Sanders hometown newspaper:Burlington VT-->Senator, the contest is over. It is time to stand down.

[riversedge]

Last edited Sun May 15, 2016, 07:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Opinion: Bernie Sanders, the contest is over

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/opinion/my-turn/2016/05/01/opinion-bernie-sanders-contest/83699326/

Steve Magowan 12:05 a.m. EDT May 1, 2016




Bernie Sanders (Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP)

.....................

Sen. Sanders must stand down for the good of the country and for the good of the causes he supports. The key to change in this country and to tackling economic inequality lies in the control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The infamous Koch brothers are focusing their attention on the House and Senate while Sen. Sanders’ campaign is becoming more like a cult of personality. He has done little to support the Democrat Party and his continuing in this campaign will offer not an iota of support to candidates trying to overturn the Republican control of the House and Senate.

Sen. Sanders cares deeply about the underprivileged and has argued loudly for them all his long political career. I applaud and respect him for that. However,..........................



Sen. Sanders cannot win this primary, and there will be no revolution. He must accept that. If he cares about the poor and underprivileged, he should use his new-found bully pulpit to gather support for down-ticket Democrats so that we can have true change. His one-man band revolution is going nowhere and only serves to keep right-wing Republicans in power in Washington. Senator, the contest is over. It is time to stand down.

[Biaviians]

1. All the way to the convention!

[Live and Learn]

4. +10,000 nt

[Biaviians]

5. Tuesdays my birthday.

There's only two things I want.

[Live and Learn]

28. Here is hoping your birthday wishes come true:

[Hortensis]

57. "The infamous Koch brothers are focusing

attention on the House and Senate." Now, wouldn't arresting, trying, and imprisoning arroganat serial criminal Charles Koch be a birthday present worth waiting for? We have no idea how many deaths his decades of determined lawbreaking have caused, but some are well documented. And so many other very wealthy people routinely break big important laws, even if not in his class, believing themselves safe from us.

Keep your eye on the prize. The prize is not Bernie himself, but he could have a lot to do with making this happen if he put his mind to it.

Sen. Sanders must stand down for the good of the country and for the good of the causes he supports. The key to change in this country and to tackling economic inequality lies in the control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The infamous Koch brothers are focusing their attention on the House and Senate while Sen. Sanders’ campaign is becoming more like a cult of personality. He has done little to support the Democrat Party and his continuing in this campaign will offer not an iota of support to candidates trying to overturn the Republican control of the House and Senate.

[enid602]

76. bs

There is no 'BS' in TEAM.

[pangaia]

79. There is no HRC in team either... quite the opposite.

[enid602]

81. bs

She proved quite the opposite in 2008, despite having been much more competitive vis a vis her rival. Now its bern's turn. I won't hold my breath, as I fear he is physically and emotionally incapable of admitting defeat.

[Live and Learn]

94. To the convention!!! nt

[JimDandy]

7. Yep.

[CorporatistNation]

21. ABSOLUTELY! FULL AFTERBURNER TO THE CONVENTION! Fuck The CORPORATIST Punditry!

This is NOT Over for many reasons, niot the least of which Hillary is a WEAK AND FLAWED CANDIDATE WHO IS DOGGED BY AN FBI INVESTIGATION!

[bjo59]

50. Yep, all the way to the convention!

[CorporatistNation]

110. ABSOLUTELY! A COMPLETELY NONSENSICAL "ESTSABLISHMENT" ORIGINATED ASSERTION BY THE VERMONT PAPER

TOTAL NONSENSE! TO THE CONVENTION AND LET THE BATTLE FOR DEMOCRACY CONTINUE! The "Revolution" IS HERE!

[Ferd Berfel]

120. Bullshit - not until after California

and on to the convention

[msanthrope]

2. K&R. Nt

[Hare Krishna]

3. Just one moron's opinion

It has been carefully considered and dismissed.

Onwards to Philadelphia, and the truth will shall reveal itself!

[JimDandy]

104. And look, 26 Hillary supporters recced this without comprehending

that it was the opinion of a lone private citizen and not an editorial of the newspaper. LOL, too funny that they didn't carefully consider what they were reading like you did. Good catch!

[Hare Krishna]

105. The funny thing is, it's there.

The OP said "Opinion by Some Private Citizen"

It wasn't an editorial, for sure.

[JimDandy]

111. Clearly they recced based on reading only the thread title.

The title was meant to deceive, and it seems it did deceive, but just the OPer's own fellow Hillarians.

