Facing Likely Defeat, Bernie Sanders' Campaign Found A New Cause

[TexasTowelie]

After Bernie Sanders suffered three straight weeks of big losses across the country, the Vermont Senator returned home to "assess his campaign."

It appeared, in that moment, that Sanders' campaign was all but over. He trailed former Vice President Joe Biden by about 300 delegates and was facing calls to drop out. The conventional wisdom in political circles was that Biden would effectively wrap up the nomination by the end of March.

But the coronavirus outbreak has largely put the presidential race on hold, with most upcoming primaries postponed and all in-person campaigning cancelled. The immediate political focus has shifted to stopping the pandemic and offering financial relief to struggling Americans. And in this moment, Sanders voice and vision seem to have had a resurgence.

His allies and supporters are convinced that, as the crisis has unfolded and the country suffers from record unemployment, the issues that the Vermont senator has long touted, like income inequality and "Medicare for All," will force the country to have a reckoning about its financial and healthcare systems. In other words, they're convinced the crisis is resuscitating Sanders' agenda.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/29/822749003/facing-likely-defeat-bernie-sanders-campaign-found-a-new-cause

[UncleNoel]

1. I think thenew cause is another lost cause. No way, Bernie.

[NurseJackie]

6. Italy has single-payer, right?

Or am I thinking of some other country?

[Magoo48]

8. Are you saying universal healthcare and income inequality are lost causes?

[George II]

9. He should be attempting to get these things done by building a coalition in the SENATE and....

...getting it passed there and the House.

A president doesn't introduce legislation, Senators and Representatives do.

The underlying question is why this hasn't been accomplished by him already during the near 30 years he's been a legislator.

[The Magistrate]

15. One Suspects What He Is Saying, Sir

Is that 'Bernie' cannot deliver these things as enacted law, no matter how much he runs his mouth about them, and how virulently he slangs people who do not hail him as leader of the liberal and progressive cause.

Further, on the basis of how 'Bernie' behaved in 2016, there is every reason to believe his continued jihad against the 'Democratic Establishment' will aid the cause of Trump's re-election (one shudders to write the words), as in 2016 it certainly aided the creature's campaign. Many people accordingly see 'Bernie' as a positive menace to liberal and progressive hopes, since continuation of Trump in office and McConnell in control of the Senate will set back progressive hopes for a generation. This moves many to active anger when 'Bernie' runs his mouth about things they desire because they understand that whatever 'Bernie' may say, what 'Bernie' does works against their hopes.





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[UncleNoel]

18. Yeah, I mean his continuing to think he could win is a lost cause, not his policies.

But Magistrate put it well about the practicality angle.

[Demsrule86]

16. Bernie is a lost cause...not the message but the messenger...he was crushed and will never

win enough delegates at this point...all he can do is help Trump if he stays in.

[UncleNoel]

19. Right!

[zonkers]

21. "They" are saying anything that disparages Bernie. It's a cult.

[madaboutharry]

2. I don't agree with this argument at all.

I don't think that is what is going on. In my opinion, what is really going on is that Bernie is stubborn to a fault and is having difficulty processing the fact that he is never going to be President of The United States. The End.

[The Magistrate]

3. Patent Idiocy, Sir

The people are not going to turn to 'Bernie' for leadership in a crisis.

What 'Bernie' claims as 'his' is actually common parlance of Democratic voters and officials. He holds no copyright on concern over inequality and expansion of health care coverage.

People see clearly he is incompetent to secure such things for them within our existing political system. He reads to the great preponderance of people as a blow-hard , a man who sells wolf tickets he could never cover. No one turns to such a person for leadership, particularly not in a crisis such as pandemic plague.





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[The Magistrate]

4. And By The Way, Sir --- 'Likely' Defeat Understates The Case Considerable

Without a snowball's chance in Hell is far closer to the mark....

[TwilightZone]

5. It's not a new cause. It's the same one.

And it's pretty clear that people aren't paying much attention to it outside of his die-hard supporters. People in general are more concerned about whether or not they and their loved ones are going to live through this pandemic than they are whether his mythical health plan would have helped.

[The Magistrate]

7. Very True, Sir

"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[Laelth]

10. His agenda, perhaps.

His campaign, not so much. From my perspective.



-Laelth

[marble falls]

11. Just another form of crisis exploitation. It will not work. The blame is on Trump ...

not the system.

[Aquaria]

12. Typical straw-grasping

M4A isn’t selling, because a certain bloviating Senator who screeches the loudest for it has yet to get off his ass to come up with a detailed plan, craft the legislation built upon it, worked with any of his colleagues to get it passed or to get it signed.

And never mind getting it done in time to make any difference before the dead are shoveled into mass graves.

People want workable solutions now, not empty, unrealistic promises that will never go anywhere if they’re depending on BS to get them done.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

13. If the U.S. rallies to the drumbeat of Single-Payer, it won't be because of Bernie.

It might be because the list of covid-19 dead's names dwarfs the list at the Vietnam Memorial wall.

It will take a giant shock to get to 60 votes in the Senate, and to overcome the wave of medical-insurance-pharma lobbying dollars that will sweep up some number of house members.

I hope the virus is stopped before the list gets that big.

[ucrdem]

14. Ralph Nader meets Alex Jones.

That Lancaster business was frankly disgusting.

[hay rick]

17. Sad that he is hanging on.

He competed and he lost. The middle of a crisis is poor time to be saying I told you so. That may salve his wounded ego, but it will not advance the causes he has promoted.

[TomCADem]

20. Whatever the question, BS Thinks He Is The Answer

How long before he quotes Trump and says, “I alone can fix things?”

[George II]

22. Where was Sanders when the ACA was being written and final details negotiated?