It's Time for the 2016 Primary to End. Bernie Sanders Is the Clear Frontrunner for the

[Autumn]

2020 Nomination.

BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
FEB 23, 2020

A very good read.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a31064861/bernie-sanders-wins-nevada-caucuses-frontrunner/?fbclid=IwAR3yUqhOo3CYcd0jIwztrc-HnATfITLfoRWw5odyxH53Dj5cNNL0JvtGLRk

OK. Hug your kids. Walk your dog. Have a drink. Smoke some weed. Eat some edibles. Gobble some ‘shrooms. Meditate. Contemplate. Ruminate. Calm down. Find peace. Take a breath. Take a pill. Take a break. Calm down, Ringo, and, for the love of god, chill the fck out, Yolanda. Bernie Sanders won the Nevada caucuses. He won handily. He won easily. As a matter of fact, he probably won Saturday night last week, when 75 percent of the voters cast early ballots. Bernie Sanders is the clear frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the clear frontrunner because he and his people have been developing a strategy for five years and they have been executing it splendidly. Those are the facts on the ground and they are incontestable.

(One solid indication of the depth of his appeal is that, almost immediately after the New Hampshire primary, the culinary workers union in Nevada slammed him over Medicare For All—but, on Saturday, the actual membership of that powerful union turned out for him in droves.)

Meanwhile, Pete Buttigieg, the man who will unify us to turn the page to a bright new day in which we will galvanize and not polarize, gave a speech early in the evening that, for sheer optimistic inspiration, lacked only a bell and a guy intoning, “Bring out your dead.” (There was one great moment on MSNBC when Steve Kornacki told the panel that, according to the network’s entrance polling, Buttigieg didn’t register among black voters. At all.) On the other side, the Sanders people have started measuring the drapes already. People supporting other candidates are being told to get in line or get the hell out. (In fact, that he has managed to get to this position with a national staff containing some people whose only apparent political skill is being pissed on television and snotty online is a further measure of what a formidable candidate he is.) This prompted pushback, and the pushback prompted more pushback, until the desert itself was a’light with the fires from a thousand flaming heads.

Going forward, here’s what I think. It’s time for both billionaires to get out. They’re not going to be president, either one of them, and they’re not helping anyone else who might be. Tom Steyer’s campaign is utterly pointless and seems dedicated at this point only to mucking up the South Carolina primary. If the Democrats nominate Michael Bloomberg, they’re taking a bigger risk than they ever would by nominating Sanders because given what we already know about him, and anticipating that we’re going to learn even more—and worse—stuff as the campaign grinds on, he’s the only candidate that could give someone in the vote-blue-no-matter-who crowd the same pause that the aforementioned 53 percent of Sanders voters have. Plus, my god, he’s a terrible candidate.

[Dopers_Greed]

1. Yeah, let's cancel the rest of the primaries

We have a winner after 3 smaller states.

But it's really "the DNC" that's trying to go against the will of the people.

[Garrett78]

16. He said Sanders is the clear frontrunner, not that the race is over.

[lapfog_1]

30. ummm the very first sentence of the SUBJECT line

"It's Time for the 2016 Primary to End."

Pretty much says the race is over.

[RazBerryBeret]

36. 2016.

people are still stuck in 2016. That should end. 2020 primary season is just beginning....

[Garrett78]

44. Ummm, this is 2020.

He's saying people need to stop litigating 2016 and recognize that Sanders is the clear frontrunner in 2020.

[lapfog_1]

45. I asaumed it was a typo

I mean... who the f is litigating 2016?

Hillary kicked his ass.

[Garrett78]

47. You're kidding, right?

So much of the anger that's expressed at DU and elsewhere has everything to do with 2016.

[booley]

58. yep

this right here.

How quickly people forgot how when Clinton won the early states, Bernie was being pressured to drop out. How awful it was he wanted do go to the convention with only 47% of the primary votes.

[LakeArenal]

32. With no POC. But we don't need them do we.

[lapucelle]

2. ...

[Squinch]

3. You guys never stop!

[Autumn]

7. Are we not supposed to post about the candidate we support?

[Vivienne235729]

14. Right? This one is a bit over the top, too.

[bearsfootball516]

4. Yikes.

I have no problem saying Sanders is the current front runner, but let’s at least wait until we see how Super Tuesday shakes out before we start declaring the primaries over.

