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I don't know what the future holds, but I know that a lot of people are dramatically underestimating the power of generating hope. For some reason the "moderate" Democrats always try to feed us a down-the-middle candidate that inspires no one and often loses. You see Bloomberg and Biden as safe, but if 2016 taught us anything, normal rules and perspectives don't matter anymore, it's a different ballgame. The candidate we need is the person who can get the most people motivated and hopeful, and in that Sanders is the best choice, despite his vulnerabilities.
On a side note, he really, REALLY needs to pick a centrist candidate to balance the ticket, and it should probably be someone who's running. Hillary's big unforced error was refusing to unite the party and turning her back on progressives. A Sanders / Klobuchar ticket would unite the party and kick the rats out of the White House.
I'm back from early voting. My state is a Super Tuesday one and early voting is open; I have a day off from work today so I went ahead and got there, and cast my ballot.
After months agonizing about this, and despite not really being a Sanders fan, I voted for Sanders after all.
I started my comments here this election cycle by calling Sanders a moron, a hypocrite, divisive, vacuously populist, opportunistic, partially responsible for Trump's win, ineffective, with pies-in-the-sky ideas, and called his followers hopelessly naive and arrogant. I said that in my limited capacity of being just one citizen, one vote, one common Joe, I'd still try to do all I could to try and prevent Sanders from winning the Dem nomination, and speaking against him here was part of this effort.
And I ended up voting for him. :shock:
I did it for several reasons, not exactly because I like him more than any other candidate.
See, it's because my ultimate goal is not to select candidate X or candidate Y in the Dem primaries. My ultimate goal is to beat Trump in November.
I came to believe that Sanders is the candidate who can generate the most enthusiasm, the most turnout, and is maybe the only one who can be competitive (as long as he picks a good veep) and beat Trump (although it won't be easy - but I think all the others are even worse equipped to beat Trump). I also warmed up to his Medicare For All proposal, despite being against it in the past, and since health care is a big focus for me, it was a big motivator for my vote: maybe it is time after all for single payer in America, and no president will be as enthusiastic about it as Bernie Sanders, so, this may be the one decent shot at doing it (although I remain very skeptical that it can be done, and worried about unintended consequences and turmoil - but I guess we can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs).
I also stopped worrying about moderates being alienated by Sanders and sitting out. You know, first of all, this is probably an exaggerated concern. The only people among moderates and independents who may come over to the Dem side are the anti-Trump folks, and those are almost guaranteed to prefer Sanders to Trump even if they don't particularly like Sanders. The moderates and independents who are for Trump won't come around and vote for any Dem, anyway. They are lost causes already.
Besides, Bernie's most radical ideas that spook moderates are not even likely to pass Congress, even if both houses get a Democratic supermajority, which is very unlikely anyway. If the Dems don't get both chambers and with a comfortable majority, then Sanders ideas won't pass anyway. It's not like America will turn "communist" (and I know, he is not communist) with widespread nationalizations and a Great Depression kind of Wall Street collapse if Sanders wins. Life will continue. Capitalism will survive.
Sanders regardless of what he does or doesn't do, or is not allowed to do (by means of congressional obstructionism), will still nominate judges and justices much more attentive to the rights of the citizens, in order to balance a bit the right-leaning courts that have been stuffed with people nominated by Trump who will be always more likely to find for the interests of corporations rather than the interests of the people.
Now, don't disappoint me, Senator Sanders!
I do hope that he picks a veep like Val Demings or Sherrod Brown or Stacey Abrams rather than one like Ayanna Presley or campaign insiders Nina Turner or Ro Khanna. He needs to show some ability to compromise and make concessions, and to reach out to the rest of the party beyond his circle of ultra-progressive people.
I'd prefer to see him pick someone to his right (even if still progressive) rather than an ideological twin. And if it's a youngish female of color, even better, because she will add some demographics to the ticket and enhance its support in November.
OK, so, Go Bernie!
I just hope that if he is not nominated, his followers will still vote Dem, as long as it is in a fair process.
Ah, you are now a Bernie bro!
I hope you will vote for the Dem candidate if it is not Bernie.
