We know from experience that a conservative Democrat couldn't beat Donald Trump. Now a liberal is in the lead. GASP! If he is the nominee, we have a chance of a different outcome! We can't have that! Evidently, the "any Democrat before Trump" movement only applies to liberals.
34
Sanders supporters are a bunch of what we called weeders in the 70’s Nothing in common with the real world, just tune in, turn on and drop out. Bernie has never had a vision for America, he just wants to punish the Democrats for not worshiping his, actually, flawed, socialist agenda. It’s all his ego. Angry grandpa, igonored at the family reunion. I consider myself liberal, but the “Hey you kids, get off my lawn!” Candidate doesn’t cut it for me.
9
I didn't like Bernie in 2016 and like him even less this second time around.
1) He's a fair weather Democrat - i.e., only when it suits him. Apparently he has signed up for re-election for his Vermont Senate seat in 2024 as an Independent.
2) He's achieved very little in his decades in Congress and doesn't seem to understand that to govern effectively you have to learn the art of compromise.
3) He is a hypocrite - socialist when it suits him, capitalist when it doesn't ("If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too"? Sounds pretty tone deaf to me). From his released tax returns. his charity contributions are very low. I also read that $25,000 of the $36,300 given to charity in 2017 was to his own foundation, which was headed by (wait for it!) his wife and her son, who were presumably paid for their positions. Nepotism?
4) I would like to know how many of his books were purchased by his campaign (i.e., how much of his royalty income comes from campaign contributions).
5) The Bernie supporters whose comments I read are by far the most caustic and antagonistic. One on WaPo even called Pete Buttigieg "Buttihurt." Shameful.
6) Finally, many good candidates have embraced many of his ideas. He needs to step aside for the next generation of leaders instead of indulging his ego.
If he becomes the Democratic nominee, I will of course vote for him over Trump, but this country will have missed a great opportunity. Full disclosure: I support Buttigieg.
7
The arguments are symmetrical - if the party hierarchy runs Clinton 3.0, there could well be a progressive third party candidate who would siphon off votes.
The party hierarchy - the big donors - thought they knew better than the voters and Trump won.
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result ...
31
When the reactionary Republicans moved the party far to the right, with Reagan, the Democrats moved right along with them. That's when I stopped voting for Democratic candidates, except for two exceptions -- once for Obama, and once (reluctantly) for Hillary, only because I feared Trump might win. If the Democrats once again nominate a Dino, I will not vote for that person, even if Trump wins. The Democrats are finished. They should just go home and retire. I don't know if Bernie is the right person, but it is up to the public to decide that, not the well-healed, so-called Democrats that rule the party.
43
After reading this piece which had a similar flavor to what was published in 2016 I made my second $100 donation to Sanders.
55
Bernie is almost two years older than I.
Does that matter?
5
By the end of his next term, Donald Trump would be the same age, so you tell us. Does it matter?
12
If you go to the FEC website, and click on "filing for federal office" you will find line 4 allows any potential candidate to self-identity with any party they want..
17
Sanders becoming president would be a huge mistake. He is not a Democrat and would be another extreme politician like Trump.
6
Not at all like Trump. Sanders is trying to clean up the government, not trying to clean up.
29
As a voting member of the Democratic party, since 1971, who is supporting the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders 2020, I find this article and the comments by party leadership very disturbing, as their bias, anti-Sanders rhetoric is being displayed. This line...."Howard Wolfson, who spent months immersed in Democratic polling and focus groups on behalf of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, had a blunt message for Sanders skeptics: “People underestimate the possibility of him becoming the nominee at their own peril.” is very telling of how they are being urged to rally against Sanders. I find this an indication how the Democratic party is failing to represent me, when it is aiming to sidetrack Sanders' campaign. If Sanders is not on my general election ballot , I will no longer be a democrat. I am not, "Blue, No matter Who.". The party leadership,who aims to sidetrack Sanders' campaign desso "at their own peril!"
42
The DNC being nervous about a candidate that's been politically consistent for the past three decades and speaks to the working people, the group democrats abandoned decades ago, should be terrified.
Time to clean house and restore the party.
50
Bernie is not the Democrats' problem.
Their problem is Bernie's ideas. The ideas will win.
36
Difficult to understand the thinking of the establishment Dems who desire a win, while so completely ignoring what people want, which was a winning strategy in the 2018 election...healthcare, college, global warming and affordable life...which almost the entire free world has...but not us...and people like Bernie are considered radical?
Bernie even got cheered on a faux town hall meeting. Wake up establishment Dems. You’re almost as bad as the repubs...if that is possible.
41
"a candidate whose entire public life has been organized around confronting concentrated wealth".
That does it for me - he gets my vote.
44
Dems should read the people's wishes and get behind Bernie Sanders.
28
The NYT is plainly taking the Centrist's side here. In 2016, 92% of Bernie primary voters ended up going with Clinton. In 2008, 78% of Hillary primary voters went for Obama. Maybe they should look at themselves in the mirror and ask, why did we lose all those Obama voters to Trump? Why didn't we contest Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania? Bernie didn't have anything to do with your failures. Bernie was not a divisive factor. Your inability to deal with your own failures underscores why people have lost faith in you, why people don't trust you. Bernie is not even the candidate I am supporting in this primary, but he sure as heck is #2 over anyone you Centrists will put forward. Because I know that your candidate will just lead to more Trumps being elected in the future, and I also know that Trump is not a one-off for the GOP. They've demonstrated that they have a long line of Trumps in the wings.
31
The fact that the HRC-aligned Democratic establishment sees Sanders as someone to be stopped is a strong indication that they care more about holding power than they do about the issues that voters care about, which makes them look a lot like Republicans. Bernie runs good campaigns--he campaigns on the issues. If you think you have better solutions than Bernie, please present them. If the voters think they're better solutions they'll vote for you. Voters are desperate for honest candidates with real proposals for positive change. One of the many reasons HRC is not president is that voters believed she is beholden to the same big corporate interests that have been funding and influencing US politics for decades AND that she was not being forthright about her relationship with those interests, and therefore she would be business as usual, which bodes ill for the 99%.
34
I really do think Trump will probably win in 2020. Not because he gets the most votes, but because these rich elite democrats will be putting all their energy into stopping a viable candidate. I am a Bernie supporter, but I think he is more powerful as someone who introduces ideas into the mainstream American collective and rallies people around these ideas, than as president. I think a Biden/Warren ticket would be the best bet to beat Trump, if that is really actually the goal of the democratic party.
12
In 2016, I was hesitant between Bernie and Clinton but was eventually convinced that Bernie cannot win while Clinton can. This time around, I'm 100% behind Bernie. I hope the democratic establishment will learn from their 2016 mistakes. For those who think that Bernie is too far left to win the general election, look no further than 2016 when a far right outsider won the general election despite all polls and prediction. America can elect a leftist candidate who has a 30-year proven track record fighting for the working class and for racial equality. America needs Bernie more than ever!
38
Sure...Let’s follow the advice of the Establishment Dems who lost the White House last time...NOT!
42
The very premise of this article is slanted and harkens back to the times aggressively dismissive and judgmental coverage of Sanders the last time around. The man is not some sort of “problem” — he’s a proven candidate who happens to have set the agenda for this entire campaign.
40
Establishment-aligned Democrats more accurately named 'corporate sponsored Democrats' do not own us. I will never vote for them. Period.
30
We've decided to support Sanders, period. The man is a winner, and all the new candidates leave little space between their positions and Bernie's. He has earned his spurs for a long time now, and the Democratic establishment, including the NYT and the liberal press, had better line up behind him.
34
For those inclined to agree with Mr. Sanders' agenda, his choice of Elizabeth Warren as VP would be powerful reassurance. If Sanders is of such an age as to raise the specter of his demise while in office, his replacement by Warren would ensure the continuation of his policies.
30
The D's need to wake up. First, stop the circular firing squad. Second, recognize that it makes no difference who they run in D states- they will never vote for Trump regardless of the D candidate. Third, pick a candidate who has a chance in the purple states. That candidate cannot be someone from the most radical wing of the party.
8
People throw around the word "radical" far too much when talking about Bernie. From where I stand after almost 46 years, the only reason he could be considered "radical" is because this country has been stagnated with the same old worn out ideas that just get dressed up with new words every campaign.
When I read Bernie's policy ideas and proposals and look at where most Western democracies with high standards of living are at with things like education, healthcare, and general happiness and well-being, I can't believe how radically far behind we have fallen.
31
In 2018, women ran, won, and voted in historic numbers. The nominee will be the person who can mobilize and inspire the party’s most loyal base.
But having stolen the election in 2016 and gotten away with it, I see no reason why Trump won’t do it again in 2020. Have any safeguards been put in place to prevent it? Not that I can see. The House should vote on Articles of Impeachment —but stall the trial in the Senate until after 2020. Focus on holding the House, taking back the Senate, convicting Trump, protecting the SCOTUS, and preserving the rule of law.
3
Sanders is too old and too left wing to win the 2020
Election. He should take a pass. And his supporters need to shift toward the middle road unless they want Trump for president again!
10
Shorter Democratic Establishment: "Bernie Sanders is popular. Bernie Sanders would stop the money machine that brings in big donations and funnels them to "consultants" who have lost our party the presidency, the Senate, and 32 state legislatures. Therefore, Bernie Sanders must be stopped. We cannot allow him to be nominated."
On what planet does this make sense? On what planet does this defeat Trump? The national Democratic organizations (i.e. the "establishment") are incumbent protection rackets who want only to keep the do-nothing gravy train going.
31
Remind me how thwarting the aspirations of a candidate fits in with democracy?
30
The key to this article is the word wealthy. This is the split, those who claim to be "progressive" but want to cater to corporate and wealthy interests and those who want the dems to resume the mantle of FDR and support the working class. If the dems don't do the latter they will lose.
31
Bernie is, “outside the party structure who is immune to intimidation or incentive.” That’s what’s great about him. I don’t think the Democratic donors are scared that Bernie will lose. I think they’re scared that he’ll win. Money knows no party other than the party of money.
35
Its so obvious someone like bloomberg would run as an emergency third party candidate if Bernie won, in order to defend his wealth and guarantee trumps reelection
11
God this is disgusting. I feel repulsed by these people and they are right to fear a backlash. It's all just a game for them. None of these establishment democrats would even be remotely affected by the outcome of the election, regardless who ends up getting elected. All this hand wringing over the fate of the country is about social issues since that is all the democrats offer in the way of difference between them and republicans nowadays. Its so petty yet they feel it gives them vindication to block the progress of people who are actually fighting for life and death issues like healthcare.
35
"But he's not a real Democrat!" Maybe, just maybe, that's actually why so many people like him?
32
@Abraham Although Bernie calls himself a socialist he’s actually a New Deal FDR Democrat. He’s a true Democrat’s Democrat while refusing the title.
21
I do not like Bernie. Of course, if he wins the nomination, I will have to vote for him because Trump is ruining the country and its reputation.
Though not a rabid party person myself, I find it ironic and annoying that this man who wants the Democrats' nomination refuses to join their party. I also think that if he was POTUS, he and his fervent fans would find that passing his hard left agenda would be neigh on impossible. Even if Bernie wins the GOP in Congress will not just go away. In fact, many of those Congress persons elected in 2018 might find themselves out of job as red districts decide to hedge against Bernie's far left agenda.
More likely, if Bernie is nominated, Trump will win. The latter has a good chance anyway because of incumbency, financial advantage, his ability to hog the media, and possibly the economy (though the last may go south before Nov 2020).
9
All this article illustrates is the frustration the rich donors and bundlers are feeling because they cannot purchase Bernie.
They are also behind many of the attacks on the freshman legislators in Congress.
Threatening to 'Primary' their next election if they don't toe the established party line. Primarily because they can't be bought.
It is ironic so many point to Bernie as ruining the 2016 election because he ran as a Democrat.
If he had chosen to run as an independent, he would have taken votes away for Queen Hillary and the defeat would have been worse.
31
It is not true that Sanders is extreme left and people like Clinton are "moderates". When it comes to the intolerant cultural left and to be a pro-war neocon Clinton is much more extreme. It is only on economic issues that Sanders is more to the left.
When you look at the electorate they prefer the kind of left that Sanders represents. It is only the Democratic Party's rich donors and the party leadership that they have in their pocket that have a problem with that.
28
The Bernie Bros need to stop relitigating 2016. The fact that HRC got the superdelegates is not a travesty. Think it through. The Democrats had a legitimate interest in nominating the canddate who had been a member of their party for three decades and who had raised a fortune for down ballot Dems since the 1990s. Bernie is not a Democrat; he never has been. He is a populist and a socialist and had no claim to the vote of party establishment (superdelegates). Talk about entitlement!
8
@John It’s actually the establishment Democrats who are relitigating. They, not the mythical “Bernie Bros,” are the nasty, unfair, unreasonable ones on Twitter and other social media.
21
Dems love to accuse Republicans of preventing people from voting but Dems love to prevent people from appearing on the ballot. Is there a difference?
23
Had the Democratic Party run a fair and proper primary in 2016, a Democrat likely would have won the election. Sanders may have endorsed Clinton, but it was obvious to all that the DNC fix had "been in" and his supporters would rather build a house anew than on a rotten foundation. With the waining of the"super delegates" influence, a true candidate of the people can emerge. If John Kerry should throw his hat into the ring, he could have a chance as a traditional Democratic nominee.
6
Here is just a thought:
In 2016, MOST Democrats & Americans had never heard of Bernie Sanders or very little, especially as compared to either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
It is now 2019 and MOST people not only know about Bernie Sanders, but the issues he has been pushing and continuing to push as well as the solutions needed are even more pressing and pertinent to the American voter as they have ever been...and then some.
I imagine he will do so much better than he achieved in 2016 and if he doesn't ...the NEXT Democrat President will incorporate many of his policies and platforms into his/her agenda for America in the future.
Regardless of who implements them...his achievements will benefit America from his having promoted them and having them taken up and made part of this country's offering of these future benefits and to the prosperity for all that he envisages becoming reality.
28
The Dems can cheat at their own rules to get anyone they want as a candidate despite who people vote for in caucuses and primaries just like they did last time.
I'm not a Republican or a Bernie supporter. I'm just commenting on what happened last time. But it's important to remember that parties are private organizations who can do what they want. They are not a part of the government with laws they have to follow to pick candidates.
4
This is a great piece on the Democratic establishment that I would have never expected to see in the NYT. Kudos.
16
It is time to understand, that the country wants the Democratic Party to pay attention to the voters, not the wealthy donors. Time for the moderates voters to meet the progressives voters halfway. Not talking about the DC think tanks, consultants or Washington Party officials, they will not give up their power.
No one knows who can beat Trump and the establishment Democrats are running scared, by going after Senator Sanders. Know this as was said in the article, go after Bernie, he will fight harder, dismiss Bernie as the frontrunner , he will work harder and raise more money and make the vote based on the super delegates and their opinions, not what the people want, then we lose in the General. It will be another decision made not by the voters, but by Washington Insiders.
All candidates deserve a equal chance.
23
He will cause us to lose another election. Period.
11
For anyone concern trolling about how "if Bernie is the nominee the GOP will attack him, allow me to demonstrate at length why that is, of course i'm not making these attacks i'm just saying..."
Regarding the "Republicans will attack him as a socialist, extremist etc." concern troll, does that mean you back down on what you believe in? We tried that the last time we had the presidency, we backed down and surrendered every single time there was so much a peep from the Republicans, how did that turn out? Did they acknowledge our reasonableness and civility, our willingness to compromise and reach across the aisle? Remember the quiet dignity the Tea Party brought to the political debate. The way they never lied or exaggerated or called Obama a deranged socialist. Remember how that favor was returned with a theft of a supreme court seat and the most vile man ever to enter the White House. No more Chamberlain Democrats promising "peace in our time if we just give the Republicans what they want again." It's time to fight.
19
For crying out loud, Democrats. Stop trying to thwart one of the most popular candidates your (our!) party has seen, and get behind him! If you blame him for the loss to Trump, you are still blind to the obvious...supporting the same old status quo is not the path to success.
37
When did Bernie become a Democrat?
6
Nothing wrong with an elder statesman that has stood for social and economic justice all his career. May he become our Nelson Mandela, liberating us from the scourge of Reaganite Neoliberalism.
34
I have an idea. Lets ALL get together and SUPPORT Bernie!
37
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are from the "moderate or center-left" wing of the Democratic Party? Really?
19
I cannot believe the Dems are considering cutting their nose off despite their face, again. It appears to me as though big money infects both sides, like a cancer on society. Do the people who claim to be "life long " Dems supporters think you can win a race by presenting people with more of the same? I cannot tell the difference between the big money focused republican candidates or the big money focused democrat candidates. Bernie is that difference. He is the opposite of what both sides have been perpetuating for way too long. How anyone from the "same team" would let their petty power hungry money motivated egos get in the way of stopping the fascist Republicans is beyond me.
26
The "Stop Sanders" Democrats, also known as:
The "Stop Medicare for All" Democrats...The "Stop a Living Wage" Democrats...The "Stop Free College" Democrats...
31
Both parties are dead, he has a chance.
18
There's a saying in Texas - "Fool me once..." Funny how the DNC moves steadily right these past decades, then pretends it's the base that's moved left. No, we've been third-waying it the last 40 years and seen what that's wrought. There is a straight line drawn between today and the moment in 2009 when Obama dropped the public option and Rahm Emmanuel defended it with a gross slur. And they actually think they got slaughtered in 2010 because they didn't appease *enough*!
23
HE IS NOT a DEM!!! How can he get the nomination?? Stop it DNC!! Demand he convert or get out of the way.
3
Why must the DNC be like Joyce's Ireland? "Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow."
10
I don't trust any of them.
The whole at-least-two-years-in advance campaign is a broo-ha-ha where everybody promises the pie in the sky, let alone the time wasted on needless personal attacks and distortions.
The economical make up of todays world is complicated enough and torn by powerful interests for even qualified economists and sociologists to start and untangle the threads and begin to figure out viable directions.
Under the circumstances the media should relentlessly push for candidates' programs and plans with NUMBERS attached to them and with statistics and forecasts about how different demographics would fare under those plans, this could be a start in seeing more of the differences.
Otherwise - give me a choice between Trump and Bernie and I will vote for none.
1
Curious to see the NYT and Dem establishment fret so prematurely over Sanders 2.0. I do hope the DNC and Party decide to allow actual Democratic voters choose their candidate this time around - otherwise, the party should just call this charade quits. The Democratic establishment/donors and Republicans share an important commonality - they all want to keep their riches intact. Unfortunately for them - that is transparent to the people now.
18
thankyou, moved me to donate to Sanders campaign now rather than later. Will donate later, too. Shout-out to leah, and david mentioned in the article. I want to give kudos to Dana Milbank, who wrote a scurrilous hit-piece published in the Washington Post op-eds, accompanied the same day, by an op-ed (they call 'em blogs now) by erstwhile conservative mad-dog Jennifer Rubin, now appropriately in harness, apparently tamed by Bezos. After a period of many months of one Trumpoclasm after the other, she just recently switched to handicapping the Democrat nomination race. The same day as the Milbank screed, she discounted Bernie's chances down to zero, due to some stats she purports show he has no support.The next day, Joe Scarborough does a hit on Bernie , and Kasich makes an appearance "guaranteeing Bernie Sanders will not get the nomination. Zero chance." Kasie Hunt, same day shows a printed quote from the Milbank abomination, and I forget the rest of it now, but it was another hit on Sanders. Enough to make you wonder if Trump is right about MSM, Bezos, et al, colluding on what we see on the "news".
24
People say it's important we move to green energy to show the world how to do it.
I think it would be a great idea for Bernie to write a check for 70% of his one percent class income to the Treasury to show the rest of us how it's to be done.
1
Actually Doug, the world already knows how to do green energy. The Chinese, Germans, and others are powering ahead of us in the development of solar, wind, nuclear and related industries such as high speed rail. America is laughably behind the curve, still grubbing in the ground for things to burn, watching our infrastructure decay.
I don’t really think a few hundred thousand from Bernie will change that, but I guess since he’s probably not going to write a check, it’s a good excuse to continue to do nothing.
7
The attacks on Sanders by the Ctr for American Progress and DNC are more evidence that the Democratic party is only interested in protecting its donors and status quo, as are the Republicans. Did these Republican Democrats watch Sanders' town hall on FOX? He spoke to that crowd in a way Clinton never could. Sanders is dominating because he presents a clear message about bread and butter economics that crosses the faux party line. The centrists had their chance in 2016 and gave us Trump. Instead of repeating their catastrophic errors, they should embrace Sanders' message. Both parties need to close shop and let new voices emerge.
35
@EB
One step further beyond protecting its donors and the status quo- to help themselves. Many of these people at CAP expected to have jobs in the White House if Clinton won in 2016. They unexpectedly didn’t get their dream jobs and they’re taking it out on anyone who opposed them at any point in 2016.
13
If the argument is not about policy but about strategy, that is, reading tea leaves, it is a tough call. Bernie is engaging and has great ideas. His biggest fault is that he isn’t a youngster.
My reading is that Bernie is the man: good speaker, good ideas, and charisma. He is a proven quantity.
23
Before Sanders, no one was watching the 1%
The 1% is our enemy.
You need minimum $10 million to join their club.
If we don’t stand strong, the 1% will keep their boots on our necks and have us beg them to feed us.
I support Sanders and am sending him $27 each month.
Right on !
Power to the PEOPLE.
29
These "wealthy donors" are Boomers, of course. Millennials, take over. Millennials love Ancient Bernie because they see every day how the wealthy Boomer class has failed this country over and over for the past forty years.
19
I loved Bernie for 2016, wish HRC didn’t have Debbie Wasserman-Shultz pull those shenanigans. For 2020 though I’m casting my lot with Yang or Buttigieg.
3
Yang. Didn’t you read the article? Buttigieg is involved in the closed door sessions with the neoliberals. He can’t be trusted.
17
As well they should be. Why would they nominate the only person in the country who will either: 1) lose to Trump, or, even worse, 2) win, and guarantee there won't be another Democrat elected in our lifetimes?
2
The same could have been said about Trump.
9
The Democratic Party establishment once again has an assault rifle aimed at its own feet. If the DNC wants to beat Trump in 2020 it will have to give Goldman Sachs a little less of what the banks want. It will have to admit that the polls clearly showed, in 2016, that Hillary and her hawkish, anti-regulatory, pro-Big pharma agenda couldn't beat Trump but that Bernie could. It will have to stop funding dozens of marginal pols simply because they'll run against the only viable candidate - the estimable Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders.
35
Just agonizing that the people supporting Sanders and his people-first policies aren't taking into account the feelings of the Democratic Party's Corporate Donors and Lobbyists.
lol.
34
Since when is having an extremely popular candidate who 'sets the agenda' a problem???
This is the essence of how a Democracy is supposed to function.
It only seems to be a perceived problem by the residents of Richistan, worried that their holdings might lose a fraction of value?
Bernie would have beat Trump (check the polls) and he will if given the chance. He could easily beat him on health care alone.
Suppress the will of the people & see what happens, a 2016 redux.
Blaming Bernie for Hillary's loss is worse than pathetic, is betrays a lack of introspection that is necessary for growth.
32
I’m sad to say.... but Bernie really isn’t looking any different than Trump.
Yes the issues he speaks of are different, and many are important.
But Bernie exhibits similar traits & behavior that are just as narcissistic as our present child president does.
We really need something different than the fantasy of a one man/woman solution to our country’s difficulties.
And solutions don’t arrive with the speed “now”; speed of “but I want”; nothing even close to the speed of the internet.
6
@Mark 189
Similar traits and behavior? You mean like fighting for working people for 40 years, pushing to expand voting rights and voter participation? Caring for the poor, elderly and veterans? Pushing for the best, most efficient and most affordable health insurance? Asking the mega rich to pay their fair share of taxes? Gee, I hadn’t realized Trump stood for those things.
Bernie has repeatedly said Medicare for All would be a 4-year phase in. That’s not “I want it now.” He has been advocating single-payer since 1987. That’s being pretty patient, if you ask me. Also, we got tuition-free college in New York State (albeit it a watered-down version) in 2 months.
LBJ was plenty ornery and managed to pass sweeping civil rights legislation.
It’s time to reclaim a legitimate sense of urgency with a bold, visionary leader. Democratic Party complacency and continued accommodation to the right is why we lose.
20
@Mark 189
What narcissistic traits? Seriously, give at least some evidence to support your absurd claim.
13
The Iron Law is Institutions in full effect.
3
Sorry for this indecent idea, but a Sanders-Trump race in the 2020 general election would be most entertaining to me.
9
Here to say: I’m a NYT reader supporting Bernie!!
30
The issue of where to position your self on a continuum of far left to far right is complicated. Ideally you would sit in the middle, just on your side of the continuum. This only works though if you win your nomination. It is increasingly likely that the Democratic candidate will need to drift quite a long way left to win the nomination. Then one of two things may happen; 1) A single Republican candidate positioned anywhere but the far right will win (and Trump will just modify a few of his own positions to achieve this) or 2) you bring a 3rd candidate into play who would then split the anti-Trump vote. Either way, Trump wins. Why is this so obvious now to anyone other than a far left head in the sand Democrat. Bernie (I personally like him) would get Trump elected. Democrats - it is time to think strategically about the whole country, not just your own values. I will personally give up on my idealistic liberal dreams because I'd rather have a left leaning moderate in the White House than Trump (or Pence). Things could be a lot worse.
2
Seems we need four parties: traditional Republican and Democratic, plus a tea party and a socialist party. Problem solved.
8
I'm sorry but I thought Hillary won the nomination by winning the majority of the Democratic primary voters. Am I mistaken? Did Bernie somehow win more votes and the DNC leadership stole the nomination from him? Yeah. I didn't think so. The Democratic voters CHOSE her over him. That simple. And they will chose Biden or Beto or Buttigieg over him this time. You know why? Because he's NOT a Democrat. And the mainstream wing of the party's supporters know that.
7
@Michael
I witnessed with my own eyes in two Iowa caucus precincts enough misappropriated delegates to give Hillary the win there. She won by only three delegates. (My kids and I were observing the caucus process, as a home-school field trip.) That was only one state. But it was the first one - and you know how one win is parlayed into another. The primary race was EXTREMELY close (hence, the underhanded stuff we learned about in the DNC/Podesta emails). The increased spread between the candidates only occurred AFTER the delegate math had determined the winner (as always happens because of low voter turnout and bandwagon effect.) I knew right when she won it that Trump would have a very good chance...
19
I'm sorry but there is zero chance of Sanders winning the primary. He couldn't even beat Clinton, who was so awful she lost to a reality-TV star! Come on, someone at the Times get realistic. He'll go down in defeat to a midwestern mayor 1,000 times sooner than he'll walk away with the primary.
3
I voted enthusiastically for Clinton. I'll vote for Trump before I'll vote for a socialist. Sorry.
A lot of us in America have played by the rules, made good choices, and have nice, comfortable lives because of it. No, we don't want "revolution" or "radical change". No we aren't "1%ers" or "bought out by corporatists". We are just the silent majority of middle class Americans - homeowners, people who work regular jobs for a living, residents of non-glamorous suburbs and small towns, parents - who just want someone to competently steer the ship.
