no one is going to reply to an Earl post

2/3/2016 2:23:45 PM

^ this aint sports talk

Quote :

"Are there any other democratic socialist politicians? It seems like there is no one to fill in for Bernie and that the revolution will die with him. The demographics are one or two elections away from being favorable to democratic socialists winning a presidency and some serious seats in congress. Its just not quite there yet. Each year more old people die and more young people turn 18 the math is going to work out but Bernie is 74 so he won't be around. Young politicians should be running for congress and aligning themselves with Bernie in order to inherit the movement or else there will be a huge vacuum. Ideally, people would go to the green party but I think we're several cycles away from the mass public embracing a 3rd party."

2/3/2016 2:25:00 PM

Quote :

"It's not yet clear if the poll respondents are going to turn out to vote for Sanders."

Quote :

"Sanders had the biggest leads among younger voters, white voters, and those enrolled in college. Black and Hispanic young people, as well as those between 25 and 29, preferred Clinton."

Quote :

"Now the question is whether these voters will show up to the polls. The dramatic, contested 2008 primaries nearly doubled turnout among 18- to 29-year-olds compared with 2000, the last cycle when both parties had contested primaries. It's not yet clear if a Sanders–Clinton contest on the left, and the emergence of Donald Trump on the right, will have the same magnetic power."

Again, you're just hoping for the best, which would be record turnout for youth voters. 2008 was an exception, for a variety of reasons.

2/3/2016 2:31:17 PM

that was before the caucus, the caucus showed that yes young people will show up because they did in record numbers

2/3/2016 2:43:49 PM

They showed up for Obama, too. The difference is that Sanders can't depend on practically 100% of the black vote like Obama could.

Sanders is also a true believer in leftist thought. His brand of "democratic socialism" sounds great to plenty of people, but it's absolutely repulsive to a big enough percentage of the population to be a hard deal breaker.

Sanders is the Ron Paul of the left. Pretty good for inspiring young people, hated by the party establishment, long career of principled (if ineffectual) legislating, old and cooky sounding, but ultimately too far off the range to take the whole thing.

2/3/2016 3:23:03 PM

lol, sanders is not ineffectual, he is the amendment king

2/3/2016 3:26:51 PM

^^ sanders has way more actual support than Paul ever had.

People are repulsed by the word "socialism" but this is what they've been trained for over the past few years. Most people actually would support sanders' policies.

2/3/2016 5:03:07 PM

^I think the number of people who would actually support his policies are much higher than what the polls indicate but much lower than "most people" as you are indicating. I think most Americans are repulsed by not only the word socialism, but the idea that everyone gets something that they already have worked for (or had their parents/grandparents work for).

If I'm a typical American who waited tables to get through college to get a job and now pay a health insurance premium every year, then selfishly, I would hate to see a bunch of "lazy" people get all of that as a "right".

Also, if I'm a typical American citizen who makes 15.00 an hour, I am able to enjoy advantages that people making minimum wage can't enjoy. I'm more datable than guys who make 10.00 an hour because I can support myself. My social advantage would be erased by a Bernie presidency.

If I'm a "responsible" parent who has sacrificed to save up a college fund for my kids, I would hate to see their anticipated advantage negated by everyone being able to go to school for free.

I will admit there is a huge aspect materialistic American values that Sanders policies are at odds with. The strange part is that the teachings of Jesus are also at odds with these American values which happen to be strongest amongst Christians.

[Edited on February 3, 2016 at 5:44 PM. Reason : leveling the playing field is "unamerican" in that sense]

2/3/2016 5:42:13 PM

^ I don't know if all those examples you mention are your views or your impression of the typical American's views, but they seem analogous to saying that I was a slave so the next generation better damn well be slaves, too! I ain't gonna tolerate any improvements for the younger generation that I don't get to partake in.

2/3/2016 6:09:31 PM

^^The biggest reason to support it is because it benefits the next generation. If a 17 year-old has parents who fucked up in life and can't afford to send them to college or can't afford medical bills if they get sick...that kid shouldn't have to suffer because of who their parents are.

I understand the "I don't want to give something I earned to someone who didn't" sentiment. But the whole "land of opportunity" that America is supposed to be only exists if we take care of the collective next generation regardless of how the elders fared.

