MoveOn Should BACK BERNIE

[Segami]

"....MoveOn decided to start the draft Warren campaign after polling the membership on what they wanted to do about 2016. Warren polled highest among potential candidates to support, while Sanders polled second. Now that Sanders is in and Warren isn’t going to get in, MoveOn should be looking for another project...."

from DailyKos:


On May 1 I started a petition urging MoveOn to back Bernie Sanders. Some of you have signed it, many haven't. However, to date 811 people have signed it. That's more than I ever expected since my resources are meager. I have stayed up nights wracking my brain about how to promote this petition. I have sent emails to friends and family and influential people who I thought might sign it and promote it. You may have seen my comments in diaries about Bernie Sanders where I have plugged the petition. Maybe you have seen it on Facebook, where I have promoted it in the comments on relevant articles. I have done this on Bernie’s own pages and a number of others. Some good soul promoted it on Thom Hartman’s forums. It may even be somewhere on Twitter and Reddit. I mention these different ways to promote the petition to help stimulate you to come up with your own good ideas. Bernie can use your creativity right now. Maybe, like me, you have volunteered for his campaign. Well, so have about 175,000 others, so it might be a while before the campaign contacts you and asks you to do something. Bernie can use your help right now, and this is a good way to jump into his campaign.



Some of you who haven't signed the petition might wonder why I bother. Well, I first heard about Bernie Sanders while he was mayor of Burlington, VT. He seemed to be a very unusual politician. First, he called himself a socialist in a conservative rural state. More importantly, he has consistently stood up for the interests of working and middle class people throughout his 35 years in politics. When he ran for Congress and the Senate, I began donating to his campaigns, although I couldn't vote for him. I have made a first contribution to his presidential campaign and have signed up as a volunteer. I think that most of you are probably in agreement with most of what he proposes, but are convinced that he could never get elected, so why bother? You might be right, except for one very important factor. Many Americans have reached a stage where they are "as mad as hell and not going to take it anymore." That's what the Tea Party is mostly about. That's what Occupy is about. Many voters, and non-voters too, are rapidly moving to the "left." That's why you keep hearing about "progressive" politicians. That's why so many middle-of-the-road Democratic politicians are suddenly proclaiming how "progressive" they are. You have probably noticed that Hillary Clinton, whose entire political career has been smack in the middle of the road, is running as fast as she can to the left, trying to keep up with the electorate. There is something of a traffic jam on the Road to Damascus. Many people are looking for Sanders' pragmatic, progressive solutions to their problems. I think that there is a small but significant chance that Bernie Sanders can win the presidency. He can attract many regular voters from both parties, including working class white men, whom the Democratic Party abandoned long ago.


~snip~

Nearly half the eligible voters don't even bother to vote because neither party addresses their concerns. When they hear from Sanders, though, they could very well decide that voting is worthwhile. Together, these groups may be large enough to put Sanders in office. I think the chances of this are good enough to make an effort to get him elected. Also, Sanders has consistently confounded the pundits who claimed that he couldn't get elected because he ran as an independent, because he's a socialist or too radical. The pundits have been wrong twenty times. That's why I'm asking you to sign the petition and to pass it along to others. If MoveOn puts its talent and energy at Bernie Sanders' disposal, instead of continuing the futile effort to draft Elizabeth Warren, we could increase dramatically Sanders' chance of winning. The earlier MoveOn moves on, the greater will be their impact. On Sunday, at the point that I had about 200 petition signers, MoveOn contacted me and said, "We're thinking about highlighting your petition on our website or maybe even emailing it to some of our other members." I think that means that perhaps they are beginning to realize that the Warren effort has run its course and that they may be ready to switch to Sanders. If that is so, your help on this petition drive could be critical.



MoveOn Should Back Bernie Sanders Petition




cont'

http://dailykos.com/story/2015/05/06/1382954/-MoveOn-should-back-Bernie

[murielm99]

1. I was a charter member of MoveOn.

I quit when they endorsed Obama before the primary. I think the primaries are important, not just for national elections, but for state and local races.

I hope MoveOn stays out of this one, too. Let the voters and the activists who do the real work in the real world make their voices heard first.

