The Politics Thread

[marceline]

After her interview I expect the Daily News to endorse Hillary. I did not, however, expect them to go in on Bernie to the extent they did.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

I could have done without their disparaging of the President though.

 

I read an article concerning Sander's visit to the Vatican and there was an interesting theory floating around:  that he may be planning to set up his own foundation, sort of his version of a Clinton Global Initiative, where Sanders could focus solely on issues concerning income inequality post election.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Very very long article but rich with detail on why this woman, well, I'll let you read for yourself:

 

On Becoming Anti-Bernie

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

I'm so confused as to why Bernies campaign managers are continuing with this nasty tone and this delusional stance they have regarding the delegates. Jeff Weaver is on MSNBC looking and spurning ridiculous. Have some dignity.

[Vee]

I think he just said they intended to fight to the convention. That's insane.

 

 

Edited April 20, 2016 by Vee

[quartermainefan]

Yeah, Bernie is sort of ruining his brand for me.   I like Bernie, I like his ethic way of talking with his hands, his common sense snarkiness at times, but it seems like he wants to take Hillary down with him and I am not sure what that will accomplish.  He did great for a 75 yr old socialist nobody ever heard of, and he has furthered the liberal agenda to degrees Elizabeth Warren never has.   Take your victory and try and pave the way for the next guy.   He's like the left wing Ron Paul, only Ron never got angry and failed to find a successor.  Bernie has to hope he sparked an interest in liberalism that will pay dividends down the road, not fight on out of spite.

[Vee]

[Juliajms]

I completely agree with you Q. It's time for Bernie to call it a day, instead of doing damage to HRC.

[Vee]

I just can't with these people claiming voter disenfranchisement in New York because they didn't bother to register as Democrats when Bernie changed his party affiliation to get access to that filthy, corrupt DNC war chest. You knew what you had to do! It's not that complicated! There is actual voter fraud and then there is voter stupidity and laziness, and I resent their being conflated.

 

This is ridiculous. I think Bernie Sanders is a good man whose ideals and plain speaking I have always admired, but the unfortunate thing this primary has done is highlight the flaws of the man behind the superficial rhetoric. Like Trump, Bernie began as a protest candidate who got further than he'd ever anticipated before. Like Trump, he couldn't seem to find a way to stop if he even wanted to before it went too far. And like Trump, he has basically no specifics beyond his initial rhetoric. He's been pressed on how he would do these wonderful things and he can't answer the questions. Now he's gone super-negative and it looks awful on him.

 

He also is incredibly evasive re: he and his team and supporters' unfair criticisms of the Obama administration, especially as he knows that the vast majority of actual Democrats (and black voters) are overwhelmingly in favor of Barack Obama. So he's been dodging the issue, talking out of both sides of his mouth to try to appeal to his far left/independent supporters, and somehow still expected to sway the black and Dem vote? Are you serious? You can't run a Democratic campaign where you single out your primary ideological adversaries as Bill and Hillary Clinton - authors of a Democratic dynasty in the '90s - and Barack Obama, a transformative, two-term Democratic president. And then he still expects all the rules to be changed for him and his independents, and to still get the full party support when he became a Democrat last week.

 

Ugh.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Vee

[quartermainefan]

To his credit, I give Bernie props for even hinting at criticism of Clinton and Obama.   Blind party loyalty leads to people going on TV insisting George Bush kept us safe.

[DRW50]

He wallows in the purity type contest stuff that always helps Democrats lose elections. He's gone from Wall Street corruption to raging against Hillary working with the DNC. That leads to nonsense like his supporters picketing George Clooney, banging pots and pans, throwing money at their limos, etc. It's silly nonsense that reminds me of what drove the left to near-extinction. When you get that deep into purity contests, the only way out is to either vote for a Green or not vote at all, because nothing will be good enough for you. And that is likely what will happen with Bernie's supporters. They're too good for politics, and for the world.

[DramatistDreamer]

I also really don't want to hear from people who claim disenfranchisement when they couldn't be bothered to do paperwork to change party affiliation from Independent to Democrat, they had plenty of time.  Most states have closed primaries and have had it for many years now.  Why complain now, all of a sudden?

 

As for the polling issues, they've always been an issue and the comptroller is auditing the system but so far, the concensus appears to be that it did not stop the masses of people who wanted to vote from voting-- most people who made sure that they were registered and checked their proper polling places were able to vote.  

The Sanders campaign is complaining that NY has some serious problems but why did he make the NY Primary the end all and be all ?  If you go back to his rally speeches (while Clinton, with less fanfare went to Churches, Senior centers, diners, community centers, etc) his surrogates/campaign basically stated that should his opponent lose, she should get out of the race, especially after his string of recent primary wins.  He demanded a debate in NY, Brooklyn, his birthplace and the media, eager for something to promote and market took up the lead and went to make the NY Primary this big deal.  Yes, in terms of delegates, NY is kind of a big deal, but the end all/be all???  What about Pennsylvania?  California?  

 

The simple fact is that having Yuuge rallies is not a determining factor of who will actually vote.  Onlookers, tourists and people who are not voting may very well have mixed in with supporters.  Why did Bernie go speak at a Church only two days before the primary?  It makes his appearance look like an afterthought.  People can scoff at Hillary playing dominoes in East Harlem or having bubble tea in Queens or a sundae in the East Village but people like and have come to expect their candidates to mix and mingle with the actual masses and not just make pronouncements on high from raised platforms at rallies.

 

Then when Sanders saw that he was behind by double digits, he began to mock Clinton for only being up by 10 points (she was actually ahead by more than that) but the fact is that Sanders outspent Clinton by 2-1, he repeatedly claimed his Brooklyn heritage but other than losing by modest amounts in Brooklyn, he didn't make many inroads in NYC (he did the worst in the Bronx, the poorest borough in the city, clearly Bronx Democrats did not buy his promises to relieve income inequality)  and his best showing were parts of upstate where voter turnout was low and especially those parts near the Vermont border.

 

Yet, not one peep from the Clinton camp about him dropping out.  No one is even suggesting that he do so because those people seem to realize that it would be unseemly to suggest that a candidate drop out with the other 1/3 of states left to vote.  

 

Edited April 20, 2016 by DramatistDreamer

[Vee]

I just can't believe anyone in the Sanders campaign thought the key to winning over the black vote was Cornel West.

[DramatistDreamer]

According to this article in the Nation, Brooklyn's voter purge could've been avoided had the Supreme Court not gutted the Voting Rights Act.  

 

http://www.thenation.com/article/new-york-had-the-second-lowest-voter-turnout-so-far-this-election-season/

 

Then there's the articles like these that basically say the Primary is over.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-democratic-nomination-bernie-sanders-2016-4