Should Sanders be given a speaking slot at the DNC if he refuses to endorse

[Hermit For Peace]

The word is "blackmail": to force or coerce into a particular action, statement, etc.

I keep hearing that the supporters of "Hillary's ball and chain" and also the ball and chain himself are demanding things happen a certain way during the convention or else....

What's up with that?

Hillary is ahead of him in every way. What is so hard to understand about that? She has worked very hard for years to garner the support she has in the Democratic Party. What has Bernie done?

It's not nice to threaten blackmail when you lost the campaign.

[Hermit For Peace]

The word is "blackmail": to force or coerce into a particular action, statement, etc.

I keep hearing that the supporters of "Hillary's ball and chain" and also the ball and chain himself are demanding things happen a certain way during the convention or else....

What's up with that?

Hillary is ahead of him in every way. What is so hard to understand about that? She has worked very hard for years to garner the support she has in the Democratic Party. What has Bernie done?

It's not nice to threaten blackmail when you lost the campaign.

Clinton has a majority of the Democratic Party (not necessarily delegates) behind her, according to polls, but that is not enough to win in itself. Sanders supporters like myself want to see a more progressive Democratic candidate and Party. Some will be content to see Clinton adopt a few positions of Sanders at the convention; others will not.

Sanders has caucused and voted with the Democratic Party on a majority of issues since he entered the House in 1991, and has supported the Democratic candidate in every election since, with the possible exception of 2000 (I am not sure about that one).

All the information I read says that about 75% of Bernie backers are going to vote for Hillary. And as each day passes his base is eroding. Hillary shouldn't feel threatened to do anything Bernie wants if she doesn't want to. But she is one smart cookie and I'm sure she will do what is necessary -- up to a point -- to try and keep the party united.

And about Bernie voting with Democrats a lot of the time, that's not the same thing as being inside the party and working for and establishing friendships over the span of year and years. Bernie's votes don't do that by themselves. He hasn't spent the time that Hillary has forging alliances and friendships in her party. Actually joining the party at the very last minute in order to run for President doesn't count for much in my book.

Bernie is a ball and chain at this point and that's all there is to it.

[Hermit For Peace]

As a young PUMA, I have to say that the Busters probably are more scary than the PUMAs were for Obama's supporters in '08.

I was 16 in 2008. I pretended the issues mattered to me because that's what I needed to project, but in reality... I really just *liked* Hillary. I believed Obama wasn't up to the job (and I still think I was right and that it took the guy far too long to grow into his responsibilities, but I digress ). So I supported McCain. In hindsight, if I had actually been an intelligent person, I probably should have gotten over myself and realized that Hillary's values were not John McCain's values. But I couldn't, because I was young and stupid and didn't really understand what was at stake in politics.

Most of Hillary's other supporters, though, were older. They'd been through it all and knew that it just made sense to support Obama in the end. PUMAism didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, draws most of his support from young people who are more likely to not really understand why voting for Hillary is the right thing to do come November. That's what's a little bit scary. They're political n00bs who, like me in 2008, think they know everything.

I agree with you about Hillary. I voted for her in 2008 and I also didn't think Obama was good for the job. I was totally bummed when she didn't win the nomination; I wanted nothing to do with Obama, but I did end up voting for him. And over the years I've grown to like him as a person and I like some of the things he's accomplished...like Obamacare, for one.

But his working relationship with Congress has been a bad marriage from the beginning, and I never want to see a repeat of that whoever the next President is. I feel that with Trump, he won't get any cooperation at all. Hillary, at least, worked in the Senate and there were people on both aisles who had a high opinion of her. I have high hopes that she would figure out a way to work with Congress and get things done! It's what she's geared for.