"Owning Our Shit" (warning, lots of salty language).

[BainsBane]

56. Your wishful thinking doesn't constitute evidence

Because Clinton lost doesn't mean Bernie would have won. Yes, he prioritizes white male votes, but Democrats can't win without the voters of color that did not support him in the primary. During the primary, Bernie had no turn out operation to encourage marginalized people to vote. In fact, Weaver called grassroots organizing for GOTV "machine politics." That tells me they wouldn't have done it in the general. Because Democratic voters are poorer, it takes considerable effort to get them to the polls. Bernie and Weaver were philosophically opposed to that. They instead devoted resources to a huge amount of corporate media buys. That tells me they would have been extremely unlikely to win.

Now I get that Bernie and a number his supporters think votes from groups that traditionally vote Republican matter more than than Democratic voters, whom he disparaged a number of times in his campaign. I disagree, and that attitude was one reason that he would have had a difficult time attracting the principal Democratic voter groups, like African Americans. His voting record on immigration is also highly problematic.

Then there is the fact that the same voter restrictions that limited the franchise would have been in place regardless of the mandate, and those states proved determinative in this election. He would have also carried the party label of the incumbent president, which I should not have to remind you is an extremely difficult bar to reach. Truman was the last Democrat elected in those circumstances. Bernie also had a 30 yr history in DC, has actually been in government longer than Clinton, which many don't realize since he doesn't approach her level of accomplishment. He's far from an outsider. He is rather a Senator who can count among his successes one Veterans bill and getting 2-3 post offices named. Then there is the fact the chasm between his rhetoric and record is great. He spent the primary condemning policies he had voted for. Now I understand some voters make a point of never looking at voting records, but the GOP would have pointed that out to them in ads.

The Opp file the GOP had on him is two feet thick. Clinton used NONE of it during the primary. While there is nothing particularly socialist about his ideas, he calls himself one. If you don't think that would have been a problem, you don't know what country you're living in. A large number of voters said in exit polls that they thought the government was too liberal for them.

It is entirely possible Trump would have won with an even greater margin of victory against Sanders.

That you assume that since Clinton lost Bernie would have won is entirely devoid of logic.