As far as Bernie goes - his truculence was oh so predictable. His behavior now is typical for him and one of the reasons I could never support him in the past.

The Democratic party really dodged a bullet.

I have whenever I see something about him in the news. Whew!!!!!

Naturally enough, most mainstream Democrats have been more focused on his continued criticisms and assault on the values and goals of the Democratic Party than anything else.

Nevertheless, Sanders has said many times he will do everything he can to defeat Trump and been denouncing Trump in his speeches for some while now. Her Sister's question is very timely, because what "everything" means and the scope of future efforts are not yet clear.

Does that mean Sanders will work with the party to maximize his potential during the general?

Will he be able to re-focus the energy of his followers against Republicans, not just Trump but down-ballot?

But words do matter. And not saying certain words is the same as a denial.

... seen is relatively few statements about him and then long diatribes about what Clinton should be doing to push his agenda.

More focus on what Clinton owes him vs attacking tRump

..in his stump speech for months.

If the DNC, DSCC, or the Clinton campaign wants to fund Sanders going around the country doing that, again, he will.

No need to do more! Bernie, as you were!

NT

Again, Bernie, as you were!

As we know very well here, some are still fighting for Sanders to the point that they view the Democratic Party as their main enemy.

Will Sanders try to re-focus this small group of core supporters on fighting to stop the Republican agenda for America, and if he tries will he succeed? How much will he influence the many others who listen to him, and how?

As for his endorsement, I believe its importance is vastly overblown, a talking point for political junkies far more than voters. Remember, at least 80% of Sanders' followers already support Hillary's candidacy without endorsement, with more to come, and they all know he will vote for her.

And always shouting that the rooftops and end up marginalizing themselves. I hope his supporters remain engaged but I think for some they'll have to be personally deeply effected by GOP policies to give a fuck. The horrid way the GOP treats women and POC just ain't enough for them to differentiate.
Bernie is personal for them, more so than our lives.

intransigently anti-Democratic of his supporters of course. Their reasons are very deep-seated in personality, not half as much the issues they claim, and they will go their various ways as they always do regardless. They make their feelings clear, and we need to respect at least that the feeling behind the reasons given is very strong.

Anyway, the left-wing ideologues, anti-Democrats, and Hillary-haters are outnumbered many times over by friendly Democrats and left-leaning indies who will vote Democrat IF they get around to it, and imo working on inspiring more of those to show up is a far, far, far better investment of time, and thought.

The next time Sanders gets a long interview, rather than complain that he is powerless to do anything to influence his voters, try being an articulate surrogate for the Democratic nominee.

I'm so glad that E. Warren has stepped up and is actually doing all the things that Sanders could have done. Sanders is all about Sanders, and as such he deserves to be marginalized.

Sanders is self-centered and self-serving. He would have made a terrible president.

Until then he is focused on making sure the voices of his voters are heard through the negotiations over platform and other conventions things. (I'm new to conventions so I don't know all that happens)

Actually...

about his commitment to his movement, though.

I don't think we should be surprised, offended, outraged, or dismayed if Sanders does very little stumping for Hillary herself and focuses instead on both shining a very unflattering light on Trump and trying to drum up support for his issues themselves to defeat Trump. That includes if the party finances his anti-right campaigning; what matters is results, not "falling in line."

His repeated statements that he will do "everything" he can to defeat Trump suggests that at some point he will suspend explicit criticism of Democrats, presumably after the convention.

Take your time, Bernie. We'll wait until YOU'RE comfortable and ready.

Actually, no we won't. Take all the "me time" you need, but we'll just move on without you.

Wondering which one is really missing!

I haven't seen them out on the campaign trail yet.

Orlando massacre happened which is why they had to postpone till now!

Plus they're giving Trump a run for his money any chance they get.

but let's get back to Bernie...

Catch up. It was a tremendous photo op of them getting off the plane together.

tatooed on the bottom of his feet and walk across country on his hands, of course!

just going around calling her opponent a bigot in your speeches. Much more.

(FYI - The people whom Bernie is speechifying to already know Trump is a bigot . . .)

cut-and-paste response? I've seen it here before word for word.

but so similar as to be.

saying it doesn't contribute anything.

Compare his throwaway lines against Trump vs how Elizabeth Warren has shredded him. Heck, look at how much vigorous Mitt Romney's critiques of Trump have been.

Sanders is mailing it in for the fight against Trump.

...per day, with thousands of people per rally.

That does contribute something.

He's not doing nothing, he's doing next to nothing.

Many in his crowds, don't forget, are conservatives and potential swing voters both ways. When he tells crowd after crowd who believe in him, who came to hear him, that we must defeat Trump, it's going to matter.

And in the end how people vote is all that counts.

Btw, I believe it's way past time for people on both sides to focus on defeating not only Trump but ALL the the GOP candidates chosen and funded by right-wing extremists in and out of the GOP.

about a week after the last primary?

He still has $9 million left according to his FEC forms. That should pay for some travel.

Sanders has left the party no other choice but to pivot right and go after disaffected anti-Trump Republicans.

