Bernie Sanders Just Changed the Democratic Party

[cali]

After a remarkable night in Iowa, one that served as a rebuke to Donald Trump and to the opinion pollsters, the Democratic Party was faced with the prospect of being forced to confront a youthful and articulate Republican candidate come November: Senator Marco Rubio, who finished a strong third in the G.O.P. caucus, behind Ted Cruz and Trump. Before then, though, Democrats have some messy internal business to deal with: Bernie Sanders, promoting an American version of People Power, has confirmed his capture of the Party’s under-forty wing, which means trouble for Hillary Clinton.

Strictly speaking, the Democratic caucus finished in a dead heat. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, with ninety-nine per cent of the precincts having reported, the delegate count was six hundred and sixty-five for Clinton, and six hundred and sixty-two for Sanders. (For some reason, the Democrats release only their delegate counts, not the number of votes cast for each candidate.) In terms of percentages, it was 49.8 per cent to 49.6 per cent, which rounds up to fifty-fifty. Barring something unforeseen, Iowa’s forty-four delegates to the Democratic National Convention will be equally divided.


This result doesn’t mean that Hillary Clinton won’t win the nomination. Although she seems likely to lose again in New Hampshire next week, she remains a strong over-all favorite: on betting sites, even today, to win twenty dollars on Hillary emerging as the Democratic candidate, you would have to bet a hundred dollars. But for Clinton to unite her party and galvanize it for what could be a tough fight in the fall, she needs to find some way to appeal to the young, who have fastened onto Sanders’s anti-establishment message.

The age gap between Clinton supporters and Sanders supporters was huge. According to the entrance polls, which wrongly predicted a Clinton victory, Sanders got eighty-six per cent of the Democratic vote in the seventeen-to-twenty-four age group, eighty-one per cent in the twenty-five-to-twenty-nine group, and sixty-five per cent in the thirty-to-thirty-nine age group. Clinton, by contrast, was largely reliant on the middle-aged and the elderly. Among forty-something voters, she won by five percentage points. Among the over-fifties, she won by more than twenty per cent.


<snip>
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/bernie-sanders-just-changed-the-democratic-party

[tecelote]

1. The biggest problem for Hillary is that Bernie is now going to get more exposure.

Bernie won tonight no matter what the numbers say.

[djean111]

2. Yup.

Any doubt in voters' minds that voting for Bernie is some sort of isolated or solitary statement will be erased.
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SusanCalvin]

4. That is the biggest takeaway. nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. And the lily-livered politicians who were afraid to endorse him will now do so!

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[floriduck]

28. And the more people understand what he's about,

the more they like him. Hillary is a known commodity and not necessarily a favorable one. But Bernie is refreshing, honest and dependable. More and more voters will come to that conclusion.

The NH results and an ever-increasing base in Nevada will cause SC voters to rethink what they value. Bernie will continue to benefit from the large youth and first time voter. Looking more like the Obama 2008 run as time goes on.

[Cal33]

71. I hope many more will vote for Bernie now. I am sure he will gain some votes, and I hope it

will be enough for him to win the Primaries. If he gets to the General Elections, he will
easily beat any Republican. Americans have had enough of them. This will be the
turning point so many of us have been waiting for so many years!

[ErisDiscordia]

3. If only it were that easy!

Bernie has changed the ground game, no question. He's got a grassroots revolution running like wildfire, but it hasn't burned down Fort DSW yet. Of course, the fort has a gaping hole in it, with the additional debates, but it's still standing in the way.

[Vattel]

5. Clinton will probably win the nomination. But the future is with Sanders.

[pinebox]

10. And Clinton will lose the general

Because millions will not vote her. Period.

[Vattel]

16. I hope you are wrong, but I fear you are right

[Lorien]

69. She can't possibly win

history has shown us time and time again: give a Republican and a Democrat who acts like one, the people will choose the real Republican every time.

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. She will NEVER get the Millennial vote.

They detest her....almost as much as Repubs do. She can't and won't win the GE.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[dana_b]

25. I agree

it's going to be a scary year.

[pengu]

42. Indies don't like her either

I think it's suicide to nominate her.

