Bernie-izing Biden

[TexasTowelie]

While acknowledging their multiple policy differences, Bernie Sanders gave a full-throated endorsement to Joe Biden yesterday. Still, it will take more than Bernie’s blessing to convince some younger leftists to swallow hard and vote for Joe come November.

The Biden people are certainly cognizant of the need to unite the party by scrambling leftward on a number of key issues. Already, Biden has extended his pledge to make two-year public colleges tuition-free to four-year public colleges, too. He has about-faced on bankruptcy law, rejecting his own Scroogeian legislative creation in favor of Elizabeth Warren’s more human-friendly model. He has endorsed forgiving student debt to students who attended public colleges and universities who earn less than $125,000 a year. And he’s come out for reducing the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 60.

Each of these shifts moved incrementally toward specific Sanders and Warren positions, of course, and each of these candidates’ camps has committed to setting up joint policy committees to see if they can hammer out additional midpoint positions, which still will wind up to the left of where Biden’s been coming from.

The coronavirus pandemic presents some immediate opportunities for Biden to support a more functional safety net. Sanders and Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) have introduced legislation that would commit the federal government to picking up all the health care expenses of uninsured virus patients. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has called for the federal government to emulate a number of European governments by paying for the salaries of workers who’d otherwise be furloughed or laid off, so that businesses won’t have to hire anew when the shutdown is lifted, and workers won’t have their purchasing power reduced and their lives thrown into more turmoil than is necessary. (Jayapal has written a similar bill.)

Read more: https://prospect.org/politics/bernie-izing-biden/
(American Prospect)

[JI7]

1. They didn't even vote for Sanders

[SamBob]

2. Bernie-izing Biden

I know others who say they will be voting progressive no matter what, but I'm not so sure that will help the situation necessarily, either.

[The Magistrate]

3. Your Meaning Is Unclear, Sir

Do you care to speak more plainly?

[SamBob]

5. Dang.

Ouch.
Sorry if it was hard to understand?

I'm not sure if by them deciding to vote for Bernie (because they said they would write them in possibly? or if Bernie's name will still be on the ballot?) I don't really understand what they were saying, but they said they won't vote for Biden or Trump and still vote for all progressive.

[JI7]

7. They aren't voting for any progress if they don't vote for Biden in November

[still_one]

8. Then they aren't progressive, and they have just made themselves obsolete

Real liberals know what is at stake. At the minimum the SC

Anarchists and losers

[The Magistrate]

10. Not To Vote For Mr. Biden, Sir, Is To Vote For The Cheap Thug Trump

Hardly something anyone with any commitment to left and progressive policies would ever consider.

It was unclear both what you meant by 'voting progressive', and whether if that did mean the sort of spoiler behavior that makes it impossible for the left to have any influence in our political life, you approved of it.

"Enquiring minds want to know."

"Defeat of a hated enemy is something to be for."

[SamBob]

11. Not To Vote For Mr. Biden, Sir, Is To Vote For The Cheap Thug Trump

Definitely not me wanting to be progressive in any way.
I have voted for Biden and will continue to do so in november. :]

[The Magistrate]

13. Welcome To The Forum, Sir

I apologize for the waspish mood your first comment caught me in.

Be well, and stay safe!

[SamBob]

15. Welcome To The Forum

Thank you! you be well yourself, and stay safe.
But no, understandable. I'm just so used to sugar coating my views, because my husband's friends have picked on me for my views on Trump especially (funny, because they hate Trump now since this pandemic started) Told my husband they can shove it, since they didn't believe me before about trump being a moron. I won't talk to them, because of the way they are and the way they think and their lack of researching skills, haha.

[still_one]

14. You seem to not grasp the point. NO REAL PROGRESSIVE WOULD NOT VOTE FOR BIDEN

They played this game in 2016

They aren't going to fool anyone this time with their pseudo liberal bullshit

They have just made themselves irrelevant and obsolete

Real progressives will be voting for the Democratic nominee

F**k them

[SamBob]

23. sorry about that

I forget there are some out there that were conservative and others that are real progressives that are literally going to vote blue all the way. I know a couple of people who are doing that, and they aren't acting like the ones who are basically being childish about the whole thing.