If I have to choose between four more years of an overall ineffective buffoon who has no discernible affect on my life (Trump) and a revolutionary who wants to upend our lives (Sanders) I'll hold my nose and take what is behind door number one. I won't like it, but I'll do it.
8
@A F Seriously? Sanders is essentially mainstream now, most all of the other democratic candidates support his position. And if Trump has had "no discernible affect on your life" than you're not paying close enough attention.
17
@A F
That’s some privilege to be able to sit back and have someone steer the ship.
Some of us don’t have that luxury, which is why we’re actively fighting for the lives and future we need. Healthcare, climate change, stagnant wages, homelessness, forced retirement, exorbitant housing costs—these are things some of us are grappling with daily. And we’d never have the gumption to vote Trump and ruin the chance to fix things.
Bernie Sanders is a principled politician who is deemed a moderate in every advanced country except the US. There is nothing radical about his agenda—it is fundamentally used throughout Europe.
13
One wonders how any Democrat could vote “enthusiastically” for Clinton.
In 2016, she was running as a “woke” 1988 Republican.
A F’s comment adds to the pile of data I have confirming my suspicion: many boomer Democrats are basically economic Republicans, whose attitude to anyone not well off is “I got mine.” The only reason they are Democrats is because Democrats have been better on civil rights in the past half century. That explains a lot about the Democrat’s abandonment of the working class of every race.
But these Democrats are most definitely the past. Millennials are the future and somehow, in one of those giant cosmic jokes, it’s an old guy from Brooklyn who is showing them the way and catalyzing that future.
Good for him. Good for them. Good for America.
5
Why do we need to stop anybody? Unless Bernie is getting kopeks what do we care if he is the leader in the money race? I don’t know if I think he is the best candidate or not but this seems, like so much else, a silly controversy. And if this is really what the Democratic leadership is focused on (“Democratic leadership” ? “Focus” ?) then we’ve got some bigger problems than Bernies per capital performance. Let a thousand flowers bloom in the spring of ‘19.
7
The voters will decide the general election candidate. Media should keep their opinions to themselves.
10
I have my preferences in the Democratic field. I understand that the person I root for might not be the winner. I will then vote for the Democratic nominee, whoever that is. I firmly believe that anybody on the ticket with a D next to her/his name is better than the guy with an R.
I'm not sure if the enthusiastic Sanders supporters would do the same. First, they think that if their candidate looses, there is a conspiracy. They think that Sanders cannot loose. They also think that the "Democratic establishment" is as bad as Trump, what's the point in voting if Sanders' name is not on the ballot.
3
Well, there's no shortage of political advice. But shouldn't we seek input from those who are at least batting 500 on big ticket items (that the establishment gets wrong), like WMDs, or Bernie and Trump's successes in 2016, or Brexit, or the fundamental results of the Mueller investigation? 3 for 5 anyone?
4
Trump won either because too many Democrats thought Clinton was a shoo-in and decided they really didn't want that and so didn't vote, or they were Bernie Sanders followers who voted either for Trump or for an independent. One would think the Democrats would modify what they're doing so that they can win this time. As it is, they appear clueless, and Trump will have his second term as a result.
2
What DNC insiders don't get is that any candidate who seems scripted and inauthentic, as Hillary Clinton did, is at a disadvantage. The 2016 results show this.
Bernie also is unscripted, and comes across as being sincere and authentic in his views (because he is). The DNC does not appreciate that, but that gives Bernie political strength.
DNC, let the voters make the call. Your judgment at picking the most electable candidate is not a good one.
29
If you don't want Bernie to win the nomination, support a candidate you think can beat him, the rest of the field, and then Trump. It's that simple.
7
So instead of playing the "unelectability" card, this time around, they have to settle for the "nothing but plurality" card! It seems the establishment is hoping Bernie can't manage a true majority with so many candidates - while likely knowing that he'd have an easier time than the others beating Trump (since 2/3 of the voting public do not identify strongly with either party.)
10
Well.. the Democratic establishment is right to be worried. If Senator Sanders win the nomination over a more central candidate, such as Hillary Clinton, then a Trump win is all but guaranteed. As we all learned in 2016, we need a more mainstream candidate to beat Trump. Oh wait, nevermind!
11
Reading Mr Martin's article reminds me of that scene in Rumble In the Jungle where Muhammad Ali enters the locker room before his championship return fight with George Foreman and sees all the defeated faces of his crew. You think I'm going to lose? He is astounded because he knows he going to win, in fact, he's won already because he is in the right place both physically and mentally. In today's tournament, the folks running the democratic machinery are in the wrong place. In the last primary I voted for Hillary against my better judgment. I won't make that same mistake in 2020. Unless the Democratic Party begins accepting its diversity and acknowledges the wealth of its myriad ideals, it will lose the mandate to save our democracy. 2020 isn't the end of the struggle for common sense and decency. It is only the beginning.
13
It is interesting to hear that Sanders supporters are “expected to fall in line” to defeat Trump. The opposite will probably not be the case. If Sanders secures the nomination, or enough delegates to earn it, I doubt that his opponents in the corporate-backed party are prepared to “fall in line”. They’ll just sit on the sidelines and probably quietly cheer on Trump.
There is a reason I and many other former Democrats are former Democrats. They are essentially a fraudulent party, talking progressive but governing as a corporate handmaiden. The current hand wringing it is just more proof that the party will gladly self-destruct rather than satisfy the needs and desires of their voters.
16
The corporate, establishment, Centrist, Neo-Liberal, perpetual budget-busting warfare "can't do Medicare for All", democrats (Hillary, Obama, Brock, Biden and all the rest of the corporate democrats) are going to fight Bernie all the way to the Convention, and then some. Their biggest fear is that they'll be out of power -- possibly forever.
They couldn't get it done when Obama was president, and dissembled that their inaction was due to Republican resistance, when in fact it was because they didn't want to upset their neo-liberal corporate sponsors. Both parties blame the other party while advancing an insider oligarchic agenda. See here:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B
Nothing has changed since 2016. It's still the oligarchs (and Congress, their functionary) against we the 99% of the people. All journalism owned by corporations and the 1% is devoted to developing all storylines to defeat Sanders, who is the real, direct power to their siphoning off the wealth of America into hands of the super-rich.
It's that simple.
21
The Stop Sanders Democrats had their way in the last presidential election and it gave us trump. Sounds like collusion to me.
19
My 17 year old son is, as you would imagine, stridently, fervently, and passionately pro-Bernie. Me, being your average 1 percenter and dyed in the wool Main Street Republican, not so much. At least, as my son tells me, I see through Trump, and, unlike so many in this day and age who allow politics to tear them apart, we have a good time with this part of our relationship. Anyway, as a goof, I went on Bernie's website several weeks ago and bought him a "Bernie 2020" shirt and a "College for All" t shirt. I got an immediate email thanking me for my donation and assuring the items would be sent out shortly, but now, a month later, nothing. Crickets. The other day, my son asks me, "Have you heard anything about the Bernie shirts?" I said to him, "Get used to it, kid. That's how it's gonna be if he wins. He's gonna make a bunch of promises, take your money, and deliver nothing!" That's what he's done his whole career in the Senate, right? As the article implies, angry people believe snake oil, whether it's delivered by Trump or Bernie - two sides of the same vacuous, gasbag coin.
6
"...without simply reinforcing his “the establishment is out to get me”’ message..."
funny to read that in a story that is about the establishment's efforts to "get" Sanders.
perhaps wealthy Democrats should consider supporting Trump.
Sanders didn't need their money in 2016 when had in not been for the DNC's skullduggery Sanders would have been the Democratic Party's nominee and Trump would not be in his third year as President.
8
Pelosi has to be replaced as well as multiple members of her old gang.
Her attack on progressives on ‘60 Minutes’ this weekend that progressives are not more than 5 or 6 percent of democratic voters is not only a blatant lie, she confirms that she hates progressives and will do anything to stop them.
Pelosi wants a party that is far right of center and resembles the old Republican party. She believes there should be a minimal difference between the two main parties.
She lives in a dream world that resembles Trump’s world of lies.
She is the Chamberlain or Marshall Petain of the USA.
There are two ideas that could re- energize the democratic party who right, one is New Green Deal that would create massive amounts of Jobs and restart Climate Control and Healthcare for everyone, both are necessary and positive and difficult for our Nation.
Her negative reaction to both will destroy the democratic party and will keep Trump in the White House for 4 more years in which he will be able to fully destroy Democracy and the ‘Rule of Law’ in our country.
Her mind is as confused as Trump’s mind and she is as arrogant as Trump. She lacks all understanding of the modern Democratic Party.
Diminishing donations, Pelosi’s attacks on female and or progressive contenders will destroy the ‘Bring out the Vote’ movement as she refuses to take the changes welcomed by female and male voters and just like Trump she still hangs out the old doormat or sticking with the demeaning ‘Status Quo.
9
Democrats who don’t believe in Democracy. Oh, [Big] Brother.
7
Bernie Sanders is not a perfect candidate. Far from it. He is, however, by far the best of the likely choices for Democrats and progressive independents in 2020.
If the corporate Democrats and their media shills sabotage the Sanders campaign, yet again, I fully intend to stay home and let Trump win, if that's the result.
Do I know how awful Trump is? Of course I do. But I'm not willing to support yet another lesser evil in order to give the Lite Republicans of the DNC and Democratic Leadership Conference one more opportunity to do nothing progressive except pay lip service, while enriching themselves and their corporate masters.
Maybe if it gets bad enough (it might!), the Dems will decide they actually have to represent the people they pretend to represent. If not, oh, well. Nation states don't last forever and sometimes it's best to start over, from scratch.
Chew on that, mainstreamers. Or choke on it. You'd be amazed and horrified to know how many feel the way I do.
14
@Douglas
Bernie is the next best candidate for President since FDR.
With a better sense of humor.
14
Below, a commenter writes:
"We can also argue that Berners care very little about what those of us with identities care about, but we would be bullied, as we have been since 2016."
The ignorant arrogance of imagining that some "have identities" while others don't -- or that some identities are more special than others -- is simply breathtaking.
The nonsense of identity politics is not only fundamentally anti-progressive, it is also a major gift to the reactionaries. Every time someone whines in public about "microagression," three more working-class Americans resolve to vote for Trump, again.
20
It's too early to discourage any Democratic challenger to the POTUS. Get the energy going. Listen.Sustain it. Keep so many candidates out there that the GOP cannot focus on just one. I like Mayor Pete but the most important goal is to trash trump so hard (maybe he'll even do it himself) that he won't get up again.
1
Well, that says it all in the first sentence. "...[A] closed-door gathering of wealthy Democratic donors..."
Those donors and their political lap dogs don't have the working class' interests at heart. Bernie Sanders does!
Go, Bernie! Go!
23
Why the big push-back against Bernie Sanders?
He's a New Englander... amongst the most intelligent, civilized, and forward-thinking group of people on the face of the entire planet.. indeed... rivaling even the Californians.
Why, Mr. Sanders would even have a shot at becoming prime minister of Canada, if he decided to run.
13
All this arguing makes me believe we will not have a united party. I like Buttigieg all around, I think Beto is most charismatic (or most like Obama?) and I LOVE Warren's national parks/lands plan. Bernie is too old and ill tempered.
5
"And for many Sanders supporters, the anxieties of establishment Democrats are not a concern."
well you got that part right
23
Your blind ineptitude did more to put Trump in the White House than anything the Russians did.
Regardless of who wins the primary, these wealthy financiers and party hacks are the last people the Democratic candidate should listen to. If they actually want to win, at least...
19
If the country chooses Trump over ANY democratic nominee, then we deserve four more years of this. In a democracy, the people have to learn or they will continue to make the same mistakes.
1
@Rex Muscarum
IMO, we are NOW in a better position for real progressive reforms than if Hillary got elected. The nomination processes are where candidates seeking major reform are squashed by party politics. The general election is the easy part. The people are hungry for real change.
4
@carl bumba
Tell the story of how much better off we are with Trump than Clinton to the babies who were ripped from their mother’s arms and turned into orphans by Trump Administration. You need to examine your conscience.
3
Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat. How in heaven’s name can the DNC support him as their Presidential candidate?
When I donate to my political party, it is certainly not so that it’s representatives can use any part of my donation to support a candidate who is NOT in my party.
7
He is not a Democrat!! Get it???
The Democrats should not endorse him at the convention. If u want to be a Dem, sign the papers and commit your allegiance!!
Remember Liberman, et al. Who are you? No, you cannot get the nomination. I dont care who u caucus with!
1
Your beef is with your party, not Bernie.
3
For sure we need more parties.
1
Look, I will vote for the top of the Democrat ticket.
But I pray, fingers and toes crossed, it is not Bernie.
With all respect to him and his supporters, the GOP will tear him up.
To his supporters: I get it, really. His message has some meat to it. But not enough marrow.
When he is asked for specifics on how to pay for his plans, he resorts to the same same tax increases vs. tax cuts arguments going on and on and on. He’s great on generalities. It’s not enough.
The populist appeal is, of course, appealing.
Yes, Trump and the GOP have blown our deficits skyrocketing, both domestically and internationally.
But the messenger matters in making the argument. The GOP will dissect everything he has said, distortions or not. It won’t take a lot to damage him in a national campaign. Not at all.
Vote Bernie and Trump wins.
Sorry.
8
Wow! I was starting to lean more towards some of the fresh Democratic faces as well as Biden - and away from Bernie whom I supported in 2016. But now realizing that the elite's are out to undercut Sanders - I'm incensed. These are the elites who keep giving ground to the right, no where more tragic than when they allowed the GOP to install arch conservative Clarence Thomas in the seat that liberal lion Thurgood Marshall held. And that was done with a Democrat majority Senate. I'm all in now for Bernie again! The elite moderate to center-right Democrats just don't get the big picture at all.
27
I've never heard actual Democrats use the word "elite" as much as the posters do in this board in support of Bernie. I really think the flood of comments on this article contains some Republican and Russian propaganda. A lot of it has the exact same tone. Because Bernie is weak and easy to beat. For both Trump and Putin.
2
@Benjo
Published by American Political Science Association, 2014, "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens."
From the abstract:
"Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence."
See also Table 4.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B/core-reader
I you believe "elite" is a new concept or term in American politics, or *sigh* only applies to Putin and Russian oligarchs, you haven't been paying attention, or your attention has been successfully deflected to more sensational issues.
7
"...a former Democratic Party official, addressed a closed-door gathering of about 100 wealthy liberal donors in San Francisco last month..." who are scared of a Sanders candidacy says more about allegedly liberal wealthy donors than it does of Sanders or his policy proposals.
More evidence that the Clintons and those supporting Hillary are Rockefeller Republicans who are terrified of what the late Senator Paul Wellstone called the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.
22
Here's a good depiction of American democracy at work:
"The matter of What To Do About Bernie and the larger imperative of party unity has, for example, hovered over a series of previously undisclosed Democratic dinners in New York and Washington organized by the longtime party financier Bernard Schwartz."
10
Which Buttigieg attended! He’s out.
6
He just had a Fox News audience applauding Medicare for All. He’s not radical. He simply wants change. The Democratic establishment does not.
24
Or if he is radical, his radicalism matches a majority of the American public who are sick and tired of paying far too much for healthcare just so that the unnecessary middleman, health insurance, can take money hand over fist. Enough - it’s time we join our neighbor to the north and the rest of the developed world. The corporate, read: Democratic establishment candidate is not going to fight for meaningful change.
13
Message to Mr. Brock:
Some of us really don’t like rich people.
15
I am sick to death of all these labels. Socialist, Democrat, Republican. To me Sanders makes sense. Planet, healthcare, education. He makes sense for the most people. Back then they mocked his agenda as too fringe crazy; then they adopted it and said he's an old white guy and we need something different. Well this old white guy has been saying this stuff for a very long time. Long before these new young "diverse" people came around asking for the vote simply because they are different. I don't vote based on whether you are woman or person of color or whatever. His message resonates with me, he is the one who has been saying it the longest, so I am loyal to him.
47
Love it, Deb. This is the best statement of support I have read for Sen. Sanders in a long time. He makes sense, and he has been making sense in the same way for a LONG time. Plus, his integrity and authenticity can’t be matched by any other prominent politicians in the US. I will vote for Sanders, again.
16
@Deb you forgot millionaire
1
Larry, why would Deb care that Sanders is a millionaire? Did he steal it? Force factory workers producing his widgets to urinate in cups because bathroom breaks aren’t allowed?
It’s funny... it’s the people who don’t like Sanders the most, the self-described “capitalists,” who seem to be the most angry that Sanders has succeeded in amassing a bit of wealth at a rather late stage in life.
If Sanders cheats on his taxes, let me know. Then I’ll be upset.
5
Plenty of voters like Bernie but aren't convinced he has a good chance at winning. These comments clearly demonstrate that he has enormous, passionate support! His donation haul buttresses that point.
John Podesta, Neera Tandem, Debbie Wasserman Shultz and other machine enablers of the disastrous Clinton campaign have a chance to redeem themselves by getting behind Bernie this time around.
We all learned from the debacle that was the 2016 election.
Let's apply those painful lessons to the challenge at hand.
Sanders has the momentum. Go Bernie!
34
Both the Republican and Democratic parties are deeply entrenched with lobbyists. Trump has shocked the Republican Party. Dems need a similar shock to their party.
If the regular American wants a politician who is going to fight for them, it is obvious that the only answer is Sanders and Warren. The rest are either inexperienced or facades of status quo.
25
@Tough Call
Bernie’s another Trump - shock to the system. Not good.
2
I'm sure I'm not the first to point out that this article proves Bernie's point: the billionaire class controls what goes on in Washington, including the Democratic Party.
39
I'm firmly in the Blue No Matter Who camp. Will Bernie fans vote for another candidate if he doesn't get the nomination?
7
Yes, just like the vast majority of us did in 2016. Blaming Sanders supporters ignores reality - Clinton list because she failed to make a convincing case for why people needed to get out and vote FOR her, not against her opponent.
5
@JB
Yes.
5
Seems to me these anti Bernie Democrats are not really Democrats!
Because if they were...they would respect the process, and the will of the PEOPLE!
And this is EXACTLY why we need a candidate like BERNIE!
31
@Lola the Democrat primary must be centrally planned, just like Bernie’s socialist economy. The central planners are always right!
2
Only a moderate Republican running as a Democratic candidate could defeat Trump. Are there any such people?
67
@PaulN
Some would argue Bernie is the only one who can beat Trump because he can get the votes in the swing states ...
But ultimately, we really don't know who can beat Trump. We just have to vote for the candidate who resonates most with us ... and hope!
59
@PaulN
None of us know who can beat trump.
The candidate most likely to beat trump is the one who the plurality of voters feel most passionately about. Let's have a primary, let's each get behind our candidate, and may the one with the best policies, experience, and demonstrated success, win.
I know we need to avert the disaster of a second trump term. But focusing now on "who can beat trump" is a fear-based strategy that will backfire.
57
@PaulN
If there are any Republicans left, please leave them to their own devices. Democrats have several outstanding candidates and do not need a representative of an all-but-dead party which gave us the Party of Trump to now rush in and 'save the country.'
46
The Democratic establishment would rather lose to Trump than win with Bernie.
In the summer of 2016, polls before, during, and after the convention showed that Bernie would beat Trump handily, while Clinton would maybe squeak past Trump, maybe tie with Trump, maybe lose to Trump. The Dems nominated Clinton. They were willing to take the chance of losing rather than nominate a liberal candidate.
The Democratic establishment doesn't really mind Trump that much. Trump doesn't threaten to change anything about how they make and keep their money. Bernie scares them. Yes, he's a millionaire now, but he's not one of them. He's one of us. He's true to the same political positions that he has supported for more than four decades.
739
@Judy Blue
We can also argue that the Democratic establishment is completely out of touch with what American voters want, especially in battleground states.
106
@Judy Blue this is 100% right. there's no mention in this article about what bernie actually stands for, which is social democracy and a solartopian energy policy, among much else.
54
@Judy Blue
We can also argue that Berners care very little about what those of us with identities care about, but we would be bullied, as we have been since 2016.
If Sanders could have beaten Trump, then he could have beaten HRC, and he did not. I find it hilarious that people consider someone a liberal who accomplishes next to nothing. Even now he would rather tank the ACA, leaving millions with nothing, in his pursuit of the perfect.
Bernie 'scares' me because he is the flip side of the Trump coin and like Trumpies, Berners are a cult.
71
I won't hide that I want to see President Trump win in 2020. This article highlights what might be a helpful and hopeful sign: the Democrats can't unite. If they do unite behind Sen. Sanders, the race, as I see it, becomes very tight. If the Sanders' crowd feels pushed out again (which they were in 2016), they'll sit it out. Here's hoping for Democrats to do what they do well, vilify those they don't like.
8
@Bill Thomas
it is April 2019...the campaign hasn't even begun in earnest.
Bernie is not a Socialist
Make a correction
15
Suggested slogan for moderate Democrats: Common sense.
Noreen Parker, Aiken SC
3
I'm no fan of Sanders because he's a big reason we have the current guy in office. I'm not planning to vote for him in a primary but I certainly - unlike some of his stupid followers in 2016 - would vote for him if he's the candidate in the general election opposite Trump. It's foolish for "establishment" Democrats - whatever that's supposed to mean - to worry about "stopping Sanders." He's a strong contender, but not the only one. And going on that reactionary Fox News channel was great - not least because it seemed to get under the skin of the current POTUS who thinks he owns the network (or vice versa) - but because there's no reason to concede populist issues to fake-populist Donald Trump.
12
"But his critics are chiefly motivated by a fear that nominating an avowed socialist would all but ensure Mr. Trump a second term."
The reporter knows better than to call him a socialist sans modifier. He's a democratic socialist.
Starting on the Sanders slurs pretty early this time, aren't we, NYT?
26
If Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nomination, it will be the first time in my life that I do not vote for a Democrat for president. I could not vote for a socialist any more than I could vote for a fascist.
2
Do you even know what a Democratic socialist is? Apparently not.
6
@kyle
If I had money I'd buy you a ticket to Denmark.
3
Does it matter?
Vote blue no matter who(m) 11/3/2020.
4
Democrats divide, Trump conquers. Wanna bet?
4
1) Please let the process play out.
2) Why on earth is anyone still listening to David Brock?
17
I'm thrilled that so many wise democratic Americans are running for president. In varied ways, they are all good for our country, and that says a lot about the democratic party. We are united in wanting to help the America get back to civility, thoughtfulness, kindness, following the laws, fixing the laws, and regaining friendship with our allies. There are world-wide issues that Trump doesn't understand beyond his hate for Pres. Obama or anyone who disagrees with him. Hate-mongering and disrespectful bullying is out. Goodness and intelligence is in.
Sanders, like the rest of the crowd, is a patriot. If he ends up at the top of the ticket I will vote for him. The democrat who ends up at the top will get my vote.
12
@Nancie Thanks you, I think that's exactly right. The democratic in-fighting in so many comments here is really discouraging but I suspect your comment is more representative.
3
They managed to sideline/alienate the Sanders supporters last time in favor of Clinton.
How did that work out for them?
The Democratic party forfeited its claim to being "left-wing" with the Chicago convention debacle of 1968. If the Democratic party wants to stake out a (re)claim to true liberal ideology they would do well to embrace Sanders and his ideals. It seems clear that he does not speak only for a marginal electorate.
17
How will the Medicare for all be paid for? What we spend on private insurance policies plus what is spent already on Medicaid and Medicare MIGHT cover it.
But the likely instability to the insurance and medical industry will be huge. They will fight this tooth and nail. Let’s correct the Republican damage to CHIP, community health centers and reinsurance programs. Make prescriptions affordable again, the recent jump in insulin prices is scandalous.
Free college? The current financing system is a poorly-focused legalized-loan-theft train wreck. Fix that first.
Green deal? Some initiatives need more government research support. Re-instate fuel efficiency standards. Step one- Defeat Trump...
Can someone talk Senator Sherrod Brown into running?
1
You are aware, are you not, that universal healthcare is provided by virtually every Western democracy other than ours? And are you aware that nations such as Norway, Germany, Finland an France also provide college/university education essentially without direct cost?
Is there some reason you think that we cannot do what much of the developed world is already doing? Other than unwillingness to do it, that is.
12
@Douglas. You never answered his question, which actually answers his question perfectly: no one has any idea how to pay for the Medicare for all fantasy
3
We are a lot bigger than the countries you named. Can’t afford all our people
1
It's not just Democratic party leadership that dislike Sanders's campaign. Plenty of liberals see his platform as laudable but can't imagine his being effective at implementing it. They also see him as out for himself because of his unwillingness to work with the Dems.
5
@LT Yes, that's true. But how many of them would agree with the party leadership that his campaign should be actively blocked--again? Consider the irony of the Democratic party working actively to make it's own primaries undemocratic,
2
>>> ". . . because of his unwillingness to work with the Dems."
Nonsense. Sanders has been working closely with Democrats, in Vermont and in Washington, for decades.
Time to do some (simple) remedial research.
7
It's a crazy idea, I know, but what if we were to have people vote in the primaries and accept the results?
21
I teach US history to high school kids and the parallels between the Dems in 1972 and today actually kind of landed with the (heavily Dem leaning) kids with a bit of a grim thud this week. Young "New Left" Democrats loved McGovern in 1972 but he still lost 49 of 50 states.
8
@Rex Nemorensis
nothing about the history of that time has any parallel to today's politics
4
@Rex Nemorensis
Good new for the kids. The parallels are quite superficial. Here's a historical article that tells a lot - which you might want to mimeograph copies for your class:
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/14/archives/leaders-of-organized-labor-remain-largely-hostile-to-mcgoverns.html
The situation was SO different then.... Other kids used to chant to me (I was even liberal back then), "Nixon, Nixon, he's our man - McGovern, McGovern in the garbage can!" McGovern was clearly the underdog and disliked by both parties. Today, 2/3 of the voters are not strongly affiliated with either party. It's really apples and oranges.
2
These comments are indicative of why I can’t stand Bernie Sanders. I’m a liberal. I will vote for whoever runs against Trump. But because I don’t support single payer (note that I support universal coverage), I’m a neoliberal shill, a corporate Democrat, a conservaDem, a corporate Democrat, etc, etc.
Bernie made many times my salary in the past few years, and contributed far less to charity. But I’m the greedy one because I expect lawmakers to explain how they plan to pay for and implement their plans.
I’m less than excited about casting my vote for someone who wishes I didn’t exist.
8
Democrats can’t win in 2020 without carrying Pennsylvania.
As a lifelong Pennsylvania Democrat, I can say,without the slightest hesitation, a socialist, or”democratic socialist” would get crushed in any state wide election in Pennsylvania.
So, unless this is just an academic exercise for Democrats, Bernie is a nonstarter.
5
Polls from 2016 do not support this statement.
7
>>> "As a lifelong Pennsylvania Democrat, I can say,without the slightest hesitation, a socialist, or”democratic socialist” would get crushed in any state wide election in Pennsylvania."
Gosh, really? Would you, then, please explain why an Emerson poll, taken in late March, has Sanders beating Trump in Pennsylvania by ten points?
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/pa/pennsylvania_trump_vs_sanders-6862.html
What you imagine is not necessarily the same as reality.
10
I can’t explain every poll, especially one taken 20 months from an election, but I do know that the only time Bernie was actually on the ballot in Pennsylvania, he lost to Hillary by over 10 points (over 200,000 votes).