2/3/2016 7:16:27 PM

Effectively he would be taking the money out of the very few that are the richest and putting that back into the economy and making the middle class effectively more free to do with their money as they please...

That's what i'm gathering as of late.

I think the stance on the military should be bigger in the democratic debate/town hall but its not coming out...

2/3/2016 10:08:44 PM

mainly because what Iraq, Syria, Russia and whoever else is acting in that ISIS mess doesn't really affect the US. Its a FALSE NARRATIVE and we're tired of being involved in it.

Every republican debate has been 75% national security. Our nation is secure. France is secure. Iran is not hostile.

2/3/2016 11:05:03 PM

bernie should buy a superbowl ad. its the only way a huge % of the country will know who he is.

i should be campaign manager.

2/3/2016 11:35:43 PM

Quote :

"poll after poll shows Sanders leading Clinton among young, is that really being questioned? "

what i'm questioning is your unsubstantiated claim that sanders does well with minority millenials.

and lol at saying he's doing better than obama in fundraising. you're delusional

[Edited on February 4, 2016 at 7:14 AM. Reason : .]

2/4/2016 7:13:32 AM

^You still haven't said why you think he doesn't do well with minority youth. Why do you believe this?

2/4/2016 9:35:13 AM

Quote :

"and lol at saying he's doing better than obama in fundraising. you're delusional"

grassroots fundraising, and yes, he already has over 2.5 million donors

2/4/2016 4:27:03 PM

Sanders gets third black state representative endorsement in two weeks
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2016/02/02/sanders-gets-third-black-state-representative-endorsement-two-weeks/79697122/

this latest one is a black southern pastor

2/4/2016 4:29:34 PM

does dtownral realize that Sanders is white?

2/4/2016 6:50:59 PM

Anyone else watching this debate? Hillary was asked about Bernie's electability and she copped out by talking about herself instead.

She had a chance to unite the party and just say "The democratic party is strong and we will take down anyone the GOP throws at us." That would have shown poise without straight up saying Bernie could win.

[Edited on February 4, 2016 at 10:35 PM. Reason : -]

2/4/2016 10:35:18 PM

I was half listening. Her answer was what I'd expect any candidate to give. Just be happy that every single question wasn't turned around into a rant about Washington insiders or ISIS on the border.

2/4/2016 11:43:00 PM

Bernie Sanders won google.

Top 5 searches for each name during the debate:

Clinton
1. How old is Hillary Clinton?
2. Who can beat Hillary?
3. Where is Hillary Clinton today?
4. Will Hillary win?
5. How much is Hillary Clinton worth?

Sanders
1. Where will Bernie Sanders be speaking?
2. Why Bernie Sanders?
3. Who would be Bernie Sanders' VP?
4. How to donate to Bernie Sanders
5. Where can I see Bernie Sanders in NH?

2/5/2016 2:20:00 AM

Editorial: Something smells in the Democratic Party
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/caucus/2016/02/03/editorial-something-smells-democratic-party/79777580/

Quote :

"First of all, the results were too close not to do a complete audit of results. Two-tenths of 1 percent separated Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. A caucus should not be confused with an election, but it’s worth noting that much larger margins trigger automatic recounts in other states. Second, too many questions have been raised. Too many accounts have arisen of inconsistent counts, untrained and overwhelmed volunteers, confused voters, cramped precinct locations, a lack of voter registration forms and other problems. Too many of us, including members of the Register editorial board who were observing caucuses, saw opportunities for error amid Monday night’s chaos."

the chair of the Iowa Democratic party, who happens to be a top Clinton fundraiser and has personally donated thousands of dollars to Clinton, is fighting it
http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/04/iowa-democratic-official-who-refuses-to-review-results-is-hillary-supporter/
damn, her license plate is even "HRC 2016"

2/5/2016 8:42:53 AM

Sanders could certainly use some help in foreign policy, sounded about as competent as Carson.

