Hey, Berniacs: I Learned to Love Hillary and So Can You

[BlueMTexpat]

To Jury or alerters: that is the headline word-for-word and the article is not intended to be provocative; it has some good advice for both camps.

An Obama 2008 veteran, who’s been on a campaign that was in a position similar to Clinton’s and that had to reconcile with Clinton, offers his thoughts.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/22/hey-berniacs-i-learned-to-love-hillary-and-so-can-you.html

Eight years later, we’re approaching the endgame of another Democratic primary. For Bernie Sanders to overtake Hillary Clinton’s lead in pledged delegates—which, at 239, is more than double Obama’s 112-delegate lead in 2008—he would have to win each of the remaining contests by about 18 points, a margin he has only reached in Vermont and New Hampshire. If he doesn’t, his only other option is to convince a few hundred superdelegates to back the candidate who has won fewer votes and fewer delegates.

Bernie faces long odds, but no good reason to drop out. And why should he? Why not keep running through the final primaries in June, just like Hillary did in 2008? Along the way, Sanders will probably win a few more states—especially in May—and continue to build a following that should hearten everyone who wants to see a bigger, bolder progressive movement.

But it’s also in the interest of the progressive moment for both candidates and their campaigns to begin healing the rifts that have deepened over the course of the primary. Neither Sanders nor Clinton seemed very compelling when they were screaming at each other for two hours at the debate in Brooklyn. And no one benefits from another three months of ridiculous lawsuits, overwrought fundraising emails, and surrogates sniping at each other on cable. Already, this friendly fire has taken a toll—in the latest NBC/WSJ poll, Bernie is viewed unfavorably by 20 percent of Clinton supporters, and Hillary is viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of Sanders supporters.

I don’t want to exaggerate the challenge. I still think this primary is less nasty and divisive than 2008, and exponentially less so than the cannibalism we may see in Cleveland. It’s also true that the percentage of Sanders and Clinton voters who say they won’t vote for the other candidate is fairly low. But a year in which Donald Trump or Ted Cruz could become president of the United States is not a year we can afford to have any pissed-off primary voters stay home in November.

Jon Favreau has some good advice for BOTH campaigns. This is actually a post that would fit in GD-P. But I WILL NOT intentionally go into that forum so long as its current smear-HRC-and-her-supporters-tone persists. I have actually served on two juries today where I was in the minority for recommending that anti-HRC or anti-HRC supporter slurs be hidden and am really fed up with what is apparently OK on a "Democratic" website that appears currently to be overrun by non-Democrats!

So if anyone wants to post this in GD-P, please be my guest. But please leave me out of it.

[bluestateguy]

1. I was for Obama in the 2008 primary cycle

And after the real election (the November election), and the tremendous help Hillary was in the fall campaign, I vowed to support her in 2016. Today I am keeping that promise.

[BlueMTexpat]

2. Thank you for supporting her

in 2016. However acrimonious those primaries may have been, Hillary as the loser was not only a great sport, but a great asset to Prez O's campaign.

You, like Hillary and Prez O, understand that the TRUE adversary = ANY candidate that the GOP offers.

[athena]

3. Great article.

Thanks for posting it.

[BlueMTexpat]

7. Thank YOU for

this wonderful find that I am hyping to everyone I can in "real life."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1107114198

[stopbush]

4. What none of these "both sides are guilty" articles ever mention

is that the loathing Hillary supporters are feeling toward Sanders has really only been a reality for the last month. And it is in direct reaction to the shit the Sanders campaign, the candidate, his surrogates and the Berniebros have been exhibiting toward Hillary for the past three months. Ever since his win in NH, in fact.

I guess we are where we are today, but the fact is that as Hillary has already won the nomination, it will be her supporters who will first turn to reconciliation and unity, not the BSers. I expect a significant minority of BSers to continue with the vitriol right into the GE.

[BlueMTexpat]

5. There is that.

And I certainly am among those whose feelings towards Sanders were very positive at the outset, but not now.

But we do hold the high ground now and it is always wiser to be gracious in the interests of unity towards a common goal. It is also what our very classy candidate would want. She showed that class in 2008 as a losing candidate. She will show it again in 2016 as a winner.

All we need to do is to follow her lead. Or even anticipate it, at least with those who are receptive.

As for those who want to continue with the vitriol, they will go straight to my Iggy List if they are not PPRed as they should be.

Once the primaries are over, I may revisit my VERY long Iggy List. But definitely not before.

[Melurkyoulongtime]

6. My issue with that argument is

that I already loved and admired her once and she sold me and others just like me out. I'm speaking of poor people of every racial background. Her husband did the actual dirty work, however, she most certainly cheered him on every step of the way. I watched it all happen, as it happened, and was severely negatively impacted by their obtuse manipulation of their so-called welfare reform.

