Does Bernie have the temperament to be President?

[HillareeeHillaraah]

Nope.

But that's not my opinion alone. Here, from an October 2015 article by Mickey Hirten, a former editor of the Burlington Free Press:

Considering that the Free Press' editorial positions were very liberal, reflecting the nature of a very liberal Vermont community, one might think that meetings with Sanders were cordial, even celebratory.

They weren't. Sanders was always full of himself: pious, self-righteous and utterly humorless. Burdened by the cross of his socialist crusade, he was a scold whose counter-culture moralizing appealed to the state's liberal sensibilities as well as its conservatives, who embraced his gun ownership stance, his defense of individual rights, an antipathy toward big corporations and, generally speaking, his stick-it-to-them approach to politics.

(Snip)

I'm not alone in my opinions about Sanders. Chris Graf, long-time Associated Press bureau chief in Vermont, in an article published Sept. 30 in Theweek.com, had this to say about the senator.

“Bernie has no social skills, no sense of humor, and he's quick to boil over. He's the most unpolitical person in politics I've ever come across,” Graf said. Others who have covered Sanders agree.

Comments by pro-Sanders supporters argue that was over twenty years ago, he's mellowed since then. I would put forth that "mellow" is not a word anyone would use to describe candidate Bernie Sanders.


http://lansingcitypulse.com/article-12189-the-trouble-with-bernie.html

((With thanks to littlegirlblue over at TPM for posting the link initially ))

[IamMab]

1. Sanders, party of one.

My suspicion was that he resented others for assuming his mantle of progressive leadership and wouldn't acknowledge them.

This would not surprise me at all.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

3. Agreed

So many of the characteristics attributed to the Bernie Sandrs of 1990 are evident in today's
Presidential candidate.

I don't think he's up to the job. I really don't.

[72DejaVu]

2. Let's ask his colleagues

If you were looking for a doctor or a lawyer or a guy to fix your roof, and you asked dozens of his colleagues if they would recommend him, and not a single one would, would you hire him?

[HillareeeHillaraah]

4. Oooh, good analogy

True and you've reminded us once again of the HUUUGE lack of endorsements from his colleagues Is it: a silent comment on his capacity to be president OR the vast majority of the elected officials who've worked with him before are corrupt.

Not tough to read between those line.

[Her Sister]

5. Right ~a person not seemingly highly recommended

by many of his/her previous employers, employees, colleagues...

You call them but they have nothing to say or don't want to say b/c they got little positive to share. They say "Yes I worked with him, He was always on time!" and that's about it!

Kinda makes your radar go up ~ start buzzing a little...

[anotherproletariat]

6. Clearly he has no sense of humor! He can't even deliver his Hillary jokes in a humorous way.

And he has just two volumes, loud and louder.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

7. And two dispositions:

Angry and not talking.

[KittyWampus]

8. He's a control freak who doesn't know how to delegate properly.

His campaign is run so badly, in terms of organizing/winning is so bad I question his judgement in choosing personnel.

[Lucinda]

10. I was really surprised by that until I started digging into his record

Less co-sponsorship on his bills than anyone else you would remotely consider a congressional leader
Few bi-partisan sponsored legislation, and none last year at all.
And those mayoral speeches!

[Lucinda]

9. Not remotely.

And he'd still be better than the GOP field.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

11. Almost goes without saying...

and I have no trouble taking "The Pledge". I absolutely will show up and vote for him if Hillary doesn't win the nomination.

ANY democrat is light years better than a republican at the helm.

[Lucinda]

12. Yep. It isn't at all debatable for me. But at the same time,

I say that while really damn sure I won't ever have to!

[HillareeeHillaraah]

13. I know...

...I always leave off the second line of "The Pledge" which is:

" but please, please, please God, don't make me hafta do it...uuuuuuh"

[Lucinda]

14. Ha!

[liberal N proud]

15. The first time the media said something negative he would demand apologies

Not to mention all those foreign policy tasks he isn't prepared for.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

16. Yeah, foreign policy...THAT he'd delegate

along with the task of just HOW to break up the banks. You get people to figure that out, he said.

[Native]

17. From my research years ago into aging, one simply becomes more like the person they were,

not less, as they age. I doubt seriously if he's mellowed with regard to his basic character traits. Then again, they have pills for everything now.

[Surya Gayatri]

18. Enormous K & R. Thanks for posting.

Just confirms every gut feeling I've had about the guy. Totally and utterly unfit.

[SharonClark]

19. No way!

[Gothmog]

20. Sanders has not been effective in the Senate due to his personality

[HillareeeHillaraah]

22. This seems to be a consensus

Certainly demonstrated by his dearth of endorsements. Unless you believe the spin that EVERYONE who doesn't share his socialist vision, pardon, his "democratic socialist" vision is corrupt and/or evil.

What I find particularly galling about the man is this sense that he invented empathy.

Like NO ONE on the established Democratic side has been aware of climate change or social injustice or the cost of things until he spoke of them. Galling!

And what some would call: "the establishment"
I call: "people-actively-engaged-in-fighting-for-democratic principles-and-goals-for-longer-than-a-presidential-election-cycle"

I know, it's too long to fit on a hat but dammit, it's true!

Like we've all been sitting around doing nothing to fix what republicans have inflicted.

(Long rant, I'm having a tough morning...)

Peace!

[Setsuna1972]

25. Call it like it is

Bernie is a SOCIALIST! He does t give a damn about the Democratic Party, he'll, I'd say he's trying to destroy it from the inside and have a revolution which would be all about him and him alone .

[HillareeeHillaraah]

26. I think he adds "democratic" to "socialist"

To make it more palpable to the masses. Error in judgement if you ask me.

[BlueCaliDem]

30. What most people don't know is, Democratic Socialist IS Socialist. Period.

Sanders has said, continuously for many years prior to running under the Democratic Party banner "for media exposure" (and illegal access to data files):

[Setsuna1972]

31. He's trying to sugarcoat his true identity

By slapping Democratic in front of Socialist, he wants to make it seem like he's part of the DNC when he's not .

[HillareeeHillaraah]

33. And I can totally picture the run of the mill tea partier

Understanding the difference.

Particularly after the Koch brothers millions have been spent explaining the nuanced difference.




(I read today that the K bros have got $900 million earmarked to take aim at dems! Daunting)

[Setsuna1972]

34. they're probably the same people

The only difference is whose t-shirt and slogan they're suing and wearing !

[NurseJackie]

21. Absolutely not!

[HillareeeHillaraah]

23. So I'll mark you as 'undecided' then?

Good morning, let the day's battle begin!

[NurseJackie]

24. Ha! :-D

[Fla Dem]

27. This is exactly how I would size him up. Couldn't have said it better.

Sanders was always full of himself: pious, self-righteous and utterly humorless. Burdened by the cross of his socialist crusade, he was a scold whose counter-culture moralizing appealed to the state's liberal sensibilities as well as its conservatives, who embraced his gun ownership stance, his defense of individual rights, an antipathy toward big corporations and, generally speaking, his stick-it-to-them approach to politics.

Thanks for finding that article.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

28. Well kudos go to littlegirlblue over at TPM

For posting the link but I knew it would be a welcome addition to the conversation here at DU.

[BlueCaliDem]

29. "Does Bernie have the temperament to be president?" In one word?

[center] [font color="red" size="12"]NO! [/font][/center]