Bernie Sanders defends his support for Clinton in 2016

[TexasTowelie]

HENDERSON, NEVADA — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Thursday defended his efforts to support his party's presidential nominee in 2016 and said he would do the same in 2020 if he doesn't win the nomination himself.

The Vermont senator was asked by a voter at a campaign event in a Las Vegas suburb about whether he'd support winner of a crowded primary field, which has more than 20 contenders.

Sanders said, "absolutely and positively yes," but took umbrage with a member of the crowd who shouted that he failed to be supportive of Democrat Hillary Clinton three years earlier.

"Oh really? I didn't know that," Sanders said sarcastically. "I thought I ran all over the country, into Nevada and everywhere else, working as hard as I humanly could to see that Hillary Clinton was elected president of the United States."

Read more: https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/national-govt--politics/bernie-sanders-defends-his-support-for-clinton-2016/p5WqSAQAOkb20BBddAvNbM/

[Cha]

1. omg

[lapucelle]

37. I wonder what else BS thinks he did.

[Cha]

38. No telling.

"... humanly possible.. "

[Hortensis]

67. Actually, many of his own supporters here should

remember how he largely disappeared after the primary, and not just for Democrats and Hillary n the GE. Sure he did some reluctant, party-paid appearances, but never mislead anyone into believing he really supported her.

For a long time he wasn't really around for his own most loyal followers either, leaving them hurting and mostly without a leader's guidance. (I figured he was probably sick of them too.) But I remember their isolation on the JPR forum, where they tried to rally themselves with lies and conspiracies about Hillary and the ACA to justify their actions while they guessed at when he would reappear to lead their revolution.

My own biggest concern, income inequality, was mostly back-benched by him in 2016, so his followers left on their own defaulted to healthcare, which everyone feels they understand.

Thus, with only occasional words from him back in his senate seat, his revolutionaries spent all of 2017 arguing passionately for the need to kill (and someday replace) Obamacare -- as the Republicans worked hard at exactly that -- until it finally dawned on them that that was exactly what they were likely to get, without replacement. Then they mostly went quiet about that.

We all remember all this. But, again, the point is where was Sanders? It's foolish to pretend he worked hard to elect Hillary when he mostly disappeared from his own revolution. He was around being a senator, but not really, not the way they needed him. MIA until he needed them again for this run.

[Cha]

70. Yes, I remember. :( Thanks.

[MrsCoffee]

66. I wonder why he thinks we care what he does when he loses this time.

He says he would do the same (whatever he thinks he did) in 2020.

As if anyone would count on him or want him campaigning for them this time around. This time he will make everyone happy if he retreats and sulks at home instead of in public.

[Cha]

72. This tweet from BS was 3 days before the election..

Link to tweet

[lapucelle]

74. Why does BS always make it about himself?

Not ME, us, indeed.

[Cha]

82. No kidding.. here's Jane's tweet on the day of the "election".

[George II]

2. Excuse me? He was in Burlington before the Convention closed, and wasn't seen again until....

....Labor Day, September 5. That's just shy of six weeks before he first campaigned for her.

[JI7]

6. he was writing his book

[ucrdem]

40. . . . that made him a millionaire.

Time will tell on this one.

[Chin music]

3. Ughhhh.

In denial on top of it. Admit you fussed when she won the primary, and move on. I voted for this guy once.

[sheshe2]

4. No comment.

No comment.

[calguy]

5. He supported Clinton?

I never noticed..

[Blue_true]

39. I would not even call the support "weak", it didn't rise to that level. nt

[qazplm135]

7. it's one thing to say he worked to help Clinton. He did.

It's another to say he worked "as hard as humanly possible" because he did not REMOTELY do that.

[lunamagica]

8. Please. We will never forget

[sheshe2]

9. No. We will not forget!

[betsuni]

10. ...

"When he finally endorsed Hilary on July 12, speaking to a crowd in which many of his supporters jeered her name and held signs saying 'Won't vote Hillary,' he looked grumpy and grudging and devoted most of his speech to congratulating himself and his followers on the 'fight to create a government which represents all of us, and not just the one percent ... .' He boasted of the races he had won, and was unable to resist a jab at party leaders by citing Clinton's abundance of superdelegates (read, in Sander's code: party hacks).

"It was not exactly a rousing call, designed to energize his supporters and redirect their passion toward Clinton. While Clinton had focused her endorsement for Obama on his accomplishments and abilities, Sanders returned once again to his own campaign, citing the impressive attendance at his rallies, and emphasizing that 'this campaign is not really about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders, or any other candidate who sought the presidency. This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face.' Conceding that 'as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that,' he then launched into what was essentially an accounting of the economic and social positions he and Hillary shared, which gave the lie to the vast gulf between 'revolutionary' Bernie and 'establishment' Hillary he had run on.

