Bullish on Bernie: The Bernie Sanders 2016 Thread

[Trakar]

Bullish on Bernie: Populist Presidential Platform Draws Overflow Crowds
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/...sidential-platform-draws-overflow-crowds.html

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who spoke to overflow crowds in Iowa and Minnesota over the weekend following his official campaign kick-off in Vermont last Tuesday, is gaining traction with both the press and the public

Several news outlets have pointed out that Sanders appears to have more momentum behind his nascent White House bid than former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, the Democrat who announced his own presidential aspirations in Baltimore on Saturday.

"O’Malley, who formally launched his candidacy Saturday, not only faces a dominant front-runner in Hillary Rodham Clinton but is also being upstaged by Sanders, the shrewd self-styled socialist senator from Vermont who has made an early and successful play for Clinton skeptics in the party base," wrote Michael A. Memoli in the LA Times.

This could not only be fun, it could get interesting! Early IA poll Bloomberg/Des Moines Register have Hillary 57 to Sanders 16 that's better than I expected him to start out, the press will play him hard looking for him to give them headlines. I'll say it again, I'd like to hear Senator Warren's opinion regarding both candidates and their policies.

 

[Puppycow]

Well the anti-Hillary vote will have to find another horse to back, and right now Bernie seems like the most obvious candidate for those people to back. Particularly for people who want someone more liberal and authentic. Or authentically liberal. So yeah, I expect him to surge in the polls. The question is, what's his ceiling.

 

[The Shrike]

The question is, what's his ceiling.

The inevitable anti-Semitic redneck backlash, I'd wager.

 

[Puppycow]

The inevitable anti-Semitic redneck backlash, I'd wager.

I don't think so. If he has a ceiling below 50% it's not because of redneck anti-semites. If a black man has a path to the White House, so could a Jew. But there are other reasons why some voters might be skeptical of Bernie Sanders besides that. Some may have already made up their minds that they are backing Hillary and only a very serious political scandal might change their minds. others may think he's too left wing. Or even too old.

 

[Frank Newgent]

Sent him some cash and, today, slapped a "Bernie Sanders For President" bumper sticker on our little beat-up Bali rental car. I feel good.

 

[BenBurch]

Sent him some cash and, today, slapped a "Bernie Sanders For President" bumper sticker on our little beat-up Bali rental car. I feel good.

Thank you for helping! I subscribed for $30/month.

Need to find me a sticker.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I'm disappointed that he seems to be relying on his sex appeal to campaign. Bernie, stop looking at the camera with bedroom eyes! We all know you're hot, but try to campaign on the issues, not your nubile body, writhing in wanton abandon over silk sheets.

 

[Trakar]

The inevitable anti-Semitic redneck backlash, I'd wager.

Not many of those among the Democratic party, even in the bible belt.

 

[Spindrift]

I'm disappointed that he seems to be relying on his sex appeal to campaign. Bernie, stop looking at the camera with bedroom eyes! We all know you're hot, but try to campaign on the issues, not your nubile body, writhing in wanton abandon over silk sheets.

He's up against Hilary, so he has to fight fire with fire.

 

[HumanityBlues]

I'm disappointed that he seems to be relying on his sex appeal to campaign. Bernie, stop looking at the camera with bedroom eyes! We all know you're hot, but try to campaign on the issues, not your nubile body, writhing in wanton abandon over silk sheets.

This was my first thought as well......

 

[Trakar]

Well the anti-Hillary vote will have to find another horse to back, and right now Bernie seems like the most obvious candidate for those people to back. Particularly for people who want someone more liberal and authentic. Or authentically liberal. So yeah, I expect him to surge in the polls. The question is, what's his ceiling.

Well, I supported Hillary against Obama (though I was actually more of an Edwards supporter until he imploded over ill-timed and poorly considered little head decisions), she definitely seemed to the left of Obama on issues that were important to me. Unfortunately she has marched further and further to the right over the last seven years or so. I quit voting against candidates I didn't want in office a few elections back, unfortunately, given my politics, this often leaves me with few to no candidates to actually vote for.

