Sunday's One-on-One Debate is Essential

[polichick]

Those supporting Sanders understand that Trump did not come out of nowhere - Trump was able to prey on Americans because they have been under stress for decades.

If the establishment/corporate tools of the party continue to put profits (big pharma, insurance companies, military contractors, etc.) over the needs and rights of the people, we will see new dangerous predators in elected offices.

Dems can’t be the party of YES WE CAN in the run-up to elections, and the party of the CORPORATE STATUS QUO after elections.

Defeating the Trumps of the world means defeating a pattern that puts profits over people - it means a paradigm shift and meaningful structural change. It’s up to Bernie and his supporters to hold the party’s feet to the fire on behalf of all Americans, with the expectation that our country will one day live up to the words, “government of, by and for the people.”

[SlogginThroughIt]

1. I have missed the oart where democrats did this.

This seems to be the new talking point and while it may be true for some democratic individuals I do not believe it to be the standard of the party. It is the neat new talking point of social media memes though.

[empedocles]

4. Endless 'new talking points' it seems

[HarlanPepper]

2. ...

[BidenBacker]

11. Hey, HP

Little help here, por favor. I'm filling out my ballot for AZ's primary next Tuesday and I just can't decide who to pick. Any recommendations?

Oh, the hell with it...I'll just rely on random luck and flip a coin.

Heads, it's Biden...tails and it's Joe.

[HarlanPepper]

12. +1

[Demsrule86]

37. Love that.

[Demguy81]

3. I agree to a point.

But, once the debate occurs, and people vote next Tuesday, Sanders should gracefully bow out if he doesn't see measurable improvement.

[George II]

5. Please stop with the "corporate status quo" stuff, it's insulting to us LIFETIME Democrats.

Were Medicare and Medicaid "status quo"?
Was the Voting Rights act "status quo"?
Was the ACA "status quo"?

[William769]

7. +1

[Squinch]

22. No way! I got bingo on that one!

[IluvPitties]

6. It is not. This thing is over and our battle should be against Trump.

[BidenBacker]

8. Both these guys have been around for decades

but we still need umpteen more debates because nobody has a clue where they stand yet.

Hey, I know...we can schedule a Bernie-Biden debate for Joe's Inauguration Day because all them balls are so damn boring.

[Doremus]

24. I think Biden needs all the debate practice he can get to prep for rump. nt

[CincyDem]

26. Trump won't debate. Bet on it and book the profits now. n/t

[Gothmog]

30. sanders is really a horrible debater in the real world

Link to tweet

[DownriverDem]

9. House & Senate

We need a strong Dem House & Senate, not just barely a majority to work with the Dem President. Hard to believe, but the American people do not seem to understand how our government works.

[William769]

10. The only thing Sunday's One-on-One Debate is for

Is to show that a grumpy old man still can screw with a primary he has no chance of winning & letting the repukes savor in our discourse. That's what it's about.

[BidenBacker]

13. Grumpy indeed

Bernie: "Get off my lawn!"

Dems: "Get off our stage!"

[relayerbob]

14. Enough is enough

We get it. Ya'll aren't happy. Neither are we. Join reality, and work inside the system to fix it.

[StevieM]

15. I don't see Trump's election that way at all.

Trump won because James Comey and the FBI made it impossible for the Democratic candidate to win.

If Hillary didn't have an email server she would have been placed under FBI investigation for something else. The state set out to destroy a candidate who was seeking to lead the state. That's not democracy.

[StevieM]

20. When Hillary was Secretary of State she had a level of sustained popularity that few others

have achieved. Her poll numbers were sky high for a few years.

The GOP swift boated her early, even going as far as to capitalize on a terrorist attack. Her problems in 2016 were not long-standing problems, they were new problems.

The email server was a non-event until the GOP, and their allies at the FBI and inspector generals' offices, decided to make it one. It was a nonsense story about nothing.

She did not take blue states for granted. She had larger ground games then Obama's in 2012 and spent more in advertising. And in all but one she made campaign stops. It is true that she didn't hold a rally in Wisconsin, but you usually don't when you are ahead by double digits. When the Comey intervention finally made Trump think he could win the first thing he did was cancel an appearance in Wisconsin. In any event, the evidence doesn't show that this was a determinative factor in who one Wisconsin, not that this one state even affected the outcome of the election.

And Hillary has pointed plenty of fingers at herself. She has repeatedly acknowledged making mistakes, many of which I personally don't think were even fair criticisms of her. But unless she says that she was a terrible candidate who had no right to run, and that every horrible thing ever said about her was true, we will never stop hearing that she doesn't take responsibility.

[radius777]

38. +1. HRC was the first female nominee of a major party

who faced 25 years of sexist anti-Clinton attacks - precisely because, from the very beginning, it was clear she was brilliant and could be the first female president.

Biden and Hillary are basically the same ideologically, yet he's doing far better amongst white working class voters in 2020 than she did in 2016, largely (imo) due to sexism.

She was a far better candidate than either Biden or Bernie was, far better at the debates, crisper/clearer speaker who could articulate her policies in depth.

I saw her on with Fareed Zakaria recently - she's better than any candidate we have this time.

[eilen]

52. I feel like the country did not deserve her

we did not rise to the occasion, instead falling into a petty bitter angry vindictive bickering that is reflective of Trump's energy.

[marble falls]

23. Dick Cheny used a private server, too, it was legal. He lost 7,000,000 e-mails.

[Doremus]

25. Correction. Trump won because 80K blue collars in the rust belt were sufficiently

disenchanted and either sat it out or voted for the candidate that at least offered lip service for their plight, handing him the EC.

