Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign megathread

[Gracile]

That poll that said 25% of Bernie voters would vote for Trump over Elizabeth Warren makes my blood boil

That was a crosstab of a questionable poll that included about 100 people. It is hardly indicative of the behavior of Sanders supporters nationwide.

[Higgins]

I am for those who are in prison with non-violent minor misdemeanors voting, and those in jail awaiting trial, but should the above really have the right to vote? Is that the kind of people who you want to defend?

The pragmatic case against voting rights for incarcerated felons baffles me. We don't require voters to prove that they are wise, moral, or selfless. Most are none of those things.

There's a word for political systems in which only the deserving have a say, and it isn't democracy. Deprive felons of the franchise on account of justice if you like, but that's a matter of what they have done, not who they are or how they make their decisions.

None of the voters who you say have no morals have violated the law, and thus society. Convicted violent felons have proven to have at best poor judgement and poor morals. They have violated society in ways that likely can never be undone, regardless of time served. If you violate society, you should lose some of your societal rights.

Do you really believe a convicted child rapist or convicted murderer should vote?

It is not a question of who they are. It is a question of what they have done. In your worldview, should we even imprison criminals?

[James Monroe]

HOUSTON — The groans erupted halfway through Bernie Sanders’s appearance Wednesday at a presidential candidates’ forum sponsored by She the People, a group that aims to drive up voter participation among women of color.

Before an audience of about 1,700, many of them African American and Hispanic women, the moderator asked Sanders (I-Vt.) how he would handle the rise in white supremacy. Sanders spoke of fighting discrimination and running a campaign “to bring our people together around an agenda that speaks to all people” — then returned to a familiar message on universal health care.

For many in the audience, that was insufficient. “Come on!” a woman shouted from the back, as others began to jeer and boo.

The reception reflected Sanders’s struggle to win support from minority voters, a problem that dogged his 2016 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. Sanders has taken steps since to improve his outreach, including meeting with black leaders and talking more frequently about the difficulties facing minorities, but Wednesday’s event suggested the senator still faces challenges.

[The Free North]

HOUSTON — The groans erupted halfway through Bernie Sanders’s appearance Wednesday at a presidential candidates’ forum sponsored by She the People, a group that aims to drive up voter participation among women of color.

Before an audience of about 1,700, many of them African American and Hispanic women, the moderator asked Sanders (I-Vt.) how he would handle the rise in white supremacy. Sanders spoke of fighting discrimination and running a campaign “to bring our people together around an agenda that speaks to all people” — then returned to a familiar message on universal health care.

For many in the audience, that was insufficient. “Come on!” a woman shouted from the back, as others began to jeer and boo.

The reception reflected Sanders’s struggle to win support from minority voters, a problem that dogged his 2016 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. Sanders has taken steps since to improve his outreach, including meeting with black leaders and talking more frequently about the difficulties facing minorities, but Wednesday’s event suggested the senator still faces challenges.

Yeah that was a sh**t show

[GP270watch]

 Sanders still clueless or playing dumb and cowardly on the reality of racial divides in this country.

[James Monroe]

Sanders still clueless or playing dumb and cowardly on the reality of racial divides in this country.

Bernie has lived in a white bubble for millions of years. He does not get POC and it shows that he'll never earn the vote of this community.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Those people need to grow up and get a thicker skin, Bernie said nothing wrong, and should not have been booed. One black person I know just said they were tilting towards Bernie a few hours ago. And a second person said he was considering it again after his 2016 support for him as well.

[Xing]

The booing was a bit much, though I'll acknowledge as a "deranged Bernie Bro with a persecution complex" that it wasn't a great answer. It's good that he does have evidence that he's fought racism in the past, but he shouldn't always go there when asked about racism, and should talk about what he plans to do as well.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

It was an incredibly cringe-inducing moment but it sounds like other than that one stumble the crowd was largely supportive of what he was saying. IDK seems like a sort of manufactured controversy that if any other candidate had said it wouldn't really be a big deal but because Sanders has a history of tonedeaf comments it gets blown up into something larger than it actually is.

[GoTfan]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

But muh he's not really a Democrat!!1!1!1!1!

[Scrumtrulescent]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

But muh he's not really a Democrat!!1!1!1!1!

Sure there's enough muh's & 1's there?

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

FF petition, good on Sanders for signing it, I really like the dude, I will support him if he is the nominee. Everybody needs to get on board with this.

[Wisconsin SC Race 2019]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

Hmm, I don't see the forum sacred cows signing it. Hmm...

[Famous Mortimer]

All 22 Democratic candidates are going to endorse the eventual nominee. It doesn't even really have to be said. There's literally 0 chance it doesn't happen.

[Progressive Pessimist]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

FF petition, good on Sanders for signing it, I really like the dude, I will support him if he is the nominee. Everybody needs to get on board with this.

I just hope he can more effectively relay this message to his more fanatical supporters this time.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

FF petition, good on Sanders for signing it, I really like the dude, I will support him if he is the nominee. Everybody needs to get on board with this.

I just hope he can more effectively relay this message to his more fanatical supporters this time.

Hillary had far more supporters who voted for McCain than Bernie had vote for Trump.

[Progressive Pessimist]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

FF petition, good on Sanders for signing it, I really like the dude, I will support him if he is the nominee. Everybody needs to get on board with this.

I just hope he can more effectively relay this message to his more fanatical supporters this time.