2/5/2016 9:58:09 AM

Yeah, we need Clinton as secretary of state in a Sanders administration

2/5/2016 10:36:42 AM

Poll: Sanders nearly tied with Clinton nationwide
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/268362-sanders-tied-with-clinton-nationwide-poll

Quote :

"Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has dramatically cut into the nationwide lead of primary rival Hillary Clinton, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. The poll released Friday finds Clinton leading the race with 44 percent support, compared to 42 percent support for Sanders, within the survey's margin of error. The last iteration of the poll in December had Clinton leading Sanders nationwide 61–30. “Democrats nationwide are feeling the Bern as Sen. Bernie Sanders closes a 31-point gap to tie Secretary Hillary Clinton,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. The poll also finds that Sanders matches up better with top Republican primary candidates than Clinton. In head-to-head matchups, the Vermont senator leads GOP front-runner Donald Trump by 10 points, edges Ted Cruz by 4 points and ties Marco Rubio. While Clinton still tops Trump by 5 points, she ties Cruz and trails Rubio by 7 points. The poll also finds that Clinton has a net favorability rating of negative 17, only besting Trump in that category, who has a negative-25 favorability rating. Sanders has a 9-point favorability rating nationwide, only trailing Rubio, at 14 points. The poll surveyed 484 Democrats and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RubBzkZzpUA

2/5/2016 11:49:39 AM

Oh I loved Hillary's response when she was questioned about being part of the establishment...she said she can't be part of the establishment because she's a woman.


http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/of-course-hillary-clinton-is-part-of-the-establishment/460125

2/5/2016 12:31:56 PM

Former NAACP head to endorse Bernie Sanders
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/politics/bernie-sanders-ben-jealous-endorsement-naacp/index.html

Quote :

" The NAACP had a number of notable achievements during his tenure, including registering 374,553 voters and mobilizing 1.2 million new and unlikely voters to turn out at the polls for the 2012 presidential election, leading the charge for Connecticut and Maryland to abolish the death penalty, endorsing marriage equality, and fighting laws the NAACP claims were intended for voter suppression in states across the country. During Jealous' tenure, the NAACP's online activists increased from 175,000 to more than 675,000; its donors increased from 16,000 individuals to more than 132,000; and the number of total NAACP activists was 1.7 million."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Jealous

2/5/2016 1:27:06 PM

2/6/2016 2:51:15 AM

Quote :

"^You still haven't said why you think he doesn't do well with minority youth. Why do you believe this?"

the burden of proof for ridiculous claims is not on the person questioning said ridiculous claims

Quote :

"She had a chance to unite the party and just say "The democratic party is strong and we will take down anyone the GOP throws at us.""

because that's a lie. the party is not strong enough to get a socialist elected to the white house

[Edited on February 7, 2016 at 11:46 AM. Reason : .]

2/7/2016 11:45:48 AM

young people and baby boomers are overwhelmingly populist/ social democrats

2/7/2016 1:48:16 PM

The burden of proof is on you because everyone knows Sanders dominates with young voters.

Quote :

"what i'm questioning is your unsubstantiated claim that sanders does well with minority millenials."

are minority millennials not young?

2/7/2016 3:07:04 PM

^^ again, you're ignoring the rest of Americans who aren't white and socialist leaning. Have you forgotten that Sanders is Jewish? You think older Christian Hispanics and Blacks are just going to overlook it?

2/7/2016 4:45:38 PM

It’s almost over for Hillary: This election is a mass insurrection against a rigged system

Sanders has ended the coronation and fired up the grass roots. Now Clinton's electability argument is crumbling too

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/07/its_almost_over_for_hillary_this_election_is_a_mass_insurrection_against_a_rigged_system/

2/8/2016 9:09:47 AM

ha that dude is a total bernie homer

2/8/2016 10:22:53 AM

He's not the first or only person to make that point. There's clearly a populist revolt against the establishment on both sides. 16 years of essentially the same president and both sides being lied to, disappointed, and seeing promises broken in incredibly public ways will do that.

Trump may be sunk, he's fading fast, the establishment on the GOP side seems now to have thrown their support behind Rubio and he'll ultimately be the candidate because the GOP anti-establishment wing isnt' as vocal or mobilized as the Democratic one. The crazies on that side will probably still throw weight behind both Trump and Cruz making it easier for Rubio. Clinton seems to have, once again just like in 2008, made herself unpalatable to the base because she's so clearly an establishment candidate. The difference this time is that this time the anti-establishment candidate may actually be anti-establishment.

The electorate is angry, and this has been building for a while now. If the GOP had run somebody decent instead of Mittens last time around they might have unseated Obama. The real economy still sucks, there are a lot of people hurting financially and there's also a strong shift towards personal liberty (look at the pro-marijuana movement, the anti-asset forfeiture sentiment, anti-police militarization, anti-NSA and data collection, etc.) all of which makes it a bad time to be an establishment candidate.

