EDITORIAL: Biden’s right: He has an important message to Democrats about the path to victory in 2020

Jul. 8--The old white man vying for the Democratic nomination -- not Bernie, the other one -- has thrown cold water on the far-left phenom from Queens.

With all respect for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has talent and intelligence to spare, Democrats around the country should listen carefully to Joe Biden, because what he said Friday about the upstart from the Bronx and national politics is exactly correct.

Making the case for pragmatic economic and health-care policies the likes of which he and President Obama advanced over eight years, and which are likeliest to swing Trump districts and states in the Midwest back into the Democratic column, Biden told CNN's Chris Cuomo that most Democrats are "center left," not "way left."

Proof? "Look who won last time out," said Biden. "By the way, I think Ocasio-Cortez is a brilliant, bright woman, but she won a primary. In the general election fights, who won? Mainstream Democrats who are very progressive on social issues and very strong on education and health care."

There's no arguing these facts. Ocasio-Cortez defeated incumbent Joe Crowley, 16,898 to 12,880 votes, in a low-turnout primary. The general election in the safe Democratic district was never in doubt; she won that overwhelmingly, as Crowley would have.

Around the country, Democrats needed to pick up 23 Republican seats to win the House. They won 42 and lost two, for a net gain of 40.

Thirty-three of those 40 had been endorsed by the moderate New Dem PAC; Staten Island's Max Rose is a typical example. How many had been endorsed by a far-left group like AOC's Justice Democrats? Zero.

"Centrists got us nowhere," Mayor de Blasio claimed back in February. Only the deepest blue progressives can carry the Democratic flag in 2020, his fellow progressives now insist.

Actually, Biden's formula is the one that adds up.

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