Bernie's Error

[Progressive2020]

Bernie's key error was not putting more resources into South Carolina before that primary. He probably would not have won, but he might have been able to slow Biden down by blunting Joe's success there. Bernie needed a strong second in South Carolina. Instead, Biden had a blow-out win. The timing of this was critical for Joe. It gave him a major surge just a few days before Super Tuesday. Bernie had a chance to knock Biden out. Instead, Biden got a shot in the arm at just the right time.

Sanders still has a lot of delegates and is a pretty close second to Joe, but Biden has the momentum. My guess is that Biden will win, and it is too late for Sanders. If Sanders did catch up to Joe in the upcoming Primaries and actually beat him, it would be a remarkable comeback. I do not expect that to happen. My feeling is that Joe will probably be our nominee. I will fight for him to defeat Trump in November.

[uponit7771]

1. K&R, Sanders did the same thing he did last time and Skip quote un-quote the southern States

[Progressive2020]

17. Yes

It was a bad strategy for Sanders to skip the southern states. The goal for Sanders would not be to win those states, but rather prevent Biden or anyone else (Bloomberg?) from having massive wins there. A massive win changes the psychology of the race, and that is what happened with Biden and South Carolina. South Carolina showed that Joe could win, and win big.

A lot of voters on Super Tuesday said that they made up their mind last minute who they were going to vote for. This benefited Biden. If Sanders ran a strong second in South Carolina, Joe might not have had a big, last minute surge. Sanders might have done much better on Super Tuesday, and Joe might never be able to catch him. Instead, there was a large turnout for Biden.

Timing is important in politics, and Joe's win in South Carolina set the stage for a very good Super Tuesday for Joe Biden. My original point was that Bernie could have prevented this had he run stronger in South Carolina. When the history books are written, South Carolina will be noted as the beginning of the end for Bernie Sanders, I think. Bernie made a serious error by not campaigning more in South Carolina.

[LongtimeAZDem]

2. Bernie's error was in trying to use a party that he has attacked for his entire career

[Progressive2020]

8. Yeah

Bernie has made few friends amongst what I would call traditional Democrats. Biden's surge and big day on Super Tuesday was largely due to those traditional Dems, especially in South Carolina. But my point was that Bernie made a serious tactical error, whatever you think about whether Bernie should be in the Party.

[TwilightZone]

10. Being in the party isn't the primary issue.

Routinely bashing the party then expecting them to rally behind you is the issue. It's never made any sense as a strategy.

[George II]

3. His error was constantly bashing the people who he wanted to vote for him. You don't go into...

...a restaurant and insult the waiter and the cook. Bad things will happen.

[LizBeth]

20. That makes no sense yet he was at it again today.

[CentralMass]

4. Bernie was not going to be able to over come the party machines endorsenent of Biden in S.C.

[TwilightZone]

9. Most of the endorsements came after SC.

Other than Clyburn, most of the endorsements came after SC.

But you knew that.

[Frances]

11. If you mean Clyburn and Jaime Harrison,

You are talking about African American heroes who have earned the respect of all African Americans and all South Carolina Democrats
Please don’t belittle them

[Progressive2020]

12. Endorsements

It was not about overcoming the political establishment in South Carolina. It was about stopping Biden by having a close second place by Bernie. Bernie could have had a stronger second place showing in South Carolina. Instead, he had a weak performance and Biden had a smashing win. It changed the psychology of the entire race just a few days before Super Tuesday.

If Sanders had been able to blunt Joe's victory in South Carolina, it possibly would have meant Bernie would have done much, much better than he did on Super Tuesday. Bernie was heavily favored in Super Tuesday prior to Biden's big win in South Carolina.

So it was not about winning the state or overcoming the political establishment there. Rather, it was about having a stronger second place showing and preventing Biden from having a massive victory. Instead, that is what happened. Joe had a major victory, and it propelled him to success on Super Tuesday.

[LizBeth]

21. Blue wave Democratic voter. That was the message given to Sanders clearly.

[emmaverybo]

5. It was relationships he never had. Can't build overnight. Not the only candidate to try and fail.

I think he knew his reception would not be all that warm. Biden would steal his thunder up on the dais.

