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Gothmog

(157,920 posts)
39. Bernie Sanders didn't win any larger argument
Thu Mar 26, 2020, 03:12 PM
Mar 2020

In the real world, sanders did not win any major argument https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanders-didnt-win-any-larger-argument/2020/03/19/39b9a402-69f2-11ea-9923-57073adce27c_story.html

As pressure mounts for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to abandon his presidential bid, a narrative seems to have taken hold among his supporters and on cable TV, and it goes like this: Sanders may have all but lost the nomination fight, but he won the larger ideological argument, and he’s fundamentally changed the Democratic Party. His movement must be reckoned with.

To which I can only say: If this is what it looks like to win the argument, I struggle to imagine what it would look like to lose. In any way that counts, Sanders’s vision for the party has been soundly and consistently rejected....

This idea that Sanders has somehow won, even while we all thought he was losing, seems to rest on two assertions: one, that exit polls tell us the voters actually agree with his proposal for nationalized health care; and two, that he changed the conversation to the point where all the candidates were forced to adopt his agenda.

Neither withstands much scrutiny.

Let’s be real. Exit polls are all fine and good, but votes are votes. If Democrats really sided that strongly with Sanders on the issue they routinely say is the most important in the campaign, he’d be winning.

A raft of other polls on health care will tell you that it all depends on how you ask the question. According to one conducted last month by the Kaiser Family Foundation, most people who say they support Medicare-for-all also think they’d be able to keep their own insurance. (Under Sanders’s plan, they wouldn’t.)

And if you ask them to choose between building on the foundation President Barack Obama laid or a Sanders-style overhaul, a strong majority chooses the more moderate approach.....

And in his second run for the nomination, Sanders has performed not better but worse, failing to turn out the huge numbers of younger voters he predicted. In fact, you could say Sanders’s trajectory is the exact opposite of Reagan’s; while much of the media (me included) assumed he and Warren spoke for an ascendant wing of the party during the Trump years, it turns out the uprising was more limited than we thought.

Sure, Biden should say all the right things to unite his party. Sure, he’ll be willing to give some things away in the party platform, which has about as much influence on governing as I do on the Yankees’ lineup.

But hard as this may be for some millennials to accept, there’s only one winner here. Sanders doesn’t get a participation trophy.
The only thing he’s owed is a chance to exit with grace.

sanders has had little or no effect in the real world on the issues you raised.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden

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0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

BS at his persoal core, seems more like trump than Dem Senators empedocles Mar 2020 #1
I do not compare Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump. MineralMan Mar 2020 #3
At the personal ore level, we agree, the personality traits needed by a President are lacking empedocles Mar 2020 #8
Exactly! showblue22 Mar 2020 #38
+1 nt pazzyanne Mar 2020 #24
I'd give Sanders Turin_C3PO Mar 2020 #2
I would not, actually. MineralMan Mar 2020 #6
+1000 Thekaspervote Mar 2020 #9
I agree to a point LakeArenal Mar 2020 #28
My take on it is this frazzled Mar 2020 #4
His brand is ruined no matter what he does. I would argue Bernie not voting on the bill is the most beastie boy Mar 2020 #15
was 4 trillion before they voted out some of the bail out crap amendments-even HR6201... Sunlei Mar 2020 #16
I don't care what failed bill he voted for frazzled Mar 2020 #20
The bills with some corona virus 'relief help' passed. Sunlei Mar 2020 #21
EXACTLY! It will be like the War Bill bluestarone Mar 2020 #26
The Sooner People Get It Through Their Heads, Sir The Magistrate Mar 2020 #5
Very well considered and stated, Sir. MineralMan Mar 2020 #7
OMG! welcome back The Magistrate, you were so right about Ukraine! its been 4yrs Sunlei Mar 2020 #18
Thank You Very Much, Ma'am The Magistrate Mar 2020 #19
Sander's Pyrrhic Victory BlueIdaho Mar 2020 #25
And they are acquitting themselves admirably mcar Mar 2020 #10
I forgot to include Booker. I've edited the OP to add his name. MineralMan Mar 2020 #12
I would like to know where the delegates that would get him to 1991 are - which states? George II Mar 2020 #11
We know that. Sanders knows that, too. MineralMan Mar 2020 #13
It is appearing that he cares only about himself and his ego NCProgressive Mar 2020 #14
Well, I believe he cares about some ideas, as well. MineralMan Mar 2020 #17
Bernie is single-handedly responsible for bringing the issues that now define Democratic values Ravenspace Mar 2020 #22
I don't hate Bernie Sanders, but I do understand him. MineralMan Mar 2020 #23
From the Hoarse Whisperer Gothmog Mar 2020 #40
His campaign continues to attack Biden ...sowing division even as I write this ...so he is not Demsrule86 Mar 2020 #27
None so blind as he who will not see. LakeArenal Mar 2020 #29
No he's not. These have ALWAYS been Democratic Principles. I don't understand people ... marble falls Mar 2020 #31
So why do you think he was a no-show for the first vote on the emergency funding bill? ehrnst Mar 2020 #32
Yes, he's trying to have a positive impact but his tactics are backfiring. As they say.... George II Mar 2020 #33
"I'm not gonna be ignored, Dan." NurseJackie Mar 2020 #34
This message was self-deleted by its author NCProgressive Mar 2020 #35
Bernie Sanders didn't win any larger argument Gothmog Mar 2020 #39
Why Can't Bernie Accept That Democratic Voters Didn't Want Him? Gothmog Mar 2020 #41
No he isn't. lapucelle Mar 2020 #42
Sanders's secret is out: He has no movement - The Washington Post Gothmog Mar 2020 #43
Really??? Gothmog Apr 2020 #44
The way he has run campaign, who he has hired, his supports have consistently shown the difference LizBeth Mar 2020 #30
Exactly. The hiring of JILL FUCKING STEIN supporters to run his campaign... NurseJackie Mar 2020 #36
Right on. And he wanted to be President. What kind of thinking does it take to hire anti the people LizBeth Mar 2020 #37
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