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Beacool

(30,250 posts)
Fri May 27, 2016, 08:36 PM May 2016

Bernie Sanders’s ‘Scorched Earth’ Strategy Seems to Be Working

By Eric Levitz
May 27, 2016

Bernie Sanders has no realistic path to the Democratic nomination. Despite the protestations of postmodern mathematicians, his campaign is no longer about who will represent Blue America in the main event this fall, but rather, how Hillary Clinton will choose to represent it.

The socialist senator still refuses to cop to this fact. Earlier this week, he suggested that anyone who thinks Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee must harbor a secret longing for authoritarian rule. And his campaign promises to take its fight to the convention, even in the (beyond likely) scenario that Clinton boasts a massive lead in pledged delegates when all the votes are counted.

In justifying this patently anti-democratic stance, the campaign has encouraged supporters to view its losses as illegitimate – reflections of a process rigged through too few debates, too many closed primaries, and too much cooperation between the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton. For some Sanders supporters, this critique has taken on the moral authority of the candidate’s jeremiads against the “rigged” financial system, magnifying the stakes of the primary fight and the animosity they feel toward its likely winner.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/sanderss-scorched-earth-strategy-is-working.html

Sanders is stirring the pot and making it harder for his supporters to accept his eventual loss. What game is he really playing? The more people who keep yelling "Bernie or Bust", the closer Trump comes to winning the presidency. Add to that the back and forth with Trump. That would have been a great visual, two old white guys going after each other and ganging up on the woman who will be the first female nominee of a major party. Of course the debate will not take place, who ever would take Trump at his word?

45 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Bernie Sanders’s ‘Scorched Earth’ Strategy Seems to Be Working (Original Post) Beacool May 2016 OP
Who ever would take Trump at his word? Mika May 2016 #1
So? Beacool May 2016 #17
In Berner world CorkySt.Clair May 2016 #34
The Clintons have met thousands of people in their long careers. Beacool May 2016 #40
No,but they both are part if Robin Leach Workd Armstead May 2016 #39
T-rump said he doesn't want to debate a second tier candidate. Iliyah May 2016 #2
If that were true, he would have said that first, not after being called out on $1M and $10M levels TheBlackAdder May 2016 #31
A 'massive lead' is not a clinched nomination. Once you're past that little attempt at... Shandris May 2016 #3
73 delegates away from clinching the nomination. MohRokTah May 2016 #8
It means that it made no sense for the nominee of one party Beacool May 2016 #18
The simple fact is that the primaries HAVE been rigged - in favor of Sanders. baldguy May 2016 #4
Bernie can not accept the fact that most people rejected him. Tavarious Jackson May 2016 #5
He defines anyone who rejects him as The Establishment. wildeyed May 2016 #15
Whoo, man, that's some grade A lack of self-awareness right there, MAN. Scootaloo May 2016 #26
That is some grade A lack of actual specificity right there, MAN. wildeyed May 2016 #29
I remember you from high school! Scootaloo May 2016 #30
What is that thing? wildeyed May 2016 #32
Whoever would take Hillary at her word? rateyes May 2016 #6
Well heck, BS said he WOULD NOT NEGATIVE Iliyah May 2016 #9
And that's never happened in any political campaign, ever. Kall May 2016 #11
We'll see in future years if his "political revolution" takes Beacool May 2016 #19
Hillary is the wrong choice for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with Sanders. rhett o rick May 2016 #7
He's responsible for his actions, and those actions have been divisive. Beacool May 2016 #20
His disdain is for the corrupt culture that the Oligarchy brings that supports Corporatist rhett o rick May 2016 #23
Yes Fidel Sanders will destroy the oligarchy and other corporatists Zorro May 2016 #33
How absurd. He will fight the control of the Wealthy of our government better than Hillary rhett o rick May 2016 #35
When challenged Bernie couldn't provide evidence to prove Hillary is beholden to the "wealthy" Zorro May 2016 #36
Anyone without their head in their pocket can see it. $150,000,000 for "speeches". I guess one rhett o rick May 2016 #37
So you have no evidence. Got it. Zorro May 2016 #38
And you can overlook the obvious because you are blinded by your loyalty. rhett o rick May 2016 #42
You have made no case that Democrats have turned "their backs on the working class and the poor" Zorro May 2016 #44
There is plenty of evidence that the wealth gap has been growing for decades. rhett o rick May 2016 #45
What's with this obsession with Goldman Sachs? Beacool May 2016 #41
Really? You don't know about Goldman-Sachs? I am not surprised in the bubble rhett o rick May 2016 #43
Yawn. Kall May 2016 #10
Scorched Earth = Not acting as loyal sheep dog to round up unhappy liberals but TheKentuckian May 2016 #12
11 more days until he's officially lost the voting. geek tragedy May 2016 #13
That's how he strikes me at this point in time. Beacool May 2016 #21
He is unAmerican. Period. eastwestdem May 2016 #14
Wow, one more new Clinton fan. rhett o rick May 2016 #24
Hello, Joe McCarthy! I thought you were dead.... John Poet May 2016 #27
BBC scorched Sanders over his Trump debate Number23 May 2016 #16
Yes, I was surprised when he accepted Trumps challenge. Beacool May 2016 #22
This idiot? He's a documented liar. DisgustipatedinCA May 2016 #25
Obviously. Because what happened in Nevada didn't concern anyone and everyone's already forgotten Number23 May 2016 #28
 

