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Bernie Sanders should run as a 3rd Party

Bucky said:
Can I ask what has Hillary done to earn the vote of Sander supporters?
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According to most polls I've seen a solid majority of Bernie supporters will vote for Hillary over Trump. And Sanders himself has told his supporters that the Democratic nominee, whoever he or she is, would be vastly preferable to Trump. Your third party idea simply doesn't meet the test of reality.
 
manise said:
According to most polls I've seen a solid majority of Bernie supporters will vote for Hillary over Trump. And Sanders himself has told his supporters that the Democratic nominee, whoever he or she is, would be vastly preferable to Trump. Your third party idea simply doesn't meet the test of reality.
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In that case, what is Bernie still doing in the race because his inability to suspend his campaign his costing Hillary votes left and right.
 
WCH said:
Doesn't mean Bernie's supporters will go for Hillary. As much as 40% could vote for Trump.

Embrace the Donald!
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Nothing is certain, I agree. Much depends on what Bernie says and does prior and during the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Some Bernie or Bust folks will never vote for Hillary, preferring Trump and a potentially all Republican Congress (or a third party/write in) instead. That's certainly their choice. We'll see how the numbers fall in November.
 
Bucky said:
In that case, what is Bernie still doing in the race because his inability to suspend his campaign his costing Hillary votes left and right.
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Maybe he wants the most support possible going into the convention where he can help rewrite party rules or even dictate the VP nominee. Or maybe he lied when he pledged to support the Democratic nominee and really wants to torpedo Hillary's campaign and doesn't care about a Trump presidency. But a 3rd Party run? More than a little unlikely. We'll see.
 
robertblake60 said:
"At the end of the day," he said, "if we stand together as one people and not allow the Trumps of the world to divide us up ... there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. That is what this campaign is about."

-Bernie Sanders - yesterday
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Sen. Barbara Boxer, a veteran of Democratic politics, says she never saw anything quite like this before.

Loud cursing, shouting, obscene gestures and vile insults, including crude comments about the female anatomy. It was all on display over the weekend as supporters of Bernie Sanders turned the Nevada State Democratic Convention into chaos.

"I was not able to stop these people for doing what they did," Boxer, a Hillary Clinton supporter, told CNN. "Apparently they've done it before. .... This group of about 100 were very vocal, and I can't describe it -- disrespectful doesn't even explain it, it was worse than that."
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Dems' new fear: Sanders revolt could upend Democratic convention - CNNPolitics.com

It appears these renegades are trying to demolish the Democrats. Chaos and guriella warfare could ensure at the DNC convention. Sanders it appears is supporting a revolution rather than a presidential campaign.
 
Sanders isn't going to run third party, and his supporters, despite their bitching, will dutifully vote for HRC. It's the same drama in every open (sitting POTUS not running) primary. The supporters of the also-rans always bitch and moan, say they won't vote for the winner, and then they always vote for the party choice. Sanders supporters are no different. Sanders success says more about the dems being unenthusiastic about HRC than any real desire to feel the bern. There are topical lotions to cure that.
 
I read this comment today ....

DNC means "Don't Nominate Clinton".

Calm
 
RabidAlpaca said:
I'm a huge Sanders supporter, but running third party would 100% guarantee a Trump presidency. I'm not voting for Clinton, but that big of a split of the left could not be overcome.
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The front needs to be united against Trump and Sanders doing a Ralph Nader would have the same disastrous results as 2000.

Just for the record, while Mr. Trump is sometimes described as a "populist," almost every substantive policy he has announced would make the rich richer at workers’ expense. Trump has already declared that he will slash taxes on the rich, whatever he may have said in the recent past and once again declared his intention to do away with Dodd-Frank, the financial reform passed during Democrats’ brief window of congressional control that actually has put a substantial crimp in the ability of Wall Street to make money hand over fist.

If one looks beyond Trump's insults of the Obama Administration, we see that the Obama administration has done much more than most people realize to fight extreme economic inequality. Obama just issued new guidelines on overtime pay, which will benefit an estimated 12.5 million workers.

Most obviously, Obamacare provides aid and subsidies mainly to lower-income working Americans, and it pays for that aid partly with higher taxes at the top -- even with relentless opposition from the GOP Congress.

Obama has done much more than most people realize to fight extreme economic inequality. That fight will continue if Hillary Clinton wins the election; it will go into sharp reverse if Mr. Trump wins. So, it is imperative that Trump not win.

