Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign megathread

[henster]

Does no one else find the absurdity of a 79 year old man being President?

[henster]

Hope other candidates bring up the age issue directly and don't dance around it. Would you trust a 79 year old surgeon to perform on you? Like the President they also make life and death decisions.

[henster]

Hope other candidates bring up the age issue directly and don't dance around it. Would you trust a 79 year old surgeon to perform on you? Like the President they also make life and death decisions.

If age is such a big deal then why is nobody calling for Ginsburg and Breyer to resign?

They both should've stepped down back in 2013, the fact they could die anytime and be replaced by Trump in the next two years is frightening. And there's absolutely no comparison to being a judge and President.

[henster]

Assuming Beto runs and takes TX and the lionshare of those delegates, Kamala wins Cali and does decent in the South, I don't expect Bernie to perform any better in the South this time. I'm not really seeing a lot of big states where Bernie can net a lot of delegates at this point. I doubt he wins Florida, Illinois maybe, NY really seems his best shot but that comes pretty late in the game when his momentum would likely be long gone. Beto could also possibly eat into Bernie's 16' Midwest states or Biden, the more you look at it his path is pretty narrow.

[henster]

Today Bernie filed for re-election...in 2024 as an Independent.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-files-fo-2024-re-election-to-senate

He also had a pretty rough time on a black radio show, stumbled a lot on reparations questions and other things.


https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1102610356424400896

[henster]

I increasingly believe Bernie 2020 is going to collapse under a wave of new scrutiny. The tax returns stuff isn't going to be overlooked like it was in '16, he's going to be continue to be grilled on it. Not hard to imagine a few more disastrous interviews like the infamous NYDaily News one in the future.

[henster]

With his age in constant spotlight, stuff like this will get more coverage than it should.

https://twitter.com/rubycramer/status/1106602122085322752

[henster]

I bet a lot of people won't mention the "given a clean bill of health" part.

At least that's what his campaign is saying, they also said they'd be releasing his tax returns 'soon' for the past two years. The whole way they describe it sounds bizarre, seems more likely he had an elderly fall in the shower which is more damaging to reveal.

[henster]

[henster]

Biden not running wouldn’t be all that ideal for Bernie he’d be the oldest candidate by far and his age would be front and center unable to point to Biden as an out.

[henster]

Obviously there's going to be a lot of plants in the "audience" maybe they'll finally press him on stuff like his tax returns, three houses, praise of bread lines and Venezuela. He's not going to talk about what he wants to talk about on there, they'll get as many soundbites as they can out of it for the RNC.

[henster]

Obviously there's going to be a lot of plants in the "audience" maybe they'll finally press him on stuff like his tax returns, three houses, praise of bread lines and Venezuela. He's not going to talk about what he wants to talk about on there, they'll get as many soundbites as they can out of it for the RNC.

So just like the CNN town hall, then?

It will definitely be more combative and they'll definitely ask a lot of gotcha questions. I expect them to get into the late term abortion rabbit hole, it's gonna be a landmine and I think he's going to regret it.

[henster]

I seriously think there's something shady with Bernie's tax. No reason to not just release them and keep doing this stalling with the media.

[henster]

Someone has noticed Bernie no longer says 'millionaires and billionaires' it's just 'billionaires' primarily, now that he himself is a millionaire.

https://twitter.com/ComfortablySmug/status/1116473569955975175

[henster]

There are better ways Bernie could've been more principled about it. Why not donate the money from the book deal to a charity or something? Why buy three homes? He's setting himself up for these attacks given his past rhetoric.

[henster]

It would seem that Clinton supporters on this site are still bitter towards Sanders even though it was Trump and not Sanders who defeated her. When she won the primary Sanders quickly supported her as he had promised, but that doesn't seem good enough for Clinton supporters.
It's quite sad really.

They seem to want to continue to be divisive which can only help Trump.

Ha, a Sanders supporter accusing others of being divisive!  Pot. Kettle. Black.

Seriously, though, your comment is the lamest kind of straw man. I can assure you that I and many, many others deeply dislike Sanders not only for what happened in 2016 but also for most of what he's done since.

