Sanders under fire from Senate Democrats

[UglyGreed]

After ignoring him for months, his colleagues in the Capitol are taking aim at Sanders and defending Hillary Clinton.

Bernie Sanders' Democratic Senate colleagues have pretty much left him alone throughout his presidential run. Most of them saw his campaign as quirky and idealistic, certainly no threat to the candidate they overwhelmingly back, Hillary Clinton.

But now, after his near-upset in Iowa and an expected victory next week in New Hampshire, it's beginning to look like open season on Sanders for Senate Democrats.

They're criticizing his platform as naive, taking exception to his criticism of Clinton as a fake progressive, and imploring the media to put the Vermont independent and self-described democratic socialist under the microscope.


http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-senate-democrats-218751?lo=ap_c2

Yet Hillary claims she is not a part of the establishment. Also check out the comments.

[DanTex]

1. They don't want to see a landslide GOP election any more than I do.

And I'm sure it doesn't help that Sanders and his followers have gone around smearing everyone in sight as not progressive enough.

[HERVEPA]

4. Again more bullshit. Saying someone is not progressive enough is not smearing anyone.

More friggin lies.
And,

Quinnipiac new national poll-Dem race tied! Clinton 44% Bernie 42%
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2321

race tied as clinton leads 48 to 38 with women and bernie leads 48 to 38 with men.

Bernie runs better against republicans

VS trump-Clinton 46% Trump 41% Bernie 49% Trump 39%
VS Cruz-Clinton 45% Cruz 45% Bernie 46% Cruz 42%
Vs Rubio-Rubio 48% Clinton 41% Bernie 43% Rubio 43%

Bernie and rubio the two most popular candiates favorabilty numbers running.

Bloomberg would hurt bernie in GE more than republicans

[DanTex]

7. People who have actually run for and won Senate races in their home states

have a better idea of what would help Dems get re-elected than Bernie fans on the internet.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

21. Like the blue dogs? Like DWS?

The establushment, and their indolent whiners, are very afraid of a shake up.

They want that corporatest Dem model, TPP whooring, pragmatic, incremental, fuck the voter get in line gravy train to continue; otherwise they might find themselves out on their ear without a way to be a bloated lobbyist sucking at the teet of the American taxpayer.

[DanTex]

22. Like Barbara Boxer, for example. And Al Franken. But smear away, it's what Bernie fans are best at

[Hiraeth]

41. a difference of opinion is not a smear. you can claim it all you want but, you will be wrong.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

54. "Oh, the calamity if it all...

They expect us to serve them first before we help ourselves!

Quick cart out some stale sausage accusation in an attempt to make them feel sorry for us."

[cascadiance]

56. Barbara Boxer may be good on many issues, but she failed us some times behind the scenes...

Like changing the filibuster rules the way that Senator Merkley proposed which could have really helped stopped the obstruction by Republicans earlier, when we could have made a difference. She and DiFi both were amongst the seven senate Democrats that voted against these rules right at the same time when DiFi was trying to get a new assault weapons bill through the Senate right after Sandy Hook, but which was obstructed by Republicans. Had those rules been in place, they might have been able to get the Senate to pass that bill! But it almost seemed like those two senators wanted the ability to claim they pushed certain bills, but never have to worry about them getting passed with the rules in place, because their corporate donors didn't want them to actually pass. They look good to the voters and at the same time they do what the corporate donors want. A Win/Win for them, but messes up America. It is probably this sort of thing that would end with Bernie that senators like Boxer are afraid of.

[GoneFishin]

80. I totally believe it. Voters are a lot easier to fool with Kabuki than corporate donors.

[jham123]

97. Someone is wide awake

Nice post

[brooklynite]

73. Like Russ Feingold? Like Sherrod Brown? Like Tim kaine?

[BlueCaliDem]

102. ...

[earthside]

33. And those people are a minority now.

Democrats control a minority of state legislatures.

Democrats control a minority of statewide elected offices.