You should do what I am doing, holding my nose and voting for Clinton.
 
Bucky said:
Anyone else support this idea? I think it would be an excellent idea for Bernie and his supporters to have an actual voice instead of being forced to vote for crooked Hillary.

I fully support Bernie running as a 3rd party.
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The irony of it all... The only reason Hillary is a viable candidate is because her husband was once President. The only reason Bill got elected to his first term was Ross Perot running as a 3rd party candidate splitting the conservative vote. Now we can have Bernie running against her and splitting the liberal voting, handing the WH to Trump on a silver platter.
 
faithful_servant said:
The irony of it all... The only reason Hillary is a viable candidate is because her husband was once President. The only reason Bill got elected to his first term was Ross Perot running as a 3rd party candidate splitting the conservative vote. Now we can have Bernie running against her and splitting the liberal voting, handing the WH to Trump on a silver platter.
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No irony about it. No matter what you think of Mrs. Clinton, she has the most experience and is the most qualified to lead starting day-one. There is no learning curve required.

I know it is a right-wing wet-dream to have Bernie split the votes. He already said that making sure Trump losing is his priority.
 
MTAtech said:
The front needs to be united against Trump and Sanders doing a Ralph Nader would have the same disastrous results as 2000.

Just for the record, while Mr. Trump is sometimes described as a "populist," almost every substantive policy he has announced would make the rich richer at workers’ expense. Trump has already declared that he will slash taxes on the rich, whatever he may have said in the recent past and once again declared his intention to do away with Dodd-Frank, the financial reform passed during Democrats’ brief window of congressional control that actually has put a substantial crimp in the ability of Wall Street to make money hand over fist.

If one looks beyond Trump's insults of the Obama Administration, we see that the Obama administration has done much more than most people realize to fight extreme economic inequality. Obama just issued new guidelines on overtime pay, which will benefit an estimated 12.5 million workers.

Most obviously, Obamacare provides aid and subsidies mainly to lower-income working Americans, and it pays for that aid partly with higher taxes at the top -- even with relentless opposition from the GOP Congress.

Obama has done much more than most people realize to fight extreme economic inequality. That fight will continue if Hillary Clinton wins the election; it will go into sharp reverse if Mr. Trump wins. So, it is imperative that Trump not win.

You should do what I am doing, holding my nose and voting for Clinton.
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I was with you until the very last sentence. Hillary Clinton does not represent my values in any way, shape or form. She has used her political career to make herself massively rich, then used that money to further increase her political power and thus her wealth. She embodies everything I despise about our political system and the only situation I would even remotely consider voting for her is if she makes Bernie VP and they come out as a united front with united issues.

That's almost certainly not going to happen, so I'll be voting for Jill Stein of the Greens or Gary Johnson of the Libertarians. I refuse to play the "lesser evil" game that got us a rigged 2 party system in the first place.
 
Citizen.Seven said:
Sanders isn't going to run third party, and his supporters, despite their bitching, will dutifully vote for HRC. It's the same drama in every open (sitting POTUS not running) primary. The supporters of the also-rans always bitch and moan, say they won't vote for the winner, and then they always vote for the party choice. Sanders supporters are no different. Sanders success says more about the dems being unenthusiastic about HRC than any real desire to feel the bern. There are topical lotions to cure that.
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Perhaps you are correct in the case of true Democrats who supported Bernie. But Bernie isn't a true Democrat and many of us who have and will vote for him are not Democrats. Bernie, like Trump, has attracted a lot of Independents. I didn't vote for a Democrat in the last election and I won't in this General election if it is Hillary. The worst thing the Hillary campaign can do is take it for granted that Bernie supporters will vote for her. A significant percentage of Bernie supporters are not party loyalists.
 
The only way I can see Sanders running third party is if the Republicans pull something and nominate somebody other than Trump, causing TRUMP to run third party. In that case I could see a 4-way general election. That is if it is even possible to run 3rd party this late in the game, which many are saying isn't the case.
 
BrewerBob said:
The only way I can see Sanders running third party is if the Republicans pull something and nominate somebody other than Trump, causing TRUMP to run third party. In that case I could see a 4-way general election. That is if it is even possible to run 3rd party this late in the game, which many are saying isn't the case.
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Actually, the only state that the deadline for filing as an independent has passed is Texas: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_for_presidential_candidates which I wouldn't think would matter much to BS.
 