Pennsylvania has a republican legislature, one republican Senator, one “moderate” democratic Senator and a “moderate” democratic Governor.
I can’t remember a Democrat ever winning a statewide election in Pennsylvania who did not describe himself/herself as a moderate.
he more I hear Bernie Sanders, the more I listen to him speak, I realize that the US would be fortunate indeed to have him run the country. He speaks for most people. He understands greed and corruption, and he is neither greedy nor corrupt. Give him a chance.
23
The "establishment" never learns.
16
It doesn’t matter. None of the Democrats has a chance. Trump is a superstar. Of the dark side, of course. The only person who could beat him is Oprah. The squabbles are pointless.
1
No one has any idea how this is gonna play out. Sanders has earned his shot. Give him a shake.
14
What To Do About Bernie?
Dear Mr. Brock, Speaker Pelosi, Senator Schumer, former Gov. McAuliffe, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (himself a presidential candidate??), and the president of the Center for American Progress, Neera Tanden:
If only there was some experiment we could run to see if a centrist Democrat would beat Trump... hmmmmm.
Oh, wait! We did that already!
There's a system. It involves voting. It's called democracy. Maybe you've heard of it-- it's in your party's name. How about you let the voters choose the nominee, since your way didn't work out so well last time.
Thanks,
Democrat for 42 years
30
I'm 73 and have never missed an election except 1 primary maybe 50 years ago. But if the Clinton/Wasserman Schultz/rich suits gangs try to pull stuff to drive out Sanders (or anyone else whose ideas are too interesting for them to consider), I'm out. Let the narcissistic infant win and let the Dems destroy themselves and start over,
22
What do Clinton supporters have against Bernie? I would think it would be the other way around, given how it seems the party leadership was tilted towards her and then she lost the key states Bernie had won in the primaries.
If the people want Bernie, that’s a good sign he can win!
16
@Bob Smith
There are no "Clinton supporters" in 2019.
She is not running.
You can support Bernie without a straw (wo)man to attack. Can't you?
1
Throwing this question that I've been wondering out there because there seem to be - uhm - one or two Bernie supporters here and I would like to hear your responses. Does the message, or the mission, depend on Bernie being elected president? If yes, why?
Where I'm coming from is I respect Bernie. He's opened my eyes to a new way of thinking in at least a few issues, and I'd like to see them studied to see if they hold up to testing, as I do think at least a few are where we're heading. I'd be a little hesitant to vote for someone for president who is so committed to these ideas that failure isn't an option should the numbers not come out as hoped because their whole political identity is wrapped up in these ideas. I also think of a president as a generalist - someone who has to wear a lot of hats: well-rounded, leader who can inspire and unite at times of crisis or change, economic strategist, visionary, world diplomat. I don't see Bernie fitting a few of these. To use a business analogy, sometimes the most brilliant person in the company is the wrong person to be managing it. Thoughts? I'd like to hear the arguments on both sides.
4
@Chris
Sanders is The Amendment King. He garnered that moniker inserting more amend. on bills passed under Republican controlled congress than any other politician.
The man knows how to negotiate.
He is respected across both aisles because he is truthful and is always fighting for We The People.
Yes he is strident and will defend his ideas and programs. But he also knows how to bend and bargain.
Take a look at how many bi-partisan bills he co-signs and backs.
Hope that helps.
NotMeUs
5
I'm a tad younger than Bernie, as are most of my friends. I love him. I'd gladly have a beer with him, or a bagel. He's got a quick wit, great sense of humor, he's kind, he's energetic, he knows his way around government better than just about any other Democrat, he's experienced, he has views I agree with...So what's holding me and my buddies back from embracing him as my candidate?
It's the "revolution" thing. "Our Revolution." Um, uh, forgive me, but I've been around a while, and my pals and I are rather skittish about revolutions. They don't end well for anyone but a "strong man." Heads roll. Literally. They're usually the heads of intellectuals and other educated individuals, leaving a country bereft of abilities to do what the nominal leader claimed he'd (always a guy) accomplish.
I do hope Bernie clarifies just what he means by "revolution" soon. Frankly, I hope it's a gimmick, or off I go to another campsite.
4
Ridiculous to be concerned about that word. Look at his policies.
16
Umm, are you *really* worried that a democratic socialist is talking about the kind of revolution that frightens you?
I think it's safe for you to take a deep breath and relax.
5
Heh. The slant in the article is obvious, and sliding straight towards the money. 'Democrat Donors' are who the party leaders pay attention to, and both are not happy because Sanders ignored them in 2016 and then outraised EVERYONE. He did it by appealing to more voters - inside and outside the Democratic party - and by asking them to donate. Small lots, famously now averaging $27.
This scares both groups because he will be beholden to voters, not them. The writer does their best to make this look like a bad thing, including making invidious comparisons to Trump. But Trump is no populist and we all know it. Bernie is the real deal, and no wild-eyed rabble rouser but a serious senator with decades of experience and the right policies. All the progressives running right now, and running behind him are doing so because HE broke the door down. If one of them takes the nomination, find - but they all owe a debt to Bernie.
17
The”establishment” Dems are scared to death of Bernie actually winning the presidency and actually beginning to install the progressive agenda. They would rather see Trump win. They do not want to see real change and a even break for the middle class because that would endanger the wealth, power and privilege of the 1% who control the DNC and the party.
There is a reason that the massive transfer of wealth and income from the middle class to the 1 % has continued unabated for the last 40 years under both Republicans and Dems. They are ok with all the progressive social issues that don’t threaten the economic status quo. To these people, the progressive economic agenda is the greatest threat. Bigger than climate change, immigration, war or even Trump.
15
"The good news for Mr. Sanders’s foes is [A] that his polling is down significantly in early-nominating states from 2016... [Sure, if you compare his numbers at this early stage with his numbers right before the caucuses/primaries, when there were only two candidates (or three, if you count O'Malley)], [B] he is viewed more negatively among Democrats than many of his top rivals..." [Sure, but he is ALSO viewed far more positively than his new-coming rivals.]
No, the good news for Mr. Sander's foes is that the mainstream media is still pretty biased against him.
15
Bernie needs to be in until the bitter end -- then stay away from an Independent run if he doesn't get the Dem nomination. How else do we keep the other Dem candidates from going full-blown corporatist, big-bank, and centrist, i.e., being another HRC performing for the big donors?
Bernie played that important role the last go-around. Remember how the other Dems began talking about issues only after Bernie raised them? Recall minimum wage, fairer taxes, affordable college?
17
Can a self-proclaimed democratic socialist win the Democratic primary? I think if Sanders is endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez he could be tough to stop. With his ability to raise funds he could run the most TV ads and with Ocasio-Cortez's help he could do well on social media where she excels. His major problem is most Democratic voters are not progressive. If it is Biden versus Sanders the winner is likely to be Biden. But there are so many candidates it is hard to predict what will happen. Debate performance will probably play a big role in sorting things out.
4
Not everyone gets airlifted into the presidency like Obama. Some have to earn it the old-fashioned way. Bernie is doing just that.
13
Trump supporters sure do praise Bernie.
1
From "hold the center" Pelosi, "stop Sanders at all cost", to "Russia, Russia, Russia" Clinton, the old democratic guard like old prejudices dies hard. Only in a twisted universe would there be democrats, who because Sen. Sanders never formally identified as a Democrat, who would stop at nothing to nominate someone, anyone, to basically lose to DJT. As Jake Tapper pointed out, Bernie Sanders is by any measure the frontrunner. In the face of the fabulous new, their only thought is to stop Sanders. Why? For fear of great change? They can't hold the tide with a broom. No one else in the democratic field can beat Trump except Sanders. No one.
9
I wonder how many more of us "little people" are going to be inspired by this article to donate yet another $27 to Sanders.
16
I did!
1
Thank you, New York Times! After reading this article, I wrote my third check to Bernie this year. I'm sure Bernie thanks you as well.
16
Is it any surprise the special interests Bernie rails against are the only ones upset here?
None of those same interest groups want to even recognize that if he had been the candidate in 2016 he would have carried the Midwest states Hillary lost and won the election.
Bernie (or Buttigieg) all the way!
Down with the power brokers calling the shots!
7
@Bob Smith
Mayor Pete has already gathered with those power brokers. Beware the McKinsey, MIC, stalking horse.
2
i am an independent so i do not have a dog in this hunt nor the republican's hunt for a candidate.
i do not understand why Sanders is again being permitted to be a candidate for the democrats. he is not a democrat and claims to be a Socialist. which is he? are the democrats in the Socialists' Party?
1
So, John, you're an independent who is worried about the Democrats permitting another independent to run?
Hmmm . . .
Anyway, you can relax. Sanders, last month, signed a pledge to run as a Democrat and serves as one, if elected.
3
The DNC should let the voters decide. And, BTW, since you can't win without independent voters, it might be a great idea to open up your primaries so us independent voters can vote as well.
23
This is the road, "No", an express way, to a second Trump term-
When big moneyed Democrats think, talk and act this way -
"....what, if anything, should be done to halt Mr. Sanders."
8
Bernie was needed forty years ago. I despise trump but we need someone who won’t bankrupt the middle class and give handouts on our backs.
8
The ideal candidate for establishment Democrats is right out there just waiting to be called. If they ran former California Governor Gray Davis against Sanders, the establishment would have a candidate who perfectly represents their world view, and whose political perspicacity matches their own.
I am your central left moderate independent. We as a group were the reason for the Democrats win in 2018.
I may align with him on social issues. But economically, he is just a Trump with decency. It's the same bad protectionist ingredients.
I will not vote for Sanders.
8
>>> "But economically, he is just a Trump with decency."
Deep confusion is a serious problem in American politics.
4
@Douglas
Avi is just a nonentity. Don’t pay any mind to him. Watch Bernie @ Fox Town Hall.
1
Democratic Party establishment types should stop worrying about stopping Bernie Sanders. They don’t think he can beat Trump because a certain class of people don’t like his policies. But Sanders generates the same depth of loyalty and enthusiasm in his supporters as Trump does in his. So who really knows?
But it is critical for the future of the Party as well as the 2020 election, that if Sanders doesn’t win, it is on his merits, not on some dirty tricks a la the 2016 DNC. Sanders feels strongly that the most critical thing is to beat Trump. If he loses the nomination fair and square, all will be well.
For those who don’t care for Sanders, whether because he’s too anti-establishment, too anti-rich, or because of his overly combative style and the lack of think-through of his programs … which is my problem with Sanders, they need to give their support to a candidate they like and see what happens. And let the chips fall where they may.
5
Why do so many believe that Bernie is all important to defeating Trump? He couldn't defeat Hillary who beat him in a landslide.
What about the independents, many of whom have had their fill of Trump? They seem to be much more important.
8
After being a life-long Democrat, I became an independent because the Clinton/Obama/Pelosi crowd made the party I grew up with unrecognizable to me. Bernie's policies are the ones I grew up and still believe in with so I will continue to support him. That said - if the leaders of the Democratic Party try to once again tip the scales, I will once again vote for a third party candidate.
15
Unfortunately, we have seen the effect of 3rd part voting. However, if it makes you feel good about yourself, then by all means, vote for a Stein or Nader.
1
Sanders is cunningly dividing the Democratic Party by, once again, running against it. No doubt many of his donations come from Republicans and Russians, as happened in 2016.
But people never learn, love to fight against the “establishment” and Sanders will be happy to sell more books, even if Trump wins again.
6
>>> "No doubt many of his donations come from Republicans and Russians, as happened in 2016."
Got evidence, Barb? No, of course you don't, but you don't care, do you?
7
Food for thought. I could list 40 intellectual conservatives that eagerly want to defeat Trump, and are willing to vote for a Democrat. They view his presidency that threatening. But I have heard more than a few say on podcasts that they draw the line with Bernie. Democrats will have a lot of allies this time around, if we play our cards right. Another four years of Trump, may be the last four years, which a lot of thinking conservatives also believe.
5
This is the road, "No", an express way, to a second Trump term-
When big moneyed Democrats think, talk and act this way -
"....what, if anything, should be done to halt Mr. Sanders."
3
If neoliberal and other Democrats undermine Sen. Sanders as they did during last nominating process, I will not vote for their candidate. Period. I will not vote for the current president (sic) of course but that does not mean I will vote for the Democratic presidential candidate if he or she offers what Ms. Clinton offered.
I will not be threatened into voting for just any Democrat. The Democrats threw away the last election by offering Ms. Clinton's railroaded nomination. Fair warning.
16
If the Democrats pull the hat trick, of unfairly disqualifying Bernie in the Primary, they've lost us once again in the Presidential election. I can assure them of that. The Democratic Party must be the party of the people, by the people, and for all of the people, not just the rich Democrats. When they learn this, then we have a chance of beating Trump.
17
As a Trump supporter I want Bernie to gain the democrat presidential nomination. One question will derail him: "What was that you said about Venezuela Bernie? Where the new American dream is to be found?"
5
@jaco
Try Opioids. That seems to be where the American Dream leads to this days.
2
Question: If Republicans are so awful, why do they win elections?
Answer: Because they run against Democrats.
Even for the left, the circular firing squad is forming rather early this election. Enough already, just pull together for the sake of the country.
8
The establishment told Bernie supporters—and Bernie told his supporters—to support Clinton. And 80% of us did (which is still more than the number of Clinton supporters who pivoted to Obama).
Now they’re going to try and tell people to not back Bernie should he win the election fair and square?
If this doesn’t tell you what the party orthodoxy subscribes to, nothing will.
If Bernie wins as a Democrat, he must be supported and people must pull the lever for him—just like we did with Clinton, no matter how much it pained us.
Every Dem running has co-opted Bernie’s agenda. His policies are winning. Let’s stop with the toxic “he’s not a Democrat” mantra already...We have free association in America and everyone is free to enter and leave parties as they wish; ask Liz Warren, Hillary Clinton, Richard Painter, Mike Bloomberg, Joe Lieberman, etc. Obama endorsed Bernie’s senate run and Democrats blocked other candidates from running against Bernie, so they clearly like Bernie when they’re in the mood and when they need his vote.
My 84-year old Puerto Rican mom is a long-standing Hillary Clinton supporter and she is voting for Bernie. She understands the issues we’re facing, she sees the fears I have as I slowly get pushed out of the workforce at 53, and still with no health insurance.
This is a shameful state we’re in, near 3 years down the road. Bernie Sanders is not the enemy. It’s high time people recognize who is.
#Sanders2020
20
@me I imagine your mom lives in the US? My 84 year-old Puerto Rican mom can't vote for President - she is also a Hillary supporter. I'll have to ask her how she feels about Bernie.
1
Bernie is nominated.
Trump is re-elected.
It’s that simple.
6
If anyone "did us a disservice in the last election," it was Hillary Clinton and the people who anointed her. They gave us Trump, and now we're supposed to listen to them moan about Bernie? Gimme a break.
20
I hope this time the New York Times can correct their previous bad behavior and to be honest broker. We don’t need any middle of the road Joe Bidens or Gary Bookers, Beto O'Rourkes. America is suffering-as is the world these days-and we need a radical change. Even if the money powers are perfectly content to keep the status quo for as long as possible it would be nice if the New York Times would report without all the spinning towards the middle.
13
All the wee little voters tittering on about who they're gonna vote for, it is so quaint. Let's see, how has inequality changed over the years from one party to the next in control of the three branches of government...steadily gotten worse.
3
I dislike Sanders and his followers for their all-or-nothing attitudes. But I will vote for him if he gets the nomination. I don't think he or his followers would support any other candidate, which is why I dislike them.
6
@Jonathan A lot of them are cultists, but it’s inaccurate to lump all Sanders voters in the same box.
Dear DNC,
I’m offering this Obama quote for you guys to digest, and consider when considering who should decide the democratic nominee. Thank you.
Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us.” – Barack Obama
5
This is well over a year away. Remember that few people knew about Barack Obama at this same point back in 2007.
3
Bernie 2020.
Even in 2016, he was advocating for a national strategy while the corporate Dems ceded the South. The country is progressive, despite all the mainstream attempts to paint it center right.
Over 70% support Medicare for All.
Over 80% support campaign finance reform.
Over 90% support background track and gun reform.
Most people support an end to endless wars and pointless regime changes.
Corporate dems, please move aside if you are not getting on the train.
17
@Cee
They have to be shoved out of the way.
They will not move willingly.
3
Four years ago, these same party establishment figures were saying that Sanders' ideas like Medicare for all and a $15 minimum wage were too radical. Last year, the Democrats picked up 40 House seats running on exactly those ideas, some of those seats coming in historically Republican districts. What these establishment types fear is not that Sanders would lose to Trump-- all the available evidence indicates that he would be a very strong candidate-- but that he will force the Democratic party to move away from its Republican-lite economic agenda and wean itself from its corporate donors.
20
It is amazing to read these comments and see urban commenters claiming that Bernie could never beat Trump. While those of us in fly-over country and actual swing states insist he can. The urban/professional elites are clueless once again.
Not only could Bernie win, he could win by flipping red states blue. Through-out the west in Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Kansas, Democrats like me witnessed ASTOUNDING levels of support for Bernie in conservative places. Where I live, Bernie bumper stickers outnumbered either HRC or Trump by about 20 to 1. Bernie won my state by large margins with high turnout. Trump won in the general.
There are masses of ordinary people who are not religious fundamentalists but who also don’t like the Hollywood elite or identity wars. They used to vote Democrat when it was a party for working people instead of professional elites more into virtue signaling than shared sacrifice or public welfare. Let Hollywood and Twitter deal with cultural issues. Let our federal government get back to issues of economics and security.
There is a bigger shift coming than people realize. Just wait until the doctors and insurance sectors realize that Medicare For All is really on the table. We will have a party of regular people on one side (with tons of independents), and the doctors/professional elites/coastal urbanite/financial class on the other. Their interests are directly opposed. This can't be dismissed or denied, though the corporate owned media will try.
24
@kryptogal:
I hope you're correct but, . . . Bernie has no chance. The general electorate, especially on the GOP side, votes with emotion and ignorance, and without policy analysis. The educated on the subject are few and far between in "fly-over country".
5
@kryptogal
Wow, thank very much for this, and;
The big money is already realizing that Medicare for all may in fact come to pass.
Healthcare insurance stocks are tanking, they’re at a 52 week low.
I sent Sanders $100 today
12
I'm in Florida, probably the most important swing state of all. People who wouldn't vote for Andrew Gillum aren't gonna vote for Bernie. Sorry.
1
What the machine-Democrats should be more worried about is creating even the perception of a primary with the scales tilted. If they're wringing their hands about Bernie, they still haven't learned the lessons of 2016. Everyone- of all parties- is disgusted with Washington. Bernie did well for the same reasons Trump did well: neither was seen as part of the political machine. I will vote for whoever wins the Democratic primary, but the money people should remember they all just get one vote as well and they shouldn't make the mistake of trying to pick our candidate for us.
16
Party leaders need to stay out of it and let the the process play out with the voters. Blocking Bernie last time got Trump elected.
17
I am a "reluctant" Trump supporter, meaning I was hoping that several other GOP candidates would be the nominee. That said, I was open to possibly voting for HRC, until, among other things, she started shifting dramatically leftwards. It wasn't the leftward stance that turned me off so much as I had NO idea where she really stood on the issues, and that frightened me. Whatever else you want to say about T, you ALWAYS know his stand on key issues, even if you hate the stance.
So, in looking to this next election, the only "Democratic" candidate I will consider voting for is Bernie. Why? Because you know he says what he means, and means what he says, just like T. ALL of the other candidates/potential candidates (including Biden) are ever-shifting in their stances, ever-pandering to whomever they are talking to at the moment. I don't trust any of them for that reason. But I would trust Bernie.
15
@Dave Comment makes ZERO sense. Bernie is miles and miles to the left of Hillary. And Trump is the most dishonest and duplicitous president in US history. To paint him as a straight shooter is laughable. No president ever played to his base more shamefully than Trump. He stands for absolutely nothing other than greed and corruption.
I wrote possibly the first academic paper on the McGovern Commision when the Democratic Party tried to democratize the delegate selection after the 1968 fiasco. Caucuses were left in the Commison's recomendations because of their traditonal use in some states even though they were problamatical to many people. My daughter recent asked me what is the main difference between a primary and a caucus. My answer was that in a primary many people vote once. In a caucus a few people vote and vote and vote .....
9
Mr. Sanders candidacy for the Democratic party nomination is entirely the problem of the inept American party system. Mr. Sanders couldn’t possibly run for any established political party in the UK. It is the party that controls the message, the membership and the manifesto. To simply run, whimsically as the party’s potential nominee, Mr. Sanders has exposed the inherent weakness of American political parties. Simply put, no one should be able to run under the banner of a political party, in which you are not a member.
2
This isn’t a parliamentary system. It’s winner take all zero sum. You either join the republicans or democrats or simply don’t participate as your voice will never count nor matter. He is doing what he has to do. He is also more democrat than the corporate democrats that have taken over. He is more like what the party was. But things change and progressives are on the move.
6
@Mathias Agree on your point vis-a-vis the parliamentary system. Having said that, I stand by my conviction that our party system is weak and is unable to control its agenda. Example: if parties could select their candidate of choice, we might've been spared the election of Donald J. Trump.
I voted for Clinton in the 2016 primary, and I think, despite some unforced errors on her part, she also suffered some unfair treatment in the hands of media. But the bottom line remains: the Clinton faction had their shot and lost to a reality TV clown. What success there was in 2018 was very much driven by the progressive wing of the party, as shown by the positions of the freshmen members of Congress who flipped red districts.
As Einstein supposedly said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results” As a rank-and-file voter who has donated and volunteered for the party, it does not make sense for me to double down on failure when so much is at stake for this country. It's time for the Clinton's old political entourage to get out of the way and let somebody else have a shot.
11
@citybumpkin Einstein was referring to voting.
What we're seeing is a messy factional and ideological battle within the party that is visible to everyone and will come to a head over the next year. In 2016 the Republicans went through the same thing but didn't realize it until the campaign was almost over.
2
Why do you think the Dems are injecting so many candidates into the primaries? Divide the field enough and no one will have an overwhelming majority...thus enabling the superdelegates to make the final decision without blatantly revealing how corrupt the party is.
9
The reason Clinton lost was her people didnt get that the Sanders movement was motivated basically by the same things/reasons as the Trump movement was.. a serious dissatisfaction with the staus quo and their party's so called elites. If Clintons campaign had of embraced Sanders and his ideas they would have won in a walk. But here we are 3 years later and they still dont get Sanders and are about to make the same mistake. Listen to people like Paul Krugman... Sanders ideas are not far off of what the polls say a majority of Americans want. That includes a lot of trumps people. Such as Universal Health Care. America spends an ungodly amount on protecting America but to most fathers like myself protecting the health and saftey of my family is the most important thing in the world to me.
332
Why will Democrats change their masterpiece legislation called Obamacare? They worked on it for a year, arguing whose Democrat special interests would be taken care of. When Republicans tried to change Obamacare and improve it, Democrats were unwilling to make any changes. Why will Democrats accept changes to Obamacare now?
1
@Richard Winchester
Republicans to this very day do not want to change Obamacare to improve it. They want to Repeal and Replace it.
8
@agressoca
The Clinton campaign coopted several of the Sanders campaign themes, trying to gain in popularity, but without losing the 1%ers and presious superdelegates. Meanwhile, DWS and Democratic party were holding their thumb on the scale at every turn, and still Sanders was polling to beat Trump while Clinton was polling a maybe at best.
10
DNC; If you think Biden is the one, or “His turn”, he’s on his last legs. Have you heard him in public lately, he’s a mess. Stuttering stumbling sack of bones. He can’t withstand a presidential run.
I love Biden, but he’s all washed up. And Biden knows it.
Astonishingly, Sanders, who is a bit older, looks and sounds like
he’s ready to go 15 rounds with anyone.
DNC; let the democratic public express their choice, let the force of the masses choose. Let the force be with them.
22
Socialism doesn't sell. Nobody likes a rich Socialist, especially one who got rich via taxpayer dollars siting in Congress for the past 40 years.
His wife needs to be vetted as well. There are a lot of unaswered questions about her liberal arts college that went bust...
17
This "Stop Sanders" Democratic Establishment suicide mission is deeply upsetting and completely wrongheaded. Where are the grownups in the room? Where is Hillary, who needs to publicly speak out and responsibly lend her voice to squashing this decidedly undemocratic, insidious tampering with the party's regular nomination processes? These party anarchists will cause the flight of a generation, or more, of young Democratic voters to look elsewhere if they continue with their dangerous political folly.
6
@John Grillo I assume you're being sarcastic about Hillary stepping in to protect the rank-and-file from the Democratic donor class.
8
Trump haters should be concerned. This country will never elect a Jew or a socialist for president, let alone both.
4
@David Henry
I'm not so sure about that. The people that embraced Trump's tv show candidacy helped to willingly destroy the very norms that used to govern this process--showing they don't care--and well over half the country didn't bother to vote at all last time, so all bets are off.
2
@David Henry
An observant Orthodox Jew probably would not be elected. But Jewish heritage ? I don't think that's a big concern for anyone under the age of about 70. (And, although he doesn't talk about it, Bernie has a very compelling 'family history' which was revealed not long ago on Finding Your Roots).
1
Define socialist!
Republicans are socialists for the rich!
Hillary Clinton's corrupt machine kneecapped Bernie Sanders in 2016. How will that happen this time? Because have no doubt: it's not only the Democratic party center that hates him, it's also the powers that be behind the banks and big corporations. Odds are they'll find a way to neutralize him. No one gets into the White House without being bought and sold many times over.
9
I was wondering how the Democrats are going to figure out how to loose to Trump. Let's see, first we attack the most popular candidate we have. Second we also ignore the fact he is the leader in policy idea's with the most enthusiastic following. Plus he must be destroyed because he is the candidate that best understand the mood of the country.
The loosing solution is simple, Biden 2020!!!!
And let's make sure our wonderful super delegates push him over the top!
7
“Rich people don’t like me.” Brock kinda showed his hand, no?
Ah yes, please tell me more about the prognostications of wealthy donor class hacks and snake oil salesmen like David Brock.
8
If the Times is fair in its reporting it will refer its readers to a Guardian article beautifully describing the Fox Town Hall that also had a couple of minutes of video highlights.
Bernie got standing ovation from Trump supporters! Why? Because he is genuine.
17
@Blunt
I was blown away by that video.
I think this is the link:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/16/bernie-sanders-draws-enthusiastic-cheers-in-surprising-fox-news-town-hall
1
@Blunt
I was blown away by that video.
I’m gonna hunt for it now.
1
shameful. all this talk about “halting” a candidate is actually in reality “halting” democracy. shame. shame. shame.
6
Let us remind ourselves that this article is in the same newspaper whose editorial staff formally put forth their endorsement of Hillary Clinton before the primaries were in full swing, and when Bernie Sanders was polling strong and drawing huge crowds over H. Clinton. Once the Democratic Machine nominated their candidate, this newspaper also had H. Clinton at a 97% winning percentage a week before the general election. How are we to trust the New York Times when they are part of the Democratic Machine that ignored the sentiment and will of the majority of Democratic voters and went along with the coronation of H. Clinton?
14
Classic case of no good deed goes unpunished...Bernie-a man of the people for all time, thwarted by Russian hacking...now looked at askance by Dems!?!
