Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign megathread

[Progressive Pessimist]

I really hate when we get into 2016 primary re-litigation, but that ship has sailed right here. So here are my two cents that no one asked for-my issues with Sanders and how he ran his campaign in 2016.

This most likely affected Clinton coming out of the primary. I kept hearing about how Sanders running in the primary until the absolute last minute, was supposed to make Clinton a better candidate for the general election and be better for the party as a whole, but I think it made her and the party worse off. A lot of Sanders' attacks on her were able to be carried over into Trump's campaign and much of it was unfair. Sure, primaries should feature a contrast between candidates, but I would hope that it would be consistent and based on more concrete concerns. Declaring Clinton for giving speeches to Wall Street as corrupt was a massive blow to her and affected how many Democrats saw her even though giving a speech doesn't equal declaring one's allegiance to the financial sector or whatever other conclusions were drawn. When Democrats and others on the left are characterizing Clinton this way it becomes much easier for that perception to be held by others beyond the primary: "if even Democrats are saying that about her, it must be true!" Sanders also unfairly characterized Clinton as being egregiously tough on crime and contributing to our country's bloated incarceration numbers even though he voted for the crime bill from 1994, whereas Clinton only stood by her husband's support for it. Both Clinton and Sanders had hindsight about it and the negative results it yielded for people of color, in particular, but Sanders more concretely put it into execution. That's also not to mention the allegations of Clinton and her associates stealing the primary from Sanders even as she won fairly decisively by nearly every metric. There were indeed some behind the scenes shenanigans, but Debbie Wasserman-Schultz talking s*** about him and his campaign in e-mails did not realistically contribute to Clinton's delegate lead, nor did her success in accruing super-delegates, or the debate schedule, or all the other excuses that we saw at the time. That kind of campaigning led me to not want to vote for him in the primary. I started during primary season, open to supporting him, even though I was certain that he wouldn't win. But it all just left a bad taste in my mouth and made me skittish about how good this actually was for progressive politics in the United States. I worried that it would be self-defeating and counter-intuitive, and I would argue that it was. These kinds of attacks helped weaken Clinton and contribute to a hyperbolic image of corruption and self-interest which was further exacerbated by Russian manipulation. Even as most Sanders supporters did in fact still vote for her, they wounded her in ways that added to her campaign losing out of a death of a thousand paper cuts all because she wasn't perfectly progressive or "inspiring" enough. All of the little things that made a perfect storm for Trump to win added up and it started as early as the primary.

I'm not saying that Clinton didn't deserve some of the criticism she received, or that Sanders shouldn't have run, but with his early, seemingly Quixotic run turning out to be more successful than initially thought, he seemed to lose sight of the practical priorities that the Democratic Party should have sought in 2016. This gate-keeping wasn't good for the party. A contrast of ideas and policy turned a bit too personal. If Sanders runs again in 2020, which looks increasingly likely, I hope he has learned a few lessons and runs a better primary campaign for both himself and the party. Even then, he objectively has a bit he needs to atone for or address, like the recent harassment allegations. He won't be treated with kid gloves this time and will be facing a much larger, more diverse pool of candidates that won't guarantee him as much success as in 2016. I don't see him having as good of a chance to win this time, in spite of the early polls and his high name recognition. But if he wants to run, I'm fine with it and I'll support him in the general election if he does manage to win the nomination. He will not have my support in the primaries. To me, he's old news.

[Old Man Willow]

Sanders had every right to stay in until the end of the primaries, just as Clinton did. However, he should have dropped out in June instead of July. He held out for concessions to a platform that Hillary paid attention to. She picked RTW supporter Tim Kaine and never talked about any of Bernie's ideas during the GE. What an embarrassment that campaign was.

[Crumpets]

...How soon?

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

...How soon?

I wouldn't be surprised if it was tomorrow morning.

[bilaps]

I really hate when we get into 2016 primary re-litigation, but that ship has sailed right here. So here are my two cents that no one asked for-my issues with Sanders and how he ran his campaign in 2016.