Celebrity said:
Even the source least favorable of Bernie Sanders understands the process.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...d-convention-that-doesnt-mean-he-can-win-one/
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He knows that if he is ever going to be POTUS, this is the year. The hatred of establishment candidates in both parties has never been higher, and probably never will be again. Ironically, it's all but certain at this point that the Republicans will field an anti-establishment candidate, while the Democrats will field an establishment one. The question for Sanders is will he play along with the establishment Democrats? Indications are no at this point, but the convention is still two months away. And, even more importantly, if BS sells out to the establishment, will his supporters follow?
 
There was talk about Bernie running as the Green Party candidate, which is already established in most states. If that were to happen, it is not too late for Bernie to be on the ballot in almost every state. But, as much as Bernie believes in his cause, he would be horrified to see Trump elected as president. He is bluffing as much as he can in order to pull Hillary as far left as possible. If it works, I'm not so sure the American Public will believe that Hillary has suddenly turned half socialist. Pulling her to the left will weaken her against Trump. I still wouldn't be surprised if we not only have a viable third party candidate but a viable fourth party candidate as well.
 
I'm almost fully convinced at this point that Trump will become our next President in the absence of a Clinton-Sanders ticket.
At this point, it's Clinton and Sanders, or Trump.
 
Bucky said:
Anyone else support this idea? I think it would be an excellent idea for Bernie and his supporters to have an actual voice instead of being forced to vote for crooked Hillary.

I fully support Bernie running as a 3rd party.
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Great idea , that way Trump wins !!! :2razz:
 
RabidAlpaca said:
I was with you until the very last sentence. Hillary Clinton does not represent my values in any way, shape or form. She has used her political career to make herself massively rich, then used that money to further increase her political power and thus her wealth. She embodies everything I despise about our political system and the only situation I would even remotely consider voting for her is if she makes Bernie VP and they come out as a united front with united issues.

That's almost certainly not going to happen, so I'll be voting for Jill Stein of the Greens or Gary Johnson of the Libertarians. I refuse to play the "lesser evil" game that got us a rigged 2 party system in the first place.
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If you look at Clinton's actual record, instead of the one detractors try to paint, you see an alignment with Obama, who was able to get positive change for the American people -- even with massive obstruction. He passed health reform that made it better for the working class. Regardless of what people say about Clinton being aligned with Wall Street, she was a major supporter of Dodd/Frank that did make it harder for Wall Street banks to make money hand over fist. Due to the expiration of the high-end Bush tax cuts made possible by Mr. Obama's re-election, the average federal tax rate on the top 1% has risen quite a lot. In fact, it's roughly back to what it was in 1979, pre-Ronald Reagan, something nobody seems to know. Clinton will continue that path -- and hopefully with a Democratic Senate, do even more.

Voting for a 3rd party risks getting Trump in office. His policies without exception enrich the rich further at the expense of the working class. The perfect is indeed the enemy of the good.
 
Bucky said:
Anyone else support this idea? I think it would be an excellent idea for Bernie and his supporters to have an actual voice instead of being forced to vote for crooked Hillary.

I fully support Bernie running as a 3rd party.
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It will never happen even if TheGoverness gets the privilege of 100 times more "likes" to bestow on Bernie fans.
 
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BS doesn't have the guts or conviction to run 3rd party or Independent. If he did, he wouldn't have bothered running as a dem in the first place, since he is literally not a democrat. Sure, in his home state, but not nationally. He knows he couldn't win without even nominal establishment support, and now that it is obvious to all but the true believers that he won't be getting the nomination, his choices come down to:

1. Go back to the Senate and be HRCs "hey boy" there.
2. Join the ticket as VP and be HRCs "hey boy" there. The advantage here is a 40k pay bump
3. Write a book and hit the lecture circuit. He probably could make decent bank with this route.
4. Retire. He'll be 75 this year, so I would think this might be likely, particularly after his imminent defeat. Of course, he'd have to stomach the warm words and fond wishes of HRC as she tries to paint herself as his ally and friend, but he'll be out so who cares.

None of these outcomes would surprise me, though I'd tend to believe 2 as making the most sense: HRC may think she can harness some of the enthusiasm of his supporters while neutralizing him as a thorn and BS gets the illusion of power as well as a pay bump.
 
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