2
@Sandy Reiburn Indeed. I believe that the New York Times, by formally endorsing Hillary Clinton during the primaries while Sanders was polling stronger and drawing bigger crowds, did more to get Trump into the white house than the alleged "Russian Hackers". The New York Times and the moneyed elites pushed their candidate (despite Democratic Voter sentiment) into the general election, the New York Times had Clinton at 97% winning a week before the general election, and when she lost they were so sideswiped by reality that they looked everywhere but themselves for a reason. Yeah...let's blame the loss of your faulty, bribed-by-Goldman Sachs candidate, on "The Russians".
1
The DNC is as crooked as Trump.
DNC, this time keep your grubby hands off the scale.
The DNC decided last time that it was “her turn”.
The DNC is not smarter than the mass of democratic voters.
If they were, H would be President, but she’s just background noise now.
I’m sending Sanders $100 today, and I’m broke.
16
Has the DNC learned nothing from 2016?
6
@cl Not a darn thing I am sure. In the end, when the dust settles, the elites of all stripes sit high and dry. For them, this is all just a game of who can sound more interesting and politically savvy at the next cocktail party, while the working class of all stripes feel the brunt of their actions. Sanders is the only Democratic candidate who truly spoke Truth to Power, and the powers didn't like it.
3
Be careful, neoliberal New York Times. The last time you came down hard on Bernie as a wild-eyed socialist “spoiler”, you helped usher in the most corrupt and demented “President” this country has suffered to date.
16
I was for Clinton in 2008 and only transferred my allegiance to Obama when Hillary delivered an impassioned speech, rallying her base behind Obama. She alone convinced me. I waited for Sanders to do the same with his base in 2016 and when he finally did it was a weak and unconvincing performance. Many factors sunk the Democrats in 2016, but it can’t be denied that Bernie was one of them.
8
He endorsed her and campaigned for her. Not sure what else you want.
9
Who still believes David Brock anyway?
6
P.S. Bernie would have won.
1
We all have our favorite candidates; I know I do. But If we really believe in and want to uphold our democracy, our truth and our values, Liberals must agree that we will support and vote for whomever becomes our Democratic candidate. Any one of them will represent all of us and fight for the country we love.
1
We all have our favorite candidates; I know I do. But If we really believe in and want to uphold our democracy, our truth and our values, Liberals must agree that we will support and vote for whomever becomes our Democratic candidate. Any one of them will represent all of us and fight for the country we love.
2
We will not support Bernie Sanders. He is one of the main reasons we have Trump. As an Independent and a socialist he didn’t get his supporters out to vote for the Dems - Hillary. He is too out of the mainstream and may win the primary offering free services, but he will lose the general election & we will be in desperate shape with Trump. We have great candidates in Amy, Pete, etc. who are not socialists. That is our future, definitely not Bernie,
6
@Adrea Unitis -- Well, if he wins the primary, you'd better vote for him or you'll be guilty of doing exactly what you said others did: didn't vote for the democrat.
9
@Adrea Unitis
HRC ignored the rust belt and insulted working people. She had the fix in not to give Bernie a fair shot.
She lost by running a dreadful campaign lacking inspiration. I voted for her, but my lack of enthusiasm in doing so was her responsibility, not Bernie’s. He is not my first choice but he deserves the fair chance he did not have last time.
10
@Adrea Unitis Please look up "Democratic Socialism" in the google.
The voters should always speak loudest. The notion that the Democratic establishment may subvert the will of the people makes me very upset. The DNC better be evenhanded with all candidates. We will pick who wins the nomination, thank you.
12
@Aurora Sure, we will pick who wins, until the "more equal" Super Delegates start throwing their weight around. Those with the money will always choose the tune the rest of us dance to.
2
Back to 2016 ..again. The establishment democratic party has learned Bernie Sanders is not going away. What they have not learned is to financially and agenda wise to support him. He is the only one who can and will defeat Donald Trump in a one on one election for the presidential office in 2020, much to the chagrin of the establishment democrats.
What you are not willing to do is to compromise. Support Bernie Sanders for the WH. 2020 can bring a couple, maybe 4 democratic Senators into Congress and perhaps more Representatives. Three houses of democrats. No Trump and Mitch in the Minority McConnell, or maybe he loses his re-election.
With a three house majority Bernie Sanders policies ideas may have a harder time passing thru an establishment democratic party.
You have been given another chance here for 2020...take advantage of it for four years, and a new democratic candidate will emerge for 2024.
Biden is not even an answer and the rest?....do you want to win the WH? The party's choice...again.
6
I wouldn't have believed the Democrats would nominate an airhead who's pushing 80, but then I wouldn't have believed their death wish was so strong they'd bury themselves by lionizing Omar.
I've concluded that it's probably not going to matter who they nominate. They have no idea what they're doing so they need more time in the wilderness. Not only that, it looks very much like they're going to get it.
7
To Jonathan Martin-- to what extent wld these Weinstein Dems want the wealth gap closed and what measures do they support to close it? Would they vote for Sanders over Trump? How many are persons of color? This isn't about beating Trump; this is about money. Sanders shld be running for both Green and Dem nomination. Is Bernie further left than FDR or Eleanor?
5
Anyone not a republican lite corporate supporter is considered extreme left. That’s the message loud and clear.
2
“That prospect is spooking establishment-aligned Democrats, some of whom are worried that his nomination could lure a third-party centrist into the field. And it is also creating tensions about what, if anything, should be done to halt Mr. Sanders.”
So, the Clinton wing of the Democratic party learned precisely nothing from its attempted preemption of Sanders four years ago. Lure a third party centrist? Bloomberg has already ruled it out. Howard Schultz would be stupider than he already appears should he decide to blow about 30% of his fortune in order to reelect Trump. Who else ya got? The money (Bloomberg estimated a cost of $1 Billion) is only enough to not deter very few Democrats, basically Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, both of whom have much better things to do.
This was a yuge problem caused by the Times four years ago, wasteful speculation instead of just reporting what the candidates stand for.
One thing is sure, whomever the Democrats nominate against Trumplethinskin has my vote.
7
I was a big Bernie supporter in 2016 but was hanging back this time, not quite ready to say Bernie Again. Thank you , NYTimes! This article has sealed the deal for me. No sooner did I finish reading it then I sent in a contribution to Bernie.
15
I'd be more concerned about the opinions of establishment Democrats if they hadn't lost the last presidential election. If you want to win, THEN JUST WIN. Bernie has to run under exactly the same rules as every other candidate. The public perception that he got jobbed in 2016 probably contributed to some of his supporters sitting home while The Donald took first prize.
Getting whipped in 2016 did not burnish your credentials.
5
In 2016, with the country ripe for the leadership of a populist outsider with bold ideas, the DNC put their fingers on the scale for a tired, wet rag, establishment candidate. Sheltered in their ivory towers, and totally tone deaf to the suffering of the rural and left behind places that ultimately delivered the presidency to the GOP, they shoved the only candidate capable of losing to Trump down the throats of the electorate.Had Bernie been the nominee we would not now be living through horrors of the Trump presidency. Pray they don't repeat that mistake. Bernie would have had the Obama turned Trump voters of the rust belt in 2016 and may be the only one capable of getting them back in 2020. Let the people choose the nominee this time.
12
Bernie has some good ideas but not at this time. Trump and his posse will chew he or Lizzie apart
3
Compared to Republicans, there's one thing Democrat leadership excels at-- preventing a popular outsider from winning the presidential nomination.
6
Bernie isn’t my first choice, but he deserves not to be interfered with a second time.
He won’t ignore the rust belt. He won’t insult working people, unlike the 2016 Limousine Liberal gang who did both.
How about Sherrod Brown?
Progressive yet pragmatic. Doesn’t scream and call names. Acts like an adult. Could win back Ohio.
Could win, and then govern wisely.
8
A reminder to those so-called mainstream Democrats who hate socialism: Sanders is a New Deal Democrat, period. New Deal is now associated with socialism. Social Security, Medicare, Social Service programs, etc. are the heart of New Deal Democratic ideals. All of you benefit from at least one of these "Socialist" programs, so kindly - Zip it!!! Hypocrisy at work from the mouths of centrist Democrats.
13
I'm a former draft-warren, former Sanders now Mayor Pete supporter and it is this type of biased reporting that's making me re-think my choices and write Senator Sanders a big check.
9
This article insufficiently references the attempts made to sabotage Bernie in 2016, per Donna Brazile and other insiders....Sanders took, and continues to take, the high road in never playing the 'victim' card, and my hunch is his instincts will continue to serve him well, especially among the young, and those Dems in Vermont-esque midwestern states like Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin.....
11
Those mega-multi-millionaires and billionaires behind those closed doors OWE me for voting for their pick, Clinton.
I was a Sanders supporter but did my duty and voted HRC.
Sanders has consistently opposed American military involvement all around the world.
HRC on the other hand laughed with glee when describing the killing of Qaddafi. He was a horrible dictator but you NEVER laugh at the killing of a human being. I found her response morally repugnant.
And yet I voted for her because the billionaires and their lackeys at the head of the DNC decided to throw all its support to HRC from the start.
To see HRC laughing go to Youtube and search "hillary clinton cbs interview Qaddafi death". It will be top of the list.
7
Last time I held my nose and voted for Her.
If the DNC sabotages Sanders again, I swear to God I’ll vote for Trump
8
@New World
Don’t. Trump is disgusting. I am not sure who was worst Mussolini’s or him.
1
Can you imagine an election in which the choice is between Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Howard Schultz?
Give Putin credit for the trifecta. There will be celebrations in Moscow - vodka or champagne?
4
It's a big mistake to try and thwart him, or any of the candidates. Let all the candidates run on an even playing field, and may the best woman or man win.
14
Thwart Bernie Sanders? Have the Democrats learned nothing? When I heard Sanders had decided to run again, I was on board. I'm not ageist. After watching Sanders on Fox last night (April 15) I was so pleased he kicked Bret and Martha's booties. As far as substance goes, Bernie has great ideas and no, they are not extreme but becoming quite mainstream. Sanders also has experience, he's articulate and has been through this before. There are a lot of folks in the Democratic race, but really, only a few of substance. It will be an interesting primary season.
21
I agree. I wasn’t a Bernie fan but he did good. Though the audience seemed to be fans! Guess fox let them in!
2
@Mathias
Fan? This is not college sports my friend. Grow up.
1
I don’t want the division of 2016. Bernie should drop out now, for the sake of the country. We don’t need 4 more years if Trump.
3
@Don Sen. Sanders could have beaten Donald Trump in 2016. And he can easily do it in 2020, especially if the Democrats he frightens stop running him down.
7
@Don
The HRC fix is what caused the division in 2016.
Bernie would not have ignored the rust belt. He’d would not have insulted working people.
6
@trenton But he frightens Democratic voters, too. It is not just the party elites.
4
This is all about the Democratic Party establishment maintaining its grip on power. They are so worried about losing their position that they fail to see that Bernie Sanders would be a benefit to the party as a whole. His ideas and policies are popular with a majority of Americans.
Maybe the worst thing that's happened in our national politics in my lifetime is the Democratic Party's abandonment of its New Deal principles and drift to the right, beginning with Bill Clinton. Things like universal health care, a truly progressive taxation system, massive government investment in infrastructure, low-cost or free college; these are all things that masses of Americans - including many folks who voted for Trump - would support.
The only reason the Democratic Party establishment runs away from these things is because they aren't popular among the donor class, and they would rather kowtow to the donors and continue to be a Republican-lite party that loses elections than actually pursue truly left-leaning policies, no matter how popular those policies may be.
11
I'm a life-long Democrat, only because there is no viable party further to the left, and I suspect there are a lot more Democrats like me. I supported Bernie last time and then held my nose and voted Clinton, as I have done in every election since McGovern, except for the two Obama elections. But even Obama was far too accommodating to the right wing. If Bernie had been the nominee in 2016, we wouldn't have to be putting up with a racist clown in the White House now.
The fact that the "elite donor class" don't like Bernie only makes me like him even more, because the way big money completely skews our politics is the major threat to our democracy today. The fact that the "party establishment" doesn't like Bernie only makes me like him even more, because the party establishment has been trying (and largely succeeding) to make the Democratic Party into Republican Lite for 30 years now and it is clearly not working. The fact that the "party establishment" has decreed that there shall be no primaries against incumbents, no matter how much they walk, talk, and quack like Republicans, infuriates me to the point of considering quitting the party. So I don't mind that Bernie won't become a Democrat.
If Bernie scares all of these people, then so must Elizabeth Warren. The two of them would make a great ticket. And after they beat Trump, it will be time to clean house at the DNC.
14
If Democratic Party officials and big donors are scared of Bernie Sanders, they should join the Republican Party; that's where they belong anyhow. And they could try to nominate a better Republican candidate than Trump. Now, that would make sense.
16
The Democratic establishment is not afraid of Bernie because they are worried he will lose to Trump, they are afraid of him because they know he WON'T lose to Trump and he will upset their cozy relationships with donors and corporations.
13
@Howie
Who told you that?
4
Here's a wild and crazy thought: Let's let the primary and caucus voters decide who should run for president, even if it's someone who isn't part of the DNC in-crowd.
I'm not 100% in favor of Bernie running because the Clinton die-hards insist on blaming him for Hillary's EC defeat, and there are bitter feelings that could jeopardize the race, but the Beltway insiders seem determined to foist bland Joe Biden on us.
No thank you!
13
Ever since I turned 18, I've voted down the Democratic party line from national to local elections. I believe in expanding access to social programs like establishing universal healthcare; forgiving high student loan debt; giving Dreamers a path to citizenship; and so forth.
However, I don't support a Bernie Sanders candidacy. He steps from the foot of scarcity. He sups on the same plate of divisiveness and tribalism that Trump dines on. Instead of immigrants and Muslims, he directs the hate wave on "the rich," "the 1%," "the wealthy." The tactics of shaming and fomenting anger are the same. Sanders inspires the same type of energy that Trump draws from his supporters. You don't treat hatred with equal or more hatred. This will only widen the chasm that now exists between all of us.
The opposite of Trump isn't Bernie Sanders. It's someone like Andrew Yang, who can speak from a sense of abundance as well as with calmness and, just as importantly, data at hand. He doesn't spew pie-in-the-sky slogans that have no factual framework. From what I've seen in his interviews and campaigning, he is very inclusive and he's managed to capture the support of Trump supporters. Which is a strength, not a minus, despite attempts by mainstream media outlets like CNN to sensationalize this by questioning whether he is right wing or alt right.
The Democratic Party needs a candidate to not only unify, but inspire an otherwise unconventional following. Yang just might be the ticket.
4
It is interesting to see the two political parties in this country work so hard to keep Bernie out of the White House.
The last thing this country needs is another Wall Street shill that just does what a handful of billionaires in this country tell them to do.
Maybe instead of trying to stop him, the Dems should try and figure out just what he is doing that is resonating in a way that their candidates haven't done since the days of Robert Kennedy. Maybe the Republicans should figure out why their voters would reject a dozen of their best for an Apprentice? Neither party seems to have any clue as to what Americans want. Maybe they should get out of their offices and retreats once in a while and ride a city bus or spend a working vacation as a Walmart greeter and get a clue.
8
I'm disappointed that Bernie is running again. If he wins the nomination, I hope he can beat Trump, but I fear too many Independents and Republicans who don't like Trump would be turned off by him to vote. I would love to be proved wrong.
But if he doesn't win the nomination, I fear we'll get a repeat of "Bernie or bust," where a large chunk of his supporters don't vote, or vote for Trump out of spite, and he will once again be a contributing factor to Trump winning.
5
@Jessica
This myth of Sanders primary voters not turning our is just that...A MYTH~!
80% went to HRC. A larger % than Hillary's PUMA's who refused to vote for Pres. O.
12% went to Trump. Studies show these were, almost to the one, all Republican or Lean Red voters. They were never going to vote for HRC. Sanders here was the true crossover candidate.
Stein 'n Johnson each gathered around 3% as those voters wanted change, not an distrusted, establishment, corp. entity.
Which leaves some 1-2% that stayed home or wrote in someone else. A better turnout than the 42% of reg. Dems that Hillary couldn't get out to vote. Better numbers than the 10 million DINO's that flipped to Trump, rather than vote for a Hillary.
Most voters, if they were fired up to vote in the primary almost all vote in the general.
Thus this myth/falsity that Sanders primary voters stayed home is 99% false.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/24/16194086/bernie-trump-voters-study
3
I find it amusing that The United States seems to be in a state of permanent election preparation.
Folks, your election is a year and a half away. Relax and vote for Bernie when the time comes.
5
I'm 58 and won't support, in the primaries, someone that is older than me. I will vote for the Democratic Presidential candidates whom ever they are. I feel it's time for some younger blood. Sorry Liz, Bernie and Joe, John and Jay. (Amy, you just sneak in.) At this early stage I would like to see a Kamala/Pete ticket, but I'm open to changing that.
3
I wouldn't have believed the Democrats would nominate an airhead who's pushing 80, but then I wouldn't have believed their death wish was so strong they'd bury themselves by lionizing Omar. I've concluded that t's not going to matter who they nominate. They have no idea what they're doing so they need more time in the wilderness. Not only that, it looks very much like they're going to get it.
4
This is the 2nd day in a row the NYT has put out a false spin on Sanders. Along with Brock and other consultant set corporate Dems, the NYT absolutely LOVES Sanders. That's right, they love him. They love to point the finger at Bernie and say Trump is your fault, when they know very well that they and the rest of the corporate media had a very large hand in both Bernie's struggle in 2016 as well as Trump's win. Trump makes for fun and interesting news cycles, while Bernie will raise their taxes.
7
The Democratic Committee manipulated the nominating process in 2016. It was wrong and cost "we the people" the election. They always think they know best...they do NOT! Bernie would be president now if they didn't try to fix it their way. Hands off!
6
Note to Bernie Bros: Bernie was a superdelegate himself in 2016. Despite not even really being a Democrat. He used the system and then complained it was rigged because he didn't win. Poor baby.
2
This thread is exactly why Trump just might be reelected. Clintonistas bashing Sandernistas, both sides blaming the other for 2016, poisoning the well so badly that whoever wins the primary will have 2 to 4 percent of probable voters sitting it out or voting independent or green out of spite. And that tiny amount is all Trump needs to win. Partisans burning down their own house and then wondering why they are freezing in the middle of winter
161
@KJ Peters Clinton won the popular vote despite her being a very bad choice of candidates. There were lots of other women that were more than capable of being an excellent President; the Democratic establishment simple put machine politics over election victory. The "bashing" was amplified through social media but it did not have a discernible effect on the election.
8
@KJ Peters
Ever has been the party such.
Pres. Bill Clinton famously (and perhaps apocryphally) complained that getting Democrats to agree on a course of action was like herding cats, while the Republicans didn’t seem to have this problem. It's just that when you get a lot of 'free-thinkers' and intellectuals of various stripes together, under one tent, you DO tend to get varying points of view, and varying choices as to who the champions of said points of view should be. History proves however that the Democratic Party can coalesce. Give them a candidate and a reason to.
It's not like they mindlessly fall in line and Goosestep as another cult party seems to.
The Dem's have over a year and half to work out thier candiate of choice. Hopefully the failed establishment will keep thier hands off this time, and the center/moderate faction will compromise and hold thier nose for a change. Lord knows the Left has been doing such for 40+yrs.
Democracy is messy. Relax and take a breath. We have a long way to go.
17
@KJ Peters--
Gotta love it, dontcha?
I'm an Independent BUT I would like to see Trump defeated. Trump is the antithesis of a world leader or any leader except a fringe element I identify as the "know-nothings and don't care, so there!" Since this fringe Republican is that party's presumptive nominee, almost any serious Democrat will get my vote. But this herd of cats must coalesce around a strong candidate with broad appeal. Cortez is a child with no sense of the world beyond the Bronx. Sanders is a firebrand curmudgeon who proposes to give away the store to buy votes. Biden is a known quality but he may not be strong enough to counter Trump's lies and McConnell's billionaires. Pelosi must rise to the occasion and help choose a winner. It could be her finest moment and/or her last hurrah!!
189
@R. Anderson You are endorsing what has been the problem. The people, in the Democratic party of all parties, should choose.
57
@R. Anderson AOC isn't running--she's too young. You have to be 35.
30
@R. Anderson -- You are correct. There is only one issue. Defeat Trump. Trump wins and it's all meaningless. Use Trump's method. Fear is the most powerful emotion. And with even the thought of a re-elected Trump, there is MUCH to fear. Terrify the electorate with the specter of a crazy man with the nuclear codes. Terrify the electorate with the prospect of a collapse of ours and the world's economy due to his crazy trade policies. Terrify the 99% who get screwed with every Trump "reform" as the concentration of wealth and concomitant destruction of our planet are sure to intensify in a second-term Trump world. Use negative ads that feature white supremacist thugs roaming the streets and bashing all who disagree. Think it's bad now? Terrify the electorate with scenes of what our society will look like when the gloves come off in a Trump second term. Trump must be defeated. Every other issue is irrelevant if Democrats allow battles over policy purity to turn the Democratic Party into a circular firing squad.
46
Mr. Sanders isn’t a Democrat; never has been except when convenient to tap into the party’s funds and voter base; he is an independent and should be embraced and supported as such. His claim to being a Democrat is frankly specious and feckless. He is dividing the Democratic Party, splitting the voting members and will probably do the most single-handed harm to any chance for removing Mr. Trump in 2020 as President. He is a tired, old man who had his moment in giving Hillary Clinton the comeuppance she probably deserved for her own hubris and self-anointed claim on being the Democrats “true” candidate in 2016... and how did that turn out? Bernie, it’s time to gently go into the sunset and let younger, more able and less opportunistic candidates - real Democrats - run and at least prove the party isn’t just a club for those DC politicians who need validation in their twilight years.
624
Ageism is discrimination. I see that you will never grow old. Start thinking like that and the Democratic Party will godown as the party that can never be unified as the republicans do. People who think this way will never ever be able to defeat Trump. That is the only goal. Stand behind the candidate and beat Trump. Listen to Beto.
84
@PMIGuy
Please continue with your patronizing, anti-Bernie speeches.
Will make more of us work for Bernie's nomination even more.
212
@PMIGuy Perhaps, the Democrats in the Senate need to tell him that he he should cease to caucus with them and vote independtly. Actually, he's running as a Democrat. He's ahead in most polls because others can't come up with the conviction and the ideas to beat him. And Democrats and progressives wouldn't want him to run as an independent. Now that would split the votes and get Trumpy reelected.
149
There are many comments here, so this may already have been stated, but this divide between the so called Democratic establishment and those further left is not really about what voters want. If you saw the story about Neera Tanden yesterday, this appears to be more about personal ambition. People like Tanden would have had their pick of jobs in the White House if Clinton won in 2016. She and the others at the Center for American Progress would rather Trump win,rather than Sanders, just out of spite for not getting the jobs they thought to which they were entitled. If Sanders or anyone outside of the establishment wins, they and everyone to whom they are professionally connected will not get positions in the White House.
13
@BK
It is worth noting that Neera Tanden and Think Progress have since apologized and agreed the hit video was "overly harsh."
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/438972-center-for-american-progress-ceo-calls-video-criticizing-sanders-overly-harsh
1
So it looks like we will have to choose between in incumbent who has nothin but praise for Putin (as well as for any other autocrats) and wants to get rid of NATO, and a challenger who spent his honeymoon in the “worker’s paradise” - the Soviet Union, where he cavorted with assorted apparatchiks, with no concern for the propaganda value that he was providing for the very Non-Democratic Socialism of his hosts. For somebody like me, who came to this country thinking I’m forever escaping the communist / post-communism swamp, that’s a rude awakening !
2
"....or certainly that he stays in so long that he damages the actual winner,”
2016 all over again
4
The Democratic Party will never support Sanders because he does not tow their line. And the Democratic Party will never figure out why they continue to lose voters. The Democrats go out of their way to malign AOC and Omar. This is more than foolish. Times have changed. Even the Republicans know that. Why not the Democrats? Why so backwards?
11
@Neo York- greedy ,arrogant people never can figure out why they keep on losing. Democratic party is run by the likes of them.
1
Why don't you just let people vote and stop trying to control the outcome just because you have money and are clutching to some false sense of power?
7
I am tired of Mr. Sanders bloviating.
9
@Dorothy- i'm tired of Trump lying and bloviating. Add to it: groping, harassing, and hating.
1
Brave to the Dem Soc party for making politics meaningful!
1
This is such nonsense. Instead of trusting the Democratic process and proposing solutions, like what Bernie and Warren are doing, they are trying to control their corporate interest.
Why not let the American people decide. To scare people of Trump is nonsense. He has zero chance of winning. A little foresight will tell you that in 2 years things will be a lot worse than they are today. Reason: He has no plan, his administration is corrupt and they are all incompetent.
5
So let me get this straight -- Russia steals emails from the Clinton campaign, and leaks them strategically in a close general election. James Comey writes his infamous letter. Trump gets away with squashing a story about sex with porn stars through illegal tactics. Robby Mook blunders his way through campaign strategy (how many times did HRC go to Wisconsin?). HRC herself fails to beat the worst presidential candidate in my lifetime. But we're going to blame Bernie Sanders for what happened in 2016?
There is zero accountability for the establishment. Just like Biden and HRC voted for Iraq but got to keep their status as leaders in the party despite that colossal failure of judgment (be Vice President and Secretary of State!), the same people who pushed HRC, then managed to lose the election, feel entitled to fail upwards and lead again this time around. Lord have mercy.
393
@Just Joe
HRC beat DJT by a mile in popular votes. Why do Sanders people always forget this?
I'll vote for him if he's the nominee, although I feel he's too old.
11
@Just Joe The City of New York had been attacked, her vote to give the President the authority if negotiations failed was what most of her constituents wanted.
Bernie is in this for fame and fortune, it didn't matter to him that he could have dropped out of the race earlier and given Hillary more support. He is back to help Trump get elected again.
12
@Just Joe--
I voted third-party in 2016 as both major-party candidates stank like three-day-old fish.
Still, I would have voted for Bernie had the Democratic "establishment" not so clearly sabotaged Bernie with behind-the-scenes machinations and pre-committed "super-delegates," leaving potential Democratic voters to coronate an incompetent crook who deserved jail, not the White House.
I would still vote for Bernie come 2020, but I'm not so certain about the rest of the Democratic herd, whose entire platform seems to consist of "We hate Trump. Why don't you?"
Absent Bernie, I think it will be "third-party" again in 2020.
10
If he got a sensible haircut I might support him.
He just comes over as untidy. Reminds me of Britain's Michael Foot, who disastrously led The Labour Party in the 70s.
Short back and sides, Bernie. It'd make you president.
4
@Jack Lee
That is what got Trump elected :-)
1
I'll vote for whoever head the Democratic ticket. I'm not enthused about Bernie, but if he wins the primaries, so be it. I'm more concerned with his running mate. Democrats need to chose somebody who looks to the future of the party, and not another old white guy. Several choices come to mind: Booker (whom I would prefer as the presidential candidate), Kamala Harris (also a good presidential candidate), or Julian Castro (perhaps a little early for top of the ticket but with power in Florida to mobilize a substantial part of the electorate).
2
I wouldn't have believed the Democrats would nominate an airhead who's pushing 80, but then I wouldn't have believed their death wish was so strong they'd bury themselves by lionizing Omar. I've concluded that t's not going to matter who they nominate. They have no idea what they're doing so they need more time in the wilderness. Not only that, it looks very much like they're going to get it.
