Note: Of course, Bernie being Bernie, he did not do what every actual Democrat has done, which is end his campaign and get behind Biden. That is reflected in updates below. We did not yet know when I wrote this post what he would do with the free media he conned everyone into giving him this afternoon. Now we know…
You probably know that Bernie will be making a live appearance in a few minutes:
I’ll be delivering a campaign update live from Burlington at 1 p.m. ET. Tune in at https://t.co/vreIiWfeoS.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 11, 2020
The timing and choice of venue would suggest a candidate who’s about to drop out. At least, that would be the case with a conventional political candidate. With Bernie, who knows? Well, we will in a few minutes.
Meanwhile, I wanted to point to the way his fans are reacting. There’s this congressional candidate, who I suppose is eager to join The Squad:
Bernie, remember, Biden May be your friend, but he’s not been a friend to the working class. #NotMeUs
— Jen Perelman For Congress (@JENFL23) March 11, 2020
Really? Have you met Joe Biden, or heard him talk? Are you familiar at all with the Democratic Party, of which he is a born standard-bearer? Or have you spoken to any of the actual working-class people who have been voting for him and not your guy, because they know Joe’s heart and they know he’s for them?
Sheesh.
Then there’s this:
Don’t dropout. You should debate Biden and push him further left on various issues.
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 11, 2020
Yeah. Right. That’s exactly what we need. Because otherwise Biden might beat Trump in the fall, and we don’t want that, do we?
If Bernie does drop out, and commit to the Democratic ticket, he’s going to have to move heaven and earth to get these people to go along with him…
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Actually, that guy’s more of a Warren “progressive” than a Bernie “progressive.” He explains here:
But my point about what he said remains the same…
NEWS FLASH:
As nation faces down socialist threat, President Warthen calls on Democratic left to self-isolate or face quarantine.
THERE’S an idea…
He’s not dropping out.
Clever the way he managed to dupe folks into giving him his free media.
His timing could have been better. He’s doing this simultaneously with the announcement by the WHO that the coronavirus is officially a pandemic. So he’s being upstaged…
hmmm…first there were the “Bernie Bros,” will they now be followed by the “Biden Bullies”? That would be unfortunate. How Biden & his supporters handle the progressive wing will be very critical to Biden’s chances of winning in November. Biden’s call for unity last night was a step in the right direction. They need Bernie’s voters to come to the polls in November.
Bernie should stay in the race at least through the next week or so, especially because of one chance to debate Biden one-on-one. Then, if things don’t look any better from Bernie’s perspective, he can “suspend” active campaigning from that point forward. He should not drop out formally or release delegates until the convention. For one thing there is the health issue, with all the candidates being this old, you just never know, and frankly Joe’s the one I worry the most about.
It does seem like the voters have spoken, and, having voted my conscience last month, I’m fine with voting for Joe in November. I’m also encouraged by Jamelle Bouie’s column in today’s NYT giving hope to progress on progressive policies in a Biden administration.
And see, I couldn’t care less about that stuff — plans, policies, programs. I just want to get Trump out of the White House, replaced by a decent, normal human being.
And I don’t see how anything good can come from Bernie continuing.
What do you hope will happen in this debate? Front-runners don’t gain anything from debates, which is why they avoid them. But of course, no one will allow Biden to avoid this one.
Right now, Biden is as strong as he’s going to be. It’s 99 percent sure that he’s going to be the nominee. He’s going to need all that electoral strength to win in the fall.
So the question now is, will he go into the fall campaign as strong as he can be, or will he have to wade through weeks and/or months of continued conflict with Bernie?
Tell me how having a debate with Bernie, and then having Bernie still contesting remaining primaries, and, as you say, holding onto his delegates to the convention, helps Joe beat Trump in November.
I don’t see how…
” I couldn’t care less about that stuff — plans, policies, programs. I just want to get Trump out of the White House, replaced by a decent, normal human being.”
That may make a good, winning campaign strategy.
But it is a really rotten governing strategy.
In orderto govern, a candidate must offer something of real substance besides: I am not the other guy. That’s what all democratic politics is about. It’s not about — that is, it’s not SUPPOSED to be merely about — who seems to be the more likeable person. The excess personalization of political campaigning is the bane of American civic life. It’s what gave us the likes of the current so-called president.
You think it’s about being “likeable?”
We have a seriously unbalanced, impulsive, hostile, vulgar, extremely narcissistic ignoramus in the most powerful job in the world. He has his finger on the nuclear button (and brags about how big his button is). He has the power to influence the way we talk about EVERY issue in this country.
This election is about replacing him with a decent, honest human being whose priority is serving all the people of this country. Someone who actually has a clue about how the government is supposed to work, and has respect for that. Someone who won’t disgrace the office daily, and can be relied upon to listen to experts before taking actions. Someone who has relevant experience — lots of it — and has learned from that experience. Someone who is temperamentally suited to the job. Someone we can trust for a change.
