If there's no way Bernie can win

[hootinholler]

Why are Hillary supporters so adamant about making that claim?



Seems rather defensive to me, like there's some element of fear at play.

[rock]

1. Strawman

We welcome additional candidates.

[hootinholler]

7. Not a strawman just a question

Look at the Bernie threads since yesterday for evidence of those quick to point out how unelectable Bernie is.

[MaggieD]

33. Are we supposed to pretend he is?

I think you'll find the concept that he is a long shot to be pretty common.

[MaggieD]

31. Exactly

Look around on DU. The ONLY group of people bashing ANY candidate are Sanders/Warren supporters.

[rock]

45. I had noticed

Thanks

[merrily]

78. Odd post for someone who called Warren and Obama dishonest, liars, etc.

Warren in this OP and in many posts on this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026560570

Obama in this one http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026577254#post60

Granted Obama is not running in 2016 and Warren has not declared and may never. Nonetheless, it seems you feel that criticism of only one Democrat is forbidden.

[MaggieD]

86. I hope people click that link

Because if the do they will see that I said neither. You seem to make things up nab out what other people posted quite often. Why do you do that?

[merrily]

90. I hope they click as well or just read this post.

realFedUp (24,909 posts)
24. I believe Obama was elected
And the last Senate election dealt with some states with gerimandered disric

Response to realFedUp (Reply #24)

Mon Apr 27, 2015, 09:59 PM

MaggieD (955 posts)
60. LOL - cause he lied and pretended to be a lefty liberal

Is that all you need? Someone who lie to you about be left instead of center left?

[MaggieD]

93. See the LOL there?

That means it's a joke.

Were you at DU during the last primaries? It was the same nastiness by the purists then. Except Obama was the super liberal demigod they worshipped. The were nasty as hell to anyone who was realistic about him and realized he wasn't anything more than he actually turned out to be - center left at best.

So let me be clear. He didn't lie. The purists just aren't very good at knowing the actual politics of the politicians they worship and /or bash.

[morningfog]

2. He can win. Nothing is set in stone, see 2008.

An early upset changes the primary narrative and calculus.

[fadedrose]

3. Reminds me of goofy parents

who say if you don't do as I say, the boogeyman is gonna get you.

Thankfullly, mine didn't do that.

[djean111]

4. Pretty amusing, isn't it?

We do need a Bernie thread, though, before the thread-jacking starts in earnest.

[madokie]

5. I think you got it figured out Hoot

Sometimes I wonder if for every one of us good Democrats we, DU, has about 2 that are DINO's, democrats in name only.

[NCTraveler]

97. lol

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026592890

[mmonk]

6. I'm just glad someone who has the potential to change the debate

in this country away from how the media wants to with many of their fake issues is in.

[Renew Deal]

8. There is no way he can win, but him running is a good thing for many reasons

Last edited Wed Apr 29, 2015, 03:33 PM - Edit history (1)

[KingCharlemagne]

60. What do you base that prediction on? Also, are you referring to the nomination battle or the

General Election?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

9. Well, he'll be running in the Dem primary against her

so it is, of course, in her interest for her and her supporters to tear him down. Doesn't surprise me at all, and it's no more than the same thing happening in the other direction. She doesn't want another 'Obama surprise' to take away from her coronation this time around.

[MaggieD]

29. Seems to me that the only ones tearing down candidates here

.... Are the HRC bashers.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

34. Of course it seems like that to you.

And you've made your thoughts on anyone who doesn't support HRC quite clear in post after post.

[MaggieD]

37. Can you provide some examples of people....

Bashing Sanders? I have not seen any.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

39. I can't provide any examples you can't find for yourself.

I don't 'store' or 'bookmark' comments to use in future arguments. So I'd be using the exact same search functions you would (or maybe fewer if you're a 'star' member and have access to the advanced search that I don't have.).

So feel free to search or not search for such comments as you wish. I'm not going to do it for you.

But I can certainly point out that in re the wording you used 'tearing down candidates' (as opposed to Bernie specifically), there certainly have been plenty of 'Warren bashing' comments onsite. And now that bernie has finally decided to run, I expect such comments against him to become more common too.

[MaggieD]

41. There aren't any people bashing Bernie

The only people bashing Democrats here are the HRC bashers. And you know it.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

51. I see a little here and there of reactionary comments about Bernie, but very few and nothing

like what the HRC bashers do.

