DNC panel adopts rule requiring candidates to run, serve as a Democrat

[Jim Lane]

73. Apparently, though, not interesting enough for you to read it with any care.

Your whole first paragraph, hectoring me about the 2016 general election, ignores the distinction that I drew. Bernie ran in the 2016 primaries; after the convention, he endorsed Clinton, and the overwhelming majority of his supporters (including your humble servant) voted for her. As should have been obvious, I was talking about a hypothetical election in which Bernie might not be allowed to run.

Then you go on at length about how bad Trump is. Duh, that’s exactly why I think the Democratic Party needs to prioritize winning, as opposed to those who would prioritize their unquenchable hatred of Bernie Sanders.

You write:

Now it is threats? 2020 coming up and you say hundreds of thousands will withold their vote for a true Democrat if the DNC says a Independent running as a Dem they need to run in our party as a Democrat and STAY a Democrat once elected.

No, it’s not threats. It’s a prediction. It’s rather elementary logic that I can predict something will happen without endorsing it. The subject of my prediction is a possible 2020 race from which Bernie Sanders is excluded by rule, before a single vote is cast, and regardless of how much support he has from people who don’t share the popular DU preoccupation with party labels. Condemn those people’s choice all you want – that’s your right – but that’s different from saying that no one will make that choice. My prediction is that an exclusion of that sort would alienate many voters and would therefore make it harder to defeat Trump (or whomever the Republicans nominate).

You write:

Well the DNC is part of our Democratic Party. We decide what is best for us. Join it or not.

I registered to vote as soon as I was eligible. I registered as a Democrat. Every time I’ve moved, I’ve registered at my new location pretty quickly, and always as a Democrat. This is my party, too, and I have as much right as any other Democrat to offer my opinion about what my party should do. Yes, "We decide," and I am part of the We.