I am sorry neither Bernie nor his supporters understand what a primary is. It is not a coronation. It is where people go to the polls, stand in line and vote to select the candidate of their choice.
Browbeating and abusing people for the choice they make is pointless. This is the primaries and we all get to chose who We want.
It is also quite apparent some folks feel bitter and hostile about the overwhelming support of black voters for Biden, without taking into consideration the urgency of the times. We, like most people of color cannot afford 4 more years of trump. I'm sure our ballots in Maryland will still have my candidate of choice listed - and it's not Biden.
However, when Biden wins the nomination, I will do what I can to ensure this country is still standing - 4 years from now. I would LOVE to vote my heart, but my head makes my life and death decisions. IF you feel otherwise, consider yourself privileged. Congrats!
1
Does anyone have age-demographics for the primaries? Are any age-groups showing increased turnout?
1
Biden gets more incoherent by the day. He picks random fights with people. He lies about his past misogeny and his support for the Iraq war. He's losing his marbles. Wait for it.
1
Three big takeaways. First is the generation gap in candidate preference. Under-40, and often under-45 voters, prefer Sanders by huge margins. The near future of the Democratic Party is much more progressive.
The second is that more voters than not in each state like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. A huge number of Biden voters support one or both, but chose Biden based on perceived electability. M4A and the GND are winning issues that are ideologically mainstream.
The third is that while young people voted in higher numbers than in past primaries, the rate of over-65s voting was astronomical. The narrative that the youth didn't vote is false. Their percentage was drowned out by their parents and grandparents voting in incredible numbers.
It's not complicated.
American voters, by and large, are moderates politically. A large percentage of them are Independents. They choose not to be members of either the GOP or the Democratic Party.
Also, they weren't born yesterday. They know when a politician is making promises he or she can't keep. And they are appalled at what is going in in the White House, and want to put this country back on course.
Joe Biden looks, to these voters, as the most suitable candidate to run against (and likely defeat) Trump. This is why you are selling these strong numbers for Biden, and also high turnout for primaries.
I don't think anything could be said against Biden at this point that will change voters minds. He is the guy in November, come hell or high water.
2
If the supporters of Senator Sanders would turn out at the polls in the same numbers that they voice their opinions on the New York Times forums (and up vote each other’s comments), then he would win the nomination and the general election in a landslide.
5
As a guy, I just hope Biden picks a woman VP. And while I was a Klobuchar supporter, I think three other women deserve serious consideration if they are willing:
Susan Rice
Tammy Duckworth
Michelle Lujan Grisham (governor of New Mexico)
3
@Bill Michelle Obama. It makes perfect sense since Joe is already riding on Barry's coat-tails. Elizabeth Warren would also be a fantastic choice to unify the party.
1
I never had really payed attention in the past, but 2016 & 2020 has been eye opening. The Democrat Primary is not Democratic. It’s become apparent it’s always been rigged. I hear people complain about the Electoral College. but not a peep about Democrat Superdelegates in their convention. This year they got Bernie before the convention. The establishment DNC will lie, cheat, or steal to get their way, and none of it has to do with voters wishes. I’ve heard strategists say all day, “might as well call the Democrat Primary done & declare Biden the nominee, no need to debate.” Really? If that’s your plan to run the USA, No Thank you!
1
1. Reading the tea leaves (coffee grinds, in some parts of the world), it is Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee
2.Given his obvious limitations (gaffes, inability to close an argument thread, poor appeal to the young, etc.), he needs a strong surrogate, fast
3. While it would be somewhat premature and quite unconventional, to defeat Trump, it would be great if Biden named a cogent and super-articulate running mate. And also, UK style, some members of a shadow cabinet. That way, we can get strong voices like Warren, Booker, Harris, Buttigieg, Yang and many others.... to counter Trumpian positions. Of course, these surrogates should absolutely refrain from opposing Sen. Bernie Sanders... his followers are key to defeating Trump.
2
1. Biden won
2. Biden has wide support
3. Bernie has some good ideas that are now more main stream.
4. Bernie said he would support the winner but does not know how to stop fighting
5. Some of Bernie supports can sound like Trump supporters
5
And, yet, he goes on. Bernie's statement -- very delayed -- about his Tuesday drubbing suggests he ignores every analysis of voters' intentions in selecting Biden over him. The statement suggests he believes he remains a force to be reckoned with, that, through questioning, he will convey demands to Biden in Sunday's debate. He continues to believe he is a man with power to leverage and will not be denied.
Just who does Bernie any longer represent? He is not getting out the youth vote; his rallies apparently draw many young people who then don't turn up at the polls. He is losing votes among demographics more discerning and serious -- those, frankly, with more skin in the game.
There is a growing desperation in this country to be saved from existential threats, political and medical, and, increasingly, financial. Bernie argues that people strongly support his agenda. True enough. It's just that those who are supporting Biden know that Bernie and his proposals are bridges to nowhere. We don't want to waste our present and futures on validating one man's unsuccessful tilt at utopia.
Biden comes from an administration that brought us the greatest advance toward universal health care this country has ever had. Bernie insults that record. He also insults the many hard working, striving Americans who have given Biden his surge. They are not "The Establishment"; they are pragmatic everyday people who want their country back. Again, the question is: Who does Bernie represent?
6
As a progressive advocate, it pains me to have to accept the reality that has become apparent the past two weeks. Despite making great strides in educating the Democratic Party and the public on a range of issues that affect the majority of Americans, who importantly occupy the middle and lower working classes, the country is not yet ready to give us the keys of the government to transform it. We have more teaching to do. I am happy because I know that we have made great progress in the past few years. Our issues, such as living wages, Medicare-for-all, criminal justice reform, and a Green New Deal, have entered our nation’s political discourse and are being taken seriously. So, let’s fall back, progressive soldiers! Let’s continue to educate people and push our elected officials to adopt our agenda. We have demonstrated to the world that the future is ours. Hold your heads high!
2
More “teaching” to do? Seriously, this is the problem with progressives. They “teach” (actually preach) to their fellow Americans and tsk-tsk us for not coming to the “correct” woke answers. And they have no clue as to how condescending they come across!
This, is exactly why I refused to call myself a progressive but maintain my designation as a liberal.
And while I’m sympathetic to several causes espoused progressives, I also strongly believe in a person’s sense of individual liberty and I reject the “woke” high-handedness and arrogance.
So, why don’t you take the results of these primaries as a teachable moment for yourselves. And instead of preaching, listen to your fellow citizens and see where you can meet them halfway. Stop being so hypercritical and engage in the art of compromise. I can assure you that is a far more respectful approach and a far more effective way to win over people to your side as achieve most of your goals in the long run.
9
@Howard Gregory The one thing you can teach other progressives is it is not enough to belittle and bash "the establishment" if you cannot take time to actually VOTE!
What is being missed in all these analyses is what I would call The End Of The Age Of Punditry. The 24-hour news cycle, fueled by panels of talking heads who are not so much reporters but commentators clearly got it all wrong in 2016. And, to tell the truth, they missed the mark with what they like to call the "Biden surprise" or "Biden comeback.''
The reality is that the American electorate doesn't live on cable news. The vast majority never saw a minute of debates. The electorate's focus is cyclical and rises to elections. Polls taken eight months from the meaningful periods of voter attention are measures of a different reality.
It is now easy to see that Americans have been exhausted by Trump's solipsism and the cable fixation on the easy daily news this president shovels out to them. Early polls and cable punditry was both a measure of an unfocused electorate and the ruminations of pseudo-journalists who looked for logic in the early polls. When voters headed into the booths -- or more often, started sending in their ballots by mail -- a truer focus of where America stands on these issues has come into view. "Surprise!" Not in retrospect.
Cable news needs to go back to real reporting on issues and ending the endless horse-race coverage between elections.
(Counting money donations is another easy pastime and Biden's performance threw a lot of that on its head too.)
When you see reporters interviewing each other and presenting it as news, run!
3
Unfortunately, Bernie will hector and eviscerate Biden relentlessly in public, in vain hopes of reviving his hapless and hopeless campaign.
If he cannot get the crown, he will be OK with "Four More Years."
6
“The wave of new and younger voters that Mr. Sanders has banked much of his candidacy on simply has not shown up.”
Stunning. Despite the massive temptation to brandish my over-55 generation’s laudable turnout and organizing performance, I think this is a very disturbing data point that goes beyond generational virtue. Though we’ve had oodles of it since Woodstock, in my opinion.
Is this youth cohort real, or are they an army of avatars? They are underemployed— again, it’s my demographic doing all the Uber driving and secret shopping after corporate America kicks us out at 50– so you can’t blame overwork, and polls are open 10-plus hours, and we have absentee ballots everywhere.
I seriously wonder what is behind this low turnout, including the hair-raising possibility that they are in large part virtual. I can only conclude that the actual youth vote is not yet mobilized. What huge error of GOTV is happening?
Any other creative theories?
Biden's resurgency, pure and simple, is the result of the Democratic establishment's moving in swiftly (and brilliantly) to prop up his candidacy.
I am disappointed because there are reasons why his candidacy wasn't catching on, including a record of judgments that significantly affected our country's well-being, e.g., discounting Anita Hill's reports of sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas, supporting the Iraq War, voting to remove the banking protections provided by the Glass-Steagall Act.
Also, I think we should be concerned about his mental slips on the campaign trail.
2
Biden needs to quickly do two things:
1) Acknowledge that he and Obama did not understand well-enough the economic pain of the working class, and erroneously believed that the recovering economy would float all boats. Now he "sees" why people supported Bernie -- and develop real policies that make Biden more than a Wall Street Democrat.
