Why Sanders won't drop out before the convention and why I won't push for it.

[NCTraveler]

I posted this as a reply yesterday and decided to make it an op. I find the calls for Sanders to drop out, and the calls for him to stay in, to be nothing short of beating heads against walls.

1) Even if Sanders money decreases over the next month(s), he will still have an enormous haul. These will continue to be small donations from a lot of people. Sanders sees that and understands it's not about him.

2) A large amount of people have come out to support him at rallies and at the polls. They will continue to show up, even if the numbers slightly decline in the coming months. Sanders sees that and understands it's not about him, it's about promoting massive change from within.

3) Sanders cannot trust the DNC and he must go to the convention. He must hold his delegates and go with as much clout as he can. It's about more than winning. He has to hold as many cards as he can. The people have given him this voice, it's not about him.

4) Sanders tested the waters to see if there was support for massive change in this country when I believe he had no true plans to do so originally. The people looked back at him and roared with acceptance. The timing couldn't have been better in a two party system where the democrats field consisted of three people. The perfect opportunity. There can be no quit. It wasn't about him from the beginning.

5) What kind of person quits halfway through a primary when they are calling for a revolution? Not the Sanders kind.

Sanders was a righteous activist at a young age. He then disappeared for a bit as many did in those days. He started to run for office as an activist and failed more often than succeeded. He then started taking a different approach and became a career politician. Literally decades with almost no leadership nationally. He represented his constituency well.

He found his roots as an activist early on in this primary. We are seeing the Sanders of his youth. I truly consider what he is doing as more activism than candidate. It's really fun to watch in my opinion. It's not about him and he is consciously owned by his supporters. Not all of them, but most.

I have some serious issues with many of his positions. He was my third choice in this primary. O'Malley, Clinton, Sanders, Webb/Chaffee. I voted for Clinton in the Florida primary. I hold Sanders in extremely high regard as a person. His conscience will not allow him to drop out as he is carrying a message for millions. He would sacrifice his health and life to be their voice.

Because we disagree on what many Sanders supporters say are the reasons he will stay in, which I strongly do, we should still hold true to ourselves. That's all I'm doing here.

[merrily]

1. You won't push for it? Whew! What a relief!

[NCTraveler]

2. I wans't looking to provide you with any relief.

Really not sure what your comment has to do with anything.

[merrily]

3. But you did anyway, bless your heart.

[NCTraveler]

7. I didn't in any way at all. Really not sure what your relief has to do with any of it. nt.

[merrily]

14. I'm just so relieved that you're not pushing for it.

And I get to be the only judge of whether I am relieved or not. Sorry!

[NCTraveler]

15. Sweet. Then I am extremely happy that I have brought you relief.

Very positive unintended side note. Thanks for that.

[merrily]

23. And I'm happy you're happy I'm relieved.

Life is good.

[rock]

22. I'm so happy to hear you're relieved

Just as I am every time I see a post about, "I'm voting for Bernie, and here's why." Because I want to know!

[bkkyosemite]

8. You voted for Hillary that is what your comment said to me. Bernie is going to the

convention with the hope of winning and you and nobody else will take that away from him or his supporters. You Hillary supporters keep the it's a done deal genre before it's a done deal. You give other reasons for his going to the convention except the main one that he can still pull it off. Irks me.

[NCTraveler]

11. "You voted for Hillary that is what your comment said to me."

Yes, I did say that. I was very proud to vote for her. As were my mother and a couple of other individuals I drove to the polls.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. I think it's important that we all see the results of the election

It's important that both Clinton and Sanders supporters and the public at large actually see the vote tallies for the remaining states. It's especially important for Sanders supporters.

I want them to see the actual results.

[Betty Karlson]

6. Thanks: so would I

[riversedge]

5. I have always thought there was something

to this notion. I do not believe when he started--at the very beginning that he would go as far as he has. He has the last several months said that many times. Yet, I do think his ego is and has kicked in last several months and now it is directing him---for better or for worse. IMHO. I am not pushing him to leave the primaries--nor will I. Although I will be happy if he does. We need to rally around one nominee now. I think Hillary is and will get hard enough by Republicans (Trump has yesterday put out his first vile ad--as a sign of things to come-yesterday). She needs to go to the convention in good shape--not knocked down by Democrats!!



