Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign megathread v2 (pg 77 - declares victory in Iowa)

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Sanders to scale back his campaign activity:

Good! He has plenty of surrogates. He doesn't need to be everywhere, his health should come first.

His cast of surrogates is one of the worst aspects of his campaign though.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

I find the "Warren is copying Bernie and that is bad" complaint so baffling.

Haven't these same people been complaining for the last four years, especially so in 2016, that nobody else in the party is like Bernie? Hearing these same people now say that Warren is unoriginally (?) emphasizing the same issues and that is a problem is stunning. If Warren is an enemy here, then you don't have a movement large enough to order a pizza to the White House, let alone run the country.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

CNN/WaPo - The entire "squad" except Pressley to endorse Bernie at his rally in Queens, mentioned during the debates.

This is a big deal. If the three actively campaign for him for the next few months, he has a very good shot at the nomination. His chances just shot up.

I’m not so sure, although it certainly gives him a ton of momentum (combined with a great debate performance). Who’s going to be convinced by this who wasn’t already with him? Waffly Warren supporters who are swayed by the progressive credentials/aesthetic of the Squad? I think most of the die-hard progressives are already in his camp.

This is assuming that lots of people who pay attention to the Squad also are paying close attention to the primaries. They aren't. The Squad can bring a lot of young people tuned out of politics-beyond-celebrity and get them to care enough about the primary to cast a vote.

I think the Sanders folks are way overestimating how much of an effect it will have but it'll be something non-zero.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Hate the graphic part about getting shot in the back in the head, but, from what I know this is actual advice that black parents give to their children all the time. It's a central theme in "Between the World and Me". The stakes are so much higher for black people (especially black men) in police encounters that parents advise children from a young age to be incredibly respectful and acquiescent.

This isn't sexy campaigning or persuasion because one could (lazily) read it as offloading the responsibility onto the person being pulled over instead of the police officer, but there are a lot of people for whom this will resonate.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1189312463759650821

Nice hit piece by CNN who are also clearly shook. Warren won't even say if taxes will go up!

Hilarious.

It's true that Warren's evasion on this issue has gotten absolutely no news coverage, good point.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Oh so Sanders needs to explain exactly how it will be funded right now but Warren doesn't need to tell us anything about how she'll do it until she's good and ready? Gotcha.

The richest part of this post is that you somehow simultaneously think the argument is hypocritical and that both parts of it are wrong.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Really the best predictor of whether or not a Sanders supporter comes to the polls in 2020 is whether or not they identify with the Democratic party or not. This was the best predictor of whether or not they voted for Clinton in 2016.

Really these voters shouldn't be considered anything near reliable D voters. Obama won a lot of unlikely constituencies in 2008 and a good number in 2012; other than races with him on the ballot there isn't much reason for these lefty independents to be consistent D voters.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

lol.  most of this ad is pretty effective, but I'm not sure how well "queer liberation" plays in an Iowa or South Carolina primary much less a general election.

https://twitter.com/jneeley78/status/1196098116031791107?s=20

The Bernie campaign is embracing a very AOC rhetoric.

Bernie campaign leaning on AOC is not a good strategy for primary states where the electorate is old people. I could see this working in SC and NV but IA and NH seem like places where AOC is... not incredibly popular, even among Democrats.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

The actual Democratic establishment has, to my great irritation, bent over backwards for him and kissed the ring.  

LOL, the actual Democratic establishment of Pelosi and Schumer had secret anti-Bernie meetings with Buttigieg that were hosted by Chinese operative Bernard Schwartz.

This is a myth:

https://mobile.twitter.com/djrothkopf/status/1201249360786407427

Berniecrats revel in conspiracy theories, especially when they fuel their persecution complexes.

So you believe this is a conspiracy theory?

The discussion about Mr. Sanders has to date been largely confined to private settings because — like establishment Republicans in 2016 — Democrats are uneasy about elevating him or alienating his supporters.

The matter of What To Do About Bernie and the larger imperative of party unity has, for example, hovered over a series of previously undisclosed Democratic dinners in New York and Washington organized by the longtime party financier Bernard Schwartz. The gatherings have included scores from the moderate or center-left wing of the party, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California; Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader; former Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., himself a presidential candidate; and the president of the Center for American Progress, Neera Tanden.

