Sen. Jeff Merkley booed after urging Democrats to unite behind Clinton.

[NOVA Green]

The reality is that Hillary will win Oregon vs Trump in the GE by 15% or more....

Trump might make up some small margins in Southern and Eastern Oregon where 20% of the population actually lives, but he will get killed in the Portland suburbs and the Mid/Lower Valley where the vast majority of our state population lives. I think Trump only got 56% of the Republican Vote in Washington County (Key Portland suburb) in the primaries right after his opponents had dropped out the race.

Oregon is not in play, will not be in play, and any Republican Hack that thinks otherwise has been hitting the Meth Crack Pipe, that unforunately has been a growing scourge of working class communities from Salem to Albany and further downstate.

I'm sure the booing people don't actually hate Merkley, just reacting like drunk sports fans at the mention of the hated word "Clinton."  If they seriously hold this against Merkley, MASSIVE HP.

Not sure if this comment is a dis on Oregon in general, or just a stereotype of Bernie voters, that are actually overwhelmingly middle-aged and working/middle-class, and not just a bunch of frat boys that have major women issues....

I've already made my decision once the primaries ended to support Hillary in the GE regardless of my skepticism regarding her progressive credentials on war and peace, economic policy, etc....

My wife is still saying she will vote Green or Libertarian, but November is a long time off....

All anecdotal, but bottom line Merkley will always have a ton of love from the Oregon Progressive base, and he had a difficult message to deliver, but the Sanders base wants results in terms of major platform changes, and so far there is nothing to be seen...

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Heh, let them grumble for some more time. Most will come around.

[Xing]

Many of these people will come around. Some people take losing much harder than others, and for people who really thought Bernie was going to win, this is all hitting them really hard. I don't approve of progressives booing someone like Merkley at all, it's awful. Still, let's see if things are better in July.

[NOVA Green]

Heh, let them grumble for some more time. Most will come around.

Well existential evil in the form of Nativist/Fascist America versus a more Right-Wing Democratic President than Obama, I think the choice will be relatively easy to make.

The political reality is that the West Coast of America has not only 15% of the electoral votes, but also 30% of the Democratic Electoral Votes needed to win the nomination.

We are tired, and have been tired for decades, of pandering to Southern, MidWest, and even some Northeastern and Central Atlantic Democrats that keep putting off much needed changes in our country.

I believe that a true progressive agenda on economic issues, rejecting the bellicosity of the Reagon/Bush Sr/ Bush Jr agenda, and and speaking to the center of American public opinion on LGBT equality/ Reasonable Gun policy/ and other social issues is a winning formula nationally.

BUT, we are tired of the BS wars overseas based upon lies, want true economic justice, and I do believe that the American people are smart enough to reject the Trumpist Racist/Xenophobic arguments. that are only intended to divide America using traditional dog whistles and wedge issues   ( a la Nixon).

Merkley is a giant FF, but statements like "most of them will come around" that you made is a huge disservice to what is actually one of major bases and foundation of the Democratic Party and extremely disrespectful.

If you really think that the Democratic Party can consolidate their base solely upon the "existential evil", then clearly you are smoking some s**t that is not yet legal in Oregon.

I saw absolutely nothing there in your comments that would in any way shape or form be anything close to party unity, and quite frankly is downright insulting...

No mention of how we move closer to a $15/Hr minimum wage, how to improve the ACA "Obamacare", how we deal we Pre-K and college tuition, let alone the aggressive foreign policy that Hillary still continues to promote, that got us into Iraq in the first place.

Sorry, comments like yours quite frankly almost make me change my mind and go PUMA, along with a hunk chunk of other Oregonians that are ready to vote Hillary against Trump, but are so tired of the crap getting shoved down our throats.

[NOVA Green]

Bottom line, West Coast is the most progressive D party of the country, not only in Oregon, and Trump will do an epic fail regionally.

For anyone trying to get "Bernie Dems" in line, I think it is time to move on to the MidWest and New England, and let us deal with out own state party conventions in our own way, without a bunch of hype and stereotypes, not to mention "sore winner" symptoms.

Merkely is doing just fine, and there aren't going to be anti-Merkley or anti-Hillary riots in the streets of Seattle/Portland/San Francisco/ nor LA.

What a BS thread....

[HAnnA MArin County]

Remember, not once have Sanders and his campaign condemned the behavior of these hooligans.

Agreed. You don't see Clinton supporters throwing these kinds of shenanigans in the news.

To be fair, maybe that's because they won?

Even in 2008, the PUMAs didn't resort to the kinds of violence and bohemian shenanigans that the Sandernistas have. You didn't see us throwing chairs or issuing death threats to superdelegates at the Nevada Convention who (did) rigged it for the guy who lost the caucus. Of course, we were too busy defending ourselves against the media who were dismissing us and calling us all a bunch of dumb backwoods inbred podunk racist redneck hillbilly cousin ers. PUMAs were mostly elderly women who were just heartbroken and didn't want to wait any longer to see a woman as President; the Sandernistas, on the other hand, are driven by an extreme, unnatural, jfern-like hatred of Hillary Clinton. I think many of them will eventually unite as the terrifying prospect of a President Donald J. Trump should be enough for them to put aside their hatred of Hillary for the long-term survival of our country.

