I think that whether Sanders endorces Hillary or not is a dead issue

[CajunBlazer]

Last edited Thu Jun 30, 2016, 09:24 AM - Edit history (1)

We need to quit worrying about what Bernie Sanders might do and when he might do it for two reasons:

1) Sanders has a mind of his own and has been driven by the passions of a true believer his entire political life. People with that kind of mindset are virtually immune to the influences of others, so he is going to do what he is going to do regardless of what we think or say.

2) It no longer matters what Sanders does. First we have to understand that we, the denizens of DU, are a significantly different breed than most of the voting public. Regardless of their stances or their favorite candidates, people on DU are a lot more passionate about their politics than the average voter. In the real world many Sanders supporters have already moved on to support Hillary, much like I did in 2008 when I seamlessly shifted my support from Clinton to Obama. Those passionate Sanders supporters who are left will ultimately fall into one of two camps. They will either sooner or later decide to hold their noses and vote for Clinton or there is no way that they ever will ever do so. I think the fast majority of them regard who they will ultimately vote for, or whether they will vote at all, as personal choice over which Sanders has has little or no influence.

So why don't we just let Sanders do his thing, discontinue the primary fights, and put our energy into figuring out what we can do to help Hillary win the general election.

[SunSeeker]

1. Hillary certainly appears to have moved on. nt

[Arkansas Granny]

9. Yes, she has, and the lack of Sander's endorsement doesn't appear to be hurting her.

His supporters will vote for the candidate they wish, which is how it should be. To constantly harangue them about their decision will accomplish nothing. Its time to look toward the GE and work to get Hillary and other Democrats elected.

[murielm99]

2. I have moved on.

It surprises me that others have not. The primaries are over.

We need to GOTV and fight Trump.

[cosmicone]

3. Everyone has moved on

Even Cuba has moved on ....

[KMOD]

5. We've all moved on.

The main concern is keeping the White House, and gaining Congressional seats.

[Lil Missy]

6. He's irrelevant at this point. The Primary is over. Hillary won.

[BainsBane]

7. I've already forgotten

While it would be nice if he endorsed her, I'm not worrying about it anymore. The primary is over. We have real work to do for the general election.

[fleabiscuit]

8. I concur. eom

[Her Sister]

10. I concur ....but...but.. The Senator keeps doing somethings to call attn to himself:

rallies, letters to newspapers, podcast speeches, admonishments to "wake up", etc...

How do you deal with that? Plus people giving credit to him for anything they like. Or finding little ways to take a dig at the nominee.

In any case I like your attitude! And of course I've been ready for months to "put our energy into figuring out what we can do to help Hillary win the general election." and Crush the Trumpster!

[geek tragedy]

12. same way one always deals with people who try to draw attention to themselves in order

to distract from what really matters--ignore them.

[Her Sister]

13. yes but grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I know you're right! I know, i know...

[NastyRiffraff]

30. I get you, Her Sister!

And yes, Geek is right.

[Tanuki]

28. like this....

http://i.imgur.com/nrS7U5d.mp4

[Her Sister]

32. Really? Like that?

bwahahahahaaaa!!!!

[geek tragedy]

11. yeah, Sanders is neither foe nor ally, so really no effort or time should be wasted

on him either way. no concessions to bring him on board, no trying to browbeat him into falling in line

[BlueCaliDem]

19. K&R! ^^^This!^^^ Spot ON. eom

[Squinch]

14. Careful. A thread in a similar vein was hidden along with many of the posts therein.

Some do not like us talking about Sanders's ongoing shenan-..... er.... actions, and consider it to be "refighting the primary."

Go figure.

[CajunBlazer]

16. If this kind of post is hidden on DU, all is lost

I attacked no one, not even Sanders. In addition, my post was a call for the infighting between the Hillary and Sanders camps to end. I can't for the life of me see how such a post could be considered "disruptive".

[Squinch]

20. I agree. And I'm happy to report that the thread and the posts that I was

referring to were restored after appeal.

[DemonGoddess]

15. I agree, to a point

At this point, I don't CARE if he endorses her. It's obviously not going to have an affect as we've seen. My big sticking point, no matter how much I want to move forward, is that he is STILL campaigning against Democrats in general.

That is not helpful.

[CajunBlazer]

25. But he is getting less and less media coverage every day

He can not be relevant without that coverage.

[Walk away]

17. So we should ingore the front page articles in the NYT et al?

We should really stop talking about a person who is making nation wide public appearances hammering our party and candidate? We should ignore and move past the daily press releases that are putting a drag on our Democratic candidate for President.

Sure, that makes sense. It worked so well for the republicans when they ignored Donald and let him crap all over their party!

What could go wrong???

[forjusticethunders]

18. Well, in this case it's not working for him the way it worked for Trump.

People are flowing from Sanders to Clinton and his antics are losing even people who voted for Sanders, not the other way around.

[Walk away]

21. Bernie Sanders still has the power to sway millions of young voters...

We have no idea how the protest in Philly are going to affect this race. The White House is only one part of the equation. Every vote that Bernie Sanders takes away from these campaigns, can mean the future of our country and the ability to make Hillary's agenda happen.

If he were a 3rd party candidate with millions of Democratic votes in his pocket and attacking our party top to bottom, we wouldn't be talking about ignoring him.

[CajunBlazer]

24. Young voters are generally not among "true believers"

Sanders' young supporters are enthusiastic, but new to the political process. They are not like older progressive warriors who have been through the political wars and have seldom won because they are unwilling to "compromise their principles". So the young are not disenchanted with politics and therefore willing to "sacrifice the good for the good enough". In addition, polls show that they are not far left progressives; they were attracted primarily by Sander's promises of free college and/or the removal of their college debt burden. They know that Hillary will work to solve that issue and Trump will not.

Polls show that the young are flocking to support Hillary in very large percentages. They are bright enough to know where their selfish self interest are best served. They aren't waiting around for Sanders to tell them how to vote.

However, they have the poorest voting records of any voting segment. They didn't even support Sander as well they might have. The challenge, as always, will be getting them out to the polls.

[Thinkingabout]

22. Looking forward to the convention, it is another moment in the history of our

Nation, isn't it wonderful the DNC provided the first black nominee and elected him and again to make history nominating the first female and then work to elect the first email president of the USA.

[ismnotwasm]

23. I agree

He doesn't have to endorse her. I think letting the whole issue go is a healthy move.

[LiberalFighter]

26. There are many subsets.

[KitSileya]

27. It is worrying that one of our Senators has such contempt for democracy.

I mean, he obviously doesn't think that democratic results should count. He obviously doesn't think the majority should count, if the majority doesn't support him. That is worrying to those of us who actually believe in democracy.

[SaschaHM]

29. If he doesn't endorse her...

I see no reason why he should hold any committee chairmanships in the Senate. Let him go beg the republicans for scraps.

[BobbyDrake]

31. Not while Karl Rove is name-dropping Sanders in the WSJ in an effort to divide Democrats, no. nt