OK...so a lot of folks are flummoxed about why Biden is able to retain such a huge lead with some Black Democrats, in spite of his history of shady conservatism.

In this thread, I'll give you my own cracked theory on why that might be.

Aside from the old conservative guard of the 1% who finances conservative Democrats regularly from Scoop Jackson to Bill/Hillary Clinton and so on, Biden's core strength seems to come from two sectors of voting Dems: affluent feminists and older Black folk.

The latter group tends to be much more conservative socially, almost as much as the Religious Right, who tend to favor Democrats only because the GOTP is owned by White Nationalists. They tend to back more conservative White Democrats in order to maintain their local privileges.

Most older conservative Black Democrats are also deeply invested in the Black Church, especially in the South; this also tends to institutionalize them within the DLC/Blue Dog wing of the party against the more socially liberal, "populist" wing that tends to back Sanders.

These older Black politicos also are more dependent on old-school legacy programs that feed their local m,achines that older folks rely on for survival. Hence, they tend to oppose anything that might threaten their gravy train.

For example, the hordes of criticism of Sanders' "free college" proposals from Black lawmakers comes from the fact that they and several HBCU's have become dependent on the private student loan system for support in the midst of public infrastructure cutbacks.

Another example? The strained defense of "Obamacare" (aka, the ACA) in spite of all its shortcomings because Big Pharma and Big Insura has stocked their donor funds with tons of $$$$, and because of the usual Obama worship. #M4A/#SinglePayer is a dire threat to end that pipeline.

It really doesn't matter to these....people....that Sanders' reform proposals would mean an even better means of living for their constituency. All that matters is that their power is threatened, even more so from the Left than even from cutbacks from the Right.

Therefore, they have to pour on the smears that Sanders is a "racist" who doesn't know how to talk to Black folk, or is just "too old"....or, in private company away from open microphones, "that damn Jew".

[Yes, strains of anti-Semitism do exist on the Black Religious Right.]

Of course, the positive spin they give is that Biden is a "loyal" Democrat whom Barack Obama trusted enough in spite of his past to be his VP....and why other than evil anti-Black racism would you doubt the First Black POTUS who kicked GOTP ass in 2 elections?

{Of course, ignoring the fact that outside of the Presidential elections, the Democrats have gotten their asses kicked way worse, losing nearly 1,200 seats to the GOTP during Obama's two terms...but whatever.]

This herd mentality of "Democratic loyalty" is also the reason that cracking on Sanders as an Independent (read, "NOT A REAL DEMOCRAT") and his supporters as "invaders who want to destroy the Democratic Party and deliver the election to Trumpster" plays so well.

Basically, the "base" of older conservative Dems (along with the Buppie bougies, "Lean In" corporate feminists and "LGBT Inc.") have teamed up with the CIA/neocon/corporate raiders wing to redefine the "acceptable left wing" further and further to the Right.

This is really the target audience that MSDNComcast and CNN and hacks like Nate Silver and David Brock are shooting for in their campaign to isolate and break Sanders and his campaign. It's a setup for ending the primaries early, or rigging them so that Biden gets his coronation.

And, I still have a bad feeling that if Biden doesn't do the job & the Left populist base that Sanders is riding does make it to the convention with a plurality of pledged delegates, Hillary Clinton could emerge from the woods to save the day with the superdelegates in Round 2.

Then again, it is also just as likely that either the Democrats do enough rigging and voter suppression to nip the Sanders movement in the bud by May 2020, so that he is forced to either back down and back whatever Democrat wins with the bare minimum of reward...

...or get scapegoated for the inevitable loss of a Biden-Clinton or Clinton-Harris or Biden-Harris or Biden-Schultz or whatever grouping of DLC establishment commisars to an energized Trumpster.

The other scenario is that a pissed off Sanders Left Populist base blows into the convention and tears up the establishment by pulling Sanders through to the nomination....and the Dem conservatives respond by sitting on their hands or backing a Schultz/Bloomberg 3rd party run.

In any case, the best scenario for Sanders is to continue to make inroads with younger and middle-aged Black folk who are more open to his economic ideas, and who have suffered the greatest from the duopoly of GOTP Right/DLC-ThirdWay-OldGuard Center collusion.

It probably won't help him win any primaries in the South, since those are usually dominated by the OId Guard, but it will pay real dividends should he actually achieve the nomination....for the general election is another animal altogether.

All Sanders has to do is to maintain the strength that Democrats have usually had with Black voters, and retain his advantages in the Midwestern states that defaulted to Trumpster in 2016, and he kills Trumpster going away. Maybe even Mondales him (as in 400+ EVs).

Which is saying that the biggest threat to Bernie Sanders and his movement triumphing is not necessarily the GOTP and Trumpster, but the Democratic Party establishment and its old school conservative base.

And....strangely enough, vice versa.

This election is indeed a battle for the "heart and soul" of the Democratic Party, and a harbinger of whether the party will move Left with the current trend, or stay the DLC-ThirdWay-WokeNeolibNeoCON course further rightward that the big donors prefer.

If Democrats go the Sanders route, look for a scorthed earth backlash via either massive resistance within or a 3rd party "No Labels" effort from the conservative wing. If the latter wins, there needs to be a serious move towards an Indy Left party.

In any case, we on the Left need to commit right now to organizing based on fundamental Left principles of egalitarianism, internationalism, social solidarity against fascism of the Right AND the Center, and reconstruction of public infrastructure and accountable government.

That is the best way to not just overcome the Old Guard Democrats' affinity to not rock the boat, but to also hold those who claim the Leftist label accountable for their words, deeds, and votes.

As the crawfishing of AOC back centerward shows, pop worship is simply not enough.