Bernie Sanders Campaign Isnt Over

[Sunlei]

Last edited Fri Aug 4, 2017, 04:31 PM - Edit history (2)

Bernie Sanders’s Presidential race ended a year ago, but his campaign never did. Since the election, he has staged events in Michigan, Mississippi, Maine, West Virginia, Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Montana, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, and Illinois. At every one, he speaks about the suffering of small-town Americans, and his belief that the Democrats can help them. When I caught up with him recently, his shirt was a little untucked, his head hung down, and he carried a printed copy of his remarks. Sanders was catching a late-night flight to Chicago, and was taking a moment to record a message for Snapchat. The central illusion of a Presidential campaign is that a candidate can, through constant motion and boundless energy, meet countless people and, in the end, give voice to the experience of the country. After the election, Sanders seemed to adopt the illusion as an ethos.

Hillary Clinton’s loss gave his efforts a new urgency. The electoral map, with its imposing swaths of red, pointed to a crisis confronting American liberalism. Donald Trump may have lost the popular vote, but, as he likes to point out, he won 2,626 counties to Clinton’s four hundred and eighty-seven. Many of these counties are in states that Sanders won last year, campaigning on a platform of economic populism—Medicare for all, tuition-free college, and a fifteen-dollar minimum wage. Sanders told me that Trump was smart enough to understand that the Democratic Party had turned its back on millions of people: “He said, ‘Hey, I hear you. I’m going to do something for you.’ And he lied.” Sanders, who is seventy-five, may be too old to run again in 2020, but his barnstorming has a purpose—to deepen the connection to progressive ideas in rural America, to develop an attachment that might outlast him. At recent events, one of his biggest applause lines was that the “Republicans did not win the election so much as Democrats lost it.” Progressives do not have much of a foothold in this country. What they have is Bernie Sanders

For decades, Sanders has argued for a single-payer health-care system, and he is getting ready to introduce a “Medicare for All” bill in the Senate. This summer, however, he assigned himself the task of leading the campaign against efforts, by Republicans in the House and the Senate, to repeal the Affordable Care Act. On the Sunday after the Fourth of July, as Senate Republicans prepared to release their bill, Sanders took a charter flight from Burlington to West Virginia and Kentucky, for a pair of hastily arranged rallies. He and his staff had chosen states whose Republican senators were pivotal in the health-care debate. Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, the Majority Leader, was shepherding the bill toward a vote without any public hearings. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, and Shelley Moore Capito, of West Virginia, were indicating that they might vote against it.

Sanders talked about the Senate bill’s likely effects in McConnell’s home state. “How do you throw two hundred and thirty thousand people off the health care they have without hesitation?” he asked. “It happens because the Democratic Party is incredibly weak in states like Kentucky. And so he doesn’t have to face the wrath of the voters.” But it wasn’t just the Democrats who were absent in Kentucky, he said; it was also a balanced press. “In many of these conservative states, you get a media that is all right wing.” One purpose of his visit, he said, was to generate local coverage, so that he could explain to ordinary people “what’s in the bloody legislation.”


http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/07/bernie-sanders-campaign-isnt-over

[LovesPNW]

1. I sometimes get the feeling -

- that Bernie is the only one who really cares about regular people - Warren and others are also very considerate towards regular folk, but Bernie is so energetically pursuing the resolution of the problems that befall regular working families.

What an inspiration!

[Trial_By_Fire]

2. Well said...!

[Sunlei]

3. He's right, in these red states, the thousands of counties all the locals hear is RW medias.

Perhaps D party can open basic message boards, a system easy for American locals to ask questions and get answers.

Message board not connected to any news or social media sites like facebook or twitter.

[BainsBane]

5. How does campaigning when there is no election accomplish that?

Resolution of problems happens through legislation, not campaigns.

He's signed on to the bill on Medicare for All that John Conyers wrote, and that's great. But Conyers wrote that without appearing on cameras. He has introduced on the first day of every congress for years now.
Yet you and others seem entirely disinterested in that.

[LovesPNW]

7. Actually, there is an election ..

2018 ...

Furthermore, while I am personally appreciative and supportive of Rep Conyers, I think that making one's self available to the voting public, and speaking DIRECTLY to them, creates a stronger relationship between the policies that are being promoted and the general population, who could very well be just as inspired as Bernie AND Conyers are to support those policies ...

I don't think that sitting inside the castle walls, hidden in a deep basement, writing legislation is a particularly inspirational method of communicating with regular citizens ...

Insularity is no virtue ...