We should ALL Be fucking grateful as hell we have so many QUALIFIED AND DECENT PEOPLE running or talking about running

LOOK at the other party, my god people, our people are so vastly superior.

[MaggieD]

52. [phone]

There is just no reason for it

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

89. Actually, in the day since you posted this comment, I've read 3 or 4 Bernie bashing threads.

Now that he's announced that he will be running, they're popping up faster.

[MineralMan]

110. Post links to them, please.

We'll judge for ourselves. Without links, we can't see what you're talking about.

[MADem]

53. I really think you need to come up with a few examples--or risk being disregarded.

Go on and use that search function, since you're apparently "aware" of these examples you have mentioned, you'll be able to find them from remembered discussions.

I've never seen anyone bash Sanders here. I've seen people express a view that his victory is unlikely, but that's not "bashing." You know, not like the sort of "bashing" that would involve, say, making fun of his voice, or his hair, or his spouse, or how much money people are willing to pay him for giving a speech, etc. Or expressing that he "hasn't done enough" in his time in office...you know, that kind of thing. Haven't seen it!

[Art_from_Ark]

75. You yourself have contended on numerous occasions

that Bernie is no better than Nader and would only be a spoiler who would help the Republicans win.

[MaggieD]

88. Got a link for that accusation?

[Art_from_Ark]

103. Are you multiple people posting under the same name and don't know what the others are posting?

Or is your memory about what you post so short?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026577254

[MaggieD]

109. The post you linked to says nothing of the sort

Not even close. SMH.

[Gothmog]

104. That assertion is based on Bernie running as a third party

Bernie is running for the Democratic nomination and not as a third party candidate. Nader was the Green Party Candidate and Nader did cost Al Gore the 2000 election.

Bernie is not Nader and is not running as a third party candidate

[MaggieD]

87. Link?

That's absolutely untrue. Can you support that statement with a link?

[Gothmog]

105. There were some threads a long time back urging Sanders to run as third party candidate

Sanders is running in the Democratic Primary and not as a third party candidate

[FarPoint]

76. I second that!

[Dem2]

10. I don't think Bernie can win

I don't believe he'd win the general election if he won the Democratic primary. That's my opinion.

I'm glad he's in the race, however, as I generally agree with everything he says and would prefer a Bernie or Elizabeth in an ideal world.

[jwirr]

22. Have faith - he has the issues and people all over the country have been listening to him talk

about them for a long time. The economy may be getting better in some ways but he is talking to the rest of us. We need him.

[Maedhros]

56. If everyone who "generally agrees with everything he says" but doesn't think he's electible

actually voted for him, he'd win in a landslide.

[Dem2]

58. I don't know who else will be on the primary ballot

but I'd certainly consider voting for Bernie.

[frylock]

61. funny how that works

[BrotherIvan]

82. If he wins the primary, he wins the general

Jeb will be the Republican nominee. Conservatives hate him and moderates loathe him (just like Rmoney). They fell in line against Obama, but since Sanders jives with a lot of people, they may cross over. Or more importantly, stay home. But Republicans are immaterial in a national presidential election. You have to energize the base to show up and get independents to get off the couch and vote. Maybe a person of his integrity and honest message can do that. We are already seeing signs all over the internet that he can.

[Gothmog]

106. If Bernie is the nominee, I will support him and I will hope that he wins the general

Right now, I am not convinced that Bernie would be a viable general election candidate and I am supporting HRC. Bernie needs to convince a majority of the party to support him in the primary process and I look forward to hearing him explain how he can win in the general.

We can not afford to lose this election. If the GOP controls the White House, we will lose the SCOTUS for a generation. Electabiliy is an important issue in the primary process and I will vote for the candidate in the Democratic primary who I think is most electable

[BrotherIvan]

111. It is almost statistically impossible in the electoral college for a Republican to win

Here is an excellent analysis that I read at the time about "The Blue Wall"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/20/1346224/-GOP-Columnist-The-VERY-Bad-News-FOR-THE-GOP-in-the-GOP-s-Midterm-Victory

?1416509181

The Blue Wall is a block of states that no Republican Presidential candidate can realistically hope to win. On Election Day that block added New Hampshire to its number and Virginia is shifting At the outset of any Presidential campaign, a minimally effective Democratic candidate can expect to win 257 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win. If Virginia joins New Hampshire that number will be 270 out of 270.