“He did us a disservice in the last election,” said Mr. Schwartz, a longtime Clinton supporter who said he would support former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in this primary.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/16/us/politics/bernie-sanders-democratic-party.html

This article was written by the "corporate media" and therefore I do not have to read it or grapple with its contents.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Anecdote time:

Just got a call from the CO Bernie campaign. When I told the gentleman I was voting for Liz he tripped over himself telling me how great she was but then told me his only hesitation was that she used to be a Republican and Bernie's record was more consistent.

I didn't feel like dragging the discussion out (watching LSU-Clemson) despite the fact I think that this is an idiotic talking point so I ended the call by wishing him luck. The guy was pretty professional and sincere and nothing about the interaction felt negative to me. I'm sure he got pretty specific instructions from his FO not to say anything exceedingly negative about her.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

I think at worst, deploying this story is a really cynical way of juicing the women vote. It's not something I'm proud of. The Sanders campaign was just as cynically tarring Warren supporters as upper class to try to push similar buttons.

Neither campaign looks good doing this. Acting like one is better than the other here is rather ridiculous but of course most people in this thread are so bought into one candidate or another they're going to insist their candidate is faultless while the other is despicable.

A great example of the self-delusion is people who think Sanders saying his campaign never instructed volunteers to say anything about Warren proves his innocence but Warren confirming the Sanders story is obviously a lie, and people who similarly unfaultingly believe Warren but think Sanders is lying. Headspinning levels of backtracking happening here.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Warren has a long history of twisting reality to her advantage. It's no coincidence that this falsehood emerges in a moment of desperation. Only a fool would believe her.

It can simultaneously be strategically leaked and 100% true.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Warren has a long history of twisting reality to her advantage. It's no coincidence that this falsehood emerges in a moment of desperation. Only a fool would believe her.

It can simultaneously be strategically leaked and 100% true.

It's as true as Warren's parents having to elope because her mother was Cherokee and Delaware.

With all due respect, I don't think your opinion on this matter was ever in doubt.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

It’s kinda ironic how the same Sanders supporters who ardently supported Christine Ford (which was a good thing) are now complaining about “suspect timing” and are calling Warren an opportunistic liar. Literally a year ago, the Republicans were saying these things about a different women.

There's a difference between a credible accusation of sexual assault and a banal throwaway comment (both of which I believe happened).

That's part of what I find to be so bizarre about this story. In any reasonable context this isn't a newsworthy comment. But it's likely to energize and elicit defensive responses from certain voters. If er campaign had anything to do with it, it's highly cynical and distorting.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

They're showing him next to pictures of Obama and FDR and describing him in ageist terms that have been excluded from the primaries by common consensus.

That's an ad cut to make primary voters think that Bernie Sanders is under attack, and the candidate whom the right fears most It's disguised to manipulate voters into liking him.

In other words, it's a redux of Claire McCaskill's strategy against Akin.  She believed he was weaker than his primary opponents, and as a result, ran an ad convincing Republican primary voters to support him by emphasizing things Republicans like (hatred of Obama, "family values", etc.).

I don't think they should be so confident that Trump will beat Sanders, unless they're sitting on some serious oppo.  We'll see, I guess.

Right on cue McCaskill tips her hat here

https://twitter.com/clairecmc/status/1221821332301676544

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

The smears against Sanders have been weak and transparent at best but those who are complaining about their candidate getting the oppo unloaded the moment they reach a surge haven't been paying attention at all this campaign. This dump of dumb, out of context, selectively-unfavorable stories has happened to every major candidate since the start of the campaign.

Not that I expect this to convince diehard supporters of a movement that is at least in part a grievance campaign.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Hillary's statements reflect incredibly poorly on her as an individual, and hopefully everybody in Democratic politics has had their opinion of her lowered in the last month. But Hillary's not running for President.

Tlaib's comments are outrageous because it suggests that members of the Sanders movement are going to be much more interested in antagonizing and scoring points against allies they have disagreements rather than reconciling and finding consensus. Is Tlaib going to sit on stage and ask strangers to boo Joe Manchin and 15 other Senators who demure M4A or a GND, or is she going to work with these people to get three quarters of a loaf?

Neither side looks good in this disgraceful episode but you can't look at this and say it bodes well for Democratic politics under a Sanders administration.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Hillary's statements reflect incredibly poorly on her as an individual, and hopefully everybody in Democratic politics has had their opinion of her lowered in the last month. But Hillary's not running for President.

Tlaib's comments are outrageous because it suggests that members of the Sanders movement are going to be much more interested in antagonizing and scoring points against allies they have disagreements rather than reconciling and finding consensus. Is Tlaib going to sit on stage and ask strangers to boo Joe Manchin and 15 other Senators who demure M4A or a GND, or is she going to work with these people to get three quarters of a loaf?