Democrats control a minority of governorships.

Democrats control a minority of U.S. House of Representative seats.

Democrats control a minority of U.S. Senate seats.

The risk averse, let's not stand for anything, big money will get us elected, be moderate formula for Democrats is failing!

Hillary Clinton's candidacy is doubling down on what is failing for Democrats across the nation.

Democrats either change and start developing some liberal/progressive backbone like Sanders is proposing or the decline is going to continue.

[DanTex]

35. Not nearly as small a minority as self-describes socialists who have won elections.

[Goblinmonger]

36. So Sanders would know? Being reelected and all? n/t

[DanTex]

37. In Vermont, yeah. He's an expert at winning elections in Vermont.

[angrychair]

68. Winning is winning

He had to campaign against Rs and Ds. He did it without the support of the RNC. He did it without the support of the DNC. HE DID IT WITHOUT USING SuperPACs. How? By showing he had better ideals of what it means to be a Democrat than any Democrat running against him!!

[DanTex]

70. If anyone similar to him had won anything outside of a few blue states, this argument would be more

credible.

[libdem4life]

100. HRC has won two elections...as a carpet bagger. She was married to a President and was appointed

by another President. Bernie has been elected how many times?

[JudyM]

6. Consistent poll trends, crowds of ardent supporters and favorability ratings suggest the opposite.

[DanTex]

14. GE polls this far out are mostly useless. The people who actually have gotten elected know much

more than Bernie fans on the internet what the electorate is like in their home states.

[cascadiance]

57. Oh... They know that all those voters of every party LIKE the TPP and H-1B Visa CRAP...

... that Hillary has supported but doesn't want to talk about?

Hint... If Hillary gets asked to state her position on H-1B in the general election, she will absolutely LOSE to Republicans like Cruz or Trump on this issue, as they will be made to look like the populist supporting American jobs and she will be made to look as the corporate defender of job outsourcing.

Bernie on the other hand won't have that trouble with this stances.

[DanTex]

58. Bernie won't have trouble with his stances, huh? LOL. "I'm a socialist" "I will raise your taxes"

Game over.

[cascadiance]

61. Most young people don't LIKE that he's a socialist, and LIKE that he will save them money...

... by getting rid of the CORPORATE taxes like insurance payments and replacing them with far smaller taxes to fund a single payer for all. Why would people be against saving more money of theirs that Bernie would give them.

The taxes he will raise are for those on Wall Street that like to game the system with speculative trades who will be the ones that fund college tuition. Bernie just brought back OLDER taxes in this regard that helped fund the SEC earlier.

If Wall Street wants to gamble with our money, they'll have to pay a bit more to do so. I think most people are with Bernie to do something like that.

I'd much rather have a DEMOCRATIC socialist than politicians like Republicans and those who have been part of the DLC establishment funded by 1%er commie Stalin money from the Koch Brothers. If you want to play the expletive game, we can play that one back!

Come back when you can tell us what ISSUES he falls short on that people want from a leader that Clinton would do better instead of just trying to reinforce Rush Limbaugh style name calling that Republicans are best known for!

[JudyM]

74. And favorability ratings...?

[DanTex]

76. Same there. They can change quickly once the actual GE campaign gets underway.

Particularly for Bernie, since he's never been hit by the GOP with any kind of real ferocity.

As a general rule, people who aren't running for office have higher favorability ratings than people who are. The same person, running for office, will poll lower than if not. Hillary's numbers were great for a long stretch there.

And as the presumptive nominee, Hillary is now polling more like a GE candidate, whereas Bernie is still polling as a longshot who probably won't be nominated, but is sticking it to the establishment. If he's the Democratic nominee, that all changes.

[1939]

65. From a historical perspective

George McGovern had very enthusiastic crowds in 1972 and his supporters were very ardent.

He lost to an unattractive shlub (Nixon) that year.

And no, a 49-2 wipeout can't be explained away by claiming it was stolen.

