2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders Scored Victories for Years via Legislative Side Doors
WASHINGTON As Democrats cobbled together a sweeping overhaul of the nations immigration law three years ago, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York was clear about one thing: His party could not suffer a single defection.
But one naysayer remained Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who had opposed a similar effort in 2007 and once again did not like provisions in the new bill that he thought would displace American workers. And he had a price, a $1.5 billion youth jobs program.
Through wheeling and dealing, shaming and cajoling, Mr. Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, got his wish, and his favored provision was grafted incongruously onto a tough-minded Republican border security amendment and paid for by higher visa fees for some foreign travelers.
The immigration bill, opposed by House Republicans, never became law. But the jobs program amendment was classic Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist who has spent a quarter-century in Congress working the side door, tacking on amendments to larger bills that scratch his particular policy itches, generally focused on working-class Americans, income inequality and the environment.
More at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/us/politics/bernie-sanders-amendments.html?&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)...Bernie doesn't know how to "get things done" with Congress like Hillary does.... oh no...
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)They will do to her what they are doing to Obama because - HIllary.
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)...they will do to *anyone* with a 'D' after their name what they are doing to Obama... because GOP.
They've simply lost their minds, obstruction is the only play they have in their playbook. They burned all the other pages.
But at least Bernie will push harder to get more out of whatever does manage to get past them.
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)initially
But Bernie has been working with them, they now him and he has more guts than Obama.
ALso Bernie will not let his Revolution die off like Obama did. He will appoint a head of the DNC that will be effective and 2 years on he will push to turn both the Senate and HOuse (ya I know gerrymander) to Democratic. DINO's will be rooted out.
Bernie still has the better chance of getting anything done than Hillary, or Obama for that matter.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)long whey he moved to the WH. And you are right he thought that he could get things done without his followers help. Bernie has the advantage there as he has been in both the House and the Senate for years. He understands that they way things set we all need to work to help him get things done.
As to Hillary - that R House alone will deny her anything really meaningful. They will only work with her on purely R goals.
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)I dont' buy any of her motions to the left. She's a corporatist period, and that ain't Left.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Sanders even has some of the more sensible, and the anti-Trump conservatives not just irrationally hating him like they irrationally hate anything Clinton. I really don't think the socialism thing will fly far, except with dumbass conservatives who wouldn't vote for him anyway. But sensible PEOPLE like at least some of the things he says. Could it be a beginning of the end of this "us vs them" zeitgeist the GOP has been feeding off of for so long?
Some Hillary supporters are so clueless they point to any conservatives praising Sanders as something to laugh at like it was some kind of handicap. Clueless.
Dustlawyer
(10,499 posts)that he is honest. Far too many are too lost to the propaganda, becoming to angry and afraid to listen to anything from the left. The propaganda machine of RW radio and conservative TV (it's more than just Fox News now, way more) has already framed the issues so they don't think they even need to actually listen for themselves to know what someone like Bernie is about.
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)That's leverage for Bernie. And I'm confident he can and will use that hammer. In addition, Bernie has us. The Political Revolution movement. AS I mentioned above. BTW Hillary is not mainstream and will not be able to do this. If she or the DNC elite think that she can simply step in front of Bernies Movement and use them to pressure the Reich, they are kidding themselves. There will be no enthusiasm there.
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)It rather flies in the face of those talking smack about his efficacy in Congress.
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,481 posts)Thanks for the thread, choie.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)As well as the one that says he can't work with congress!
Two for the price of one.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)senz
(11,945 posts)and will find a way to do it as president.
Where there's a will, there's a way. He has the will and finds the way.
randome
(34,845 posts)Instead of building bridges and finding ways for cooperation. Hell, he's denigrated the Democratic Party for decades and now wants to use it to become President. If Sanders was a force for bringing people together, then why isn't he running under his own party's banner?
Granted, some of his successes are very noteworthy. But it kind of sounds like he doesn't work well with others to me.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
senz
(11,945 posts)Most of what Bernie has accomplished has been in conjunction with other legislators. He is not a big-shot celebrity, but he has always been liked and respected by fellow legislators. He works primarily with Democrats, always caucuses with them, and does not denigrate the Democratic Party -- so you can drop that smelly canard.
randome
(34,845 posts)It's how he was elected mayor to start his career. I'm not trying to spread 'candards', it's just that most of us here on DU didn't even know who he was 8 months ago. Maybe there's a reason for that.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
senz
(11,945 posts)Thirty-five years ago he challenged a rightwing Democratic incumbent, the darling of Vermont Republicans, for the position of Mayor of Burlington.