"Of Hillary's qualifications to run the nation, Sanders mentioned just two accomplishments: 'as a great First Lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a First Lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care' and 'as a fierce advocate for the rights of children.' Stellar accomplishments, yes, but rather gender typed, and hardly doing justice to the myriad ways in which Clinton had served the country."

Susan Bordo

[StevieM]

12. To those of us who remember the 2008 race it is interesting to imagine what the reaction

would have been had Hillary conducted herself the same way that Bernie later did.

At the 2008 convention Hillary fired up her supporters, which at the time included a lot of blue-collar working people, in favor of Obama. Meanwhile, I heard stories about her delegates being yelled at to take off their Hillary shirts. In 2016 Bernie's people made it clear that they were there for him, demanded that he be nominated, and interrupted speakers while they were talking. They even tried to shout down Hillary during her speech, but were drowned out when it got too loud by chants of Hillary.

[betsuni]

17. As Sarah Silverman said, the Bernie or Bust people were being ridiculous.

I didn't pay too much attention to the 2008 primary because I liked both candidates. 2016 started out that way, but then ... .

[George II]

45. Remember this?

[Cha]

49. Yes, I do! I was crying..

for happiness.. and I'm still crying right now.. for how beautiful it was!

Mahalo, George

[NastyRiffraff]

69. That, and her full-throated initial endorsement

when she suspended her own campaign. She endorsed Obama immediately and she didn't go halfway. Then she went to work, supporting him. Finally, that beautiful moment at the Convention. Yes, that's how it should be done. What Bernie did wasn't even close.

[Cha]

13. Hillary was fantastic when she

endorsed President Obama!

She turned me totally around!

Mahalo, betsuni

[betsuni]

25. Her commitment to making life better for people is authentic and has been consistent

throughout her entire life.

[Cha]

27. Yes, Hillary cares more about our

country and Planet than nursing any wounds. She's a Team Player.. and that's what it takes.. A Team

She is extraordinary!

[Kahuna7]

59. Yep. She's always been a champion for families. nt

[MustLoveBeagles]

26. She's a class act all around

This is how you do it:

She was on fire:

[Cha]

28. And, that is part of her awesome

legacy!

Mahalo, MustLoveBeagles!

[MustLoveBeagles]

33. Maholo Cha

[George II]

46. See my post #45 just above this. THIS is how DEMOCRATS unite and move forward.

[George II]

15. No mention of her careers as Senator and Secretary of State? As Obama would say, "C'mon man!"

[betsuni]

22. You'd think those would be the most important things to know about her.

Bordo says, "Bernie may have been feeling his age that day. If so, I sympathize. But when my tattered memory fails me, I look things up."

[Cha]

29. smh.. how could he not mention that?

[betsuni]

31. He mentioned that she helped lead the fight for universal health care as First Lady.

Now he says that universal health care was a radical idea until he introduced it during his candidacy. Confusing!

[Cha]

32. More.. smh.

Then it's settled .. It was Hillary who started trying to get Universal Health Care implemented.

[Cha]

84. And, that's how it was.

[JI7]

11. 2016 was all about demonizing the woman to prop up the men

[Cha]

14. +1!

[betsuni]

52. 2019: man heads DNC, man is front-runner. What to do.

They still have Nancy Pelosi.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. It's Bernie Sanders' world, and we're all just living in it.

[Cha]

19. Not

really.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. Oh, I think that's definitely his perspective.

[Cha]

21. In that case.. yeah.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. .

[highplainsdem]

18. Mediaite article withs video:

https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-bernie-sanders-lashes-out-when-confronted-at-town-hall-over-lack-of-support-for-hillary-clinton/

[liberal N proud]

24. Support my @$$

[Doreen]

30. I remember him having a little tantrum

when he did not win and then said nothing in support Hillary, did not encourage his followers to then vote for Hillary, and did not endorse her for a long time. He is part of the reason his supporters went to trump, stien, or just did not vote at all. If he had stepped up to the plate immediately there would have been less loss on Hillary's side. I had voted for him but as soon as he started all that crap I lost my respect for him. All of the Democrat canidates NEED to give immediate support to the winner and lead their followers to that person.

[Blue_true]

43. His hard supporters were already off the rails.

He let things fester into our convention and did nothing to quell his supporters. Then he left for weeks after the convention, not saying a word in support of Hillary. I won't forget that and will relish voting for anyone else when the primary reaches my state. I will enthusiastically support in in the event that he becomes the democratic party nominee, because the stakes for not doing that are way too high for the country.