3
Not sure how much credence I give to this story. There are some people everywhere who can act as critic so why should it be surprising that some Democrats don’t like Bernie. So what, let the primaries begin.
9
The Democrats would rather lose to Trump than let Bernie get elected, but he will be the first one they blame when we have 2016 all over again. They don't learn because they are paid not to learn.
9
A vote for Bernie is a vote for Trump. Bernie is not electable; Trump is.
5
Democrats are about to learn that their constituents dislike them almost as much as republicans. The GOP learned this lesson with Trump.
3
Bernie says the things his followers want to hear, just like Trump. And, just like Trump, he has absolutely no idea how to actually accomplish anything in government. Look at his record as a legislator. People on both sides are getting more gullible and demagogues with empty promises are the beneficiaries.
7
If Republicans thought old Bernie was a cinch to beat the Trumpster, would Murdoch have given him a free hour? That the Trump full-time propaganda machine makes nice with him for even 60 minutes should tell you everything.
Sen. Sanders is not a Democrat, he is not a team player, he is adored by a clique much as Trump is by his "deplorable" xenophobic, white victim-hood base. Sure, the Sanders devotees are of a different moral and political mindset, but just as single-minded about "their guy".
He is also toxic to our electoral chances. Show me the reputable polling in states Democrats must take away from Trump where Sanders escapes high negative ratings. Unfair perhaps, but the baggage is there and we must admit it even if it is uncomfortable to articulate.
His age, his declared socialism in a lowbrow country where too few will listen to a 30 second explanation of why democratic socialism isn't Marxism. Then there is his background and ethnicity. If you think that in the privacy of a voting booth voters in the swing states not in his clique won't let their animus over his accent and heritage sway their vote you are terribly naive.
We have an abundance of better candidates without all those negatives and baggage. The goal is to beat Trump. It is the only goal. This is not an activist rally or street theater. It is the election for the life and health of our democracy.
4
When Bernie decides to join the Democratic Party and for good rather than just so he can run for President then quit soon there after I would consider him a Democratic candidate; otherwise, he is just a usurper and disrupter of the Democratic party.
Among my friends its the Republicans who love him ever wonder why?
5
I think the Democrats would be wise to wait and see what happens over time and in the debates. It is unwise for Democrats to start eating their own -- stupid, really. There are a lot of good people running, including Sanders -- let them present their cases to the voters.
Reported yesterday in The Times"...Center for American Progress, and its leader, Neera Tanden, as part of that cabal, working to stymie liberal activists and ideas." This should also stop. Let the American people make their decisions without noise from the candidates about each other, or think tanks or PACS. This is where false news starts to confuse the narratives coming from the candidates -- Sanders, Warren, Butegieg, Harris -- they all have important things to say. Peace.
5
To say also - the Times' coverage of Sanders' Fox News "town hall" last night is extraordinarily one-sided, focusing only on his allegedly "defensive" responses to questioning about his income and entirely ignoring the unexpectedly warm (certainly unexpected by, and unwelcome to, the Fox anchors) response he got from the Bethlehem, PA audience: check out the Guardian's report - it could be describing another event entirely https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/16/bernie-sanders-draws-enthusiastic-cheers-in-surprising-fox-news-town-hall
I'm not generally a "MSM" ranter and don't like to accuse the NYT, which like the Guardian fights the good fight, of bad faith, but the two Sanders items today suggest serious editorial bias.
13
@Barry Langford- they've been against Sanders since 2015, if not before then. The Times is a corporate entity listed on the NYSE. Corporatists against Democratic socialist(New Deal) Democratic. What else should we expect?
This piece labels Sen. Sanders "an avowed socialist." But the Senator has said very publicly (in his appearance at Georgetown) that “I don’t believe government should own the means of production[.]" (The full quote: "I don’t believe government should own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal.”) He has also repeatedly emphasized the distinction, as he perceives it, between Democratic Socialism and Socialism.
This piece needs to confront these realties. Since this is not an opinion piece, then as a matter of basic journalistic standards it shouldn't state that Sen. Sanders is an avowed Socialist. If the Times' editorial board wants to call him that, fine. If, as a matter of straight-up factual reporting, there are those who doubt the sincerity of the Senator's disavowal of the concept of government ownership of the means of production, those doubts can be reported as fact. But for a non-editorial piece to call a man a Socialist when he's publicly disavowed government ownership of industry -- that's not journalism. And it's not worthy of the Times.
15
As a Bernie supporter in 2016, Dems lost my vote when they colluded against him to prop up the block of wood known as HRC (who I proudly did not vote for). I can guarantee if you suppress Bernie again you will most certainly loose again in 2020. If this is your choice again this time, you can sleep in the bed you make.
7
Just got an email from Our Revolution about this article.
Immediately donated.
Every smear and every "Stop Sanders" movement will be met with cash.
13
@KS
I wish I could push your recommended button 500 times.
I’m sending Sanders $100 NOW.
5
WOW! The Trolling on the NYT against Bernie is by far the worst I’ve seen to date.
Democrats need to unite behind truly needed policies NOT only to remove Trump and his kleptocracy, but to address the vital needs of this nation for coming generations. Centrist Democrats are just corporatist shills plain and simple.
The best hope they represent is four years of slow deterioration during which all failed Trump policies will be heaped upon the Democrats
Everything Bernie fights for will improve the lives of hundreds of millions of working class people.
But, don’t believe me the coming Trump recession will provide some much needed waking up.
7
Give us a millennial president who understands a rapidly changing world, or give us Bernie.
4
@Pgh
Right, Bernie doesn’t understand a rapidly changing world.
The truth is, whether we like it or not, the Democrat who will win is the one who can draw the 18-35 age group to come out and vote. Clinton could not. This population cares about addressing the future needs of the country than labels like Socialism and Capitalism.
It is still too early to tell who that person is. It could be Sanders or Buttigieg or O’Rourke or Warren or Harris. It could even be some out-of-the-box candidate like Yang or Gabbard or whoever. It could even be someone yet to announce his nomination.
BTW, in April 2015, the Republican frontrunner for the 2016 elections was toggling between Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.
6
In other words, Clinton alumni who believe that running things is their natural meritocratic right are engaging in the same kind of divisive antics that gave us a deeply flawed candidate in 2016 and led directly to Trump's win.
22
@Fred Little
No. Trump wants to blame Clinton. So do you. There's very little difference.
Time to be positive, not negative, or we'll all be in the soup.
2
What is so radical about an FDR Democrat? The Democratic Party has drifted too far to the right since Clinton. So have the Republicans. My grandparents generation would not recognize either party today.
15
This article makes me so angry. I was going to wait till the debates started before starting to contribute, but now I am going to set up a PayPal account today to start contributing to Bernie Sanders.
26
I want to see Sanders get the nomination, Biden is too sensible for Dems.
the contra-factual posture of the Democratic financial elite is why Trump won. If any data is to be actually recognized, how about the preprimary polls in 2016? Sanders crushed Trump in every single one. Clinton was neck and neck, losing in some winning narrowly in others.
What to do about beating Trump? The obvious safe choice IS Sanders. But beating Trump isn't the primary agenda of the financial elite of the party. Maintaining their power and control is more important to them. And THAT is the real battle that is taking place.
19
All I see is that for the first time in my life the people most responsible for making the world so terrible are afraid. Now I gotta support anyone who can make that happen. They weren't really afraid of Trump because their power was assured under him and they knew this. If it's not him then I'll take Warren as a compromise.
10
Sanders, AOC, Omar -- these are not representatives of the Democratic party. They need to move aside and form their own group of whatever they want to call themselves. They are going to absolutely ruin the chances of Democrats in 2020, because Sanders the millionaire isn’t going to win over anyone with half a brain who is paying attention to his history, and the other two are seriously not yet ready for prime time. Enough with the playing nice; they’re an invasive species.
4
the democratic party is out of touch with what people want
Justice!
Justice = Fairness
Justice in politics = $27 from each person who believes in the candidate and no big donor or dark money conflicts of interest!
Justice in process = a fair set of rules applied fairly across the board not super delegates lining up behind the party favorite!
If democrats are not the party of justice and fairness they do not deserve to win and it will cost us all - again!
Americans need institutions and process we can believe in!
Justice for all .... or things will continue to degrade into a corrupt thuggish place were the only thing that maters is winning and money
6
Did anyone watch FOX's Town Hall with Bernie? It was surreal. Bernie killed it. This is a must-see for anyone trying to figure out how to unseat Trump!
First, this was on Monday-night primetime FOX and drew in about 3M viewers. It was an hour long. And Bernie was at his best (it could easily be a Larry David SNL opener).
Bernie proved among many other things on Monday, that he can out-fox FOX. And most important, the FOX audience was with him.
I believe that FOX's strategy backfired. I am rather certain that they weren't looking to provide a podium for any of the possible candidates to challenge Trump too much. Perhaps they (like Russian trolls) anticipate that Bernie is the most likely front-runner that will lose to Trump. So why not prop up the last person that in their minds, can beat him?
I believe the FOX Town Hall had the exact opposite effect. While I doubt it did much to bolster Bernie among Democratic Primary voters (at least not yet), it may very well have opened up the eyes of many Trump voters. Imagine that!
I am not a Bernie person (more Biden and Mayor Pete) because I question if he can win middle-America. Last night's FOX News Town Hall adjacent to a dead Pittsburg steel mill gave me pause.
Not sure who will be fired over at FOX and I don't much care. And yes, I would love for FOX to do more of these for Bernie (& other candidates) Town Halls, but I suspect this is a one-off that didn't go as intended. Too bad.
FOX finally got one right. Who knew?
19
I remember how poorly the NYT covered Bernie in 2016. If they covered him at all it was a weak negative, barely concealed dislike. I stopped reading the NYT by June '16. What the DNC did to undermine Bernie in the primaries was evident before they ever apologized. It looked a lot like there was some voter suppression in NYC or vote tampering, anyone remember that? I'm just as sick of the moderates in the democratic party as I am of republicans. I'm a boomer in my 60's and I'm paying attention. I think that Americans are as sick of the game-as-usual, keep the status-quo as it is game plan. I know I am. It looks like the NYT is playing the same game it did in 2016, getting behind the old party favorites. I don't believe only a moderate can win. Bernie has the character, the fight and the ability to win because he has authenticity which most of the others do no have. Go see how well Bernie did on the recent Fox News Town Hall.
16
If Bernie Sanders really cared about defeating Donald Trump, he should throw his support behind one of the younger candidates. He is too old and he promises too much to an adoring base, similar to Trump. This is an ego trip that will fracture the party and hand the election to a nightmare of a president.
4
@Mary’s- he's about the same age as Trump and Trump is going to get the nomination. so what is the problem? Is it that he's a so-called "Democratic Socialist"? He's a true blue New Deal Democratic.
And this, gentle readers, will be how Trump wins the presidency once again in 2020, thus insuring that the destruction of our American democracy is complete.
3
I'm a liberal Democrat, but frankly don't understand the popularity of Bernie Sanders. If he's the nominee, I will vote for him, of course, but I'd prefer Mayor Pete. To those who adore Bernie and say he's the first politician they've heard articulate their views, I sincerely want to know why this non-Democratic Senator is so special. His role as a spoiler in 2016 is unforgivable.
5
@Laurie Please explain this repeated assertion that Sanders was a "spoiler" (cf. Bernard Schwartz's claim quoted in this piece that he "did the party a disservice") - in what sense exactly? For having the temerity to run a primary campaign against the blessed Hillary? And then campaigning nationwide for her in the general, as she herself testifies in What Happened? Bernie Sanders did not lose the election. She managed it all by herself.
9
Just remember, there were many of us who liked him at first, in 2016, and quickly grew weary of his one speech, nastiness to the party that allowed him to use their platform, and his 'angry old man shaking his fist at the sky' routine. He isn't running against Hillary this time. We can have all the good without the boatload of bad that comes with old Bernie. He is almost as tyrannical as Trump. It's his way or the highway. Not what I am looking for in my President.
6
For the hundreth time, these so-called mainstream Democrats are nothing more than moderate Republicans of old. They sold themselves out to Wall St and big corporations during the Clinton years and we can thank and include the Clintons. As greed became the "in" thing back then and through present times, the New Deal policies and agenda became passe. Here we are now suffering because of the greed and stupidity of a select few in power in the Democratic Party. 3 cheers for Bernie. This time he'll win big time. As for the mainstreams: the Republican party is looking for cleaners for the afterparty of Trump's re-nomination for president. You'll feel right at home there. I hope the editors and publishers of the Times are listening.
9
"Stop Sanders" --
This reminded me of another famous call to action -
"Break Up the Yankees" --
Except for one thing -
The Yankees have a history of winning...
Why is this happening? This malarkey between Sanders campaign and the sorry Clinton leftovers is playing right into the Republicans' hands. I watched Mayor Pete last night on Rachel Maddow's show. He is calm & intelligent. I am liking him more & more. I will support whichever Dem wins the primaries, but Clinton's people and their high C performance is over. Get off the stage already.
5
Stop trying to sow discord. This comment is meant for the media and those who mourn the "rise" of Bernie Sanders.
5
Not one word in the article about Bernie's Town Hall on Fox News last night, which went very well!!
I'm so sick of the wealthy in this country keeping their feet on the necks of the rest of us while trying to persuade us that's a good thing.
NYTimes, be very careful here. If Trump is elected again there will be revolution and just because the people working at the Times are, to quote Rutger Bregman about Tucker Carlson, "millionaires doing the bidding of billionaires" they are foolish to think that would be a good outcome, for anyone.
10
Ironic that so-called Democrats are against Democracy !
5
clinton et al. wish trump to remain.
2
@andy No, that's absurd. We want Trump gone.
Here they go again. Why did you get so much for the Goldman Sachs speech? " Because that's what they offered". As more and more people realize that Bernie has always been telling them the truth about who/why is the root cause of them being left behind, the "third way" folks will again try to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I'm with Bernie as long as he's an option. He's been telling it straight since he's been in politics. For 2020 and beyond, I'd love to be able to vote for a Sanders/Buttigieg ticket!
6
The Times is just letting you know that it hasn't wavered from its 2016 position on Bernie. Bernie is not in the Times's pocket; ergo, he is unacceptable as a candidate.
16
I guess the Democratic Party has an important decision to make. Does the party represent the 72 million registered Democrats in these United states, most of whom are hard working and middle class, or does it only represent the "elite" "donor class"? Because if it's the latter then my Democratic party is going to lose in 2020 and, though it pains me deeply to say so, it will deserve to have done so. We already have a party, the GOP, that represents only the wealthy and powerful. We need a party that represents the interests of ordinary Americans of all faiths, races, sexualities, ethnic origins and degrees of wealth. The Democrats must be that party.
9
i just really hope that we can rally around whoever wins the nomination, and it doesn't turn out like 2016 because some people got their feelings hurt.
4
President Pete B, please.
Brilliant, down-to-earth, calm, humble, compassionate, unifying.
Exactly what we need.
6
@Andrea P.
What does anyone know about this guy?
Every person who graduates from Harvard and goes to Oxford on a Rhodes is not brilliant. Learn a bit more about him before you make such statements. What does he stand for? Who does he get money from? He tells good stories. So did my grandmother.
4
@Blunt There are actually a number of long articles in the national press about him. Tons of info out there for folks to learn more about him. YouTube has his campaign kickoff speech from this weekend. Brilliant and inspiring.
3
@Laurie
I am familiar with those. I still think we don’t know much about him.
About brilliance, I was a graduate student of Arrow and Rawls in the same institution Pete was as an undergraduate. My standards of brilliance may be slightly biased but I believe your use of the word does not do justice to its definition.
2
I supported Sanders last round and ultimately voted for Clinton. This round, I was thinking he's too old and was moving toward Warren. But this has reinvigorated my support for him. Just not Biden or Beto, please.
17
Couldn’t agree more. Beto was a fantastic senatorial candidate—and a HORRIBLE presidential one!
4
I’m not a big fan. But he’s a decent man with a constructive vision for the future. Of course he, like Trump and Biden, is too old. But in the current schismatic political climate he would likely win. And, paired with a more mainstream, female VP candidate who could appeal to black voters, (Stacy Abrams, please!) we might have a positive, progressive powerhouse.
5
My greatest fear is not that Sanders will win the nomination, but that he will again contest its results, and again incite his most unreasonable followers to further damage our democracy.
3
@Parker He did neither of these things.
5
>>> Gosh. There I was, thinking that handing control of the DNC to the Clinton campaign and rigging the convention with super delegates was damaging to democracy . . .
4
Sanders has always said he doesn't want to create a schism in the Dem party. That's why he backed Clinton in 2016.
He wants to beat Trump. That's it.
He has the most popular ideas, ones other Dems are adopting, and he has the backing to implement them.
The question is: Why is the Dem establishment SO concerned about a President Sanders?
17
Of course Sanders will stay in as long as possible whether or not he can win because he can always lose the race for the Democrats and infamy is better than nothing. After all, playing that little in 2016 apparently paid off--he's now a millionaire.
Sanders is the flip side of the Trump coin. THAT is why so many of us are so vehemently opposed to him. I want a real progressive in the White House, who can do more than harangue and shake a finger. Elizabeth Warren has so much more to offer, both in policy and accomplishment. And there are another five or six outstanding candidates.
But the press and the Berners keep pushing Sanders down our throats. The Democratic Party will choke to death on Sanders.
Who, by the way, is NOT a Democrat. And like me, there are thousands who have absolutely no intention of voting for anyone but Democrats. Perhaps Tom Perez should have considered that before allowing Sanders to once again drop in to raid the party's coffers.
2
I too being a lifelong Democrat think very highly of Warren. She will make a great VP running mate for Bernie/Warren
2
>>> "I want a real progressive in the White House, who can do more than harangue and shake a finger. Elizabeth Warren has so much more to offer, both in policy and accomplishment."
I'm sorry, but, if you think Warren is more a "real progressive" than Sanders, it might be a good idea to review their respective histories, as well as the commonly accepted understanding of "progressive."
3
@Davina
"Perhaps Tom Perez should have considered that before allowing Sanders to once again drop in to raid the party's coffers."
Why bother with primaries?
Let's just ask Tom Perez who we should nominate.
2
While the corporate/establishment wing of the democratic party is constantly promoting unity, Nancy Pelosi is giving interviews in which she is going out of her way to marginilize the progressive wing of the party. That's what you call unity? Just another reason why she should have NEVER been voted back as the head of the Congressional caucus.
In the minds of the corporate/establishment what so-called party unity REALLY means is genuflecting at their alter and get in line! This is just another example of why these "old-timers" choose money over winning, locked in the "Washington bubble" and incapable of viewing the world around them in any other manner.
"Right on Nancy", alienate the millions of voters that could have made a difference in the 2016 election yet, primarily stayed home and did not vote because they and many others felt the party had long left them behind and the "annointed" candidate wasn't an option and neither was the "lesser of two evils".
7
Well said! There is so little light between the so-called moderate Democrats and the Republicans in terms of their addiction to big-moneyed interests and sacrificing any principles in order to get re-elected...they couldn't care less about the plight of the disappearing middle class in the US, as long as they could keep their funding going....
7
@Deus- that wing of the party used to be the Moderates of the Republican Party some 30 years ago. Until Clinton came along and sold the party out- a.k.a. greed.
I am so very, very tired of this. The Democratic Party is a private organization and it needs to start acting like one. If they don't want to nominate Sanders - and I don't blame them in the slightest if they don't, because for all he'll do in urban areas, the word "socialism" plays about as well as the plague in rural areas - then just pull the plug. Now. They don't have to nominate him. They don't have to have primaries. They can do what they want with their nomination, and the responsible thing is to settle on a candidate now and stop this nonsensical internecine fighting.
It's failure to exercise executive authority over this kind of nonsense that got us a President Trump in the first place. A responsible Republican Party would have smothered his candidacy in the cradle, a responsible Democratic Party would have done the same to Sanders, and that's exactly what should happen right now. It is the responsibility of the entity wielding all this money to nominate a candidate that they believe is both fit for office and able to win - start exercising that responsibility.
2
How about suspending your doubts about Bernie and open your ears. He actually has something wonderful to add. Sure all the Dem's who have announced their intention to run are very nice.
None of them can beat TRUMP. Bernie can and TRUMP knows it.
I grew up in Hartford, Connecticut the heartland of those who used to called the powerful WASPS...those folks long ago reinvented themselves as (now known as) far right wing conservative Republicans. I learned in childhood that since I was not from one of those families I could expect nothing in life. I was not worthy. If I was poor well that's my own fault.
Our family was blessed with a United States Senator by the name of Augustine Lonergan who represented Ct. In his 33 years serving the people he worked hand in hand with President Roosevelt. Gus was highly powerful in getting the Social Security Act passed into law. Most nights he spent at Roosevelt House in NYC. Getting the kinks worked out. All the same fuss as today. "Too Expensive. Never happen." But I'll be inconvenienced, said many" Share with my fellow citizens? NO" Personally I disrespect those who take more than they are allowed from our common put.
So, I, like Bernie describe myself as a Socialist Democrat and I am proud of it. Of, by and for the people.He'll make a fair President.
12
I am a Democratic voter who voted by absentee ballot in the 2016 primary, and I remember my hand actually hovering over the ballot trying to decide between Bernie and Hillary. I gasped, took a deep breath, and marked filled in the Clinton bubble. I feared then and fear now that an avowed socialist will give the Trump forces an easy target. In the 1950s, the Nixonian Republicans equated socialism with communism, while today the GOP equates it with Venezuela. Putting this concern together with the age issue makes me search for another, younger candidate. I think we need a reboot, and right now Mayor Pete looks like a promising prospect. He is bright, intellectual, curious, inclusive in his sympathies, and possesses a strong ego but is not at all narcissistic--what a welcome contrast to Trump!
4
Democrats, how about this for a change. Run a fair, open primary with free ranging debate of ideas and let the best candidate win—even if it is not the darling of the “really smart people”. Put together a balanced ticket that excites more than one faction of the party and let these hardened warriors go on to do battle.
It worked pretty well in 2008.
1
In reality, Bernie lost the last primary against Clinton. In reality, Clinton won more 3 million more popular votes than Trump. In reality, the Electoral College failed miserably from what the Founding Fathers designed it to be. Yet, the Bernie die-hearts still rant on negatively about Clinton and how wonderful Bernie was and how she stole the election. Bernie's base is almost an identical twin to the Tea Party. And we all know the damage the Tea Party has done to our democracy. In reality, we may have lost it forever and Bernie's people and Bernie himself are partly to blame. I am stunned to say this, but if Bernie is the Democratic nominee, I will sit out this next election. There are too many good new candidates to chose from, like Buttigieg, then to vote for Bernie.
3
@DJK.
Well said. Although I'm not willing to concede anything to Sanders. We have half a dozen superb candidates and I'm giving all I can to those and will start to volunteer as I narrow my choices. I am not conceding to Sanders, Berners, and certainly not to Trump. Trump and Sanders are the same coin and this country needs better.
4
Tom Perez and his DNC allies (mostly former Clinton campaign associates) are making a big mistake by trying to sabotage the Sanders campaign using Clinton's former dirty trickster David Brock and the Center for American Progress (founded by former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta) as his foot soldiers. If Sanders is once again denied his ability to compete on a level playing field, then we could end up with another 4 years of Trump which would be a disaster for the democratic party and our country. The pundits said it couldn't happen the first time around, but the missteps of the 2016 Clinton campaign and DNC proved otherwise.
7
Shouldn't the democrats be excited about a candidate who has garnered so many supporters, so much money, and has put forth such popular resonating policies among Americans of all walks of life?
7
@Jeff
Under that theory, shouldn't Democrats have been excited about Trump? Trump is more grotesque, but there are similarities between Trump and Sanders that his cult refuses to acknowledge.
4
Maybe Bernie, who is an Independent, could run as a republican against trump in the primaries. If beating trump is the most important issue facing us, then wouldn't it make the most sense to have a general election between Bernie and the Democratic nominee??
2
Polls show almost universal approval of Trump among Republicans!!
“Mr. Sanders’s populist agenda”
I stopped reading there.
Is it too much to ask to leave out these little jabs? Nothing Mr. Sanders proposes hasn’t already worked in one of Europe’s countries for half a century or more. Please.
11
In my humble view, the democrats are enabling Trump in hi endeavor to win reelection and beyond. Repeating the "Sanders Assault" of 2016 now will certainly cause unnecessary chaos. This is what Obama was talking about recenty in Europe when he advised against forming circular firing squads.
1
Sanders made his point, now he needs to step aside and let someone else run and win.
2
@DR Exactly. Or as someone else posted, go run as a Republican and see if he can defeat Trump from the get-go, if that is his central ambition. He’s no Democrat.
1
So tired of hearing about these so-called “mainstream” Democrats. Polls consistently show most Americans (including many who voted Trump) support what Bernie is proposing.
If “mainstream” Democrats are “agonizing” about how to beat Bernie, maybe they need to realign their political objectives to match his.
10
The liberals,progressives and civil rights party stalwarts are loyal to Bernie because he has been doggedly loyal to them.He marched with Dr.King and on picket lines with low wage workers and he supported gay marriage when even gay elected officials were denying their identity or hedging on the issue. Go on Youtube and put Bernie's name in the search engine and all his "receipts" pop up. Undeniable for all to see. People love Bernie because he did things or tried to do things to actually help working people. Well now those receipts can be cashed in and they could take him all the way to the White House. I welcome this courageous independent Senator into the fray. If a few rich donors are threatened or fearful so what. Bernie is,was and always will be about and for the regular working people of America.
6
Why didn't Bernie release his tax returns in 2016? Doesn't seem very transparent and honest to me.
1
@Benjo Bernie did release his 2016 tax returns.He released them on Friday April 15 2016 in the late afternoon.....Please GOOGLE IT!!!
… some members … beginning to ask ? concludes the opening photo. rest assured, all members of the ‘democratic establishment’ have been asking this question for years. like entrenched power bases everywhere, the “dnc/clinton/c.a.p./brock/tanden/wealthy donor/swing state politician/shall i go on establishment” is hellbent on maintaining control over a party that has clearly stretched their imaginations beyond the comfortable soft center of the hillary machine.
and aside from being a rather transparent hit piece on sanders, this article continues to promote the failed stategy that led to trump; former senator mccaskill still fails to see the light as she suggests it’s the sander’s folks that need to fall in line; and the democratic corporation huddles in fright as their muddled core congeals. should trump win again, look here not there.
1
This nearly 50 year old lifelong liberal Democratic mother fails to understand the appeal of Bernie, particularly to younger voters. He’s long on promises, big on ego and short on specifics. Can anyone name his big accomplishment in the Senate? How about his stance on gun rights and safety? Is he really someone who will win widespread support? His candidacy is sure to guarantee another 4 years of Trump.
4
Thanks so much for this article! I've been meaning to make another donation to Sanders' campaign and this was just the push I needed. The Democratic Party establishment and wealthy donors have learned nothing from the 2016 election and it will be the poor, the dwindling middle class, people of color, immigrants and our environment that will bear the suffering of a second Trump administration. Shame on them!
8
picture trump doing his act and picture bernie, no reaction to the crazy rant, just stating policy. time after time after time. can't wait.
7
One thing you can say about the circular firing squad - we have great aim!
