Message auto-removed

[Name removed]

[Voltaire2]

1. Did you expect an answer?

[Loki Liesmith]

3. Blackmail

[SidDithers]

4. Ok. Then question me...

Bernie repeadedtly said he wasn’t a Dem, pretended to be a Dem during the 2016 election cycle, and immediately went back to I as soon as he could.

Whether he “deserves” to run or not doesn’t really matter. The fact that he won’t self-identify as a Democrat should disqualify him from running to be the Democratic nominee.

And yes, I know he’s going to pretend to be a Democrat again for the 2020 cycle. Doesn’t mean we have to believe him.

Sid

[Cha]

7. He just gave you a damn good

explanation. there was nothing "smug" about it.. that's on you.

[Cha]

9. Not everyone wants BS to

be potus.. deal with it.

[Cha]

13. There are millions of others who

don't want BS and they're the future of our Democratic Party.

[MrsCoffee]

47. We heard this before.

Yet he still lost spectacularly before even getting to the final round.

[Cha]

48. Nah, I disagree.

[flying_wahini]

15. Bernie is the first to say he is a Socialist Democrat and not a Democrat, that's why.

I used to like him and voted for him in the primaries. (TX)
Now I feel he just warmed up his last campaign just for his ego and old times sake.
He took the DNC funds but kept his contributions just for himself and after HRC
went in to pay for campaign costs & Bernie stood there with his hands in his pockets.
I know I won’t be voting for him again. Nope, nada.

[Cha]

20. Mahalo, flying_wahini!

[SidDithers]

16. You don't have to be a Democrat to vote for a Democrat...

But you damn well should be a Democrat if you want to run as one.

Sid

[SidDithers]

22. And I refer you to...

https://www.sanders.senate.gov

Where Bernie is identified as Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Sid

[LexVegas]

28. ...

https://www.leahy.senate.gov/

[SidDithers]

40. Beat me to it...

Sid

[honest.abe]

29. Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Patrick Leahy was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 and remains the only Democrat elected to this office from Vermont.

https://www.leahy.senate.gov/about

State: Vermont
Senate: 94th-116th (1975-Present)
Website: http://www.leahy.senate.gov/
Contact: 437 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 [phone]
Party: Democratic

https://www.congress.gov/member/patrick-leahy/L000174

[MrsCoffee]

39. There is nothing that stops a candidate from running on a major or minor party ticket.

Nothing.

Your voter registration has nothing to do with the party affiliation you state when running for office in Vermont.

https://www.sec.state.vt.us/elections/candidates.aspx

https://www.sec.state.vt.us/elections/parties.aspx

[George II]

49. Yes there is. There is both a republican and Democratic Party...

...and minor parties.

You're mixing up candidates and voters. There is no VOTER party affiliation, but most candidates and officeholders have party affiliations.

Hint: check his wikipedia page - the first times he ran for office he ran under the Liberty Union Party!

[Cha]

51. Just the opposite.. I don't like him

because he's says thing like this..

Link to tweet

And, this..

Bernie: ‘My Opponents’ Want Black, White, Gay, Latino or Women Candidates ‘Regardless of What They Stand For’

After the 2016 election, Sanders hit a similar theme when he told a crowd of supporters “It’s not good enough for somebody to say ‘hey I’m a Latina vote for me’ that is not good enough,” and went on to add “It is not good enough for somebody to say, ‘I’m a woman, vote for me.'”

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211722251

And, he needs to explain this..

Link to tweet

[Honeycombe8]

57. Bernie self-identifies as an Independent and Socialist. He does not self-identify as a Democrat.

You can look it up in Senate.gov. Patrick Leahy is the other Senator from Vermont. He self-identifies as a Democrat.

http://www.senate.gov/states/

https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?Name=Sanders&nState=VT

https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?Name=Leahy&nState=VT


In other words, Bernie himself has made it quite clear that he is NOT a Democrat. He caucuses with the Dems, though, because he is more closely aligned with them over the Republicans.

He is like Angus King, an Independent in the House who caucuses with the Democrats, but is an Independent.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

33. There's no party registration in Minnesota, like Vermont.

And the Democratic party in Minnesota isn't the actual Democratic party, it's just affiliated with it and is called the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). So, is Amy Klobuchar a Democrat?

[ehrnst]

36. She has a (D) after her name as a Senator, not (DFL) (nt)

[MrsCoffee]

42. So what. There are political parties in Vermont and options to run as a major/minor party or ind.

Nothing stops him from putting a D behind his name.

[Honeycombe8]

60. Representatives choose which party they are. That will be declared in the gov. site.

Look up Bernie, and you'll see he identifies himself as an Independent. Same for Angus King.

Al Franken listed himself as a Democrat. He willingly put himself in that camp. Bernie has not. He's made it quite clear that he is not a Democrat.

