Why Bernie Sanders should be president

Funny though that they seem to care more about the accurate delegate count for Hillary and Sanders, yet don't seem to be at all worried about the blatant voter fraud committed by Cruz.

Well, the state party committee from one party is hardly connected with the other party. Fraud in the GOP is sort of de rigueur.
 
Well, the state party committee from one party is hardly connected with the other party. Fraud in the GOP is sort of de rigueur.

I just meant the general population. But I guess you are right. When people have come to expect fraud from one party, it really isn't all that earth-shattering when they actually commit fraud.
 
I just meant the general population. But I guess you are right. When people have come to expect fraud from one party, it really isn't all that earth-shattering when they actually commit fraud.

We are talking about the same party where auto calling voters in the nation's most racist state the night before the primary and accusing a candidate of having a secret black love child is "just politics." Trussed Ted being tied to this particular dirty trick is, you must admit, a relatively minor transgression.
 
We are talking about the same party where auto calling voters in the nation's most racist state the night before the primary and accusing a candidate of having a secret black love child is "just politics." Trussed Ted being tied to this particular dirty trick is, you must admit, a relatively minor transgression.

Yeah. I almost want Cruz to win the nomination now to see what stunts he would pull in the general election. I mean, I don't think telling voters that Clinton/Sanders dropped out of the race so they might as well vote for him is going to work all that well.
 
Yeah. I almost want Cruz to win the nomination now to see what stunts he would pull in the general election. I mean, I don't think telling voters that Clinton/Sanders dropped out of the race so they might as well vote for him is going to work all that well.

That is not unlikely. I would not put it top of the chart, but high up.

J
 
I want Trump to win the republican nomination, mainly for kicks and giggles. Also I'm less afraid of him being president than all the other GOP president in the case of divine intervention and somehow the democrats lose the election in November.
 
Very upset with Bernie loosing New York. In some sense he is also minority -- why is he doing so poor with minority voters?
 
Because they don't care about identity politics?
 
Let's tackle the real question though. Bernie's campaign has never resonated much with minority voters, don't quite understand how it's a surprise that that happened in New York, too. Common reasons given for why that is is are:

- While he has many policies that would greatly benefit minorities, he doesn't really address the problems and grievances minority voters have in his campaign (or at least they feel like he doesn't)
- He's going up against a Clinton (The Clintons are loved by large parts of the black community)
- His view on why minorities don't vote for him is basically "They don't understand what I'm saying." which, while certainly right to an extend, sounds extremely condescending and is born out of the fact that he didn't really do much to change that.
- Then there's also the fact that Hillary is very close to Obama (who is obviously being seen as very favorable in the black community), while Sanders has positioned himself against him more than once.

I'm pretty sure there are more reasons, but those are at least the ones that I'm aware of. People seem to prefer all of that over "He's a jew, that's technically a minority. I'm a minority, too!" - welcome to the real world I guess.
 
Bernie has also committed some unforced errors. Remember when he said essentially "white people don't know what it is like to be poor"? I'm not poor but I know people who are and they were quite upset and considerably less enthusiastic Bernie supporters after that. That said I'm in MN which voted on Super Tuesday so YMMV in other states.
 
I think Bernie deliberately shrouds his economic message in color-blind wrapping paper. Whether that is out of philosophical belief or political expediency, it's hard to say. However, when you take that message to minority communities, they might not be convinced that you really understand their concerns if you can't speak to them as if you do. The Sanders campaign seemed to get caught up in the typical patronizing "I marched!" thing and the war of silly words from which we're supposed to divine that Hillary is actually a secret racist/homophobe.

I suspect, though I have no way of knowing, that when you are selling to minority communities, especially black communities, an economic message of a higher minimum wage and free college, the response is probably along the lines of, "Well, college and employment are heavily biased against us, so thanks for helping white people!" Bernie fans will point out, and they're not wrong, that Hillary isn't selling an economic message that spells out how she'll ensure that her economic policies correct for racial inequality, either. At least, not explicitly, not in speeches and not in debates. But due to longstanding trust among black voters, they feel comfortable that she'll look out for their interests.

Candidates always get caught up trying to be better on things like immigration and criminal justice reform and even gun violence than the other guy/gal because those issues matter to minority communities. Which they no doubt do, and probably much more personally than for most white people. But they aren't the only issues, nor are they necessarily the only important issues, that minority communities care about. After all, it's not the slightest bit out there, unfortunately, for black voters to hear a message about economic prosperity, and worry they'll be left behind. Because, well, they always are. I don't think Bernie Sanders ever gave any reason to believe he'd take specific action to ensure his reforms helped everyone. I think it was a deliberate choice by him, and I think it probably prevented him from really reaching deep into minority communities, and reaching black voters in particular.

