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Onlooker

(5,636 posts)
Wed May 4, 2016, 07:32 PM May 2016

Now that Hillary has won the Democratic nomination, Bernie's approval ratings should stay high

No one's going to attack him for his vote against the Amber alert system, his past Troskyite sympathies, his attendance at an anti-American Sandinista rally, his rape fantasies, his promise of higher taxes and fuel bills, his failed oversight of the Veteran's administration, his desire to give gun manufacturers special protection, his support for the anti-immigrant vigilante Minutemen, his lack of foreign policy experience, his threat to middle class 401K retirement plans, his anti-immigration vote in 2007, his support for the 1994 crime bill, his failure to build alliances with key gay, women's, and civil rights groups and leaders; his failure to release almost any of his tax returns, his admiration of Castro, the fact that only 3/324 bills he introduced in Congress were passed (one of which named a Vermont post office), his opposition to an amendment outlawing computer-generated child pornography, his belief that sexual repression causes cancer, his vote for regime change in Iraq in 1999, the (false) claim that he honeymooned in the Soviet Union, and anything else they can throw at him.

The point is not these many of these criticisms of Sanders are fair, but let's face it, if Sanders supporters are naive enough to fall for every piece of garbage about Hillary Clinton, then it's likely that Trump supporters are naive enough to fall for every piece of garbage about Bernie Sanders.

But, at least now that Bernie has lost, his approval ratings should remain high.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-04-18/despite-polls-republicans-see-sanders-as-an-easier-opponent

“Republicans are being nice to Bernie Sanders because we like the thought of running against a socialist. But if he were to win the nomination the knives would come out for Bernie pretty quick,” said Ryan Williams, a former spokesman for 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's campaign. “There's no mystery what the attack on him would be. Bernie Sanders is literally a card carrying socialist who honeymooned in the Soviet Union. There'd be hundreds of millions of dollars in Republican ads showing hammers and sickles and Soviet Union flags in front of Bernie Sanders.”

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/05/bernie_sanders_electability_argument_is_still_a_myth.html

He has never been asked to account for his relationship with the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, for which he served as a presidential elector in 1980. At the time, the party’s platform called for abolishing the U.S. military budget and proclaimed “solidarity” with revolutionary Iran. (This was in the middle of the Iranian hostage crisis.) There’s been little cable news chatter about Sanders’ 1985 trip to Nicaragua, where he reportedly joined a Sandinista rally with a crowd chanting, “Here, there, everywhere/ The Yankee will die.”

...

The Clinton campaign has also ignored Sanders’ youthful sex writings. Republicans are unlikely to be so decorous. Imagine an ad drawing from the old Sanders essay “The Revolution Is Life Versus Death.” First it might quote the candidate mocking taboos on child nudity: “Now, if children go around naked, they are liable to see each others [sic] sexual organs, and maybe even touch them. Terrible thing!” Then it would quote him celebrating girls who defy their mothers and have sex with their boyfriends: “The revolution comes … when a girl pushes aside all that her mother has ‘taught’ her and accepts her boyfriends [sic] love.” Finally, it would remind viewers that Sanders was one of 14 congressmen to vote against the law establishing the Amber Alert system and one of 15 to vote against an amendment criminalizing computer-generated child pornography.

https://weeklysift.com/2016/01/25/smearing-bernie-a-preview/

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whistler162

(11,155 posts)
3. How are the Dodgers doing in July?
Wed May 4, 2016, 07:45 PM
May 2016

DO you have the Megamillions numbers handy? Diid you work for Nancy Reagan during her White House years? How did you become a fortune teller?

longship

(40,416 posts)
4. I recommend that you look closer.
Wed May 4, 2016, 08:01 PM
May 2016

Yes, Hillary Clinton will sadly and likely win the Dem nod. However, as many of us will gladly point out, she is not yet the nominee. Thank goodness.

However, we all know... IT'S HER TURN!!!!

Like the presidency is passed through families like a fucking crown. When one considers such a thing the only conclusion one can make is that it is disgusting.

longship

(40,416 posts)
7. The issue is... That she has not yet won the nomination.
Wed May 4, 2016, 08:44 PM
May 2016

And the presumption that she has, is just that. Presumption! Or maybe it's her turn. Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton. It is like it's a dynasty, which it isn't. There are no birthrights, and no marriage rights, to the US Presidency.