[SFnomad]

6. Ouch, this has to Bern n/t

[JimDandy]

12. Old article-written 2 weeks ago. Keep up with the times if you can. n/t

[SFnomad]

14. I'm sure it doesn't Bern any less with age. I wasn't the one that posted the thread n/t

[JimDandy]

32. As soon as Sanders hears that

someone named Steve Magowan wants him to quit, I bet he will!

Oh wait... this opinion was published 2 weeks ago, so.... nope, didn't happen. (Bern)

[SFnomad]

34. BS hasn't been interested in reality for awhile, I doubt Steve Magowan's opinion will change that

[JimDandy]

38. While "Steve Magowan South Burlington" was busy getting his name in the paper

two weeks ago, Sanders was focused on the opinions of the voters in Indiana and West Virginia. Reality is: he won those states. SBS is keeping his promise to the voters of all 50 states to give everyone a chance to vote for him. Steve Magowan, whoever he is, got to vote months ago already, and now he also has a nice little newspaper clipping that he can show to his grandchildren in years to come!

[SFnomad]

48. It's sad to see that all that is left of the BS cheerleaders is bitterness n/t

[northernsouthern]

51. Wow, what a disgusting tone.

Some Op-ed piece says something and you go and insult the supporters as bitter cheerleaders. That is as gross as the people that claimed Bernie won WV because it was racist even-though WV had the highest voter turn-out for Obama of any state that election, and Hillary won the states that are ranked as the most racist in the US.

[SFnomad]

52. Did you bother to read the post I was replying to? It was bitter from start to finish.

From the post, in case you're too lazy to look it up:

While "Steve Magowan South Burlington" was busy getting his name in the paper two weeks ago, ..... and now he also has a nice little newspaper clipping that he can show to his grandchildren in years to come!

Somehow I'll guess your outrage is just partisan based, eh?

[northernsouthern]

53. Yes, that is how you do it...

...in forums you read the posts and then reply...

two weeks ago, Sanders was focused on the opinions of the voters in Indiana and West Virginia. Reality is: he won those states. SBS is keeping his promise to the voters of all 50 states to give everyone a chance to vote for him. Steve Magowan, whoever he is, got to vote months ago already, and now he also has a nice little newspaper clipping that he can show to his grandchildren in years to come!

I saw he was saying that the paper was basically ignoring the win by Sanders and disenfranchising the voters of WV...and he already had a chance to vote. It was then followed by a burn on an opinion piece...which is a person's opinion...not a fact piece...like one of the countless other fake "I used to be a socialist until Bernie came, now I am with her"...You then basically attacked the poster here ad hominem for his response to the piece which is against policy for the DU.

[JTFrog]

67. 7 hidden posts in the couple weeks you've been here and you are lecturing people on DU policy and

ad hominem attacks? That's fucking rich.

[JimDandy]

55. LOL. You can't tell an opinion piece from an editorial

and you can't read tone. Let me clue you in-it was mockery-of both you and him. Now run along and try your sad skills elsewhere.

[Jennylynn]

78. "He has done little to support the DEMOCRAT Party......."

Now who or what does that sound like?? Hmmmm.

[brush]

8. His own hometown paper sees the light. Him and his supporters — not so much.

[JimDandy]

16. So you're not supporting your own candidate's opinion that SBS absolutely should stay in the race

until the convention just like she did in 2008? Apparently Hillary is not much of a leader...

[brush]

18. Who said anything about Hillary? This is between the Vermont senator and the Vermont newspaper.

[JimDandy]

25. You inserted YOUR opinion with your *see the light* comment.

Clearly, YOUR opinion doesn't match with Hillary's, who is your candidate. She hasn't seen the light.

And no, this was the opinion of a private citizen: "Steve Magowan lives in South Burlington" and is not an editorial from the newspaper.

[brush]

26. Yeah, I inserted my opinion.

Bernie has lost. That's my opinion too.

[JimDandy]

33. We can agree that you have an opinion.

[silvershadow]

47. +1

[liberal from boston]

41. Go Bernie

You do realize that the Vermont Democratic Governor is one of Hillary's Super Delegates. Vermont citizens love Bernie & overwhelmingly voted Bernie Mayor, Congressional Representative, Senator.
IMO, Hillary's paid trolls, super delegates are pushing for Bernie to quit because there is a good chance Bernie will win California.