[Doreen]

54. I fully agree.

I just hope he realizes the stakes are to high to play the same tantrum if he loses again.

[trueblue2007]

80. you're 100% right and BS did NOTHING to make his supporters hating on Hillary. He didn't support her

I think BS has a great dislike of Hillary.

[Kahuna7]

60. +1,000,000 nt

[MrsCoffee]

65. Democratic candidates.

Sorry, one of my biggest pet peeves.

[ucrdem]

34. Honesty malfunction. nt

[Me.]

35. What

Support?

[mcar]

36. That is objectively not true

This is getting sad.

[ucrdem]

42. Here's who endorsed Clinton on June 9, the day after she swept California:

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/joe-biden-endorses-hillary-clinton-224162

[George II]

44. +1,000,000

[Cha]

118. Wow! Grreat Find, ucr!

[betsuni]

47. By the way, I just saw mention of the "Hillary sent me!" grassroots program

that Hillary created in September 2008 to encourage her supporters to work to elect Obama and other down ticket Democrats.

It would've been nice if Bernie had done something like that. That way, if you get criticized for not doing enough to convince your supporters to support the nominee, you can point to it as evidence that you tried.

[dalton99a]

48. Nice Trump-sized revisionist bullshit

[Cha]

50. +1!

[MrsCoffee]

51. No mas pantalones Bernie.

[Cha]

56. Si, verdad, Senora Coffee.

[quickesst]

53. Sanders did the bare minimum....

..... for Hillary which was just enough to ensure he would not get blocked out of the democratic party in 2020. Expect a repeat when he is once again unsuccessful in his bid for the nomination.

[murielm99]

55. Were you being ironic in posting this, Towelie?

[TexasTowelie]

57. Posted wirhout comment.

I was reviewing articles from Ohio media yesterday evening. I'll be posting news from Indiana and Illinois media later this morning.

[Kahuna7]

58. Once you bash your opponent relentlessly as undeserving of your vote...

What you say later doesn't matter. People tend to believe you the first time.

Also the protests at the convention that he planned and were carried out by his supporters were not an endorsement. I know that technically, he did endorse her. However, he gave mixed signals by scowling in disapproval every time he was caught on camera. We remember. Don't try to gaslight old people.

[betsuni]

61. +1

[George II]

64. I'll never forget the night he said Hillary Clinton wasn't qualified to be President.

[Cha]

71. +1

[SouthernProgressive]

62. A bit of revisionist history by Sanders....

but I'm glad he isn't hedging on supporting the nominee.

[LibFarmer]

63. Pretty much everything is already said in comments

What I really want to say, while I toss a beer bottle at a wall, I shall refrain from typing.

[Kahuna7]

68. Before the first vote in Iowa Bernie promised to fight all the way..

to the convention.. Once Hillary nailed the nomination in June, he continued his fight to the convention. Many of his supporters couldn't believe or accept that it was over and they had lost. Many believed the results would be overturned at the convention. How sad to see them in tears at the convention when they realized it was really over. Who does that to naive youngsters?


Before Iowa:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-promises-to-fight-to-the-convention/

After Hillary nailed the nomination in June:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/bernie-sanders-vows-continue-fight-convention-n588011

[betsuni]

75. "Who does that to naive youngsters?"

"Bernie was given the privilege of shaping the political worldview of millions of bright, young, open-minded first-time voters. He chose to use his powers to convince them of a simplistic, poisonous worldview. It goes a little like this: the vast majority of Americans actually agree with Bernie's radical policies, but millionaires and billionaires have bribed our entire government, as well as the DNC, into doing everything they can to stop true progressive ideas. So many young progressives, once inspired by Bernie, were convinced by him to see corruption and conspiracy behind every corner, to wallow in apathy and anti-establishment helplessness."

Roy Delfino

[Cha]

73. Tweet from BS 3 days before election..

Link to tweet

[Blue_true]

78. Wow. Talk about giving a free pass. I hope that he is better this time around.

But early signals AREN'T good.

[Cha]

83. Jane Sanders tweeted this on the day of the "election"..

[tymorial]

76. Simply astounding.

[Kurt V.]

77. Sanders did more campaign stops for Hillary Clinton in 2016 than Hillary Clinton did

for Barack Obama in 2008. let that sink in.

[yardwork]

85. Link? I hadn't seen that data. However, even if true, what was the quality of the support?

Number of stops is one measure. Another measure is enthusiasm.