I'm hearing strains of West Side Story playing in the background: "How do you solve a problem like Maria", specifically...
We might as well laugh. At least the convention will bring some much-needed drama to Milwaukee.
Newsflash! Trump will win re-election. Sanders perhaps might have defeated him if the Clintonites hadn't sabotaged his campaign, but that was because he was the alleged outsider who dared utter the forbidden words: "working class." But now Sanders is (always was) part of the establishment he once decried. Trump was the only other 'outsider' who played that game. Working people are sick of both ruling parties. None of the Democrats will garner support outside of their party machine and base. The majority will again abstain from voting, the rest will vote for the perceived lesser evil, and give the finger to whoever they perceive as more dishonest and intrusive. The "mandate" will continue to shrink and the crisis will grow. Eventually we will reach the point of a "pox on both their houses" and real politics will begin.
1
What is wrong with these Democrats that they would rather see Trump win over Bernie Sanders?? It's clear that Sanders can garner crowds - and votes that cross the aisle - that no other candidate seems able or desires to do, at this point. See the Fox News town Hall, for just one instance.
The incessant marginalizing of this 'hugely' popular candidate by media and centrist Dems is shameful, personally.
It's time to tell the truth: Bernie Sanders is not in anyone's way, but plenty of others are trying to get in Sanders' way.
Step back, let the process Of The People, By The People, For The People carry on.
...and full disclosure, while Sanders and a couple others seem like excellent choices, especially in comparison to the current 'leader,' I haven't committed to a candidate yet - the primaries are a long way off.
5
Having wealthy elites, this publication, and the DNC stack the cards for Hillary lost the election. We let a Billionaire Republican steal our own message! That is a huge failure. He campaigned in Rust Belt states as the man for the working man that will bring back jobs. How did we let that happen? I am not necessarily a fan of Sanders but I do believe he is more genuine and would have won the election.
The Democrats need to go back to their message being for the working person with real candidates. Simple message to expose the Republicans on what they are cutting taxes for the rich and for big business. All the other stuff like illegal immigration, and trans rights is nice too but isn't going to get someone elected. Need to get back to the core message and don't let them steal it!
3
As an independent having a choice between Mr Trump and Mr Sanders will make not want to vote for any of them
The thing that worries the corporate Democrats most is not Bernie Sanders losing to Trump it is Bernie Sanders winning the presidency and using the bully pulpit to put an end to the "donor class" corruption that begins with campaign cash and feeds the duopoly political class and feeds the television money machine, as well as the establishment media machine. None of those entities want what Americans want and that is to be rid of the corrupting influence that rules the nation and has established a tax policy that is ruining the nation. Is there nobody in the establishment media who can understand this and point it out to the public? It is your job after all
6
Being a Democratic Centrist is falling pray to the Republican agenda to pit the middle class against the poor.
If the Democrats don't get their act together and unite, the consequences maybe another four years of trump. That's thought too horrible to even contemplate.
1
It’s obvious to that the neoliberal, Wall St. favorite Biden is the Dems’ low-energy, boring, geriatric answer to the Republicans’ tool of the Big Money in 2016, the hapless Jeb. Conversely, hyper-lively, passionate, University of Chicago quick, charismatic Bernie, who makes Biden look a decade older, is this cycle’s Trump. Once again, the helpless rich like one guy, but the voters themselves much prefer another. And if Bernie comes to the convention with a yuge delegate lead over the field, and then the fat cat Establishment Super Delegates take the nomination from him, as the DNC did for Wall St. in 2016 by stacking the deck in a thousand ways for Hillary (who lost the white primary vote, of course), Trump will definitely win again, since rage against the DNC among ordinary white voters will be even higher than it was in last time, when white hatred of the DNC and Hillary gave the Rust Belt Obama had won twice to Trump.
4
For those who think Mr. Sanders, the independent, hasn't paid his party dues and thus deserves nothing from the party leadership, remind me. Was Donald Trump a loyal Republican "party man" in 2015 before he took that ride down the golden escalator? In the campaign, he said that as a "billionaire" businessman, fundraisers for both parties came "begging" him for donations and he gave some both. Sanders has supported Democratic presidents on bills where every vote counted, like the Affordable Care Act even though his vision for healthcare reform was and is far more transformative. I also remember a brief "Never Trump" movement among the GOP elite before he blew Jeb, Ted, Chris and Marco out of the water. There are surely lessons for Democratic leaders and voters in all that.
7
Don't worry about Bernie. His track record in the Senate proves that he knows how to be a pragmatist, which is a balance of progressive (idealizing) and prudent (realistic) thinking.
The activist and young voter is excited by idealism. But we can appreciate that the road of progress is long and slow. Sanders knows that!
Chances are that the Democratic public is so hungry to beat Trump that they will vote Democratic, just because it's Democratic—which was the majority vote in 2016. Sanders will become more and more prudent, in the long run, because he's not naïve about winning.
9
The phrase"70-something" downplays Sanders' age as a reasonable concern regarding his candidacy. He was born in 1941. He will be 79 years old on Election Day 2020 (older than Reagan was at the END of his second term). If Sanders really wants to start a revolution he should pass the baton to someone else in his movement and give that person his full support.
16
@Elinor. His age is a reasonable concern. If elected, for most of his term he will be an "80-something." Trump may make the job look easy given that he spends all day watching TV, but how many individuals 80+ years old have the stamina to do the job the way it should be done? Is the best that this nation can do is to choose between two elderly men who have high odds of not living-out their full terms?
I'm just a few years from retirement myself, so I don't think that I'm being ageist, and I've always complained about the way that this country seems to view experience as a disqualifier for the presidency. But, I'd just really like to see the Democratic party put forward a younger candidate.
1
You'll be accused of "ageism" soon, when the fact is that there's only one reason why anyone is still working in their eighties - pure, unadulterated selfishness. He should retire from politics to enjoy the twilight of his years, and give a younger person a go. All of them aged over seventy should do the same thing - the American gerontocracy looks like the Soviet Politburo of forty years ago, old men and women desperately clinging to power for the gratification of their own ego.
1
The relatively young Princess Hillary could barely stand up, much less stand up to scrutiny. Bernie ran circles around every other candidate so really, we’re not interested in hearing more about his age. 80 is the new 65 for those on Medicare and great health insurance.
He’s got my vote. If the ‘establishment-aligned democrats’ didn’t thwart his campaign back in 2016 there would be no Trump. Thanks for that, btw. Keep up the good work.
31
Impatient, unyielding, unrealistic idealists are likely to hand Trump a second term, unfortunately.
10
Wow, it seems like the Bernie supporters on this Comments section have drank the Kool-Aid. I think the hard core Bernie Bros share one thing in common with the red cap MAGA Trump fanatics, they have both become a cult of personality. The voters who love either Bernie Sanders or Trump think that their candidate can do no wrong, are absolutely devoted to their man, and recoil in anger when anybody attacks their Candidate / Hero. I worry that if Sanders fails to get the nomination, his supporters will become spoilers. In 2016, I think many of them did help elect Trump marginally. A small number of Bernie supporters probably did vote for Trump, and a bigger number of Bernie fans simply decide to stay at home, and not vote for Hillary out of spite. A repeat of this scenario in 2020 would be a total disaster for the country. And we haven't even factored in a third party candidate like Howard Schultz siphoning off liberal votes from the Democratic nominee, thereby helping elect Trump again, like Jill Stein did in 2016.
12
I’m really growing tired of the constant propaganda about Bernie supporters be reverse Trumpistas or some kind of thuggish mob.
All I want is:
someone to tackle the coming Climate Crisis
someone to help us realize universal health care
someone to establish free college education
someone to take us out of endless wars
someone who believes in progressive taxation
to list a few of the things Bernie will champion. Why are these such radical ideas and programs for a modern society to achieve? They are all doable and more. By the I really won’t benefit from any of these things at this point in my life, but I believe that future generations will.
So, please try to focus on the issues of the day and not the propaganda of Corporatists and Republicans.
7
@Seymore Clearly - In 2016 Sanders showed an ability to attract swing voters in swing states like PA. When he was not nominated some of these voters went on to vote for Trump. That was their choice. They were SWING voters, Independents.
Those are precisely the voters that have elected every president in our lifetimes, the very same voters that Clinton needed to persuade. Let me reiterate that. EVERY presidential election in our lifetimes has been decided by swing voters in a handful of swing states. It's basic Electoral College math.
In April-May 2016 Quinnipiac did a series of polls in PA, OH, and FL in which they compared a Trump/Sanders race to a Trump/Clinton race. In EVERY case Sanders had a wider winning margin than Clinton, because he had a Populist appeal that fit the mood of the time and place. Clinton, of course, went on to lose all 3 of those states.
No one can predict what would have happened had Sanders been nominated. But one thing we do know without a doubt. In those key states he would have started the race with a bigger headstart than Clinton.
The Quinnipiac polls:
https://poll.qu.edu/2016-presidential-swing-state-polls/release-detail?releaseid=2345
Incidentally, all the Sanders supporters I know in Oregon, my circle being quite far Left, voted for Clinton. We were not spoilers.
6
>>> ". . . and not vote for Hillary out of spite."
How about not voting for Hillary because she didn't (never did and never will) represent the interests of those voters or support the policies in which they believe?
Some of us are very, very tired of the endless yammering insisting that a refusal to vote for a lesser evil is somehow irresponsible.
If you want voter support for your candidates, give the voters candidates they want to support.
3
It is easier for a certain class of Democrats to be progressive on “social issues” and to virtue signal than it is to acknowledge the very real differences between our economic classes.
20
If the wealthiest corporate Democrats are so intent on stopping Bernie Sanders from the Democrat party’s nomination, wouldn’t it be wiser for Sanders to separate himself from that party and creates his own movement?
I don’t know if that is still possible in the US but the last presidential election in France, Macron manage to win as independent candidate (creating his own party/movement in the meantime) after he quits the socialist party. The context is different since it was a direct vote (no electoral college).
Probably Bernie should try running as an independent? It seems to me Bernie does have a strong popular base.
5
>>> " don’t know if that is still possible in the US . . ."
It's not impossible, but it's so difficult that it is impracticable.
The mainstream parties have rigged the ballot access rules in most states so that independents have a hard time getting their names on the lists. Also, the media simply do not pay much attention to independent or third-part candidates and the "free" coverage that the two dominant parties get is more important than any amount of paid advertising an independent could purchase.
Sanders would likely run as an independent if he had a chance of winning that way, but he doesn't have that chance.
9
@Charlene. The best that an independent candidate can do is to be a "spoiler", siphoning off so much support from one candidate or another (a conservative independent will drain support from the Republicans, and a liberal-leaning independent will take votes from Democrats) that it helps the other candidate win.
Are you suggesting Independent Bernie runs as an Independent??
1
Sanders Elected! Wealthy Liberal Democrats Stripped of their Stock Holdings, Mansions, and Limos!
Forced to Live In Small Apartments, Ride Bicycles!
Details on page 10.....
22
@Jonathan
Now that a Clinton buddy is supposed to be buying the National Enquirer not even funny :-)
2
This old blowhard is going to help elect Trump again! His hubris and ego is bigger than his socialist ideas.
26
Agreed. I support a couple other candidates and see the Bernie bros attacking them relentlessly on social media. 2016 all over again!
2
Agreed. I support a couple other candidates and see the Bernie bros attacking them relentlessly on social media. 2016 all over again!
2
While choosing to run this piece, the NYT failed to have any reporting on Bernie's Fox News Town Hall during which he drew warm applause. (See today's Guardian.) If the Democrats want to win the Mid-west, he is their man. (Of course, the NYT is part of the Clinton wing, so they won't tell you about it.)
NYT, get over it. You did all you could to promote Clinton and it failed. Be an honest reporter of the news even when you wish it weren't true.
44
Your memory fails you, for it wasn't Clinton that was promoted relentlessly by this newspaper, day in, day out, with endless cover-stories and billions of column-inches. No, it was Donald Trump. The Times forgot that any publicity is good publicity and, like just about every other news outlet, fell into the trap of reporting every hateful, racist, misogynistic, and just plain stupid thing that he said, for the duration of the campaign. They could all have completely ignored him, declared him persona-non-grata and not reported on him at all, but no - he got a bonanza of free publicity. That was what this paper did wrong, not the "promotion" of Secretary Clinton.
1
Please read this from The Guardian and understand why this article represents not the People but only 1 Percent of that mass at best.
Bernie Sanders draws enthusiastic cheers in surprising Fox News town hall
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/16/bernie-sanders-draws-enthusiastic-cheers-in-surprising-fox-news-town-hall?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
16
It's interesting that the centrist NYT has decided to whitewash the character of "Mr. Brock". He is a former Republican dirty trickster who became Hillary's dirty trickster. In a leaked email, Hillary's campaign manager, John Podesta, said he couldn't believe Hillary would have anything to do with him. But they were tight.
15
Sit down, shut up, and let the people decide.
14
@Dale Copps. The central planners are never wrong.
The biggest “Stop Sanders” campaign is The Times. You guys succeeded last time, uh... or was that a massive fail? Thanks NY Times!
21
From Sugarhouse - I hope they succeed again and a real Democrat wins the nomination (again) this old blowhard needs to retire just like Orrin Hatch decided to do after decades of doing nothing valuable in the Senate.
1
I am GAY and OUT liberal. As we used to say in NYC: Bernie Sanders is trouble. The NYT is terrified of him and the notorious Bernibros& The Intercept mob. I adore HRC, Nancy, Barack, Donna Shalala, and strongly dislike Bernie and INSTAGRAM Star: AOC. I could never ever support Bernie for the way he treated Hillary.
7
Funny how the Clinton cabal “establishment Democrats “ in NYT speak always tell the Progressives that we HAVE to swallow and take one for the team when they get the nomination, but when one of our own is in a good position they refuse to get in line.
In 1944, “establishment Democrats” forced Henry Wallace off the ticket in favor of a Southern Democrat with a High School diploma and no real executive experience. Months after becoming Vice President, a green Harry Truman faced what was probably the most complex combination of economic, diplomatic and security challenges since the end of the Civil War.
In 2016, “establishment Democrats” rigged the process from front to back to force Hillary Clinton onto the ticket despite early polling showing her a vulnerable candidate in the general election. The same polling showed Bernie would have beaten Trump, yet they had to have their Wall Street/Beverly Hills donor class favorite. Yes, I went there.
Bernie went into the Lion’s den of Fox News and kicked butt- something Hillary nor most of the others running this time would have done. You cannot flip Trump voters if you cannot connect to them- something the media’s darlings (Biden, O’Rourke, Mayor Pete, Sen Harris, Sen Booker, etc.) are incapable of.
Someone needs to tell the donor class thanks for your money, but let’s let the voters decide for a change. Progressives are not going to sit in the back of the bus and take orders from the Clinton Center for American Progress.
29
"Get in line"? Tell that to all the Bernie fans who wasted their votes on Jill Stein, or just stayed at home on Election Day, pouring and seething like grounded teenagers because their candidate didn't get the nomination. Thing is, if you want the candidates representing your preferred party to win, you have to actually leave the house and vote for them. Staying at home having a tantrum because you don't personally like the candidate hands the election to their (and your) opposition.
1
I am a dead dog democrat. I'll vote for a dead dog before I vote republican but I will not vote for Sanders. Bernie--- go away your time is over. You're too old, too male and a hypocrite. Fox wants you to win, because they know you can't win and that is reason enough not to vote for you.
12
So if Beto or Pete get the nomination, will you go out and vote for them, or stay at home because they're "too male"?
I’m seventy and I wish I had the stamina Bernie has. All my kids and soon to vote grand kids adore him. Yeah, what’s with that?
4
An article perfectly crafted to boost Bernie.
11
Rigging the system to defeat Sanders will only play into Trump's hands. It would alienate much of the base, including supporters of other progressive candidates, such as Sen. Warren.
In 2016 the Dem establishment got their candidate, a damaged one. They got one that had been a victim of decades of Republican smear attacks. They got one who refused repeated pleas to use the official State Dep't email system. They got one who created her own faux scandal. Trump merely picked up her ball and ran with it.
Sanders is a proven candidate. He has no real baggage. The "socialist" charge won't fly, as most younger voters see nothing wrong with it. He would be a change candidate in a change year. He would clean Trump's clock.
14
Let's hope the Democrats don't stitch up the selection process as they did in '16. I imagine Biden would be the safe establishment choice for all the same interested parties which supported HRC. Such a choice would assure Trump of at least four more years.
7
If the Democrats are "agonizing over his momentum" then why fight it? Get behind the candidate, Bernie Sanders, that can win this time, and take back Congress and the White House. It's almost like the Democratic party elite don't care to win. Is it because it would hurt their wallets? Well, guess what? The wallets of the American people have been hurting for over 30 years. Continue to hurt the American people and you will see that you will all lose your jobs.
12
@Diana
Why fight it? Because if I wanted someone with that many of Trump's qualities, what's the point here?
While it makes for great audiences, the horse race perspective on Presidential campaigning can be accomplished by people who study how the mass media affects voters. Without any doubt, Donald Trump is a master of this but as a leader, a person of conviction, an administrator, a statesman, and a person who wishes to serve the nation he’s a totally ridiculous person. As a President he’s a disgrace.
To end this kind of campaigning the focus must be on fitness for office and views on the better policies to address national challenges. The focus upon winning and losing serves no real interests for the country. Time to be serious about what we need not how successful are the competitors.
4
As a raging liberal, the Dems are just hapless bureaucrats. Tired of the Dems message of winning by talking people to sleep. Yes, I agree with their underlying principles, but then they tie themselves up in knots with minutiae, then bore people to insensitivity. This is the problem with the bulk of them. Bernie gets to the point. Proving he is certainly not a Democrat.
5
Great, we agree - he's not a Democrat. He should stop pretending to be one every 4 years and then throwing a tantrum when the DNC doesn't help him.
1
With all this talk of a fair process, I wish the democrats would get rid of the caucus system. It is fundamentally undemocratic, one person one vote is how we should elect our nominee (and our President).
1
Bernie Sanders could have beaten Trump in 2016. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic Party apparatchiks saw to it that he did not get a chance at the convention. They played crooked and loose and we now have President Crooked and Loose. This being America, I say let Bernie see where he can get. Maybe a Sanders/Harris ticket could really go places!
6
Wow. The Democratic Party establishment (canape-eating donors) pushed Hillary last time, against all evidence that Bernie could beat Trump while Hillary couldn't. And they think that Bernie did the party a "disservice"? It was their pushing Hillary that did us all a disservice.
What's even more amazing is that the DNC and establishment are poised to do it all over again. If they suppress Bernie again, the result may be the same.
15
He helped Trump win once. Unless the Democrats unite, he’s going to do it again.
3
'Agonizing over his momentum'? No, we are not. We have a bevy of talented candidates including Sanders. I'm proud of the diverse and dynamic field so far. All options are better than Trump and the process to get to a nominee will make us stronger.
3
In 2016 I worked for Bernie and canvassed in New Hampshire. The very first voter I talked to told me right off the bat, "I can't decide if I should vote for Bernie or Trump. I'll never vote for Hillary." I had never heard anyone say that before, and I was totally knocked off balance. But I quickly came to understand that a lot of people felt the same way, which is apparently nothing the DNC operatives ever figured out. Not then and not now. Moreover, I also discovered that it wasn't very hard to flip a Trump supporter into a Bernie supporter. All I had to do ask them what they cared about and talk about those concerns. 2020 won't be any different. If the DNC tries to rig the nomination again, we'll have 4 more years of Trump. Not because so many people love Trump. But because a lot of Americans just want their vote to count.
8
The Dem Machine failed us and USA in 2016.
Bernie could have been 45 if you fools didn't stop him.
Let it play out, but don't fight Bernie.
Bernie was my choice last time, maybe he is our best choice still!
8
@Why worry
I will fight Bernie tooth and nail. Dems didn't stop him--he couldn't get the votes to beat HRC, a fact that Berners ignore because it doesn't fit their narrative.
1
@Davina
I voted for HRC.
She lacked energy and the youth vote.
I'm as old as she is and know exactly where she came from.
But I also know exactly where 45 comes from...
I want a winner, not a discussion.
Democrats don't need Trump to destroy them. They are perfectly capable of doing it themselves.
9
He doesn’t have realistic structured agenda aim for fairness. If he was really conscious about what is fair as he like to present himself, he wouldn’t have incessantly attacked Hillary as a person and would have come up with people already paying for college loans. He got points from people for free education and looked for votes. Such a hypocrite and a division creator.
3
Corporate Establishment Democrats: "Oh, no, the gravy train may be coming to an end!"
5
Yup, "rich people don't like me." These are the folks with the big money complaining that Sanders is raising money? Now that's chutzpah! Neera Tanden's crowd crafted Hillary's defeat (quite an accomplishment). But rather than looking in the mirror, they attack the candidate who would have beat Trump last time and will beat him this time. They call themselves Democrats when he's the real Democrat, not they.
8
It is ironic that the democratic party's losers who are very rich and handed Trump the Presidency by refusing to take positions that would help the people are now gathering forces to destroy the one candidate who offers the public policies which would direct our country's resources towards reform. Bernie Sanders would be a middle of the road Social Democrat in every country in Europe. Our disgraceful rate of poverty, childbirth death, lack of adequate health care and a tax system making billionaires while taking from the middle class was ignored by the Clintons and the other party leaders. They lost!!! Now they want to repeat their loosing strategy rather than reform the inequality that pervades our system. They want to defeat Trump by refusing to stand for anything. Probably because they don;t believe in anything beyond the bank accounts of the very rich.
10
This can be summed up in two words: “Bernie McGovern”
1
April 16, 2019
"There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. "
Alexis de Tocqueville
7
It's not about Bernie ... it's about Bernie's ideas !!!
Hillary and the democrats lost the last election ... because they allowed Mr. Trump to usurp, for his own use, the excitement Bernie generated ...
We don't need Bernie ... we need ideas that generate energy ...
@Steve of Albany
Trump won because he openly appealed to racists and bigots, both those who publicly flaunted their beliefs and those who practiced them in only the most genteel ways.
Where is Hillary when we need her?
1
@R. Rve
Very funny:-)
Melinda Gates for President 2020!
The headline is wrong. It should read:
“Corporate, Wall Street & War mongering Democrats look to take down Bernie Sanders”
12
Keep trying to stop Bernie...here's another donation for him!
4
What this article fails to explain is why the democratic party should be afraid of its most popular candidate. Please explain. Could if be because Sanders is the least corporate candidate and the NYT is just as beholden to corporate money & power as the mainstream democratic party? Go Bernie!
7
What a disgrace. You'd think that any Dem leadership member who was part of the monumental Democratic party miscalculation of 2016 (actually, of 1967 - 2016) would sit down and shut up. If not for two amazingly charismatic candidates (Bill Clinton, Barack Obama) and a furious post-Nixon electorate (1976, Carter) they'd have been shut out since JFK/LBJ.
6
Bernie Sanders hit it out of the park last night on Fox News. So much so that I bet they will no longer invite Democrats on. The audience loved him
I think every democratic nominee should start begging for a chance to be on Fox. it is the best way to get the message across and then the candidates can discuss real immigration policy, medicare for all, changes to payday lenders and refinancing education loans
If this is what I think it is - I love it!
11
What sums up this up best is when Democratic Party financier Bernard Schwartz is quoted as stating, "he did us a disservice in the last election." In fact, as reenforced by this article, the Party and its Cabal of Clintonites did Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party and the entire country a disservice by stacking the deck against any Clinton challenger. Dominant in name recognition and in trust of Southern black voters, Clinton swept to the nomination with deficient understanding of her native Midwest. Sanders can and has gotten the support of industrial workers who threw the election to Trump. Asking for another mealy-mouthed politician with limited integrity is asking for another defeat, or a meaningless victory with regard to the status quo ante Trump. The article clearly shows that the rich are against the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party because they are afraid that a Sanders victory might actually portend the real change that the Democratic rank and file have been demanding but not getting for decades, e.g. universal health care, free college, progressive taxation, national infrastructure, and it might happen too with a Democratic House and Senate in 2021.
7
This article just points out why we need more than two parties. Bill Clinton moved the Dems so far to the right that the party is has become a slightly more moderate version of the Republican party. The result is a slightly watered down version of the Republicans' increasing antipathy against working people, unionization, medicare for all, gender and racial equality, etc., and increased alignment with corporate interests. This conservative posture crystalized with Hilary's secret campaign to marginalize Sanders, which of course helped us get our current version of King George III (without the charm). We need a new party, but for now, Sanders should be lauded for his attempt re-brand the Democrats as a party for the people, not JP Morgan or Exxon.
8
I support the comments here that denounce any actions against Sander's candidacy. Whether it's Bernie or Biden or Buttigeig or Harris or Warren or whomever, my ONLY goal with this election is to beat Trump and if Sanders proves to me that he can do it, then he unquestionably has my vote. Under "normal" election circumstances (whatever those might be) I would be looking primarily at the candidate's platform, but not this time. Beat Trump is my mantra and nothing else will get my vote.
3
I wonder how many more of us "little people" are going to be inspired by this article to donate yet another $27 to Sanders.
8
I contributed to Bernie's campaign in 2016. I did not agree with all of his ideas, but his stances on illegal immigration (he was against it) and gun control (he was not a rabid gun-grabber) appealed to me, and I thought he was a decent, good man. I was more than disillusioned by what the Democratic Party did to him, and I was disgusted when after it all came to light, he still spoke at the convention in favor of Hillary Clinton. I would like to have had my donation, meager as it was, back. So in November, my wife and I both came out of the polling place shaking our heads in disbelief that we had each just cast our vote for reality star Donald Trump. Now that 2.5 years have passed and we have seen what both Donald Trump and the Democrats have done in that period of time. In 2020, we will be voting for Donald Trump. He sometimes embarrasses us, and he sometimes makes us truly proud to be Americans. We support what he has done for Israel. We support what he has tried to accomplish to stem illegal immigration. We support how he has tried to destroy terrorist organizations and protect us. We support his efforts to bring decent jobs to the most impoverished areas of this country and to the areas with the poorest people. My wife and I are no longer sheepish, reluctant Trump voters. If the Democrats want to nominate a candidate to get me back, then they should rally behind Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii--but they will not because she is too much of a centrist.
1
Bernie's commitment to MLK's values of equality and nonviolence resonates with me tremendously.
7
Why is it the premise of this piece that somehow Bernie can't beat Trump? Medicare for All, $15 minimum wage and free public college education are somehow unattractive to Trump's white, working class voters? On what universe?
The missing element in this article's analysis is the amount of lobbyist money that funds -- insurance, pharma etc -- these Democrat 'liberals' and makes them averse to Sanders and indeed to the interest of most Democratic Party voters.
8
It's good the Times ran this piece because it represents a real phenomenon. The status quo, corporate democrats—and not only the status quo corporate Democrats—hate Bernie.
Speaking as Bernie-ite you can see their point. I don't see a place for David Brock in a Sanders—or a Warren— led Democratic Party. He will no doubt end up joining the Bloomberg/Hillary/David Brooks/David Frum Party which will likely arise out of the 2020 election regardless of the outcome. The time of the Clinton-ites and for that matter the Clinton-lite Obama-ites is at an end. The populist uprisings all over the world, not to the mention the rise of the young-save-the-planet environmentalists are not going to subside anytime soon.
