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KoKo

(84,711 posts)
Tue May 31, 2016, 03:07 PM May 2016

Bernie Sanders is Still Standing--How & Why He Managed to Defy the Odds

Bill Blum--Tuesday, May 31, 2016--Truth Dig

So, how and why has he managed to defy the odds?

One big reason, undoubtedly, is that Clinton is a weak candidate, damaged by her insider status, history of scandal (the email controversy is only the latest in a long line) and the public’s grave doubts about her honesty.

Her unfavorability ratings—along with those of Donald Trump, her front-running GOP counterpart—sit at historic highs. But Clinton’s deficits are only part of the overall picture.

Another reason Sanders remains in the fight is that the Red-baiting tactics directed against him largely have failed. Those tactics—which have been deployed in both overt, traditional forms and in coded, latter-day garb—have been continuous and unrelenting. They have come from Democrats and Republicans as well as from the mainstream media.

The vintage variety began in earnest with Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill’s breathless tirade against him during a June 25 interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show. “I think the media is giving Bernie a pass right now,” the longtime Clinton backer told co-host Mika Brzezinski. “I very rarely read in any coverage of Bernie that he’s a socialist.” Declaring that Clinton was destined to win the nomination—at the time, she was ahead of Sanders in national polls by as much as 60 points--McCaskill struck a theme that would soon be echoed by others: that Sanders was “too liberal” to be elected. McCaskill urged the media to get on board, and they soon fell in line.

As if on cue, CNN’s Anderson Cooper grilled Sanders about his socialist beliefs during the Oct. 13 Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas.

Cooper:

“How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States?” Cooper asked, adding: “The Republican attack ad in the general election—it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you were not a capitalist.”

Sanders responded with a class analysis rarely heard on primetime television but that has, nonetheless, become the now-familiar cornerstone of his campaign.

“We’re going to win,” he said, “because we’re going to explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own … almost as much as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent.”


http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/31/why-bernie-sanders-still-standing


6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Bernie Sanders is Still Standing--How & Why He Managed to Defy the Odds (Original Post) KoKo May 2016 OP
a somewhat different view: niyad May 2016 #1
Evidently all those Dems and Indies that voted.... lmbradford May 2016 #2
If they weren't Democrats to start with, their 'exit' won't really be felt, will it? randome May 2016 #4
Peter Rosenstein at HuffPo has an Excellent Rebuttal to this article: KoKo May 2016 #3
Presidential candidates don't drop out because they are losing bbrady42 May 2016 #5
Bernie has the money to go to Convention! KoKo May 2016 #6

niyad

(112,424 posts)
1. a somewhat different view:
Tue May 31, 2016, 03:18 PM
May 2016

(since I was told that this belongs in gd:p)

11 reasons why Bernie Sanders lost this thing fair and square







Bernie Sanders exceeded all primary season expectations and was en route to building something of a real movement. But rather than locking in those gains and settling in for a long-haul effort, he’s opted for a legacy-busting temper tantrum instead, heading out the (primary) door in a cloud of whining, conspiracy mongering, and blame casting. It’s a bizarre finale to what was undoubtedly an incredible run. So here are some observations, not because it matters—he’s lost—but because his claims of victimhood are absolute bullshit and need to be corrected.



?1464026361
VALLEJO, CA - MAY 18: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally at Waterfront Park on May 18, 2016 in Vallejo, California. A day after winning the Oregon primary, Bernie Sanders is campaigning in California ahead of the state's presidential primary on June 7. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

. . . .


2. He may want to disenfranchise them, but communities of color voted against Sanders

Take another moment to savor what that would mean—a party establishment ignoring the choice of the communities of color, who have heavily chosen a woman, to undemocratically hand the nomination to yet another white guy. That, my friends, is the essence of white privilege. It’s EXHIBIT A, and in case you are wondering, yes it fucking pisses me off.


3. No, Sanders won’t do better than Clinton against Trump.

Current polling has Clinton’s negatives baked in. They are her floor. Current polling doesn’t have Sanders’ negatives baked in. They are his ceiling. And dear god, there is plenty in Sanders’ background to feed the Republican Noise Machine for the general election. And by the end of the cycle, his negatives would match those of Clinton’s.