2) He needs to stop bashing working class men about gun rights. The vast majority of gun-rights guys know that the self-disciplined people they know are not the problem, and they don't really appreciate that crazies and criminals are too-closely lumped with them as part of the "gun problem."
America's founding myth is the populace picking up their guns to throw off tyranny. Many gun owners take to this founding myth as their only religion. If Democratic Party elites cannot pull themselves out of their hyper-urban world to understand that, they might still lose the working class to Trump.
1
Why is it that Bernie supporters can’t understand that it’s not just Red Southern states that Biden is winning. He has won many of the states Bernie won in 2016, including Michigan.
6
Part of a response to every one of these questions is another question: Bernie, what’s your Plan B? For example: will you veto a compromise Medicare private option bill if that’s what passes both chambers of Congress and comes to you? Politics is the art of the possible.
2
I boil it down to likeability. Trump was, in his own weird way, more likeable than his opponents. Bernie was more likeable than Hillary. Now, Biden is more likeable than Bernie and the others who ran against him. Now the test will be who is more likeable: Trump or Biden. I think Decent Biden will be the clear winner with Tall-TaleTrump following down Grumpy Bernie's less likeable path.
2
The #1 takeaway is that Bernie should never have gone along with the party establishment in demonizing Trump. This would hurt him in both the general election (where he has considerable appeal among Trump supporters) AND the nomination process (where the "haves" of the party would want any safe port in a "storm" that they all but fabricated.) The "have nots" were in terrible shape well BEFORE Trump and they are only slightly better off now. (Maybe this misguided approach was due to Faiz Shakir, I don't know.)
1
@carl bumba You must have a built in scrambler ; there is no love lost between Bernie and Trump . Of course if he has considerable appeal for the Trump supporters it doesn't make sense as they are Trump supporters .
1
@sm
There were many Trump supporters who voted for Obama, even twice. These working class people wanted real change with Barack Hussein Obama, but were eventually disappointed by him - and rolled then dice with Trump. Demonizing Trump (and them) has only made it harder to recover these Reagan Democrats and Obama/Trump supporters.
1
If the race is Joe Bidens to lose then it is Sanders to win.
2
And why they weren’t: only half the country has voted. And Biden hasn’t even gotten halfway there.
2
I have always remembered--and am quoting endlessly--an assessment made by sometime NEWSWEEK editor, Jon Meacham:
"The American electorate has always swung a little right of center."
What to say to that? I'll tell you what.
We don't like a "breaker." We don't want a guy that tells us, "The system is BROKEN. Here I am, ladies and gentlemen--hammer in hand. I propose first of all to BREAK whatever isn't already BROKEN--and then, ladies and gentlemen--
"--set about fixing things. Fixing them RIGHT, you understand."
I am fearful of people who tell us, "Capitalism is BAD. Let's do away with CAPITALISM."
That it CAN be bad--who doubts it? That companies and corporations CAN do bad things--who doubts it?
But I trust a surgeon with a scalpel--
-not a chainsaw.
"Feel the Bern"--lots of people did. Some still do. But that leaves--
--a scowling ogre in the White House.
The number one priority is--moving him OUT of the White House this November.
Chances are good Joe Biden might pull it off.
About Mr. Sanders, for all his zeal and commitment--
--I'm not so sure.
So Biden was right after all. He could have won against Trump in 2016! Wonder what Obama is thinking now.
1
The scientists , statisticians, did their job, Bernie did his job and the DNC did its job but it really was democracy that did its job.
The American electorate knew what it was doing when it elected the Pathetic Donald J Trump.
The meaning of Nihilism is the belief that life is meaningless.
The election of a Nihilist, a man who cheats at golf and turns life into a monopoly game has brought us to the point that this cockeyed optimist can see a better future for the USA.
There is nothing like a botched response to a pandemic to make us realize life has meaning and it is the process of living and not its goals that give it meaning.
This was never about politics it was about meaning and Joe Biden is all about the process of living that gives us meaning.
I know there are billions of great plans running around in Bernie Sanders head for making this a better world. I know there are hopes for a kinder gentler world rushing around in Joe Biden's head.
I don't know what connotes intelligence I am at all times genius and intellectually challenged but it seems a lot of America wants meaning not design. That is why they knew to vote for a Nihilist. That is why your founding documents are among your's and the world's greatest treasures they were about meaning.
PS The second amendment was about the rights of conscientious objectors. In a nation of 94% rural dwellers and slavery gun rights were a given like the right to try and breathe.
1
It’s all about who you would have over to your House, for Thanksgiving. Nice Uncle Joe, who slips the Kids a few bucks. Grouchy Uncle Bernie, who lectures and shouts. And Weird Uncle Donnie, who brings a girlfriend, and steals the Kids’ piggy banks.
Seriously.
4
@Phyliss Dalmatian This ridiculousness is why we have Trump. They voted for entertaining Uncle Don. If you’re not voting based on policies that will actually help the future of this country but rather on who you personally imagine would be fun to share a meal with, well, this is immature and selfish and does us all a great disservice.
3
I hope you folks know what you are doing?
1
Amen!
For as long as Bernie has been talking to all the rainbow people of America
The NYT has distorted Bernie every opportunity that they could . Msnbc and all of the networks have given no respect because Bernie was not the chosen way
Minorities are not the chosen ones yet we have supported Biden in order to rid the White House of a in your face bigot. We have lived with the results of Woodrow Wilson and his racism that like Bloomberg and his Stop &Frisk destroyed communities and Wilson in your face segregation by an elite white man full of Jim Crow
Minorities have yet to recover. Biden will do nothing to enhance the progress of this country unless we force him to acknowledge Bernie whether the NYT approves of medical coverage pension plans for all.
3
The constant subtext in comments about Biden’s mental fitness (with no factual evidence, other than the man has a stutter)—just the kind of message Putin likes. Russian bots or Russian rubes?
2
It's counterproductive to say it's Joe's current front runner status is his to "lose". Unless he decides on a true wonder for the VP; one that does not exist, at least his defeat in November might save him a slight amount of face. The real losers will be the people of our Country. He cannot win the Presidency because the dogs of Hell will be released on him after a nomination. We have saved the evidence against him until then and it is considerable. Add to that, his Senate record, his failure as the VP with Obama, his mental status, and the fact that he plans a Franklin Roosevelt Campaign due to his physical limitations, turn off the lights - the party's over. Trump in a Landslide!
1
@vince williams I have 2 words for you - Mike Bloomberg and 3 more - Unleash Those Dogs!
And what happens if Bernie doesn’t like Joe’s answers? What’s Bernie’s real aim? The majority of voters support Biden, not Sanders, so why would Biden reshape his positions to suit Sanders’ agenda? If we wanted the Bernie Plan, we’d have voted for him.
5
@Jolton I think Bernie understands that this is the last election for his legacy. He knows now he will never be President.
1
Bernie and his campaign miscalculated this time ; it was all about Hillary and not about his agenda . I suspect some who voted for Joe this go around , also voted for Trump in 2016 . Bernie needs to see the reality and be a gentleman and agree to work with Joe ; he claims he will hold Joe to account for how he will accomplish what his voters want . It's time for Bernie to quit throwing the Molotovs and help win the Senate back from the Republicans .
11
@sm
The miscalculation was to go along with them in demonizing Trump.
1
@carl bumba Whatever carl ! He deserves to be demonized ; he is inept and that is putting it mildly .
1
Explain to me something: As of March 11, Biden has 864 delegates to Sanders 710. That's about 22% more for Biden than Sanders. I think a winner to the DNC convention needs 1991 delegates. There are still states that have to have their caucuses and primaries.
So someone please explain how Biden, as many people are saying, is running away with this voting ?
7
Because Biden is expected to clean up with delegates in Florida, Ohio, and Georgia. And mathematically, it's almost impossible for Sanders to catch him at this point. All Biden has to do is lock up 50 percent of the delegate total, plus one, and he has the nomination.
The delegate-rich states that have yet to run their primaries largely favor Biden, like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio, among others.
5
@Majortrout Sanders needs 60% of the remaining delegates to get to 1,991. That isn’t going to happen.
3
I think the writing is on the wall for Sanders' campaign. Sanders and his followers should be proud of highlighting issues that affect everyday lives of our citizens. But it is time to unite behind Biden who is overwhelmingly looking like the the eventual Democratic nominee.
Sanders' agenda can not and will not be served one inch if Trump wins again. Bernie, be rational. Biden has reached out to you and your supporters. Both of you figure out together what Biden can do to push more progressive agenda and campaign against Trump together.
9
Is Biden going to sign a bill that brings about complete and total universal healthcare?
3
@Jean-Paul Marat
Can Bernie guarantee that he will be able to pass into law a bill giving us univertal health care? By all accounts, if Bernie is the nominee for Democrats, we will have so many down ticket losses that President Sanders will be facing a Republican Senate and a Republican House. And good luck passing any progessive bill in that scenario.
2
Re "The margin of black support for Mr. Biden over Mr. Sanders in Mississippi was breathtaking: 87 percent to 10 percent, according to the exit poll."
Ocasio-Cortez and other Sanders partisans, not to mention the extremely "woke" Twitterati, should really take a minute to ponder the above fact. Once they do, they should ponder this question:
Are we acting as if we know better than those we claim so vociferously to represent and advocate for?
I'd say the answer is yes.
22
I fear the Bro’s will rail against Biden, indifferent to whether this keeps Trump in the White House.