 Declaring Clinton for giving speeches to Wall Street as corrupt was a massive blow to her and affected how many Democrats saw her even though giving a speech doesn't equal declaring one's allegiance to the financial sector or whatever other conclusions were drawn.

Imagine having 6k posts on a political board and not thinking she is corrupt

[_]

I deeply prefer Warren over him ("Supporting" Booker is mostly for the Cory in the House meme), and I really don't think we need an old white guy as the nominee, but I'd have no big qualms with voting for him in the General. 

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Really wish I had a different socialist to support but so it goes!

[gottsu]

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2019/01/25/report-bernie-sanders-to-announce-2020-presidential-run-imminently

So that "imminency" lasts for a one week and a half now.

[RedPrometheus]

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2019/01/25/report-bernie-sanders-to-announce-2020-presidential-run-imminently

So that "imminency" lasts for a one week and a half now.

So perhaps there is still hope that he doesn’t run

[Mr. Morden]

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2019/01/25/report-bernie-sanders-to-announce-2020-presidential-run-imminently

So that "imminency" lasts for a one week and a half now.

So perhaps there is still hope that he doesn’t run

As far as I know, the Yahoo News story linked in the OP is the only original reporting saying that Sanders has decided to run and his announcement is imminent.  Other news outlets linked to it, but none of them independently confirmed it.  Again, AFAIK.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I really hate when we get into 2016 primary re-litigation, but that ship has sailed right here. So here are my two cents that no one asked for-my issues with Sanders and how he ran his campaign in 2016.

 Declaring Clinton for giving speeches to Wall Street as corrupt was a massive blow to her and affected how many Democrats saw her even though giving a speech doesn't equal declaring one's allegiance to the financial sector or whatever other conclusions were drawn.

Imagine having 6k posts on a political board and not thinking she is corrupt

She isn't. That's even more clear now considering the man currently inhabiting the White House and much of his administration. Also what does my amount of posts have to do with that?

[NYSforKennedy2024]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/16/bernie-sanders-2020-1173339?fbclid=IwAR0xHG6p_M261A6gt5ol1i95C3EtFLivthgMeSTif2mBoN7kLZIDruLT0Qw

Sanders seen filming a video announcing he's running, according to two Politico sources.

How does he do compared to 2016? Would you support him?

[DabbingSanta]

This is all speculation

[Progressive Pessimist]

*Sigh* Well, here we go. The interesting thing about Sanders entering the primary this time around is that he has a better and worse chance to win at the same time. He has more name recognition and already established support than nearly every other candidate this time around (other than Biden, perhaps) and a crowded primary could lead to more split opposition. But a more crowded primary also means that some of that support may be taken for granted as he may end up losing support to other candidates too.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Yuck.

[James Monroe]

Yuck.

[Not Me, Us]

YES!

[Old Man Willow]

Resident neolibs triggered at the thought of implementation of policies that help the working class.

[Bidenworth2020]

MUH BERNIE IS WAY FURTHER LEFT THAN WARREN

[Comrade Funk]

Resident neolibs triggered at the thought of implementation of policies that help the working class.

Notice the lack of antagonism towards Warren. I think this is more about the inevitable re-litigation of 2016 (Kamala playing Hillary despite being more leftist but she's a frontrunner with a vagina so...) and the return of the Bernie cult.

[junior chįmp]

Realignment imminent

[Landslide Lyndon]

Finally, a candidate white affluent hipsters can relate to.

[Harlow]

Anybody who thinks that Sanders, the only self-proclaimed socialist, is redundant in this race is kidding themselves.

[Comrade Funk]

Finally, a candidate white affluent hipsters can relate to.

https://twitter.com/PatTheBerner/status/1096148123217346561



Still will vote for him if he somehow wins the nomination, despite the annoyance of his more cultish backers. Hopefully there will be a lack of "*insert woman frontrunner* is a neoliberal whore" this go around.

[MT Treasurer]

DOA.