[brush]

43. Not much of a chance, but even if he does it's proportional not winner take all

Chances are, even if she loses (not much of a chance) she will still get nearly as many delegates as Sanders.

And with NJ voting on the same day, she will win strongly there as she did in NY right across the Hudson so Sanders' goose is still cooked.

[liberal from boston]

112. Go Bernie

According to the report, more than 51 percent of newly registered voters are millennials. They also lean democratic compared to San Diego's overall electorate and are more diverse, with an uptick in Latino voter registration.

"Demographically, they largely fit the profile of Bernie Sanders supporters," Vasquez said. "How many will vote down ticket, and what are the campaigns doing to appeal to these new voters? We’ll find out on election night.”

link: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2016/may/09/report-new-voters-may-influence-san-diego-races/

[Sejon]

82. Hillary might yet be indicted

And that's a good reason for Bernie to stay in. She has everything to do with it.

[brush]

86. Put down the prayer beads

There will be no indictment.

She's not even the target of the investigation.

There will be no perp-walk in cuffs as much as you might love to see that.

It ain't gonna happen.

[Sejon]

87. It will be dealt with more discreetly

Expect Hillary to retire to "spend more time with her family".

[brush]

88. Oh please. Stop dreaming.

[Sejon]

89. Are you part of the FBI investigation?

[brush]

90. No, and you are not either. Multiple legal experts though have agreed that there is no chance . . .

of an indictment.

Just google it and find out for yourself and stop the unfounded indictment speculation.

[Sejon]

91. No, they'll be more discreet about it, as I said

[brush]

92. Forget it. Clinton will be the nominee as Sanders has lost.

If he takes it to the convention he will concede after her first ballot win.

Just face it. It's over for him.

[Sejon]

95. It's over for all of us then

Because he's the only one who could have beaten Trump.

[brush]

97. She'll beat that clown. So would Sanders but he can't beat her.

[Sejon]

98. Only Sanders can reach out to the independents and swing voters

[brush]

100. Independents are not a monolith.

Many are right-leaning and will vote for Trump.

Many are moderate and left-leaning. The sensible ones, who don't want a repug appointing the next 3 SCOTUS justices will vote blue, which will mostly likely be Clinton.

This whole thing about Sanders and independents is a nice theory but it doesn't hold much water. Independents pretty much lean right or left. Only a small percentage are really undecided.

Who are these swing voters you mentioned? They must be the undecided indies who make up only 3% of them.

[Sejon]

102. It's a theory backed by the polls

[Armstead]

65. An Op Ed by someone in Burlington...

[brush]

70. Still telling, and the paper ran it. What's up, you'd thinking people in his home state . . .

would be with him to the end (which is near btw)?

[Armstead]

71. No there are people with diverse opinions in his home state

and your inane final words of the post are unnecessary and insulting.

[Sejon]

80. Is Vermont 100% Democrat?

[Thinkingabout]

9. Guess he wants to hear after the first vote onbthe convention floor the count, nope Sanders

You don't have the required delegates and therefore Hillary is the nominee.

[Shemp Howard]

11. Hillary does not yet have a majority of the pledged delegates.

Therefore, the contest is not over. Why is that so hard for some people to understand? A contest is over only when all participants except one are mathematically eliminated. That is simply not the case here.

But there is an odd twist here. It is possible that the leading candidate - Hillary - might drop out for legal reasons. It is not probable, but it is certainly possible.

Show me one professional baseball manager who has forfeited the game in the eighth inning because his team was behind by very many runs. Hint: You cannot show me such a manager. Because any team should play on when there is a chance for a win.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

44. Your 2026 goalposts,

which you apparently share with many on DU, are completely arbitrary.and delusional. Sanders has no chances to get to 2383 PDs + SDs unless he gets more than 86 percent of delegates remaining to be chosen. HRC needs only 14 percent, which is a virtual certainty given the absence of winner-take-all states in the Democratic Presidential nominating process.

The OP actually understated the case against Sanders. The "establishment" Bernie has run against since last year consists mainly of the very down-ticket Democratic officeholders necessary to prevent Scaliaization of the USSC, the end of ACA SS and SNAP, etc. etc.

[nolabels]

49. Fourteen years here to watch the democratic party morph into the republican party is delusional!

And thank you again, for telling me something i already know

[ProgressiveEconomist]

72. "Something I already know"

What--that Bernie Bros have "morphed into the Republican party", reinforcing Trump's anti-Hillary lies, and leading downticket Democrats into McGovern-level devastating losses?