. . . . .



5. But what about the media blackout?

Who gives a shit if ABC Nightly News covered Sanders or not? This is 2016, not 1966. Every night, about 22 million Americans tune in to the three big nightly newscasts on ABC, CBS, and NBC. Meanwhile, every day, 4.75 BILLION pieces of content are shared on Facebook, and about 400,000 tweets are posted on Twitter … per minute. So while less than 10 percent of Americans watch TV network news (and to those guys … why?), 62 percent of all Americans are on Facebook every day.

. . . . .


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/5/23/1529938/-11-reasons-why-Bernie-Sanders-lost-this-thing-

lmbradford

(517 posts)
2. Evidently all those Dems and Indies that voted....
Tue May 31, 2016, 03:37 PM
May 2016

People joined the Dems because of Bernie. Many Dems will leave the party and join the Indies because of Bernie.

You can pretend that he is insignificant but you will be proven wrong. Millions of people rallied around him and his ideas. The people that are saying he is throwing a tantrum are only saying so because they dont know how to handle the fact that they will lose without his backers.

If Hillary can earn our votes, she wont mine, then more power to her.

If Bernie can win Hillary voters, very likely since all they care about is the D after his name, then all the better.

You keep saying He is misbehaving, but the truth is, you just cant bully us to join you.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
4. If they weren't Democrats to start with, their 'exit' won't really be felt, will it?
Tue May 31, 2016, 04:09 PM
May 2016

It's like someone crashing a banquet and leaving without any food. "Hey, anyone know that guy?" "No. Who cares? He's gone already."
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
3. Peter Rosenstein at HuffPo has an Excellent Rebuttal to this article:
Tue May 31, 2016, 04:02 PM
May 2016
Sanders Candidacy Has Evolved Into an Inspiring World-Changing Success

Peter Rosenstein has written a much-circulated Huffington Post article entitled “Sanders Candidacy Devolving into an Arrogant Insufferable Self-serving Disaster.”

The article couldn’t be more wrong. This is a rebuttal.


The article is is consistent with a not-so-subtle campaign by Clinton surrogates to discredit Sen. Sanders in order to limit his influence in moving the Democratic Party away from Clintonian corporate-friendly triangulation and back to its FDR-style New Deal roots as a party representing the interests of the working and middle classes; to discourage voters from going to the polls for Bernie in California and the other remaining primaries; and to excuse the manifest weakness of Secretary Clinton as a Presidential candidate by blaming it on Bernie.

Let’s be clear. There’s only the most remote chance of Bernie winning the 2016 Democratic Presidential nomination. And when the primaries are over, there will need to be a united front between Bernie and Hillary and their respective supporters to defeat the racist, xenophobic, misogynist Donald Trump.

But by every possible metric other than actually winning the nomination, Sanders’ candidacy has been an astounding success that will change America and the world for the better in ways we can only begin to imagine.

Let us count the ways:

• Hillary will likely eke out a win in the battle for the Democratic nomination, but Bernie has won the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party and the wider progressive movement.

• Bernie (and fellow progressives like Elizabeth Warren) represent the future of the Democratic Party while Hillary and Clintonism represent the past. Bernie has won overwhelming majorities among people under 45-years old (as well as independents). These are the people who will dominate the Democratic Party and the progressive movement in years to come.

• Bernie has raised voters’ enthusiasm level. Despite limited media coverage, he regularly gets tens of thousands of enthusiastic supporters to his rallies, while Hillary struggles to get a few hundred or a few thousand. Democrats will need the enthusiasm of Bernie’s supporters to defeat Trump.


Continued and a Good Read at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/-sanders-candidacy-has-ev_b_10215786.html



bbrady42

(173 posts)
5. Presidential candidates don't drop out because they are losing
Tue May 31, 2016, 04:30 PM
May 2016

They drop out because they run out of money. The losing is what usually makes them run out of money.

Bernie has managed to keep the money coming, even though he's losing. That's how he's still standing.

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