1
As you are reading this, not content with declaring Trump above established constitutional law, and not content with perpetrating crimes against humanity, the Trump administration is actually seeking to redefine crimes against humanity. The Bush administration called it 'enhanced interrogation' but it was torture.
We can put an end to all the Trump administration crimes and tortures. How many more reasons do we need to unite?
Vote Blue. Vote Biden. Seriously.
11
Drop out Bernie. It’s time to coalesce around Joe Biden and defeat Donald Trump. The American people have spoken, and we want Joe.
13
I agree. Bernie’s ego mustn’t keep him overlong in the race, damaging the Democratic candidate, as he did to Hillary.
Yes. I am one of the women who worked hard on Hillary’s campaign and still resents Bernie for undercutting Hillary for no plausible greater good.
1
@H A - There's a very big difference between coalescing around Joe Biden, and having no one else to vote for other than Trump. The former implore that supporters of the other primary candidates will somehow 'join hands' with the people who support Biden. Biden is a person, not a platform or a movement or anything at all, really. He'll be out of office in less than 5 years, what are his supporters going to coalesce around then? Another Biden?
2
Biden may win this but he is not going to be a good president—it’s obvious. However, the corporate media is in bed with him, so at least they may stop constantly undermining the administration (we hope).
5
Takeaway is DNC hatred of Sanders. Biden's incapacity is becoming obvious. Going to see him pick a VP and then resign. Oh Hillary. was that you on the phone?
10
Takeaway, Democratic VOTERS can’t stand Bernie.
4
@Cloudy Sanders wasn’t popular with the voters either.
3
You had me until Stacey Abrams. I much like. admire and respect that woman (who doesn’t?) but if we have a soon to be 80 decent experienced man showing some cognitive decline as president, it would be the responsible thing to not play politics but instead select a more experienced VP. We have seen how experience can matter.
But she sure does have the likability factor. Perhaps it is time for us to select very soberly.
7
Takeaways are that we have a number of people in the country who still don't understand the realities that the US is not dealing adequately with its social responsibilities or with the financial and economic structure of the country.
How comforting that going into a pandemic that threatens to destroy the national economy we're running a massive federal deficit due to the actions of a man and his sycophantic supporters in the US Congress who have put the country on this perilous path which in the end was done needlessly and stupidly.
4
Bernie did in fact lose every county in MI, MO and MS, according to CNN and MSN this AM.
6
During Bernie Sanders' news conference earlier this afternoon he laid out the questions he says he is looking forward to asking Joe, with full knowledge that, between the Biden Protection Program being run by the corporate party establishment and the media on the one hand, and the coronavirus on the other, he and all of America may well be deprived of the opportunity to hear Joe's answers to any of these questions on Sunday or *anytime* thereafter.
After yesterday's primary results, Sanders clearly does not anticipate any sort of reversal that can get him the nomination. But in gesturing toward the debate, and by putting the issues his campaign has stood for in front of the entire country *now* in the form of debate questions to Biden before they can be preempted by a cancellation, Sanders is seeing to it that not only Biden, but an entire party, will have to make itself accountable with answers to the American people. Because ignoring the questions after this news conference will no longer be an option for the Democratic Party as a strategy for avoiding existential peril over the course of the weeks, months and generations to come.
Well played, Senator. And thank you!
10
Biden is now in a position to win over young Progressives from the Sanders and Warren campaigns. He should immediately announce plans to deliver to Congress a plan for taxing millionaires to provide loan-relief benefits to younger Americans purchasing a first home and paying down their student debt. Details can follow, but something like a 5% or 10% millionaire surtax on adjusted gross income >$500K coupled with tax deductions or credits for student loan payments and first-time home mortgage interest, with no requirements to itemize. This is a completely feasible plan, it’s fiscally responsible, and shows good faith to younger voters without penalizing senior citizens or running up a budget deficit.
3
Some pundits have suggested that the drop of support for Sanders in rural Missouri and Michigan counties from 2016 to 2020 indicates that his 2016 wins perhaps had more to do with those voters disliking Clinton than wanting Sanders.
Surely the same argument can be made regarding Trump's 2016 win. Maybe his support will evaporate just as readily.
8
If Biden had ran in 2016 not Clinton we wouldn’t have had Trump. The DNC was wrong in forcing Clinton down our throats. They played a dangerous game by not realizing how disliked she was.
Clinton wasn’t “shoved down” anyone’s throat. Biden didn’t run because his son had just died of brain cancer and he was too grief stricken to run at that time.
1
What makes you think that a medical confirmation of dementia, insanity, cognitive decline, etc. is so crucial in defining how suitable a candidate is as a President?
If a guy has hip problems but can still walk, don't send him to the Olympics as a runner.
If a guy has speech / attention problems but can still think, don't vote for his candidacy.
Bidens nepotism in Ukraine served the party establishment well in the impeachment that was never to be. I'm sure he got a lot of credit for that through the party's back channels, seeking assurance it wouldn't hurt his candidacy. But Trump & Co. will make it backfire in a terrible way. Not only for Biden but the whole party.
Being somewhat corrupt-looking themselves, blaming your opponent for trying to make the most of that, then themselves trying to capitalise on Trumps overzealousness by the heaviest means available in US politics, dedicating most of their airtime and resources to an unappealing case, and failing as predictably as miserably.
Now it's time for actual voters to correct the party establishment loud and clear.
Bernie is clean enough and mean enough to take on Trump, and has a clear message.
Three major advantages over Biden, that do not need medical backup to be observed.
8
@Max - I’ll grant you that Bernie is sure mean enough. As for clean enough, I’ll wager that Bernie (and his wife) have a LOT of dirty baggage. He hasn’t exactly been a transparent candidate. Btw, where ARE the medical records he said he’d show us?
And it looks like you don’t think that they are “actual voters” who have propelled Biden into first place? I guess if the definition of “actual voters” is “those who vote for Bernie,” you’re correct.
You and those like you are one of the reasons I’m thrilled that I won’t have to vote for Bernie in the general election. The other reason is Bernie himself. Feh!
15
''Washington State votes predominantly by mail, and as of March 9, nearly 1.6 million ballots had been returned''
Wash Post 3/11/20.
Sanders would have lost the state had it not been for early mail balloting, a fact he cares to overlook.
10
It is really beginning to look like elder abuse and a dangerous national security risk for the US to force Biden who has had two life-threatening aneurysms and Trump who is incoherent, unintelligent, inexperienced in world-affairs, and non-empathetic, to become presidents of the US. HRC falls in the same game. Sanders is the same age, but he shows mental acuity, consistency and ethics without a scandalous history. I don't even have to want him, but I can objectively compare what is best for this country at this time. He's got backbone and smarts, plus listens to the working class.
“Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are."
6
@Max What about Bernie who had a heart attack just a few months ago? Biden's health issues were in the 80s, while Bernie's were in 2019. Regardless of how you feel on the issues, it is disingenuous to use one person's health problems against them without mentioning the other's.
5
@Max - The U.S. “forced” Biden to “become president”? Huh? And Biden has nothing “scandalous” in his record. And he’s NOT incoherent. As for your tin god, Bernie had a recent heart attack but first didn’t acknowledge that it was a heart attack, then he said he’d show us his medical records, then he reneged. And he’s fluent in his spiel because he’s said the same thing for the past thirty or more years and lacks the inflexibility to ever change any of his positions.
Biden has a record of actual accomplishments, some very good, some not good. Bernie has done nothing. He’s great at attracting a cult following who are blind to his myriad faults; some of his cultists are snarling, lying people who, same as Bernie, are more eager to fight Democrats than to fight Trump.
7
Sanders is an ideologue who despises the Democratic party. He will stay in until the bitter end in order to use his delegates as leverage on the platform committee and to get a "progressive" running mate for Biden.
Sanders doesn't care what damage it does to the Democratic Party or the Country. He wants a revolution.
19
While I’m no Bernie supporter, Clyburn is crazy when he says we should shut this primary down. That’s not how democracy works, and I’d expect better from Clyburn. No thanks.
7
At least our country isn’t guilty of Ageism!
That’s one ism...
we’ve got no truck with
3
A lot of Democrats voted for Bernine in 2016 simply because they did not like Hillary.
Biden, however, is liked by a lot more Democrats than Hillary ever was.
That's who all the Bernie 2016-Biden 2020 voters are....
4
Take away 1 – the DNC was always going to run Biden
Take away 2 – the DNC was never going to allow any of the alternative/progressive/inclusivity/socialists, etc candidates to win
Take away 3 – The Liberals who chanted for alternative/progressive/inclusivity/Socialism, Now!, etc, they all up and forgot all that the moment the DNC told them who to vote for
Take away 4 – the moment for these folk to shine was super Tuesday but they blew it
Take away 5- the reason they blew it is Warren.
Take away 6 – based on results, based on the fact that most did not poll over 2%, and the ones who almost got there, split their vote ensuring they lost, no one will ever again take the progressive movement serious again.
Take away 7 – the people asking for alternative/progressive/inclusivity/socialism, etc will drop their principles, ideals and points of view when told by the DNC who to vote for.
Take away 8 - You guys blew it. 20+ candidates, all but one were alternative/progressive/inclusivity/socialists, Etc, and you guys failed to put a single one in the ballot.
