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Joe BidenCongratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
 

question everything

(48,833 posts)
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 12:34 PM Mar 2020

It's time for Sanders to bow out gracefully - San Diego Union Tribune

Two years before the 2016 election, pundits sneered when U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said he might run for president because he thought the Democratic Party had lost touch with millions of disaffected Americans. Fast-forward to February 2016, and Sanders stunned the Democratic establishment by almost beating front-runner Hillary Clinton in Iowa and trouncing her in New Hampshire.

Yes, Sanders eventually lost to Clinton. But he gained a place in history books by showing that millions of voters, especially younger ones, were fed up with what they saw as the caution of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Yes, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also fueled the rise of Democratic progressives. But Sanders did the most to reveal many Americans’ appetite for a more generous government — one that offered free college and health care, wiped out student loan debt and required the wealthy to pay far more in taxes.

The 2020 campaign has not gone so well for him. He narrowly lost in Iowa and won in New Hampshire — again — but since the Feb. 29 primary in South Carolina, he has fallen farther and farther behind former Vice President Joe Biden, whose sweep last week in Florida, Illinois and Arizona all but clinched the Democratic nomination. A Sanders aide said he would “assess” his options.

It shouldn’t be a long assessment. Sanders can burnish his name in history by gracefully conceding the nomination and doing as much as he can to ensure his deeply loyal supporters vote for Biden in November. In 2016, an estimated 12% of Sanders supporters — many believing the Democratic Party acted to get Hillary Clinton nominated — voted for Republican Donald Trump. Some didn’t vote at all.

That can’t happen again because as disturbing as Trump’s presidency has been, the last two months may go down as disastrous. While he has accepted the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and sought to safeguard Americans by shutting the nation down, each day brings fresh evidence of what his delay has cost.

(snip)

Sanders and his supporters hoped he’d prevail, but fate has something else in store. If he helps Biden win over his followers and defeat Trump, Sanders will have changed history for the better.

http://www.startribune.com/it-s-time-for-sanders-to-bow-out-gracefully/569041502/

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
It's time for Sanders to bow out gracefully - San Diego Union Tribune (Original Post) question everything Mar 2020 OP
WHY - here at DU!! Laf.La.Dem. Mar 2020 #1
Inactive posters. TwilightZone Mar 2020 #2
Thanks! Laf.La.Dem. Mar 2020 #3
Yes we are. TwilightZone Mar 2020 #4
I'm not inactive Dem4Life1102 Mar 2020 #6
Ugh. This again? progressoid Mar 2020 #5
Biden out now... 7horses Mar 2020 #7
BS Lost and he Spent 3x More $$$$$ to Lose than Cha Mar 2020 #9
"We have to take care of the cure [PERIOD end of sentence]. That [Trump opening businesses] will.. Cha Mar 2020 #11
I agree that it's time for him to bow out Captain Stern Mar 2020 #8
Graceful is not a Bernie trait... BlueIdaho Mar 2020 #10
 

Laf.La.Dem.

(2,962 posts)
1. WHY - here at DU!!
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 12:38 PM
Mar 2020

We have 49% "undecided"!!

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

TwilightZone

(28,833 posts)
2. Inactive posters.
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 12:41 PM
Mar 2020

When candidates drop out, posters are reverted back to undecided. Unless they change it to Biden or Sanders, they remain undecided. Many are inactive; some probably don't know they have to switch.

There are also a lot of Sanders supporters who switched to undecided in an attempt to hide their preference, though it's rather obvious when there are only two candidates left in the race, and often additionally made obvious by their chosen topics.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Laf.La.Dem.

(2,962 posts)
3. Thanks!
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 12:44 PM
Mar 2020

Twilight Zone - we are now all in that ZONE!!

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

TwilightZone

(28,833 posts)
4. Yes we are.
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 12:45 PM
Mar 2020

Ain't that the truth.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Dem4Life1102

(3,974 posts)
6. I'm not inactive
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 01:25 PM
Mar 2020

I haven't decide for whom I will vote and won't until right before my states primary.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

progressoid

(50,748 posts)
5. Ugh. This again?
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 01:13 PM
Mar 2020

In 2016, an estimated 12% of Sanders supporters...blah blah blah.

As has been pointed out numerous times on DU, many Sanders voters aren't Democrats to begin with so we weren't going to get their votes anyway. People don't vote for the nominee; it happens in every fucking election.

According to a Gallup poll taken at the end of March 2008, only 59 percent of Clinton supporters said they’d vote for Obama and 28 percent of them said they’d vote for John McCain. Likewise, a Washington Post survey from May of that year found 26 percent of Clinton supporters promising to vote McCain and only 64 percent promising to vote for Obama.

As the Post noted on Wednesday, though, “Obama’s support among Clinton primary supporters rose from 64 percent in May to 73 percent in mid-September, 79 percent in mid-October and 83 percent by Election Day, according to [a CNN] exit poll.”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/06/obama-says-democrats-will-unite-like-in-2008-will-they.html


Our energies would be better spent getting those who didn't vote at all in 2016 to the polls in 2020.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

Cha

(305,440 posts)
9. BS Lost and he Spent 3x More $$$$$ to Lose than
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 04:26 PM
Mar 2020

Biden did to WIN.

Like the San Diego Union Says in the OP.. Time for BS to Bow OUT.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Cha

(305,440 posts)
11. "We have to take care of the cure [PERIOD end of sentence]. That [Trump opening businesses] will..
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 07:44 PM
Mar 2020
"We have to take care of the cure [PERIOD end of sentence]. That [Trump opening businesses] will make the problem worse no matter what."


Your tweet is Edited & Desperate.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Captain Stern

(2,215 posts)
8. I agree that it's time for him to bow out
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 02:14 PM
Mar 2020

But it's too late for him to do it gracefully.

That ship has sailed.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

BlueIdaho

(13,582 posts)
10. Graceful is not a Bernie trait...
Tue Mar 24, 2020, 04:34 PM
Mar 2020

I’d like to see him change that - for the sake of his legacy...

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
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