SANE DEMS TAKE A STAND – AT 1:16 P.M. ET:  I don't know if they'll be able to hold off the surging socialists and their baby sitters, but they're determined to try.  From the Miami Herald: 

Leading moderate Democrats forcefully argued this week that their party can still nominate a presidential candidate who praises capitalism, downplays income inequality, and embraces only modest changes to the social safety net.

In other words, everything the empowered liberal base has spent a year and a half mobilizing against.

Democrats gathered here in Ohio’s capital city on Thursday and Friday in what was an opening salvo of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, part of a conference organized by the center-left think tank Third Way.

The longtime Washington-based group was unveiling the findings of a year-long assessment launched after the 2016 election, hoping to convince potential presidential contenders that they don’t have to adopt the hard-left agenda and style of a Bernie Sanders progressive.

Included in its report were policy recommendations — such as adopting a robust apprenticeship program and expanded unemployment insurance to help workers find new jobs — and encouragement to bypass talk of income inequality for an emphasis on creating opportunity.

Third Way officials even attempted to remove the “moderate” moniker from the event, encouraging those in attendance to call themselves “opportunity Democrats.” (The event itself was labeled “Opportunity 2020.”)

“Once again, the time has come to mend, but not end, capitalism for a new era,” said Jonathan Cowan, Third Way’s president, in a sweeping speech outlining his group’s study.

And...

Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, vice president for social policy and politics at Third Way, said a poll conducted by the group found voters — including many Democrats — responded more positively to a message that emphasized creating economic opportunity over income inequality. The opportunity message, she said, “trounced the other Democratic approaches on the table with the voters we need to win in a general election.”

COMMENT:   Well, we'll see.  The problem the moderates have is that they're up against immature fanatics who will literally fight to the death, and who have no connection to actual lives.  It's hard to defeat a well-financed fantasy machine, especially when it has the support of so many in the media.

The moderates have the better arguments and the greatest number of potential voters.  What they need now is an army of activists.

July 22, 2018