Bernie Folks: What Happened to Our Shared Revolution?

[kentuck]

Last edited Sat Jun 11, 2016, 12:07 PM - Edit history (1)

http://lnr.politicususa.com/bernie-folks-happened-shared-revolution-1069/

<snip>

Why are we not directing our passion towards educating those who think Donald Trump is a hero? And seriously, how crazy are the people, who after rational consideration, would rather vote for racist, xenophobic, sexist Trump simply because Bernie lost? How does this do anything other than throw our revolution under Trump’s ego bus? It is a selfish act.

Yes, Bernie lost. Hillary won, fair and square. She won because 3.5 million more people voted for her. She won more pledged delegates, etc. – she won by any objective metric. #BernieOrBust people: Ask yourselves – what’s more likely: that multiple conspiracy theories about voter fraud, voter suppression, corporate media control of the narrative, Wall Street dark money, etc., combined in a perfect storm to deny Bernie the nomination? Or, ask yourself – please — doesn’t maybe Occam’s Razor apply? The simplest explanation is frequently the best. This is a perfect example: more people voted for Hillary, even at the end. She defeated Bernie by over 30 points in New Jersey and by 13 points in California.

The number of people who turn out for a rally does not necessarily correspond to voter turnout. Trump thinks his rallies mean the whole country is ready to spread its political legs for him, yet both Bernie and Hillary got more votes than Trump in their respective primaries. But reality is not simply what you see around you, nor what Facebook chooses to show you in your news feed. (In fact, unless you choose otherwise, Facebook only shows you an algorithm-curated selection consisting solely of people who agree with you. This is not reality.)

Part of our revolution was about believing in facts, and science – not “truthiness,” as Stephen Colbert once said. The revolution includes rejecting the Republican insistence on betraying both facts and science for political gain, all at the expense of the average American. If you truly believe in a fact-based reality, you owe it to yourself to challenge the wave of political propaganda out there that demands you accept at face value charges that Hillary Clinton is a monstrous she-devil, ready to make you the next course at the feast of Wall Street.

....more

(on edit) I do not necessarily agree with most of these comments but I do agree that Hillary is not a "monstrous she-devil" and those that propagate that sort of propaganda only add fertilizer to the already deluded Trump supporters.

[LWolf]

1. Nothing happened to it.

That revolution was never about the presidential election, outside of getting someone who would help in office if possible.

It's not about Clinton, nor is it about Trump, and neither will be an ally. I'll be looking to support other candidates who will help move it along down ticket, and I'll be looking for opportunities to keep it rolling outside of electoral politics.

[Ned_Devine]

3. Right there with you

[Adrahil]

16. If Trump wins and appoints federal Judges and Justices...

Who enable the dismatling of voter rights and enable Republican gerrymandering, how do you think those down-ballot races are going to go.

Like it or not, keeping Trump OUT of the White House is crucial to any plan to "keep it rolling."

[LWolf]

19. I'm not going to quit,

take my support and votes, and go home just because you helped nominate someone who couldn't beat Trump.

[Demsrule86]

25. Trump would rip the bat and ball from your hands

and kick you all the way home...sour grapes will get you hurt very badly in this instance.

[chwaliszewski]

28. Oh noes!!1!!!

What should I do to keep this from happening?

Hillary has got this in the bag. What do you need my measly vote for? It's going to Bernie as a write-in.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. No shit.

[swhisper1]

23. Thank you wolf. They think the presidency is most important, dont see the full picture

[Demsrule86]

29. The president appoints judges to SCOTUS and appeals courts that serve for 40 years in many cases.

And what do you think a right wing court will do to your revolution? Twenty people were murdered in Florida yesterday at a gay bar and more than 40 hurt by most reports...I have no idea if it was domestic...but consider the hate that Trump would use to get his way-divide and conquer. No minority group would be safe. My daughter is gay, and the fucking courts mean everything to her and millions of Americans...wise up before you help destroy any progressive movement and elect a monster. Real people's very lives are at stake in this election...and I have lost any patience with people who think the president doesn't matter because their guy lost. The courts matter more than Bernie Sanders and his supporters should stop spouting crap about how they will vote down ballot...wow that would help so much. Yes I am being sarcastic.

[swhisper1]

37. Trump is not going to win- and I dont have a guy- I have the 1st woman but I know her faults.

If Trump did win, congress would shackle him, especially the Senate, so it is far more important to regain both houses by 2018. As far as Hillarys choices, they will be corporate friendly and banksters and we will need senators to keep her gift-giving to a minimum. Sorry if that offends anyone, but she has a history and is not going to change her spots now.

