in favor of marriage equality, but she's tacked consistently on guns, gay rights issues. She's really running on a very liberal plank and -- progressive plank -- and that is something that whether it makes the Bill de Blasios of the world happy is sort of irrelevant. She's got to walk that line to be able to unite the Democratic party.
A bit later, during a discussion of a poll showing only low levels of support for renaming roads that are named after Confederate figures, Avlon came out against trying to expunge the confederacy from the South's history, in contrast with removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol, because it "makes us dumber in the long run":
You know, the four most important words in politics, as George Will said, is "up to a point." And the question is: What is that right balance? And I think when we resort to banning things as a first course of action, it can actually make everybody feel good, but it erases history and does us no service. So I think achieving that balance should not run into the realm of immediately banning things to make ourselves feel good because it makes us dumber in the long run.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Thursday, July 2, New Day on CNN:
ALISYN CAMEROTA: So, a real threat, John?
JOHN AVLON, DAILY BEAST: Not a real threat to Hillary Clinton's nomination. But it is a signifier that the progressive left is more active and resurgent in the Democratic party. The true believers want somebody they can truly believe in, and Bernie Sanders represents a totally guilt-free snack. He is not going to be the nominee. You can support him wholeheartedly, you can give him a small donation, but do so without the burden of thinking he's actually going to be the nominee or President of the United States.
MARGARET HOOVER: I don't know about that.
JOHN BERMAN: So what does Hillary Clinton do about the guilt-free snack? Does she come out against hummus here? She's got $45 million in the bank, which we just learned yesterday, you know, fundraising. Does she spend any of that against Bernie sanders?
HOOVER: It's very hard, by the way, for the candidate who's running on reforming campaign finance reform to have $45 million of hard dollars in the bank and then to spend it against Bernie Sanders,
AVLON: Yeah.
HOOVER: That's just going to anger the troops even more.
AVLON: You do not want to stomp Uncle Fluffy to death. That is a dumb idea. The point is here, is that she really needs to build that war chest up for a general election campaign. She's focused on the general. She does not, in my opinion, need to overcompensate for the left. She's already probably the only figure who can bridge those divides. And more importantly, just a reality check. Just if you look at her policies, she'is probably the most liberal nominee of the Democratic party since George McGovern.
BERMAN: She's not the nominee yet.
AVLON: But, but, but, no, she would be.
CAMEROTA: You think she's more liberal today than Barack Obama was eight years ago?
AVLON: I do. Yeah. Not only is she in favor of marriage equality, but she's tacked consistently on guns, gay rights issues. She's really running on a very liberal plank and -- progressive plank -- and that is something that whether it makes the Bill de Blasios of the world happy is sort of irrelevant. She's got to walk that line to be able to unite the Democratic party.
MICHAELA PEREIRA: A new set of polling on the Confederate flag debate. We have been talking about it a fair amount here. What I found interesting, 55 percent of people support the removal of the flag -- I think we have those polls -- from government property. Yet, 57 percent of the country believes the flag is a symbol of Southern pride rather than racism. What do you make of that?
[AVLON]
CAMEROTA: There's another. CNN has a new poll that also suggests the support for renaming streets that are named after Confederate leaders -- 26 percent of whites support that, 33 percent of blacks support that. But are we sanitizing now our entire history?
[HOOVER argues that Confederate figures are a part of history]
AVLON: You know, the four most important words in politics, as George Will said, is "up to a point." And the question is: What is that right balance? And I think when we resort to banning things as a first course of action, it can actually make everybody feel good, but it erases history and does us no service. So I think achieving that balance should not run into the realm of immediately banning things to make ourselves feel good because it makes us dumber in the long run.
