Does Bernie really believe what he's selling can get through Congress?

[redstateblues]

or is it a time honored "promise them everything, say anything" to win the election. Does he really believe he can get any of his fantastic proposals through Congress? Does he really think he would not have to compromise to get anything done? I started out liking Bernie but the more I hear from him the less I like. I do think Hillary could reach across the aisle to get things done although on DU that would be grounds for impeachment or worse. I was a fervent McGovern supporter in my puritopian days-everybody I knew in my counter culture bubble voted for him and I was shocked not only that he lost but also by the margin. If somehow Bernie is able to to bamboozle his way to the nomination I fear the result would be the same.

[shenmue]

1. He promises the Moon

[OrwellwasRight]

2. Please quote where he says

"I will not have to make compromises to get anything done."

If you can't find where he says it, stop making things up.

[Iliyah]

4. HRC safe have, please delete and leave

[Coolest Ranger]

12. Go back to General Discussion

we are not playing your please prove this mess in here

[Tortmaster]

27. Senator Sanders castigated ...

... President Obama for negotiating with Republicans. But what was his plan to get things done? Senator Sanders would get a "million" or so "young people" to march on Washington, D.C.

LOL! I shit you not! Here's the quote and a link:

I’ll tell you how we do it, and this is where I should tell you that I respect and personally like the President Of The United States very much. He’s a friend, and I think history will record him having done a heck of a lot better job than his contemporaries feel, but this one area where I disagree with Barack Obama. As you remember, in 2008 Obama ran a brilliant campaign, one of the great campaigns in American history. He galvanized the American people. He brought young people together, created an enormous amount of excitement. The mistake that he made is the day after he was inaugurated, in my view, he might not agree with it, but I think it is accurate. He said thank you very much for helping me get elected. I’ll take it from here. I can sit down with John Boehner, and I can sit down with Mitch McConnell. I can sit down with the Republicans. We’re going to negotiate. We’re going to work it out. Well, guess what? From day one, they never wanted to negotiate.

My view is that the only we can bring about an agenda that works for working families is if millions of people are actively involved in the political process. If a million young people march on Washington [to say] to the Republican leadership, we know what’s going on, and you better vote to deal with student debt. You better vote to make public universities and colleges tuition free, that’s when it will happen.

He has been in Washington, D.C. for 25 years and still has no clue how it works. I must be dreaming.

[TDale313]

3. Do you want some actual answers from Bernie supporter's perspective?

Maybe post this in gd: p. It's a valid question and I'd bet many of us have thought about it, and of course know what the political landscape is.

Won't say more now, cause I know this is the Hillary group.

[BlueCaliDem]

5. Only as much as a Bernie supporter would like to hear answers from a Hillary Clinton supporter -

which amounts to CERO.

[mcar]

7. It's a nice concept - actually discussing issues and ideas

But if you've been on GDP at all in the last few months, you know that doesn't actually happen.

[Coolest Ranger]

13. i personally don't want to hear from you

Every Bernie supporter I have met has been disrespectful and I don't want to be around people like this.

[Treant]

16. No, thank you.

I'd like the answers from Bernie, and so far he really hasn't supplied much of anything.

I'm not interested in listening to his supporters babble about unicorns and fairies.

[Cha]

19. That's right.. this is Hillary's Group. If the OP wanted it posted in GDP.. he would have

done so.

We don't need any "answers" from the BS supporters... there's been too much of that.

[Lil Missy]

21. no. n/t

[kennetha]

6. He thinks the revolution is coming

First he plans to take the capitol by storm himself, riding in on a wave of ground-up resentment, that gives the finger to the entire establishment. Perhaps he will bring a Senate full of progressive in on his populist coattails (though he better start recruiting them now, if he's to do that). Once in office, he will spread his magic charisma dust around and break up the Republican hold on the House, by outlawing gerrymandered districts, somehow or other. By the midterms, having proven that it can he done, he'll convince a bunch of like-minded socialists/progressives to run for state, local, and national office. Now, half way through his first term, backed by a truly progressive socialist majority, with the progressives in name only rooted out, in both houses, he'll push through a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizen's United or at least a set of Supreme Court nominations that will overturn it. The new majority will re-write the affordable care act, re-introduce Glass-Steagall, provide free college education, sharply increase taxes on the wealthy, etc. etc.. The old order will put up only an anemic fight, as it gasps for its last dying breath.

Something like that seems to be the dream, anyway.

[Z_California]

8. You don't understand the difference

between "Promises" and "Principles".

If you have heard Bernie "promise" his vision with some sort of deadline or due date, I'd be interested in the link.

From what I've heard him say, we need a political revolution. To spell that out, we need a lot of new participants in our democracy to change the current occupants of our government so that this vision can come to fruition. I don't hear him saying he can do it alone.

Edit: Didn't realize this was Hillary group.

[Cha]

20. Yeah yeah yeah.

[BlueCaliDem]

9. Oh, he knows he won't be able to, and I'm pretty certain his supporters here and everywhere else

who know how our gov't works, know it, too.

The thing is, they'll happily ride the rainbow-farting unicorn over the cliff (taking this country with it) but before they do, they hope to bedazzle the less politically savvy voters (usually Millennials, but not exclusively) just as long as they can get (fool?) the majority of them into voting against Hillary Clinton. This isn't about voting for Bernie as much as it's a quest to vote against Hillary Clinton.

