Voting for Bernie Sanders is a Win-Win for Democrats

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Bernie Sanders’ stances on nearly every major issue are enormously popular among Americans of all affiliations. Large majorities of voters, especially democrats, side with Bernie on issues like raising the minimum wage to $15/hour, requiring employers to provide paid family and sick leave, opposing the Wall Street bailout, decriminalizing marijuana, raising taxes on wealthy and corporations, opposing the U.S. policy of interventionism and regime-change, and opposing the use of U.S. ground troops to defeat ISIS, to name a few. These are progressive values that appeal widely across demographics, but, unfortunately, not to Hillary Clinton. Her proposals on many issues amount to less-than-half measures and premature compromises which will translate to very little, if any, substantive change in the status quo. She is a hawkish neoconservative on foreign policy, a corporatist neoliberal on economic policy and a moderate centrist on domestic and social policy; not exactly the standard bearer for most democratic voters. (If you’re curious which candidate best represents your views on the issues, take this quiz at isidewith.com)

Many in the democratic base prefer Bernie’s ideas and stances on the issues to Hillary’s, but choose to vote for her because they think she has a better shot at defeating the eventual republican nominee. This is false. For months, polling of hypothetical general election match ups between the democratic and republican candidates consistently show Bernie Sanders beating Trump, Cruz and Kasich by wider margins than Hillary Clinton. According to HuffPost Pollster’s aggregated favorability polling, Bernie has a +8.7 rating compared to Hillary’s -13 rating. In a recent Bloomberg Politics poll, Sanders pulled ahead of Clinton nationally among democrats, 49-48 percent. The same poll showed that 64 percent think that Bernie Sanders is the more honest and trustworthy candidate, whereas only 25 percent feel that way about Clinton. With ongoing scandals, including foreign government arms deals for Clinton Foundation donations and an FBI criminal investigation, it’s easy to see why that distrust exists.

The other big reason given by democrats for choosing Clinton over Sanders is they think she has better foreign policy experience. Serving as Secretary of State for four years certainly gives her an advantage in that category, that is, until you look at her judgement during that time. In 2009, she legitimized the coup which ousted democratically elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. That country is now one of the most violent in the world. In 2011, she played a central role in the ousting of Col. Muammar Gaddafi, later laughing about it saying, “We came, we saw, he died!” Libya is now a stronghold for ISIS and other terrorist groups. In 2012, she pushed hard for the Obama administration to arm the Syrian rebels, another blatant attempt at regime-change. Now she is calling for a no-fly zone in Syria and the possibility of U.S. ground troops. Apart from further entrenching our armed forces in yet another Middle Eastern quagmire, her proposals have a very real chance at sparking a war with Russia. Oh, and did I mention she voted for the Iraq war? That too.

If you are a democrat who does not want to send our brave men and women in uniform to endless interventionist wars of regime-change, vote for Bernie Sanders. If you are a democrat who thinks that foreign policy judgement is more important than foreign policy experience, vote for Bernie Sanders. If you are a democrat who believes the most important issue is beating the republican candidate and regaining democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, vote for Bernie Sanders. He is the only candidate at the helm of a political revolution bringing in millions of new voters who have previously given up on the political process. Bernie has the overwhelming support of Independents, millennials and the progressive base, and one third of his supporters have reported they will not vote for Hillary if she becomes the nominee, even to prevent a Trump presidency.

(snip)

Voting for Bernie Sanders in the democratic primaries is a win-win for democrats. He has a better chance of beating the eventual republican nominee, he has better judgement in matters of foreign policy, and he better represents the American public’s views on a host of issues important to democrats. If he ends up losing the nomination, you’ve still got Hillary to fall back on. So tell me, what do you have to lose?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/d-c-rutledge/voting-for-bernie-sanders-is-a-win-win-for-democrats_b_9548640.html

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. And that's why they want him to concede so desperately.

[senz]

5. Yes! This morning NPR sounded almost enthusiastic about Bernie.

After months or Hill advocacy, you can hear a little edge of excitement in the announcers' voices.

He is taking off! So of course the opposition wants to stop it as quickly as possible!

Ain'ta gonna happen.

[senz]

2. Bernie is absolutely our BEST BET.

The OP explains it well.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

3. Win-Win for Democrats?

it will be a win win for all

even wall street will win - just not like they want

[senz]

6. A win for America. And for people elsewhere too.

His ideas are people-centered ideas that will return us to our original course before corporate sharks took over our government.

[Ferd Berfel]

4. K& R

Tx Uncle Joe great article

proving that there is every reason to vote for Bernie!

[Hoyt]

7. If you consider this generation's McGovern style landslide loss a win. I don't.

[senz]

8. Aww, try to drag it down...

Bernie's no McGovern. Bernie is vital and clear in his message and intent. Big difference.

Nice try, but: NO.

[Hoyt]

14. McGovern was too, as was Mondale, Carter (2nd term), Dukakis, Kerry (although he didn't lose by a

landslide).

[senz]

17. Ohhh, I see what you're doing: you're going all Third Way on it

"Real liberals can't win! Only newfangled Third Way/DLC, corporate Dems can win! We gotta sell out our values or we're goners!"

I should have known.

Well here's the news for you: Bernie excites even non-Democratic working people. His appeal is across the board, not just to a tiny pure demographic of old leftists and hippies. Corporatism is being exposed for what it is -- all across the political landscape.