Are we on the same track this year? Time will tell.

[Gothmog]

29. You are wrong

Link to tweet

[totodeinhere]

47. Those stats are meaningless without knowing how many Republicans on the other side

voted for Clinton. I am not defending any Democrat who crossed over but there will always be crossovers in any election.

[StevieM]

31. There are disenchanted voters in every election and different candidates disenchant different voters

That is not at all unusual. It is a standard election.

There was no problem that would have prevented us from winning that election easily had it not been for the fake email scandal. And that ridiculous story would not have taken off to nearly the extent that it did had it not been for illegitimate actions of the FBI and James Comey.

[Demsrule86]

36. Well Michigan showed no love for Sanders last night. And he has now lost Washington.

[Demsrule86]

43. Revisionist history...there were enough stein voters to have won Michigan.

Fuck the Greens. But Joe Biden won every county in Michigan.

[yaesu]

16. It will definitely be the best debate so far, lets hope MSM keeps out of it this time. nt

[brooklynite]

17. But then, who will you have to blame?

[Demsrule86]

35. Not interested. I wont even watch it. Sanders lost ...no interest

In his opinion...he needs to concede.

[Demsrule86]

44. So you think Sanders should cross examine the presumptive nominee?

No, moderators ask questions and Sanders answes them. As does Biden.

[greatauntoftriplets]

53. There's not going to be an audience.

Who will be there other than the moderators to ask questions?

[dsp3000]

19. I hope bernie uses this debate to try to get his supporters behind biden.

I doubt it though.

[Squinch]

21. You forgot to say "oligarch" and "corporatist." Well done on getting "feet to the fire" in there.

Do you guys not get what is happening to our country right now?

Rome is burning. Nero is fiddling. We need to put out the fire.

Sunday's debate is a waste of time and a waste of our Party's efforts.

[Codeine]

41. Points off for not squeezing "truth to power" in there, however. nt

[Doremus]

27. I agree with you, Polichick.

Until a paradigm shift occurs in the party, I'm afraid we're doomed to continue the cycle that's placed us on the brink of disaster.

[Demsrule86]

34. Sanders is causing the problem. He lost the nomination ...he should get out.

[dansolo]

39. The cycle started by Nader and continued with Stein?

We are on the brink of disaster because so-called progressives choose to sit out and snipe from the sidelines instead of helping the Democrats do the actual hard job of governing.

[Demsrule86]

45. Sanders lost, the primary and that is not a disaster but a good thing as he would lose

a general.. it is called democracy.

[Gothmog]

28. You do know that sanders is a horrible debater

Link to tweet

[stopbush]

32. Yawn...

[Demsrule86]

33. No it is not. Sanders has no right to question Biden. He should fuck off.

What Sanders is a moderater now? THE GALL.

[djg21]

40. Bullshit.

The debate is a last chance for Bernie to body slam Biden and try to land a lethal blow. Biden should cancel the debate. The Democratic Party should can the debate. Bernie should go back to the Senate where he can be an Independent again. Enough of his bullshit. He is responsible for us having Trump, and he doing his best to see we have another 4 years of this utter nonsense.

[Demsrule86]

46. I cant believe a person who lost all but one small caucus would not concede.

There should be no debate though...waste of time.

[Renew Deal]

49. Trump and his Russian allies don't think it's a waste of time.

[Demsrule86]

50. True that.

[Renew Deal]

48. This helps Trump and has no positive impact on the Democratic Party.

People that think that they are going to somehow influence the Democratic party in this way are deluded.

[beachbumbob]

51. We will 1000000000000x better off with return to Obama era standards than letting trump

continue

the thing is sanders people always fail to understand why they can;t get their way. They do not represent the will of the people or the democrats

[Gothmog]

54. sanders staying in the race and losing by large mardins will be amusing

sanders not dropping out may help Biden. sanders keeps on losing primaries by large margins nnly strenghten's Joe's position https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/11/no-surprise-bernie-sanders-is-still-all-about-himself-never-party/

Sanders’s remaining in the race should serve several salutary purposes for the party and the country. First, seeing him lose overwhelmingly week after week will dispel the notion that the Democratic Party has moved left, or that he is in a dominant position to negotiate with the overwhelming winner. It’s not clear why the Biden camp should “give” Sanders anything.

Second, it is good to keep Biden in fighting form, continuing to boost turnout and showing, as he did in Philadelphia, how presidential he is. Biden can pivot to the general election, essentially ignoring Sanders. (His planned speech on the coronavirus is the perfect opportunity to leave Sanders out of the discussion entirely.)....

Whoever is to replace Sanders as the standard-bearer for the left — hopefully someone as smart and wonky as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — will need to learn how to win elections. (Hint: It is not by scaring voters or attaching oneself to the socialist label.) When in office, a new generation of leaders on the left will need to learn the art of deal-making rather than waste years, as Sanders has, rabble-rousing but accomplishing nothing. Unlike Sanders, Warren (or whoever else takes the reins) will not be burdened by a record of reflexively praising dictators nor be driven to attack fellow Democrats.

Sanders will end the race at some point, a diminished figure. In retrospect, his wins in 2016 will be seen more as an anti-Hillary Clinton vote than a pro-Sanders vote. How he behaves at Sunday’s debate will determine whether he leaves a bad taste in the mouths of Democrats.

[Demsrule86]

55. No it isn't...Sanders lost...time to move on. It is over...Sanders needs to go back to the Senate

and do his job.