[Lorien]

60. So true. I don't know a single non-DLC "Democrat"

who would ever consider voting for her. Her negative ratings are far higher than those of any candidate who has ever come close to winning the Presidency. All of that flip flopping and that hard push to the Right has taken it's toll!

[GoneFishin]

78. I think it's suicide to nominate her also. But I don't suspect DWS really gives a shit about the

big picture for the country if it gets in the way of her personal ambitions.

[RiverLover]

8. Changed it back to where it should have been all along

Before Clinton1 came along & republicanized it.

“No, we can’t.” In Iowa, at least, that didn’t prove to be a winning message.

[Odin2005]

9. We Millennials DESPISE Hillary.

I do not know a single Millennial who supports her.

[cali]

11. I know. I call it the Holden Caulfield Effect

My son and his friends are all for Bernie and they all essentially say the same thing: She's such a phony.

[VulgarPoet]

12. Nor do I

[hobbit709]

14. I'm 65 and 90% of my friends have no use for her either.

[Darb]

18. Precious, you are.

You millennials need to think beyond the end of your me.

[VulgarPoet]

24. You sound like a business headline I read once.

"When will millennials realize the corporate machine is good for them" or something to that effect. News flash, we've realized it wasn't, a long, long time ago, and want nothing to do with corporate serfdom.

ETA: Matter of fact, there is another article that sums up my exact thoughts on the matter.

http://techonomy.com/2013/11/millennials-wont-become-corporate-serfs/

Here’s the trouble with this schadenfreude logic, though: Why in the world would Millennials bet our futures on the very system that failed us and everyone else so spectacularly in the first place? We’re not dumb. Whatever the recession rendered Millennials—cautious, cynical, underemployed, overeducated, boomerang kids who couldn’t be more grateful that debtors’ prisons have gone out of style—most of all, it made us aware. It showed us just how disloyal corporate America can be, no matter how loyal its staffers have been. It proved that security doesn’t exist, however prestigious your background or business card. And it forced us to interrogate the motives that had pushed our economy past its breaking point—to ask ourselves what work ought to be and mean and yield.

[Darb]

26. Good, neither do I.

I will just let you "smartest guys in the room" handle it then. You've got all the answers. What do you call it, a revolution? Great. Have at it.

Thanks in advance. We'll be here to clean up the mess.

[Odin2005]

74. So much dismissive smug in your post.

[JPnoodleman]

32. We should obediently do as the elders say...

I suppose its Ted Cruz for me then, I mean my elders said so. They know whats best. :3 XDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[Darb]

37. Nobody said that.

Start by giving the old Democrats some respect. then admit that they might have seen a thing or two and see what is happening on the right.

The Repubic turned out a record number last night. The Dems didn't come close to 2008. You think you have momentum, well, I got news for you, you got no idea what is coming down the tracks. That ain't no train. that's fascism.

Run the socialist. Good luck.

[JPnoodleman]

39. Yes you lot have done so well...

No universal health care or single payer to speak of...
College debt so crippling we might as well all flee the country...
TTP, TTIP,
Several Wars that were less than necessary and on a personal note has cost my family two valorous members.
We won't get that infrastructure spending...
the Min. Wage is what again?.... RIGHT....
Unions are dead...

Cracker-Jack job you've done.

Why if I didn't know any better I'd swear I was on the Titanic and being told we didn't just hit an iceberg.

[Darb]

43. So we started those wars?

I took on your debt for you? WE blocked the infrastructure spending? We block minimum wage hikes?

Do you even know how our government works?

Nice turnout last night, way less than 2008. The crazies turned out in droves.

I lived down in the rural south for the last 3 years. Those fucking people are crazy. They have been whipped into a frenzy by Fox and talk radio and are not even remotely connected to the truth. They turned out in droves in IOWA, last night. They will turn out in droves to "take our country back" in the fall too. Regardless of whether it is Trump or that empty suit Rubio. As a matter of fact, the fascists would rather have Rubio, they already have their hand up his ass.

You guys got all the answers. Run the socialist. Go for it.

[JPnoodleman]

45. Did not Hillary vote for them?

Should I expect some change of tact from her?

