{"id":48955,"date":"2026-06-30T12:26:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48955"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:26:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:26:53","slug":"us-media-presents-centrist-panic-over-progressive-wins-as-mere-post-ideological-electability-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/30\/us-media-presents-centrist-panic-over-progressive-wins-as-mere-post-ideological-electability-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"US media presents centrist panic over progressive wins as mere post-ideological \u2018electability concerns\u2019\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Rahm<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Posted in Politics and Movements: US<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No mention of pro-Israel and corporate funding, no mention of capitalist ideology\u2014just \u2018good-faith\u2019 worry over what will play in Purple America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0Adam Johnson<\/a><\/strong> June 26, 2026 (therealnews.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, attends a photo op with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and congressional leaders before Kishida addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, April 11, 2022. Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s simply taken for granted in US legacy media that \u201cleft-wing\/progressive\u201d electeds are driven by rigid ideology while centrists are motivated by cold, calculated, and semi-scientific concern with How To Defeat Republicans. This is a premise basically no one in our media challenges. It is asserted as pure dogma that \u201ccentrist\u201d or \u201cmoderate\u201d Democrats are only \u201ccentrist\u201d or \u201cmoderate\u201d because they are forced to be by electoral realities, and thus every position they advance is not the end result of donor pressure or class interest, but a good-faith, totally organic demand from purple-area voters they must channel if they want to \u201ctake back Congress.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never is this dynamic more evident in media coverage than after the left-wing flank of the party has the kind of electoral success they saw this past Tuesday, when self-identified Democratic Socialist candidates scored major victories in New York City and state office.<\/a> Immediately, before the votes were even counted, corporate media rushed to take the predictable angle, \u201cDoes electing far left-ideologues undermine Democrats\u2019 ability to win in November,\u201d because it\u2019s simply taken for granted that left-wing policy perspectives are mutually exclusive with \u201celectability.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading the charge was, as always, the New York Times<\/em>. \u201cDemocrats find themselves squeezed by competing forces,\u201d the paper lamented<\/a>. \u201cThe party\u2019s leaders in Washington are pushing for moderate candidates who they hope will be competitive in states and areas that have been inhospitable to Democrats in recent years. But primary voters in New York and other recent contests are moving in the opposite direction,<\/strong> increasingly turning to progressives and even socialists who excite the base.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s simply taken for granted that left-wing policy perspectives are mutually exclusive with \u201celectability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Note how the NYT<\/em> presents a completely false dichotomy: taking back Congress from Republicans vs. progressives and socialists winning primaries. These are the two options and they are, we are told, in tension<\/em>. There\u2019s no data cited to support this, no studies linked to; the article just asserts casual dogma, then moves on to debate how Democrats will manage this supposed conflict between its base and the desire to be \u201ccompetitive in states and areas that have been inhospitable to Democrats in recent years.\u201d To do this they turn to alleged \u201cparty leaders\u201d who are presented not as ideologues in their own right, or conflicted, corporate-funded mouthpieces, but entirely good-faith strategists simply concerned with winning. The \u201cmoderate\u201d sources are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n