The "establishment" is going to try and . . . reestablish order in the world if only to keep the status quo from crumbling and the Bloomberg/Clintonite/anti-Trump neo-con axis will no doubt decide that this thankless world historical task has fallen to them. And the New York Times, the Washington Post and NPR will no doubt support them in this. Hey, that's what friends are for.
8
Why am I not surprised that the democrats are at it again. The leadership of this party and many of its big money contributors don't get it yet that this country has been ready for a major change. Watching the horrendous income inequality, the substandard educational system, the lack of health care for all, you would think that the party would wake up and smell the roses.
Bernie has spoken to me since I first met him back in 1980, when he came to an antimilitary conference I was part of planning. Since then I have watched him from afar in California and when he got up to filibuster for 8 hours in 2010, the only one to do so against attacks on programs I cared about, I pointed at my TV and said out loud to him, BERNIE YOU NEED TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT. I supported him and worked for his campaign in 2016 and am already signed up to do the same now. The only candidate to speak truth to power, guess that now means the democrats with a small d. shame on them. Hope I am around to vote for him on March 3, 2020 in California. At 85, each day is a gift. GO BERNIE, WE NEED YOU NOW MORE THAN EVER.
7
"Agonizing?" Really? Perhaps. But why agonizing over a candidate who isn't afraid of speaking truth?
I watched Sanders provoke a Fox TV audience to cheering and clapping when a moderator thought they would do otherwise. The reason: Universal health insurance paid for by their Federal Government. Turns out the people wanted this. Sanders went on to explain how private-employer-provided health insurance can (and does) change from year-to-year and employer-to-employer with no guarantee it will be there or in the same format.
If Sanders continues telling average voters that their government should be providing for THEM (too); he will win. The beauty of a spry 77 year old presidential candidate is; he doesn't have to worry about re-branding for another election. He may even convince Trump voters (the elusive golden-eggs Democrats are obsessed with) that immigrants don't cause them any harm.
The rest of the Democratic pack- thus far are still trying to hone a message that "resonates" rather than telling folks the truth: That is, Jim Crow racism, bigotry and ignorance don't put food in the cupboards or tires on the car.
8
The Democratic Party will transform or die.
Rather than toe the line of the already zombie Democratic Party Establishment responsible for imposing corporatist Hillary Clinton and thus insuring the party's loss;
The Democratic Party must toe the line that the nation needs to overcome the madness stemming from refugee and terrorist creating regime change and continual war-mongering.
Russia played no significant role in the results of the 2016 elections and Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard must unite with Independents, Greens and Libertarians to put the United States back on track.
Otherwise it will soon meet the same fate as the now extinct Soviet Union.
6
I never thought I'd have to give the GOP credit for not playing politic with the people's choice. Their primary was a clown car, and the field whittled down quickly until only DJT was left. He wasn't the first, second or third choice of the party, but he won the primaries. DJT rode that populist wave to the White House.
Now... the DNC had a different strategy and it pains me to see that they haven't learned a lesson from the upset loss of Hillary. HRC was the chosen one...and all else was disdained, ridiculed and ignored. There were 300 super delegates pledged to her before the first primary! Anyhow...the 'safe, reasonable' choice 'won' the primary and it still rankles many of us. The disdain that HRC delegates had/has (it's still a thing) for Sanders supporters was intense.
The GOP held primaries, and DJT won...fair and square. No super delegates needed - or wanted. I think it's high time that the DNC took a lesson and backed who the people choose (in unobstructed/rigged) in the primaries. Example? Bernie WON all 55 counties in WV, yet the state democratic party declared a majority for HRC.
If the DNC wants to win back the White House, it would behoove them to listen to ALL the people, not just those that can afford $2800 a plate fundraisers, or lobbyists. And...scrap the super delegates, if 'your' candidate needs them to win, it's not a great victory.
7
Is it really Trump winning that has these wealthy dems worried or is it perhaps really about what they think Sanders would do as president that would effect their wealth and power?
The DNC decided early on that Clinton would be the nominee in 2016 and that didn't work out too well. I'm not sure if Bernie is the one to beat Trump but if the party looks like it's trying to pick the winner again, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with the same results and 4 more years of Trump.
7
One need only to watch Senator Sanders on C-Span wandering around the well of the Senate during votes to know that even if the "we the people" elect him, he will not have support of the majority of the elected Democrats in Washington. Sanders does not play well with others and that is why his accomplishments are so thin.
The Republicans are salivating at the prospect of having Sanders as the nominee, they've already got the opposition research lined up and ready to drop on his head and on the head of his wife who handles their finances and wrecked the finances of the college she ran. Add the #neverbernie crowd, Democrats who were screamed at and beat up by Bernie and his bros in the last election, Sanders will be facing an up hill battle on a mountain made of quicksand.
1
Bernie is the only one who can beat Trump and his henchmen.
Corporations are moving fast to support Democrats who will take their money in campaign funds (never want to lose an edge and will be calling the shots) and move against Bernie and his supporters and the American people to decide this government belongs to them...not "we the corporation".
Our Republic can't take much more of the corruption and the giving away of public tax monies for "corporate incentives" aka welfare for the rich; keep thousands of young people in debt with school loans they can't pay and then penalize their Social Security Retirement because of it; deprive our public schools of funding for so-called Charter schools tied to businesses nor universities who sacrifice research and truth for corporate sponsorship.
Read Sun's magazine article on interview with Ralph Nader. He hits the pin on the head. Corporate ownership of both parties prevent the American People from running their own governments.
Too many players in the Democratic nomination...one would think its a means to an end to take Bernie out using their own corporate contributors to finance the deal, why they are the same time believing their own rhetoric or their own egos not focusing on what is going on in their own districts or what bills and agendas are being passed without them there to fight for the people who elected them.
We need someone to lead the Democratic party against Citizen's United, Patriot Act and impeachment.
7
My takeaway from this article is that the Democratic Party elite would rather lose to Trump than to allow Senator Sanders to become the nominee. That is unacceptable. Maybe we should be putting these people like Pelosi and Schumer in fear mode by primarying them in 2020.
8
If the Democratic Party and old-time cadre party hacks had not ABANDONED the working/middle class the past few decades, they might have had a shred of credibility at one point. It is THEIR neoliberalism that has brought us where we are today, considering their significant role abetting the largest transfer of wealth ever. Oh, don't let me forget MSM and their own participation that has resulted in the travesty of our time.
Sanders has support across the spectrum, Dems, Repubs, Independents alike. He won virtually every poll in 2016 against Clinton AND Trump.
SIT DOWN.
8
While we don't know if Bernie could have beaten Trump, we know that the candidate these wealthy donors supported and coronated LOST.
If they want to influence politics with their $$$, they should join the GOP. The Democratic Party is about the people and should return to the people.
7
"immune to intimidation or incentive"
sounds good to me
4
This column has certainly generated a lot of comments. If the Demo establishment wants to derail Bernie, then we have to stop them. The Demo establishment doesn't have a very good track record for winning elections, and needs to be replaced. Democrats without solutions to our nations problems won't help us.
5
I have an original idea to stop Bernie Sanders. Let the party's favored candidate meet in secret with the head of the DNC to make sure Bernie's bid is thwarted at every turn. Oh wait..... my friend is telling me that actually Hillary Clinton and Wasserman did that. And he also said it didn't work and that he actually lost faith in the Democratic Party as a result. Well, they can do it again.... if their goal is to get Trump re-elected.
5
Anyone but Bernie. I am sure he remembers the personal attack campaign.
3
Contributions data for the first quarter have come in;
Phew! Mr. Trump leads the pack, at $ 30 million going in;
But a reading between the lines merits a different readin';
Pack of Democrats are leading Trumplicans by a wide margin.
45 million in total for all D's as against $ 30 millions for Mr. T;
T's haul is from large donors: that's not where D's want to be.
An upside there: that needs to be unpacked, laid out thick.
That done, and it's time to move to next point, cool and quick.
Dems will never beat Trump/GOP if they are for ever divided;
They must compete and collaborate by turns, as if inspired;
Like M'soft and Apple, bitter rivals, who fought common foe;
The Dem rivals must evolve Trump-denying co-working mojo.
Oppo-research, Web-based content exposing T's weak spots.
Will be corraled, collated and published as free online 'shots'.
For example, Comey's biography has explosive material;
The voters need to be exposed next year to that material;
This is especially true of the white voters in swings states;
Such material needs to be digitally targeted by operatives;
All this will need an agreed execution of an astute plan;
All the D campaigns MUST jointly conceive such a plan.
For God's sake, Democratic candidates, don't just compete;
Have the confidence to also agree to collaborate;
For sure you'll need an army of volunteers and a full head of steam;
Count upon me as such a volunteer, when you eject that scream.
2
Why can’t democrats pull together? If Bernie is the front runner, vote for Bernie. Please, please don’t give us 4 more years of Trump, with foolish infighting. Learn from Republicans, most of them likely hate Trump. But you don’t know it. Stand together, whomever the nominee is.
2
These same corporate democrats made the decision in 2016 to take the chance at losing to Trump rather than losing to Bernie, because when it really comes down to it, their interests are more aligned with Trump. For whatever meddling that Russia did to help Trump, the DNC and its corporate backers deserve far more blame for getting him in the White House. If the establishment democrats try again to sabotage Bernie they will lose badly, and they'll probably never win another election again. People don't want another Hilary or Joe Biden type "centrist" who will barely even pay lip service to progressive ideas while letting Wall street and big business rape and pillage our country and its resources.
6
I'm a huge Bernie fan. I will, however, wait for the primaries to thin out the crowd. The eventual winner should have no problem beating trump. IF we support the winner, and don't sabotage her or him.
And people RESENTFUL of Bernie?! HE was trashed by the DNC.
5
In their firm adherence to neoliberalism the dems are doing exactly what the reps do...putting party before country. KNOCK IT OFF! Bernie is the only candidate with the track record and the plan to get things heading in a better direction. The rest are neophyte's or neoliberals.
4
Why try to stop his candidacy? Do these comfortable establishment Democrats not support his platform - which is hardly "radical?" Why not help him win the Presidency and have a genuinely pro-people person in the white House?
Climate Change is our number one challenge - why not work together with Bernie people (of whom I am one) towards ACTIONS to slow down what's coming right at us? Is petty petulance at Hillary's (deserved) loss going to last forever, ruining the Democratic party and splitting it asunder?
If they work hard enough at it and nominate someone inferior to Senator Sanders just because they don't like Sanders - - someone like Joe Biden - - Democrats will lose and we'll have 4 more years of Trump! Enough time for Trump to destroy much more of our country.
Hillary lost - for Pete's sake, get over it and let's move forward together towards a saner, more peaceful world - - or just get out of the way and let us do the work ourselves with Bernie's help.
3
This nation is badly divided, and needs a President who is a unifier. Could that be Bernie? Call me skeptical.
1
Bernie and the Russians helped elect Trump. Now he seems bent on reelecting Trump.
6
Nope. Hillary helped elect Trump. Sanders would have beaten him.
4
Those of us in the Democratic Party who were out there knocking on doors in 2018 know where the energy in the party is, and it's not with the Clintonistas. Enough with the search for a candidate who's safe enough for Wall Street. We're at a pivot moment in American history after 40 years of the mindless destruction of the Reagan era. This moment has to belong to the generation that's coming into it's own, not to the Party hacks and big donor base who handed the Presidency to Individual 1 by insisting on their unpopular candidate because, well, it was "her turn". It's telling that the enthusiasm the Sanders candidacy generates is so frightening to the likes of David Brock and Leah Daughtry. It's exhilarating for the rest of us.
11
To David Brock: Isn't that the headline already? Rich people don't like Bernie Sanders. The Democratic establishment clearly doesn't like him either. Otherwise closed door strategy meetings with wealthy donors wouldn't be discussing the wisdom of an anti-Sanders campaign. Rich people aren't withholding donations because they like Sanders. They are withholding donation because they know putting a finger on the scale will backfire just like it did in 2016.
The surreal thing about all this is Ghost-of-Clinton Democrats are projecting exactly their own faults onto the Sanders campaign. Sanders has a very real chance of winning the nomination. However, his best chance of winning the general election is an all-in blitz against the Republican political apparatus and the right-wing media. Clinton Democrats are actively undermining this effort just like they did in 2016. If anyone gets Trump re-elected, it's going to be the Clinton era hangover again.
There are plenty of moderate candidates in the field. If you like one, vote for one. Donate your money to that person. Otherwise be quiet and let the primary run its course. R.T. Rybak is absolutely right. Campaigning against a candidate. is a sure fire way to lose the election. You'd think these people would learn from their mistakes. Instead, they just want things their way again. When remember when you go to the polls, you have David Brock and all the others to thank for the Trump administration.
15
Can Bernie carry the swing states in the general election? That's what I'll need to know when I vote in the primary. So, Bernie, don't just woo Democrats. Show you can win over others, and that'll convince Democrats like me.
6
@Ilya Shlyakhter, yes Bernie can cary the swing states. He is an independent who speaks their language. Great advantage for the democrats to have someone like Bernie who feels the pulse.
1
@Ilya Shlyakhter
I think he showed that yesterday when he won over Fox News supporters!
2
@Ilya Shlyakhter
Ilya,
Please read this and see if it helps you!
Bernie Sanders draws enthusiastic cheers in surprising Fox News town hall
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/16/bernie-sanders-draws-enthusiastic-cheers-in-surprising-fox-news-town-hall?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
3
"But such outreach matters little to many democrats, especially donors and party officials, who are growing more alarmed" at the prospect that the Sanders campaign might do real politics and mobilize ordinary people, who will massively enlarge the voter turnout and swamp the conservative monopoly of political power in the USA.
The Democrats want to mobilize their base only enough to ensure the election of the conservative ("centrist") politicians they favor. Pushing voter turnout to the levels of other countries would mean the end to the monopoly of power.
9
There are two very simple but effective traps that the Republicans have set for the Democrats: 1. Say over and over that Democrats are for open borders, 2. Say over and over that Democrats are socialists. Unless the Democratic nominee has a counter to these points, the swing voters in the heartland will stay with the GOP. Sanders can never overcome his socialist tag.
12
The answer is simple, Bernie isn’t a Democrat. Either join the party or run as a Independent. The mistake we made the last time was to ignore that.
9
@Michael
"Answer is simple" ... to what question? Presumably "how best to ensure Trump's re-election?"
Sanders' "join(ing) the party" contributes zero. Meanwhile his "run(ning)" as an Independent splits the Democratic ticket. Recall Ralph Nader. Also, Ross Perot.
The mistake made last time was allowing the Democratic party to kowtow to HRC, an uninspired, ill-prepared, and overconfident candidate.
Let the voters decide!
@Ann
Bernie is already a spoiler in the likes of Ralph Nader. His back biting and lack of support got Trump elected. He’s either a Democrat or he’s not.
Did the Democrats learn nothing from 2016? Obama won on Hope and Change and after 8 years enough voters felt that in many respects he was rather more of the same. With Trump and Bernie polling as they were it was clear that people wanted anything but. Yet the brain trust at the DNC did all they could to nominate the through-and-through establishment candidate Clinton. Don't make the same mistake again.
12
Predictions are dangerous, but here is mine for today:
1. Biden will jump in the race in the next couple weeks. It will be the best day of his campaign as the enormous amount of baggage he is carrying becomes increasingly apparent to more voters. Slowly but surely his present lead in the polls will diminish.
2. Sanders will win or place second in every state primary or caucus, winning a solid plurality of delegates with Biden, Harris, Beto and Buttigieg dividing up the rest.
3. The Wall Street Democrats described in this article will continue to scheme and plot with the intention of coaxing the third, fourth and fifth place candidates to throw their support and accumulated delegates to the number two candidate (probably Biden or Harris) in order to "Stop Bernie!" They will in this manner eventually accumulate enough delegates behind one or another of the pro-corporate candidates to make it impossible for Bernie to win an outright majority of the delegates.
4. They will then clamor for Bernie to withdraw and "unite" behind the number two candidate and denounce him for being divisive when he insists on contesting all of the primaries so that all of the voters have a chance to be heard.
5. In spite of all this, Bernie will endorse the final nominee and campaign hard for them in key swing states that he won in the primaries.
6. When the nominee loses to Trump, Bernie will be blamed for having "divided the party."
15
I gave another $27 to Bernie after reading this article. The money/establishment Dems should be ashamed of themselves.
23
Bernie is the Democratic Trump. Our electoral system is badly broken.
What I really want to know is who bought Bernie’s book to make him a millionaire. It’s not a best seller on Amazon.
7
For years I’ve thought that the Democratic Party had become way more concerned with donors than voters, and was in fact pretty smug about it and treated anyone who raised the issue as naive. Sad to see that they have not changed one bit.
7
Do not mess around with the democratic process for electing our candidate. No tricks, no hatch pieces. We are not Republicans.
5
We will never get the corrupt Wasserman-Schultz and billionaire-donor Dems. They don't want to redress inequality. Those people we just have to isolate.
11
I am not super-wealthy but I don’t support Bernie. He is an anathema to many Americans and can’t beat tRump. Can’t we walk the middle again with competency and reasonableness? Go Joe Go!
6
@Steve Cohen Wasn't that tried with Clinton?
1
It's way too early for all of this.
3
Many who loathe him are not "corporate" democrats, or "establishment" democrats, but simply, democrats. Yes, I blame him for contributing to Trump's win.
In general, I agree with him on the issues, but I also dislike him and think he is an ineffective leader. Yelling is not leadership. What has he accomplished in all his years? And who has done more than he to fracture and weaken the democratic party, which he is too pure to join and cares nothing about, but which also happens to be the one flimsy tissue dividing us from out-and-out fascism?
Any of the other declared candidates (of those who have actually held an elected office) would be better.
9
Bernie is the right person at the right time. He's the perfect antidote to Trump.
10
What a shame that Democrats are devouring one of their own. They should focus their anxiety and anger on the Republicans, not on Bernie Sanders. Sanders is the one who can win the presidency for the Democratic party. Haven't we learned anything from the Hilary Clinton fiasco? Moderation and intimacy with wealthy power brokers is NOT what the public wants now. They want someone who consistently speaks from the heart and inspires, as Bernie does.
6
If Sanders distanced himself from the “Bernie Bros” who either sat out the last election or voted for Trump and actually joined the party a yellow dog Democrat, such as myself might vote for him. Right now Harris and mayor Pete are our most likely front runners, who have held office and can win over the both the left, center and right.
Rich Dems like Trump’s tax cuts.
6
We now know Bernie has joined the 1%. Bernie has told us that if we write a bestseller we too can be millionaires. Awfully capitalist of him! I can see the anti-Bernie ads now.
2
The "Democratic Establishment" is worried about Bernie Sanders' momentum? Good!
9
The Clinton legacy is mass incarceration and the eradication of FDR's assistance program for hungry families. At a time when kleptocracy, plutocracy, and oligarchy rule, the Clinton agenda is deeply reactionary and not at all redistributive. So, with the Clintons the poor get handouts rather than full employment and justice for all.
Feudal inequality means we should tax wealth and order comprehensive sanctions against countries acitively colllaborating with plutocrats who lie and cheat, starving their native land.
If you steal ten bucks, you go to jail. If you steal $10billion you're a hero capitalist. Every day the kleptocrats destroy the underlying democratic promise of an America for all, not a Macao for the malefactors of great wealth.
Restore the U.S. as a democratic leader with Bernie now and Bernieism for a decade with the Green New Deal, universal health care, free higher education, a child benefit sufficient to end child poverty, full employment through infrastructure development with a job guarantee for all the jobless.
8
Mr Broome, all the things you mentionned are already reality for a long time in many countries in Western Europe and Scandinavia, all while maintaining free entreprise.
The catch is, to pay for all the free (or nearly free) universal healthcare, free higher education and robust social safety net etc, the income tax rate and social taxes will be very high. Not only for the high income, but for everyone even on its lowest brackets.
No system is perfect.
Unless I’m mistaken, this is what Senator Sanders has in mind.
Would you and all American voters agree to this high tax rate?
Agonizing instead of ameliorating is a waste of time.
For one thing, Sanders is why the nation now has Trump, instead of the most qualified person to run for the presidency over the last 50 years. For another, the Democratic Party has yet to prohibit a devious, opportunist huckster gaming the system while openly STILL declaring intense ridicule, if not hatred, of the party he steals from and harms.
1
It's astounding to me that Democratic party officials and strategists are openly talking about how dismayed and agitated they are that one particular candidate is leading the race. They are literally saying that they oppose a particular nominee. How is this fair or ethical? Do they not see that they are, once again, tipping the scale? I've never seen such open opposition, at such an early stage, within the party establishment to an individual seeking the nomination--an individual who won 43% of the vote last time around, no less! Does anyone else not see how disgustingly corrupt this is?
9
First, Thank you for the reminder that it's time for me to send Bernie another contribution.
Second, The article uses generalizations and ill-defined terms to lead the reader toward discounting Sanders. For instance, it considers elite, super wealthy Democrats as identical to "mainstream Democrats." Once again, it calls Sanders an "avowed socialist," when Bernie's lack of extremism is clear: he has never voiced an interest in changing the means of production. The NYT could easily explain this; instead it intentionally misleads. I have to wonder how Jonathan Martin ended up in "a closed-door gathering of about 100 wealthy liberal donors." These tiny, privileged group meetings in a handful of "cloakrooms" across the country in no way represent the views of a multitude of progressive Americans. Will we ever see anything approaching unbiased coverage of Sanders here, or views that represent the interests of the majority Americans? Doubtful. But that won't stop us.
12
Bernie had little to nothing to do with Clinton losing in 2016.
Imagine if Clinton had visited Wisconsin once?
Clinton, Rattner, Schwartz and their ilk are merely 1% who like to fan the flames of fear and intrigue.
They are merely the other side of the same Trump coin when it comes to our country.
8
Why would anyone on the Left listen to the likes of David Brock, a long-term self-described "right wing hitman" who claims to have somehow seen the light when he switched sides?
David Brock is the kind of "operative" that gives Democrats a bad name -- the kind that would advise the Democratic presidential nominee to trot from one Goldman Sachs fundraiser to the next, without ever bothering to stop and speak to Democratic base voters in Michigan and (ahem) Wisconsin.
The mere mention of this purveyor of "poisonous politics," a "darling of millionaires and billionaires" (to quote Robert Borosage) has convinced me that I need to go write Bernie a check RIGHT NOW.
323
@Frank F
Very well put, Frank.
12
@Frank F
For sure, the leopard doesn't change his spots. Brock is a toxic human being.
12
@Frank F Brock jumped ship a long time ago. It took something as outrageous as Trump to motivate the current crew of Republican deserters.
3
I supported Sanders in '16, but am uncommitted in '20. However, I think any 'stop Sanders' effort will ultimately hurt our chances in the general vs Trump. In response to this foolery, I will now be donating to the Sanders campaign.
8
Last Saturday I had dinner with a very good friend, successful retired businessman, well-educated. Thinking about candidates, my friend said a candidate has to be exciting, regardless of how articulate, well-intentioned, intelligent, etc. s/he is. I demurred, pointing out the excellence of Mayor Pete B. My friend was unmoved.
Then this morning I heard long discussion, and excerpts, from Sanders' town hall broadcast on Fox. I listened carefully to Bernie's comments and answers to hard questions.
BERNIE IS THE REAL DEAL. He knows what to say and how to say it. He got applause from the audience of this Fox event - OK there were Democrats there too.
But he has a message which is consistent with his entire career. He delivers it with energy.
And please - "Social Democrat" is not Socialist - as this article seems to erroneously suggest.
A candidate who can excite the voters - who will certainly stand up to Trump in debates and expose him as the calamity he is.
11
You can bet that the Republicans and the right-wing propaganda machine won't do anything to attack Bernie in the primaries, and as they did (along with the Russians) will give him an occasional assist. It's already started. Did anyone else notice that the audience at the Fox News Bernie show was packed with Bernie supporters? I haven't been to any canape-filled fund-raisers, but I think Bernie will be buried by the propaganda machine if he gets the nomination. They kept their hands off in 2016, but they won't do that if he is the Democratic Socialist running as a Democrat in 2020. And they are very good at what they do.
2
@jas2200
Filled with Bernie supporters? Did you card them at the door? The plot thickens.
@RAC: They cheered everything he said. Do you think they were the usual Fox viewers?
1
"“He did us a disservice in the last election,” said Mr. Schwartz, a longtime Clinton supporter" (elsewhere in the artivle described as a "longtime party financier").
The levels of entitlement, self-satisfaction and blindness here are beyond parody, really. "A disservice?" By having the temerity to run against Hillary, I take it (notwithstanding that he campaigned across the country for her in the general, as she herself noted in What Happened?). Or perhaps by staking out "radical" positions - for example that healthcare is a human right not an earned privilege - that are universally accepted in all other developed nations, but are unacceptable to the donor class?
Bernie is in my view (and I'm not a US citizen, so my opinion is just that) far from an ideal standard bearer for a progressive Democratic platform: too old, not readily connecting with voters of colour, etc. But guess what? The best/perfect need not and shouldn't be the enemy of the good. What I do know is that the Democratic establishment has failed, time and again, to take the fight to the Republicans and match their boundless malice with impassioned, uncompromised principle. Bernie would do that and anyone who fears that, whether they support him or not, is in the wrong party.
7
The solution to this problem is simple. Rally behind Sanders sooner, rather than later and go on to beat Trump. Big donor interests need to take a back burner in the Dem party after having run the party and nation into the ground over the last 30 years.
10
I think if the Democrats continue to plot against Bernie all they will succeed in doing is alienating millions of young voters and people like me that love Bernie simply because he has been fighting for a Single Payer Healthcare System forever. If the Democrats refuse to embrace Bernie they should at least support Medicare for All. As we saw in the FOX town hall with Senator Sanders even FOX viewers are tired of our unsustainable, cruel insurance based healthcare system.
15
Did the Democrats learn nothing from 2016? Obama won on Hope and Change and after 8 years enough voters felt that in many respects he was rather more of the same. With Trump and Bernie polling as they were it was clear that people wanted anything but. Yet the brain trust at the DNC did all they could to nominate the through-and-through establishment candidate Clinton. Don't make the same mistake again.
7
Good for Bernie. He should fight back against the corporate forces within the Democratic Party whose chief aim is to prevent the increase of taxation on the wealthy.
11
I have always liked what Bernie stands for, no one else in all of my life has stood for what I have believed since the 60s.
But I believe it was Bernie-ites that helped Trump get elected when they went off in a hissy fit that did no one any good.
Fox News open meeting the other night opened my eyes big time: so many people supported Bernie's idea of Medicare for all, maybe I am missing something here.
Bernie is connecting with the right?
I will not cry a single tear if Bernie becomes president, to the contrary, I will be as happy and as hopefull for America as I have never been.
5
I'm not "agonizing" over anything. I'm just not going to vote for him in the primary. If he wins the primary, I'll vote for him in the general. Pretty simple, with absolutely zero angst.
4
I'm old and retired. Am I supposed to vote for a man who wants to diminish my life savings? Even if I am supposed to, I won't.
3
Nothing about the policies Sanders promotes endangers your life savings -- unless, of course, your "savings" are monstrously large, beyond the needs or decent desires of any individual or family.
If you are that rich, and you care more about your personal wealth than about the well-being of our nation and communities, well . . . I guess we'll have to live without your vote.