Sanders is forcing the party to the right.

It's the only option left to the party.

How the heck did you jump to that conclusion?

you pivot right to make up for it.

that we've never picked up most of what the number actually is, plus most farther left than Bernie's group. Many on the fringe have always been more committed to hating us than the right wing, and that reality is included as matter of course in all election strategies. Trying to woo extremists to moderation has an extremely poor payoff.

As for "pivoting right," the Democratic Party has always been broad-based, and our positions have always reflected the results of years of negotiations and agreements among the various factions. We will of course, like any competent political party reassure our entire coalition of interests, including conservative Democrats, that they are being represented, in the process also attempting to woo more outside the party who have not yet completed their rejection of what's been happening on the right.

Btw, how many here have ever checked Elizabeth Warren's congressional record? She is among the most conservative Democrats overall, yet of course she is also a very dynamic progressive leader. Not a contradiction at all, in spite of what some of Sanders' left-wing ideologues like to think, and she of course will know how to speak as well to others like her as she has to ardent left-wing progressives.

you have to woo the Center.

This is an election, and you have to play for keeps.

Even if Bernie is dragging his feet about giving Clinton a full-throated endorsement, his supporters have quickly and largely flocked over to Clinton (even faster than her supporters moved to Obama in 2008), so, all in all, we're good and can pretty much take Bernie or leave him for the most part at this point.

ignores the fact that the party has a sizable moderate conservative faction already that chose the Democratic Party over the Republican and have been negotiating their interests ever since. No "pivot" needed, although expect our candidates to speak more in public to those like them who are considering changing parties.

(Note, these conservatives don't include the more hard-core ones who wear the label but vote for conservatives.)

But, not surprising.

Sanders has forced the party to the right.

...and implied he'll speak at the convention if HRC wants him to.

To quote him, she hasn't heard him say the things she needs him to say. LOL!

...then it's fair if he doesn't give a speech there.

I'm fine with the standard that only people who endorse the likely presidential nominee get to give speeches at the Democratic National Convention.

I doubt she even cares at this point. Let's face it - half of Bernie's support came from those buying into the bullshit right wing smears against Clinton for the last 25 years rather than any particular affection for Bernie. And those folks are seeing him in a whole new light right now.

And I would dare say most of his supporters would have preferred Warren instead of Bernie. Hell, Warren probably could have beat Hillary. Warren's endorsement of Clinton pushes Bernie even farther into irrelevancy.

Half of HRC voters had no affection for her but didn't want to vote for a socialist, based on similar unscientific speculation.

So no, you can't make the same argument. The argument is irrelevant when applied to the winner.

Dem candidate doesn't have the strength and charisma to draw PoC to support them, they wouldn't win. Period. Hillary Clinton not only would've won President Obama's nod, but she is extremely popular with the African-American, Latino, and Asian communities. I believe Elizabeth Warren would've ultimately ended up where Sanders is now.

In all seriousness, I actually think that a left-wing challenger could have really made it close. Hillary worked to get those voters back in her camp, but even by 2015 they weren't all the way there. Warren or another candidate may have worked to contest POC voters the way Sanders did not until South Carolina. For African-American voters, you need 35% at minimum which is still getting beaten but not run out of the gym, and for POC as a whole, 40-45% should suffice.

but he doesn't know if he will be allowed. He CAN not speak while still running as a candidate and railing against dems and Hillary.

Maybe he doesn't want to get Trump's attention towards him?
Maybe just his heart is not in it?

In his mind, she doesn't deserve his help, he doesn't owe her, and he'd risk splitting his own movement up if he became a supporter of Hillary Clinton--the Not Hillary wing of his movement would bolt.

So, he gives a couple of throwaway lines about Trump being a bigot (how novel!) and that's all.

I'd say it's sad that he is demonstrating why he was unsuitable for the job of president. But I'm not really sad. I honestly have not had any use for him since my days fighting for LGBT rights on a national level and finding that while he talked a good game he was patently unwilling to do a damn thing to actually support us.

That said, I think he is disappointing a lot of people who thought better of him, and for them I feel sorry.

"shortly" and "later" and "never" are morphing into each other?

A whole new lexicon has been created.

As in, my order was short a bag of fries.

like an onion.

A brown onion.

People actually voted in fear of the European Convention on Human Rights, based entirely on British Common Law.
The populist call to crap our underwear in fear of others and its appeal for a strong, protective father figure, be it every so ugly, has an appeal to the mass of low information, angry voters.
The moment we accept Trump as a joke is the fist step to capitulation.

A Trump Presidency would affect generations that are not even born yet!
so it's not time to be flippant! If you don't take him seriously you are of no use!

and the baggy pants and the leather fetish, the one whose book Trump has said he's kept on his night table.

"I've always been scorned as a prophet. Of those who laughed then, there are countless numbers who are no longer laughing today, and those who are still laughing now, will perhaps not be doing it any longer in the time to come."

Guess who said that. Hint: the speech was delivered in Munich in November, 1942.

That was evident to me during the campaign.