So once again, please don't spread falsehoods. If your candidate can't make it without lies, then she doesn't deserve to make it.
randome
(34,845 posts)Some of the below may be hyperbole but it's something that needs to be considered at least in the background if not dismissed.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/feb/23/bernie-sanders-democrat/
Yet Sanders continued to fight with the party locally and his "goal was the destroy Democrats," Maurice Mahoney, the head of Burlingtons Democratic Party in the 1980s, told Politico. He also mounted independent challenges against Democrats, including Vermonts first female Democratic governor in 1984, and reiterated that he had no party affiliation.
"I am not now, nor have I ever been, a liberal Democrat," he said in a 1985 New England Monthly profile, according to Politico.
"Socialist is the political and economic philosophy I hold, not a party I run under," he explained in 1988, when he unsuccessfully ran for Congress.
I have no problem seeing his position as having 'evolved'. Such is the nature of both life and politics.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)and that probably has contributed to his "outsider" status...
His positions on the issues more than anything have made him an outsider, as the Democratic party shifts rightward. The DLC's mission was to "exterminate progressives" as Bill Clinton's advisor Bill Curry put it, so it is not surprising he has had imperfect partnerships with Democrats since arriving in congress.
And also, his positions on the issues has not really changed.
senz
(11,945 posts)Bernie would never say his goal was to destroy Democrats. That doesn't even make sense. His attachment wasn't to "party." It was, and is, to humane, fair principles and policies (imagine that). Your quote is from someone who resented Bernie. Local Democratic Party bigwigs didn't like losing their personal clout in City Hall, and so they wouldn't say nice things about the outsider who won the election.
Here's how Bernie won the mayoralty:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders
ms liberty
(8,615 posts)Plenty of us here have known about Bernie for years.
randome
(34,845 posts)That doesn't mean he was never mentioned or that I monitored DU 24/7 but it seems to imply that most of us did not know who he was or what he was doing.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
cadaverdog
(228 posts)asking questions of Bernie on Thomm Hartmann's "Brunch with Bernie" segment on his Friday radio show. And those listeners were constantly saying to themselves (and others), "Now there's a guy I could get behind. Why doesn't he run for President?"
And whatta ya know, we got our wish. Sweet.
Sorry you're late to the dance, but not to worry, we have plenty of room inside and everyone is welcome.
randome
(34,845 posts)Otherwise, we'd have heard a lot more about Sanders on DU during those years.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)Surely you didn't trust George W Bush, did you?
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)What're more, she lied:
This assertion, in the words of reporters Don Van Natta Jr. and Jeff Gerth, was unsupported by the conclusions of the National Intelligence Estimate and other secret intelligence reports that were available to senators before the vote. It made for a more muscular talking point; it just happened not to be true.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)It was not so easy for a NY senator after 9/11 had decimated NYC and state. 72% of Americans supported the Iraq vote.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Nor did she read all the intel.
Somehow Bernie (and Kucinich and Lee and others) was able to come to the correct decision.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)And people wonder why nobody trusts her? She placed human lives over doing the right thing.
And you make excuses for that. May you never lose a loved one in a war.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)If she voted for vengeance for 9/11 she was a ghoul, if she believed Bush's lies she was incompetent.
Either way she got it wrong and millions suffrered and died.
choie
(4,111 posts)she voted for political reasons..I'm from NYC and I knew many many people who knew that Bush was lying and that preemptive war against Iraq was immoral and illegal. She is a warmonger, pure and simple.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)How so? Did she believe there were WMD?
Even I didn't believe that! (neither did she. It was just another opportunistic vote)
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)Support her all you want, but there was absolutely no justification for that vote. Even Lincoln knew this. Come on now. Stop it.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)What did Hillary do besides create more veterans by voting for the Iraq war?
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)I look at things globally.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)If you look at things from a global perspective and don't want more of the same hawkish policies and wars that is.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)My dad predicted the same thing, creating a power vacuum in Iraq would destabilize the middle east.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)Given way too much prominence. A lot of democrats and republicans voted for it. Some safe state politicians grandstanded.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Not everything is about casting your vote to reflect popular appeal. You personally have to stand for something as a politician as well. And if the voters do not like that, they can vote you out.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)may have a different take on "principles."