CorkySt.Clair

(1,507 posts)
34. In Berner world
Sat May 28, 2016, 01:16 PM
May 2016

If you are photographed with someone...anyone...it means you are the best of friends, soul mates, bro's, kindred spirits, blood sisters and blood brothers, the same etc. it's an ancient, fringe left custom.

Beacool

(30,250 posts)
40. The Clintons have met thousands of people in their long careers.
Sat May 28, 2016, 04:39 PM
May 2016

Imagine having to account for the actions of every person they met.

TheBlackAdder

(28,209 posts)
31. If that were true, he would have said that first, not after being called out on $1M and $10M levels
Sat May 28, 2016, 12:27 PM
May 2016

.


He's just a coward who tried several times to weasel out, before coming up with a lame excuse.


So much for Trump's concerns over women's centers, and their funding.

.

 

Shandris

(3,447 posts)
3. A 'massive lead' is not a clinched nomination. Once you're past that little attempt at...
Fri May 27, 2016, 08:42 PM
May 2016

...misdirection, the rest of the article reveals itself as more hot air masquerading as 'news'.

Y-you guys really do just think this whole media blitz thing still works, don't you? LOL.

Beacool

(30,250 posts)
18. It means that it made no sense for the nominee of one party
Sat May 28, 2016, 12:40 AM
May 2016

to debate the person who came in second place in the other party.

wildeyed

(11,243 posts)
15. He defines anyone who rejects him as The Establishment.
Fri May 27, 2016, 10:05 PM
May 2016

Talk about gaming the system. He set up a mean, divisive narrative where there is no reason anyone could possibly reject his candidacy or policy ideas, other than they are corrupt or stupid.

wildeyed

(11,243 posts)
29. That is some grade A lack of actual specificity right there, MAN.
Sat May 28, 2016, 09:11 AM
May 2016

PP and HRC endorsed Clinton and they were The Establishment. Southern voters, particularly southern blacks reject his candidacy and it is because they are part of the Confederacy. Any primary he loses is because it is rigged or somehow unfair. And then the non-predictive polls he pimps to justify his poor sportsmanship is just pitiful. The superD flip flops are astounding to watch, too. The "unchanging" Bernie Sanders evolved pretty damn fast on that one. Just like he evolved on the being a Democrat thing. He changes pretty quickly when it suits his political agenda and then throws ANYONE under the bus who doesn't agree with his views 100%.

And many of his supporters question NOTHING. Talk about lack of self-awareness.

wildeyed

(11,243 posts)
32. What is that thing?
Sat May 28, 2016, 12:59 PM
May 2016

Wait, is that the thing they used to bore people with in meetings and lectures before there were really boring PowerPoint presentations? You must be pretty old to remember those so well. I only have vague recollections. Why is your post insulting? It must be completely off base since I have no idea what you are going on about.

Whatever. Reliance on ad homs indicate a weak position.

rateyes

(17,438 posts)
6. Whoever would take Hillary at her word?
Fri May 27, 2016, 08:47 PM
May 2016

She promised a debate she reneged on. This is no game Bernie is playing. This is a revolution he is fomenting and it is gonna happen. Even if Bernie is never president, he is changing, forever, the politics of this country. I stand with him. If it means taking down the establishment Dems because they won't get on board, so be it.

Kall

(615 posts)
11. And that's never happened in any political campaign, ever.
Fri May 27, 2016, 09:31 PM
May 2016

"I have a lifetime of experience, John McCain has a lifetime of experience, and Barack Obama has a speech."

Good Lord, have you been paying attention to what the Republicans have said about Donald Trump? This is going to be your excuse?