I will never forget the behavior of Bernie's delegates at the DNC.

[Kahuna7]

86. He did campaign events, while spouting HIS agenda..not hers.

He never stopped campaigning for himself.

[Jakes Progress]

91. Do you have a link for that information not from BS press release?

You can post it here, you know.

[Kurt V.]

93. i did try to find a link after the first reply. no success. Sanders was easy to verify, but not

clinton. i read it in a jeet heer tweet which is reliable.

[betsuni]

98. I saw a tweet that said Hillary did over 130.

Tried to verify, couldn't. Since she began campaigning for Obama right after the convention and Sanders waited until September, there's no way he did more events than she did.

If anyone knows for sure, that would be nice.

[Kurt V.]

99. agree. i'd like to know for sure bc I've trusted jeet for a long time.

[Jakes Progress]

109. Regardless of who tweeted, it is not evidence.

I know this is the age of trump and the holiness of tweeting, but a tweet is just somebody mouthing off. It is not evidence or a fact unless they provide back up documents.

One of the problems of the 2016 election was that so many people relied on tweets and Facebook as news and information. They are neither.

The idea that BS did more to support Hillary than Hillary did to support Obama sounds unlikely given that most of us saw what was happening for both elections and given the timeline involved. But if you have any evidence, it would be good to see. If not, maybe you should edit your post to say that you think you once saw a tweet that said BS did good things to help Hillary. As it stands, that post is not supportable.

[Cha]

119. Thank You , Jake.. It's ridiculous.. there is no "evidence"..

of it.

[Cha]

92. No.. that is Not going to "sink" in.

that's just you posting that. Got proof?

Whatever stops BS did in the GE he was always talking about himself.

Hillary was All In for then Senator Obama.. there's no denying that. Let that "sink in"

[Kurt V.]

94. I'm getting bombarded all of a sudden. :) you know it was pretty continuous.

[Cha]

95. Check out your post.. that's why.

[Kurt V.]

96. meh. i think sanders has an important voice on particular subjects, not all. so to see him getting

beat down constantly i like to jump in occasionally to set the record straight.

[Cha]

106. Lots of people on this thread

are actually setting the record straight that very much differs from the OP.

[Kahuna7]

97. Exactly!!! He wasn't campaigning for Hillary. He was campaigning for himself.

He never stopped running from 2015 til now.

[Cha]

101. So shocking, too.

We were there.. we know the truth and so does Hillary.

Kahuna

[JudyM]

112. I remember being impressed by how he was traveling so much to get her elected since I was interested

in what he was doing. I was pissed at the situation.
I’ll just put this here. https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/bernie-sanderss-hard-fight-for-hillary-clinton

[Docreed2003]

79. A simple follow up question would be

Senator Sanders, how many appearances constitute working as "hard as humanly possible"?

It's funny to me that what most see as a bare minimum, Bernie sees as working tirelessly. SMDH

[MineralMan]

81. But we remember, even if Bernie doesn't.

Yup...

[Kahuna7]

87. This is how Hillary really feels about Bernie's "support."

Link to tweet

[MrsCoffee]

88. And that is the freakin truth right there.

[Cha]

110. +1!

[Cha]

105. Thank You for posting that, Kahuna!

Hillary knows what's going on!

[tishaLA]

89. This is the same guy who

Said his interviewers on Vermont Public Radio should ask Sec Clinton why she didn't do more about Russian interference when they pressed him about his reticence regarding Russian help for his campaign, correct?

[Cha]

90. Yes.

[JI7]

100. yet he spreads the DNC rigged conspiracy crap which also came

from Russia.

and not surprising that Tulsi Gabbard was one of the first to start it.

[Cha]

116. +1!

[stonecutter357]

102. lol !

[shanny]

103. Bernie couldn't inspire as much enthusiasm

from his supporters on Hillary's behalf as he could when campaigning for himself.

I'm shocked...not.

[Cha]

113. Yeah, I wonder why?

[aikoaiko]

104. Thank you for trying, Bernie.

You did what you could.

[Cha]

117. Yeah, what he could.

[Blue_Tires]

107. That isn't how I remember it

and I'll leave it at that

[LongtimeAZDem]

108. If he really believes that, he's delusional; if he doesn't, he's being dishonest.

[Princetonian]

114. I recall Bernie stumping for Hillary. I also recall Bill and Hillary stumping for Barack.

None did a great job but hey, at least they tried.

I like how Bernie is saying he will be happy to stump for the eventual Democratic candidate. That is unity.

[Cha]

115. Hillary did an amazing job for Obama!