4
@AutumnLeaf - Here we go again with sore-losers who adore Bernie. The DNC is not forcing people to vote for Biden or anyone else. When Bernie lost in 2016, it wasn’t because anyone was forced to vote for Hillary (and the DNC didn’t rig anything, either). You are implying that all the voters who prefer Biden to Sanders are somehow controlled by the DNC. How ridiculous is that! In other words, only Bernie supporters were able to free themselves from the supposed mind control of the DNC. The rest of the Democrats are just duped and unable to think for ourselves. Maybe that kind of superior, “we’re smarter and more woke than you” attitude is part of why so many of us detest not only Bernie but his rabid supporters.
16
Take away 8 - Sanders is unelectable. He didn’t win one county in Michigan. That’s a battleground state. There’s a reason Trump was willing to be impeached to try to destroy Biden. Biden can win and team Trump knows it.
13
Sanders would win the nomination and the general election in a landslide if only you and like minded people would show up at the polls in the same numbers that you voice your pro Sanders screeds in response to NY Times articles.
1
Number One Takeaway is America is incredibly selfish--
Drop Dead is message to American Youth.
5
Um, the youth vote didn’t turn out. Hard to defend Bernie as their best hope unless now we are also expected to vote for him on their behalf.
10
@That's What She Said Are America’s youth being killed by their affluent luxuries?
1
@Bohemian Sarah This is the result of years of playing in little leagues where everyone wins. NO concept of what an actual loss is - or actual work to accomplish anything. So sad...
This just underscores the reality that 2016 was not about Trump. It was about Clinton (that's not a criticism of Hillary, just a statement of reality that she was rejected by too many potential Democratic voters). It gives me more hope that we will unseat Trump with a better candidate in 2020 than we had in 2016. And yes, Biden is a better candidate, if only because more people like him. Simple as that.
158
Yes. misogyny and years of scorn heaped on HRC by right wing media were outcome determinative in the battleground purple states. Also explains why Bernie essentially tied HRC in Michigan in 2016 and in 2020 loses badly to Biden.
56
@James Osborne - I'm just an anecdote here, but the main reason I didn't vote for Hillary in the 2016 primary was a strong distaste for dynasties.
We had two Bushes, and HRC would have been the 2nd Clinton - a husband and wife score. That was just too much for me.
19
@Joe Sweeney
Thank you Joe.
This goes to show that the only person that could have lost to donald is Hilary.
5
The most interesting takeaways for me:
1. Iowa and NH were not nearly as predictive as in years past;
2. California's earlier primary was not an 800 lb gorilla;
3. The national electorate actually listened to Black voters;
4. Money (campaign contributions) didn't seal the deal.
167
@Cousy
3. and 4. are wrong:
3. Registered democrats have been significantly influenced by the results of a tiny group of black voters (that completely follow their black leaders) in early primary, Republican states (as according to design of the all-important, party nomination sequence).
4. How could anyone claim that the pooled money from Biden and all the establishment candidates that dropped out and endorsed him, as well as the money spent to split the progressive vote, (i.e. Warren's before-and-after super pac money) have been insignificant?
6
@Cousy it’s a stretch to draw “national electorate “ conclusions from the Democrat primary. The African Americans gave Biden the south but Trump will take the south in the national election. Biden will be even easier to be than Bernie.
5
@Cousy
The warmongering, Wall Street supporting, status quo protecting Republican/Democratic Establishment used their immense clout to shove Biden to frontrunner status.
The Establishment's media has worked ferociously to kill Sanders candidacy and to disparage Sanders and his ideas.
A 2016 Harper's article by Thomas Franks, after having meticulously examined Washington Post reporting on Bernie Sanders. "As we shall see, for the sort of people who write and edit the opinion pages of the Post, there was something deeply threatening about Sanders and his political views. He seems to have represented something horrifying, something that could not be spoken of directly but that clearly needed to be suppressed."
..."Think of all the grand ideas that flicker in the background of the Sanders-denouncing stories I have just recounted. There is the admiration for consensus, the worship of pragmatism and bipartisanship, the contempt for populist outcry, the repeated equating of dissent with partisan disloyalty."
The NYT and other Establishment media continue this primary season to promote fear of Sanders and his ideas.
A typical NYT article referred to a possible Sanders Super Tuesday win, "the result would have been something close to unthinkable". The now "retired" MSNBC's Chris Mathews likened a possible Sanders Super Tuesday win, to a Nazi takeover.
The Establishment and its media will do whatever to protect their status quo.
But, we persist!
President Sanders 2020!
1
If Biden wins the nomination, it will be his responsibility to bring the party together.
But it’s Sanders, right now, who can do the most to achieve that result. At the debate Sunday night, Sander’s should avoid blaming Biden for past “disastrous trade policies” and for the Iraq war. He should stop calling him the “establishment” candidate backed by “sixty billionaires.”
Sure go ahead and debate the issues. Ask Biden if he would consider Medicare for all and free college education. But at the end of the day, this party needs to come together to defeat the Trump.
And right now, it’s Sanders who can do the most to accomplish that.
148
@Steven Roth I could not disagree more. The way he talks about anyone who is not on his bandwagon is deplorable. He is not a uniter. He is the one who insults and is vitriolic towards those who don't agree with him, even within the Democratic party and voting body. The only way that man gets my vote is if he does get the nomination against trump. To me, he is the trump of the democratic party. He may not be as crass or as morally corrupt, but they share many things in common in how they strategize to include playing a victim when it serves them. I don't agree with him and how he thinks he will be able to make his plans work. I don't know how anyone thinks he will truly do any of the big tickets items he wants. He doesn't control Congress, the budget, or how taxes are done. To think he will magically tax the rich and give everyone free education and health care in his presidential term while fighting Republicans who will most likely remain in control of Congress is just ignorant. trump still doesn't have his beautiful wall and Republicans control the Senate. Let's be real here. Bernie has no chance of beating trump and he has even less chance of pushing his agenda. He is Mr Magoo, a crazy uncle that entertains at Thanksgiving until his act gets old and you wish he'd just go home after dinner.
46
@Steven Roth
Bernie owes Biden nothing. After all, as I've read innumerable times in these comment sections, Bernie's not a Democrat. Bernie must expose Biden Sunday night.
17
Alissa, you and Steve Roth are on the same page, actually. And I agree with you both.
4
I think many moderate and "somewhat liberal" Democrats all realized the same thing at the same time the night Biden won South Carolina. We have to consolidate around one moderate candidate who can build a coalition. Major Pete graciously bowed out, and Amy soon followed. Even Bloomberg understood. Message to Bernie: Most democrats don't want revolution right now -- we want a candidate who can beat Trump, restore democratic norms, fight climate change, and move successfully in the direction of affordable health care for all. This is not an establishment conspiracy: this is the voters speaking.
15
And Bernie's pattern of blaming "Democratic Party establishment" for Biden's wins is rubbing me, and I'm sure others, the wrong way. Moderates don't need to be told to vote for moderate candidates and against revolutionaries. I'm no more part of the Party establishment than Bernie is, but I still want Biden as the nominee now that Klobuchar is out.
6
Sanders is not a Democrat and has never been a Democrat . He wants to be the leader of his own party , a party separate from the Democrats , but he still needs the Democratic Party in order to advance his platform so he uses the party for his own means .
If , at the end of all the primary contests , Biden falls short of the number of delegates need to automatically become the nominee, yet has the majority of the delegates , then Sanders has to do what he said on the debate stage that HE wanted —and that is , that whoever has the most delegates is automatically the nominees — without going to a contested convention .,
But I fear that Sanders will continue to sow the seeds of discontent among his supporters and cry “ sour grapes “ that the “ establishment “ has railroaded him .
He poisons his supporters and either directly or indirectly gives them a pass to either not vote or dangerously vote for Trump out of protest .
This is going to be on Bernie . if he doesn’t get the nomination he needs to rally his forces behind Biden .
I’m not holding my breath though as I didn’t like what I heard coming out of him today at his press conference.
11
@Karen E
If you want to call pointing out misinformation campaigns as "sour grapes" that wouldn't be too surprising, if it's actually occurring. Even in this article they continue asserting that Bernie is failing to get the youth vote when it appears to be fully UNTRUE. The youth vote, as a share of the electorate has gone down since last election. But WITHIN these age-classes Bernie is still doing great. They are using this demographic artifact for propaganda purposes. Will you read about any of this here? Maybe.... maybe, buried in a back page column or once the delegate math is clinched. Will this comment of mine see the light of day here? I'd give it as much as 50/50 now... they start to let more through as they get more confident.
3
You may be misreading the article. The article asserts he's not turning out the youth vote. It clearly states he is winning the youth vote. Because youth turnout declined as a percentage of the total vote, his advantage didn't translate into delegates.
As for your comment seeing the light of day...there are consistently huge numbers of pro-Bernie comments in the NYT comments sections. Make a timely comment within their civility rules, and you'll usually get in. Eventually comments are closed.
3
Wasn’t it just two weeks ago after Nevada when everyone was wondering if anyone could overcome Bernie’s “insurmountable” lead? Maybe wait until after more than just three states have voted next time.
4
@Jason G No, it wasn't. People were wondering if Bernie could maintain his momentum going into Super Tuesday. Maybe don't mischaracterize other people's opinions next time.
3
I'm interested to see the primary delegate votes for Clinton in 2016 Vs Biden 2020 - Leading to Biden's chance against Trump.
1
@Kevin That analysis is on the Up Shot section
One takeaway is that after his speech at 1 pm EST 03/11/20, Sen. Sanders is even more delusional than his detractors feared.
I had hoped for grace, statesmanship, and patriotism, a legacy speech to bring all together. All that was there was, was an egotistical old man.
Maybe the voters of tomorrow will want him, but those that went to the polls overwhelmingly want Biden. He recognizes that the voters of today don't.
