Bernie enters the third Ghandian phase.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mahatmagan103630.html#UzET670VBr1Dr3oP.99

Now the fight begins in earnest. Bernie sits atop the latest polls in both IA and NH. He even got CBS Evening News coverage of that yesterday.

But the fight is now primarily with his major opponent for the nomination, Secretary Clinton. She has recently indirectly attacked him with the new, dog whistle statement that "I am a real Democrat." More than one journalistic outlet has drawn the inference that she means Bernie is not a real Democrat. If memory serves from Philosophy 148, she has committed the fallacy of "Argumentum Ad Hominem," argument toward the person. It is a fallacy of attacking the messenger, rather than the message. This is probably thematic of most of the attacks the Establishment will muster throughout the rest of the campaign.

There are many ways to demonstrate that Bernie has been a de facto Democrat during his Congressional career, such as caucusing with them and the Party's recognition of his seniority in the Democratic caucus.

We have entered a new phase and now the disinformation and logical fallacies will fly. As we inform the public and debate our fellow Democrats, let's be friendly for ethical and pragmatic reasons. The facts are on our side, our chances get better every day and more and more of the people are with us.

[AgingAmerican]

1. I expect a spasm of Strawman threads

Filled with things that never happened, or taken wildly out of context, against Sanders AND his supporters.

And with each desperate spasm, her numbers will drop markedly, and the spasm will intensify as he passes her.

Towards the end, she will be crying for more debates like she did against Obama when she called withholding debate, "Unamerican".

[RoccoR5955]

2. They have already been here.

Like the socialist commie pinko strawman,
or the perverted story strawman,
But it's all that they have, and already been proven to be crap.

Bernie shall win this one as well, and we shall have the president that we truly deserve.
It's about freakin' time!

[hifiguy]

5. It's like monkeys throwing feces

but the wall is coated with Teflon. Nothing ever sticks because it's all nonsense.

Bernie is as clean as a hound's tooth.

[Hortensis]

3. Bernie is a proud democratic socialist and independent senator. He rejects belonging

to the Democratic Party, a principled position. His old colleague, with whom he's had a cordial and casually friendly relationship for a quarter century, is hardly going to offend him by suggesting he's not a "real democrat" on the campaign trail. He's not as the word is commonly used and is proud of it.

Another truth is that he is a gentleman who deplores rolling around in the political mud. Despite their disagreements, Bernie and Hillary have been working pleasantly together for years in a courteous and dignified relationship. As liberal progressives they have far more in common than not -- today's culled crowd of hard-right conservatives of various unpleasant flavors across the aisle making sure they, at least, never lose sight of that.

[oberliner]

4. There is no record of Gandhi saying this

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

Describing the stages of a winning strategy of nonviolent activism. There is no record of Gandhi saying this. A close variant of the quotation first appears in a 1918 US trade union address by Nicholas Klein:

And, my friends, in this story you have a history of this entire movement. First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you. And that, is what is going to happen to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

[Admiral Loinpresser]

13. Thx for the input.

He may or may not have said it, but it certainly fits his activist philosophy. I think he would embrace Bernie wholeheartedly.

[oberliner]

14. No worries

A lot of people misattribute that quote to him.

[sarge43]

6. Arthur C Clarke had a clever variation

New ideas pass through three periods:

1. It can't be done.

2. It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing.

3. I knew it was a good idea all along.

We're about at number two.

[NCcoast]

7. "I am a real Democrat.".... and that's going to help you is it?

Don't get me wrong, republicans are worse, far worse, but the dems are bought and paid for as well. She's not going to get any traction screaming that she's a card carrying member of a corrupt machine. So.... keep up the good work Hillary!

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

8. Bernie is better than a Democrat.

Plus being called "not a real Democrat" by Clinton might appeal to Republicans and Independents.

[lovemydog]

9. Does he morph into a butterfly?

Or maybe an action hero.

[eridani]

10. Of course not. A unicorn, OK? n/t

[Admiral Loinpresser]

12. POTUS. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

11. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Admiral Loinpresser.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

15. yw! n/t

[Babel_17]

16. "I am a real Democrat ..." like who?

Like Truman?

Like Carter?

Like FDR?

Like Elizabeth Warren? Like President Obama?

Please continue, Madam Secretary. Tell us which real Democrat you are like. Then we can see how you, and your opponents, measure up to that standard.

Upon leaving the presidency, Truman returned to Independence, Missouri, to live at the Wallace home he and Bess had shared for years with her mother.[177] Once out of office, Truman quickly decided that he did not wish to be on any corporate payroll, believing that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the nation's highest office. He also turned down numerous offers for commercial endorsements. Since his earlier business ventures had proved unsuccessful, he had no personal savings. As a result, he faced financial challenges. Once Truman left the White House, his only income was his old army pension: $112.56 per month.[178] Former members of Congress and the federal courts received a federal retirement package; President Truman himself ensured that former servants of the executive branch of government received similar support. In 1953, however, there was no such benefit package for former presidents,[179] and he received no pension for his Senate service.[180]

Truman took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office, and then set about establishing another precedent for future former chief executives: a book deal for his memoirs of his time in office. Ulysses S. Grant had overcome similar financial issues with his own memoirs, but the book had been published posthumously, and he had declined to write about life in the White House in any detail. For the memoirs, Truman received only a flat payment of $670,000, and had to pay two-thirds of that in tax; he calculated he got $37,000 after he paid his assistants.[181] However, the memoirs were a commercial and critical success;[182][183] they were published in two volumes in 1955 and 1956 by Doubleday (Garden City, N.Y) and Hodder & Stoughton (London): Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions and Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope.[184][185]

The former president was quoted in 1957 as saying to then-House Majority Leader John McCormack, "Had it not been for the fact that I was able to sell some property that my brother, sister, and I inherited from our mother, I would practically be on relief, but with the sale of that property I am not financially embarrassed."[186] The following year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president, and it is likely that Truman's financial status played a role in the law's enactment.[179] The one other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money; reportedly, he did so to avoid embarrassing Truman.[187]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Post-presidency