General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Supporting the values of the Sanders movement is not "refighting the primaries". [View all]CitizenZero
(505 posts)So we should not have Primaries, because they divide us? This is a democracy. People have a right to run. So, I do not think that we lost because Sanders ran a strong Primary campaign. In fact, I think that it made Hillary a better candidate by sharpening her up prior to the General Election. I think Sanders ran a fair campaign, and did not go very negative on Clinton. Anyway, this is supposed to be a democracy, not a coronation. People have a right to run in Primaries.
I repeat my original point: if we had paid more attention to connecting to working class voters in the Rust Belt, we might not have lost states like Wisconsin and Michigan to Trump. That was our mistake, our error, to take those States and Votes for granted. When you are running for the Presidency, you should leave nothing to chance. Stop blaming Comey, Russia, Bernie for the loss. It is always someone else's fault but our's. Perhaps we lost because we failed to run a strong campaign in those States.
Sanders could have not endorsed Hillary, but he did. Some are now hoping that he will lead a Third Party. I do not think that he would do that, because he knows that it would divide the Left between such a Party and the Democratic Party. He is not like Nader, because he supported Hillary and did not run in the General Election. If Sanders was like Nader, he could have run in the General Election as an Independent. He did none of those things. Instead, he supported Hillary's Campaign.
So, I think it is not fair or accurate to paint Sanders as a spoiler of Hillary's Campaign. We should try to bring both of those groups together in the big tent Democratic Party. Infighting is not helpful.