[Omaha Steve]

2. It could make things fun

[Blue_Adept]

3. Endorsements should wait until all the candidates have entered the ring

[leftofcool]

4. Move On will back the person they think can win, then disappear like they always do.

[mia]

5. +1

...another fundraiser for them.

[MohRokTah]

6. I agree more with Bernie on the issues than I do with Hillary Clinton.

A lot more.

I'm still voting for Hillary in the primaries because I see absolutely no way possible for Bernie Sanders to win a national election.

[KingCharlemagne]

8. That's a valid consideration if true. But can you please justify your reasoning why

Sanders cannot win a 'national election' if he has first toppled Hillary in the race for the nomination? I could see Sanders vs. Cruz racking up an electoral college landslide to rival LBJ's in 1964 or Reagan's in 1984.

[MohRokTah]

9. I can sum it up in a single word

Socialist

[KingCharlemagne]

11. I'm a Democratic Socialist and many of my comrades (both Socialist and Communist) are

highly critical of Sanders. Why? Because he's actually a capitalist and not a Socialist. Sanders is more akin to a European 'Social Democrat' but he believes that the means of production should remain in private hands (the bellwhether distinction between capitalist and socialist). So you're making some highly speculative argument based on tired out red-baitiing from 50 years ago. Not sure it has that same power today.

A far more pertinent quesiton to ask of both Sanders and Clinton, imo, is how each would govern with a Republican Congress (assuming both chambers remain in the control of the Republicans). Should we instead discuss this? How will Hillary or Bernie get any meaningful legislation past a Congress goverend by Boner and McChinless?

[MohRokTah]

12. Doesn't matter. Sanders opnely embraced the term.

That makes him completely unelectable on the national level. He'd lose the independents, and thus the white house, by vast margins. It would end up as a blowout even if he ran against Cruz.

The American electorate has no clue what that term really means and there's an axiom in politics, if you're explaining you're losing. Bernie would ahve to spend 18 months explaining and he'd still be unsuccessful at educating.

[KingCharlemagne]

13. I've been around some 55 years and I've never heard that axiom before. I guess we're just

going to have to agree to disagree for now, since each of us seems eminently capable of lobbing opinions at the other person. I actually think we have the luxury of debating, since both Sanders and HRC are clearly head and shoulders above anyone the fascists care to run in 2016.

[BrotherIvan]

14. I think you should go here and see people's reaction to "socialism"

http://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/

The reddit group has 30,000 people, mosty younger. A majority are new to politics and even in their 40s have never voted. They are interested in Bernie Sanders because he sounds honest, not like a slick pol.

When someone asks, what's socialism? and they get the answer, they reply, "Oh, what's the big deal?" Socialism isn't the charged word it used to be. You would have had to have been an adult during Reagan and the Cold War for it to have any meaning to you at all. When the person explaining it adds in "Social programs like Social Security and Medicare," the answer is even more favorable. Americans support socialist policies, they just have been taught that Socialism is bad. I think that can be changed very easily. Will old, Fox viewers voter for him? No. Does he need hardcore Republicans to win? No.

Independents will be far less likely to vote for the hard right Republican that will come out of their primary than the guy talking about free college and taxing billionaires, trust me.

[MohRokTah]

17. No need.

Those are not the voters that would cost Bernie a General Election.

And you'll never convince the voters he needs to win that they should vote for a self avowed Socialist.

[Segami]

16. So you honestly believe..

...voters would vote for crackpot Ted Cruz over Bernie Sanders in a general election?


"...It would end up as a blowout even if he ran against Cruz..."





That's a pretty lame statement to make.

[MohRokTah]

18. I know they would.

They voted for the crackpot George W. Bush over Al Gore, after all.

[Segami]

19. LOL!

Even republicans would cross the line and vote for Sanders over crackpot-moron Ted Cruz. The thought of handing the country's future over to Ted Cruz would be nothing short of crazy and treasonous since Cruz wants to dismantle the Constitution.

[merrily]

7. As long as WE back Bernie, I'm good.

[Orrex]

10. Wow. I'm old enough to remember when MoveOn existed.

[BrotherIvan]

15. Here is a petition for Democracy for America to back Bernie

https://www.change.org/p/democracy-for-america-endorse-bernie-sanders-in-the-2016-election