I flipped four Sanders voters this morning! Well, Sanders kind of did it, but...

[eastwestdem]

I'd like to think I reinforced it. I was at a new moms support group, six moms and their babies (including me). We often talk politics, all of us are Dems (we live in the SF Bay Area, so pretty normal here) and none of us is a rabid supporter of either candidate. However, for the past couple of months it has been pretty clear that two of us support Hillary, while the other four were leaning towards Sanders.

Today, one of the women wanted to turn on the TV to see Andrea Mitchell interview Sanders. We all watched, and when it was over there was a clear look of concern on a couple of the Sander's supporters faces. I said that it doesn't seem like he is very devoted to the party, or even cares if a Dem wins the GE. He has to know the odds are nearly impossible. Then the others just started jumping in and expressed distaste for him going after Hillary so forcefully. We all agreed that no good comes out of party infighting.

After 20 or so minutes of discussion, everyone in the room agreed that defeating Trump was far more important than sticking to idealism and voting for Sanders. I threw out several positive Hillary characteristics to help lessen the blow of releasing their candidate, and we talked about the delegate math and there was unanimous agreement that good Democrats should vote for Hillary.

On the way out of the house, one of the former Sanders supporters told me that she had never really seen that mean, selfish part of him before, and it totally turned her off. The last thing she said was "Politicians are supposed to be in it for the good of the country, not their own personal benefit. Clearly that is not the case with Bernie anymore."

[yallerdawg]

1. That's how to it!

Never give up on finding "good Democrats!"

[Koinos]

2. Anecdotal experience like that of so many others lately.

The mean and selfish side of Bernie is turning off some of his supporters.

[synergie]

21. It's the aspect of the likeability/popularity contest the media are fond of talking about

but always leave out, like any of the poll that favor Clinton, that they ignore to concentrate on the one that doesn't.

Bernie sounds good, but the more you get to know him and pay attention to what he's actually saying and doing, the less you like him, his whining about SDs is based on that, those are his colleagues, they don't like him.

The more people get to know Hillary, the more they like her. it's why they're doing the small rallies, and not the stadiums full of bused in folks who don't vote. Not only is it cheaper, but when there is more close interaction with Hillary, the more people like her. With Bernie, they like him when he's that professor holding forth from a stage but is a total jerk if you should try to talk to him one on one for any sort of explanation of what he was talking about.


Bernie has been pissing people off quite a bit. not only women but men who are picking up on the things he does that piss of women, like the moaning (he's the one who actually does that), the condescension, the dishonesty, and clear grifting that's going on in face of math and reality.

[kstewart33]

3. Bravo and thanks for your report.

One vote at a time.

[Her Sister]

4. Not the pure Saint they thought, eh!

Pope and all!

[puffy socks]

5. Bernie's

true colors are starting to leak through. I'm so glad there are many seeing this now. others never will see.

[LonePirate]

6. Tough to find a more liberal and progressive bastion of America than the SF Bay Area.

[Iliyah]

7. K & R

[skylucy]

8. Good for you! That interview was NOT a good one for ole Bernie. It would have been so easy for him

to call out Trump on his sexist ranting blaming Hillary for Bill's cheating. He was tone deaf to the sexism that women (and men who "get it&quot see with those kinds of attacks. When asked about the fact that he is helping Trump attack Hillary, he showed a pettiness and nastiness that was pretty spectacular. And then he whines that HE is being attacked by the Democratic Party???? Unbelievable.

[Cha]

14. Good gawd! Hoisted on his own petard! Poor burnie doesn't realize it but he is his

own worst enemy. It's not the Dem party he has to worry about.. it's burnie freaking sanders.

Thank you for that, skylucy.. I didn't see it.

[Hortensis]

16. I wish I'd seen it and appreciate the reports.

I especially appreciate hearing that his divisive behavior did not go over well.

Good for you, Eastwestdem, and congrats on being a mommy.

[kjones]

9. Good job!

[sarae]

10. WOOT!! good going!!

Nice to hear that there are people coming to their senses, along with your help.

I'll be so happy when the primary's wrapped up so all Dems can turn their attention on Donald Trump. I'm pretty confident she'll win in November, but I don't want to take anything for granted. Plus, I don't just want him to lose – I want him to be so humiliated that he never shows his face again.

I've never felt such loathing for a human being as I do for Trump.

[ladym55]

11. I heard this from another Bernie supporter

"This is not what I signed on for"

Bernie is turning off some genuine idealists, but the hardcore Hillary haters have Clinton Derangement Syndrome. They will prefer the Vulgar Talking Yam (thanks, Charlie Pierce) and the disasters he will bring rather than vote for a qualified woman.

