I appreciate this post. I'm still incredibly hopeful for making real change.Just for "fun", I feel like lining up the facts of this election where Biden and Sanders are concerned. Let's see:
BIDEN
- barely visited any ST states
- took an unexpected loss in Iowa (4th place, barely viable)
- took an even bigger L in New Hampshire (5th place, 8%)
- took another loss in Nevada, with a 26.6% gap between Sanders and him
- finally won in South Carolina with a similar gap, almost entirely through the support of one very specific demographic
- currently has a 5% lead in popular vote... thanks to low turnout in caucus states vs. primary states
SANDERS
- has been campaigning like hell all around the country
- has a grassroots movement with the highest number of donors and donations
- won the popular vote in Iowa, tied in delegates
- won New Hampshire
- crushed Nevada
- has the most diverse coalition of any candidate by far, with an emphasis on younger and first-time voters
- has been polling consistently better than any other candidate against Trump, and beats Trump in almost all of them
- by pretty much all metrics, is the legitimate frontrunner and has been for a while.
Based on that data alone, without engaging in hypotheticals about corruption, collusion or schemes of any kinds, and without even talking about programs... You cannot just drop out before ST and go "we need someone who can win, and that's why I endorse Biden". And you certainly cannot think "this is the future of the party and the country." Not with that kind of base. Not with those results. You would have to be delusional or an idiot. At best, you should take a wait and see approach.
So this really doesn't make any sense unless you, as a candidate for the presidency:
- only care about ideology, everything else be damned; you don't care about the people's choice or democracy or your party or being sensible, and therefore you should drop any pretense of doing this to "win" or because you want to "bring people together."
- are tied to some shady business and interests (corporate interests, of course); I'm not necessarily saying anything illegal - because the US and many capitalist countries, unfortunately, are willing to legalize tons of shitty practices -... but I'm definitely saying immoral things. Things that are not in the interest of anyone but the elites and yourself.
Am I surprised that Buttigieg and Klobuchar are endorsing Biden, and that Warren is doing... whatever she's doing? Not really.
I know. You're reading this, and thinking: "Dude, that's how politics work."
Yeah, exactly, that's how politics work, and I hope you can see by now that the way it works is fucking broken, and nobody who even has a passing interest in democracy, their neighbor or progressive ideals should defend it. This is not normal, folks, and this isn't a game. There's no time for politicking, or punditry, or gotchas, or civility. Lives are at stakes. Not just the immediate lives of US citizens and immigrants who are dying right this instant, but everyone's. US interventionism is putting far-right puppet leaders and causing death and unrest all over the world. Climate change is out of control. I'm from across the Atlantic, and I can't even vote in this election, but honestly, this situation has me furious. Seeing some of the posts on here has me furious. This isn't a fucking game. This isn't about about your favorite sports team winning the game. This isn't about stanning for one particular man or woman. You think the people who want a guy like Bernie to win want to do it just to "own the libs?" You think they - we - want it because we like to be right? The not-so-dirty little secret is that we don't care about Bernie. He's just one dude. Before long, he'll die. And AOC's probably better anyway. But he'll have some power to enact positive change as president of the most powerful country on Earth.
I wish I could tell you Bernie Sanders was the worst candidate, or even a mediocre one; that would mean there's at least one other candidate who's far more promising than him. Far more ambitious. Far more popular. But that's not the case. For a time, I thought Warren might either be the best or second best choice. I don't think that anymore, but if you personally still do, I don't blame you. She's still, for all intents and purposes, the second most inspiring candidate in the race. However, the obvious reality is that the time when she was the projected Democratic hope is long gone. You've seen the results in the first 4 states. You've seen the polls. And you also know that if your ideology and preferred policies closely match hers, Bernie is still your next best candidate, and the only one of the two who has a fair shot. But we can't afford to gamble here. All hands on deck, as they say. So I'm asking you to forget the bickering about rat emojis and #BernieOrBust hashtags on Twitter for 5 seconds, and to try to see the big picture instead. Ask yourselves: why are these people so passionate and uncompromising? Why are they asking us to support this crazy-looking old white guy? Why won't they accept any substitute?
Well, the truth is, we're not passionate; we're terrified, for ourselves and for you - as you should be too. But we're also hopeful; we think there's still a way out of this if we recognize the harsh conditions of 2020 US and 2020 Earth, and if we can band together to try and solve them. We don't have time. People are dying and will keep dying out there. This isn't even (just) about beating Trump. It's about what makes sense given the US and the world's current predicament. It's about everyone, and it's about survival. And if you've read all this, and you're thinking "lol, so corny, who the fuck does this guy think he is?", I'm asking to take a step back, and see the message beyond the words. We're all in this together.