[BainsBane]

18. Sanders election in 2018 is in VT

How many seats can he run for at once? Most states have residency laws, and his only current FEC registration is for his VT Senate seat. Even so, it's a long way off from 2018. Even before this the US had the longest, and thus most expensive, campaigns in the world. Our elections were already the most expensive in the world. Extending campaigns only increases the cost and with it the role of money in the political process.

I think making oneself available to constituents is important. That's what town halls are for.
Rallies do nothing of the sort. They are spectator events. This whole phenomenon appeals to a conception of politics as entertainment, with politicians as celebrities or heroes rather than public servants elected to do a job.

Conyers has town halls. Yet you assume that because they aren't featured on corporate broadcast media, he is hiding from the public, as though nothing exists apart from your television screen.

[Me.]

27. Yes & Double Yes

[LisaM]

30. You're exactly right. When Bernie was in Washington and Oregon in 2016, he had 4 rallies in 10 days

They were all within a few hours drive of each other, they were all exactly the same (except, yeah, I know, a bird landed on the podium in Portland), they drew many of the same people, and they were all basically held in college towns. In fact, it emerged later that they were people who went all over the country and went to all these rallies.

I wasn't a fan of the big rally when Obama did it, and I certainly wasn't a fan of them in 2016. Better to have those town halls and one-on-one interviews and just be a little more boots on the ground. That doesn't play all that well for TV sound bites, though.

[snowy owl]

46. Who cares really? Why question the efforts of a unifier?

He's out there trying to turn red states bluer. I applaud the mission he's committed himself to. I haven't seen any evidence that he only attracts Democrats at all. I think that's assuming a lot.

[betsuni]

64. +1

[aikoaiko]

17. You bring up a good point.

Conyers' has been an ally of Medicare for All for a long time but has not had garnered the resources to promote it.

Resolution of problems happens through legislation, true, but transformative legislation needs a campaign just as much as a candidate.

The more people talk about and support Medicare for All, the more likely our lawmakers will vote accordingly.

Or we can just use this as an opportunity to put down Bernie.

[BainsBane]

31. I'd love to see Bernie convince Ryan and McConnel to bring the bill up for a vote

And even use his powers of persuasion to get some Republicans to vote for it. If the goal is to pass it, rather than an opportunity to heap more adulation on Bernie, I would think the focus would be on how to do that.

I tend to think, however, that launching a campaign for the bill by declaring both the GOP and the Democrats as the opposition is unlikely to yield results. I find it a particularly strange declaration given the bill's author is one of those Democrats previously dismissed as the "establishment." I fail to understanding how telling one's followers that legislators who actually support the bill are standing in its way facilitates passage at all. Since coalitions are essential to passing any legislation, I don't understand how starting by attacking the very people who have to vote for the bill furthers the cause of Medicare for All.

But then of course, if the bill or issue were what mattered most, we'd see that as the focus in discussions like these. We do not.

Bernie is just a politician. There are lots of politicians. Some I like better than others. Some I dislike. The problem is a pubic for whom a man means more than self-government, citizens, or the law. Bernie is only one manifestation of that tendency, and not the most troubling. Bernie will eventually drop from national prominence, but the public will continue to manifest monarchist-like attitudes toward men who should be treated as public servants. That is what disturbs me because I fear it points to the demise of American democracy.

I can't imagine citizens, a few decades ago, patrolling their neighbors speech for signs of inadequate fealty toward a politician, even a president. It now happens continually. For some, that is the entirely of their engagement in political discussions.

[pandr32]

35. Well stated!

[aikoaiko]

37. Let me address what you wrote in case you were interested in a dialogue.

If you want Republicans, especially Ryan, to capitulate, then you need public pressure from purplish and reddish-purplish states. Bernie does well in those states or with those audiences.

I think Bernie is traversing a narrow path of reminding Democrats of their past failures even though they support Medicare for All in principle. It's his way of holding them accountable. There are plenty of Democrats willing to pat each other on the back for co-sponsoring a bill that hasn't passed before. I welcome Bernie's alternative approach.

Yes, Bernie is a politician. I think I understand what you're saying, but I have seen no one say that Bernie means more than self-government, citizens, or the law. I welcome your examples if you have any. What I think you're saying is that personalities sometimes take precedence over issues. As long as the issues I care about are being promoted and addressed, I can live with a little personality.

And I suspect you're OK with this to an extent because we saw a lot of this with primary candidate Clinton, too. Think about the slogan, "I'm with her" where the H is the Hillary Arrow. Or Team H>. I don't recall you ever complaining about that monarchist-like attitude from the actual candidate's campaign. At least there is some equivalence across genders on this issue.

