“Twenty seven bucks or get my ass kicked.” Why we must nominate Bernie.

The indicated quotation in the OP is not an actual quote. It is a paraphrase of Joe Pesci’s character in My Cousin Vinnie, responding to a redneck ultimatum. Vinnie quipped “two hundred bucks or get my ass kicked.”

What my paraphrase means is that we have the political ultimatum of contributing to Bernie’s campaign or losing the White House. Bernie consistently and significantly outperforms Hillary in polls against all GOP contenders. Of course there is no certainty that Hillary would lose a general election, but current polling trends offer a disturbing picture in that regard.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.html

Hillary is not only heavily underwater on her current favorability ratings but she actually loses to prospective GOP nominee John Kasich. Although she is slightly ahead of Cruz, many of those results are on the order of margin of error. If Trump is the nominee, any Democrat will win according to current polling, but Bernie is more likely to achieve a landslide giving him control of the House and Senate. Bottom line: Polls show Bernie consistently outperforming Hillary against GOP contenders.

Hillary also has a troublesome tendency to fade in national campaigns, as she did in 2008 and has done this cycle. Here is a HuffPo graph illustrating her tendency to fade in national polls:

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-democratic-primary

This graph shows her falling from a 55 point lead in early 2015 to the current three point lead. Simple examination of the graph shows Hillary has a real problem in national polls over time. A consistent pattern.

In any scenario, Bernie is more likely to have coattails and achieve a landslide than Hillary. Most of Hillary’s popularly perceived baggage is unwarranted and generated by an irresponsible press corps and Republican smears. Nonetheless, the baggage is real, politically ingrained and a Hillary nomination will help unify and energize a fractured GOP.

Bernie simply has more enthusiasm in his campaign, will have more volunteer energy and raise more clean money than any candidate in this cycle. His high net favorables and well earned reputation for integrity in his home state will add to his advantage. That is why he hasn’t lost an election in more than a quarter century! A landslide is achievable, yielding control of the House and Senate for his program. And he clearly knows how to play hardball to get things done. Just ask John McCain.

This is a chance for Democrats to finally roll back the Reagan Revolution and shift the Overton Window.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

So instead of debating how much to CUT Social Security, etc., we can change the debate to how much we should EXPAND Social Security. How much we should raise the minimum wage, how much we should cut wasteful military spending etc. A political revolution which discredits the tenets of Reaganism and neoliberalism is exactly what this country needs.

Moving the Overton window means that we start out the negotiations with universal health care, rather than taking even a public option off the table before negotiating. It means overturning Citizen’s United in Bernie’s first term. As Bernie stated at the last debate, if elected Bernie will ask President Obama to withdraw his nominee so that Bernie can nominate a public supporter of overturning CU. He’ll probably have to play hardball to get her or him confirmed, but see the John McCain comment above. For example a Democratic Senate could suspend the filibuster rule; then Citizen’s United will be overturned by a 5-4 vote.

Citizen’s United solved, on to a green bill to create 13 million good jobs transitioning from fossil fuel and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, universal healthcare, relieving student debt, supporting equal pay, pathway to citizenship, kick Goldman Sachs out of the federal government, establish a sane foreign policy which says no to perpetual war and expanding SS. These things are doable with a Bernie victory.

If you think the future is bright for the dying Democratic Party, read this:

http://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2015/11/4/9665842/republican-inequality-future-loop

We need an election which helps our Party, our country and our world. All are in desperate straits. A Sanders presidency addresses all three.

In the three offices Bernie has held (mayor of Burlington, Congressman for Vermont, Senator for Vermont) Bernie has a consistent record for 35 years of becoming more popular while in office, even among Republicans. This is because he is honest, ethical and governs well. Millennials could easily become lifetime Democrats, the country will no longer be a backward nation (except for being first in child poverty and jails), we will have a robust safety net, like the rest of the industrialized world and Bernie will continue to expand his high international favorables as he advocates for equality for the Palestinians, decreases the use of war as the first choice in foreign policy and diminishes the rationale for Islamic terrorism, rather than fueling it as we have been doing for decades. So nominating Bernie means a real chance for a revitalized Democratic Party, a livable America and a world with increased chances for survival.

So, twenty seven dollars or get our donkey kicked, the choice is ours.