Now it's a matter of seeing if Hilary can hang on and have it close enough come the convention to allow the party leadership to swing it her way or if she makes it necessary for O'Malley to suddenly start getting some backing or for someone like Bloomberg or Biden to enter the race with full party backing. I think that's unlikely, but not entirely impossible.

My prediction is that when Hillary loses NH you will see a full on blitz by the party-friendly media and by a lot PACs the likes of which we haven't seen in a while. I think it's going to be very ugly heading into SC and NV and you may see some serious shenanigans on the local level even more obvious than the coin flip victories she had in Iowa.

2/8/2016 10:46:30 AM

Bernie’s Women Supporters To Clinton Backers: Please Stop Calling Us Stupid
Over the weekend, Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright suggested young women not backing Clinton were either boy-crazy or headed for a special place in hell. Sanders backers are tired of the criticism.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/bernies-women-supporters-to-clinton-backers-please-stop-call#.gyVKMoq4K

If you hadn't heard the comments they are talking about:
https://www.rt.com/usa/331671-clinton-steinem-albright-backlash/
it's RT but its just quick summary

2/8/2016 11:01:46 AM

Yeah, and Maher was absolutely correct to call Steinem out. Can you imagine the shit show if a man had said that? Identity politics are always gross, this is just one of many examples of that in action.

Remember, minorities and women, the Democrats know what's best for you. Do as you're told.

2/8/2016 11:09:59 AM

Salon? Haha. Shall we discuss Breitbart links too, or are we going to discuss actual news sources?

2/8/2016 12:11:36 PM

I feel like Breitbart/Fox, etc.. would be fine if you are discussing internal Republican party issues

2/8/2016 12:13:51 PM

Right, so if you want groupthink Bernie Sanders circle jerk pieces, Salon is fine. Got it.

[Edited on February 8, 2016 at 12:55 PM. Reason : Buzzfeed is also a reputable source.]

2/8/2016 12:52:47 PM

lol, what was biased in that buzzfeed link?

2/8/2016 1:46:14 PM

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-vampire-squid-tells-us-how-to-vote-20160205

Great piece by Taibbi on wall street's role in elections and why they get treated with kid gloves.

I fully recognize many of Sanders' limitations, but he'll get my primary vote purely because he sends shivers down the spines of people like Lloyd Blankfein (or if that's too strong, he at least wipes the smug smile off their faces)

2/8/2016 5:57:56 PM

This is the same person who invented "Bernie Bros"
Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!
http://www.salon.com/2008/04/14/obama_supporters/

2/8/2016 6:20:59 PM

Quote :

"My prediction is that when Hillary loses NH you will see a full on blitz by the party-friendly media and by a lot PACs the likes of which we haven't seen in a while. I think it's going to be very ugly heading into SC and NV and you may see some serious shenanigans on the local level even more obvious than the coin flip victories she had in Iowa."

I'm curious exactly how you see this playing out. As things stand now, Clinton has a greater polling lead in Nevada than she did in Iowa and she's predicted to win South Carolina handily. No one expects Clinton to win New Hampshire, so there's little danger of losing the expectations game tomorrow (short a total rout). Without a doubt Clinton will campaign hard to make sure Nevada and especially South Carolina go her way. She has to in order to meet expectations and to begin to putting distance between her and Sanders.

Don't get me wrong--Clinton is clearly the moderate establishment candidate and enjoys advantages from that (particularly fund-raising and endorsements). But you seem to be suggesting some conspiratorial explanation for what's the most obvious course of action for her campaign.

2/8/2016 7:39:27 PM

^ +1

2/8/2016 8:10:31 PM

i think that post does apply to the rnc with trump though. he's expected to win those upcoming states and they can't afford for him to.

2/8/2016 8:17:58 PM

celebrate good bern cmon

2/9/2016 8:04:26 PM

lol they put all 5 black people right behind bernie for the speech

2/9/2016 9:33:21 PM

The margins that Sanders is winning young people and first time voters is insane, this is definitely a movement.

Also, Sanders had 49% of non-white vote

2/10/2016 5:44:22 AM

2/10/2016 8:32:24 AM