 

[HumanityBlues]

I often wonder whether the actual democratic voters are centrist, or whether the candidates they vote for appear to lean more to the left but turn out to be centrists in the end (i.e. Obama). The New York Times had an article recently about Bernie Sanders where it assumed:

Mrs. Clinton is far ahead in the polls, fund-raising and name recognition, however, and she is expected to continue to have a much more organized and sophisticated campaign operation in Iowa and nationwide than Mr. Sanders has. Her mix of centrist and progressive Democratic views may yet prove more appealing to the broadest number of party voters as well, while some of Mr. Sanders’s policy prescriptions — including far higher taxes on the wealthy and deep military spending cuts — may eventually persuade Democrats that he is unelectable in a general election.

Are these views really turning off democrats? Does wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy automatically mean you can't win a general election? I'm not so sure. It's interesting that this may now be the prevailing presumption of what it means to be far-left now in the United States: raising taxes on wealthy and cutting our bloated military spending. Under the circumstances right now, I don't see why these are radical ideas.

 

[Trakar]

Sent him some cash and, today, slapped a "Bernie Sanders For President" bumper sticker on our little beat-up Bali rental car. I feel good.

I think that's what's hitting me, its really different to have a national candidate that I can actually support and feel good about supporting. I have yet to hear any policy that I strongly disagree with and that is unusual for me. I was really hoping Warren would run, but though she is full on populist, she is such a policy wonk (true law-maker) that her technical speeches probably don't play well among the masses who want a candidate that speaks to their gut rather than to their intellect.

 

[Dr. Keith]

I often wonder whether the actual democratic voters are centrist, or whether the candidates they vote for appear to lean more to the left but turn out to be centrists in the end (i.e. Obama). The New York Times had an article recently about Bernie Sanders where it assumed:



Are these views really turning off democrats? Does wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy automatically mean you can't win a general election? I'm not so sure. It's interesting that this may now be the prevailing presumption of what it means to be far-left now in the United States: raising taxes on wealthy and cutting our bloated military spending. Under the circumstances right now, I don't see why these are radical ideas.

Long ago I noticed that anyone who would raise taxes as high as they were in the Reagan years is now considered far left wing.

 

[Trakar]

He's up against Hilary, so he has to fight fire with fire.

All right both of you knock it off, my wife thinks I'm in here working, and every time I bust out laughing it blows my cover! If this keeps up she'll have me out mowing, fixing fences and weeding again.

 

[Trakar]

Are these views really turning off democrats? Does wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy automatically mean you can't win a general election? I'm not so sure. It's interesting that this may now be the prevailing presumption of what it means to be far-left now in the United States: raising taxes on wealthy and cutting our bloated military spending. Under the circumstances right now, I don't see why these are radical ideas.

That's what I mean, conservative-light is not the socialist wing-nut party they are portrayed as. I love what Sanders brings to the public discussion if nothing else, it is long overdue.

 

[NotJesus]

I'm disappointed that he seems to be relying on his sex appeal to campaign. Bernie, stop looking at the camera with bedroom eyes! We all know you're hot, but try to campaign on the issues, not your nubile body, writhing in wanton abandon over silk sheets.

Stupid sexy Sanders!

 

[BenBurch]

That's what I mean, conservative-light is not the socialist wing-nut party they are portrayed as. I love what Sanders brings to the public discussion if nothing else, it is long overdue.

Amen.

 

[progressquest]

I'm disappointed that he seems to be relying on his sex appeal to campaign. Bernie, stop looking at the camera with bedroom eyes! We all know you're hot, but try to campaign on the issues, not your nubile body, writhing in wanton abandon over silk sheets.

Why? He appears to have locked down the all-important TragicMonkey demographic. After that, what else is needed?

 

[luchog]

I'm pretty far from socialist-leaning, I tend to describe myself as classical liberal or minarchist libertarian; but given the state of the nation right now, I'm definitely in the Sanders camp. I don't think he's likely to beat out Clinton, she simply has too big an entrenched corporate base funding her; but Sanders is the first candidate in recent memory that I can vote for without having to get seriously drunk and scrub myself raw for hours afterwards.