The poor blacks that suffered through it had it even worse than I did from what I witnessed (I'm white) not only having to suffer through the ridiculous hoops we all had to jump through or die trying doing it but also the indignity of being seen as one of "those" people always "wanting something for nothing".

This attitude was especially galling when witnessing it being perpetrated by a POC in charge upon another POC who can't even voice their indignation of said shitty treatment for fear of their FOOD benefits being cut off due to the person in charge getting so put out that they give the recipient a negative review and suspend their benefits. No, instead shame that person and then deny them what should be a basic human RIGHT if they even dare to speak their mind! Free speech, my ass.

And don't even get me started about their less than adequate "methods" of teaching us
how to look for work, write resumes, budget for household bills, etc. It was junior high level garbage that even the most uneducated of us already knew how to do yet we were forced to listen to this BS for 8 hours/day 5 days/week or lose what little "benefits" we actually got. Then after THAT ended it was "hurry up and find a shitty low paying job so we can kick you off the rolls even though it won't be enough to get you out of poverty" OR be forced to "volunteer" 40 hours a week doing the lowest of scut work for a gov agency or charity to "resume build". The screwed up thing about that is it only took about 20 hours/week for us to "pay back" our benefits with the prevalent min wage so these entities were getting free labor off of us for the other 20 hours/week. Do YOU like working for free bc I sure as hell don't - ESPECIALLY since I (and many, many others) HAD a real job that simply DID NOT paid a liveable wage even though I busted my ass off for 40 hours/week every week for those crap-ass wages.

So please don't tell me I should love her or that I'll come to love her. My love for her has
been dead for a long time and it is her and her ilk that killed it with their disdain and utter lack of real caring for me and mine.

[BlueMTexpat]

8. OK, but up above, I warned posters

who have closed minds, so please be careful. I realize that you are posting from your own personal pain and not simply repeating the usual RW GOPer smears. While I thank you for that, I truly regret that you have this opinion of Hillary.

Please tell me how ANY candidate of those we have - other than Hillary - would realistically be able to change your life for the better. Please provide specifics as to how that would happen and that do not involve pixie dust.

If you really think about it with an open mind, you may come to realize that Hillary really IS your best bet. She knows how to bring people together to accomplish things. The support that she has now demonstrates that.

You don't HAVE to LOVE her.

[Melurkyoulongtime]

9. Her actually trying to do anything on the following list if elected

would be a start: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights

However, I don't see it happening if she becomes POTUS. However, Bernie will try, and he will have a hell of a constituency behind him to help him out should he win, myself included.

Please, let me be clear, I was a 1%er for a time in my life and lost it ALL so I know what they get away with as I witnessed that as well and I call BS. I know what they get away with, legally and illegally, and it's unconscionable that they're allowed to get away w it whether it's legal or not. She is not going to do a damn thing about it either, IMHO.

Not to mention her ever shifting positions on LBGT rights, Fight for $15, TPP, ad nauseum.

She is a war-mongering corporatist, again IMHO, and I will only vote for her should she become the nominee bc she's marginally better than the repubs.

[BlueMTexpat]

10. OK, I don't agree with

you on any of those points at all. At least you haven't threatened to vote for Trump.

But you have violated the terms of the HRC Group by calling HRC names here, so you may henceforth be blocked from here. Just so you realize that.

[Rose Siding]

11. Your kindness and good manners are inspiring.

I wanna be like you.

[BlueMTexpat]

13. LOL - that last

response did it for me. Hillary is a much better person than I.

After the primaries, perhaps I'll unblock and give some people another chance. But I'm in my seventh decade after all and three strikes are enough.

[Melurkyoulongtime]

12. Not surprising in the least

But at least you admit in your disagreement of my points that equality and justice for ALL just isn't your cup of tea. I appreciate the honesty for once, however, I still believe that is what this country was founded on and what we should continue to strive to be. I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two evils.

Let me put it this way, how many kids are we forcing, through no fault of their own, to only learn how to survive in this country rather than thrive? How many budding geniuses are being stomped flat - due to circumstances beyond their control - before they even get a chance? And for what? So some politician/billionaire/lobbyist can pocket a few more bucks? And that's just some of the issues we're having with children. It doesn't even begin to address the countless other issues on our plate.

If we don't do something now to address the gross inequalities and injustices in this country I fear there will be a revolution, and soon. And I'd much rather it be a political one than a bloody one.

For the record, Trump is a bloviating, racist, sexist, etc idiot, sez me, lol. Bankrupted what? 4 times and people think he'll run the country well? Ahahahahahahaha, HA!

As for the banning? I calls them as I sees them. I certainly won't have a sad over it.