[JudyM]

71. McGovern didn't have crossover appeal.

How were his favorability ratings, if they had them back then?

Your point might be valid, I just honestly don't remember enough and haven't read that much about him to know. But thanks for your comment.

[1939]

95. While there are an endless series of problems with the McGovern campaign

One of the most serious was that the McGovernites in winning froze out the establishment. Tradition was that states with a Democratic governor, had the governor lead the state delegation. State without a Dem governor had a sitting senator or congressman lead the delegation. Certain party stalwarts like union leaders and big city mayors were given sets in the delegation. When the mcGovernites seized control of the caucuses and state conventions, they froze out the establishment and had "all true believer" delegations (the super delegates are an outgrowth and reaction to this). After the convention, the McGovernites felt that they "owned" the candidate and refused to allow the Democratic party apparatus to pay a major role in the campaign. As a result, the campaign lurched on to disaster and the establishment worked like hell (and were successful) in the down ticket races.

Unfortunately, I could see the same thing happening all over again with a Sanders campaign.

This is a technical analysis and not a personal political leaning.

If Sanders is successful, his backers need, very much, to make speedy peace with the Democratic party establishment and integrate them into the campaign.

Do not feel that the current Sanders enthusiasts "own" the candidate.

[JudyM]

107. Interesting history. Thanks!

[frylock]

89. 1972 called

[AzDar]

8. You can type, so I'm assuming you can READ... which means you surely must know that Bernie

polls better against individual Republicans than Hillary, right? Right.
It has NOTHING to do with a 'GOP landslide' and everything to do with Hillary being supported by the long-entrenched Dem Establishment.

[DanTex]

12. GE polls this far out carry little to no information. Everyone knows this.

[AzDar]

17. Except those who know it would be a 'GOP landslide', right? GMAFB.

[DanTex]

18. That's the judgement of people who know what it takes to win elections. And what will lose them.

[AzDar]

20. Right. Like in '08... Sorry. America didn't want Hillary then, and we don't want her now...

[DanTex]

24. In '08 Obama had a lot of support from sitting Dems. You knew that right?

[HERVEPA]

25. Like DWS.

[DanTex]

27. Like Barbara Boxer and Al Franken. Go ahead, smear away.

[HERVEPA]

29. Ladies and gentleman, the word of the day is SMEAR. Context irrelevant, Just use it.

[DanTex]

31. The smearing of Dems by Bernie fans has been going on for much more than one day.

[HERVEPA]

34. The smearing of Bernie fans by certain posters has been going on for much more than one day.

[Empowerer]

32. And he smears his colleagues for being part of the "Establishment" of which he's been a member for

decades...

[dreamnightwind]

38. I don't think there is anyone in Congress who is LESS a part of the establishment than Bernie

so you go right on with that argument, it plays directly into Bernie's strength.

[Empowerer]

49. That's a different argument

[dreamnightwind]

50. No actually it's the exact argument you were making against Bernie

Go right ahead, I welcome that discussion. Bernie is the antidote to the establishment.

[TheBlackAdder]

66. Weren't you the guy who said that both candidates are equally great?

.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511144764

Either of them would make a great president.

One big takeaway, for me, is that the two of them really respect each other, and however it turns out, they will be united in the important fight against the GOP.

Tonight, the Democratic Party won.

Do you even know who you are?


.

[tkmorris]

77. Context is everything

What you say depends on who you are talking to, when you say it, and what is convenient at the time. Come to think of it this approach seems eerily familiar...

[awake]

2. Oh so the politicians on the gravy train are upset that their Wall Street backers are outed

Surprise Surprise

[EdwardBernays]

10. ding ding ding

Want change? Find someone that makes the status quo upset.

[earthside]

26. They are 'fraidy cats.

We saw this in Colorado two years ago when Sen. Mark Udall got decisively defeated by a Tea Party-type Repuglican because Udall had contempt for his Democratic Party base, was petrified of being a 'liberal', and ended-up a politician without any cause except himself.