Unfortunately for them, minority voters don't pay them any heed. If they did, President Obama would've been denied a second term. Fact remains, without the minority vote, a Democratic candidate won't win the Democratic nomination. What we want to do is deny the Republican candidate the 40% of the Black vote he needs in order to win in the G.E. and Bernie isn't going to do that for us.

Let's not kid ourselves. The majority of Bernie supporters aren't supporting him because of his pie-in-the-sky promises. They know these are all empty promises since they damn well know he'll need Congress' cooperation in order to get any one of them through - and he ain't as popular with members of Congress as he appears to be with those "disaffected Democrats".

No.

Their support for Bernie is nothing more than their deep dislike for the Clintons and President Obama - although I'll readily admit there are maybe a handful of people supporting Bernie who actually love President Obama but who still share that deep-down dislike for Hillary Clinton. I just hope and pray that they'll wake up before November and cast their vote for her, not to satisfy themselves, but for the good of the country.

[Lil Missy]

23. I agree it's more about Hillary hating then it is being pro Bernie, but I have one disagreement.

I think a lot of them DO believe Bernie can actually get these things done. Just my two cents.

[BlueCaliDem]

25. If they really believe that

then they have no idea how our Federal gov't works.

[Lil Missy]

30. exactly.

[Gregorian]

10. Martin King had a dream.

[Coolest Ranger]

14. Please do not equate

your silly dream with what MLK had for us. God you all make me sick to my stomach when you use that crap

[Cha]

18. Exactly.. Martin Luther King has nothing to do with what the OP is talking about. Please.

[William769]

24. Yes he did and Bernie wasn't there.

http://www.snopes.com/sanders-mlk-selma-march/

[Walk away]

33. No wonder Bernie's supporters helped him lose any hope of the POC vote!

Bernie is only a legend in his own mind.

[Gman]

11. I don't think Sanders believes those things in the least

His supporters, however, do. In fact very little of what you read here on DU can be attributed directly to Sanders. His supporters quite literally make shit up.

[Coolest Ranger]

15. Can we please

get a host to start cleaning up this thread

[still_one]

17. agree

[Lil Missy]

22. he knows, he's not a stupid man. But I think his asking the questions is good for the debate.

[Tortmaster]

26. I can see a ticket comprised of Hillary Clinton and ...

... Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro destroying the Republicans in the general with coattails that enable wins in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Then, shit gets done. I believe that Senator Sanders does not have such a high-end best case scenario. On the contrary, I could see us waiting up all night for returns from Florida and Ohio because the GOP spent a billion dollars attacking Sanders with advertising on the internet, on TV and on the radio in those states.

Unfortunately, advertising works.

I did some looking around regarding the House of Representatives issue and wrote about it on daily kos in a piece entitled "Que Dios Los Bendiga With Julian Castro as a running mate." Here is a snippet:

House Math.

Or, is the House of Representatives really just a pipe dream? I don’t think so. Here are a few reasons why: Republicans will nominate a madman, or they will nominate somebody who more than 90% of their base didn’t want as their President. Either of those scenarios will have an effect on down-ballot races.

Democrats do better during Presidential cycles.

Consider this: There are 188 Democrats in the House of Representatives right now. In 2009, after Senator Obama finished his take down of John McCain, there were 178 Republicans in the House. Still, you need 218 members for a majority, how do we get there? A wave election.

More House Math.

Democrats, with the right ticket—especially one that makes history—can run up the score on Republicans. That results in a wave election. It will be harder than in 2008 because the Congress before that election already sported a 37-member Democratic majority in the House. (Incumbents generally have an advantage.). Still, a wave is a wave is a wave. Every boat gets rocked. It might even be argued that what Senator Obama did in 2008 was more difficult: Adding 21 Democrats to a House that already sported a 37-seat Democratic advantage.

With a Sanders nomination, the GOP would smell blood in the water. How much would the Kochs spend to win the Presidency if it was right there for the taking?

[Hoyt]

28. He really believes he can sell it to gullible people. At best he'll end up with

some improvements to the ACA. I wish that were not the case, but it's the reality right now.

[Walk away]

34. He's not going to end up with anything except a one way ticket back to the Senate where...

I hope a nice young Democrat runs against him on his next time out and retires him for good.

[jmowreader]

29. Some of Bernie's supporters don't believe it either

There's a thread over on Bernie Underground about how none of them ever said Bernie's plans would happen immediately.

Among Sanders' supporters are a sizable number of people who really don't care if a Republican wins the White House, just so long as Hillary Clinton does NOT. Sad. And those same people claim that no one supporting Hillary is a "real Democrat."

[72DejaVu]

31. All those members of Congress will rally to support Bernie's proposals

Makes you wonder why none of them will rally to support his campaign.

[NurseJackie]

32. Bernie probably doesn't actually believe it ... but he's counting on his supporters to believe it.

[Walk away]

35. Of course he does and so do his Munchkins!

[baldguy]

36. If - God forbid - we get a Pres Sanders in office

the GOP Congress will be able to roll over him every week & steal his lunch money. I wouldn't be surprised if they got to repeal every progressive advancement this country has had since the New Deal.

Pres Bernie would be a disaster.