To win a GOP candidate has to win all nine “tossup” state and one solidly Blue state. Thus, in the next, and into the foreseeable future, Presidential elections will be decided in the Democratic Primary. What are the chances that a Republican candidate capable of appealing to the increasingly right wing GOP will appeal to enough Democrats to win in tossup and Blue states?

This is so important for people to understand, I might make an OP out of it.

[Gothmog]

112. The Democratic Blue Wall requires a viable and competitive candidate

I am very familiar with the Democratic Blue Wall and the analysis behind that grouping. In each of the races where the Democrats have won states behind the blue wall, we had a competitive canidate who either spent more than the GOP candidate (Obama in 2008) or a similiar amount as the GOP candidate (Gore 2000, Kerry 2004 and Obama 2012). The swing states were blue because the Democratic candidate was viable and could match the funding of the GOP candidate.

Very few of these states behind the Democratic blue wall are locks so that anyone with a D behind their name are assured of winning. In each of the elections where the blue wall came into play, we have well financed candidates who were otherwise viable. Sanders will need to raise over a billion dollars to be competitive given that the GOP will spend atleast that and the Koch Brothers are spending $889 mllion.

Right now several of the states in the list of blue states have GOP governors and so a democratic victory in these states is not a lock. The Democratic blue wall is not magic and even now Nate Silvers rates Hillary Clinton as being 50/50 in winning in 2016 even given her funding advantage. If we run somone who can not compete with the GOP candidate, the blue wall will not save that candidate

[gollygee]

11. It's impossible to say this early in the game who can win

I remember a great number of people saying Obama couldn't win 8 years ago. Maybe even the majority of people at DU. No one knows at this point.

Even if he doesn't get that far, he'll drive the discussions to the left. I don't see any negative to him running at all. I might very well vote for him. (I wait a long time to decide.)

[think]

12. issues & actions are the things that should matter /nt

[Enthusiast]

13. There is a large element of fear at play.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL] [URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[MaggieD]

35. Fear of what?

[AtomicKitten]

59. Clinton surrogates have argued for no primary election and going straight to coronation.

Both Chuck Schumer and Howard Dean have sung the praises of no primary. The Clinton campaign is hedging their bets by announcing their plan to spend $100 million in the primary and $2.5 billion overall, an embrace of Citizens United that is gag-worthy in a not too subtle attempt to dissuade competition.

It appears the thought of Hillary being annihilated in debates by Bernie, a genuine progressive and truth-teller, has some Clinton supporters anxious. However, they can be expected to continue to pat Bernie on the head dismissively up until his candidacy blossoms into a perceived actual threat. That's when the gloves will come off and we will see an election in which no card remains unplayed by Clinton surrogates, and we know how nicely that worked out for her before.

[Enthusiast]

66. I'm with you.

[brooklynite]

14. Pssst...this is a political blog. We talk about politics here.

PS - would you like me to count the number of posts that say Clinton will lose in November? Pretty defensive, don't you think?

[JaneyVee]

15. Because they are telling the truth.

[onehandle]

16. I'm glad he's in and I hope there are more.

Free advertising and presentation of our ideas and ideals.

Most of the definitive fear based predictions I see are about Hillary losing.

'Hillary will lose the primary to a liberal'

'Hillary will lose in the general, and we'll have a teabagger President'

Repeated over and over and over, by a few.

[L0oniX]

17. Corporatists want to win ...no surprise.

[NCTraveler]

98. I hope Sanders wants to win.

Kind of foolish for him to not want to.

[blkmusclmachine]

18. +1

[MineralMan]

19. Discussions about who can or cannot win an election are

not at all unusual on DU. Many people have the opinion that Senator Sanders is an extreme long shot for the Democratic nomination. There are many reasons to think that. You'll see people explaining those reasons on DU until the primaries are over.

It's not a matter of being adamant. It's a matter of observation of political campaigns.

Personally, I welcome all candidates in the Democratic primaries. The more, the better the discussion and clarification of positions. So far, I don't have a candidate in the primaries. I'll be watching and listening.

[Recursion]

20. 1980

Primary candidate forces establishment pol to the left, opponent gets clobbered for it in the General.

HRC is not an incumbent, so some of that argument doesn't apply, but the basic algebra is that every primary voter she has to move left to pick up represents two general election voters she alienates by that

Yes, yes, I know: DU believes the electorate is more liberal than the party apparatus thinks. But if the question is why HRC supporters care, it's that.