From a balladeer of his youth, Pete Seeger. 'Waist Deep in the Big Muddy', and the big fool says push on.
At this point he is a Trump tool.
15
My takeaway is that the fear of another 4 years of Trump, outweigh actual preferred policies.
Joe isn’t gonna inspire anyone, but hopefully he can win and bring back a sense of normalcy within our current corporatist government, and then in 2024, someone with more progressive values can take over.
10
As I began reading this article I kept thinking, did people vote for Bernie because they disliked Hillary or because they were throwing him a bone because they figured she would be nominated anyway. The last takeaway began to answer this.
4
Hey the voters have spoken. They clearly want to keep spending more than any other country for Health Care, they want perpetual war, they do not want to raise minimum wage, and I dare say they want the same results as last time, Biden wins the popular vote, but looses the electoral college.
7
Joe B seems to beat Bernie mainly in the states that he has no chance of winning in November. ALA? MS ? SC? How does he actually win the election? I don't see a path.
5
@Robert Sartini
Except Biden also won in:
Minnesota - Purple
Michigan - Purple
MA - Blue
Texas - Becoming Purple
Plus Biden was very competitive in Washington and if you threw in his endorsers it would have been a clear win.
Plus Biden is easily the favorite in Florida, another very important swing state.
5
Michigan is pretty important to trump.
3
@Andrew: all of that AND Washington State has a lot of early voting, so Biden’s South Carolina-fueled momentum didn’t get full expression there.
Assuming that Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, what about a vice presidential candidate? How about a fresh face, someone relatively young, and female? How about Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer? She's in a perfect location in an extremely important battle ground swing state which is vital to Democratic hopes in November.
3
Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate. She would have never been the nominee if her husband had not been president. Smart lady for sure, but zero charisma.
Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar are light years ahead and are viable candidates. Amy Klobuchar was, by far, my preferred candidate. I hope Biden selects her as VP.
Gender bias certainly exists, but it not always the only reason.
7
My five “take always” from Tuesday’s Democratic Primary:
1. African-Americans voted in huge numbers for Joe Biden, both young, old, and in-between.
2. Primaries are much more efficient than caucuses! Iowa and New Hampshire shouldn’t go first.
3. Bernie Sanders did not get a huge wave of the under-35 Democrats out to vote. That turnout was lower than in 2016.
4. Joe Biden proved that all the money, hype and organization can’t help you win. Joe won on a ...shoe string budget!
5. Democrats, Independents and NeverTrumpers are UNITED....in our quest to defeat Donald Trump.
193
@Mari Your point #4 is a most significant one. People, especially Bernie supporters, are failing to acknowledge that Big Money didn't get Biden to his current front-running position. Rather, respect for his decency and appreciation for his balanced inclusive message is driving greater confidence in Biden's ability to bring stability back to governing.
48
@Mari
Joe Biden won on the DNC, Democratic leadership, especially South Carolina King Maker James Clyburn, making a Hail Mary pass and the spin doctors catching the ball and running with it. But it will take the whole team to get it over the goal post. If I understand the sports metaphor and the game. And right now, if you are reading the comments section, individual players have totally taken their eyes off the ball, and the goal post, and are chasing each other all over the field. While the other side is having a spirit rally and rehearsing their plays.
4
@Mari
He's winning solidly red states. States he'll lose in the general election. Actual Democrats and anyone center-left onward are all supporting Sanders. And you think that's a vote of confidence for Biden?!?! Jesus, you just remember that illusion you're harboring right now and when Joe and the 'status quo' Dems get crushed once gain this Fall you won't have to ask 'Wha' happen?!' We'll be there to tell you, 'I told you so.'
7
My wife and I are both physicians and Bernie/Warren supporters. While we lament the direction of the primary and have serious concerns about Biden, we are glad the progressive voices have had the influence they did and will undoubtedly vote for Biden in Nov. The stakes are too high.
Our vision for Sunday’s debate: push away the podium and wheel out 2 chairs. Give Bernie time to say, “I want to be realistic. It looks like the math isn’t giving us a path to the White House, so I will be suspending our campaign and putting my full support behind Joe. But being realistic and giving my support means acknowledging that Joe’s campaign also faces an undeniable math problem—namely, that he barely registers with voters under 40. Our party ignores this at its own peril. So instead of a caustic debate, we’re going to spend the next 2 hrs having a heartfelt, earnest conversation about how Joe can ensure that his campaign, message, platform, and ticket appeals to “young” and/or progressive citizens—citizens who make up a sizable plurality of this party, who represent its future, and whose vote his ticket will absolutely need to remove the current occupant of the White House, protect the Supreme Court, take back the senate, and keep the House.”
For what it’s worth, a VP pick of Stacey Abrams would be a resounding step in that direction.
208
@GI Doc Now that would a "debate" worth watching!
22
@GI Doc great email. Much appreciated. It's time to bring the party together over the values we share.
19
@GI Doc
Yes on Stacey Abrams! She has already said that she would be willing to do it. She wouldn't be leaving a vulnerable Senate/House/Governor seat open. She's younger. She might help turn Georgia blue!
20
Biden and Sanders were chosen based solely on the results of four state primaries and caucuses that didn't even represent the country. We desperately need a ranked national primary so that everyone in the country has the ability to vote for their choice of candidates. Contact the DNC and make this point. I have. If enough of us do so, we might get a nominee that actually represents the majority of voters. Our system isn't working as it now stands. Take the time and express your opinion rather than just complain about the system. It will take about 5 minutes of your time. https://democrats.org/contact-us/
10
@ExPatMX YOU my friend are smart as a gila and I hope this idea gains traction. I think there is science behind the idea of ranked-choice voting but that becomes an achilles heel during the conversations
2
To all those who seem believe 2016 was about how the Bernie showing proved that voters disliked Hillary or that a woman can't win, etc., etc. -- I offer one word: "server". If she hadn't been so boneheaded as to create her own private email system, which played into the narrative of the secretive, manipulative Clintons, Hillary would have won in a walk. As it was, she set herself up to be crucified by Trump, Fox and Comey, and the rest was history.
4
If Joe wins which looks likely the 5 takeaways are;
1. Nothing will change.
2. Nothing will change.
3. Nothing will change.
4. Nothing will change.
5. Nothing will change.
The diversions and distractions may be different
15
@magicisnotreal
Wrong!
1. Trump will be gone! God bless America!
2. Trump will be gone! God bless America!
3. Trump will be gone! God bless America!
4. Trump will be gone! God bless America!
5. Trump will be gone! God bless America!
37
@magicisnotreal If Joe beats Don
1. We'll avoid an entrenched conservative supreme court majority for the next 30 years.
2. Climate change will be taken seriously.
3. Obamacare will be improved, instead of dismantled.
4. Taxes will rise on the wealthy and the government will try to do something about wealth inequality.
5. We'll have a kind, bumbling old man for president, which is much much much better than a lying, vindictive, racist old man.
73
@magicisnotreal
How can you say that while looking at what the Trump administration is doing now? I am not a Biden supporter, but there are miles of difference between the total corruption, incompetence and thievery we have in this administration and a possible Biden's one. Keep the eyes on the goal and on flipping the Senate.
20
Last night, at a performance of the Lehman Trilogy, I listened to a group of Sanders-supporting millenials sitting behind me during the last intermission. They had read the early primary reporting on their phones.
First, they trashed the media for an alleged bias favoring Biden. Then, in a display of arrogance, one if them said, "I'll bet that at least half of the audience here tonight doesn't even understand what this play is about."
True, it is common for young people to think that they are the discoverers of age-old discussions about socioeconomic systems. But the twenty-somethings' (and Sanders') belief that most Americans are yearning for radical change is nonsense.
Time for the Bern and his followers to face the facts. People want an evolution, not a revolution.
44
@NR Exactly!
7
Bernie's insistence to continue his drawn-out, divisive rhetoric against Hillary, the Democratic establishment and the rigged system helped only one person in 2016: Donald Trump. To allow Sanders to repeat that game plan in 2020 would show the country that the Democrats can't get their act together (and that Bernie can't grow as a person, candidate or leader). It's time for Bernie to exit stage left. Then we'll see if he can become a team player, or if he and his supporters will sit on their hands as petulant, self-absorbed, "democratic socialists" and ultimately contribute to Trump's re-election. Their choice.
The ship of state ultimately needs a new direction, but first, we need to bail out the sinking boat.
14
Last night, at a performance of the Lehman Trilogy, I listened to a group of Sanders-supporting millenials sitting behind me during the last intermission. They had read the early primary reporting on their phones.
First, they trashed the media for an alleged bias favoring Biden. Then, in a display of arrogance, one if them said, "I'll bet that at least half of the audience here tonight doesn't even understand what this play is about."
True, it is common for young people to think that they are the discoverers of age-old discussions about socioeconomic systems. But the twenty-somethings' (and Sanders') belief that most Americans are yearning for radical change is nonsense.
Time for the Bern and his followers to face the facts. People want an evolution, not a revolution.
2
My main take-in, is vigilance, to see whether Biden, once ensconced at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, will forget African Americans and their priorities. It has happened before!
2
That is why we need to flip the Senate and have a progressive at the Senate helm!
8
@CHARLES
haha!
DC politicos will say anything to get elected, then forget about you for 4 years.
Biden is the poster boy for DC politics.
What did you think you bought? change you can believe in? no man, you voted for 'DC Business as usual', and that is what you will get.
In the backlash you will loose the congress by the way.