I will be voting Biden. and what i am basically saying is that you are right!!

[still_one]

24. Thanks.

[dustyscamp]

25. They are going to vote Green

They don't think Biden is progressive enough

[SamBob]

26. :/

That is truly sad.
Especially since he is trying to work with Sanders and progressives to support things that they want as well.
It's unfortunate they are being so negative sighted.

[Cha]

6. What situation, necessarily?

[JI7]

4. Anyone who needs convincing to vote Democratic is not a liberal

they do not care for traditional democratic values since the days of FDR and JFK .

I find most of them hostile to women's rights and other social issues which for women and minorities also influences them economically.

So the reason these people struggle is because their hostility to things like women's rights make it tougher to vote for most democrats.

[SamBob]

9. Anyone who needs convincing to vote Democratic is not a liberal

I was speaking with a friend and mentioned to them about the accusations Reade has made against Biden, and her many other names plus her support of Biden back then, and they seemed super surprised to hear about it. Maybe they are also having a harder time trying to research anything.

That and like you say, they are very hostile in terms of when it comes down to women's rights. It doesn't matter if they might be lying. You have to support them through that time. The logic there just does not make much sense to me. Questioning my friend hasn't been much help either, as they are set on how they feel about things like that.

My other friend who is a Bernie fan will not look at me or talk to me, but will speak to my husband, because she knows I'm voting Biden to get Trump out, and she fully believe what Bernie's Campaign has put out there against Biden.

[still_one]

12. Exactly, because any liberal knows this is the last chance for the SC

and ignoring that fact, and not caring if trump is re-elected says everything one needs know about them

These pseudo liberals played the same bullshit in 2016, except the big difference is no one is fooled this time by their garbage, and they have just made themselves irrelevant for a very long time

[duforsure]

16. I hope Biden is smart enough

To accept more Saunders and Warren policies, and have them both heading up ways to generate revenues ASAP . The longer they wait doing this , the longer and worse this will be. Perfect time to start suggesting they reverse the 2017 tax scam bill giving millionaires huge refunds yearly.

[Squinch]

17. I hope we will dispense with threats like this nonsense soon.

It is just more of the old, "do everything BS wants or his followers won't vote for you."

Also, it's crap. Biden has already said he would reverse the 2017 tax bill.

[The Magistrate]

19. A Good Many Of Sanders' Devotees, Sir

Have little idea of the actual policies of other candidates, or of the Democratic Party itself.

'Bernie says it's bad!' often really is the horizon of their awareness....


"Defeat of a hated enemy is something to be for."

[treestar]

21. Biden got more votes, so his changing into Bernie or Warren

completely is not going to wash.

[Laelth]

18. The party has a rare opportunity to move the whole country to the left a little.

Biden is flexible and reasonable. No reason to believe he won't work to give the people what they want.

My only objection is that the term "Bernie-izing" gives Bernie too much credit.

-Laelth

[Codeine]

20. They couldn't even be bothered to vote for Actual Bernie.

I have little faith that they will turn out for non-Bernie.

[Hortensis]

22. Both this slanted article and discussion seem to be diverting

backward instead of moving forward. Both Biden and Obama are not mincing words. They are committed to giving enthusiastic Sanders supporters reason for enthusiastic engagement in the rescue of our democracy.

They think it's so important that they both put it in their main messages, along with assurances to all of us of what we all know: that we must take bold steps and use the many Republican disasters and neglects that have grown into giant problems to catalyze big action. Democrats in the 1930s did just this with the New Deal. We're going to do it again.

So are we individually on board or aren't we? This article is very irritating, but does it really matter to what we want to accomplish if resentful factionalists spin Biden's plans as "scrambling leftward" and "about-facing"? As long as we make them happen?

We know what VP Biden wants and needs.

Btw, when I searched this forum for "Biden" and "Obama" yesterday, incredibly their names had dropped to the third and to the fourth screens! This is a huge and exciting turning point, but I'm guessing people on both "sides" were thrown by Sanders suddenly joining Biden and by both Biden and President Obama embracing him as an old buddy. Understandable, requires some adjustment, but let's try to put the transition to commitment to success on fast forward.