[jeff47]

43. Yes, Carter presiding over an economic downturn and high interest rates had

nothing at all to do with it. And the Iranian hostage situation didn't at all play into Reagan's campaign. It was all Ted Kennedy's fault.



So which evil liberal killed Al Gore's campaign? Nader? If that's true, why did more registered Democrats in FL vote for W than vote for Nader? And why did Gore do very badly in many blue-leaning purple states?

You're a conservative Democrat. Own it instead of trying to blame liberals for the failures of conservative Democratic ideology.

[Recursion]

44. Bradley

So which evil liberal killed Al Gore's campaign? Nader?

No, Bradley, and probably Feinstein.

[jeff47]

47. I said liberal. You listed two conservatives. (nt)

[LondonReign2]

46. Bingo

"Own it instead of trying to blame liberals for the failures of conservative Democratic ideology."

Whenever the right wing of the Democratic party falls on its face they attempt to blame liberals. No amount of evidence will ever convince them otherwise.

[Marr]

65. So true. When they win, it's proof that they're great.

When they lose, it's proof that we're awful.

[Fumesucker]

80. You are leaving out Republican treachery in that 1980 scenario

The Reagan campaign conspired with the Iranians to hold the embassy hostages until Reagan took office.

[Geronimoe]

21. No one can predict who will win

At this time in the 2008 election, Hillary was the inevitable candidate and what a surprise she and pundits, taking heads and media got in the first primary in Iowa.

[LordGlenconner]

57. Yeah I hear that a lot

And it's true. She was way ahead. Thing is, Bernie Sanders is not Obama when it comes to campaigning. He's not the fundraising juggernaut either. Think about what it took for Obama to knock Hillary off her perch during the 2008 race, assuming you actually followed the race, and ask yourself if Bernie is capable of doing that.

This is not a question of whether or not he should run, or his value as a candidate. But rather, what are the chances he can catch lighting like Obama's campaign did.

They are at or near zero.

Point being, beware of low-lying fruit comparisons of apples and oranges.

[Romulox]

23. Hillary has already failed to "seal the deal" in a very real way. So she feels vulnerable. nt

[deutsey]

24. I like Bernie (and have for many years now)

However, I do think our political establishment is set up in a such a way that the odds are stacked against him winning a general election. It is even more stacked against him having a successful presidency if he did.

I'll be very happy to be proved wrong, however.

Even if I'm right, I still think his candidacy is important in that his political perspective needs to be included in the debate.

[Orsino]

25. They fear competition and scrutiny.

It would be much easier to climb aboard the money train, to fall in line, to cheer when commended.

Politics is messy, though. It's SUPPOSED to be messy. I have little doubt that Sec. Clinton will win the nomination, but hope at least that other candidates can force more progressive commitments from her campaign.

She says she's here to listen, which implies a willingness to change. Those are good things that we shouldn't fear.

[Chipper Chat]

26. Our local right-wing newspaper has been running anti-Hillary cartoons every day for a year.

They are totally committed to derailing her. I would giggle if Bernie became the nominee and they would walk around the office in a twit saying "look at all that wasted effort."

[NorthCarolina]

27. Bernie scares the Oligarchs. A tidal wave of public support for Sanders

could spell the undoing of almost a century of their subterfuge.

[MaggieD]

28. You don't have to be a Clinton supporter to realize that

I'd be more than happy to be wrong, but I don't think he stands a chance. I guess time will tell.

[darkangel218]

30. They probably think that if they keep saying it it will come true! Lmao!

[procon]

32. Until he raises enough money to be competitive,

the question of "winning" isn't even a viable issue. He's made a point of renouncing corporate cash, so what's his alternative plan for raising the $1-$2 billion the top tier contenders will need?

He's only polling in the single digits, so very few people are even aware of him, and of those, how many will give him money, and would that be enough to fund his ground game in all 50 states?

[LondonReign2]

48. See: Obama, 2007

[procon]

50. OK, that wasn't my question, but lets do a brief recap:

There is no comparison to be made.

Obama was a well known national figure for Democrats ever since his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. As a Senator, his nationwide polling was in the upper 40th percentile even before he announced his candidacy for President of the United States in Feb 2007, rivaling the front runners in both parties. In the same time frame, Sanders still hasn't even started an Exploratory Committee as a presidential candidate, and remains a virtual unknown to voters outside his home state, polling only in single digits.

Look at the FEC reports and you'll find that in the 2nd quarter of 2007, comparable to today, Obama had already pulled in open $33 million contributions. Sanders has no money, and until he actually files the paperwork, he can't even accept donations to run a presidential campaign.