This is why Democrats are losing in seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate -- they want to hold on to their offices so badly that they won't stand for anything anymore ... and by contrast therefore the extreme Repuglicans appear to at least have an agenda for things they want to get done in Washington.

You bet these Democratic Senate colleagues of Sanders are against him -- he is going to make them stand up and be Democrats instead of just operatives of the governing class.

You bet they are for Hillary -- she is safe; she doesn't want to rock the boat; she wants to be conservative, moderate and progressive all at the same time so no one is too offended.

I've seen this way too much over the last 20 years: Democratic officeholders have contempt for the liberal-progressive base of their own party ... we are perceived as a danger to them. Repuglicans, on the other hand, literally fear crossing their conservative base. The results are evident -- Democrats are losing state legislatures, governorships, and federal offices -- because Democrats don't stand for anything anymore.

It is going to happen in Colorado again this year ... our Democratic U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is going to lose because he is just like Hillary. He doesn't stand for anything, he avoids being identified as a Democrat, he plays to the right whenever possible, and he is clearly more interested in his personal ambition than in being a representative of the people.

Sanders actually means that Democrats are going to have to be Democrats again; Hillary means more of the same milquetoasty Democrats who are losers.

[tokenlib]

103. Well said, and we are sick and tired of the"New Democrat" types...

..that have contempt for the party's progressive base.

[Zorra]

43. Oligarchs are undoubtedly putting the screws to their indentured servants.

Make a deal with the devil, and you're gonna get Berned.

[Jefferson23]

3. If you've listened carefully to Sanders and I'm sure you have, he has expected this

response from the beginning.

No matter what happens, he has altered the conversation, and they're
not likely to keep their status quo alive...at least not the way it was before
his run.

[nolabels]

90. And he has said it again and again, in so many words, even in the last few months

If you can understand that this crooked undermining of his and even our range of choices has also been done to him many times before. Then you might even understand this fight he has taken on, it is a fight that he has been fighting all along, it is for the ALL of us. You can understand he has little concern of all these things they are trying to throw at him, he has seen it before.

He now knows how to beat them to the punch even before they start thinking about how they are going use that punch.

[Jefferson23]

91. I think so, he is prepared too..catch how he reminds people in a subtle

way when he refers to the powerful political organization of the Clinton Foundation
he is up against. It's a fact they are and interesting she gets defensive about it. lol

[Fumesucker]

5. Given Congress' approval rating in the mid teens I doubt this will matter much

Chlamydia is more popular than Congress, they can flap their gums til the cows come home and no one cares.

[BigBearJohn]

11. AMEN

[procon]

45. It will at the convention voting.

The Dems have 44 Senate seats. These high-ranking Democrats are superdelegates, a powerful faction of registered Democrats who can back any candidate they want regardless of what the voters decide. Clinton currently has 39 Senate superdelegates while Sanders has 1.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

85. And they will destroy the Party if they overturn the will of the people as seen in regular delegates

Superdelegates were created to give the winner of the regular delegates a giant boost, so they could appear to have won in a landslide, rather than 'just barely'. If you think the Sanders people are scaring status quo dems now, just wait until they try to pull some crap like that. If the people choose Sanders, and superdelegates push it to Clinton, they'll lose Sanders voters entirely, and elections all up and down the ballot. Clinton tried to pull that sort of crap at the convention in 08 and finally backed down.

[procon]

92. While that wasn't my point,

you illustrate another example of just how important those superdelegates are and why they matter.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. And, what is the approval rate for Congress these days?

[ChiciB1]

13. THIS Is Why So Many DEMOCRATS Are Fed Up With

OUR Democrats in Congress! They haven't been there for us, they have about a 7% approval rating, they almost to a person are "on the take" and THEY DON'T WANT TO HAVE THEIR Apple Carts UPSET!