With all that said, crossing my fingers for tomorrow. We can do this.
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Democratic Presidential Primaries & Caucuses |March OT| Last Tuesday was 1000 years ago, old news no one cares about (Discussion Guidelines in OP)
- Thread starter Poodlestrike
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I appreciate this post. I'm still incredibly hopeful for making real change.
This is weird as fuck, he's literally endorsing him right now lol
On the other hand Biden has moments where he's literally unable to string a sentence together.
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The American people expect that from a president now
It's because people with experience in elections don't see Bernie as electable in a general election. It isn't that they hate his policies.
I gotta say, this reads like it's coming from Pete's camp. Especially that criticism of Sanders:
Why would he talk like that to Obama and Biden? This seems like PR for Pete to save face.
Clownish behavior from Lis Smith. Pete literally just endorsed Biden
All Bernie has to do to win is get more votes than anyone else.
I don't understand why so many are acting like that is some sort of unfair standard.
I'm fired up. I'm going to fight for the more progressive candidate who is better on 99% of all topics. Someone who isn't taking in money from big money donors, speaks up for the most vulnerable (ex. Palestinians), has the better record, and who I can trust will fight for the positions I believe in.
I wouldn't mind hearing from Pete in the future. I never want to hear from Lis Smith again in my life.
The fourth place candidate, the fifth place candidate, and some also rans. We'll see how much that moves the needle, but the panic is sort of funny.
Every single candidate on that debate stage except Bernie disagrees with this notion.
There's no way Bernie becomes the nominee unless he gets a decisive majority of delegates.
A lot of things happening at once there. Though, I will give you that there is a reason that multiple campaigns were pushing for Bloomberg to be allowed in the debate for precisely the reason that he'd make a good punching bag.
no I know but important staffers in pete's and biden's campaigns were trying to dunk on a seemingly correct tip on twitter and I don't know, kind of feels strange no? I saw that scroll by and was like, is this real? the shit literally happened minutes after they tweeted that can't be real right?
And Bernie disagreed in 2016. That's politics. Bernie is, at the end of the day, a politician.
I disagree.
He can get more votes and still lose, because if he goes into the convention with 1,990 delegates, they'll steal the nomination from him on the second ballot.
It is just hilarious how "never bernie" the moderates are; why are they SO scared? I haven't seen democrats so committed unified to doing something; if they put this much effort actually governing shit we might actually accomplish something.
At the moment bernie is mostly the frontrunner because of a spilt vote.It's very possible that the primary ends up with biden taking a decent lead over bernie once the moderates fully coalesce around him
It flies in the face of what you just said and you know it's not as simple as getting the most votes. You can't dismiss it as "it's politicks!" because it's fundamentally broken and needs to change.
For alot of people in the Dem party (and this forum tbh) the idea of giving people lower than them better lives is beyond the pale.
No.
But, you know, if Bernie can't beat Joe Biden, then he probably can't beat Donald Trump.
Seriously, did we miss the part of the debates where every candidate BUT bernie said this was the strategy? What a strange thing to say given the rules here
Not true
Weird then that every candidate on the stage suggested it was then.
Lol, absurd someone with her history of abuse made it this far and got as many endorsements as she did (thanks NYT) but she's gone now ig
Depends on who you are talking about. Plenty of them do hate his policies.
Remember how we all joked...
It was still a shit attempt to make the narrative not about Bernie's gains, so...
Remember how we all joked...
honestly i've been thinking about this image since Klob dropped out
We can still do this. Super Tuesday will be a blowout even with endorsements. You watch. Bernie's ground game is second to none.
So you think he'll get the nomination taken away from him even if he clears a MAJORITY of delegates? Stop being delusional please. I prefer Sanders to Biden by a large amount but this is just absurd.
Like when Obama worked his ass off and spent a ridiculous amount of political capital to finally get healthcare reform through even knowing the backlash would be insane?
God some of these scorching takes...
Like I get it, the Dem party isn't as far left as you (or I) would like, but to pretend they never do anything at all good is insanity. And if you're saying that then I don't know how the fuck you expect Sanders to do anything as president. You do know he has to work with them, right?
They can say what they want. I believe the person with the delegate plurality will win the nomination.
If that's not what happens, then we can start bitching about how unfair this all is, and I would absolutely agree.
That's why I put the word in quotation marks. And I believe that she's certainly more moderate and establishment-friendly than Bernie.
It may be too little too late at least for Super Tuesday. At least a few of the States have early voted already. Early Pete and Amy voters got left out cold.
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