Bernie Isn't Best for Black Voters

[SecularMotion]

Iowa and New Hampshire had their turns in the spotlight. At the end of the month, South Carolina will host its own Democratic primary. Compared to those first two states, ours is highly diverse. Battle ground, trial phase – call it what you will – South Carolina, once home to the civil rights movement and Barack Obama's surge, can help vet the candidate best aligned with the black community.

Bernie Sanders is not that candidate – not next to Hillary Clinton. From his bouts with the president, to the laws he contested, to the company he keeps, Sanders raises alarm bells for Obama supporters, especially those from the African-American community.

Back in 2012, while still a proud independent, Sanders took a page from the Republican playbook and called for a primary challenge to Obama's presidency. His aim: to contrast "a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is doing," as if to say affordable health care and safe cities are not "progressive" enough goals. The Democrats I know would disagree.

That anti-Obama jab followed an earlier resistance to the Affordable Care Act, now considered President Obama's greatest legacy. Back in 2009, coming from the far-left wing, Sanders held out on voting "yes," hoping instead for an impossible ideal. Over 200,000 South Carolinians now have quality, affordable health insurance through Obamacare. If Sanders fulfills his campaign promise and starts those talks from a blank slate, he risks undoing years of progress.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-02-16/black-voters-who-value-obamas-legacy-should-vote-clinton-not-sanders

[KingFlorez]

1. Black voters really do not know what is good for them

In fact, Bernie is too good for them and they do not deserve him

[bravenak]

3. Oh yes, totally

[Ken Burch]

5. The truth is that Bernie is gaining among black voters.

And you are probably white, so who the hell are you to claim to speak for black voters.

[KingFlorez]

7. Oh my goodness

Actually, I am black, so I know a little something about what I'm talking about. No one in my family has had a positive thing to say about Sanders.

[Ken Burch]

14. Thousands of POC in that gym at Morehouse College would seem to disagree with your family.

Not sure what Bernie ever did to you that could possibly be worse than HRC and Bill's role in causing mass incarceration.

[KingFlorez]

18. Sanders didn't do anything to me

I just prefer to vote for Clinton. I supported her even before Sanders entered the race. I'm not supporting Clinton to slight Sanders.

[Ken Burch]

22. Than why is your primary way of supporting Clinton to be dismissive of Bernie

Why don't you support her by making a positive case for whatever agenda she proposes?

Why not at least admit that the issues the Sanders movement(which is multi-racial) raises are valid and SHOULD be part of the discussion?

You could campaign like that. Instead, you mainly just snark.

And you falsely accuse Bernie, over and over again, of dismissing the importance of fighting racism when he has never dismissed it during any point in his career.

[KingFlorez]

25. I never accused Sanders of doing anything

You are mentioning things that I never posted. Whatever his position on race is has nothing to do with why I'm supporting Clinton.

[JRLeft]

46. You prefer a corporatist neoconservative.

[jillan]

32. I watched that and no one can tell me

That Bernie has a problem with black voters!!! That was such an inspirational rally.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. And that is fine, speak for you and your family

I am getting tired of people claiming to speak for a whole demographic. You don't. I speak to plenty of kids in the BLM movement, and they do not agree with you or your family.

The difference, they speak for themselves, not others, and to many of them mass incarceration and Bill Clinton are central to why they oppose Hillary.

[KingFlorez]

19. You sure told me

In 2008 my family split evenly between Clinton and Obama. I'm just sharing my observations, not speaking for everyone.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Yet you claim to speak for all PoC

that is insulting.

And I am personally tired of it.

As of now, you enter the noise machine... all you are, with some of your friends, is noise, white noise, to lull me to sleep.

[KingFlorez]

23. And I'm tired of the lectures

A lot of Sanders supporters keep acting like blacks are obligated to Sanders because his policies are supposedly more favorable. I'm insulted by the notion that you all need to educate blacks about how to vote.

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. I am not lecturing you

just telling you that as far as I am concerned you speak for yourself, I speak for myself, and that is the extent of it.

And I am not a Sanders supporter, but when I speak I speak from talking to sources.

Mass incarceration figures highly in the considerations of many of my local BLM leaders, they are tired of seeing their cohorts going to jail and prison. And they blame Clinton, Bill Clinton to be specific.

And I am a PoC, so take that victimhood status somewhere else. In other words, cry me a fucking river.

have a good day, night, life, whatever you want to have.

[KingFlorez]

26. Boo hoo

Blocked.

[bravenak]

30. Smart

[bravenak]

29. And they love to lecture us on who to speak for or who not to speak for.

Then proceed to speak for black folks other than us. Because non black people lecturing black people on not to speak for black people is not strange as hell.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. speaking of white noise

You made the list, for the best of reasons.

[bravenak]

34. I hope it is yr ignore list I made

If not please place me there asap

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. I place none on ignore, just ON THE LIST

and it is not a good list.

So be proud, you ARE IN THE LIST, for the best of reasons. And your posts are nothing more and nothing less than sheer comedy and white noise.

Hey, at least you have a future, perhaps, in comedy.