HOW DARE THEY!!!! How long have we been complaining about them, calling them, writing them, calling them SPINELESS as we've watched them ROLL OVER time and time again!

F--king SCREW THEM 10 times over or more! Suck on a ROCK or stick it up your A--!

KICK THEM OUT! How VERY pious of them. I've called Senator Bill Nelson here in FL so many times it drives me crazy! What have we gotten? Almost a huge ZERO!

Get a clue you S--tHeads!!

[Karmadillo]

15. Oh Noes!! The puppets of the one percent are mad!

[BigBearJohn]

16. What does it say about the Senate Democrats when they can attack a decent upstanding man like Bernie

[SidDithers]

19. He should be put under a microscope...

better to do it now, during the primary, than in the GE.

Sid

[KentuckyWoman]

47. I totally agree

Hammer them both mercilessly. See who holds up and who fits the mold we want.....

You can bet Vladimir won't play nice and neither will the next Ian McCarthy.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

53. All our candidates should be.

At least Hillarity says that she'll get back to us.

[FlatBaroque]

23. Everyone will have to make their choice as to which side they are on /

[HERVEPA]

28. Along that line

[FlatBaroque]

42. Definitely a classic

I prefer Rebel Diaz

[casperthegm]

30. Is it really smearing when you point out facts about Clinton's actions?

Gay Marriage flip flop, Keystone flip flop, huge sums of money from Wall Street, opposition to Glass Steagall, voting for the war in Iraq, email investigation, etc. And just last night Clinton acts indignant at the audacity for Sanders to imply that Wall Street could ever influence her vote. Name one instance where it has? Ok, Elizabeth Warren vs Hillary Clinton (2004) on youtube. When it comes down to one person dreams big and may not be able to get all that he wants to done vs another person who changes views when it's politically popular to do so, makes poor decisions on foreign policy votes, and is cozy with Wall Street, the choice seems pretty clear to me.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...

[stillwaiting]

60. You're absolutely right. Welcome to DU.

[Protalker]

39. Utopian ideals need supporters

For many of us socialism is coupled with communism. Claire McCaskill brought this up. It is coming so get used to it. To be successful the candidate needs coattails.

[Oilwellian]

55. The only people I've seen...

who couple socialism with communism, are Republicans. Just saying...

[Protalker]

67. The thread is Senate candidates

Thank you for your response. You are correct. The Republicans are the ones whether they believe it or not. Trump will unleash it as will the Cuban extraction refugees front runners. PERCEPTION is their weapon. Do you believe Hillary when she stated no vote was influenced by speaking fees or Bernie giving perception of influence?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

87. She did not state such.

She said you wouldn't find any evidence of her changing her votes for money, not that she hadn't done so.

She's a lawyer. She knows how to say what she means, and if she 'nuanced' her message like that, it's because she couldn't say it correctly and honestly.

[Protalker]

93. your interpretation double speak

I hope it is not doublespeak as one stained blue dress is enough.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

94. It depends on what your definition of 'is' is. nt

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

86. 'For many of us'. And for most, it is not.

No matter how much red-baiting Claire would like it to.

[EndElectoral]

40. He needs to keep hammering that "establishment" candidate issue as it is so evident

[Larkspur]

44. As a Democrat I'm pissed that both Bill Clinton and Barak Obama left the Dem Party in

worse shape than when the took office. Under both, the Dem Party lost Congress and under Obama the Dems have lost state legislatures and governorships to put the Dem Party in minority status at the national level. The only group that benefits from a neutered Dem Party are Big Money interests -- Wall Street, banksters and muti-national corporations who plunder the pockets of those of us living on Main Street.

[JTFrog]

46. Seeking support from the party he has insulted time and again over the years.

I can see why they might be a little hesitant to get on board with Bernie.

Let's see... A man who said Obama should be primaried, or a woman who wants to build on Obama's successes. Which do you think would appeal more to Democrats in office?