As it happens, that person is also widely likable, which gives him a considerable leg up on Hillary Clinton — and on Bernie — in terms of being able to get elected. Which is good.
But that’s not what this is about. It’s about replacing Trump with someone fit for the job, someone who won’t disgrace the nation daily, as soon as possible.
There is NO policy point that could come close to being as important as that.
Policy is something to discuss once this emergency is over, and we have someone with sense in the Oval Office. At that point, we’ll have four years to talk about policies…
We don’t govern before elections. We govern after them.
Of course, even in normal times, I take a dim view of candidates who have a laundry list of specific things they just KNOW they’re going to do once they’re in office.
I don’t vote for people based on that. I vote for people I can trust to make intelligent principled decisions about whatever comes up. Don’t say “Read My Lips” to me. Just convince me you can be trusted with the job, and we sort out the fine details at the appropriate time, making the decisions within the context of what’s actually happening then…
You sure do obsess over one word — and in doing so miss the larger point. Maybe you should refrain from posting so late at night.
Policy proposals and the manner in which he or she presents and defends them ARE the means by which a deliberative electorate determines who is the most fit for public office. Otherwise it becomes just a battle of personalities. Anyone who does not appreciate that does not really appreciate how a democracy is supposed to operate.
Well, it’s certainly not how I decide. I go by character and experience, not by promises.
You like to turn policy proposals into “promises,” because that makes them sound unrealistic and therefore not worthy of serious attention. That’s merely a pejorative distortion. Obviously, no one in a democracy with a division of powers can promise anything (even though Joe Biden has promised to cure cancer and Alzheimer’s during his term in office). But they can make proposals. And, alongside their performance (in past offices and on the campaign trail), it’s mainly on that basis that they should be judged.
The fact that the current so-called president is uniquely unfit for the office in terms of intellect, morals and, yes, character, puts him in a class by himself. It does not negate what is an otherwise valid basis for judging political leaders: on the ideas and ideals they promote.
“Obviously, no one in a democracy with a division of powers can promise anything”
YES! And that points to one of Bernie’s greatest failings. He actually thinks that if he’s president, Washington will do exactly what he wants.
There’s no other way to take it when someone points out that we can’t know exactly what Medicare for All would look like if it happened, and Bernie exclaims that HE knows, because “I wrote the damn’ bill!”
“He actually thinks that if he’s president, Washington will do exactly what he wants.”
Nope. Some of his supporters may think that. But Sanders repeatedly — both this time and in the 2016 election — spoken of the need for a movement in order to accomplish what he’s proposed.
Really, you should be aware of these that. Or maybe you are but prefer to distort here as well.
First, I have not distorted anything.
Second, if his supporters think that, it’s because of Bernie’s vehement, “I wrote the damn’ bill!”
This is not a guy who emphasizes incrementalism, or encourages people to lower their expectations. That’s not his brand. He’s selling revolution, and his supporters are buying it…
“I have not distorted anything,”
Sure, uh-huhn.
A reading of the very source you cite, Vox, shows that in the exchange between Sanders and Tim Ryan last July, the two were not talking about the same thing. Sanders was talking about a past legislative proposal while Ryan was talking about a possible future legislative outcome. Failure to note the difference is distortion.
In any event, the exchange was over a matter of policy substance, not character. So it’s nice to see you coming around , if indirectly and perhaps not altogether knowingly.
Oh, as for that “one word”…
There’s one silver lining to all of the female contenders having dropped out. Now we can, if we like, talk about “likability” without being accused of sexism.
Not that I’m suggesting we talk about it. I’m just saying that if we want to, it’s no longer off the table…
Also this: “Biden’s call for unity last night was a step in the right direction.”
I couldn’t agree more. Of course, the longer Bernie keeps fighting, the harder that becomes.
An extraordinary thing has happened in these recent contest. Biden didn’t just win black voters. He’s winning in the suburbs. He’s winning white men without college degrees. He’s winning among the very groups he has to take away from Trump.
Any concessions or movements toward the Bernie end of the spectrum on policy will come at great risk to Biden’s keeping that support he needs in the fall.
Which is why I don’t see anything about Bernie staying in this as helpful to the actual, serious goal that is of critical importance to the country — beating Trump…
I just… I can’t begin to understand anyone considering ANY policy consideration so critical that it’s worth endangering victory in November in order to try to pull Biden a few degrees in their direction. I honestly, truly don’t get it.
The national house is on fire. We need to put it out. We don’t need to delay that work debating what color to paint it after the fire…
He shouldn’t drop out. I don’t blame him. Long time to go. Keep working.
I’m a bit of a Bernie fan, but the time has come for him to drop out.
This election is more important than ideology. It’s about restoring some normalcy to our government, and I can’t think of anyone better suited to that task than Biden.
We lurch from left to right and back again in this country, but the overall trend is to the left. We will get single-payer health care and affordable college and all the other things the Bernie wing wants. We just can’t have it all right now.