The tide is turning, Hoyt.

BTW, if that is a photo of Woody Guthrie in your avatar, is entirely too ironic to stomach.

[senz]

9. Plus, polls have showing for months that Bernie wins the GE.

He polls far better than Hill against Republicans.

Just won't work, Hoyt.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. We should become more Republican to beat the Republicans.

No thanks.

I voted for McGovern, and would do so again under the same circumstances.

[Hoyt]

13. I think we need a candidate that at least tells truth on what single payer, "free" education, etc.

Last edited Mon Mar 28, 2016, 03:58 PM - Edit history (1)

I'm actually for single payer -- have been since early 1980s -- and a decent education for everyone. But, Sanders isn't being honest about the cost of providing these things and the revenue his proposals can raise without impacting other aspects of the economy. It's easy for him to say he is going to cut healthcare expenditures annually from $3 Trillion to $1.38 Trillion, but only the gullible believe it.

If he wants to come out and say, we are going to insure everyone, cut out deductibles and coinsurance, cover all drugs, have no utilization review, refuse any care, etc., I might well be for it if he also says your taxes will go up proportionately and it will be substantially more than I've been saying. He's not doing that.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Is Hillary for single payer?

[Hoyt]

18. She's for advancing using the ACA, rather than scrapping it and letting the GOPers give us a voucher

system.

[Uncle Joe]

22. Medicare for all is by far the best way to go.

The current system is dysfunctional, inefficient and corruptive.

[Hoyt]

25. I agree, GOPERS will not allow it and it will be more expensive than Sanders says.

A country with no cancer would be great too, but . . . . . .

I think adding a Public Option to ACA and more subsidies, will get us there quicker than starting all over.

[Uncle Joe]

28. Economists that have actually done their homework agree with Bernie's numbers.

[ljm2002]

24. Please stop with the lie...

..."rather than scrapping it and letting the GOPers give us a voucher system."

Bernie is an experienced politician. No way he would start out by "scrapping" the ACA, and then try and pass single payer. The ACA would stay in place until something else passed, if it ever did, which we all know is not likely without a big change in the makeup of Congress.

Look, it's okay if you don't like him making bold proposals. Great, looks like you're a good fit for the timid (domestically, anyway) candidate, Hillary Clinton. But try and refrain from lying.

If you want to claim that you are not lying about this then by all means, provide a link where Bernie says he will scrap the ACA before he has a single payer system in place, or will do so if he is unable to achieve single payer.

Waiting...

[Hoyt]

26. Yeah, he's so experienced his own state abandoned it when they saw what it would cost.

He couldn't even convince them to keep studying it. He might be a US senator, but he should have been involved in that important state legislation.

[ljm2002]

27. You're changing the subject...

...and going into neener-neener-neener mode. Not that it's surprising; it is par for the course.

But the LIE you are promoting is that he will "scrap" the ACA. He never said that, no one believes that, but some are willing to put it out there in hopes that people will believe that is how it would go down.

You ought to be ashamed, but it seems you are incapable of that emotion.

[Hoyt]

31. Then, he needs to be honest about single payer is way off in the future, and he won't get us there

any faster, if as fast, as Clinton.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. I take great pleasure in voting for progressives rather than centrists.

So does my nose.

[Scuba]

11. I believe Hillary's experience vs Bernie's judgement is an excellent way to frame this race.

The hands-down winner is Bernie.

[cosmicone]

16. My view is different

Electing Bernie Sanders would be a suicide for democrats.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. How so?

[cosmicone]

20. Trump will shred him in 30 seconds

Hillary has not laid a glove on him. Trump will not be so kind.

Bernie will be bloodied, bruised and his wall-street message will be unrecognizable after one round with Trump. Then the revolution will be tarred, feathered, put on a donkey and taken on a parade of ridicule.

Trump (or any republican) will keep calling him communist. The nuance of "democratic socialist" won't fly -- it doesn't fly with me. The guy spent time in a communist kibbutz in Israel, hates rich people and met with Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro -- not to mention had his honeymoon in Moscow. I don't trust that he or a lot of supporters believe in democracy. They want free stuff from rich people, using torches and pitchforks if necessary.

It is seen on DU every day as any post critical of Bernie is swarmed, stalked and hidden. There is no room for discussion. "Bow before Bernie or you'll be silenced" is the attitude. Trump doesn't have to worry about that.

Unfortunately, the detachment from reality is cultivated from silencing all opposition and creating a toxic echo chamber that makes people oblivious to the skills of Trump and his soundbites. Don't forget that Trump has destroyed major players like Jeb and Chris Christie already.

Now, don't come back with "but but Trump will do that to Hillary too" posts. Yes, he will do that to Hillary but the Clinton machine is much much stronger and skillful in dealing with it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. You said, "If he is Elected".

So, if we are fortunate, and Bernie is elected, how will that "destroy the Democratic Party"?

BTW. in my 15 years here, I've alerted one exactly one post which was blatantly racist and had nothing to do with politics or elections. I've never put anyone on ignore because I like hearing opposing views.

[cosmicone]

23. Bernie won't be elected because

Trump will destroy him if nominated.

Fortunately, Bernie won't get the nomination.

[GoneFishin]

29. And yet others actually like her corporatist and tinkle down economic policies, but just can't

admit it. (Pretty much the same situation the Republicans are in)

After all, they already have theirs. Why do you need to be a copy cat?

[amborin]

30. K&R