[Darb]

51. Vote for what exactly?

You do know how our government is designed no?

[Odin2005]

75. Quit playing dumb, Hillary voted for Bush's illegal war.

[Lorien]

53. Why wouldn't you? Her policies would shorten your lives

by decades. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jul/07/research.waste

[pinebox]

13. Hillary will lose the general

Millions won't vote for her. Period. Full stop. She is absolutely hated by many who support Bernie. She is not the strongest candidate. Bernie owns that and you can say hello to President Cruz or President Rubio. Bernie defeats EVERY Republican candidate. Bookmark me right now.

[Lorien]

55. Most of my friends will never vote for her

because I don't have many neoconservative friends. How does she expect to win without the support of liberal Democrats?

[Beacool]

64. Then, most of your friends are fools.

There is a vast difference between a Democratic and a Republican administration.

I will vote for the nominee, I think that it will be Hillary. In the unlikely event that it's Sanders, I will vote for him.

[Lorien]

66. I am not a neoconservative, and I won't vote for one. It's DAMNED foolish to support GOP positions

on the issues and call yourself a "Democrat" simply because there's been a conservative hijacking of the party. Liberal Democrats don't support a war with Iran, fracking, Wall street corruption, Monsanto and unlabeled GMOs, the TPP, NAFTA, favors for arms manufacturers, for-profit prisons and the new slavery, High credit card and student loan interest rates, and turning a blind eye to climate change. Hillary supports ALL of those things. The planet can't survive for more years of conservative insanity! (And yes, she's solidly conservative on the political compass).

What we DO want is real action on climate change, universal health care, access to higher education for all students with above average GPAs, less student loan debt (I teach graduate level courses, and I worry about my students and their high interest loans). We want less corporate welfare and an end to wars for profit. We want our infrastructure fixed and investment in green renewable energy. We want our public lands, food, air, and water protected. We want to end Citizen's United and enact real campaign finance reform. We want pay equity for women (which Hillary did not support while on Walmart's board). We want an end to for-profit prisons and We want to see the police de-militarized. We want to see Saudi Arabia and other well armed Nations start to deal with their extremists on their own dimes! On these issues and so much more we agree with Bernie Sanders; the only truly progressive candidate running. If the Dems lose it's all on those of you who support Hillary's right wing agenda, not left of center traditional Democrats.

[randome]

15. Is this another "change the conversation" victory proclamation?

The same way that Occupy Wall Street "changed the conversation"? The same way that Ed Snowden "changed the conversation"?

Until people are in the streets and in the faces of politicians, all this "changed conversation" will never amount to much, IMO.

There will be no revolution until people do more than call for someone to save us.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[JPnoodleman]

35. That would be a Revolution of Hopelessness

In the end these "Change to conversation," bits just build pressure.

On a nihilistic level people simply see the writing on the wall and abandon hope. Let the country wither and die, as people stop making families, making purchases, and everything just sort of slowly decays to nothing. On some level that elite multi-national agenda is feeding that. They assume they will get their money and bail before it all rots away and falls apart.

[randome]

40. "stop making families" would be a good thing in my book.

There are too damned many people in this country and that makes it harder than ever to organize effectively. Plus we have the Internet, which divides us as much as unites us.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[JPnoodleman]

44. It is and isn't...

In an economic sense its a LONG TERM bad thing because less families means less over all demand in the economy, stunted future workforce and long term economic retraction, ALLA Japan's problem with demographics stilted against the young.

The Internet is the equalizer. No lie can go unchallenged, no spin is unknown and no bullshitter can squeak by. On some level the internet has made the politics of power a challenge because it has freed people to discuss what previously the elite had placed far outside the Overton Window.

Of course this comes in all forms. We can finally be heard, but so can Stormfront. However I'm in the camp of preferring to know honestly what someone stands for than be blinded by a delusion.

[Odin2005]

76. You just summarized why the Western half of the Roman Empire disintergrated.

Those who forget history...

[Trajan]

56. Hopelessness ... There is no hope for us

Yeah ... I get it ...

We were once friendly, but now, all this hopeless pessimism ...