My point is that when people say I stand with Bernie or I'm with H>er, is that the person or personality is a metaphor for the issues and how they are addressing them.

I really don't know what your last paragraph is talking about. Perhaps some examples would help me.

[NastyRiffraff]

40. Excellent post!

Especially the last paragraph. I've had people angry at me simply because I said I don't like Bernie Sanders. I didn't say I wished him ill; I didn't say nobody should like him. I merely expressed my opinion and got called everything from a bitch to a slut.

I don't like or trust Bernie Sanders, but I really REALLY dislike some of his supporters. Especially the ones who deify him. (Remember the bird?)

[aikoaiko]

43. Yes, I remember Bernie's bird.

I also remember the allusion to the Sun God (-dess). If you Google Sun God images you'll see that image occurs across cultures and time.



Some people adore their preferred candidates because of the issues and leadership. I understand that is annoying when we see these things about candidates who oppose our own candidates, but it's not uncommon when someone represents transformative change.

[snowy owl]

48. Thanks, aiko. Well said and intellectually sound.

[Ken Burch]

24. In the current Congress, no positive legislation is possible.

Until we can flip at least one house, what's the point of focusing exclusively on the legislative process? Other than fighting defensive battles-something Sanders has done as much as anybody-no gains are possible..

No one on our side of the aisle is going to get anything passed until at least 2019.

We need to be out not only registering and re-registering voters, our project also needs to be about building broad public support for change.

Without rallies like this, how can we do that?

[JCanete]

38. okay, and so what. How far has any of that gotten? Conyers has offered up a bill in relative

Last edited Fri Aug 4, 2017, 04:59 PM - Edit history (1)

obscurity over and over. Dems, to say nothing of republicans, haven't needed to be on record for or against it because the public hasn't really known about it, and thus not given a shit. It is puzzling to me that you are actually happy that Conyers keeps introducing it without the cameras there. Just think about what you're saying. I like that he's doing it, but the cameras SHOULD BE THERE...NEED TO BE THERE. Otherwise, if a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to here it, does it actually make a sound?

For all of the things that you might hate Sanders for, he is uniquely situated as an unabashedly liberal voice who through some perseverance and a fluke of circumstance, has massive visibility. Why shouldn't that be used to promote things like Medicare for All to the American public. Isn't that exactly what we want our politicians with visibility to do? Promote the good stuff? Why on earth would you want him to shut up when it comes to this?

The campaigning is where the pressure comes from. If you don't get people to want something, how do you get legislation that affects corporate bottom lines passed? The answer my friend, is that you do not. Any attempted narrative to the contrary is just blowing smoke. Now I'm not sure if you have a misconception about that, or if you just don't really care if something like Medicare for All ever sees the light of day(maybe it's not an ideal you share, and many DUers would vocally agree with you), but at least address how effective Conyers introduction over and over has been, if you want to in the same statement, tell us that's how its done.

[LongTomH]

12. +1000 People see that Bernie really cares....

....they don"t get that from most people in Congress these days.

[pnwmom]

14. Don't regular people live in the south, the northeast, and the west? Don't regular people

live in large cities?

Why do so many seem to think the only "regular people" live in "small town" America in the swing states -- the kinds of states that Bernie won?

[snowy owl]

49. And a lot of them voted for Trump. Isn't this a little semantics, parsing and nit-picking?

Whether small towns or big cities, a lot of people voted for Trump. Small rural towns where unemployment is rampant and rural areas in the South are well-served by a charismatic voice from the left. I don't understand the quibbling about someone who tries to change this nation for the better.

[pnwmom]

50. 2.9 million more voted for Hillary. But because many of us live in large cities and on the coasts,

our votes don't count for as much.

It won't serve the party or our country if you lose urban and coastal votes in your effort to appeal to small town middle-America.

[snowy owl]

54. Why do you think he'll lose urban and coastal votes?

Do you disagree that Trump won by those very people in small town middle-America? Do you think it possible that Sanders could have won those people and urban/coastal votes had he been nominated. We'll never know, I get that. But it is possible.

[pnwmom]

59. You think that you can take urban and minority voters for granted, but you shouldn't.

Most of us would probably have voted for him, just as most of his supporters voted for Hillary. But the same result would have happened in the end.

Hillary lost because of the suppression of millions of Democratic votes, because of gerrymandering, and because of Russian meddling. If you think Putin would have been less likely to interfere if Bernie was the candidate, that doesn't say much for your opinion of Bernie.

[Orsino]

39. Not so, but his agenda is a little different from most Dems'...

...and I am grateful for the light he shone on some real progressive concerns.