What more could he have done for Hillary in 2016 besides vigorously endorse and campaign for her, as he did? And what has he “done” since then that’s so horrible, besides fix his sights on taking down Trump and creating a more progressive Democratic Party? I don’t expect any specifics from you, cause you have none.

A Sanders supporter criticizing someone for a lack of specifics!  That's cute.

Look, I'm not interested in rehashing 2016.  You think Sanders's support for Hillary was vigorous, and I remember it being resentful and tepid at best.  Neither of us is going to rewrite the other's memory, so no point in arguing about that.  But I will try to articulate why I disliked him then and why I still dislike him now. 

I think Sanders is basically running a con, and one with the potential to cause distinct damage to the progressive cause.  Sanders's explanation for everything he wants to do is that we need a revolution in this country.  But we're never going to get a revolution, and Sanders knows it.  You don’t build a revolution on top of an economy like ours.  If you want to get anything done, you’re going to have to do it the old-fashioned way: through slow, boring, hard work.  If you want to make a difference in this country, you need to be prepared for a very long, very frustrating slog. You have to buy off interest groups, compromise your ideals, and settle for half loaves—all the things that Bernie disdains as part of the corrupt mainstream establishment.  In place of this he promises his followers we can get everything we want via a revolution that’s never going to happen. And when that revolution inevitably fails, where do all his impressionable followers go? Do they join up with the corrupt establishment and commit themselves to slow, boring, hard work?  Or do they give up?  If you don’t want your followers to give up in disgust, your inspiration needs to be in the service of goals that are at least attainable. By offering a chimera instead, Sanders has done the progressive movement no favors.

It's just absurd that the guy whose been in Congress for 30 years and has only managed to get 3 bills signed into law is somehow going to lead any revolution or get anything done. I hope other candidates point out his record of inaction.

[henster]

Why is he willing to die on this hill in regards to voting rights? Absolutely nothing wrong with restoring voting rights for felons once they've completed their sentence this is an idea that has won overwhelming bipartisan support in a swing state like FL. Instead of backing that idea he takes the fringest view that they should vote while in prison which is universally unpopular. This is why I don't think Bernie is electable in the end he just has terrible political instincts.

[henster]

TBF to Bernie convicts can already vote in Vermont.

Of course he could articulate that in his response, 'Hey it's legal in two states, it'll be no big deal' but he doesn't. When you really think about it he's just going to be out of his depth in a GE, running in VT just pales in comparison to what he'll face if he's the nominee.

[henster]

https://twitter.com/PrettyBadLefty/status/1120770944526639105

Actually this is a legit issue. What's stopping a bunch of prisoners voting for a candidate(DA) who promises more lenient sentences or looser laws on say sexual assault? It's such a can of worms especially considering a lot of prisons are in rural areas and prisoners often outnumber the people that actually live there.

[henster]

https://twitter.com/RobGeorge/status/1123297431054159878

This is an interesting take, it is probably one of the worst polled issues Bernie has taken a stance on, and it was highly publicized. Think Biden's entry is masking some of the backlash he's gotten on it.

[henster]

https://twitter.com/RobGeorge/status/1123297431054159878

This is an interesting take, it is probably one of the worst polled issues Bernie has taken a stance on, and it was highly publicized. Think Biden's entry is masking some of the backlash he's gotten on it.

1. I doubt that’s why Bernie’s slipped though. I think the reason he might’ve slipped is some of his “weak” supporters are going to Joe. It makes a lot of sense to me as a plurality of Sanders and Biden supporters rank the both of them as their second choices. I also don’t think Sanders’ answer was publicized that much.

2. Other polling (although it was like one poll) showed that the majority of voters, at different degrees, support felons voting.

People overwhelmingly support as we saw in FL restoring voting rights after they've served their time. Bernie's idea of letting them is universally opposed ranging from 75% to 65% in the Quinnipiac poll.

https://www.businessinsider.com/majority-oppose-bernie-sanders-inmate-prisoner-voting-plan-insider-poll-2019-4

[henster]

Bernie's only path at this point is use his $$ advantage and run negative ads against Biden non stop in the early states. It's the only way to stop him, negative ads work and there's so much material to work from.