Sanders still dismissing the black vote in the South which voted overwhelmingly for Hillary [View all]

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Bernie Sanders on Sunday admitted he had been “creamed” in many southern states by his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, but said Democrats were “not going to win those states in the general election”.

Sanders, speaking on CBS, was asked about the delegate math that gives Clinton a nigh-insurmountable lead in delegates and superdelegates combined.

Sanders said his campaign had a good path forward even though “the deep south” was “not a strong area for us”, and pointed out that in Illinois and Missouri the campaigns nearly split the delegates available despite Clinton winning the states.

“She creamed us in Mississippi and Louisiana and South Carolina,” he said, before adding that Democrats are “not going to win those states in the general election”.

“As we head to the west coast, which is probably the most progressive part of America, I think as you go forward you’re going to see us doing better and better.”

read: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/20/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-south-west-coast-us-election-2016?CMP=share_btn_tw


I gotta ask. Why would Californians be more progressive than black voters in the South? That's what those voters hear when Sanders turns his back on them and looks to the West for a mini-momentum miracle. There is no 'confederacy' vote in our Democratic primaries in the South, as Sanders surrogates termed the votes there last week.

The reason Sanders has done better outside of the South is the predominance of non-black voters in the Northern states he did well in, with a sprinkle of actual republican votes coming out of open-primaries (unlike the closed Southern primaries).

That said, he's going to find a fair share of minorities and others opposed to his campaign in California who will keep him from establishing little more than parity there with Hillary. It's a mystery why he believes this is his campaign's saving grace. At this point, the North/South and the West/South slams have been disproved in elections in Ohio, Mass., Illinois, Nevada, Missouri. What's the point in poking Southern voters in the eye every time he's looking to recover his losses there?

Why is Sanders already conceding those states to the GOP and ignoring the impact of this important group of voters? Hell, polls this week show that Trump's candidacy even makes Democrats competitive in solidly red states like Utah.

Black voters in the South and elsewhere who are a legacy of the registration efforts of Barack Obama's two-term presidency have given Hillary a resounding lead in delegates. Sanders' strategy is to downplay and dismiss those votes. Is there anything more shortsighted or counterproductive to the efforts of our Democratic coalition?


Propane Jane @docrocktex26
Saying “Hillary only won the Confederacy” isn’t just idiotic — it’s also bad for the Dem Party http://www.salon.com/2016/03/19/saying_hillary_only_won_the_confederacy_isnt_just_idiotic_its_also_bad_for_the_democratic_party/ …