With all that pessimism, I would swear you work for the Hillary campaign ...

No we CAN'T?

Tell you what ... I've avoided ignoring you because we were friends (kinda almost) ... But I am driven by optimism, not pessimism ...

I'll ignore till after the convention ... Have a wonderfully pessimistic election season ....

[Myrina]

17. My daughter in Dubuque noted the age gap ....

.... she was texting me from her caucus site last night & said the younger folks were lining up for Sanders and the older folks were lining up for HRC and Trump.

I find it fascinating that so many now-grown-up hippies from the 60s, full of hope & ideals back then, finally have the candidate that will put all those things they wanted into practice, and yet many of them are opting for the status quo corporatocracy. I don't get it.

[Darb]

19. Let me explain it for ya,

they are practical and pragmatic. Sanders cannot deliver. They have been there and seen it. This country doesn't turn into Bernieland in a single presidential election. You think Obama met a brick wall, wait until Sanders gets in. They understand that. So do I. Please try to take that into consideration. I know you believe with all your heart that Bernie will win big in November, but the Trump people think the same thing.

Consider this, there is a lot of enthusiasm on the other side too. Drummed up by years of lies and deceit. Irrespective of how they got there, they will push back against the "free stuff" like you will not believe.

[Myrina]

20. You don't know what I believe.

I'll thank you not to presume.

[Darb]

22. Ok, whatever that means.

I wouldn't presume to know what you mean. So please, proceed with believing whatever you want to.

[randome]

21. Nice try, though.

A question was posed and you attempted to answer. What were you thinking?!
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Darb]

23. Smell that? It's called coffee.

Whatever.

[Armstead]

27. The brick wall was largely made possible by Democratic.....

cowardice and acquisence to the GOP message and principles and/or the corruption of the upper echelons who easily swing between public positions and mega million golden parachutes.

YOu think the discointent that sanders represents is NEW? Noooooo, this is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga.

As a 63 year old person who has seen the wheel go around many times, I have seen that pattern endlessly repeated. The GOP offers something bold and clear (bad as it is they SELL it) while the Democrats offer grey tapioca nothing. And if a Democratic politician DOES get feisty, the party leadership slaps them down. Which translated into an energized base for one party and a party that offers little incentive for voters to get very enthused.

[Darb]

30. Got it.

Run the socialist. Maybe you can win. Maybe you can govern. I hope you can actually.

And thanks for the "the parties are the same" lecture while you are at it. After all, Scalia is the splitting image of Ginsberg.

If you do not mind, try to limit the scorched earth strategy, you just might not carry the day.

[Armstead]

31. I prefer moderation personally

But the Democratiuc establishment was not moderate in its determination to be the "oh no we're not liberal" party over the years.

It requires -- not scorched earth -- but something much warmer than the tepid conservative nonsense that passes for "pragmatism" and "centrism"

[Darb]

34. How elequent.

How does that sell to the moron set?

Did you notice that the Republiks had a bigger turnout than the Democrats in Iowa? Didn't come close to 2008 for the Dems, a record for the Repubes. I guess Bernie is gonna win over those kooks.

Good luck.

I am voting for Hillary.

[Armstead]

36. There are always going to be hard core conservative morons

But a lot of people in the middle want to see things change in a more liberal direction.

No eloquence required. Just honest recognition of the basic problems, and a commitment to the PUBLIC interest over the interests of big money and entrenched power and monopolistic abusive corporations.

[Darb]

38. If you say so.

The "revolution" that Bernie talks about was dwarfed by the "revolution" on the other side. Their "revolution" is fascism and world war.

Run the socialist. Yeah, that's it.

[Armstead]

49. Your attitude is duly noted. Not worth further engagement.

Buh bye

[Darb]

52. Bye.

Keep your eyes open.

[Dems to Win]

72. I note that Hillary couldn't turn out enough voters to match the 2008 turnout

I agree with you that it's a troubling sign that Repub turnout was so much greater than Dem. But how you get from there to saying only Hillary can win is a real mystery.

If anything, Dem voters told us that neither candidate is a good bet for the fall. Neither could turn out as many people as the Reps, or as many as the 2008 Dem caucuses.