Have fun with a DC log jam, you know, a return to normalcy.
Now that the Democratic moderates have a commanding lead with Joe Biden as the presumptive winner of the Democratic Presidential primary, how are the moderates going to signal to the 'radical left' wing, largely younger voters, that there is room in the Democratic party for them?
How about ending the DCCC's blacklist that hobbles progressive challengers to incumbent DINO's? Is that too much to ask for?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/us/politics/dccc-blacklist-incumbent-policy.html
1
So Biden is now the front runner. He sprang to life after James Clyburn stepped in to convince the African American community to support him. I have heard it said that the heart and soul of the Democratic Party is now the African American community. It also helped that the DNC tipped the scale in favor of Biden out of fear that Sanders might just win enough delegates to become the nominee. In other words the process is rigged just like in 2016.
So now the question is ...What do the Sanders supporters do? Do they switch their support over to Biden, do they disrupt the convention, or do they stay home and not vote because of a rigged system ? I would say they have every right to be angry.
The other question I have is ...Why didn't the DNC stand behind any of the other candidates? Any one of the top candidates, Warren, Harris, Mayor Pete, or even Bloomberg, all of whom would probably have been a viable candidate and a far better President. Maybe like Clinton it is Biden's turn. Anyway we all now know just how the Democratic Party works. Talk about corruption....WOW!
5
Wow. There you go...A perfect example of the Alex Jones-left, faux "progressive" mindset..Anything to point the finger at the DNC, the "establishment", or any convenient sucker who is perceived to be persecuting poor, old Bernie. It's embarrassing. It was embarrassing in 2016, and it's doubly embarrassing now. Nobody needs to put any imaginary finger on any imaginary scale, nor is there any hidden intrigue, mysterious cabals, or hush-hush deals required. Sanders is losing, and losing badly. The guy who has conveniently used the Democratic Party at whim for decades is learning that maybe folks are just sick of his solipsistic methods, his hungry ego, and his obnoxious disdain for others who won't buy into each and every screaming point from his stump speech. Keep spinning the victim story, because that's all you have.
4
Wow ...really proves that women candidates are not tenable on the national stage...
Biden would be absolutely insane to choose a female running mate ...
I like Rep Eric Swalwell...for VP...remember him? Young liberal articulate ex military...
3
@All Times Soundscape
I would like to refer you to the results of the 2018 elections when many, many women were elected to "the national stage".
Still she persisted!
2
Can we just please continue with the primaries until they are finished? No one is even close to a majority of all the delegates yet.
It would be nice not to alienate more Bernie supporters than we absolutely have to. The surest way to do that is to rush him off the stage before this thing is settled.
Will all Biden supporters just calm down and stop trying to short-circuit the democratic process? Isn’t that what we are trying to save in the first place?
All indications show that Biden is cruising to victory. Just let him do that.
I supported Bernie in 2016, and then of course, like a good yellow dog, I voted for Hillary in November. However, the results of the 2018 election proved to me that we need a more moderate candidate this year, since all the gains in the House were due to electing moderate Democrats. Joe was not my first choice, but now I am on his bandwagon. But I honestly do not see the point of stopping things when we haven’t even chosen half of the delegates yet.
The continuing primaries are only making Joe stronger. So let’s just continue.
23
@A Yellow Dog named Mati
I agree, we have to let everyone debate and vote. Calling things off prematurely will just strengthen some people's conviction that it's all rigged and turn them off from voting in November.
8
@A Yellow Dog named Mati
Agreed. To say nothing of the fact tat over half the country has not even voted yet.
2
Absolutely! Let the process play out and once the dust settles, come together and get Trump out of office.
1
Bernie Sanders' defeats in the 2020 Primaries, like Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 election, are due to several factors. Young voters may once have been enthusiastic about a revolution in government services, but having seen the devolution and destruction of Presidential norms from the current administration, their emerging critical thinking skills have kicked in and been replaced by pragmatism.
All the women candidates have been excluded, although the success of women entering Congress under Nancy Pelosi's leadership virtually guarantees a woman for Vice President. A serious public health crisis-- the coronavirus--requiring a prompt federal government response reveals how unprepared the federal government has been to respond, suggesting total conversion to Medicare for all would be delayed and probably impossible. Russia has intervened in oil markets to affect the U.S. the economy and probably triggered more bots. Neither collusion with self-serving autocrats or uncompromising politics have produced gains for the middle class in the U.S.
Biden is the more reliable choice.
3
If Sanders and Biden were competing to be the head of NASA in the 1960s, Bernie would be promising to build a city on Mars while Biden would be cautioning to try a moon landing first. Bernie's would be the more inspiring vision, but Biden's would be the one most likely to get us eventually to Mars.
A wise "progressive" understands that great change takes place "progressively", not instantaneously. There is no "Instantaneous Party".
20
@M. Casey Exactly! Bernie tells people what they want to hear, but he has no details. Decades in the Senate and nothing to show for it, he's all mouth. His ideas may be popular, but he has no clue how to turn his tirades into reality.
I think you equate progressive with incremental. Because with Biden, that’s what we’ll get. And we don’t have time for incremental policies on existential threats like climate change, which affects every living thing on this planet and also affects economies, migration, health, etc. These are not progressive issues, these are real time global and humanitarian issues that require bold and aggressive actionable policies if we are to survive as a nation and a planet.
1
As the Democratic party tries to unite to defeat Trump I hope the DNC and the press gives Amy McGrath more support and coverage as she tries to defeat McConnell in the senate race in Kentucky.
If they can’t “Ditch Mitch” (her slogan, not mine) we will continue to see deadlock in Washington even with Trump defeated.
17
@Jane
For the first time in my long life, I have sent money to a political candidate and that was Amy McGrath. Getting McConnell out is as important as getting Trump out. She has a chance to win. She needs the support of everyone who recognizes McConnell as the threat to Democracy that he is.
22
@Jane
I'm sending donations to Amy McGrath and to Sara Gideon who is challenging Susan Collins in Maine. Also Mark Kelly in Arizona.
2
The number of comments I'm seeing portraying Bernie as some kind of divisive carnival barker is genuinely dismaying. Chances are that if you've arrived at this conclusion, you've formed your opinion of the man not from his own speeches, gestures, or human interactions, but from watching cable news and internalizing the opinions of comfortable political journalists employed by the Times or the Washington Post, etc. who view him as a threat to their material interests. Bernie is as close to the complete inverse of Trump in terms of compassion, sincerity, and goodness as a politician can be, but we've cast him aside in favor of an empty, rudderless vessel in the form of Uncle Joe. Once Biden loses in the general, I believe we will need to conduct an honest postmortem on the role of left-punching media bias in swaying public opinion. I have zero hope that such a direly necessary analysis will appear in these pages, nor do I anticipate the NYT hiring a single progressive writer to lend our quarter-plus of the party a voice amidst their sea of center-to-right-wing faux-"adversarial" government mouthpieces.
If you're seeking a good publication which actually platforms progressive voices, please check out Current Affairs, published by the wonderful Nathan J. Robinson.
13
@steve , Bernie did himself in by displaying, relentlessly and at full tilt, intolerance for anything but a revolution.
Read Krugman's column on Denmark today. Bernie's inflexibility is the resson he is fading out.
10
@steve
I hate to disillusion you but I base my opinion on what I have seen and heard. Sanders is rigid in his ideology and totally refuses to bend. He appears to be an angry old man who is set in his ways. Is Biden my first choice? No. But our country is terribly divided and needs someone to pour oil over troubled waters. Sanders won't do that. He has no chance to get independent voters who don't like Trump but won't vote hard left. My vote was based on getting Trump out of office. I pray Biden can do that even if he isn't the person I would have originally chosen.
8
@NR
Here's something better - discussion/debate about Bernie, by Paul Krugman and Richard Wolff.
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/2/24/paul_krugman_richard_wolff_socialism_debate
1
It appears that in the end policies in this election don't matter just the person people feel can beat trump. I don't like it but understand it, trump needs to e dumped.
1
Why are so many people thinking that Biden's VP will then become President? That would happen if he dies in office (same with Bernie), but other than the President's death, Vice-presidents have a poor record for becoming President.
If my information is correct, 14 VP's have become President, 7 of them upon the death of the President, and 1 (Gerald Ford) following Nixon's resignation.
Interesting that Gerald Ford became Nixon's VP upon the resignation of Spiro Agnew. Ford lost to Jimmy Carter.
Because Biden and Bernie are too old, probably the VP is more significant this time.
But please....don't choose a Senator for VP - we can't afford to lose anyone from the Senate.
7
@Pat Boice It’s fine to choose a senator from a state controlled by Democrats, because then the shirt-term replacement would NOT be a republican.
That eliminates Senator Warren. And truth be told, I think we want someone younger in that job.
@A Yellow Dog named Mati - Younger is definitely better!
I'll "mansplain" for you Anne. Hillary Clinton is unlikeable. And I say that as someone who voted for her.
15
The media seems to have completely missed until now the crucial impact of many states wisely switching from caucuses--which are dominated by the fervent minority--to elections. In every such state, turnout has increased massively and Sanders has done much worse than in 2016 and in 2020 caucus states. Washington state is a great example.
10
@DSM14
You're failing to account here for the four years of strident Bernie-bashing on cable news and in our papers of record. Gullible people who get all of their opinions from these sources have been whipped into an anti-Bernie hysteria, blaming him exclusively for the outcome of 2016 and ignoring the many glaring flaws in the party's strategy. Unfortunately, there's a lot of this type of person out there.