That hunger for peaceful revolution is something our party ought to harness and run with, as difficult as Citizens United makes it. Bernie did prove that a viable campaign could be run without the Big Money. Democrats ought to fight for clean elections so that every candidate competes on an equal financial footing.

[Doc Coco]

66. THIS!

I really wish Democrats would really focus on the issues, instead of identity politics, which has never worked.

The entire 2016 election had that sports fan feeling, honestly.

[BainsBane]

4. That medicare for all Bill has already been introduced by John Conyers

who wrote it and has introduced it for several years now.

I find it odd that Trump and Sanders feel the need to continue to campaign. Trump is already president and Sanders is already a Senator. Sanders already has power to do a lot, as much as anyone else in the senate minority. The purpose of campaigns is to enable citizens to make a decision about whom they want to govern. The governing part, the legislating, is how elected representatives are able to make a difference in people's lives.

I see the endless campaigns as a devolution of politics into entertainment. Even before 2016, US campaigns were already longer than those in any other nation on earth. Now they are endless, and our government is more dysfunctional than ever.

[DoodAbides]

26. medicare for all Bill has already been introduced by John Conyers

I am not trusting the need to be raising cash, the day after the election, and beyond. I have to wonder what is happening to the money, especially as these two candidates are not sharing tax releases.

[Glassunion]

33. Just perhaps Bernie is thinking beyond himself.

We did quite poorly in the election in these areas that Bernie is visiting. We are all not blind, nor is Bernie. He's 75 years old, we know it, and he knows it. I feel that he is well aware that he is not going to be in office much longer.

Bernie is visiting all of these areas for a reason. He is not running for office in all of these places. He is instead spreading progressive ideals to areas of the country that we as a Democratic party, have ignored for far too long. Bernie has an amazing energy, and he is using it while he still has it to just perhaps plant the seeds that he may very well not be around to see bear fruit.

[snowy owl]

52. Four events a day is entertainment? I think that's a stretch.

And he isn't getting much PR or notoriety outside of those of you who are focused on him and those of us who are already favorable to him. Endless campaign to help bring us a social democracy as opposed to an oligarchy? I'm for it. Aren't you?

[LexVegas]

6. ...

[NastyRiffraff]

8. Yep.

Sick of this shit. Bernie bernie bernie bernie bernie bernie BERNIE!!

[Sunlei]

11. I like when they report how many states he's been to the past month & how hard he fought for ACA.

And I didn't realize how Local news in these areas are run by RW companies. They weren't informed what an ACA removal would mean for their local communities.

[NastyRiffraff]

20. Yes Sanders is doing a LOT of self-promoting

But he's very good at that. Gotta get those donations up!

[Sunlei]

21. I still get his emails & he hasn't asked for donations since the election. remember DU raised, 90k?

I think it was $90,000 in the name of DU members? DU did get a nice thank you letter from his campaign.

[Omaha Steve]

29. $77,149.00 from 2,108 donations $36.60 per donation

[Sunlei]

44. Thanks for posting the letter, thats where my donation went to.

I told Hillary Campaign (when they called & asked for $) she didn't need the money, Sanders did because we Ds need to hear what he has to say.

I 'd still vote for her if she won the primary. I wanted her to listen to what Bernie has to say.

[snowy owl]

55. Thanks for posting - I hadn't seen it. "Ordinary people...stand up and fight.." So Bernie.

And now he's fighting every day as well. If the proof isn't in the pudding, where is it. I've seen no mention in media of his daily campaigning ground-covering to move people back to the left.

[snowy owl]

53. He hasn't asked me for money and I sent quite a lot during the campaign.

How do you know this?

[DoodAbides]

28. The purpose, goal and intent is to weaken the Democratic Party. I do not get that motive. nt

[ms liberty]

36. Simple solution: trash keyword, Bernie Sanders. Your problem solved.

Some of us like Bernie, and appreciate his efforts to reach out.

[NastyRiffraff]

42. Fine if you like Sanders

It's the deifying him that bothers me. The idea that Bernie can do no wrong and everybody else is irrelevant.

[snowy owl]

56. Umm, see #43

some things go both ways I guess

[NastyRiffraff]

63. As it happens

I didn't like that meme for Hillary, either. I don't worship anyone or anything. But that was one thing that barely got a mention. Bernie had his bird, being called a fucking MESSIAH, 2nd Coming, etc. etc. It was ridiculous, and that stupid sun thing about Hillary can't even compare in quantity.

[ms liberty]

67. Missed my point, did you?

I like Bernie, yes - and that btw is not deification (And I have liked him for twenty years). If you don't like Bernie, that's up to you, go for it...but if you're sick and tired of seeing his name here, trash keyword, Bernie Sanders, your problem is solved, at least here. You can remove him from your DU experience; your choice is at your fingertips.