He could have an impressive showing in SC, then ride that to Super Tuesday and take complete control. It’s also possible that Joe Biden will take a blowout win in SC, then use that momentum to have a great Super Tuesday, the moderates coalesce behind him and push him to front runner status.

We’ll know a lot more after SC.

[Garrett78]

17. He didn't say the primary is over. He just said Sanders is the clear frontrunner. 538 says the same.

[samnsara]

27. IM disliking BS more and more every day...

[LakeArenal]

34. And those surrounding him.

[underpants]

5. Ballast

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287565854

[dawg]

6. Even better, let's just stop with Iowa.

[left-of-center2012]

8. Who? Oh, this guy?

Never heard of him.

[abqtommy]

9. Nah. It's not over until Joe, Elizabeth or Amy becomes our nominee.

[samnsara]

28. :)

[LakeArenal]

35. Yessss!!!

[hlthe2b]

10. Some REALLY don't believe in the democratic process..

Shame on those calling for an end after 3/50 primaries. Then there are the 7 US territories that are supposed to likewise get to weigh in.


There will be no clear winner until someone garners 1991/3979 pledged delegates. Bernie has/projected to have 34! That is thirty-four out of the necessary ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE required.

How about letting the rest of us have a vote and a voice?

Why are Bernie supporters so afraid of letting the process play out? You cut off your nose to spite your face with this kind of BS. Whoever the nominee is will need ALL of us to come together. This kind of thing will make that very difficult. It is obnoxious and childish.

[Garrett78]

18. Who is calling for the primary to end?

[hlthe2b]

21. Subject line in the very first original post. Did you come here without reading?

Whether or not the OP poster also agrees, they posted the article sans any discussion to the contrary so not a stretch to assume they agree with the author.

[Garrett78]

22. He wants us to stop litigating the 2016 primary. And says Sanders is the clear frontrunner in 2020.

What exactly is the issue?

[hlthe2b]

23. The primary isn't over. And if you can't see the overlap between the two...

well... Bless your heart.

[Garrett78]

24. Nobody said the primary is over. You've invented a straw man.

[hlthe2b]

25. Hardly.. You chose to ignore the countless threads in this forum demanding other canidates drop out.

[Garrett78]

41. First of all, nearly all of those posts are coming from anti-Sanders people. Secondly...

...there are some candidates who are clearly not viable.

But none of this has anything to do with what Charles Pierce is saying.

[hlthe2b]

43. So, you assert. And what proof do you have of that?

That IS YOUR strawman.

[Garrett78]

46. Huh?

Are you talking about the assertion that this has nothing to do with what Charles Pierce is saying? Because it clearly doesn't, if you actually read the OP. Perhaps you simply misread 2016 as 2020?

Or do you mean the rather obvious point that most of the posts calling for candidates to drop out are coming from anti-Sanders people? Do you really not see that the vast majority of those posts are coming from people who want voters to coalesce around a "moderate" so as to beat Sanders?

[samnsara]

29. that article should even have been posted here..its meant to be divisive..

..its saying 'our way or no way'. Thats not what Democracy is about..

[msongs]

11. nevada voters for bernie would not even fill the rose bowl half way.nt

[Fresh_Start]

12. the constant stream of Bernie fandom is meant to demoralize non-Bernie supporters

don't let it demoralize you.

[Autumn]

13. I don't see what you call Bernie fandom. What do you call the constant stream of Bernie pieces

by non Bernie supporters? And who is that supposed to demoralize? Because nothing demoralizes, me I just laugh at the bullshit and send Bernie more money.

[Vivienne235729]

15. +1

[Moderateguy]

19. This

[samnsara]

31. dont worry.. all it does is piss me off... they should keep divisive articles in their own forum..

..

[LakeArenal]

37. With that kinda snarkiness that we have come to expect

[SidDithers]

42. ExAcTlY cOrReCt!...nt

Sid

[Codeine]

59. Ha!!

[Moderateguy]

20. Sanders supporters are scared that the rest of the candidates are going to go after Bernie now

They want to create an "aura" of inevitability around their candidate

[samnsara]

26. HELL NO!

[EveHammond13]

33. when the frontrunner just throws all of Florida's electoral college votes away....

in one interview, he doesn't deserve the nomination

[LizBeth]

38. 2016? Just a couple days ago Sanders tweeted Democrats are as bad as Republicans.

[Turbineguy]

39. Better yet,

just vote for trump. That will save the GOP/Putin from having to steal the election.

