An alternate history...
- What if the Democratic party leadership had recognized early on that Bernie Sanders had tapped into something significant and instead of trying to smear it on their candidate of choice, backed his campaign instead?
- What if the mainstream media had covered the Sanders campaign as the unprecedented phenomena it is?
- What if Hillary Clinton realized the historic prize of becoming the first woman president wasn't really worth bashing a genuine campaign of the people?
Impossible as this may seem, I think the party would be in much better shape than it is right now. This would have convinced a whole group of doubters that the democratic party is more than a puppet organization of the financial sector and actually has the guts to be a party of the people.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Leftists were ecstatic: a socialist winning over middle America!
...
With Clinton’s nomination a lock, liberals have become even more furious and dismissive of white workers. Commenting on Sanders’s West Virginia victory, they were quick to point out that a felon running against Obama in the same state in 2012 got nearly half as many votes. They crowed about how some of both Bernie and Clinton’s voters said Trump was their real number one choice, and much was made of how Sanders overwhelmingly won voters who want “less liberal” policies than Obama’s.
Conveniently lost in the noise is the fact that Sanders won an even bigger share of voters who want “more liberal” ones.
The media takeaway was clear: somehow, someway, West Virginia’s vote for a Jewish socialist Brooklyn native was a vote for racism. “I don’t want to say it,” said Chris Matthews on election night “but West Virginian voters are, you know — conservative on social issues — but there’s another word for that. . .”
MSNBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald claimed, “Many attributed the outcome to West Virginia voters’ discomfort with Obama’s race. The state is one of the whitest in the country.” To be fair, it’s now widely known that Hillary Clinton keeps hot sauce in her purse at all times.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/05/white-workers-bernie-sanders-clinton-primary-racism/
So West Virginia voters are against socialism because POC in other states will benefit from the same policies they would? I mean, that is what your argument effectively is, right? It's a theory, one which I don't really find plausible though. I don't mean that as a strawman, it simply seems to be the logical conclusion of your theory.
What about Indiana then? What about Michigan, where white voters backed Sanders and social democracy despite a large portion of POC within the state? (if that theory held, wouldn't they have backed him in fewer numbers?)
I'm speaking about the present time. I don't know what "Unpack that" means. Obviously the 1950s were deeply unfair to POC.
I think I made my point rather clearly. 
Are you really a teacher?.. of art?
Well, I am a musician, 20 years or so an artist-in-residence at a major American conservatory, and even I know better than that.
Women can be misogynists, too, but they usually don't say things like this:
To you, perhaps, it's all about HRC wanting to "become" the first woman president. In other words, we're back to the "she's too ambitious" argument. In fact, this is not about HRC wanting to become anything; it's about 50% of the population being represented at the top level of government. I am grateful to Hillary Clinton for giving us an opportunity to have a woman president in our lifetime.
I won't even go into pitting equality for women against "a genuine campaign of the people." Clearly, women are not "people" in the eyes of some people. We're just a special interest group.
If we were talking about any other type of minority -- Black people, Asians, native Americans, Muslims, LGBT, Jewish people -- we wouldn't be seeing this kind of insensitivity about the idea of equality.
What if he hired competent professionals to run his campaign in lieu of Jeff Weaver?
What if he coupled his excellent social media and word of mouth campaign into a good ground game like Obama did?
What if he made registering people to vote Democratic the focus of his rallies?
What if he had combined racial justice with economic justice earlier in his campaign in an appeal to African Americans?
Impossible as this may seem, I think his campaign would be in much better shape than it is right now. This would have convinced a whole group of Democrats that the Sanders campaign is more than a group of malcontents that actually has the guts to show up and vote instead of just crying foul over everything.
What if?
Aren't the people voting for other candidates people too?
I'd say, first and foremost, that he ran a poor campaign.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]
Not least of which because it doesn't do any good in terms of winning people to your side. If one Bernie supporter is affected in a positive way from my being civil and it softens him/her toward Hillary, then I am doing something right. I'm not claiming I'm changing millions of hearts and minds over here, lol, but it's a start.
I also feel better about myself when I am the bigger person. It's really quite a selfish motivation! 
I went through the 08 race here (under another name) full of vitriol, furious and sad when Hillary lost. I didn't handle it well. I felt like crap about myself when I logged off back then. It was toxic for me to be directing that rage at other people.
The new rules should help. 
Where he still thinks he has a path to the nomination. 
as much as you do?
Jesus fucking christ bro, we hold elections and declare the person with the most votes the winner.
He
Didn't
Fucking
Win.
1. The party leadership didn't cater or cajole either presidential candidate.
2. The media does not exist to give Bernie Sanders puff piece coverage. This isn't the USSR, we don't do Pravda.
3. The 3rd one is the most absurd, "...wasn't really worth bashing a genuine campaign of the people"
When we hold elections, we have candidates with competing and contrasting ideas on what to do going forward. Your "campaign of the people" saw more voters turn out to disagree with it than agree with it. That's how we determine election winners and thus candidates.
Bernie's ideas did not win over most voters. This wasn't because of party sabotage, media disinterest or anything but the very simple fact that more voters disagreed than agreed.
Truer words have never been spoken! Thanks tom-servo! 
What fries my ham is that a lot of fellow posters can't even bring themselves to admit simple truths.
With a bigger package than John Holmes himself! 