The first clue was when he said "this campaign is not about me." When someone says something is not about them you can be assured they actually think it's all about them. If it was true that it wasn't about him it would have been self evident and he wouldn't have needed to say it.

One of life's lessons for those new to politics. IMHO.

But I think HE changed as the election went on, though. The lure of the lights and stage can be quite intoxicating.

More importantly, I think the problem with politics is the proverbial problem with power. You never know a person until they have gone through the test of seduction because power is quite seductive. Just don't know.

During the Bush years I was on the board of a national LGBT advocacy organization based in DC. And while Bernie touted himself as a champion of LGBT people and oh so liberal in that regard he actually couldn't be bothered to give us the time of day.

Now it's one thing to not be a supporter but it's another to tout yourself as some sort of champion while actually ignoring those same folks. He doesn't build coalitions because he does not give a damn about it. He just wants you to think he does.

There is not one thing he is doing now that surprises me one bit.

He has a homogenous base and he failed to see the importance of expanding.

But I still think there is the added elements of power and limelight that is making him so repulsive right now. His arrogance and inability to concede is just too much. This is why he is making demands as a loser. No one does that. Unbelievable.

He was a 73-year-old, little-known senator from a small state, who suddenly became the center of attention nationally, as well as internationally.

Suddenly, Bernie was being cheered by enormous crowds, his image was on T-shirts and yardsigns, magazine covers and bumper-stickers. He became "the" guest to appear on political programs shows and late-night talk shows; the media discussed his every move, his every statement, his every opinion.

It went to his head. When his supporters started describing him as the ONLY hope to "save" the Dem Party, the ONLY honest politician in the country, the ONLY candidate that could defeat Trump, he believed it - much to his detriment.

It took less than a year for "the man who always flies coach" to become the man who flew his family to Rome on a private jet so he could deliver a ten-minute speech. That episode alone tells you how far removed the newly-born political rock star was from the obscure senator he started out as when he entered the race.

It may have been about accomplishing goals at the outset, but it quickly became about the spotlight, the adoration, the never-ending attention 24/7 that he now doesn't want to let go of. As long as he declares himself "still in the race", he believes he can hold onto that spotlight for a few more precious weeks before it fades away forever.

What is astonishingly sad is that the Bernie who entered the race on the basis of being "principled" so quickly became the man whose principles were overtaken by his own ego.

the vow to love, honor and obey..............

Anyone convinced at that moment? lol!

And that's fine. We don't need him to, and his refusal to endorse means we don't have to make nice to him at the convention.

All he can do now is either rail impotently, or slink away while no one is looking.

I am starting to think he would just botch the whole thing.

HRC and Dems' campaign is organized and all is going well!

Maybe I ought to remember to " be careful what you wish for."

If he IS given a speaking spot, it will just be all the same stuff we have heard before and the same condescending pretending that he has won and that Hillary needs to obey him. It wouldn't be good.

eom!

boyfriend's ethnicity at the Thanksgiving table.

He doesn't want Clinton to win.

The democratic victory train left the station a long time ago, some people missed it.

But no worries because the A team has got this!

with Trump's. So I expect him to continue to attack Hillary for her lack of purity. Sanders has no intention of supporting the Democratic nominee if that nominee is not Bernie Sanders.

We are one season away from Election Day! Especially we want a 50 States Strategy!

It started a while back, when more people began paying attention to him.

Many including me thought Dubya was a joke and a dummy! Yet he got to abuse our country and constitution for 8 long years!

Not like ha ha funny, but still.

Bernie's help has become irrelevant. He keeps saying he will endorse, or help, or vote for her, then he backtracks. He is like the little boy who cried wolf. No one is listening any more.

You should have more confidence in your chosen candidate.

Someday you need to give up the subtle bashing of the person who isn't the nominee and won't be running in the general election. I don't know why the Bernie hate continues . . . it's like a cult or something.

Yeah sure it's hate & bashing! So disingenuous! Give me a break! Such wictims! BIG BIG EYEROLL!
I posted the OP last week I believe, and it's becoming a distant memory, starting to understand the people who could not care less.
In the meantime May the fourth be with you!

who need to find unity of purpose. I don't see anything good in what you are doing with threads like this. It's exactly the thing the admins claimed was going to be halted. They need to be true to their words.

BTW: The OP was deleted the 1st day I posted it & reinstated the next day!

The bottom line is some people are having a very hard time giving up their Bernie bashing.

hand him a mop and a broom.

a lot faster than bashing Clinton on this board.

Not to mention - he has not conceded the race yet - so he's not a "former" nominee yet. His purpose now appears to be interference - throwing a wrench in the gears. Making demands as if he won. He can't have it both ways.

He does not deserve a role in the convention.

Does not include Hillary. In my opinion he is buying time to run 3rd party. He can't win for may reasons. One reason is he doesn't have the support of the Obama coalition, he doesn't have establishemntt endorsements, he won't be on the ballot in many states.. but he doesn't care. He hates both parties and it doesn't matter to him if Trump wins. In fact, he think a Trump win will help his revolution gain tracktion in the future.