[Cha]

15. "Vulgar Talking Yam".. lol Thanks Charlie Pierce via ladym!

[wysi]

12. Bravo!

Nice work!

[Cha]

13. Wow.. that must have been one hellava interview with AM! I've always said that BS is his own

worst enemy and there ya go!

"On the way out of the house, one of the former Sanders supporters told me that she had never really seen that mean, selfish part of him before, and it totally turned her off. The last thing she said was "Politicians are supposed to be in it for the good of the country, not their own personal benefit. Clearly that is not the case with Bernie anymore."

Thank you so much for this, eastwestdem! What a unique story!

[Cha]

17. "Politicians are supposed to be in it for the good of the country, not their own personal benefit."

She has burnie's number

[SharonClark]

18. Sanders likes to talk at acolytes at rallies

He doesn't know how to do interviews and comes across as a self-righteous and selfish prig.

[Fla Dem]

19. More and more of the "True Believers" are beginning to see the man behind the curtain.

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[UtahLib]

20. Once the rose colored glasses come off,

they discover that their shiny new object is nothing more than a tarnished worthless antique.

[dbackjon]

22. Two good friends of mine

One, a native Vermonter and a Democrat, the other, an unreconstructed republican from the South that works in DC, both have told me about BS's mean, nasty and petty side, so it is no surprise it is coming out.

[Cha]

25. Some people must like that.. It would be horrible in a POTUS.

[NastyRiffraff]

23. Well done, eastwestdem!

Wonderful story. This is how it's done; one voter (or better yet, four!) at a time.

[Cha]

24. KICK!

[lunamagica]

26. K&R. Good job!

[SunSeeker]

27. Yes, Sanders showed his truly ugly side in that interview. Here's the link:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/11/bernie_sanders_to_andrea_mitchell_dont_moan_to_me_about_hillary_clintons_problems.html#ooid=81cnlmMzE6jCP9jqeIUClKK4WPfHqe2l

In it, Mitchell tries to ask Sanders about the "two front war" Hillary is fighting, being attacked by Sanders from one side and Trump from the other. Sanders rudely interrupts Mitchell and says "Please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems." 

Mitchell was taken aback by the rude, sexist statement (has Sanders ever accused a man of "moaning" in describing a man's question?). Mitchell corrected Sanders: "I don't think that I was 'moaning about Hillary Clinton's problems'..." 

Truly disgusting display by Sanders. 

Mitchell was asking a perfectly legitimate question. Sanders himself said in that interview that defeating Trump was the most important thing. If that is the case, then why is Sanders forcing Hillary to spend money fighting a two-front war when she needs to save her money for the GE? Why is he attacking Hillary with claims that she is "unqualified"? Mitchell played a clip of Trump gleefully parroting Sanders' "unqualified" smear and asked Sanders about that. Sanders refused to answer. He instead insulted Mitchell, accusing her of "moaning"...much the way Trump insults female journalists who ask him uncomfortable questions.

[caquillo]

28. I didn't convert anyone, per se

But the other day, I had a pleasant exchange on YouTube with a Sanders supporter. It was a video released last week, in which the uploader predicted that Sanders would win (the nomination and presidency) and that Hillary would end up in prison. Anyway, a person posted this:

Karl Cotleanu 1 day ago
Here is a thought?? Hillary has seemingly won the Democratic primaries so now she has ditched the party base and is out courting the Republicans. She now wants to appeal to the Republicans that she is their pro establishment candidate. She knows she can't win on the Democratic ticket without massive voter fraud, but can she win as a Republican in disguise? Sound crazy?

And here's our exchange:

musicaltheatergeek79 1 day ago
+Karl Cotleanu uh, every presidential candidate tries to pivots to the center in the general election. What Hillary is doing, trying to court the other side, is not unusual. It just means that she is focusing more and more on the general, since the primaries are all but over. With less than a month to go and a nearly 300 pledge delegate lead and 3 million more votes, there's no chance for Sanders to make up the deficit. And the superdelegates always side with the candidate with the most pledge delegates, which will be Hillary. It's the same thing that happened in 2008, except this time Hillary is winning and will be given the nomination -- not because the supers are cheating, but because she has the most pledge delegates. It's that simple.

Karl Cotleanu 16 hours ago
+musicaltheatergeek79 Hi, I wish I could disagree with you, but that is a very sound and logical assessment. Thanks for the clarification.

musicaltheatergeek79 7 hours ago
You're welcome. Thank you for not biting my head off or worse. I try to comment respectfully online, but this primary season I've been bombarded by Sanders supporters. It's lessened recently, though. Take care and be well!