[NastyRiffraff]

68. Thanks for the "tip" but

I'll decide how to use DU if you don't mind. I got your "point" the first time, BTW.

[ms liberty]

69. You're free to use DU as you choose, within the ToS

Of course, if you don't avail yourself of the tools that can make your visit more pleasant, then you alone are responsible for the sickness you're feeling.
And since you never addressed my point, how was I to know it didn't fly right over your head?

[NastyRiffraff]

70. Maybe I didn't think your "point" was worth addressing?

Buh bye!

[Control-Z]

9. It's not too late to edit your OP.

To get rid of the bold type. I'm sure it was not intentional.

[Sunlei]

10. Thanks got rid of extra s, I like bold type, easier for me to see.

[Control-Z]

22. Well aren't you clever.

Most people post OPs for the community to read. Seriously, bold is more difficult read. It's almost as bad as all caps. But if you want to leave it so you can read your own OP, great. In the meantime I'll move on to read something I find easier on my eyes.

[Sunlei]

45. sorry bold is easier for me to see, I'll change it now so you can see it.

[Control-Z]

47. Well, you showed me, didn't you?

How old are you?
How old are you?

[Weekend Warrior]

13. Two people are currently campaigning.

Sanders and Trump

It's my understanding that only Trump and John Delaney have announced.

I don't think any of them will be on the Presidential ballot for 2020.

[Sunlei]

15. IMO ALL Senators should talk directly to 'the people'.

[Weekend Warrior]

16. Of course they should. nt.

[R B Garr]

19. Yes, people in the South, as well.

The people.

[Omaha Steve]

32. I posted the list of the 6 running for D POTUS so far yesterday (here it is again)

https://secure.actblue.com/directory/all/all/fed-pres

Note that one is an Independent.

[Weekend Warrior]

34. There are five more who won't be making it to the Presidential ballot.

I was only aware of Delaney and Trump.

[PatsFan87]

23. Unfortunately Bernie is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

If he holds town halls and rallies, appears on television, and campaigns for other candidates he is selfish and just furthering his own interests. If he isn't doing that work he gets the "well Bernie has a huge following why isn't HE doing anything??" We've all seen both of these on DU plenty of times. Funny stuff. The man could cure cancer and some here would still criticize him for it.

I read what Bernie is doing as rather unselfish. He's showing us that thousands of people didn't show up to his rallies and donate to his campaign because of one person (him) but rather for the issues and stances he stood for. In poll after poll, people prefer the stances of our party over the Republicans. But Republicans have controlled the narrative for too long and frankly, are better at messaging than we are. When we fix that and go into communities, especially ones that we don't normally go into, and have conversations and allow people to go to events to hear our message and our proposals, we will win. It seems we're great at playing defense (health care for example) but we need to work on playing offense.

[OilemFirchen]

41. "Our party"

As in you and Sanders?

Which party is that?

[PatsFan87]

51. The party that Bernie caucuses with. Nice try though. :)

[OilemFirchen]

60. He has very little regard for "your' party.

Is that a damned if he does, or a damned if he doesn't?

[PatsFan87]

62. If critiquing the party and working to make it have teeth is having

very little regard for it, then more voters than you might realize would fall into that category. He has a following for a reason.

[snowy owl]

58. That's sure the truth.

[Caliman73]

25. I like his energy, but he needs to stop with the "Democrats turned their back.." crap.

The Democratic Party has had a similar platform and has been working for similar goals since the 1980's. We can certainly argue around the edges, but it is pretty ridiculous message. The people in those red counties have been fed lies by right wing media and they swallowed and have voted Democrats out of office to the point that it is difficult for Democrats to rationalize using resources to convince them to vote for the Party which has always had their interests in mind. Bernie is just perpetuating that myth.

[snowy owl]

57. Is it possible that he's trying to bring back people who have written Democrats off?

Since the DLC a lot of regular folks have written off Democrats. A little humility doesn't hurt the cause in the end. Are you suggesting that he may be working toward an independent run? I can't imagine that but maybe...

[OilemFirchen]

61. Not to sound redundant, but...

how can he be expected to "bring back people" when he himself won't take the plunge? Is it possible that he's done just the opposite? That the number of disaffected Democrats has actually grown as a result of his rhetoric?

[Caliman73]

65. I am not sure what he is doing.

Part of it may be to energize people, but how do you square trying to bring people back to tge Democratic Party by constantly disparaging the Democratic Party?