Dem Rep. Smith: Dems Think We Can Just Paper Over Far Left Views and People Won’t Notice

On Wednesday’s edition of NBC’s “MTP Now,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that “the far left, their ideological approach and their ideological rigidity on a number of issues,” is a real issue, and Democrats have tried to just paper over that and say they don’t run on those policies anymore.

Smith said, “[T]here’s a tendency, I think, of our leadership, to say, well, we won those two seats in California. We got to 215. And, my goodness, if North Carolina hadn’t done their redistricting, we would have been fine. That’s not the way, I think, we should be interpreting this election. I don’t think putting a happy face on this is the right approach. … I think our coalition is fundamentally broken by the way in which the working class has come to think of the Democratic Party as not representing them. So, big thing number one, we’re fundamentally broken. Big thing number two, the far left, their ideological approach and their ideological rigidity on a number of issues, on immigration, on identity politics, on crime, on drug abuse, I think is a major problem. And just papering over that and saying, well, we don’t run on those things anymore, so it’s not a — it’s still a problem. It’s still the way that people perceive the Democratic Party. And look, I’m a progressive. I just want the progressives to update their thinking a little bit so that their message and their policies work.”

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