[NurseJackie]

6. Remember that one time when he had a rally in North Charleston, SC?

Remember that one time when he had a rally in North Charleston, SC? BS can't even get AA and POC to attend a rally at an historically BLACK church in a MAJORITY BLACK neighborhood, within a MAJORITY BLACK city.

I knew right then and there that it was OVER for Bernie Sanders!

His rally (although well-attended) had so LITTLE ethnic diversity that it looked like he could have been somewhere Vermont. In fact, based on the statistics, the demographics at that rally was even whiter than Vermont.

It's obvious that the AA and POC community are rejecting BS and the BS campaign. They did then, and they still do NOW. He can't make headway. He hasn't been able to refine and tune his message.

BS just doesn't connect with that community. The BS message just isn't resonating. When the AA voters don't even BOTHER to show up to a rally that's RIGHT THERE in their city, their neighborhood, their church facility... well that is a SERIOUS SNUB and COMPLETE REJECTION.

All I'm saying is, with such a humiliating rejection by the AA and POC communities, and without their vote, BS doesn't stand a chance.

Who is feeling the Bern? In North Charleston, it was a mostly-white crowd
https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/who-is-feeling-the-bern-in-north-charleston-it-was/article_851b29d6-471e-11e9-bc24-7f7b68686e53.html

[TwilightZone]

7. I don't think it would have mattered.

South Carolina voters were intending to send a message and I don't think Sanders could have done much to change that. Biden barely had a presence in other states and won several of them anyway. I don't think "presence" was Bernie's problem in SC.

[Frances]

14. I agree

[Squinch]

13. His error was not believing the 2018 results. His revolution

and his hand-picked candidates were trounced, but despite that shellacking, he changed nothing about his positions or his approach.

[AlexSFCA]

15. the upcoming states dont look good for BS

[kwenu]

16. There are a lot more errors than that.

1. Young people are Bernie's biggest asset...and his biggest liability. Young voters have never turned out in sufficient numbers to impact an election. They still haven't.

2. Ignoring Black people. For some reason, my white hard left progressive friends still seem clueless that they cannot win without significant Black support. Black people are still an afterthought with them. It was inexcusable for Bernie to skip the "Bloody Sunday" commemoration in Selma, Alabama. Even Bloomberg attended. Bernie's absence was noted.

3. Trying to replace Black voters with Latino voters/ pitting Latinos vs Black people. Bernie has tried to replace the voting power of Black people with Latinos. As much as Democrats have hoped that Latinos would increase their participation in voting, they still haven't shown up like they could. The Latinos that are politically motivated are split probably about 65%/35% with republicans. You need BOTH not one vs the other.

4. Tone deafness over the issues of the 2020 election season. Trump is considered a far more imminent threat than the economy in this election. Bernie is and has always been about an economic revolution. He is going to have to figure out how to pursue Trump along with his centerpiece of democratic socialism.

5. Stop whining and complaining so damned much. We are burned out with Trump's long repeated BS refrain of being constantly AGGRIEVED. Arguing for the working class and pointing out truth of why an economic change is one thing but what is the Democratic establishment? Does he mean wall street democrats or hollywood democrats? Does he mean Black people?

6. Is it really necessary for Bernie to highlight Castro's supposed accomplishments? He has basically handed Florida to Biden and/or Trump.

[Progressive2020]

18. Valid Points

I don't disagree that Bernie has made a number of errors. I was just pointing out one in particular that was critical to the votes on Super Tuesday. Sanders could have stopped Joe this week if Bernie had blunted Joe's momentum coming out of South Carolina. It was a serious tactical error.

Prior to South Carolina, the speculation was that Sanders was going to run away with Super Tuesday. The overwhelming Biden win in South Carolina showed that Joe can win, and win big. It gave his campaign a shot in the arm at just the right moment. And it changed the psychology of the election. Bernie could have prevented this by putting more resources into South Carolina. I think it was a critical tactical error on the part of Sanders. Anyway, I do not disagree with any of your other points.

[LizBeth]

19. Sanders numbers previously was an illusion of a five way split in vote for a Democrat.

Sanders was never strong.