My sense of things after talking to non political folks I know: Bernie might just get traction

[Fumesucker]

No one really seems to know who he is at the moment but when I point out a few things about Bernie then metaphorical eyebrows go up...

I'm part of an informal and ongoing morning coffee get together group at a local breakfast joint and sometimes politics comes up. Most of the people I know in the group are or were small contractors/subs and of course they tend to lean Republican but are also practical minded because if you're not you don't stay in business as a sub, all in all a cynical group that tends to look for the gotchas in things but isn't necessarily informed beyond what they need for work and hobbies. None of them really follow politics to any great extent so there are a lot of misconceptions floating around that I try to gently correct. Posting online a lot has made me well informed and conscious of choosing my words carefully and I'm not too bad at it in real life now.

So I brought the conversation around to Presidential candidates and then after a bit of talk showed a couple of short video clips on my phone of Bernie speaking and mentioned a few things about him, like he's been in politics since 1971 but his net worth is actually less than some of these guys, he's Jewish but it's not a big deal to him, he was against the Iraq war, etc.

Bernie's words ring true to them, they are primed to pass off anything they hear from a politician as just so much BS but Bernie's words seem more genuine to the ones I bothered or had the chance to show him to. The waitresses too are impressed, no one is more cynical than a fifty year old waitress and if you can make their ears perk up you have a smooth line indeed or are actually genuine. I'm friendly, sympathetic and a dependable tipper so the waitresses are primed to be receptive to what I have to say.

I have been thinking that the way Bernie looks made him unelectable and I haven't really got on his or anyone's bandwagon all the way, I'm not much of a bandwagon type person in the first place. Now I'm starting to think Bernie might just capture the imagination of the public.

[NYC_SKP]

1. "they are primed to pass off anything they hear from a politician as just so much BS"

This is why Warren or Sanders can beat Hillary Clinton.

Like most career politicians, Clinton, sorry to say, is just a word machine spewing out whatever her handlers and advisers have determined is the "right" thing to say, while being non committed about any of it.

It's a word salad without content or real solutions and regular people like contractors and subcontractors turn it right off.

Am I right?

Regular people will not buy it, the words and the slick videos, they're smarter than that.

[FlatBaroque]

4. you are right.

[Fumesucker]

5. People on the street level have become very cynical, a fish rots from the head

I said something along the lines that this guy has been saying basically the same thing since 1971 and it sounds pretty sensible to me in 2015, do you think maybe he had it right in the first place?

Slow nods after that..

[Cosmic Kitten]

2. +1 Billionaires vs everyone else...

Only the most craven minds could
support selling or buying the Govt.
to the highest bidders.

Talking up the economy and
about who and what is responsible
for our collective decline should
appeal to "practical minded" people
everywhere

[malthaussen]

3. Well, it's a bit early to reckon the odds.

If the American people truly are fed up with corporate candidates and can get enthusiastic about somebody who seems to have a different agenda, then Bernie could have a very good chance. I'm just not so sure the people are so uncomplacent. While DU is obviously not apathetic, it's hardly a random sample of the public. Again and again we've seen people simply not participate even when it is clear damage control is vital. Voter turnout in Feguson went up what, a whole 15%? 45% of women voted for Romney? With figures like that, it's hard to feel sanguine that the people care enough to try to forstall their own destruction.

-- Mal

[mopinko]

6. i agree. he will pick up many disillusioned and distracted voters.

hopefully enough to win.
i dont see the thugs putting up anyone any more credible than mittens.