Let's start there and proceed. From that point forward, there are no turns.

CajunBlazer

(5,648 posts)
14. Who am I to disrupt your daydreams in which you believe Sanders can still win
Thu May 5, 2016, 12:49 AM
May 2016

Sorry, I should have noticed the unicorns prancing about your post.

 

Onlooker

(5,636 posts)
6. It's not about it being her turn ...
Wed May 4, 2016, 08:34 PM
May 2016

... it's about the fact that she has a broad base among Democrats, blacks, Latinos, women, gays, and older people.

Bernie has a narrow base that is largely white. He has the same problem that Republicans have, and perhaps that's why his followers use so many Republican talking points to attack Hillary.

longship

(40,416 posts)
8. Rubbish. Absolute tosh!
Wed May 4, 2016, 08:46 PM
May 2016

You are going to do a lot better than that. Let's start with her Iraq war vote.

 

Onlooker

(5,636 posts)
9. Okay, let's start with that ...
Wed May 4, 2016, 09:09 PM
May 2016

... Bernie voted for Iraq regime change in 1999 and for war appropriations in 2001. Hillary voted for the Iraq War in 2002. Her vote was worse than Bernie's, but Bernie's votes weren't the best and neither of their votes made a difference in the outcome.

Besides, Hillary was from New York, and New York was very traumatized by 9/11, so much so that even the New York Times endorsed the war against Iraq. Hillary was wrong for that vote, as was Kerry, Edwards, Biden, and Daschle, among others, but the fire she comes under for that vote is a bit ridiculous considering that her pubic statements at the time called for diplomacy and that the Iraq War bill passed easily.

leftofcool

(19,460 posts)
12. She needs only 163 to reach that mark.
Wed May 4, 2016, 09:49 PM
May 2016

Supers count in that total. We have been trying to explain that to you for months.

CajunBlazer

(5,648 posts)
16. It is mathamatically impossible for Sanders to reach 2,382 before the convention
Thu May 5, 2016, 01:48 AM
May 2016

There are a total of 4,051 pledged delegates and so far Hilary has won 1,683 and Sanders has won 1,362. So, as of now 3045 pledged delegates have been won leaving 1006 pledged delegates still available.

To reach 2,382 pledged delegates and cinch the nomination before the convention Hillary would have to capture 699 pledged delegates in the remaining contests or 69.5% - very difficult, but not impossible, so Hillary's chances of cinching the nomination before the convention are not "nil". On the other hand Sanders would have to win 1020 pledge delegates before the convention. Since only 1006 pledged delegates are still available, that is an impossibility. So Sanders' chances of cinching the nomination before the convention are "nil".

On the other hand, realistically for Sanders to have any chance of flipping enough super delegates to win the nomination, he has to at least win the pledged delegate race. For either candidate to win the most pledged delegates he/she must win at least 2028 pledged delegates. For Sanders to accomplish that feat he needs to win 664 of the remaining pledged delegates or 66.0%. Hillary has to win only 345 or or 34.3%

So Sanders has to average winning 66% of the available pledged delegates in every remaining contest. After every contest that he fails achieve at least that goal, his required winning percentage for the remaining contests goes up.

There are 712 super delegates and 522 or 73% are already promised to to Hillary. And that number grows every day. Sanders presently claims 39 super delegates or 5.5%. Those delegates will vote on the first ballot. The chances that Sanders can convince half (356) the super delegates to join his side are extremely slim and none. We'll know well before the convention if Sanders can pull off that super delegate miracle.

Bottom line: It may technically be a "contested" convention, but the chances are astronomically high that it won't be "contested" past the first ballot. At some point during the roll call of states during that first ballot, it will be all over for Bernie Sanders and his campaign.

Enjoy that senz!

 

w4rma

(31,700 posts)
15. You are among a minority of Americans with that point of view. A majority despise Hillary, tho. (nt)
Thu May 5, 2016, 12:53 AM
May 2016
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