Bernie is milking his irrelevance for all it's worth.

[YouDig]

He's shown himself to be a weak candidate, trailing by millions of votes and around 270 delegates. He was never able to make real connections with voters outside his demographic of white liberals. Whenever there were real showdowns between the candidates, for example in New York, he got beat handily.

But now that he has no chance at winning anymore, he is doing a pretty good job milking his irrelevance. He's really playing a game of chicken: do what I want, or else I will throw the election to Trump. And he's willing to go far: encouraging his delegates to disrupt conventions, accuse the whole party of corruption, etc.

And he has the luxury of having nothing to lose. He's already lost the nomination, and he's towards the end of his career. Whereas Hillary still has to worry about beating Trump, and then governing after that. She needs his voters, whereas he couldn't care less about hers. Or really anybody's. He doesn't have a lot of supporters, but the ones he has are under his complete control, and he can use them to do whatever he wants.

Part of playing chicken is convincing the other player that you are crazy. And there he's hit a grand slam. People used to think, this guy isn't really going to throw the election to Trump out of spite, is he? People aren't saying that anymore. Bernie doesn't care about who wins the presidency, he cares only about what the Democrats can do for his ego.

The big question, though, is what does he want? He obviously won't be the nominee, he doesn't have nearly enough votes, even before the disaster in Nevada turned everyone except his die-hards against him. So what is it, Bernie? You've taken the hostages, you've got the negotiator on the line, now is the time to release your list of demands. What do you want in order to stop throwing the election to Trump?

[Merryland]

1. Is that why he's beating Trump in the polls & she isn't? Or by 1 or 2 points?

If he's so irrelevant, why bother to post about him?

[YouDig]

2. Because nobody's running against him.

He's relevant in the same sense that any hostage-taker is relevant. He's not relevant as a presidential candidate, but as a threat to throw the election, he's definitely relevant.

[aspirant]

35. "he's definitely relevant"

He sure is and Hills can't stop it

[Sheepshank]

3. Bernie has a ego a mile wide and an inch deep

can't be admitting defeat, or a mistake.

I'm pretty sure it pisses him off that he's losing to a vagina.

[One Black Sheep]

4. Whoa, so did you work on this one all night?

All I got to say is this to your sentence that Bernie "doesn't have a lot of supporters"

[beaglelover]

5. Yep, he's a big loser. He needs to drop out now and stop hurting the D brand.

[JohnnyRingo]

6. Well written anyway.

You'll get some pushback from people who see Bernie going all the way somehow, but I'll give extra points for composition, brevity, and grammar.

[frylock]

7. Milking his irrelevance by continuing to win primaries.

Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?

[YouDig]

8. Irrelevant wins. Hillary's already won the nomination.

[frylock]

9. Whatever you say, sport.

[grasswire]

26. LOL nt

[cali]

10. You hilly fans seem determined to alienate the very people she needs.

My opinion of her supporters here just keeps sinking as far as their ability to insightfully analyse... anything. Not to mention their amazing pettiness.

[YouDig]

12. I'm pretty sure everyone on both sides of DU is already alienated from the other already.

After people here were insisting that it was Barbara Boxer's fault for not being nicer to the angry mob yelling "bitch" at her, I don't think anything anyone posts on the internet will make any difference.

[cali]

16. I'm pretty sure that you are clueless

[YouDig]

17. You seem pretty intent on alienating me.

[grasswire]

27. don't ya think maybe they are working for spoilers? nt

[Cali_Democrat]

34. Vote for a ham sandwich if you want to.

Nobody cares.

[k8conant]

11. YouDug and found nothing...

1. Hillary is at the end of her career; she sabotaged it herself.
2. She doesn't have to worry about beating Trump because she's finished.
3. Hillary has convinced many voters that she is crazy and herself that she is invincible regardless of any laws she may break.

Drop out, Hillary, and avoid throwing the election to Trump!

[Broward]

13. You probably come cheap, nt.

[AgingAmerican]

14. If he is irrelevant why do you rant about him endlessly?

[virtualobserver]

29. Youdig must have a secret crush on Bernie - using misdirection to hide it

[The Second Stone]

15. He can't throw the election to Trump, only voters can do that

But he can create an atmosphere of getting out the vote and helping the party. He can do that any number of face saving ways, but all of them involve reigning in those supporters of his who are disruptive.

[TSIAS]

18. You talk about how terrible he is

You know who is irrelevant and terrible? Joe Biden. He didn't win a single primary either time he ran for president. You know who else? Martin O'Malley. He must suck something fierce.

Just because he's fallen a few delegates short doesn't make him irrelevant. Most people, including the Brock puppets, would never have thought Bernie could win a primary outside of VT and NH. What he's done is pretty damn impressive if you ask me.