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)your candidate's vote. That's ok, I understand, neither could I.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)And since the suffering and death in Iraq got a "meh" from you I find your concern for people who weren't "esposed" to nuclear waste dubious at best.
Nice edit but everyone can still see your original post:
may have a different take on "principles."
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)I saw it at one point, but lost the link...
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)It failed, the waste was never transported and stored there.
randome
(34,845 posts)The votes were there. All the Democrats and Republicans who knew it was bogus knew their stand would do nothing to stop the invasion.
I'm not saying those votes were 'right'. I'm saying it's politics as practiced by politicians.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)It would only be grandstanding if there were a compromise to be reached and these representatives and senators chose to "keep the moral high ground" when a less ideal but attainable solution can be reached. That in my mind is grandstanding.
What would you prefer? In any vote where 61 Senators and 50% of Congressmen want to vote a certain way the others have to join them to avoid "grandstanding" by opposing an inevitable vote?
I don't think that makes much sense, if only because the citizenry deserve to know where you stood on votes so they can evaluate your suitability for reelection.
randome
(34,845 posts)But I can't blame politicians for being politicians, either. In politics, voting for a losing side brands one a loser. It's not fair but that's how it is. The Democratic support for the Iraq War Resolution was an acknowledgement of that. The IWR was going to pass if they voted against it so they played it 'safe' by voting in favor of it.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Certainly John Kerry would not have been nearly the flawed candidate to liberals that he was. It may not have made a difference, but it just may have.
randome
(34,845 posts)Even though they didn't know it would be a trillion dollars (at least) thrown down the toilet, they could still remind us of that more often now. With the Reign Of Reagan, the Democratic party did move a little to the right. I think they saw it as a question of survival. But the time to get out of that 'habit' is long since past.
I think Sanders is helping to show them that.
Politicians move in cautious ways, like glaciers.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
Response to cosmicone (Reply #28)
JonLeibowitz This message was self-deleted by its author.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)We destroyed a country and created catastrophic chaos and suffering.
That gets a "meh" from you?
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)"we came we saw he died" dovetails (or, should I say, warhawks) nicely with "meh" on the Iraq War.
used to express indifference or mild disappointment
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)I'm starting to pity these people.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Rebkeh
(2,450 posts)He has, he does still, and he will as President.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)choie
(4,111 posts)toward the tens of thousands who we killed in Iraq and elsewhere as your leader does. How proud you must be.
Jarqui
(10,131 posts)reading the article or researching the subject like other have before posting here.
Try it. You might learn something.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)he averaged working on 4 bill per yr and all he has to show for it, is changing the name of one post office
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Only a Hillary Supporter would believe such a thing. So much celebrity watching like a roady makes it so one misses a lot of important, but not flashy. stuff.
concreteblue
(626 posts)Does your mother know you are a liar? I know you do know you are a liar because it is common knowledge that Bernie wrote and got passed the veteran's choice a t. Ask a vet if they think Bernie has " done nothing"
Go back to Yahoo, you are out of your depth here.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)He renamed TWO post offices -- not just one!
concreteblue
(626 posts)If only about DU HRC supporters.
On second thought, Yahoo is probably a bridge too far for you. Try Gateway Pundit. There are olots of Authoritarian followers there.
ALBliberal
(2,353 posts)Nanjeanne
(5,003 posts)How?
These are only the 3 Clinton bills became law:
A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2951 New York Highway 43 in Averill Park, New York, as the "Major George Quamo Post Office Building".
A bill to designate a portion of United States Route 20A, located in Orchard Park, New York, as the "Timothy J. Russert Highway".
Kate Mullany National Historic Site Act
I guess those are more important buildings to name if you are a Clinton supporter.
But why do people keep overlooking Sanders bill Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013?
And do people not understand how bills get passed and how important getting amendments included is. Like the millions Sanders got included into the ACA for health clinics. And for.a really in depth list, check out:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-gets-it-done-sanders-record-pushing-through-major-reforms-will-surprise-you
concreteblue
(626 posts)Shillaries gotta shill....
snowy owl
(2,145 posts)Maybe since it is NY Times, people will take it seriously. We've known Bernie is nothing if not always working, thinking abnd productive. DC's best kept secret!
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)Now: "Via Legislative Side Doors, Bernie Sanders Won Modest Victories"
snowy owl
(2,145 posts)Probably.