Bernie Sanders' time has probably passed

[Olde Europe]

I contributed a small pinch to Bernie in 2016 and voted for him in the primary. This year, I wrote him and told him he's yesterday - to get out of the race and make way for the next generation.

While I like Bernie politically, I've never thought he's a very smart guy.

Compared to some in the running - who should be deemed yester-year, or even yester-century - I personally don't find Bernie particularly "yesterday". Ultimately, that's for Democratic primary voters to decide, or even whether or not "you are yesterday" is a valid argument against any candidacy.

More importantly, perhaps, there are quite a few different reasons for running, and one of them might be to keep other hopefuls - who picked up and are set to refine Bernie's mantle - honest. I, for one, am looking forward to how the Democratic political messaging and policy-development evolves over the coming year. At the very least, I don't begrudge Bernie taking an active role in that, and the U.S. can use a stalwart advocate for the forgotten and sidelined, and one who cannot be bought.

Let's also hope "Bernie cultists" have learned the lesson of 2016, namely, that sitting out an election because of a petulant grudge is not an option.

 

[joaquinmiller]

I contributed a small pinch to Bernie in 2016 and voted for him in the primary. This year, I wrote him and told him he's yesterday - to get out of the race and make way for the next generation.

While I like Bernie politically, I've never thought he's a very smart guy.

Compared to some in the running - who should be deemed yester-year, or even yester-century - I personally don't find Bernie particularly "yesterday". Ultimately, that's for Democratic primary voters to decide, or even whether or not "you are yesterday" is a valid argument against any candidacy.

More importantly, perhaps, there are quite a few different reasons for running, and one of them might be to keep other hopefuls - who picked up and are set to refine Bernie's mantle - honest. I, for one, am looking forward to how the Democratic political messaging and policy-development evolves over the coming year. At the very least, I don't begrudge Bernie taking an active role in that, and the U.S. can use a stalwart advocate for the forgotten and sidelined, and one who cannot be bought.

Let's also hope "Bernie cultists" have learned the lesson of 2016, namely, that sitting out an election because of a petulant grudge is not an option.

Bernie will be 79 years old by Election Day, 2020, and IMO, while he can win the nomination, he can't win a general national election. There is such a thing as too old. He's yesterday, and he will be taking money and attention away from other candidates. I would much prefer he pick a candidate (or two) and promote them.

Same with Joe Biden. Give him the hook.

Obviously, they can run if they want. Free country and so forth.

 

[Olde Europe]

Bernie will be 79 years old by Election Day, 2020, and IMO, while he can win the nomination, he can't win a general national election. There is such a thing as too old. He's yesterday, and he will be taking money and attention away from other candidates. I would much prefer he pick a candidate (or two) and promote them.

Same with Joe Biden. Give him the hook.

Obviously, they can run if they want. Free country and so forth.

I hear you, and suspect your thinking is quite widespread. Whether or not he can win a General Election I do not know. I think there's a significantly-different-from-zero chance he can.

And yet, what if he, having won, steps down after the midterms, handing over to a capable and much younger VP? It always seemed to me like personality cult, to view the Presidency almost exclusively in terms of personality, rather than office and policies.

I am also not convinced that Bernie takes anything away from anyone in any significant way. He, or so I would contend, adds to the Democratic cause in terms of increasing attention and ideological breadth.

So, while I agree that 79 is problematic, and would love to see the younger generation take the helm, and do not think your contention is otherworldly or something, I welcome his role in restoring the Democratic party's ties to the White working class. If he can do that, unambiguously throws his weight behind the ultimate nominee - thus would make, say, Kamala Harris's task so much easier - you should appreciate it as well. I think...

 

[Mike473]

Yes it is extremely tiring to hear people bitching and moaning about the popular vote and the election of the president.

I mean it's only been 231 years that the electoral college has been choosing the president.

yes, except that in all but five cases, the person chosen by the popular vote ALSO won the electoral college.

So the electoral college is usually just a formality.

The thing about it is, if hte EC worked the way the Founding Slave Rapists envisioned, the electors would have gotten into a room and said, "Oh my God, Trump is nuts! And he's chummy with our enemies, the Russians! We can't put him in office!"

That was the whole purpose of having an EC, to be a check on the passions of the people. Instead, in this case, the people made the right choice under difficult circumstances of bad choices, but the EC just did what it did.

I am trying to remember. Did Obama win the popular vote for the Democratic nomination in 2008?

 

[joaquinmiller]

Yes it is extremely tiring to hear people bitching and moaning about the popular vote and the election of the president.

I mean it's only been 231 years that the electoral college has been choosing the president.

yes, except that in all but five cases, the person chosen by the popular vote ALSO won the electoral college.

So the electoral college is usually just a formality.