Sanders doesn't have any field organization, but in this same time frame, Obama, for instance, had deployed grassroots teams with staff working the phones in a network of field offices. He had 37 field offices in Iowa alone.

While I wish him, and all the other Democratic candidates, the best, Sanders faces some real, serious challenges, and a reasonable person should be asking how he plans to overcome these hurdles in order to run a serious campaign as a top tier contender instead of just being another show horse that also ran.

[Exilednight]

83. Which Senator gave a speech that was viewed to the point of crashing a website?

A. Clinton

B. Obama

C. Sanders

D. All of the above.

E. None of the above.

[procon]

94. OK, I'll explain.

When a website gets a surge of traffic it can bring the site down, but that is a failure of management, not load.

Look, the domain owner (let's call him Team Bernie) hires someone to build his website, setting the cost parameters according to his budget. Most domain owners are shortsighted and don't understand what a valuable tool the Internet is, so they tend to go cheap. With a low budget, this means the IT department has to buy the lower cost hosting packages with a limited bandwidth that don't allow for server expansion during periods of peak server load like the popular speech you reference.

Team Bernie gambled that he could get by with a limited server capacity, and that failure resulted in his website problems. Had he contracted with experienced IT professionals for top notch web design, they knew how to manage rapid load changes on web servers, so that problem would have been intercepted on the fly, handled seamlessly on the backend, and the website would continue to function normally.

[Exilednight]

100. Let me explain. It wasn't team Bernie, it was the

Official Senate website. I'm pretty sure they can handle massive amounts of traffic.

[stevenleser]

36. I'm not making that claim. Despite protestations otherwise I don't think winning is his plan.

His plan, in my humble opinion, is to modify the conversation of the campaign as much as possible by making a strong argument for progressive positions.

This is why, as a Hillary supporter and self described pragmatic progressive, I welcome him to the campaign.

To any extent that he moves the needle on the public preferring progressive positions on the issues, I am totally in support of that.

For her part, Hillary gets to seem moderate and when general election time comes its impossible for Republicans to paint her as an extreme liberal.

Of course, no candidate can say that winning isn't their plan if they hope anyone will listen to them. That's despite the fact that some folks now and historically have been running for the Vice Presidential position or to simply improve their name recognition for various other reasons.

[MaggieD]

38. I agree

Good analysis.

[Hutzpa]

40. Image does matter

I know Bernie is not running to gain the support of DU members alone, but to win the support of the populace on a larger scale.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

42. The one I've heard is he's too old.

[winter is coming]

62. He's clearly in command of his wits, so I'm not seeing that as very persuasive.

His age might be a good argument to take a close look at his VP, but that should be true for any Presidential candidate.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

63. It depends on his getting the young people excited.

[winter is coming]

68. I think his ideas will likely do that. Time will tell. n/t

[Spitfire of ATJ]

70. I think he needs to be presented as the next FDR and Teddy combined.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

67. Bob Dole is still kicking around despite all of the "Bob Dole is so old,.." jokes.

[Orrex]

49. The same red herring was posed when Kucinich ran in the past

And the answer once again is "he truly seems to stand very little chance of success."

Don't get me wrong--I would LOVE to see Sanders take the Whitehouse, and I would vote for him in a heartbeat. I just don't think that it's realistic to expect him to win, and my assessment isn't based on defensiveness or fear.


His commendable history as a "democratic socialist" will be used as a pile-driver to bludgeon his campaign every minute of every hour between winning the primary and the general election. He will be decried as a communist with "foreign" ideas, and he will be attacked for not being a real American. His brother's former candidacy for the Green Party in the UK will be offered as proof of this, as will Bernie's own praise of Scandinavian-style socialism.

His age will be a factor. The same pundits who adore "maverick" John McCain will claim that Sanders is too old, and they'll claim it constantly. They'll imply that his health is questionable, and they'll suggest that he's not fit to serve as President.

His heritage will be a factor, especially as it pertains to his less than cozy relationship with Bibi and Likud. In addition to supposed problems involving "our greatest ally," he'll have to face the idiocy of anti-Semitism. Not a major factor in Vermont, perhaps, but the nation as a whole has a large population of haters.