Hillary had far more supporters who voted for McCain than Bernie had vote for Trump.

2008 was nowhere near as close of an election as 2016 was, or 2020 looks to be. There needs to be as little internal dissent as possible if the Democrats want to win the election. Sanders seems to see the bigger picture, and his supporters, or any candidate's supporters for that matter, should see it too. And that goes for any election actually.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

FF petition, good on Sanders for signing it, I really like the dude, I will support him if he is the nominee. Everybody needs to get on board with this.

I just hope he can more effectively relay this message to his more fanatical supporters this time.

Hillary had far more supporters who voted for McCain than Bernie had vote for Trump.

2008 was nowhere near as close of an election as 2016 was, or 2020 looks to be. There needs to be as little internal dissent as possible if the Democrats want to win the election. Sanders seems to see the bigger picture, and his supporters, or any candidate's supporters for that matter, should see it too. And that goes for any election actually.

McCain was leading in September 2008. while Hillary had a consistent lead in the polls in 2016.

[Progressive Pessimist]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

FF petition, good on Sanders for signing it, I really like the dude, I will support him if he is the nominee. Everybody needs to get on board with this.

I just hope he can more effectively relay this message to his more fanatical supporters this time.

Hillary had far more supporters who voted for McCain than Bernie had vote for Trump.

2008 was nowhere near as close of an election as 2016 was, or 2020 looks to be. There needs to be as little internal dissent as possible if the Democrats want to win the election. Sanders seems to see the bigger picture, and his supporters, or any candidate's supporters for that matter, should see it too. And that goes for any election actually.

McCain was leading in September 2008. while Hillary had a consistent lead in the polls in 2016.

That's even more of a reason to stay loyal to the party's nominee. Polls clearly can be wrong.

[James Monroe]

Bernie, when endorsing Hillary Clinton, didn't combat the aggressive rhetoric from his toxic base that voting third party/Trump would hand the election to Trump. I think he did poorly communicating to his supporters about the progressivism of Clinton.  There's no reason why so many dopey sore losers would turn to Trump when the records were set clear.

[President Johnson]

Bernie, when endorsing Hillary Clinton, didn't combat the aggressive rhetoric from his toxic base that voting third party/Trump would hand the election to Trump. I think he did poorly communicating to his supporters about the progressivism of Clinton.  There's no reason why so many dopey sore losers would turn to Trump when the records were set clear.

Yes, I just hope he will be gracious in defeat this time around shouldn't he make it. And not stay in the primaries when a path to the nomination has already been eliminated.

[Heebie Jeebie]

So a pledge called 'We Are Indivisible' making the rounds. Basically a pledge to support the eventual Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.

Sanders has been the first to sign https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-first-to-sign-pledge-to-rally-behind-whoever-wins-democratic-primary

FF petition, good on Sanders for signing it, I really like the dude, I will support him if he is the nominee. Everybody needs to get on board with this.

I just hope he can more effectively relay this message to his more fanatical supporters this time.

Hillary had far more supporters who voted for McCain than Bernie had vote for Trump.

2008 was nowhere near as close of an election as 2016 was, or 2020 looks to be. There needs to be as little internal dissent as possible if the Democrats want to win the election. Sanders seems to see the bigger picture, and his supporters, or any candidate's supporters for that matter, should see it too. And that goes for any election actually.

McCain was leading in September 2008. while Hillary had a consistent lead in the polls in 2016.

Come on.  You know that's deeply misleading.  McCain got a post-convention bounce just like every candidate gets every cycle, but that bounce had completely dissipated two weeks later.  Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee on June 3 and he led by significant margins the entire race, save that one two-week period in early September.  And of course, the financial crisis hit in mid-September, all but sealing a Democratic victory.  It's dishonest to pretend 2008 was as closely contested as 2016.  You're usually more responsible than that.

[Gracile]

Sanders could have very easily just not done anything to help Clinton in 2016, yet he still endorsed and campaigned for her in the general election. All this talk about how convincing a case Sanders made for Clinton seems incredibly subjective and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. The vast, vast majority of Sanders' primary supporters voted for Clinton in the general, and it is debatable whether the ones who didn't were ever on her side in the first place. Sanders knew that his supporters were not exactly enthralled with Clinton. However, in the minds of many of them, a Trump presidency was much more urgent danger, and as such he adjusted his rhetoric to make a point of the risks of a Trump presidency. I would argue that this approach was more effective at getting his supporters to vote for Clinton, rather than focusing too much on Clinton herself.

In the end, no losing primary candidate can snap their fingers and magically get their supporters to support someone else. The onus is also on the winning candidate to make a convincing case for themselves. Some factors doomed Clinton's candidacy that were outside of Sanders' control, and I feel this talk of his perceived lackluster support for her in the general is unproductive and ignorant of Clinton's faults as a candidate.

[Xing]

All of these arguments about 2008 being less competitive than 2016 are missing the point. We couldn’t have known earlier in those years what the outcome would be for sure. People assumed that 2008 would be a close race up until the recession, and many assumed that Clinton would win easily in 2016. The point is that Sanders did try to convince his supporters to back Clinton, and was largely successful. Blaming him for what a very small percentage of his supporters did is disingenuous, and just comes across as another excuse to attack Bernie, blame him for everything, and retain old grudges. He’s claimed that he will support any of the Democratic candidates, so how about we focus on this year, and not attack him as divisive unless he clearly walks back on that.