The thing about it is, if hte EC worked the way the Founding Slave Rapists envisioned, the electors would have gotten into a room and said, "Oh my God, Trump is nuts! And he's chummy with our enemies, the Russians! We can't put him in office!"

That was the whole purpose of having an EC, to be a check on the passions of the people. Instead, in this case, the people made the right choice under difficult circumstances of bad choices, but the EC just did what it did.

I am trying to remember. Did Obama win the popular vote for the Democratic nomination in 2008?

Yep. 2272 to 1978.

 

[JoeB131]

Don't like it then get a Constitutional amendment passed to get rid of it.

There actually might be some traction for that

After Trump wrecks the economy next year, there'll be a lot of traction for it.

But you avoided the point, again.

The PEOPLE SAID NO!!! Trump has no mandate.

 

[JoeB131]

I am trying to remember. Did Obama win the popular vote for the Democratic nomination in 2008?

That's debateable... Hillary only got more votes IF you count her participation in the unsanctioned MI and FL primaries that year, that Obama and all the other candidates refused to participate in because those two states jumped the line.

 

[JoeB131]

I'm not confused. You're just a blithering idiot.

It would be easier to take you seriously if your AVI wasn't a character who was intentionally written as clueless...

 

[Pogo]

Sanders put up one helluva fight against Hillary, but as we know now, he was not going to be allowed to win. Worse, in the intervening years, the Democratic party has shifted so far to the Left that he probably has too many handicaps to have a chance this time around.

Old. White. Straight. Male. That's four strikes against him on Day One.

I wonder if the party is just gone now. Those of us who are repulsed by the GOP and by this travesty have nowhere to go but third party. And the prospect that one of these parties will, in fact, win the White House in 2020 is a little troubling and depressing.

The Democratic Party now cares more about elements of "identity" than it does about anything else.

Biden leads the polls right now. This is gonna be fun & fascinating to watch. We'll see if his outstanding qualifications can overcome the handicaps he shares with Sanders.

How Does a Straight White Male Democrat Run for President?

I'm sorry but the idea that a political party "has moved so far left", in a country that has nothing but right-wing parties, is still laughable.

See? ↓ You just laughed at it yourself.

 

[Blues Man]

Don't like it then get a Constitutional amendment passed to get rid of it.

There actually might be some traction for that

After Trump wrecks the economy next year, there'll be a lot of traction for it.

But you avoided the point, again.

The PEOPLE SAID NO!!! Trump has no mandate.

I never said he did.

 

[the other mike]

Bernie would be the first president since Teddy
without a middle name. ( I figured everyone needed to know this ).

 

[Pogo]

Bernie would be the first president since Teddy
without a middle name. ( I figured everyone needed to know this ).

Harry Truman had no middle name. Just the letter S.

That's why his name is correctly spelled "Harry S Truman" without a period.

 

[Crixus]

Sanders put up one helluva fight against Hillary, but as we know now, he was not going to be allowed to win. Worse, in the intervening years, the Democratic party has shifted so far to the Left that he probably has too many handicaps to have a chance this time around.

Old. White. Straight. Male. That's four strikes against him on Day One.

I wonder if the party is just gone now. Those of us who are repulsed by the GOP and by this travesty have nowhere to go but third party. And the prospect that one of these parties will, in fact, win the White House in 2020 is a little troubling and depressing.

The Democratic Party now cares more about elements of "identity" than it does about anything else.

Biden leads the polls right now. This is gonna be fun & fascinating to watch. We'll see if his outstanding qualifications can overcome the handicaps he shares with Sanders.

How Does a Straight White Male Democrat Run for President?
.

Na. This is all planned so the female great ape can swoop in and look reasonable I’m thinking.

 

[Crixus]

Vichy Mac is scared of women and people of color.

Here's the real reason why Sanders did so well. Dumb-ass "moderates" shoved Hillary down the throats of the Democratic Electorate, and the bitch couldn't give an opinion without focus-group testing it first.

So Hillary has been removed from your spank bank rotation?

 

[Dekster]

Bernie's time hasn't passed. There was ever a right time for him. I supported him last time around just because he was the least offensive in the primary, but I had no reasonable expectation he could have ever won.

 

[Leo123]

Bernie (as a socialist) can't answer why he shouldn't personally pay more taxes than the minimum. He believes in high taxation of the rich which he certainly is. Typical Socialist.....Exempt from their own draconian rule.

 

[Lewdog]

Bernie Sanders best bet is to pick a really good running mate and then announce he will only run for one term and then allow his VP run.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Bernie Rally Draws Huge Crowd, Topping Every Candidate

 

[the other mike]

Bernie/Tulsi 2020 ?

I think the establishment wants Warren and Trump will win.