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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Sanders is going to have plenty of support, but he's facing a much different landscape than 2016. The anti Clinton crowd isn't going to flock to him for obvious reasons, progressives have a much wider field to choose from, and he still has an uphill climb with black and Hispanic voters.
I won't be surprised if he takes a lead in the polls early on but, as candidates drop out, it'll be everyone's second and third choices that start rising.
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He was never the darling of the Democratic Party. There's a reason he didn't win the primaries in 2016. And no, it's not because of "DNC sabotage" contrary to what some people (including Elizabeth Warren at one point) claimed.
BTW, has he changed his registration status to the Democratic Party yet?
Edited by M84 on Feb 19th 2019 at 8:57:53 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedI would be surprised if he gets any polling lead. As the folks in 538 said, people like Warren or O'Rourke are going to compete for the same two blocs of the primary electorate.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanIt's because Hillary Clinton's campaign team launched one of the most damaging waves of smear tactics ever, trying to paint him and his supporters as racist for - get this - wanting to stop the death of the working class.
And, yes, it's also in part because the DNC played favorites and fucked him over, which we know happened.
"If you spend all your heart / On something that has died / You are not alive and that can't be a life"Bernie's steadfast supporters weren't enough for him to successfully take on a widely unpopular candidate; unless something very strange happens, I don't think he'll do terribly well this time around
Once the hype settled down people had a chance to really examine who Bernie was, to disappointing results
People started realizing Sanders was good for soundbites but overvalued economics at the expense of devaluing the importance of intersectionality when it became clear that Trump voters were heavily motivated by social issues.
Warren fills his niche much better anyway, having actual concrete action to back her words of economic reform.
Edited by AlleyOop on Feb 19th 2019 at 8:06:14 AM
I was a really big Bernie supporter during the primaries. Quite a few people in here were, actually. But towards the end of the primaries, cracks started to show.
His plans never really extended beyond economics, and thinking that they were the root of all problems. Racism? Fixed by economics. Sexism? Fixed by economics. Foreign policy? What foreign policy?
There’s also various skeletons in his closet, like a paper from decades ago where he may or may not have been defending rape (it could have been satirical, it could have been genuine). Allowing dangerous waste to be dumped near a neighborhood rather than safely disposed of. Taking money from, and defending, the pro gun groups in the country.
He’s also, since the election, mostly wound up in the news for attacking the Democrats (instead of the Republicans), and making a looooong string of tone deaf, if not outright racist and sexist, comments.
Since when are we painting the 2016 election as Bernie against a widely unpopular candidate? Every pundit on the left and even some on the right said Hillary was a shoe-in throughout, and she had the bonus of name recognition, where as Bernie was a relatively unknown name in households at the start of the primaries.
Believe it or not, but a lot of people are actually genuinely happy that he's running, considering he's been one of the most unflinching candidates in a long time on issues like economic reform, healthcare, support for the working class, environmental action, etc.
"If you spend all your heart / On something that has died / You are not alive and that can't be a life"![]()
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Blame Donna Brazile and Elizabeth Warren. Brazile was the one who first made the claim before walking it back, and Warren went right along with it before also later walking it back.
Warren pulling that shit was pretty much the last straw for me. I was already not impressed by her for various reasons, but that populist anti-elite bullshit? No. I don't want that in a President.
I doubt it'll hurt her chances any — I doubt most people even remember that.
Edited by M84 on Feb 19th 2019 at 9:14:56 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedDammit.
Unfortunately, I'd give him a bigger chance this time. Some still support him, and I fear others will view establishment Democrats as part of the reason Trump won 2016. And unless there is something preventing it that I'm unaware of, he could win by a pluraity if the number of primaries remains high. Though I'm guessing most will drop out.
Bernie is still the de facto Leftist candidate so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that he would run.
He will probably do well initially but will sink when all the other candidates sans maybe Elizabeth Warren gang up on him. Alternatively all the other candidates might split the moderate vote enough that a leftist plurality will carry him like it did with Trump in the early primaries, only unlike Trump I don’t think the Democratic Party would rally around him if he did win.
Are there really any other candidates as strong as Bernie on the most important issues of our time (economy, healthcare, environment)? I've heard people say Harris, but she's walked back on healthcare a number of times.
"If you spend all your heart / On something that has died / You are not alive and that can't be a life"

Incidental note, both #Bernie 2020 and #Never Bernie have been trending on Twitter (at least for NYC, which I set my trends to for some reason). So, omen of things to come...?
Edit: Pagetopper: 2 Page 2 topper
Edited by AzurePaladin on Feb 19th 2019 at 7:33:38 AM
The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -Fighteer