[JRLeft]

48. Hillary acts like I owe her.

[Number23]

55. For what it's worth, it is clear that you have not even PRETENDED to say that you speak for all

people of color nor have you portrayed yourself as as "victim." I've read every post of yours in this thread and you've done neither of those things. You aren't the problem here.

Some folks see what they want and you should probably follow everyone else's lead and just leave those kinds of folks alone.

[TTUBatfan2008]

17. Not one positive thing...

...even though Hillary Clinton agrees with him on a ton of policy ideas. That's interesting.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

36. We KNEE-GROWS never know what's good for us. We always need white liberals to tell us and

treat us like children when we don't comply. TRUTH! (No sarcasm needed.)

[frylock]

38. So what happens when black voters start breaking for Bernie?

Are you prepared for the backlash?

[KingFlorez]

41. So far, that hasn't happened

Sanders path to the nomination isn't through blacks, it is through white voters. Even if he won the nomination, he'd still lose black votes. He doesn't need them.

[beam me up scottie]

2. Another failed meme from someone who works for Hillary, he won't dismantle Obamacare.

He wants Medicare for all.

Next?

[bravenak]

4. We don't seem to prefer him

[bvf]

28. Written as for some imaginary monolith.

Always entertaining to see.

[bravenak]

35. I actually read the polls

[bvf]

40. Good for you.

Then you'll understand that the only people you speak for are those who agree with you.

Looking forward to more of your tautologies.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. At this pont they are highly entertaining

I just need to open one notebook to find real people, who happen to be PoC, who do not agree with this

I also find some who believe the system is so rigged that why bother voting, and yes the HRC supporters, and the Carson and Trump supporters. Primary season, is not at all one road to a single statement.

[Rocky the Leprechaun]

47. I'm sure the 65+ demographics is delighted for you to join them

as a minority millennial.

That's all Clinton is getting. Just the 65+ demo, and the 200k+/year earners.

[thesquanderer]

50. A poll I saw today...

...said that Hillary is doing better among Dem AA voters by about 2 to 1 in SC. On one hand, yes, that's huge. OTOH, that still leaves about a third of AA voters preferring Bernie, and that is hardly an insignificant number. He has more AA support than some people thought he would have. It's not like Hillary has 90%+.

[bravenak]

51. I thought he'd get to forty

Now i do not

[nc4bo]

6. *one voter at a time*. Chip. Chip. Chippin' away. nt

[Trajan]

8. Gone

Finally

[m-lekktor]

11. I find them entertaining.

[Perogie]

9. Next time try adding potato salad to your meme

[Jester Messiah]

10. Yeah, better to support Madame Prison-for-Profit. [nt]

[Lucky Luciano]

12. Bernie has two major bones to pick with Obama.

1) cutting SS benefits was offered to the psychopaths in congress. Luckily, they didn't bite - maybe it was part of the grand plan, but a sacred cow was offered for sacrifice.
2) the TPP is bad for workers.

I like Obama a lot, but he is not beyond criticism- even aggressive criticism if it is thoughtful.

[CharlotteVale]

15. I'll never forgive those two betrayals myself.

[Jarqui]

13. He's involved with Clinton

https://www.facebook.com/bakarisellers/posts/956920087731722
We are having @HillaryClinton in my home, Denmark, SC to talk about making the Corridor of Shame into a Corridor of Hope.

Introduces her at a rally (bottom of the page):
https://shar.es/14I3jo

[SidDithers]

21. DU rec for all the best reasons...nt

Sid

[6chars]

27. "black voters" are tens of millions of individuals

what does it mean for someone to be "best for" or not "best for" everyone with a particular racial background?

[monicaangela]

37. Excellent question..

This wouldn't make any difference if the African American vote wasn't so valuable. I hope the African American community takes the time to leverage that vote.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. Lectures of how a whole demographic thinks

is easy to debunk. Just from my fucking notes, from local sources.

There is a term for this in logic... it is called a fallacy

[jfern]

39. Why of course he's not the best candidate for all black people

For example, Ben Carson is the best candidate for Ben Carson.

[cui bono]

42. That whole primary thing has been debunked.

He never "called for a primary challenge". He casually mentioned something in response to a caller about it might be a good thing and clarified the next week that he was not calling for a primary challenge. This all happened on Thom Hartmann's radio show during the weekly segment Brunch with Bernie.

.

[Motown_Johnny]

44. Ben Jealous seems to disagree n/t

[pangaia]

49. The intentional or unintentional ignorance of Bakari Sellers is stunning.

This piece is like a Reader's Digest summary of reality.

[bvf]

54. It isn't ignorance

so much as cowardice, it seems.

Check this out:

http://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/56925/bakari-sellers/#.VsQKv8tOnqA

[californiabernin]

52. Let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late...

"If Sanders fulfills his campaign promise and starts those talks from a blank slate, he risks undoing years of progress."

Sanders has made no such promise. It is a myth that he would work to repeal Obamacare in the absence of anything better. Chelsea Clinton first started this meme, and it's being repeated here. Repeating a lie doesn't make it any less a lie.

[Gothmog]

53. Clinton would preserve and continue President Obama's legacy