His politics will be a major factor. For most Americans, self-identifying as a "democratic socialist" is tantamount to growing a Stalin mustache and instituting a pogrom. Bernie's unparalleled record of social responsibility notwithstanding, he would be identified as "the Socialist Candidate" in every media outlet until Nov 2016, probably by saying "74 year old Socialist Bernie Sanders spoke in Poughkeepsie, and..."

They will also claim that his career spent representing the tiny state of Vermont hasn't prepared him for the Whitehouse, and he'll be slammed for being out of touch with the values of mainstream America.

And that's all before we even get into the reality of Hillary's massive warchest and support structure already built.


I admire everything about Sanders, and I've never disagreed with a single political statement I've heard from him, but I simply don't think it's realistic to expect him to win.

[Zorra]

54. The Third Way would greatly prefer a republican President rather than a liberal democrat

like Bernie Sanders as President.

Like republicans, the Third Way will do whatever they possibly can to derail his campaign.

Bernie is a genuine democratic threat to corporate control of government.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

64. Years ago I heard that DC wants the choice to be between Authoritarian Right and Libertarian Right.

[DonCoquixote]

55. I do not care if

we had 100 percent veracity from God that bernie would not win the Democratic nomination. If nothing else, he inocoluates Hillary against the idea that she had no opposition. He will also keep Hillary honest, or as is said of her former boss: "hold the feet to the fire."

You know damned well Erskine Bowles is trying to apply pressure, he wants all our social sec checks to pay fopr tax breaks, despite being a democrat.

[Aerows]

69. He's got my vote in the primary

I'll do everything possible to help him be the nominee and eventually the President.

[hifiguy]

71. Things that make you scratch your head and say 'hmmmmm."

They're scared of someone from the Democratic wing of the Democratic party (as opposed to the Turd Way corporatist wing). Why else?

[Warren Stupidity]

72. Seriously what else have they got?

[Fumesucker]

81. About $2.5 billion I'm told...

[Exilednight]

84. That's what they want, but they don't have it. I find it

Absolutely disgusting that it takes that kind of money to run for a job that doesn't even pay 1/1000 of that.

Whoever says democracy is not for sail has never seen US politics.

[NCTraveler]

99. Kind of funny, as it is up for sale as well. Both seem to be correct. nt.

[Zorra]

73. kick

[bhikkhu]

74. I don't think Bernie can win, but he can certianly influence the policy debate

I'd much rather have election year a competition on who can be most clear about objectives toward income equality and social justice than who we should bomb, or how we're going to defeat "terror".

[NanceGreggs]

77. Ah, Jesus Hussein Christ.

Yet another "Hillary supporters are adamant, on the defensive, and live in fear" OP.

Discussing the electability of ANY candidate is par for the course at this point in the process, and will be for many months to come.

"Rather defensive - element of fear at play ..."

Cue up the creepy music and

[hootinholler]

92. It's always a pleasure when you show up

It brings out the masochist in me.

[Gothmog]

108. Good post

We are in the primary process now and we need to pick the strongest candidate for the general. I like Bernie Sanders and admire him but I do not think that he is the strongest general election candidate

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

79. Because they still believe that "Not As Bad" is the path to victory..however hollow.

[Gothmog]

85. I like and admire Bernie but I doubt that he can raise the funds necessary to win a general

The Kochs will spend almost $900 million in this race and the RNC and its allies will be spending a similar amount. I doubt that Bernie could raise the funds necessary to compete

[underahedgerow]

91. Mr. Sanders doesn't scare anyone, he's too nice a guy. But he'll be an 'also ran'

in the primaries. And when the general election happens, it's fairly logical to think that he could be a strong write in candidate.

He's a nice guy, but he's not Presidential material.

[NCTraveler]

95. Hillary supporter here. Never made that claim. nt.

[NCTraveler]

96. My heart goes out to the poor little Sanders supporters here.

Myself included. We are just so overwhelmed with Clinton supporters. lol.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026592890

[hrmjustin]

101. It is unlikely he will win the general or primary.

Not being defensive but realistic.

[libdem4life]

102. Just means we've got a Horse Race and a Primary...Go Bernie !!!

He is very effective. I've just recently come to understand who he is, and I thank DU for that. I never was quite on the Hillary bandwagon, but Bernie I could get excited for and social media and the internet are adding methods to get out the word that weren't there in other elections. I think Obama rode the wave of social media. Wasn't that involved at that time.

[Adrahil]

107. Well, I'll see you at the convention and we'll compare notes.

If I am wrong, i will eat crow. But I don't think that will happen.