.....4) Sanders tested the waters to see if there was support for massive change in this country when I believe he had no true plans to do so originally. The people looked back at him and roared with acceptance. The timing couldn't have been better in a two party system where the democrats field consisted of three people. The perfect opportunity. There can be no quit. It wasn't about him from the beginning.

[bkkyosemite]

9. Your opinion...but not mine.

[riversedge]

32. So be it

[NCTraveler]

10. Agree with every word you wrote.

"I do think his ego is and has kicked in last several months"

In all honesty, I think mine would as well.

"We need to rally around one nominee now."

I really do think we are going to see Sanders transition in certain verbiage over the next month. Not immediately, but soon. He will continue with the exact same message but start contrasting with Trump, not Clinton. That will be huge. I think Sanders is better than many give him credit for. What we read here isn't necessarily a reflection of him at all.

[TCJ70]

35. How does he change his rhetoric?

His whole campaign is based on getting money out of politics (which Clinton benefits from), clearing out corruption (which Clinton has a lot of), and working for economic reforms that go way further than Clintons. They're basically running two entirely different campaigns. Whether Hillary supporters like it or not, she's the complete opposite of Bernie is many of the most important respects to those Bernie supporters.

What you're really saying is you want him to start campaigning for Clinton while the primaries are going on...which is just weird if he hasn't dropped out.

[NCTraveler]

36. I was very clear on that.

Not sure how you came to your thoughts.

[KPN]

20. His ego? Lol!!!!

This from the Hillary camp? Too funny!

[Surya Gayatri]

30. ^^^This!^^^

"I do think his ego is and has kicked in last several months and now it is directing him---for better or for worse."

ETA: Very understandable in the circumstances. Mass crowd adulation and "star" status are not easy phenomena to handle with equanimity.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. Of course it is ironic that the people who are calling for the primary to end before most of the

country has voted spent the first part of the election claiming the other side did not want to count the votes of the States which voted first, they did his with gusto. First they said '50 States, every vote counts, don't exclude the Red States for being Red' and I agreed with that. But now they are saying 'Enough with the States, we have enough votes to count, exclude the entire West Coast and NY and more than half the voters in America because we say so. The 50 State thing was last week!!!'

I think we need a strong 50 State primary and that takes two. I think after Clinton's Reagan sermon the Party should be grateful Bernie is there to be voted for. November is some time away and the alternative will be a Republican, I can vote against the Republican but in a primary I can't vote for a person who would say what she said. if she's nominee, I will blame the Party for making me vote for such a person to stop Trump. I have put my life into this Party. She very much pissed me off. Deeply. Also the reaction of her supporters frightens me. So little knowledge. So little empathy and a great deal of confusion. Sad.

Obama gave us a four year break with his second term but I guess it's back to being constantly adversarial with the Party and candidates who are back to insisting Reagan was great and LGBT did not in fact warn the world about HiV/AIDS while under great duress as a community but rather Ron and Nancy did that.

[NCTraveler]

13. This doesn't appear Reaganesque to me. I get that you have a different opinion.

Behind The Scenes Of Hillary Clinton's Push For LGBT Rights At The State Department

WASHINGTON -- In May 2009, just months into her new position as secretary of State, Hillary Clinton took a major step toward changing the way the agency treats its employees: She announced that gay diplomats would receive benefits similar to those received by their heterosexual counterparts, which they had previously been denied.

Over her next four years at the State Department, Clinton continued to push for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality both in Foggy Bottom and around the world. Her emails, some of which were released this week by the State Department, show that she and her top advisers were looking for ways to move forward on the issue -- and watching the discontent between LGBT groups and President Barack Obama.

"I think the emails speak for themselves -- they show someone deeply committed to preventing human rights abuse of LGBT people on the global stage," said Richard Socarides, who served as President Bill Clinton's top adviser on LGBT issues.

Clinton's most notable moment on LGBT issues perhaps came on Dec. 6, 2011, when she gave a historic speech in Switzerland in which she declared, "Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/01/hillary-clinton-lgbt-_n_7706748.html

I have not and will not condone her comments at the recent funeral or some other past comments. I will say she more often than not promotes equality in this area. Not just here at home, but across the globe.