[greatauntoftriplets]

40. Illinois doesn't vote until March 17.

It's not over until it's over.

[delisen]

48. This is authoritarianism. We will continue to see this globally

from the right, left, or wherever because the issues facing us are enormous and complex and make many people fearful and some eager to shelve democracy

People in many countries, including ours, will be told that we need a strongman leader, that democracy is too slow and we must turn over our thinking to the hegemon. We will often be told that there is only one person who can save us. (No matter how many millions of people in a country there is supposedly only one savior).

I personally am going to stand up for our democratic institutions, rule of law, and keep steady on working to hold and extend that 1/2 of 1 of 3 branches of government we were able to claw back in 2018.

If Sanders is the nominee as decided by our democratic process I trust he and his supporters will bring in the new voters they promise and the disaffected Trump voters in some midwest states. Apparently Sanders has not ruled out taking the billionaires's money if he is the nominee for president.

My energies will be focused on democracy and preserving what we clawed back in 2018.

I am finding the ongoing posts with loyalty question to be getting out of hand. We all know the stakes. If Trump wins we lose the Supreme Court for a long time and endure 4 more years of destruction of government.

The fact is it is going to take a lot of work to keep the House, pick up more seats and get state seats to help with re-apportionment. The House is our beachhead. To lose people like MacBath in Georgia would be tragic. If our party is weak on gun control on the national level and the murkiness of the self-described socialist label is a factor (is it democratic socialism, social democracy, being an Independent or now just FDR New Dealish?) we need Bloomberg helping on down ballot contests.

[Garrett78]

49. All that because Pierce stated the obvious, that Sanders is the clear frontrunner?

I guess the crew at 538 (not exactly known for being pro-Sanders) are also authoritarians.

[NurseJackie]

50. And Oprah's spiritual advisor "endorsed" Bernie too... GAME OVER!

[BlueJac]

51. Don't make me laugh!

The party just started! Almost sounds Trumpian.

[Garrett78]

54. 538, Pierce, Harry Enten and many others are "Trumpian" by saying Sanders is the clear frontrunner?

[Bayard]

52. What a load of crap!

[Garrett78]

53. But he is the clear frontrunner. How can you deny that?

[BlueIdaho]

55. Calling the game at the game at the end of the first quarter?

That’s silly...

[Garrett78]

60. Nobody (not 538, not Pierce, etc.) is calling the game by saying Sanders is the clear frontrunner.

[BlueIdaho]

62. The article headline is...

“It's Time for the 2016 Primary to End.” That’s about as clear as it can get.

[Garrett78]

63. You know that it's 2020, right?

He's talking about putting an end to all of the litigation of and grievances related to 2016. If you read the excerpt in the OP, you can see very clearly that he makes references to non-Sanders candidates who could still win the nomination.

[BlueIdaho]

64. "Reading is fundamental"

Sorry - I skimmed and should have read more carefully - thanks for (gently) pointing that out.

[Vogon_Glory]

56. We haven't even reached Super Tuesday yet and Bernie-

philes expect to hand him the nomination?

Nope. I think Bernie needs to go through some primaries to see how the rest of the party feels about his candidacy.

It is still quite possible that party moderates will prevail and vote for a candidate who can not only take the White House, but also help Democrats take control of the Senate. I want a Democrat in the White House and Mitch McConnell sidelined, and I don’t think that Bernie can do that.

A “man on horseback” is all very romantic, but I’d rather have a team player.

[Garrett78]

61. Nobody is suggesting that he be handed the nomination. He's the clear frontrunner. That's all.

538's crew aren't Bernie-philes, but here's their forecast: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-primary-forecast/

[booley]

57. Takes e back to a certain other Democratic primary

The one where one candidate won the early states and we kept being told the other guy who was running was just ruining it for everybody. One candidate was inevitable.


Oh and look at how many who agreed then have changed their minds now.

LOL

Anyway, I point people back to the last question given t the Nevada debate.

Except for Bernie, none of the candidates expect to win by getting enough votes. They are hinging their chances on staying in long enough that 600 super delegates can save them.

[onetexan]

65. Whoa Nellie. Cart before the horse. Hold your tongue Mr. Pierce.

[mvd]

66. I am a Bernie person, but too early

I feel that whoever has the most delegates should get the nomination. But I think Biden, Bloomberg and maybe Warren still have a chance.

[mcar]

67. Love Charlie

but disagree with him here.