Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign megathread

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Bernie "Abraham Delano Washington" Sanders.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I'll add as a final salvo that ever since 2016 I've held essentially the opposite view - Bernie Sanders's best position is within the Senate. He's largely acted on the party by refocusing it's moral compass and shifting the Overton Window. And that's great! It's one of the major successes of his campaign and the reason why I think the 2016 primary was, in the long term, a good thing for the party even if it may have led to Trump's election. But Bernie can (and already has) done that effectively in the Senate when he's been given a platform and a megaphone; he can use his position to essentially whip and bully other Senators into adopting his platform. It's what he's already done with Medicare for All and we're seeing it (slowly) operate on foreign policy e.g. with Israel/Palestine. He's demonstrated that he can do this effectively in the Senate. All of the things you are arguing that he would have the power to do as a President, he is already doing.

Err yes, only since he made a relatively successful run for President in 2016. He didn't have any policy influence whatsoever with the Democratic leadership in the Senate until he won millions of votes running for President. The only way for Sanders to keep the Democratic Party moving to the left is to win the party's nomination for President to show the 'establishment' that his policy preferences have the largest constituency.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Lots of people who like him are turned off by this and going to Yang.

Lmao

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The problem with nuclear power is that it's far too expensive to build new plants and their construction takes decades anyway. See: the massive Hinkley Point boondoggle.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

But I was told that Bernie doesn't actively stoke anti-party rhetoric?

"Establishment" =/= party.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I can't wait to see the Bros defend Sanders performance tonight and how he won.

I thought Bernie was fine. Didn't set the stage alight but his target audience will like what he said.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The stuff being said about Sanders/Biden swing voters also applies to Warren/Harris swing voters, another real group which initially seems bizarre based on how the candidates are positioning themselves.

Is that really bizarre? Harris has been positioning herself as the second or third most left wing candidate. She was the only one who put her hand up alongside Sanders when the candidates were asked if their healthcare would get rid of private insurance!

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The stuff being said about Sanders/Biden swing voters also applies to Warren/Harris swing voters, another real group which initially seems bizarre based on how the candidates are positioning themselves.

Is that really bizarre? Harris has been positioning herself as the second or third most left wing candidate. She was the only one who put her hand up alongside Sanders when the candidates were asked if their healthcare would get rid of private insurance!

And then said she misheard the question (to be fair, it was poorly worded) and that her plan wouldn’t do that.

I don't deny that she's trying to equivocate. But there's a reason why Harris jumped on the Medicare-for-All bandwagon very early on. The messaging of her campaign is very progressive relative to Biden and half a dozen other candidates and not far off Warren's positioning.

People remember what they see in the debates.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Racist Bernie at it again!

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1155437470995140608

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The man has promoted pseudo-science and has given credentials to alt-right figures that have polluted the political discourse.

So...typical broadcast media?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Yeah Bernie "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!" Sanders definitely cost Clinton the election with his personal attacks on her.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

all the horrible people on Twitter are Bernie supporters. 

All of them? OK.

As far as Russian trolls go, Sanders has cornered the market, again.
Though admittedly many of them are doing double duty for Tulsi this cycle.

Russian trolls but also people like the Gravel teens who just spew unhinged vitriol at all the other candidates.  If you see a leftist on Twitter saying Joe Biden has brain damage and needs to be euthanized, Hillary Clinton has Parkinsons and rapes children, Kamala is a racist murderer of black men, Warren is a traitor to the left for endorsing Hillary, Buttigieg is the wrong kind of gay, etc. It's guaranteed they support Bernie Sanders.

And that doesn't even get started on the tankies.  100% of people who think Lenin and Mao were justified in their mass-murders of businessmen, landlords, landowners and educated professionals also support Bernie Sanders.

Are you ok?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/1166783987999633410?s=19