My op was clear in its point.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. But you respond by trying to educate me which is dismissive and not required because I know all of

this. I gave you a heartfelt response, you did not address it at all. That's part of what frightens me. Hillary was wrong, you are lacking in all sorts of information but still you presume to preach, to straight splain to me without even a glitch in your giddy up.

I explained to you why her words have made this into the very worst election cycle of my life. I was born into an active Democratic family. I've been a loyal and occasionally extra helpful Democrat. I have always like Hillary as a person and been ok with her as a candidate. I have been in the room with her when she heard direct testimony of Reagan's negligence and silence. Her comments blew my mind.

As I said, the fact that her supporters are dismissive of this when they are extremely quick to find offense in anything Bernie says is not pleasant to see.

I'm not a Reagan Democrat like many here are. He was my enemy.

[NCTraveler]

17. "I'm not a Reagan Democrat like many here are."

Nor am I. I neither dismissed you or tried to educate you. I know you have read that link before. I am truly sorry this is the "worst election cycle of my life."

"I gave you a heartfelt response, you did not address it at all."

I addressed it head on. The one who went off track was you as your comment was not directed at the information in the op. While what you stated was important, it was a deflection from the discussion.

I don't dismiss your words as you claim.

"Her comments blew my mind. "

Blew my mind as well. Extremely offensive and really didn't make sense.

"He was my enemy."

He was our enemy.

"This doesn't appear Reaganesque to me. I get that you have a different opinion."

That is literally the opposite of dismissal.

[Bluenorthwest]

19. Thanks for finally being the first Clinton supporter to say it was offensive and did not make sense

and that Reagan was also your enemy. This is what they should have done instantly but they defended those comments. The posted rofls and sparkly emoticons. There are a few among us on DU who are just a toupee hair's different from the Trump supporters. I will never see this Party the same way, never believe a word any of them speak. It's like she said David Duke is a civil rights icon. It's like seeing your teacher shoplifting gin. It changes the way you see the world, and it does not go back.

[NCTraveler]

21. Her comment was sick. I don't get it and won't justify it in any way.

I did say that here the day she made the comments. I won't try to justify comments like that period. They are not just painful for many people I love, I found it to be personally hurtful.

[H2O Man]

18. Way recommended.

Thank you for a thoughtful OP. This is the quality of discussion that we really should be having.

[cherokeeprogressive]

24. "He found his roots as an activist early on in this primary." I swear to God you people slay me.

[NCTraveler]

25. Can you elaborate. Not being snarky in any way.

I think it's an accurate and respectable comment.

[cherokeeprogressive]

27. How about this: "He found his roots as an activist early on in his LIFE."

[NCTraveler]

29. You replied to yourself. That was a part of my op. Thanks. nt.

[restorefreedom]

26. i am glad you made this its own op.

its thoughtful and sincere, and is a great reflection of what bernies movement is really all about

[0rganism]

28. Sen. Sanders is building a movement, and we're lucky he's doing it within the Democratic party

i think he came into this just hoping to introduce topics into the conversation. he's as much as said he was surprised by how quickly his message resonated and gained popular support.

HRC has all but won the primary, Bernie's movement is for the future. especially once the neocon grifters and high rollers who've been playing kingmaker for the Republicans start scurrying to the Democrats as the last major political party standing, we'll need Bernie's gospel of social justice and economic populism to counter their influence.

win or lose, i'm hoping he stays in to the convention.

[Surya Gayatri]

33. Agree...

"...win or lose, I'm hoping he stays in to the convention".

[Mother Of Four]

31. Thank you for this wonderful post

It actually brought tears to my eyes. You understand.

[bigbrother05]

34. Building a movement is a compelling reason for him to continue and us to donate

Bernie is a megaphone and needs to take the voice of his supporters all the way to the convention. He will be a useful resource in the general for down ticket candidates. He can make a difference in those areas most impacted by the downturn and help generate turnout. Don't think a Clinton campaign will be too interested in anything beyond a convention endorsement, but Bernie could sway some close contests and help turn the Senate.