Neither side looks good in this disgraceful episode but you can't look at this and say it bodes well for Democratic politics under a Sanders administration.

The Democratic Party is going to be fractured regardless of who's nominated or elected president.  It's just catching up with the GOP now.

Any Sanders supporters who actually care about putting together a coalition of people who will pass anything in Sanders's agenda instead of simply letting others know their ideological purity should be aghast at this. It's true that Hillary is in the wrong for baiting a reaction like this out of the Sanders camp, but maybe the Sanders camp could just... not take the bait?

Biden and Buttigieg are running depressing campaigns but they aren't asking their supporters to boo people whose support and capital they are going to need to enact their agendas.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Hillary's statements reflect incredibly poorly on her as an individual, and hopefully everybody in Democratic politics has had their opinion of her lowered in the last month. But Hillary's not running for President.

Tlaib's comments are outrageous because it suggests that members of the Sanders movement are going to be much more interested in antagonizing and scoring points against allies they have disagreements rather than reconciling and finding consensus. Is Tlaib going to sit on stage and ask strangers to boo Joe Manchin and 15 other Senators who demure M4A or a GND, or is she going to work with these people to get three quarters of a loaf?

Neither side looks good in this disgraceful episode but you can't look at this and say it bodes well for Democratic politics under a Sanders administration.

The Democratic Party is going to be fractured regardless of who's nominated or elected president.  It's just catching up with the GOP now.

Any Sanders supporters who actually care about putting together a coalition of people who will pass anything in Sanders's agenda instead of simply letting others know their ideological purity should be aghast at this. It's true that Hillary is in the wrong for baiting a reaction like this out of the Sanders camp, but maybe the Sanders camp could just... not take the bait?

Biden and Buttigieg are running depressing campaigns but they aren't asking their supporters to boo people whose support and capital they are going to need to enact their agendas.

I don't disagree, and I've never been a huge fan of Tlaib even though I would align more with her lane of the party than Clinton's or Biden's.  Hillary kind of invited this, though, and Sanders himself responds better to these attacks than most of his surrogates do.

When Hillary announces her 2020 bid for President, I'll make sure to bring this incident up as disqualifying.

I agree that Sanders is personally much better at handling these things, but it really says something about his movement that elements of a grievance campaign arise organically almost daily. I don't worry about Sanders himself but many of the people he surrounds himself with are absolute garbage and strike me as being much more interested in picking fights than enacting an agenda.

Tlaib in particular is an absolute buffoon and will hopefully lose her primary this year. I think there's a lot of room between AOC and Ilhan/Tlaib but even AOC is prone to some strategic or rhetoric blunders. Notably the member of the squad who never puts her foot in her mouth isn't associating with Bernie.

In general the degree of professionalism and discipline the Warren campaign shows is much better than the Sanders wreck, although they're certainly prone to make mistakes in other ways. I have more confidence that if Warren wins she wouldn't dunk on potential allies in an attempt to please the Chapo crowd (although the attempted own of Roberts earlier this week was cringeworthy).

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Tlaib isn't running for president either.

Don't be fatuous. She was serving as a surrogate for the Bernie Sanders campaign at a Bernie Sanders for President event. She was acting as an arm of the Bernie Sanders campaign. You're better than this.

At least she's making these comments in an attempt to build something other than Hulu subscriptions.

Not really.

It's downright grotesque that Hillary Clinton is so interested in poking the Sanders beehive when her most widely publicized response to her association with Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein remains, as with so many other things, "What Happened?"

If this comment is directed at me as clearly as the first paragraph is, then you're barking up the wrong tree. No serious poster in this thread is defending Hillary Clinton and I've made my thoughts clear.

I'm not saying the Sanders camp is morally in the wrong for attacking Clinton (Clinton obviously attacked first). I'm saying it's part of a longstanding pattern that suggests people in this campaign aren't interested in building a movement large enough to tackle the problems they claim they are interested in solving. This is something you yourself have said here multiple times. The only difference here is that this incident taps into a deep, salient feeling of disrespect from and antipathy towards Hillary Clinton - that salience is enough to dupe otherwise intelligent people into sympathizing with this absolute travesty.

Even Tlaib herself knows this was much more damaging than it was productive.

https://twitter.com/RashidaTlaib/status/1223614639197560836