[UglyGreed]

48. IMO Bernie has morals

and does not like the fact that we the people are not getting the representation we need and deserve. It's been going on far too long.

[demwing]

78. "Which do you think would appeal more to Democrats in office?"

Who gives a damn what they want?

They certainly don't give a damn what we want...

[basselope]

51. Well of course...

None of them want to give up that yummy yummy PAC money

[Hiraeth]

52. Sanders is like super secret double agent in the Establishment. Except, he is not so super secret

any more. Exposing and numerating how and why gridlock is how the status quo has stripped America of the things that once made this country the greatest democracy the world has ever known.

[MuseRider]

59. Given that they are SO popular

with the people I think we need to be very worried.

Good grief. THEY are the problem he is talking about. They have kept their powder dry for so long it just might blow up all over them.

[UglyGreed]

62. That is why the

attacks are occurring.

[MuseRider]

69. Somehow it is still

difficult for me to realize that the attacks are actually a good thing right now. In actuality I feel very little need to defend Bernie. He says what he says, backs it up and anyone who does not get it is either trying to start something or just too lazy to look it up.

Endorsements really don't change many minds and the attacks by colleagues who are the one's who have helped to continue this mess are not going to sway much.

This big poll swing is what we have been waiting for. He has had enough national attention now that people are starting to come. How is it? "If you build it they will come"?

[UglyGreed]

72. It is a double edge sword

But I respect the fact that Bernie willing to take the heat and feel it is not just lip service, I hope others feel the same.

[GreatGazoo]

63. First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they fight you and then....

Bernie Sanders wins! (according to Gandhi)

[UglyGreed]

64. +1000000

[dana_b]

75. That's exactly what I was thinking

the establishment is scared. They are starting to realize that the "inevitable" is not so. That many of us do not like the Democratic party as it is and that we will and can vote for people who truly represent our interests. I love it!!

[restorefreedom]

79. they just don't get it

every time they pile on, they make his case stronger and just reinforce his argument that the estsblishment has rigged the game.

please proceed, governor (s), et al....

[Gothmog]

81. Sanders is promising programs that he can never deliver on

[ladjf]

82. Sounds like they might be worried about their "sugar tits". nt

[sadoldgirl]

83. A lot of his "colleagues" better remember

that the nomination takes place before the
reelection they seek.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

84. They're worried about the tender feelings of the lobbyists who pay for their campaigns.

[UglyGreed]

88. Can you blame them? Must protect their

constituents interests........

[HereSince1628]

96. HRC isn't 'the establishment candidate' it's just that the establishment backs her.

She's a woman. Running to be the first woman candidate.

She can't be the establishment candidate.

[UglyGreed]

99. I see anyone and everyone as a person

not by gender, race or any other term people use to "classify" others. So I consider Hillary a part of the establishment since she is back by others in the establishment. Sorry but that is the way I look at people....as people. Edit to add even the media promotes her and accepts her as a part of the establishment.

[HereSince1628]

101. That, of course, was -her- reasoning...here's one in the spirit of her thinking...

Who is Bernie to define who is part of the establishment?

Well, maybe he's the guy who closed a 20 point gap by arguing she's fits his definition.

[UglyGreed]

104. I use my own judgement

just as I suspect you, Bernie and others do. You know what they say about opinions everyone has one....

[Odin2005]

98. Fuck them. Make sure they are primaried by real progressives.

[SmittynMo]

105. What part of a political revolution

Don't these stupid f*cks understand?

[Nanjeanne]

108. Awwwwww - too bad he has the highest approval of any Sen by his constituents

And they will all be changing their tune when they want him to caucus with them and support their bills. Its politics and that article is so freaking stupid. They make it sound like the entire Senate is holding a mutiny. They quote the very people who we already know are Clinton surrogates and are out there saying crap about him while Hillary plays victim.

Sherrod Brown shows how to support Hillary with class by simply saying "I don’t plan on pointing out negative things about Bernie,”

If only the others had his integrity and class.