Not sure why that's difficult to see. He can do all the things your OP says once he concedes- so really there is no benefit (other than SS protection) to staying in the race.

His voice isn't getting louder by staying in- it's diminished day by day.

there's no reason to drop out, no good and a good deal of bad reasons to do so.

What does he lose by conceding?

Which he is using in the service of the American people. Weird, right?

Give 'em hell, Bernie!

Leverage implies that he has something of value that he can withhold to get what he wants. The value of an endorsement has already dwindled to practically nothing.

Unless by "leverage" you mean duress. Essentially, he is saying "Give me everything I want, or I will stay in the race just to harm the Party's chances in the GE."

His concession, endorsement, and leadership in helping to unify the party.

If, as you claim, those aren't valuable, then how has Sanders managed to influence the party platform? Is he magic?

Look, I get that you don't like him, and that you don't want him to have any influence. I feel the same way about Hillary. But for both of us, the first point is irrelevant, and the second is beyond our ability to control. Better we deal with that which we cannot change, and focus on what we can - our own emotional responses.

He has no leverage left.

That right there is enough reason for him to drop out, that is hardly helping anyone.

Not Sanders. He is fighting for his agenda and no more the American people than the majority of American people that voted Clinton. For our majority of American people, we believe she fights harder, smarter, successful!

for a speaking spot at the convention.

He's going to give a speech in Philly...and whoever is speaking when he speaks...is going to see their network news coverage cut away to broadcast Sanders's speech.

If Clinton were smart, she'd insist he speak at the convention instead.

convention? That, to get a speaking slot, you have to have conceded?

I could certainly be wrong about that, but that's my understanding so far.

Perhaps Sanders makes some people uncomfortable because his positions are relatively constant. They do not evolve to meet political/electoral expediency.

It's why he has no supporters in Congress. The go-it-alone approach should not be celebrated. And Clinton deserves credit for not giving into pride and allowing good ideas to go forward.

Without Clinton, Sanders would be nothing. But instead, we'll probably hear from his supporters that only Sanders has saved the union!

It's all so pointless to go at this from the standpoint of opponents when we should be allies.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

Have already crossed over to the Hillary camp. The only ones left are the radical die hard extremists who insist that he is going to run third party, and that has been his plan a along, he has some kind of plan to become the nominee, but it's a secret. These diehards have never had any intention of voting for Hillary. They were the "anyone but Hillary" gang who pushed right wing talking points daily here during the primaries. If Bernie endorses Hillary they will throw him under the bus, at least most of them will. What Bernie does is his own business, but if he doesn't endorse Hillary, I think his chance to make any real change goes out the window. He has to chose the radicals who took control of his supporters, or he can chose to help unite the Democratic party and help make sure Trump does not get into the WH. It's his choice, we will see what he does.

I agree 100% with your last statement. An excellent summary. Thanks for the clear headed thinking.

as long as he does not suspend his campaign, he is still a candidate. The fact that he has NOT suspended his campaign, says to me he still thinks that somehow, by some miracle, he will be the nominee.

Suspending his campaign is not the same as ENDORSING HRC. At this point, an endorsement from him is meaningless.

Clinton won.

And Sanders is using his public persona to push issues that are not comfortable for those who feel as though the status quo is working for all Americans.

If a candidate working for Progressive reform makes you that angry.

She is going to be President. He knows it, you know it, I know it.

He's working for his own ego, IMO.

It would clear his head a bit as he isn't making a lot of sense these days. Weaver seems to be suffering from exhaustion as well.

You have been super gracious in victory let me say that.

Weaver can go for a long walk and not come back, I think he serves no purpose.

And the Senator must be exhausted, but if he is still doing this post-convention, then I will be on board with everyone else asking him to use this voice in the halls of the Senate and not in the GE campaign

But I still don't really have a problem with Sanders. He has made a comment here and there that I really don't like but so has Clinton. Trump is really bothering me at the current moment. Not Sanders. Sanders is on my team at almost all points in time. I really do have great respect for him. I think some have difficulty when assessing the personality aspect. Sanders is the career politician yet he is an activist by way of personality and actions. Clinton is a career politician without the long elected career of Sanders. I never really thought an activist was going to lay down quietly. Why should he? I just don't think he is hurting the party as much as he is helping it.

I voted for Clinton and I would again. That doesn't mean I am opposed to Sanders daily or that I think he is hurting us. You see, I am left of Clinton and the party and do think Sanders is pulling us left. I don't currently find him as a force that is giving Trump aid at all.