As far as your daughter, do not think DOMA is gone and which pres brought up that "monster" act. Yes, we all need to wise up. Both Clinton and Trump have dismal unfavorables for a reason. We have to accept Our nominee, we dont have to let her run with scissors

[chwaliszewski]

30. Exactly my thinking!

It's not just about the presidency. It's the whole attitude of politicians and the well-to-doers that is not helping this country. You can almost see the middle class disappearing before your eyes. It's gotta stop.

[Dustlawyer]

33. Ditto! I take umbridge at the Hillary won "fair and square."

What a joke? While they may support Hillary, they would do good to take off the rose colored glasses and try using some objectivity.

We are where we are in this country because too many pick a candidate and then ignore everything they don't like about them.

We are part of a movement and Bernie winning the WH was too speed up the political revolution. It doesn't end here, only a new beginning. Several of Bernie's campaign staff left to form a national campaign to elect House members that hew close to Bernie's and the movement's ideals and policies. They especially must be respected for their integrity and vow to get the money out of politics. I will be supporting this effort, which over time starting at the next midterms forward we will start to have our voices heard in Congress. We will get the money out of politics and restore Representative Democracy. That is the root problem that allows TPTB to control our government.

Once accomplished we can get serious about Climate Change, infrastructure, education, social safety net... We will also be able to take away their biggest weapons like Wall Street and the corporate media. Without the propaganda arm we can end the brainwashing of the electorate!

[stillwaiting]

34. The fair and square argument is going to make unity much, much more difficult.

This primary has been outrageous for many, many reasons.

HRC supporters that fail to even acknowledge this will make it so much more difficult for Bernie supporters to unite with HRC.

It is extremely insulting.

[Lizzie Poppet]

35. Precisely. This wasn't about winning one stupid, superficial election.

Bernie's candidacy is the natural progression of what began with #OWS. This is SO far from over...

[Armstead]

38. It began in the 1990's...in Seattle WTO protests among other places

and in otehr ways....

[Lizzie Poppet]

39. You can go as far back as you care to, really. Levelers FTW!

But I think it's fair to say that this most recent surge can be said to have started with OWS.

[LWolf]

43. I was more energized

by OWS and the extended activities than I've been by any political campaign in my adult lifetime until Bernie. No coincidence. We're still going.

[Trajan]

2. Sorry, Kentuck ...

I guess the regular families who don't visit DU or Facebook or other fancy places where people scream and yell ...

I guess those regular families who work day in and day out to scrape by ....

I guess those families should just shut up and take it ...

Go with the flow ... Don't rock the boat, or we'll deny you your daily gruel ....

No ... History provides many examples of a point where the current state cannot continue, and change is the only option ...

Not to mention the Godwin implication .... Sheesh .. people being oppressed are like Nazis because they complain ...

Um ... Yeah .... Sure ... Where the fuck is the exit here ...

[Demsrule86]

31. Yeah well I am sure those real families will be treated very well by the Donald.

AS long as they are not Gay, Muslim, Hispanic( or of Hispanic descent), women, People of color or old...I am sure I missed a few...but hey Trump can make America great again....with your help. So many people to hate and attack and so little time for the Trumpster and his merry band of supporters.

[PowerToThePeople]

4. No Bernie supporter will vote Trump.

and Trolls won't change.

[Zen Democrat]

5. I challenge that.

She won because 3.5 million more people voted for her. She won more pledged delegates, etc. – she won by any objective metric.

I'm tired of the 3+ million number being quoted as fact. Bernie won caucus states, where votes are not counted. Bernie won the popular vote in most of the open primaries where independents voted en masse for him. Hillary piled it on Bernie in closed primaries with Just Us Democrats voting. She has the nomination because of Just Us Democrats. This election, however, will be decided by independents. Think.

She has to have either Sander or Warren on the ticket.

[LoverOfLiberty]

7. You are incorrect

according to Ballotpedia, as of June 8, 2016, Hillary Clinton had outperformed Bernie Sanders in open Democratic primaries and caucuses, winning 13 of 23.

[Hortensis]

9. Yes, challenge that, but not for THAT reason.

There is a very large body of evidence from many different directions that Bernie benefited tremendously from both caucus forms and open primaries.

1. Caucuses suppress the vote and afford great advantages to special interests and candidates like Bernie, who was able to mobilize a bunch of people who were not usually involved to attend. When Washington (?) and Indiana followed up their official binding caucuses that Bernie won with unbinding primaries, far, far more more people voted in the primaries and very large numbers of them voted for Hillary, giving her both wins instead.

This happened to some degree in every caucus state.

2. Open primaries allowed many partisan conservatives to crossover-vote in an attempt to take out the stronger candidate. This happened in every primary state, and the crossover vote always benefited Sanders, sometimes enormously as in Kentucky.

