I have decided I will support Hillary Clinton

[freshwest]

18. And now I'm there, too. I was never a fan of her, but they've convinced me.

I will add the caveat that Bernie still has my heart, but he's not running:

Bernie Sanders: The Billionaires May Just Win

...In a candid answer to a question about his political viability Monday, he lamented the "absurd" amount of resources he would need to mount a serious campaign, both in the primary and general elections.

Even if he raised $100 from 2 million people – for a total of $200 million – he worried it wouldn't be enough. "That is 20 percent of what the Koch brothers themselves are prepared to spend. Can you take that on? I don't know the answer. Maybe the game is over. Maybe they have bought the United States government. Maybe there is no turning back. Maybe we've gone over the edge. I don't know. I surely hope not. But we have to look at that reality."

"The gut feeling… that I'm going to have to reach is whether there is that willingness to stand up and fight back. And if there's not, I don't want to run a futile campaign," he said..."I am not Mr. Bloomberg of New York and I don't have billions of dollars," he said toward the end of his talk, referring to the former New York City mayor.

But if Sanders – the most ideologically pure liberal in the Senate – determines a campaign for the cause is too arduous, too futile and just not worth it, he'll only hand liberals more reason to be angry...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/bernie-sanders-the-billionaires-may-just-win/ar-AA9aFjI?ocid=iehp

From a DU thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026205198

There were a few threads:

If Bernie Sanders Runs For President, It Won’t Be as an Independent: “I will not be a spoiler”

Naturally, “Will you run for president in 2016?” was the first question DFA Executive Director Charles Chamberlain asked Sanders. Though not definitive, his answer was enough to leave these activists hopeful.

“I am giving very serious consideration to it, but before you make a decision of that magnitude, … you have to make sure that you can do it well,” Sanders said. “So what we are doing is reaching out to folks all over this country trying to determine whether or not we can put the grassroots organization together that we need.”

Sanders knows he will have to rely on grassroots mobilization to have a fighting chance at being elected, because his campaign will take on every monied interest. “If I run, we’ll be taking on the billionaire class,” he said. “That’s Wall Street, the drug companies, the military industrial complex.”

To the dismay some idealists, Sanders rejected the idea of running for president as an independent. “No matter what I do, I will not be a spoiler,” Sanders said. “I will not play that role in helping to elect some right-wing Republican as President of the United States.”

http://inthesetimes.com/article/17572/bernie_sanders_president

From this DU thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6140372

Bernie Sanders: Stand Up to the Koch Brothers...

From DU post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017235807

Notice him mentioning the 63% who did not vote. I posted a video just before the elections last year. He used that same percentage. He was begging people to get out and vote to defeat the GOP. But they people at the meeting didn't want to talk about that, they wanted to talk about Israel.

The meeting in NYC wasn't about that, it was about income inequality. After a while he quit speaking and said he had to go and see his wife who was waiting for him, but if there had been interest, I think he would have stayed longer.

He wasn't there to promote himself for office, but to get people to get out and vote for the Democratic Party, who he caucuses with for a reason. I can't find the video though, because I don't remember the title of it.

So he looking at things realistically and frankly I really wanted him to run on the Democratic ticket. He was on the Scarborough show saying he might run as a Democrat, and I'll bet they'd have let him in the primaries and it would have been great to see what everyone stood for on the issues he brings up.

But he can also see the apathy. The only thing that would overcome the money is massive turnout, such as Greg Palast warned us after the Bush coup. Voter turnout did it for Obama twice, jumping over many hurdles. Despite millions whose votes weren't counted and the obstruction of billionaire owned media, it worked.

Since then it's been a steady drizzle of apathy inducing memes to keep Democrats, not Republicans, out of voting. They will definitely be voting, and the GOP runs in continuous campaign mode. They don't just work on elections when the 'season' is near. They know better. They set the atmosphere all year long.

That's the writing on the wall, if he can't get enough votes. We will not win by the gun, and won't win if we decide our vote doesn't matter and don't vote, either. As 1SBM said:

And "Mission Accomplished" could be heard whispered throughout the land. (It seems)

GOP: "Government doesn't work" ... Check!

Libertarians (right and left): "Government is evil" ... Check!

Tea Party: "Government doesn't work and there is no difference between establishment republicans and establishment Democrats" ... Check!

"Liberals/Progressives": "Government is evil and there is no difference between establishment republicans and establishment Democrats" ... Check!

The media has played this narrative on a 7-day, 24-hour loop.

Result: Only 15% of the American people pay close attention to the only mechanism for change.

Nicely played, Oligarchs!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025633467#post8

JMHO.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141011429#post89

Although he'll keep speaking out for things I cherish and may change some people's minds. Those who say they will refuse to vote are no more his supporters than Republicans.

They have broken his heart, IMO.