2
@steve Our paper of record was clearly favoring Warrren over sanders, but was even more brutal to Biden, constantly proclaiming his downfall.
I keep reading that with Biden in office, our president will actually be the vice president. Biden voters are planning on the VP and other staff to make most of the decisions for him because they don't have confidence in his mental or physical faculties. It sounds like Biden voters didn't really choose their candidate for president; they chose his theoretical staff. I am puzzled as to why they didn't choose other candidates such as Klobuchar, Buttigieg, or Warren.
9
@Kristin, do you have medical proof? Are you not observing Trump?! He is completely batty. Listen carefully to Joe, he forms full sentences and speak coherently.
25
Kristin, we all already heard Trump's lies, so there is no need to repeat GOP/Trump talking points here.
We're voting for Biden and we fully expect him to bring to the presidency a much needed dose of decency and competence after 3+ years of lies, immorality, incompetence, and malignant narcissism. We need to fumigate and disinfect the Oval Office, and Biden is the right person at the right time for that job. And you can bet his veep will be competent in her own right, and not some yes-man toady like the current one.
66
Can you share where you have read this information? I ask because attacking the candidates health is a false narrative without facts that the right is pursuing, much like the lies about Clinton’s health in 2016. Please share your sources.
26
The main thing I'm taking from this primary season is just how ludicrous it is to have mail-in "single preference" ballots when, e.g. the non-Bernie votes are split across many similar-strength candidates, and when many of those have dropped out by the date of the ballot.
Ranked choice voting solves both of these problems, and is long overdue.
e.g. Wouldn't it be nice to know the second preference of all those Warren and Buttigieg voters in Washington state?
8
Biden won in Michigan because he wasn't Clinton.
Sanders lost in Michigan because Clinton wasn't on the ballot.
Sanders gave Trump the Presidency in 2016 by portraying the anecdotal diversity, which is the Democratic party, as hyperbolic divisions, thereby adding fuel to the fire as he happily jumped on and ran up Clinton's negatives.
Trump gladly jumped in, further exploited those negatives, and took Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Now, four years later, we do not care about Biden's negatives because, by comparison to Trump, they do not amount to a hill of beans. (Biden's son made money off his name? So do Don Jr, Eric and Ivanka - in spades.)
The people are speaking. They are saying, "We want Normal!"
Biden may have warts, but they're honest warts, and we see him as Normal.
Now, let's regain and restore some measure of our pride and reputation as a country, and elect a person who is Normal. For the moment, that will be more than enough.
38
It's over, and we all know it. The irony in reading the bit about Hillary in 2016 vs. Joe this year is that the Sanders crowd may actually be right: that Hilary was a weak candidate in 2016. The unfortunate thing for them is, Joe isn't. And remember, Hillary got 3,000,000 more votes than Trump (and Bernie for that matter).
He has absolutely no chance at the nomination anymore. The question now is, does Bernie care more about himself or his country? Same goes for his supporters.
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@Mike
Clinton was a weak candidate. So is Biden. Young people stayed at home rather than vote for Clinton. And she had the built in advantage of being, like Obama, a "first." As in, the first female President.
You think voters are going to come out and support another do nothing, more of the same candidate?
Anti-Trump sentiment is strong. Not strong enough for a lousy candidate to beat Trump. Ask Clinton.
1
Joe Biden's primary support is not due to his winning personality, stellar voting record, or adept campaigning.
Until South Carolina King Maker James Clyburn put his finger on the scale, Biden was in a desultory name recognition afterglow of being Obama's veep. At this point, Biden is the party's Hail Mary, not the people's choice. But he's our only choice, and we'd better make the best of it.
Hard work, easy choice. Think of the alternative.
2
Jim Clyburn did not tell white suburbanites in Massachusetts how to vote, or white men in Michigan for that matter. Bernie lost many of us by being inflexible, irascible, and taking a disdainful tone to express a pox on both major political houses, not just the one currently enabling an autocrat.
1
How do we convince our kids that the DNC has not “rigged the election against Bernie?”
4
@Evan have them count thevotes.
12
@Evan Tell them to count the votes.
11
@Evan we can start by explaining how democracy works and that the one who gets the most votes is the one who wins...
12
Democrats must also realize that the combined votes of Biden and Sanders did not add up to Trump’s numbers in 2016. This means that we need to consolidate immediately and remind Sanders voters that the leverage is there to address student loan debt and a more robust economic and healthcare agenda, just not with Sanders at the top of the ticket.
But we need to win first.
13
@Anonymous what does "the leverage is there to address" those issues mean? why would anyone believe that Joe Biden, who literally wrote the bankruptcy bill that made discharging student debt impossible, forgive that debt? We could see an LBJ-style turnaround from him, but he is the most conservative nominee since Bill Clinton and will likely give the left nothing.
5
@Anonymous : Let's remind Biden that he needs to show the progressives and younger folks and struggling folks of all ages that the leverage is there.
1
@Thomas Watson
I was taught that going bankrupt was a form of theft. So even after I was kidnapped and almost murdered and the state provided almost no benefits to victims, I went from having a good paying job and having a goal to continue my education, to driving a taxi rather than relying on federal help. Get real. I want people in charge who make decisions that can get pushed through. Ordinarily I would call you spam, but if not wake up.
"Michigan’s results hint at the depth of anti-Clinton sentiment in 2016."
Exactly. It is clear now that both Bernie and Trump benefited from having Clinton as a foil. Without Clinton on the ballot, Bernie (and, later, Trump) has to win on his own merits and appeal, and it is not happening.
30
@Grainy Blue
As you say, Bernie may not win.
But Biden has 864 delegates to Sanders 710. That's only 22% more delegates. This is ONLY the Democrat vote. Then we have all those Republican Americans for Trump. I don't know, but Biden and his staff are going to have to work their butts off in order to win this most important November election.
Biden isn't exactly running away with delegates. His staff and followers are going to have to work very hard to get to the total number of delegates to win the nomination!!!!!
@Grainy Blue
Possibly true, possibly not. One thing is certain, democratic primary voters sometimes do a lousy job. Gore. Kerry. Clinton.
You just pointed out that Trump likely would not be President had democrats nominated someone other than Clinton.
It is interesting, and very sad, that once again we are led to conclude that the 2016 election process was substantively about disagreement with, disrespect for and outright hatred of Hillary Clinton. Certainly she had compromised principle for political gain on occasion and for that reason was not a model candidate. But there has to be more to it than that, because her husband, who left office with very high approval ratings, was guilty of the same "triangulation".
Conspiracy theories took root easily in the fertile soil of minds who could not stomach a woman acting like a man. Hillary would clearly make deals, some perhaps with negative aspects, she would wield power, she would not defer to powerful men and she would be difficult for the press to manage or even to understand (Maureen Dowd and David Brooks, do you agree?). Has any political person in recent memory been so despised for what she represented, as opposed to what she did?
34
Scott - you nailed it
1
@Scott Emery I think a lot of people just didn't like her, despite her qualifications. It might be that simple.
I don't like Brussels Sprouts despite them being highly nutritious. I won't eat them. Given a choice, I will choose something else. I did, however, vote for Hillary in the general election. Some people, however, did not have the stomach to do so in 2016 and thought it would be funny to vote for Trump. She did, however, get more votes than Trump.
Well, that's my humble opinion, FWIW.
3
@Scott Emery : Scott: When Bill tried his neo-liberal policies, they were plausible. By the time Obama used them and failed the masses, for Hillary to trot them out was suicide. For the Democratic Party elites to block Sanders was to assure Trump in 2016. Sanders could have won in 2016. I do not know about now. But letting Republican states the Democrats have no chance of taking choose the Democratic presidential candidate is not wise. Biden needs to reach out hard and fast to the Sanders/Warren voters.
1
Bernie, our idealistic and indefatigable Bernie, must now face the music. The tide has turned. He did the magnanimous thing four years ago and got behind Hillary. He now needs a similar gesture toward Joe. The Bernie we all know and love will no doubt do the right thing. We salute you dear sir from the great state of Vermont.
11
The wealthy have won. Either Trump or Biden but they hold all the power and will keep us lurching ever incrementally or lurching right ward.
Congratulations to the New York Times and WAPO and all those that constantly attacked progressives, progressive policy and fought hard change to have voters represented by the people instead of announced by the DNC leaders because they bring wealth to the party.
The right ward drift continues. The question is how will you defend progressives who have no voice and are under constant violent threat from republicans and associated bad actors?
19
Mathias,
Maybe, just maybe, most Democrats are not as far to the left as Bernie voters. It is not a rightward drift, nor a win for big money interests. It is a win for common sense and for change that more people can agree on.
In every primary state that Biden won, there has been massive increases in turnout compared to 2016. What more proof do you need that this is what the voters want, even if it is painful for Bernie supporters to realize that Bernie's views are shared only by a minority? A significant minority, but a minority nonetheless.
41
What needs to be understood is that in a state by state election moderates prevail by our electoral college system disenfranchises the majority of voters nationwide who lean left.
7
@James Osborne the majority of Democratic voters do not lean as far left as Bernie Sanders, or even if they do believe in most of his policy positions, they realize that it's not a winning message given the way our democracy is structured and the power of the private sector. Revolutions don't often happen at the voting box...you're not being disenfranchised, and if you feel like you are, then move to a swing state.
2
Any analysis that doesn't mention never trumpers is off. The old people that voted Rubio-clinton are now in the dem primary, big deal they were there in the general, so if actually care about beating trump you should discount their surge in dem primary turnout. A shocking lack of those kinda questions on the exit poll, like you know did you vote in the republican primary and for hrc in the general last time? that info would be too useful for bernie though
3
I would manspain to Ms Caprara that Michigan has a female governor, SOS, and AG. And that female voters were abig part of Hilary's problem.