[riderinthestorm]

20. Hillary Clinton will be solely to blame when Trump is elected

Don't even dare try to pin her loss on Bernie.

She's a terrible candidate and her loss will be on her shoulders alone.

[RealAmericanDem]

24. NOPE, it will be Bernie's fault for not getting enough votes.

[JaneyVee]

15. Ouch.

[AzDar]

17. Opinion. And opinions are like...

[Number23]

19. Mark, that will leave.

[NurseJackie]

22. Ha! :-D

[Agony]

23. It is never "time to stand down" when it comes to truth and democracy.

essentially 1/2 of Democrats are supporting Sen Sanders and we are not going anywhere, certainly not away.

[bkkyosemite]

27. May 1st

[JimDandy]

40. Even worse... it was written Apr 21 and the paper didn't see fit to

run this Joe Schmoe's opinion in their online blog until 10 days later.

[SheilaT]

29. Jesus fucking Christ.

If Hillary didn't end her race until AFTER the last primary in 2008, then Bernie should absolutely stay in until the very last primary in 2016.

The real issue is that she's a phenomenally weak candidate whose negatives are still rising. There still is a chance he could secure the nomination, so he absolutely must continue.

Plus, how many millions of voters still haven't had a chance to vote yet? I'm one of them. Please stop trying to deny me the franchise.

[aikoaiko]

30. Fighting for liberal causes is inconvenient for some folks.

If Bernie followed the advice of others he would have quit in March with OMalley -- maybe even earlier.

[Jester Messiah]

35. Poor Hilly can't win on her own.

She has to have her surrogates plead for her one opponent to please, please give up so she can go on to get her ass beat in the final.

[Logical]

36. And Bernie is Smart enough to ignore that advice! But nice try!

[Whimsey]

37. Reality bites

There's no where left to turn. Except left. To Hillary.

[Larkspur]

39. Why should he drop out? Hillary set the precedent in 2008

and she use racist dog whistles to attack Obama in that race even after it was mathematically impossible for her to win.

Bernie has not even gotten close to the crap Hillary did in 2008.

[anotherproletariat]

42. Wow...amazing how many people are still in total denial. nt

[bvf]

45. Which of the several newspapers

in Burlington is this two-week old item taken from?

Is this two-week old item from that newspaper's editorial page?

Are you desperate?

Thanks in advance.

[Eric J in MN]

68. It's an op-ed not an editorial (not opinion of the newspaper) NT

NT

[bvf]

96. Yeah, that much was obvious.

I was just wondering if the OP would have enough integrity to respond.

But what the hell was I thinking?

[vintx]

74. They are INCREDIBLY desperate, and it's obvious why they are.

They bray about how they've won and it's over, but still with the desperation.

The blinders are fraying at the edges.

[Fawke Em]

46. This is not the newspaper's opinon - just one dude somewhere in Burlington.

Will you post my letter to the editor when I tell Hillary to stand down because she's too corrupt and corporate to accurately represent the working and middle class people of this country?

No?

Well, then fuck this shit.

[Eric J in MN]

56. +1 (NT)

NT

[Puglover]

101. No kidding.

Just like their heroine. Incapable of simply stating a fact without spin and bullshit.

[JimDandy]

103. +2. n/t

[deepestblue]

54. Burlington

That newspaper is owned by the largest newspaper company in America. Big business much?

Sanders has an 83% approval rating as a Senator and won the Vermont primary with 86% of the vote.

That opinion page is not representing the people in its audience, but rather the .01%.

[B Calm]

58. If he drops out now, say hello to President Trump!

[Rob H.]

59. The Burlington Free Press is part of the USA Today Network

which owned by Gannett, which leans strongly to the right. Then there's also the matter of the author's multiple uses of a longtime Limbaugh-ism, intentionally substituting "Democrat" for "Democratic ":

Secretary Clinton captures the broad demographic of Democrat voters and is a lifelong member of the Democrat Party.

He has done little to support the Democrat Party....

However, the greatest advances for the poor in this country have taken place only when strong Democrat leaders....

It's a painfully-obvious right-wing dog whistle, especially "Democrat Party" and it tells me I shouldn't take anything this guy says seriously.

[imagine2015]

61. Another right-wing owned newspaper supports Hillary and tells Bernie to end his campaign.

I'm not surprised.

They fear Bernie, not Hillary so much.