In future, political scientists should be able to come up with a fairly reliable range of numbers for just how many millions of votes Hillary lost and Sanders gained due to these problems, but for now we know that, beyond honest question, the primary election was inadvertently rigged in favor of Sanders and that the true, uncounted number of people who choose Hillary is well above the official count.

It is also beyond probable that Sanders knew this would be the case and planned his strategy to draw conservatives to open primaries and to load caucuses with ardent young people who were without the children, jobs and other responsibilities, as well as long-term habits, that keep most older people away. The facts that none of the first group had any intention of voting for him in November and that many of the second wouldn't bother to vote for anyone would be problems to be dealt with in the GE.

In future, btw, we should also have a better idea of just how much lower the number of those who intended to vote for Sanders for president was than the vote totals indicate.

[Hortensis]

11. Oh, and the "division" in the Democratic Party

is also far smaller than constantly hyped by dishonest MSM who so eagerly used phony numbers to push a misleading picture of a far closer race than it really was. Almost anything to "sell papers."

[Lord Magus]

14. Your challenge is factually wrong.

Most caucus states do count votes, and Bernie lost 11 out of 15 open primaries.

[msongs]

17. ND caucus total participants who voted = LESS THAN 400 people...TOTAL. yep those caususes really

pile up the votes alright

[lancer78]

22. Independents

didn't decide the election in 2012 as they went for the loser.

[Demsrule86]

32. Caucus states have very small turnouts...one primary has more votes than any caucus. nt

[GreatGazoo]

6. You will not be able to stay home because....

seriously, it won't be

[SamKnause]

8. She won, I'll give you that.

There was nothing fair or square about it.

[99Forever]

10. Fair and square?

Not so much.

More like...

By hook or crook.

[Betty Karlson]

12. "Hillary won, fair and square" - uhm...

she won, square maybe, but fair?

I've got three letters for you to counter that claim: DWS.

[Lizzie Poppet]

36. Yeah...I threw up in my mouth a little reading that one.

#NeverWithHer

[Snotcicles]

44. FSMA instead of PUMA. nt

[bhikkhu]

45. I'm happy to vote for her, but "fair and square" doesn't describe the process

...of any primary win, this year or any other. In many states the process is so convoluted and obscure each candidate has to hire teams of experts to devise specific strategies to win the state. There's no standard model, and its often not particularly democratic.

The one thing I would say is, a candidate that can put together a successful primary campaign team has shown the intelligence, fitness and capacity to run a good GE campaign.

[Hiraeth]

13. you lost me at :fair and square:

[TheKentuckian]

15. Premise fail. Educating the Trump supporters that he is a racist buffoon is not

the issue because they know he is a racist buffoon and find these things to be key features rather than even the mildest bug.

It's his niche but essentially he is no different than the average TeaPubLieKLAN other than just being a brash Back to the Future II Biff Tannen style personification of the same thing, possibly less overall fucked up than many, clearly he is no hard line theocrat at least. They have plenty of those dangerous wackos, see #2 in the race.

Less connected and ideological than a Bush so less effective.
A complete know nothing unlike a Cheney with no agenda other than to stroke his own ego and maybe set up some coup of a score for himself.

Of course the Hammy Yam sucks ass but the best case scenario from the clown car is still both terrible and difficult to discern which that would be.
Panic and fear mongering isn't called for or helpful.

Also, assessments of Clinton were in way, way before Sanders got into this race. He was just filling a gap granted with rare credibility, he did not create it though by any stretch of the imagination. The solution offered is not the one that fits with the actual situation in my eyes.

[George Eliot]

20. I'll watch to see how Bernie's members of platform committee are treated.

I don't trust Frank. Bernie garnered a large percentage of the country's votes and he and his reps need to be treated with respect.

[Vattel]

21. what does the lection of clinton or trump have to do with the revolution Bernie is talking about?

[Surya Gayatri]

24. Great line: "Trump thinks his rallies mean the whole country is ready

to spread its political legs for him..."

Apt metaphor!

[DCBob]

26. "Hillary is not a 'monstrous she-devil'"

Thank you for that but its remarkable that one needs to even have to say that.

[Ash_F]

27. Great let's get to work on that $15 minimum wage!

[Barack_America]

42. And campaign finance reform!

[G_j]

40. no one is voting for Trump

at least no progressives/liberals.

[aikoaiko]

41. Who the fuck is Robert Zimmer and who is he to talk about shared revolution?

Shared with who? You? Who the fuck are you? I don't know you.

That he doesn't seem to understand what Bernie meant by rigged primary suggests to me he is full of shit.