Beacool

(30,250 posts)
19. We'll see in future years if his "political revolution" takes
Sat May 28, 2016, 12:41 AM
May 2016

or whether it was a quirk of this particular election.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
7. Hillary is the wrong choice for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with Sanders.
Fri May 27, 2016, 08:53 PM
May 2016

Don't try to make his a scapegoat for your poor choice for a candidate to defeat Trump.

Beacool

(30,250 posts)
20. He's responsible for his actions, and those actions have been divisive.
Sat May 28, 2016, 12:48 AM
May 2016

He has not just gone after Hillary, which is fair up to a point because she's his opponent, but has gone after the party itself. This delusion that the same nominating process that was in place when Obama was nominated is rigged against him is nonsense.

He has throughout shown a disdain for the party, a party that he has criticized for decades. by his own admission, his motive for joining the party was self serving. He did so to gain media attention.

In my book, he's a dogmatic politician who can't accept that some people simply don't want him to be the nominee and voted for his opponent.






 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
23. His disdain is for the corrupt culture that the Oligarchy brings that supports Corporatist
Sat May 28, 2016, 01:00 AM
May 2016

candidates like Clinton-Sachs. Why would you think the corporations like Goldman-Sachs would help the working class and the poor? They won't. Not sure Clinton fans care as long as they get their Aristocracy.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
35. How absurd. He will fight the control of the Wealthy of our government better than Hillary
Sat May 28, 2016, 03:45 PM
May 2016

that is beholden to them.

Those that can't recognize that the Wealthy control our government are living in a bubble of denial.

Zorro

(15,740 posts)
36. When challenged Bernie couldn't provide evidence to prove Hillary is beholden to the "wealthy"
Sat May 28, 2016, 03:51 PM
May 2016

and neither can you.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
37. Anyone without their head in their pocket can see it. $150,000,000 for "speeches". I guess one
Sat May 28, 2016, 03:56 PM
May 2016

can fool conservatives all of the time. Looks like blind adulation.

Zorro

(15,740 posts)
38. So you have no evidence. Got it.
Sat May 28, 2016, 04:16 PM
May 2016

Looks like you're trying to live up to your screen name.

Keep repeating an unsubstantiated accusation in an attempt to turn rhetoric into truth. Apparently you don't know the difference between the two.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
42. And you can overlook the obvious because you are blinded by your loyalty.
Sat May 28, 2016, 04:45 PM
May 2016

Why do you think Clinton and Wall Street are fighting so hard against Sanders? It sure isn't because they want to help the poor more that he does. Clinton's positions on almost everything align with those that gave her and Bill well over one hundred million dollars. But her fans think that she will take $600,000 from Goldman-Sachs and then, when president raise taxes on the banksters. Really? How sadly naive.

The oligarchy backs Clinton, both Mr. Goldman-Sachs and the Koch Bros say so. The neocons back Clinton as Richard Perle will tell you.

How can Democrats turn their backs on the working class and the poor and support the Wealthy that run our government?

Zorro

(15,740 posts)
44. You have made no case that Democrats have turned "their backs on the working class and the poor"
Sat May 28, 2016, 05:07 PM
May 2016

All you do is repeat the same trite and inane phrases about oligarchy and neocons, and attack other Democrats who don't share your binary vision of reality. Your schtick is really getting old.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
45. There is plenty of evidence that the wealth gap has been growing for decades.
Sat May 28, 2016, 06:22 PM
May 2016

And that aint all the Republicon's fault.

2.5 million American children are homeless. 16 million living in poverty with another 16 million living in low income homes and we have the worst infant mortality rate among modern nations. More and more are becoming unemployed or underemployed and our Prisons For Profits are booming.

What is getting old is that everything is wonderful and let's keep going down this path were we are losing homes, jobs and retirements. We still have a poor health care system. But the Clinton fans don't care as long as Goldman-Sachs gets higher and higher profits.

We no longer live in a democracy.

The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite.

So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page.

This is not news, you say.

Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it:

Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746

And yet you'd ignore those struggling and vote for the oligarchy.

We have one of the worst election systems of all modern nations. We know that the Oligarchy stole the presidency in 2000 and 2004. Now it looks like they will again.

How many American lives were lost in the Iraq War? How many lives were ruined? 21 vets commit suicide every day. It's not all the Republicons fault. But it is the fault of the non-progressives that think corporate profits are more important than American lives.