I don't know what the future holds, but I know that a lot of people are dramatically underestimating the power of generating hope. For some reason the "moderate" Democrats always try to feed us a down-the-middle candidate that inspires no one and often loses. You see Bloomberg and Biden as safe, but if 2016 taught us anything, normal rules and perspectives don't matter anymore, it's a different ballgame. The candidate we need is the person who can get the most people motivated and hopeful, and in that Sanders is the best choice, despite his vulnerabilities.
On a side note, he really, REALLY needs to pick a centrist candidate to balance the ticket, and it should probably be someone who's running. Hillary's big unforced error was refusing to unite the party and turning her back on progressives. A Sanders / Klobuchar ticket would unite the party and kick the rats out of the White House.
this will be a good thread to revisit after the election.
Really? So Trump's pick is the one that will beat him? There is something fishy about that. I think we would be better off with the candidate Trump fears most instead.
You know, the Hillary campaign tried to prop up Trump at the time of the GOP primaries, thinking that he would be the easiest one to beat. We saw how that turned out. These calculations can come back to bite ya. People including Trump and the GOP may be underestimating Bernie's capacity to be competitive in November. Again, especially if he picks his veep well, in the figure of a more moderate and solid politician, Bernie may be a force more formidable than Trump is expecting.
Because, yes, they will say "do you want this good economy we got going now, or do you want to junk it and go with commie Bernie who will destroy it?" But then, they'd make economy-related threats against any Dem nominee (might have more trouble making that claim if it is Bloomberg, but Bloomberg is less competitive than Bernie in November, for other reasons; not least, the fact that I can't see any Bernie fan voting for Bloomberg in November and there aren't enough Dem moderates to win the election on their own).
So, all this talk about "a socialist can't win" remains to be seen.
As of now, most polls show advantage Bernie in direct head-to-head match-up with Trump.
Only an idiot would vote for someone on the logic that candidate can't do what the candidate promises to do anyway.
But that is the Sander's campaign claims now:
1. Sanders is a pathological liar. They claim that Sanders is NOT a socialist and for over half a century he has been a pathological liar saying he is and
2. He won't or can't do anything he promises anyway.
So... the reason you should vote for Sanders is everything he says about himself and what he is going to do all are lies and always have been.
Seriously, only the most gullible idiots possibly in existence would vote for the candidate whose campaign is "believe me when I tell you everything I ever said and ever say is a lie. Vote for me."
iguanaman, a Bloomberg/Klobuchar, a Sanders/Klobuchar, and Buttigieg/Klobuchar and so forth is going to beat Trump.
What if Trump knows something we do not about Bernie and that is why he wants him to be the nominee? Trump cannot be trusted and Bernie has a long history...longer than Hillary's.
I observed an interesting thing last election cycle which was that before Hillary secured the nomination most of the millennials at my work place were solidly in favor of Bernie Sanders. But when he dropped out they then transferred their allegiance to the Donald Trump candidacy. What this seems to tell me is that many Americans are tired of the establishment and willing to fold their hand and wait for a fresh deal.
Agreed.
And I don't see Biden and Bloomberg as safe. I see them as guaranteed to lose to Trump, because most Sanders fans won't vote for them. If we believe that at least 25% of the Dem electorate are very committed Bernie fans, these people will be disgusted if Biden wins the nomination with a sleight of hand, or if Bloomberg buys his way into the nomination. The Dem nominee can't beat Trump if 25% of the Dem electorate defects.
Sure, in 2016 only 10% of disappointed Bernie fans crossed over to the other side... but this time, I think a lot more of them would do it, and likely all of them would do it if Bloomberg wins in a brokered convention, despite not being the candidate with the most pledged delegates. Even I would not vote blue if this happened, let alone Bernie's fans.
I didn't include Sanders/Klobuchar because I thought Sanders wouldn't invite her, and would get someone else like one of the names I suggested. But yes, if he does invite her, his ticket will be much more successful in November.
Really? So Trump's pick is the one that will beat him? There is something fishy about that. I think we would be better off with the candidate Trump fears most instead.
I don't think he is electable
I hope you will vote for the Dem candidate if it is not Bernie.
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