I wish everyone were as level headed as you are stating this.

I've raised two kids and now have 3 grandkids, so I know about these things.

He is fighting for people to PAY attention. The average voter is not even remotely aware of how our government operates. Do you think a simple quiz of 100 random people would yield much knowledge of the TPP? No. Finally, someone is getting people involved in the process of knowing how and when decisions are being made that directly affect their well-being.

You know, the stuff we used to applaud people for. If it's about stealing her moment or thunder or whatever, I'm sorry. She's going to win regardless. Nothing will be taken from her.

Even people I know who used to support Bernie are now just talking about Hillary versus Trump. All these people completely support Hillary, btw.

Also, not a Democrat, who actually spends a majority of his time dissing Democrats instead of concerning himself with the REAL problem in this country - the GOP and Trump.

As a result I could not care less what he thinks, what he says, who he endorses or doesn't endorse, or anything else about his opinions or views.

Inferring everyone is dirty and that it is pointless to even vote. I think overall he will have depressed the vote as much as much shittier candidates tend to. A real shame.

...a whole bunch of new voters that Dems are corrupt. What a crock. He has done lasting damage to the progressive agenda IMO. Tired of hearing about him.

without denigrating your audience? I guarantee you it would be better received.

P.S. He's not the only one fighting for the American people.

I am addressing those who have been denigrating Sen. Sanders and have been violating the new TOS on a regular basis.

I spoke in terms I felt were very understandable

but it's the juries made up of community members who get the last word, not you.

When the TOS clearly says..

"Obnoxious" doesn't pass that test.

Good to know.

That JimJones free-radicals place is filled with anti democrat posts and sexism. Glad they keep it over there. I highly suspect it is really a republican site.

Great responses. Validates your post.

Seems like that would be good for his movement.

Or to a commentator/expert who works for a corporate interest.

...now he's trying to do something, as he always has been outspoken on issues, and he's getting flack for it. The guy can't catch a break...

Sorry if I am not bowled over by his effectiveness and work for our party.

Some want to pull the party to the left, others will do anything to fight against that.

The Oligarchs come to mind.

omg....this line of argument is getting extremely inane

Sure, he supports progressive policies. But he refuses to actually do anything to get them implemented. He demands purity and refuses to work with anyone to, you know, make progress.

He spent 25 years sitting on the sidelines in Congress as an independent. Then just last year he decided he was going to throw a "revolution" by joining a party he's criticized his entire career and then demanding that party bow to him and elect him President. Where has he been for the last 25 years? Where was this call for revolution in the 1990s when many of the things he criticizes now (NAFTA, repeal of Glass-Steagal, etc.) Were occurring? Where was this call for revolution during the 8 years of the Bush Administration when our country was being ripped apart and our economy wrecked? Sure, I'll bet you can find some speeches he made during that time. But he made no meaningful effort to start the "political revolution" he claims he's leading now.

So, Bernie Sanders is the one discrediting real progressives: the ones who have worked their asses off for years and have actually stuck their necks out to get shit done. Easy for Sanders to sit on the sidelines and demand ideological purity of others from his lily-white, very progressive state with a population not much larger than my neighborhood. Easy for him to take the ideologically pure stances when he faces no real opposition when he runs for re-election.

Your candidate won. Get over the Bernie-bashing. It's petty.

He continues to make public statements, no?

In fact, the OP is all about saying how progressive Sanders is and how he's "fighting his ass off."

Your loss.

I missed this; can you post a link to where Senator Sanders has said that he is not interested in a speaking slot at the convention?

I had no idea he was fighting so hard for all of us.

With such bold effort from him, it suddenly makes sense that he won't bow out. He can't, he's working too hard. He doesn't have time to endorse the presumptive democratic candidate for president, and send out daily texts.

It sounds like he's managing his time wisely, and we all benefit from his exquisite time management.

I guess talk, and support for union picket lines, is cheap.

Thanks for this.

You don't get to demand no vote be held at all just because you don't like something. That's a conservative tactic, which we rightly criticize when they try it.

This is a defense of our Constitution-based legislative process, not the TPP.

I wish people would "get it."

If it were all about his ego, he wold have succumbed weeks ago and started calling Clinton "the most qualified person ever to run for president and I agree with her completely."

Then he would have been the subject of a yuuuge love fest from Democrats, and his ego would have been stroked big time.

I don't understand why some people are so resistant to someone who is fighting for positive change, and representing the frustrations and desires of a very big swath of the Democratic Party and the American people.