[Mnpaul]

83. A CEO of an investment firm

and a lawyer to boot. Yet they expose themselves with a slip up like that.

[nc4bo]

60. Going all the damn way! Sorry if it makes some haz sad. nt

[livetohike]

62. He's been spinning his wheels in DC for 25 years. He didn't create a revolution in all that time.

Nothing happening now either, other than a man in the sunset of his life trying desperately to be relevant.

[libdem4life]

85. Just a note...you don't create revolutions in DC.

The closest you can come is to refuse to join the two parties. Check.

Then, you go run for President...having to register due to a very undemocratic two-party system. Then pass through the Super Delegates...who are solely focused to make sure only an Establishment nominee emerges. Check

Then we all wait until it's over. Check

And if it's a real Revolution, win or lose, it will continue. Checkmate

[jillan]

63. 86% of voters in Vermont disagree.

[Vinca]

64. I'm starting to agree.The only way to prove Hillary is a lousy, flawed candidate is to nominate her.

Of course, then Bernie and his supporters will be blamed for the loss. At this point I don't care who is elected. The country is going to hell one way or the other and the only thing that is different is the speed of the descent.

[bvf]

99. In that scenario

there will be only one person to blame. She's had years to win people over. From the outset, she chose instead to flip them off and insult their intelligence.

Nothing doing.

[hellofromreddit]

66. A few months ago Vermont was a tiny, white state and not representative of the US.

But now I'm supposed to care what some newspaper op-ed says?

Make up your damn minds.

[Eric J in MN]

69. LOL (NT)

NT

[JimDandy]

106. Camp weathervane supporter are all over the place just like their dear leader.

[vintx]

73. NO FUCKING WAY

[mcar]

75. K&R

[Sejon]

77. Not yet

All the way to the Convention. California hasn't even voted yet.

[Matrosov]

84. Only because of super delegates

Her lead over Sanders with super delegates is much greater than her lead with regular delegates.

Super delegates are undemocratic bullshit meant only to benefit the establishment elites, and it makes no difference to me which candidate they favor. I've been saying the same thing for +20 years ow.

[Florencenj2point0]

93. No here is the real math, not the Bernie math

The democratic candidate will need 2,026 PLEDGED delegates to win the nomination. Right now Hillary has 1,717. (I don't know if that includes yesterday's NV win). So she needs 309 more PLEDGED delegates. She is on target, actually she is 108% of target.

Bernie, on the other hand is only at 92% of target. He is way behind at 1,437 PLEDGED delegates. He still needs 589 PLEDGED delegates to win the nomination.

There are 897 delegates left but there aren't enough Bernie friendly state left for him to pick up those delegates. He is going to lose CA and NJ. He is presently losing OR which surprises me. He is going to lose PR. Look at the States and territories left and tell me which ones he wins by more than 35 percent.
Here is the link: http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/election-2016/delegate-targets/

Explain to me how he gets 589 delegates out of those remaining states.

Now she may lose KY, but she will still get at least 25 delegates. .... you know what, I won't even bother. She will have him put away by CA and NJ where I live will just be icing on the cake.
I wouldn't be so happy about it except for the fact that bernie and his team have been such lying nasty characters for months now.... And I will never get this image out of my mind:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/22/1489132/-Video-of-Susan-Sarandon-Harassing-Dolores-Huerta
How dare this silly limousine liberal, spoiled hollywood brat confront a woman who put her life on the line to create a better life for thousands of migrant farm workers.

[seabeyond]

109. But, it is all about Sanders. Nt

[Whimsey]

113. Clearly this is a cult

Bernidytes?

Quit trying to pretend you are anything more than the most recent incarnation of the angry white male and his female groupies. You want what you want when you want it and anyone else be damned!

How many of you went to prep schools? Now that was an interesting culture. . . .

[Skwmom]

114. B.S. He needs to fight for the good of the country. We gave the Democrats all 3 branches and saw

what they delivered when they are bought and paid for.

[R B Garr]

115. "Bernie Sanders, the contest is over"

Quote from his HOMETOWN paper. Wow, Good to see reality well represented by his own peeps.

[Cha]

116. Good.. glad so many are telling him in real terms.. "it's over."

[DesertRat]

117. k&r

[kstewart33]

118. The movement has real promise.

If Sanders turns to building it into a force that gets real results.

The unfortunate reality is that to change the establishment, they first have to join the establishment.

I'm not sure that many of his supporters are willing to do that.

[azurnoir]

119. LOl NOPE