[frustrated_lefty]

19. I genuinely wonder how many people Hillary and her supporters

are driving from the "don't bother to vote" category into the "fuck it, vote against Hillary category."

[ThePhilosopher04]

21. I'm not to the point where I'll vote AGAINST her, but I'm getting there.

I certainly won't vote for her.

[ThePhilosopher04]

20. Why did you waste time writing this nonsense if he's irrelevant?

you sound like Baghdad Bob.

[barrow-wight]

22. He is, by far, the most disappointing candidate to come along in my lifetime.

[anotherproletariat]

23. Good question. He is pulling staff out of CA, so it is clearly not about winning anymore, yet

he keeps lying to his supporters, telling them that he can win.

He can't think that he is helping his legacy, because that is obviously not the case. Perhaps getting fodder for a book?
Even though he hasn't been a Democrat for long, he has to know that the platform is just a suggestion, and is in no way binding to anyone. So holding out for 'input' on the platform doesn't seem worth it.

It really seems that he is just after destruction of the Party. Maybe he believes that the only way to get a revolution is to have a really bad president (in this case, Trump) who aligns people from all over the spectrum against him, and there is total reform during the next election. The problem is that we have a three pronged government, so that doesn't even make sense.

I give up.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. I want DWS to publicly announce the DNC's full support of legal marijuana. AND I want David Brock

to have a prime time slot at the convention, on stage in Philadelphia, wearing nothing but a man-kini, singing Cher's "Believe"

These demands are non-negotiable, sorry.

[bvf]

25. That sure is a lot of words

to devote to an "irrelevance."

Looking forward to your equally reasoned argument that 2+2=5.

[6chars]

28. Playing chicken!

That is exactly it. He is trying to gain influence from his ability to harm the party, not from the positives of his support.

[ucrdem]

30. LOL, that's been his whole career.

The Independent routine which I assume he adopted because Vermont is a tax-hating GOP outpost has served him well as he can always threaten to play spoiler when it's time to count the votes. And you know what? I knew it would come down to this -- threatening to run 3rd party to get some kind of deal. And that's probably the threat he used to get himself on the stage in the first place.

[Cheese Sandwich]

31. Do you know if dailynewsbin.com is hiring ?

[slipslidingaway]

32. Welcome to DU, or maybe not ...

but it interesting to see who recommends your threads.

A weak candidate? Someone who did have national name recognition as opposed to Clinton who has been in the limelight for decades and yet he captures 45% of the vote, excluding independents especially in NY, where the deadline to switch party affiliation was After the first Dem debate in early October set by DWS.

A candidate that has not accepted corporate money yet still had 45% of the vote with the deck stacked against him? And you call him weak?

With all the corporate money and name recognition that Clinton has why has she done so poorly? That is a question that people should be asking, between the Bush and Clinton families they have been dominating US politics for decades and we have to ask are the people more prosperous, is the nation stronger, are we happier, are we more secure and what kind of world are we leaving to generations to come.

You are asking all the wrong questions and are not a good spokesperson for Clinton, she never chained herself to a black person in protest when she was in her early 20's and in the 1960's. I would never have had the courage to do so back then and you call him weak?

You can post 1000 messages on DU in the past month and pretend to be strong, but few among us would have the courage he has shown to fight for the disenfranchised through the years as he has done.

[Bonobo]

33. Yes, 10 million votes is certainly the mark of irrelevance.

As is the record shattering amount of money he received from small donations.

[highprincipleswork]

36. To an autocrat, he's a weak candidate. To a fair observer, he's run an amazing campaign, against all

odds, against name recognition, against the most powerful political organized force in probably the whole world, against the Democratic Establishment being against him, etc. I won't tell the rest. You won't believe it. You like to be "on the winning side", no matter what they stand for or how they play the game.

What does he want? He wants the Democratic Party to be Progressive again, as they have been during their most successful years for the past century. He wants them to abandon corporate hand-holding and corporate money and return to being the party that truly represents the People.

If you don't get what he wants by now, you simply have had your fingers in your ears.

So, even if he does not win, and it is not over yet (he also wants all the votes to be counted and all the folks to have their say), he would like the Democratic Party to reflect the strong, strong energy of his supporters in what they say and do, how they campaign, how they govern, etc.

These all seem like the noblest of things to me, and that's why I support Bernie to the end.

I hope "the end" is not bitter, but a lot of that depends on the graciousness and inclusiveness and Progressiveness and honesty of the Clinton Machine, if they win. They could really ride the wave of a lot of Democratic spirit, if they play it right. I'm leaving room open for them to do so. If they don't, however, I am also leaving room open for me to take whatever action in response I choose to take.

[rateyes]

37. ^^^

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