Beacool

(30,250 posts)
41. What's with this obsession with Goldman Sachs?
Sat May 28, 2016, 04:44 PM
May 2016

There are thousands of corporations in this country, some worse than others, but the Left seems to be focused on one in particular.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
43. Really? You don't know about Goldman-Sachs? I am not surprised in the bubble
Sat May 28, 2016, 04:51 PM
May 2016

of corporate denial. If Clinton becomes president, then Goldman-Sachs will run our country. How many more TARP can we survive? Why not again? In a matter of a few days approx $12,000,000,000,000 was transferred from the pockets of the 99% to the 1% and nothing was done about it. The greatest heist in history and there is nothing in place to stop it from happening again. The working class and poor will suffer for it forever. But to some, supporting the Rich and Powerful is more important than helping the poor. Goldman-Sachs would love to get their hands on Social Security. But again the Clinton fans aren't worried.

Kall

(615 posts)
10. Yawn.
Fri May 27, 2016, 09:08 PM
May 2016

More guilt-tripping.

Here's the thing. When a campaign goes out and subtly or not-so-subtly, through Hillary Clinton or her surrogates, lies that Bernie Sanders wants to "dismantle Medicare", take health care away from "millions and millions and millions of people", that his Civil Rights record is fictitious and Hillary was always there, that he's a "lockstep vote for the NRA" with his D- voting record, that his supporters are racist, and that his supporters are sexist (nice sexism shot at the end there), and that to boot his female supporters have a special place in Hell earned by not supporting Hillary Clinton (which, after laughing and applauding, the candidate herself doesn't back off after a thoughtful and considered bout of reflection) you don't get to complain at the end of the process that you have totally alienated a large swath of voters - voters who the campaign knows are largely Independents and young people who, unlike 2008, have little if any institutional attachment to the Democratic Party like Hillary Clinton's supporters did in 2008. You seem a little confused about who has conducted the scorched earth strategy here.

And when the head of the DNC schedules ~1/4 the number of debates as in 2008, to the objection of all the other candidates at the outset, and goes on live television and lies about imaginary chair-throwing incidents in Nevada that never took place and resulted in no pictures, video, injuries or arrests in a roomful of officers, yeah, there's a problem there. A positive way forward would begin by acknowledging it. An unproductive way is saying "get in line."

Hillary Clinton did these things, Hillary Clinton will decide what to do from here.

TheKentuckian

(25,026 posts)
12. Scorched Earth = Not acting as loyal sheep dog to round up unhappy liberals but
Fri May 27, 2016, 09:36 PM
May 2016

rather actually running to win.

Even at that no 3am phone call ads, "not a Muslim as far as I know", no declaration that the TeaPubliKLAN and his self are ready to be Commander in Chief but Clinton isn't, or invoking Bobby Kennedy stuff.

 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
13. 11 more days until he's officially lost the voting.
Fri May 27, 2016, 09:42 PM
May 2016

Then he goes from being the third wheel to a sore loser.

He has no interest in helping Clinton beat Trump. His wounded pride won't allow it.

Beacool

(30,250 posts)
21. That's how he strikes me at this point in time.
Sat May 28, 2016, 12:50 AM
May 2016

I hope that we are wrong and that he enthusiastically works hard to help Democrats defeat the Republicans. That's what Hillary did in 2008.

 

eastwestdem

(1,220 posts)
14. He is unAmerican. Period.
Fri May 27, 2016, 09:46 PM
May 2016

When the writing is on the wall, anyone who really cares about what they espouse would take a good look at how to best further their cause. Trump is not that way.

 

John Poet

(2,510 posts)
27. Hello, Joe McCarthy! I thought you were dead....
Sat May 28, 2016, 01:12 AM
May 2016

Have you checked under your bed for communists today?

It is "un-American" to call other Americans "un-American".

Number23

(24,544 posts)
16. BBC scorched Sanders over his Trump debate
Fri May 27, 2016, 10:37 PM
May 2016
While Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump danced around the prospect of an unprecedented 1 v 2 pre-convention showdown, the former secretary of state didn't take the bait and held her tongue.

Instead Mr Sanders comes off as a bit desperate, looking for any opportunity to take a moment in the spotlight, even if it would benefit the Republicans and undermine Democratic unity efforts.

And Mr Trump was put in the unusual position of having to claim the event - which would have been compelling television that attracted an audience of tens of millions - was "inappropriate". http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36401179


Even the international press has been blistering in its critiques of Sanders lately and declared him "vanquished" weeks ago. The whole world is seeing the dude in an entirely different light. And it's not flattering from ANY angle.

Beacool

(30,250 posts)
22. Yes, I was surprised when he accepted Trumps challenge.
Sat May 28, 2016, 12:52 AM
May 2016

Particularly when nothing that Trump says can be taken seriously. he switches positions within hours, not days. Trump is just a successful con man, nothing more.

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