But they will caucus with one party or the other, since there is no Independent Party, as such, to caucus with. Even if there were, it wouldn't represent one set of ideals, since the essence of being an Independent is that you don't subscribe to an identified set of ideals shared with others.

[samnsara]

30. wash state doesnt have a party affiliation either but when you say you are something...

..ppl tend to believe you.

[ehrnst]

38. No, Independents who caucus with Democrats are Independents, not Democrats.

He has an (I) after his name in the Senate, not a (D).

[Cha]

52. No, it does Not "make him a Democrat".

[Honeycombe8]

63. Not having to register to a party is not the same thing as not BEING affiliated with a party.

Bernie is not a Democrat. He has made it quite clear he is an Independent and not a Democrat. That is his choice. He is identified in the Senate.gov site as an Independent.

Al Franken, who doesn't have to register to a particular party in MN, I guess, is nonetheless a Democrat. His name had a "D" by it in the Senate.gov site. He put himself in the Democratic Party in the Senate.

Angus King in the House is also an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats. But he does not put himself in the Democratic Party. Is he a Democrat? He says he's not.

[ehrnst]

54. It appears you don't live in Vermont

https://www.vtdemocrats.org/

Josh Massey, before joining the Vermont Democratic Party as Executive Director, worked for the Vermont State Employees’ Association for two years as a labor organizer union Rep. and another two election cycles for the Vermont Democratic Party one as the Washington County field organizer in 2012 and then as the Coordinated Campaign Director in 2014, pushing out the vote to help deliver the 2,300 vote difference that won the executive branch a third term for the VDP. He also served the VDP as the Chair of Washington County in 2013.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 2001 with a B.A. in History, Massey worked shortly in the field of real estate, but, a few years after starting, America’s housing market went bust and Josh and his family were left in economic crisis.

Massey, a lifelong Kentucky Wildcats fan, is married and has three children. He enjoys snowboarding, boating and attending his children’s basketball and gymnastics. He resides in Winooski.

[LexVegas]

11. ...

[still_one]

59. Actually that is a valid response. You do realize how many times this has been batted around here?

It is very unlikely that another post discussing this will change anyone's mind on the subject

and for some this could be viewed as boring or tiresome because it is hashing over the same thing

[Sinistrous]

19. Because Bernie hasn't signed their sacred sheet of paper

Which would cloak him in righteousness as he advocates for the policies sanctioned by card carrying Democrats. But without that blessed card, his eloquent advocacy of those policies is somehow unworthy.

[MrsCoffee]

43. Best to get it in writing from him.

Not our first rodeo.

[Dave in VA]

24. OK

I will vote for BS if he becomes the nominee of the Democratic Party, but I will not vote for him in the Virginia Democratic primary. I think that there is a difference between whom I want as the captain of the cheer leading squad and the team quarterback. Just my $0.02

[samnsara]

26. well i hope the DNC makes everyone show their tax returns this year IF

.....they want DNC $

[thesquanderer]

44. re: "that's up to the DNC to determine what they require, not us."

Yup. See: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287373

[MrsCoffee]

45. Again, not our first rodeo. He never released them the first time he promised.

Bernie’s word on some things is just not enough.

[democratisphere]

34. Bernie is a Democrat only when it serves his needs.

Other times he is an Independent. We don't want a part time Democrat as our Presidential Candidate nominee. We need a 110% full time, all the time Democrat residing in the WH.

[Thekaspervote]

41. That and when he returns to his independent status he bashes the democrats

[shanny]

46. annnnnnd have you missed that it serves our needs as well?

or would you prefer he run as a third-party candidate?

[Funtatlaguy]

37. Bernie is a Democratic Socialist

That is further to the left than the Democratic Party.
However, since there is no viable Dem Socialist party in the U.S., Bernie calls himself an Independent and caucuses with the Democrats (as does Maine’s Angus King).

[ehrnst]

56. Democratic Socialist is one who holds that political theory, not a party.

The Democrats are a political party, and those in our party have varying degrees of democratic socialist advocacy, and support of socialist tactics in achieving progress.

[ucrdem]

53. His lack of support for the ACA says it all.

The last time the ACA was on the chopping block CNN got Amy Klobuchar to defend it and they had Bernie on to push his vanity alternative which would be a disaster for consumers if it ever came to pass, which it wouldn't because the actual legislation is vapor-law. But getting rid of the ACA, now that could happen.

[Cha]

58. Mahalo for that news report,

ucr!

[ucrdem]

61. Thanks Cha

every time he carps about health care it makes me angry. He projects this strange fantasy where Obama was never president and the ACA never happened. But it did and he does damage to it every time he kicks his favorite hobby horse which has been dead since 2010.

[Cha]

62. I know exaclty what

you mean.

[LongtimeAZDem]

55. Are you seriously that naive?

Sanders derailed a Democratic presidential campaign, his delegates walked out of the convention, and he has continued to attack the party. Mollifying him was a necessity, and throwing his picture up costs nothing.