After all, we like to pretend otherwise, but racial politics are still very tricky for Democrats. Poorer, rural and small-town white labor Democrats in Bernie's wheelhouse aren't particularly receptive to a non-color-blind economic message in a lot of cases. I don't think those demographics are all that different in that regard from Republicans. I think Bernie probably figured he'd do better running up margins among the young and the rust belt set, than if he made a pitch more targeted at minority audiences. He may have been right about that. The end result being, that young minorities liked Bernie just like young white people, while he had yuge difficulty breaking through with older minority voters.
 
I think a huge part of the problem is his abstract intellectual approach to problems. It's a lot cleaner and theoretically appealing to abstract race away from the problem and explain everything from a systemic point of view. That's an easy way to talk right past the actual problems people are facing in their lives and expect to be addressed by a politician.
 
I think a huge part of the problem is his abstract intellectual approach to problems. It's a lot cleaner and theoretically appealing to abstract race away from the problem and explain everything from a systemic point of view. That's an easy way to talk right past the actual problems people are facing in their lives and expect to be addressed by a politician.

Clinton doesn't lack that abstract intellectual approach, though, she just also has all her homework turned in and is excited for the actual mechanisms in the machine.
 
To be fair to Sanders, given what his main message is, the logical approach is to explain how that main message impacts on all people, including minority groups. The problem is with that being the full extent of the attempt to appeal to 'minority' voters ('your problems can be subsumed into everyone else's!').
 
Spoiler :
I suspect, though I have no way of knowing, that when you are selling to minority communities, especially black communities, an economic message of a higher minimum wage and free college, the response is probably along the lines of, "Well, college and employment are heavily biased against us, so thanks for helping white people!"


Hah, good point.

Spoiler :
Bernie fans will point out, and they're not wrong, that Hillary isn't selling an economic message that spells out how she'll ensure that her economic policies correct for racial inequality, either. At least, not explicitly, not in speeches and not in debates. But due to longstanding trust among black voters, they feel comfortable that she'll look out for their interests.


Thats the crux of the problem. He started behind. People have a tendency to gloss over why Clinton has done well, but she worked for it. The big tell in John Lewis statements weren't the "I never saw him, I never met him" comments but the fact that hes had a decades long relationship with the Clintons.


Spoiler :
I don't think Bernie Sanders ever gave any reason to believe he'd take specific action to ensure his reforms helped everyone. I think it was a deliberate choice by him, and I think it probably prevented him from really reaching deep into minority communities, and reaching black voters in particular.


I don't think it was a choice so much as ignorance/lack of thought. He underestimated Clintons support and the fact that his dog whistle didn't register the same way in minority communities. His message works a hell of a lot better if you can imagine a time when things were better and the government actually worked for you. He may as well be talking about unicorns and leprechauns. I don't think they understood this until it was too late.
Spoiler :

After all, we like to pretend otherwise, but racial politics are still very tricky for Democrats. Poorer, rural and small-town white labor Democrats in Bernie's wheelhouse aren't particularly receptive to a non-color-blind economic message in a lot of cases. I don't think those demographics are all that different in that regard from Republicans. I think Bernie probably figured he'd do better running up margins among the young and the rust belt set, than if he made a pitch more targeted at minority audiences. He may have been right about that. The end result being, that young minorities liked Bernie just like young white people, while he had yuge difficulty breaking through with older minority voters.
Spoiler :


Candidates motivations aside, I wish Sanders would have pushed it from the start, because I really don't think rural small-town white labor Democrats would have been turned off by the reality that stuffs especially bad for certain communities. The ones who would have been probably aren't folks you're going to be able to rely on long term anyway.

Spoiler :
Clinton doesn't lack that abstract intellectual approach, though, she just also has all her homework turned in and is excited for the actual mechanisms in the machine.

Sanders ignored your pleas to turn the homework in on time and aced the test, he thinks acceptance of the machine is the problem yet acknowledges its reality.
 
Thats the crux of the problem. He started behind. People have a tendency to gloss over why Clinton has done well, but she worked for it. The big tell in John Lewis statements weren't the "I never saw him, I never met him" comments but the fact that hes had a decades long relationship with the Clintons.