Sexism is no doubt a problem. I don't think “Mansplain me on sexism again, dudes,” helps anything. Nor does her annalysis seem accurate at all.
17
Mr Sanders, what is going to be now, yourself or the Country? Please, let us know, ASAP.
17
I hope Biden's surge leads to a thorough self-examination by the Times of why they so consistently and loudly dismissed his chances.
10
“The wave of new and younger voters that Mr. Sanders has banked much of his candidacy on simply has not shown up.”
I doubt that apathy accounts for why new and younger voters have not shown up for Sanders. Not in this election cycle.
More likely, they have come to realize that no matter how much they like Sanders’ ideas he would not win in the general election.
Those voters may not be ecstatic about Biden, but they know they don’t want four more years of Trump.
50
@Mike Roush Not ecstatic is an understatement. I'm a Gen X. So are most of my friends. We were Bernie Sanders supporters, not extremists, but identified and appreciated his ideas. After his loss, we were disappointed to end up with another bland centrist who will accomplish little, but with one enormous flaw: he seems to becoming demented. He should not have been nominated. I will sit this one out. A few of my friends have indicated the same. If another candidate had been nominated, I would have been voted. But I am concerned about his mental status.
10
@Kristin
So you have no qualms about Trump’s mental status? Interesting...
14
@Kristin And you are not concerned about Trump’s mental state. Come on. You are not a democrat.
15
Thank God sanity prevails in the heartland among Democratic voters (and independents and disaffected ex-Republicans!) The myopia that we've got all the answers and if we only scream loud enough, we can bring this country leftward is self-defeating.
The screamers, like Trump and Sanders, only divide this nation -- the greatest experiment in the history of the planet --which was painstakingly built with dialog, compassion, and compromise.
92
Well said! Truth! We are more united than divided.
8
@rich Totally agree! I too am tired of screamers and fighters. My question is
What are you for?
1
@KH : I have yet to hear Biden be "for" anything that people actually need -- like affordable healthcare (ACA was a total disaster for many of us financially) or swift action on the climate crisis or forgiving student loan debt/making a public college education free.
1
I supported Bernie in '16. I supported Warren until she dropped out and I'm not behind Biden. It is imperative that the concerns motivating Bernie and Warren supporters be firmly addressed by Biden. Namely--the Climate Crisis, student debt, and out of control corporate greed. I think Biden made a good speech last night that hinted he understands that he need to get as many of the younger voters as possible to get out and vote for him. He also needs to pick a female running mate. Harris would be good. I would oppose Warren if only because Massachusetts has a Republican governor who would appoint her replacement if she was elected as VP.
7
The headline is the voters, Democrats, have taken control and are motivated to remove Trump, and possibly turn the Senate. And young voters are a question mark, probably unreliable.
36
@JP Just what makes you think the democrats are going to turn the senate? The republicans who vote for Joe are not going to abandon republicans on the down ballot. The republicans are not upset at all by Trump's actual policies, they only dislike that he shows their true face to the people. They like their senators and their policies, which are in fact what Trump has done.
1
Sounds nice. My prediction: Republicans, operating in the Roger Stone model and with a BIG assist from Putin, will get a Burisma employee to lie and say publicly that Biden asked Burisma to hire Hunter. Therefore, Biden should strike first by publicizing all the machinations by Jared Kushner, Ivanka, Don, Jr. and Eric, each of whom is MUCH dirtier than Hunter is portrayed to be.
22
@Bob You've got the Burisma issue wrong. It's not that Joe got Hunter the job. The fact that the Biden NAME got Hunter the job -- without Joe asking explicitly -- is really beyond debate. Yes, this is a form of corruption, but it's not illegal and didn't involve Joe. It involved Hunter's really poor judgment. And anyway children cashing in on their famous father's name is a fact of life. See, e.g., Don Trump, Jr.
But the accusation in the Burisma case is more serious. It is that Joe pressured the Ukrainians to fire their top prosecutor (equivalent to our Attorney General) because he was going to investigate Bursima for corruption while Hunter was on the board, i.e., that Joe got a crime fighter fired to protect Hunter. There is no evidence of this whatsoever. All the evidence shows, to the contrary, that Joe pressured the Ukrainians to fire the prosecutor because the PROSECUTOR was corrupt -- and that Joe did so as part of an anti-corruption coalition that wanted the prosecutor fired -- including the E.U.
17
@Bob maybe a good idea with an add-on, go public with all the Hunter Biden detail as soon as Sanders withdraws. Get the dirt out right away.
I feel people don't fully grasp how many moderate voters there are and how much of the voters they make in the crucial swing states of the Midwest, PA, FL, and AZ. And as much as a progressive vision would be amazing to see enacted, at the end of the day, we must admit to ourselves that the Presidential Election and the Electoral College place a disproportionate amount of power in the hands of the Midwest voters, the Philadelphia suburbs, and the multi-racial swing voters of FL.
And to those voters, a moderate vision is more palatable that Sanders' agenda. Might we take a step back and truly analyze why America wants to elect progressive candidates, but has so much trouble doing so.
25
Will,
I don’t think people realize how many moderate voters there are in all states. Sanders’ problem is not his analysis of problems as much as it is his radical solutions. As a rule, people really don’t like change even if they say they do. Incrementalism is the way to achieve goals. One would think that the history of the ACA would be enough to instruct people about the fate of plans to radically alter the way we do things.
20
@Will I totally agree. Personally I’m a Warren Progressive. I dislike Sanders because of his behavior not his ideas. He’s got a pretty thin list of accomplishments for 30 years in the Senate. He’s an extremist and unpleasant to boot. He would be an awful president.
17
Will,
Sanders voters are motivated by "big change" and are willing to bet "all or nothing." Most voters want to get rid of Trump, first and foremost, and are not interested in risking another four years of Trump with an "all or nothing" bet. Most voters are also not as far to the left as Sanders and his followers.
Even to most die-hard Sanders voters, it should be obvious that incremental change is better than no change. The alternative: every single day that Trump remains in office makes Sanders voters' goals more remote and harder to ever reach.
7
“Mansplain me on sexism again, dudes”
OK, here you go: disliking Hillary Clinton is not necessarily sexism. Sometimes it is; sometimes it isn't. People knew her well for a long time, so she wan't generic.
45
AKA Clintonism.
3
@Polaris
Americans know the caricature of Hillary Clinton that Republicans started creating in 1992. She is a brilliant and ambitious woman. Perhaps they realized that when she was working on the Nixon impeachment, but she has been in their crosshairs for decades. Yet, she still managed to accumulate 3 million more votes than Trump-who had the Russians working on his side.
2
Not sure why, but one obvious factor is that the first few states held caucuses, which are more favorable to Sanders.
Four years ago we went to our caucus in Washington State, and crawled out under the barrage of Sanders supporters. He won handily.
A month later Washington held a non-binding Primary where significantly more people participated, and Clinton won. The same thing happened in another state.
Caucuses should be eliminated. They don't give a true picture.
106
@Travelers
The system actually worked pretty well this time. Leaving aside the issues, from a purely mechanical perspective:
Lots of contenders. Lots of prospective challengers to the establishment candidate. Many had narrow but not broad appeal. Most got significant coverage and debate time. A few did well in the early contests. But by Super Tuesday, a clear majority of voters had coalesced behind a single candidate, and that choice appears to be self-reinforcing.
It seemed awfully chaotic at the time, but in retrospect, it produced pretty good results. This is what happens in a healthy open primary: it’s not easy to figure out whether a Carter, a Clinton, a Dukakis, or a Kerry will emerge.
5
Caucuses and Bernie are anachronisms. There is no place for either in the 21st Century.
15
@Travelers Thank you for writing this. As a Washingtonian and a Democrat, I applaud our move to a primary and the truer results that come with it. The caucuses were exciting in the moment, until you realized that they brought out zealots and extremists who don't reflect the general will of the party membership. As a zealot himself, Sanders thrived in caucuses ... results totally at odds with what you get when actual voters actually vote.
11
Those of us in Michigan were embarrassed and chastised that our electoral college votes went for trump.
In 2018, when we elected 3 Democratic women to the top spots in our state, and flipped 2 suburban Detroit US Congressional seats to Democrats.....well that was the harbinger for 2020.
I'd like the Democratic party to move farther left, but like many, I believe we need to stabilize our government first.
Should Biden win, his choice for VP will be important because I believe that will be the candidate in 2024. It's not that I only want him for one term, but that he'll be doing more "presidenting" than the current golf-loving Oval Office inhabitant.
120
@MotownMom - Biden's running mate should be Amy Klobuchar.
Choosing her eliminates the "flyover country" claim and provides a solid, competent person who can add pull to other Midwest states.
7
@MotownMom The Dems need to move radically left in order to "stabilize" things. Since Bill Clinton the left has gone so far right most of you people can't even see the center from how far right it is now. Stabilize nothing! Hard left or leave it behind!
1
@rds
I agree on Klobuchar.
Not Stacey Abrams, please. She served 10 years in the Georgia statehouse, including in a leadership position, but lost the gubernatorial election.
More important, tagging Abrams would instantly be interpreted — right or wrong — by some centrist voters as a sop to identity politics, almost certainly alienating them.
Abrams is an impressive person who, at this point, lacks the experience to be a heartbeat away from an elderly president.
3