[IceSpear]

“He sold out,” said Michelle McClure, 35, a Tacoma resident.

"Damn that man for eventually supporting the candidate who won the popular vote, the most pledged delegates and the most superdelegates. Damn him! This isn't what democracy is about! Democracy is about getting what I want no matter what!"

This.

The only thing that Clinton can do to unify the party is to concede the nomination to Sanders, at this point. Her supporters need Trump to lose more than his do. I'm all in favor of it. She'll go out as a saint, and proved all the accusations about her wrong, the Sanders people will be happy, and we can all move on.

You are... definitely the most interesting Clinton supporter on this forum.

I think it was sarcastic.

It's Beet, so it's not only possible he was serious, it's very likely.

Notice how the principled Sanders endorsers (Merkley, Grijalva) are uniting behind Clinton, unlike the opporunistic ones (Gabbard).

Don't forget Nina Turner and Erin Bilbray, who were initially diehard Hillary supporters and then turned into Sanders PUMAs virtually overnight. My guess is Hillary's campaign snubbed them for positions they wanted, and they decided to respond with temper tantrums.

And can someone please explain why Senators from other outside the particular state keep speaking at conventions? Boxer in Nevada, Merkley in Washington...where were Reid, Murray, Cantwell, etc.? Is it some unwritten rule that you're only allowed to attend a convention if you're a Senator from a bordering state?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Notice how the principled Sanders endorsers (Merkley, Grijalva) are uniting behind Clinton, unlike the opporunistic ones (Gabbard).

Don't forget Nina Turner and Erin Bilbray, who were initially diehard Hillary supporters and then turned into Sanders PUMAs virtually overnight. My guess is Hillary's campaign snubbed them for positions they wanted, and they decided to respond with temper tantrums.

I remember when I said back in the day that Gabbard was no liberal heroine and that her endorsement of Sanders was entirely self-serving, only to see Kalwejt and the socktroll who's obsessed with me to tag-team and accuse me of being on Clinton's payroll.
Fun times.

[This account no longer in use.]

I don't have any memory of that, bud.

[NOVA Green]

 And can someone please explain why Senators from other outside the particular state keep speaking at conventions? Boxer in Nevada, Merkley in Washington...where were Reid, Murray, Cantwell, etc.? Is it some unwritten rule that you're only allowed to attend a convention if you're a Senator from a bordering state?
[/quote]

That's a very good point....

I guess the assumption might be that Dem Senators from neighboring states might be the best messengers to deliver bad news to the opposing camp, with minimal political downside, particularly in states that might vote heavily Dem for Pres in a GE but can have frequently surprisingly close results sometimes for Sentators/Reps/Guvs, etc when you have a moderate Rep run against a Lib Dem?

I mean, if Barbara Boxer were to show up in Oregon to deliver a "Party Unity" message to Sanders supporters, I can't see it going over very well, as opposed to well known local Democratic Political figures like Ron Wyden, several of our House Reps, etc....

I'm assuming Merkley speaking at the Washington State Dem Convention was part of a concept that as an outspoken Sanders supporter from the PacNW, he could somehow work to "seal the deal" among Sander supporting party activists...

But yes it does seem a little weird.... if we're going to continue rolling with some variant of superdelegates for the DNC, maybe there should be a similar deal with state conventions.

Obviously the danger would be that very popular Senators/Reps and Statewide Elected officials would get caught up in the middle of contested Presidential Primary elections, and risk getting primaried, and/or weakened heading into a GE.

But still, getting Booed is not the end of the world in any way shape or form for Merkley, and quite frankly the Dem Party conventions this year are totally tame compared to the Rep State conventions in 2012 where there were literal fistfights breaking out between Ron Paul and Romney supporters.

The Democratic Party should and will continue to encourage vigorous debate, and by reforming the superdelegate system, will certainly go a long way towards eliminating the perception from most Sanders supporters that the system is rigged in favor of overwhelming early endorsements from the "Party Establishment" and super-bundlers in a pro Citizens United world, where the Democratic Party appears and acts qualitatively different from the Republican Party that front-loads elections and front-loads-money to try to get a competitive edge early to roll towards the GE.

Either way, this is all political noise, and although in Nevada there was some OTT behavior from some Sanders supporters, this is a blip on the political radar.

What I do potentially see happening in the future in the PacNW is potentially an effort to replace/primary "moderate" Democrats that are seen as part of the establishment, but this will likely be a total bust, since the vast majority of PacNW Dems are extremely Liberal, and do represent the interests of their constituents with proven track records as being some of the most progressive members of the Senate/House Dem caucuses.