It's simply the only baseless smear left to smear him with.

would suddenly put single-payer in her platform if he had endorsed her in May? It's nuts.

I understand what you are saying, and it even has some validity--to a point--and especially to a true believer in Senator Sanders, but there must be far better examples than his texts.

He is working hard to make himself irrelevant. We are allowed to comment on that.

He is not fighting for our Party. He is publicly insulting our party on a regular basis. And our Party is the only thing standing between us and a Trump presidency. So if BS keeps dissing the Democratic party, he will not get a speaking spot. That's not snark. That's how things work. And how they should work.

Also, tweeting does not equal fighting.

Maybe you are the one not getting it, though I feel certain that will never be considered.

And the assistance that he is giving Trump by withholding an endorsement that wouldn't cost him anything in moving his other agenda items forward. His usefulness towards his own goals has been diminished by none other than he, himself.

saying you are not fighting the Dem primary and bashing Democrats doesn't mean you aren't. Just saying.

....while he is pursuing pressing his own agenda...one that the majority of the people rejected in favor of Clinton....he is going completely against the Democratic process you are so vociferously protecting. What about what I want?

I hope I don't get deleted for saying so.

I am replying in kind to the baiting that has been prevalent. Pouring salt on wounds? I address common misconceptions posted daily on this site. If those are fine, then my tepid response to them is equally fine. I call nobody out by name and I am very clear about who won and where we are going from here.

This is simply sneering; I have been deleted for less.

And your whole "you aren't getting it" claim is nothing more than a broad-based condescending attack.

and sorry your posts were deleted. There have been anti-semitic and racial posts allowed to stand so if you had some deleted that were mild, I am sorry. The jury system is consistently being improved and hopefully posts like yours will be able to stand in the near future. I mean it sincerely. And I was new once as well. My snark in the aforementioned quote from me is reflective of some of the sniping that went on in the past, but you are right and I'll take out those words. The Primary is indeed over and we need to ramp up efforts on both teams to support Dems up and down ballot

are Democrats supposed to "get" from that stunt?

if the Dem voters need something that goes against the DNC's needs, well, then the voters are going to be strung along until they get mad, and once they get mad they have to be shut up because they'll upset the whole apple cart
to the elites, Dems lose only because of the voters, not because of the policies, candidates, GOP, or just the election cycle: therefore any loss is met with a doubling-down on this lockout/veal-penning of the fickle commoners who clearly don't know what they want--why, they're cross over, they're stay home, and then they complain that we didn't shower rainbows and unicorns down on them!
whether the primary skulduggery since 2006 or the return to smoke-filled rooms and "electoral engineering," Sanders is seeing a party that's so wrapped up with pushing and prodding and squeezing and massaging its own voters and getting them to jettison everything they need in the name of party unity that it's not really capable of dealing with the GOP by saying "aren't the Republicans obstructionists? the housing crash happened under Bush and now it can never happen again" and hoping for a dead cat bounce because they've just shown 2015-6 that distinguishing themselves by offering a sincere liberal program is the LAST thing they want; they've become so obsessed with game-playing that their preferred way of dealing with GOP policy is to pass half of it and hope that gets Gohmert or DeMint off their backs for a few weeks

It isn't half Republican.

I used to love what Bernie stood for. I used to like Bernie a lot.


edited to add: as if I can't look at a situation and surmise for myself what's going on. If it's not in line with what you people think, then ***I*** must be told that what's being done is for my good.

Ever ask yourself why Trump is making such a hard play for Bernie's people? Because they're the ones sulking, whining, and taking their ball and going home.

I read a lot. Say very little. I've read those other 'progressive' sites. If those people choose Trump. I hope they suffer for their choice. I hope they suffer every single day he's in office.

The right.

to endorse Hillary?? You know, like a "Democrat" is supposed to? Because right now "fighting for the people" and "fighting for his ego" look pretty goddamned similar...

After he does that, I give less than a flying fuck what he does with his time...

I'm waiting for him to honor it.

Whose speaking spot? Democrats? I don't understand this "your" usage.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

re. the TPP!!! sign the petitions.

to champion your causes.
If you say they don't, you are a huge part of the problem for me. You are delegitimizing the democratic process, turn people off from participating in it.
Without trivializing any of his goals (most of which we mostly share), right now it's the time to fight Trump. I don't see him doing much of that and don't tell me that any of his agenda has a chance in hell under Trump.
Also, as an aside, check recent Senate roll calls for his party status.

But this is pure meta.

He's fighting for himself.

There is nothing special about him as a candidate.