Yes! Bernie supporters totally missed the point of what John Lewis was saying. Hillary put in the time. Bernie marched a couple of times, but Hillary spent years during and after law school doing legal clinic work protecting the legal rights of mostly poor, mostly black people being swept up into the criminal justice system. She's been visible in the Democratic party for decades advocating on behalf of women, on behalf of people of color, on behalf of the poor. She has reached out and fostered relationships with political and religious leaders in black communities across the country.

This doesn't just apply to black voters, either. The stark divide between younger and older voters and candidate preference is the result of the same thing, pretty much. Bernie hasn't put in the time with the Democratic party, has no relationships with any trusted political leaders. There's a reason why his support comes almost exclusively from the young and the disaffected - the young simply don't have a longstanding connection to the party or party politics, and the disaffected have a negative association with the party, whether because they feel the party left them behind, or the party sold out its core liberal values to corporate America.
 
Well, after Hillary stole a ton of primaries with mass voter suppression, looks like Bernie won't be winning. We now have two of the worst candidates in history; one is under investigation by the FBI and changes her positions with the wind, and the other is being sued for running a get-rich-quick-scheme that he called a University and changes his positions midsentence. Leave it to Trump (McGuire) to insult both sides of the abortion argument. I mean anything that says learn master secrets and blueprint to success is clearly a scam, which is why Trump's (McGuire) promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump (Mcguire) University. You might as well received instruction from the cardboard cutouts of him, and if he does become president, and if he does decide to deport 11 million immigrants he will probably send cardboard cutouts of himself to physically throw them. What do my fish and the Democratic party's nomination electoral system have in common? They don't work and don't chirp anymore, how do I fix them? I guess Bernie couldnt buttslap his way to the whitehouse, while Mcguire was able to throw his way, and Hillary cheated her way. Also Jebya couldnt do what his father did in doing lawndonuts on Homer Simpson's lawn on his way to the whitehouse. Although there were cardboard cutouts of him and Dubya in that episode. Maybe Mcguire stole that idea for Mcguire University. Bernie requested a private one on one battle with Obama (Bee) today and clearly he beat bee because bee endorsed Hillary. I mean Bernie is the better candidate because he suggested in a poem that we go fight Chewbacca, I mean we cant just be doing only noun challenges like Hillary suggested. I can see why O'malley was out early because he doesnt know where the babies come out of the mommies and couldnt help Hillary when she was staring at him. Disco Man lost every 70s world championship in the finals because he kept doing disco while playing terrible moves; he probably died when he finally realized why he lost every single time. It looks like the country is gonna go down the toilet, which is where Ben Carson had his revelation :D Either way were going to get a terrible president, unless Matrix Biden (not just regular Biden) but Matrix Biden saves us from the terrible abyss that is Mcguire or Hillary by somehow teaming up with Matrix Boehner. Im glad Kasich didnt win because he would try to enact a law where people must eat pizza with a fork. Forks are for fishes not for pizzas. Mcguire got thrown in Puerto Rico by someone who isnt even running anymore. Theres no one left for Mcguire to throw which is why he ran away from the debate against Bernie. Jojo is a rabbit. He sits on his belly and he eats carrots. He can also counter anyone that tries to throw him especially Mcguire; making him the first unthrowable character in history. He should run against Mcguire and it would be an absolute blowout. Nobody listens to Jp anymore, except me when I visited the nuclear wasteland. Throwing people on its own has gone out of style, when you have referree throwing people into boxes and Mcguire throwing people into walls. Trudeau elbowed someone but the guy couldnt get past a wall being built by the NDP. And then he embarissingly apologized. You might think Im on something or that the elephant in the picture is going to comeout and into your world but I assure you that Im as normal as a chirping fish. You can be assured of my state of mind as I am a graduate from Mcguire University and I took a photo with a official cardboard cutout of Mcguire, and I learn from an awesome instructor who worked in sales at Lowes. Vermont is going to separate and Bernies first act as president is to bring back Mens Pocky. Preferably with stickers because how else will you make islands in risk and use paul marble to bomb and use dominos to make the UN. Bernie should sue the DNC for rigging the primaries and surpressing all his voters and you have to be nieve to think there was not some form of voter surpression. Also if Hillary or Mcguire dont make it the four years (which is possible) and Bernie doesnt decide to be president, then Matrix Biden for president because he got Boehner and Obama (bee) to go all matrix.

Oh and by the way this is a serious post because that is why I think the Democratic Party has let down millions of voters and billions of non-American supporters.
 
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