2
Bernie Sanders is a full politician. He is interested in appealing to his potential voters even at the cost of other demographics. That is why he is so not practical for some and sensational to others. He divided the Democratic Party pushed it to become extremist just like the Trump party. I am not voting for this hypocrite but may change my mind if he stops playing a victim and say he is the revolution.
>>> "He is interested in appealing to his potential voters even at the cost of other demographics."
Isn't that more or less how elections work?
If the Democrats even appear as if they're eyeing the prospect of tipping the scale again, we will have trump in 2020. They've so adamantly embraced the idea of moderation and gradualism that they've forgotten their roots as the party of labor, the working class, and common sense. When you try to "meet in the middle" with a Republican party that continues to shift right, the "middle" becomes the right; this is barely second-year social psychology. The Democratic party needs to talk to sociologists and social psychologists that can explain the rift in the party, the cognitive processes on a macro and micro scale, and what may appear to be "radicalization", but is, in reality, a macro-level correction of the anchoring heuristic. In addition, articles like this reinforce the assumption that their daily interactions consist of individuals not making less than $100,000 a year (have they even met someone making less than $20,000? There's plenty of us). Understanding that will allow them to combat their own cognitive biases.
7
These mainstream establishment Democratic opponents of Bernie, are mainly those Clinton supporters, who worked in 2016 to finesse Hillary's nomination. Where did that get them, a losing candidate. The lesson of Trump is that people wanted someone out of Democratic Republican mold, there was no Bernie on the ticket, so they chose Trump. I think many of those are not happy with that choice. They are ready for health care for all, support middle class, change the system kind of guy, with lots of legislative experience. He has been preaching this for a long time, and how much of that is now mainstream? Go Bernie!!
6
The "establishment" Democrats are concerned that Bernie's "socialist" agenda will hand Trump another victory?
I'd wager they are far more frightened of the prospect of him actually beating Trump....
7
When will we realize that the "super wealthy liberal" Democrats are just Republicans. Bernie in 2020, or Trump for another four years. No one will coalesce behind any of the other stale-bread candidates.
5
I'm a lifelong Democrat who has become disgusted with the manipulation and poor direction foisted on us Dems for so long by the party machine. Bernie is hugely popular first and foremost because of his positions on major issues such as health care, and because of his smarts, likability and integrity.
To Debbie Stabenow and other vestiges of the disastrous Clinton campaign: Please steer clear of underhandedness this time around! Negativism about Bernie will get the Democrats nowhere. Just let the momentum build and build, and Bernie will win.
Go Bernie!
10
Oh the irony! An article about the Democratic establishment plotting how to stop the Medicare-for-All candidate who will raise their taxes without seeming to be the Democratic establishment plotting how to stop the Medicare-for-All candidate who will raise their taxes.
6
Go Bernie! Heard he did very well at the Fox Town Hall, of all places. So, goodbye health insurance companies, and Big Pharma, get used to the idea of collective bargaining. Hello hassle-free health care! Hello living wages, adequate Social Security, etc. Hello happiness!
Establishment Dems: Will you and your sponsors just get out the way? You got Trump elected. You really want another four years of him?
7
It takes a shocking amount of hubris to try to blame Bernie for Hillary’s loss. The same people arguing 4 years ago that we will lose if we don’t nominate Hillary are now arguing we will lose if we nominate Sanders. It seems like they are less worried about actually winning elections as much as they worried about the corrupt system they benefit from being actually changed.
7
...said David Brock, the liberal organizer," Brock is as poisonous as O'Bannon and anyone associating with him or his 'organizations' taints themselves. "Establishment Democrats" is the brain trust that connived to have Trump be the Republican nominee because he was the most 'beatable'. If one judgment disqualifies, that's the one. "Establishment Democrats" channeling Tom Foley, simply don't get that their ideas are over. Their time is over. If they want to become the new Republican Party they should do that. They might be decent Eisenhower Republicans, Clinton II was a child and never truly changed, simply feigned position changes in pursuit of a career. A career littered with U-turns on "positions". Sanders is the new-updated FDR who reverses Reagan who reversed FDR. It is time for a reversal. Clintonism is, and always was, mere grifterism or careerism, politics as an investment, not politics as a pursuit of a just society and Trump is the simply, in Islamic terms, "the seal of the grifters" Brock as a quoted source tells us enough about the authors to place them not on the "watch list" but on the "no need bother to read list".
4
Bernie is not a Dem, he is too old (Biden as well), is the Republican party's choice for the Dem nominee (also Russia's).
He should not have been allowed to run as a Dem yet again.
Sanders was let off lightly in 2016 and needs to be thoroughly vetted this time around. If Sanders ends up the nominee then Trump wins.
4
I agree, Bernie is the most pro gun candidate and refuses to go after the NRA. If he was fully vetted the way he voted against the Sandy Hook parents and his lame excuse of being from a rural state would come out. His time is long over. We have so many great candidates running as actual Democrats to choose from in 2020.
Until now I've felt relatively open minded about the primary process and willing to support a number of the contenders. But if the fat cats attack Bernie, I will definitely give him my vote and support. The Democratic "establishment" needs to stay on the sidelines and let the voters pick the candidate. A repeat of the nonsense they engaged in during 2016 (which, by the way, gave us the weaker candidate) will ensure we lose in 2020.
6
@Andy Dwyer
You might as well support him now because the attacks are already happening. Most of them will come from the corporate media rather than from other candidates, though we should expect a slander a week from their proxies. The fat cats themselves will say nothing and let CNN and MSNBC amplify the outrageous nonsense of pundits and thinktank hacks in their 24-hour echo chambers.
Polling consistently shows that Bernie is most popular among African Americans, women and low-income voters but you can be sure that for the next 18 months Chris Cilliza and Rachel Maddow will be interviewing all of their "expert" friends to tell us that the opposite is true.
Beltway hacks who get their money from Gulf monarchies and health insurance and pharmaceutical companies will denounce Bernie on Twitter as insufficiently woke for failing to respond or respond forcefully enough to this week's idiotic statement by some celebrity your teenage kid only learned about two weeks ago. These denunciations will be treated as newsworthy by CNN and assorted panels of other corporate tools will discuss them ad nauseum until another scandal can be ginned up.
Democrats need to wake up to the fact that Sanders is already defeated.
The DNC got burned last time when DWS announced early the intent to give Hillary all the Super Delegates, thus making the race a mere show, since the winner was chosen well in advance.
This time the DNC is not going to be that dumb.
They have already decided the winner; the noise and ‘race’, a smoke screen to hide the actual winner who will magically get the Super Delegates on Super Tuesday.
By all indicators it will be Joe Bidden.
The rest is smoke and mirrors to distract the enemy, to confuse the field as they make their move.
Interesting how the GOP is not taking the bait, they will continue quoting Omar, AOC and the rest of the loonies endlessly, saving money and strength until the real champion is announced, then go all out to discredit Joe Bidden when he gets the nomination.
If I can see this, the GOP can see this, and the DNC must be real nervous regular people are aware of their plan.
@AutumnLeaf
And Biden will be ridiculously easy to discredit. All it will take is to cast Good Ole Joe as a middle school principal and the women and girls he has pawed as teachers and students. The pictures speak for themselves. How long would Joe last as principal, behaving like that ? Would he even be able to get re-hired as school custodian ? (Doubtful)
Not to mention all the perks he sent his son Hunter's way, by leveraging his VP status. How exactly did Hunter end up on the board of Ukraine's Burisma, anyway? Inquiring minds want to know !
Nevertheless, I agree that Joe seems to be The Chosen One. I have been noncommittal so far but am on the verge of ordering a "Still Feeling the Bern" t-shirt.
I'm not a big Bernie fan. Yet. In my view, the Democrats have no choice but to let this play out and let the primary voters decide. If the DNC is seen once again as trying to rig things, they're going to lose again. Make no mistake - if Bernie is seen as having been sabotaged, Trump will use it to suppress the democratic vote.
Just sit back and stop trying to figure out who can and cannot beat Trump. According to many, including my brother in MI, Bernie would have beaten Trump in 2016.
So - just stop it.
371
@JMM Agree completely. The more the wealthy Dems try to interfere, the worse it will turn out in the general election. Shall we call them the party wing of slow learners?
25
@JMM
The Donor Establishment Democrats whine that Bernie's lack of support cost their really lousy candidate Hillary her coronation as President.
Those Democrats should remember that 25% of Hillary supporters voted for McCain in 2008.
Only about 12% of Bernie supporters voted for Trump.https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/24/16194086/bernie-trump-voters-study
And here's some more context: about 13% of all Trump voters cast a ballot for Obama in 2012. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_geoffrey_skelley/
President Bernie Sanders 2020!
28
@Lucy Cooke He's too old. I'll only vote for Bernie if he's the nominee.
2
Let him shine, let him shine, let him shine. Support those candidates, each universally imperfect, who are best equipped to implement the essential ideas and transformative goals each of us feels are needed to become a “more perfect union”. Again this campaign season, many of Bernie’s ideals are chorused by other candidates, some with viable policy proposals; again, my preference right now is for one of those candidates who happens to be a woman (and this too is compelling to me). Let Joe, the other old white man, shine, too; both have legacies with some honor and viability, and ideas that transcend generations. Both of these men, and other elders, will continue to influence our outlook, but I think neither is the force to navigate the future nor able to motivate and lift the spectrum of our dynamic, demanding, and currently degraded diversity. People are learning again that opportunity and possibility require our own wise choices; many distinct voices and visions should be heard, some amplified, but journalistic promotion of petty sniping is not constructive. I suggest more coverage of the actual policy proposals of the candidates, with reporting of their (however compromised) success in implementation of their ideas into the process and practice of governance.
2
I personally am not too interested in Bernie, but I will definitely vote for him if he wins the nomination.
As should we all.
10
The Establishment went with someone on the Right of the party last time. She lost, despite huge advantages for Democrats (much more cash, the support of the majority of mainstream media, a good economy, low unemployment, a popular President backing her, a rival with high disapproval ratings). Perhaps it's time for the Democrats to try a genuine left-wing candidate, for the first time in a very long time?
13
1972 is calling... if Trump is the next Nixon then he is in for one heck of a victory in 2020 just like Nixon in 1972.
1
That is a losing strategy. Always has been. Name the last truly liberal Democratic president. That’s right; FDR. How is that a winning strategy.
1
The great thing about 2016 is that we learned a lot about how the DNC, corporate democrats, their owners, and supporters operate - thanks in large part to Julian Assange.
This article, along with recent actions from the Center for American Progress, surfaced evidence of how the DNC and its supporters continue to coordinate a campaign against Sanders despite the promises they made.
Unlike 2016 though, Bernie Sanders and his supporters are ready for them on a whole other level.
13
Of course I will vote for the Democratic nominee, but I fear Bernie is not the one to beat Trump. He is too easily characterized as a crazy New Yorker who ran to Vermont to escape big, urban issues.
He has not been "vetted", meaning dragged through the dirt like Hillary was. He doesn't have the thick skin and ability to forgive idiots so necessary to get legislation through the Congress. He's already fighting with the Center for American Progress because they have not followed in on the Bernie Bot Parade. Sorry but he's not the one to take down Trump and work with McConnell's henchmen.
9
@d2edge "Work with McConnell"?
David Brock? The same David Brock who apologized to Bernie for his low blow treatment of Bernie in 2015/2016? That David Brock? Lol
7
Dear Democratic Party,
The only reason we got Trump is because you shoveled Hillary Clinton down our throats in 2016 by stealing the nomination from Bernie Sanders.
Would you like us to have other four years of Trump? If so, you're well on your way!
If you dare to steal the nomination from Sanders again, I'll give you other four years of Trump as I did in 2016.
A Bernie Bro!
10
New York Times: Stop it! Stop it now! Here we go again right down the same vapid rabbit hole you took us down in 2016 with your emphasis on the horse race and no coverage of the issues. This story is the perfect example of the New York Times wasting our energy, and clouding our focus with a completely irrelevant story that takes nobody anywhere. I'm sick of reading about political infighting, people eating salads with combs, and the inexplicable mystique factor of this candidate or that. Can you please report on the issues and candidate positions on them. We don't need any more stories like this. Thank you.
29
@Ken
I agree with you, however, the NYTimes is in the business of selling papers. Sadly, this is what sells these days.
@Ken
Here is why we will win!
Bernie Sanders draws enthusiastic cheers in surprising Fox News town hall
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/16/bernie-sanders-draws-enthusiastic-cheers-in-surprising-fox-news-town-hall?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
4
@Ken exactly what Bernie said on Fox News! Present and have people vote on the issues, not on the personality identity politics. Bravo Ken!
1
Wow, people are really mad. About everything. Just throwin' that out there.
5
Sanders is no more than the liberal's Trump. He's old, mean and angry with limited substance other hot air. He's wife bankrupted a small Vermont college and most Vermonters know Sander MO is to gather support with promises and then proceed on his own agenda. Neither side needs another blow hard narcissist! He is the reason we have Trump now. Please make him stop.
9
We should just give Hillary, Robbie Mook and David Brock a BILLION DOLLARS of corporate-based campaign funding and have them beat Trump at the ballot box
Oh, wait...
4
"Bernie Sanders believes the most critical mission we have before us is to defeat Donald Trump,” said Faiz Shakir, Mr. Sanders’s campaign manager. YEAH RIGHT!!
The most critical mission for Bernie Sanders is Bernie Sanders. Naive followers of his are the only ones who think otherwise. Everyone else who has paid attention to politics for more than 2 or 3 years know he is a politician first and a Democrat second.
No troll, no Russian, just a level-headed unaffiliated voter who witnessed Sanders assist Trump in winning the presidency. His ego and his arrogance knows no bounds.
#neverbernie #nevereverbernie
6
I wondered how the Ds would manage to screw up 202O. Worrying about Sanders instead of Trump is a monumental miscalculation.
I’m feeling the Bern and the useless DCC better not get in the way,
10
... Again the Democrats are preparing themselves for a big loss.. They can't seem to allow an open campaign & debate of ideas.. They are opposed to the democratic process of letting the voters decide who is the candidate.
..--Some want to stop Biden, others want to stop Sanders, etc etc.. what's democratic about that.??? ..---& Trump's odds are improving...--
6
I'm looking beyond the "win" in 2020. IF Trump wins and carries the House and Senate, we'll get a lot accomplished. IF Bernie wins, he'll have a very difficult time getting anything done. Most of the Dems in Congress will sabotage him just like they do to Trump. If Shultz runs and wins, the Dems will make life hell for him, too. As I watch the Dems continue to vilify Trump and as I watch them NOT getting anything done for us, I'm convinced they should not win the WH and should slowly be put out of business. They are professional obstructionists and unless they get their way, they will obstruct. What has happened to my party?
2
@J. G. Smith
You look at the behavior of our two political parties and you see the Democrats as the professional obstructionists!? All politicians have a duty to stand in the way of destructive anti american policy such as Trump's. What the Republicans did for eight years was obstruct efforts to recover from economic crisis, better our healthcare system and protect our planet.
I want the right things getting done. That doesn't include a short sighted anti immigrant agenda, the rolling back of necessary regulations, or stacking the courts with radicals. If Democrats can obstruct actions like those they will be in the right.
1
I have been a Democrat my whole life (and I might add that's WAY longer than Bernie). If BS wins the nomination, I will leave the party. My dislike for him has little to do with policy, it's about temperament. He is a populist demagogue, with a cult like following. He already have one in the White House.
5
By the way, there's this thing called "The Internet," which is available to anyone with an internet connection. Bernie is already using this hilariously inept hit piece to raise funds to combat MSM's attempts to defeat him. He'll probably set a new one-day record for fundraising. Thanks, New York Times! : - )
3
@Peter
Yup ! email was in my inbox this morning. Gotta love it.
We need good old American Social-Capitalists, like Bernie, to turn the unsafe "Greed tide" of right wing Vulture capitalistism away.
4
Last night Sanders had a Fox audience cheering a living wage, medicare for all and higher taxes on millionaires. So far, he is the Democratic candidate with most cross-party appeal. (And why is there no information on this appearance in the NYT?)
Establishment Democrat fears of progressives are unfounded.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1117948862319276035
12
@jodo7
In fairness, the NYT did have a story about the Fox town hall. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/us/politics/bernie-sanders-fox-town-hall.html
I would have preferred more detail, but then again I saw the whole thing on the internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ozAACcc8I
Noam Chomsky said that, for all its faults (and they are many) he reads the New York Times first thing in the morning, because it's the best news source we've got.
We can thank Rupert Murdoch for that, since he took the Wall Street Journal out of the running. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/business/media/14carr.html
1
@Norman
Thanks for clarifying Norman. I read that story—posted last night and gone from the home page as of this morning—but it contained no information on the town hall except discussion around the question of Sanders income.
Considering the Times ran a story about the controversy of Sanders' decision to appear on Fox the day before, it's noteworthy that they failed to discuss how successful a model it was for appealing to red state voters.
NYT is also my go-to news source, which is why I feel invested enough to call out inadequacies in its reporting when i encounter them. Does no one a favor to simply accept less.
So let me get this straight: the party that has consistently decried the fact that Clinton won the popular vote but lost the election, who have called that defeat proof that the Electoral College is dysfunctional and racist, are now upset that the popular candidate (at this early juncture) isn’t the one of their own choosing? The irony and hypocrisy!
11
Stick in the mud democrats and media, like the Times, helped Trump win by not being more supportive of Bernie last time. Don't let history repeat itself.
9
I just sent the Sanders campaign some cash. So yes, when the NYT runs hit pieces and/or big money Dems try to "Stop Bernie", it will backfire.
Corporate Democrats would rather lose than get behind Bernie's agenda and campaign.
16
Hey Democratic Party. Remember how you lost the last election? You probably never noticed we gave up lifetime membership in your elitist banker sponsored organization and became independent. Wanna lose again? Keep it up. Geez Louise, you’d campaign against FDR and JFK because they were too radical for your middle of the road corporatist bordering on oligarchic tastes. Who needs you? We can vote Republican and get that in spades.
12
Corporate Democrats should be scared! Your days of controlling the nomination are over. The curtain was pulled back in 2016 and millions saw just how rigged the game was. It's absolutely amazing they are still crying about Bernie in 2016 and listening to people like David Brock and Neera Tanden. Do this at your own peril.
They didn't get it then, and still don't get it now. He's leading in fundraising because he's the real deal. It's called authenticity, and people respond to it, now more than ever given the pathological liar that currently occupies the Oval Office.
I'm also getting sick of the constant Bernie attacks by the NY Times. You just lost a monthly subscriber.
11
Getting ready to make my third donation in 2019 to Bernie Sanders - this time inspired by Center for American Progress head Neera Tanden's trashing of Bernie Sanders.
14
How many of the people here saying that if Sanders wins the nomination Trump will be re-elected thought that Trump was going to win the election? I didn't think so.
2
I am one of those voters, nearly as old as Bernie himself, who donated $10 per month to his 2016 campaign. When he lost to Hillary in the primaries (and we can debate why he came in second place), I was deeply disappointed by his lack of full-throttle support of her as Trump used his schoolyard bullying tactics to rile his base. So I won't be supporting Bernie this time around.
But there was another negative result of my support for Bernie besides the loss to Trump: the progressive fundraising operations supporting other liberal candidates around the country violated the promise to keep my personal date under wraps. Instead, since November 2016, I have been pummeled by fundraising efforts for candidates all over the country, from statewide to local races.
My fury now translates in my refusal to support any candidate with a financial donation.
Personally, I like Bernie and Joe. But we need young blood who can beat Trump. Imagine this: Trump would still be "younger" than either Bernie or Joe come campaign time.
At this point, a year from the actual primary season, I am glad we have so many Democrats entering the race. That assures, one hopes, that a lot of ideas will be on the proverbial table for voter consideration. But I hope the field narrows down to maybe a half-dozen candidates with more than a good chance to beat the autocrat-in-chief. Our country, and our allies, are depending on it.
7
This is a well written article, accurately highlighting the Democrats mistakes in 2016 and how they're poised to make the same ones this time around.
If they don't clean up their act and truly become the party of the people, then this country is doomed. Four years of Trump and republicans were hard enough on our country's institutions, reputation and deficit. As a country, we simply cannot take any more.
4
I see it has been said many times in the comments but this type of thinking is exactly why the Democrats lost in 2016....it's incredible that some can't see that. If the primary is in any way meddled with it will turn off the same people who didn't vote in 2016.
Whoever faces Trump will most likely get most Democrats to back them but the way the election is going to be won is by converting some Trump Supporters/Working class in the rust belt and getting young people out to vote. Bernie dominates among young voters and his message actually resonates with the working class in the midwest. Bernie proved that last night on Fox News...the working class has not been benefiting by the Trump presidency and they can be won over. His message resonates whether the "elites" of the party think it does or not.
The Truth is many of these millionaire donors hosting parties that are scared to death of Bernie winning would rather Trump be the president than Bernie. They don't speak for the people in the Democratic party but the wealthiest people and corporations who will have to pay their fair share of taxes if Bernie wins. If they make the same mistake again and make sure a "moderate" is annointed they are going to lose. I have no doubt about that.
11
Sanders keeps joining the Democratic Party when he wants to run as a Democrat, but otherwise has belonged to other parties and was an Independent for most of his career. It's not unreasonable for the DNC to want someone who has been committed to the party as their nominee.
What we really need is to somehow get away from the entrenched two-party system.
3
Why is no one asking Sanders, as he defends the millions he's pocketed from his personal endeavors-aka from his book sales, what's the difference between the monies he got from those book sales and the monies he criticized Hillary Clinton for obtaining during the run-up to the 2016 Democratic nomination for president, monies she received for her public speaking events?
Good for the Goose, Good for the Gander comes to mind, Mr. Sanders.
5
@merc - Allow me to explain. Hillary didn't make most of the money from public speaking events; she made it from PRIVATE speaking events. The money was paid for by politically influential corporate interests who were basically buying her loyalties. By stark contrast, Bernie made money from a book sold to the general public; the exact people he is very up-front about supporting. The differences could not be more pronounced.
8
Why do you think a private bank (people who are good with money) are paying extravagant fees to one of the most powerful politicians to hear a "speech"?
Now compare that to selling a book for $20 a pop to the general public and you have your answer to what the difference is.
3
@merc--because Hillary got her money speaking to and pandering to wall street. Speeches whose text she refused to release to the public. Hmmmm, wonder what she said and promised them...
1
Much as I dislike Bernie Sanders, I urge the Democratic Party not to act unfairly toward him. In the last election, the Party was accused of corruption in the choosing our candidate. Let the votes lie where they may.
I am not sure I would call the insider business of the Democratic Party to be corruption. I would call it bias rather than corruption. Nevertheless, this corruption or bias is causing many Progressives to look to outside the Party and to vote for candidates who are not Democrats such as Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein.
I know this goes against the grain of the Democratic Party, but lets just try to apportion votes according to the candidate with the most votes.
I believe Bernie Sanders is capable of getting the most votes in 2020, and believe the Democratic Party would be making a big mistake if they worked to ditch any candidate.
1
@Pajaritomt--the party was not "accused" of corruption, they were "guilty" of corruption. The emails released between the DNC and HRC were the evidence that neither denied. Why was there not an investigation and an indictment?
1
And all this time I thought a candidate "who is immune to intimidation or incentive and wields support from an unwavering base" would be a good thing.
The people behind these anti-Sanders efforts should be ejected from the Democratic party. They represent lobbyist and monied interests, not the people's.
10
Bernie will never win with his platform as middle America, the crucial voters, will not go along with him. He will be a spoiler. He's an old man, just like Biden, who is a socialist, is Jewish (unfortunately that still plays a role with many unfortunately) and is from Brooklyn. I don't have any issues with this but many will.
Many commenters keep referring to HRC - she's not in the picture anymore; let it go and let bygones be bygones. Instead, look at our youthful candidates such as Pete Buttigieg -they are America's future and our younger voters will have to live with possibly 30 years of the consequences of 4 more years of Trump stacking courts, destroying foreign alliances and turn America closer to a theocracy.
We need to WIN and cannot take risks which will mean all of us will have to compromise if we don't want another 4 years of Trump.
Let's not be blinded by pipe dreams.
6
Maybe we should be talking about the policies democratic voters support rather than handicapping this like a horse race. Nothing wrong with Mayor Pete etc but what keeps bringing voters young and old to Bernie is the PROGRAM.
“But the peril of rallying the party’s elite donor class against a candidate whose entire public life has been organized around confronting concentrated wealth is self-evident: Mr. Sanders would gleefully seize on any Stop Bernie effort.”
As he very well should. Rufus Glifford and those like him need to keep their mouths shut and let the voters decide.
2
I have no idea if she'd do it, but my dream ticket is Sanders/Abrams. Go on, fret and eat your canapes while we the people make change.
3
I was hoping that Bernie - for is own health and peace of mind - would not run in 2020, but would support one of the younger progressive candidates, the ones with whom Bernie - and I - agree on most issues. He is not my first choice.
But if I discover that he is again being given the bum's rush by the old guard of the Democratic party, led by vindictive former supporters of Hillary Clinton and others whose bread is buttered by the big donors such as the insurance companies, big pharma, oil interests, arms merchants etc. (ad nauseum), I will give him all the support I can and send him whatever $$ I can afford. Of course I will vote for any Dem nominee against Trump, as I voted for Hillary against Trump. I think I am not alone in thinking this way.
9
Stop Bernie? Oh no. Let him ride his wave. Is he a Democrat again?
There should be no fear, we have an amazing amount of well qualified candidates. I have already given my support to one of them. The candidate wrote a paper about Bernie at 18 years old. The candidate I support has more experience than Bernie at dealing with America’s problems successfully . People need to stop bickering over labels and look at the candidates successes. Being for the people is what we need. Having someone who can guide the country is more important than being a demagogue for a theoretical ideal.
2
Pick an establishment candidate at your peril. The youth are with Sanders and they will not vote for another Hillary or Biden or Kamala--Obama 2.0s. You think they don't vote, but they are really fired up the last two years. I'll be out registering them to vote.
My prediction: the Democratic Party will attempt to throw him out of the party somehow, so that he can't get the Democratic nomination. They will do anything--this column itself is another biased hit piece. Where is the "unity" the Dems wanted? Oh, it's only unity when progressives compromise? Unify behind Bernie.
3
All discussions of presidential candidates should include some discussion of how they would perform as president. It's insane not to.
I was mad at Sanders for the way he handled himself in 2016. I am dubious about an Independent wanting to lead the Democratic party. I am concerned (but not convinced) that a candidate on the far-left might help Trump.
But. Big but. Sanders would make a good president. He has the experience required for the job (unlike most of the field). He is determined to make changes that we need: true universal health care, especially. He would be the first president since 1980 who is not a hawk and is a true socialist.
Also, Sanders would probably be a one-term president, given his age, opening the door for others.
I would prefer a female candidate. My favorite of the bunch is Kamala Harris. But I can't maintain my anger and opposition to Bernie Sanders. He would be a good president, perhaps great, perhaps the only one who would really move America forward.
3
@Ruth--but you gave yourself away (and revealed your sexism) when you expressed your desire for a president based on gender. I dont care if it's a Male or a female. I just want the best presidential candidate.
Embrace his momentum. Win the presidency.
2
Sure wish I could vote for this more than once.
Let the people decide who the candidate is.
2