Still wish Elizabeth Warren had run. Or Barbara Lee.

[AOR]

29. More like selling out to protect their own self-interests...

rather than "practical and pragmatic." In this current capitalist system, only about 10 percent of the population has any real security, can make house, car, insurance payments without taken on large amounts of debt, don't worry about food and can invest in the capitalist Wall Street scheme. It is within that world of the 10 percent that all "economic planning" takes place and those doing the planning rarely consider their "lessers" when making those plans. The only thing that most of that 10 percent - who reside on both sides of the political spectrum - can agree on is that their "lessers" are not doing enough to keep the "American Dream" alive and are a drain on "their" tax dollars. Some might put on a righteous facade about how the care about income inequality and disparity, but in the end, the bottom line is preserving their own status and self-interests. It's on display here every day from Clinton supporters.

[Darb]

33. Nice insult to the older folks, you brave whippersnapper.

We know what the fuck is going on. Quit pretending that you have all the answers. You have none, just preaching to the discontented, the delusions of revolution.

Diagram the path to anything that Bernie is promising. Lets start with single payer. How does he get it done?

[AOR]

41. You're soliciting in the wrong pew...

I am a leftist. Our job is to continuously expose frauds and lifetime social scabs defending the status quo and business as usual. There is no path to anything but business as usual as long as capitalist social relations are the preferred social system. Still...the Sanders effect of bringing people to examination on the ills of the currently constructed social system is a sliver of light in the capitalist destruction you so readily defend. Nothing will get done without a movement on the ground to force it to get done. Get it ? And no...you have no idea "what's going on." If you did... you would not be spewing reactionary garbage in defense of business as usual.

[Darb]

47. This ain't your fucking pew.

I am not defending "capitalist destruction" as you so naively put it. I am disgusted just like you. But here is a little reality for ya. If you fail with Bernie, the destruction that you profess to hate will take on a form that you have never before seen.

If you think the mood of the world is one for compromise and reconciliation and thoughtful realignment to a more benevolent design, then you are sadly mistaken. The wheels of massive social change have already been set in motion and the cornered, wounded animal that is the old order is coiled up and ready to strike. the status quo will change, but if we lose in November and the fascist, reactionary crazies get in control we could be set back a generation. And by set back I mean war.

A word to the wise is sufficient thereof.

Run the socialist. Engage scorched earth strategy.

Good luck.

[AOR]

70. Sanders is not a socialist...

so your premise can be rejected outright with little effort. Your fear of a successful Sanders primary against Clinton is beyond amusing. You also have no fucking clue as to what I've seen... from what I'm sure is the quite comfortable economic perch on which you rest your case.

"What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position."

--Stokely Carmichael

[ljm2002]

46. Well I agree with the post you are responding to...

...and I ain't no whippersnapper, let me tell you!

And get off my lawn.

[Darb]

48. Whatev.

Run the socialist, scorched earth style.

[thereismore]

57. You mean they became cynical and gave up their dreams. nt

[Darb]

62. No, they understand that you cannot always get exactly what you want in this country.

Our system of government does not allow it. So they move onward, getting what they can and moving the ball forward.

You Bernie folks can believe whatever you want. I am pointing out that I don't think socialism will sell well this fall. The consequences are huge. The turnout last night was impressive, for the Republicans. Not for our side.

I know, I know, Bernie will turn all the wingers into conscious, commons loving citizens.

I just moved out of the rural south. They are dangerously riled up and willfully ignorant of reality. I shit you not. They are on the verge of violence.

Don't mess this one up.

[thereismore]

65. They hate Hillary in the South. You should be careful of what you are wishing for. nt

[Odin2005]

77. As opposed to Hillary, who will give in to the Pukes on all the issues that actually matter?

[Lorien]

68. All of my Boomer friends are in the Bernie camp

but none of them live in Iowa, so maybe it's more of a regional thing.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

50. Young wolves, show us your teeth. John Steinbeck K&R

[VulgarPoet]

59. +100.

[bettyellen]

54. this article says she won by a hair, but "she seems likely to lose again in New Hampshire next week"

Huh? Strange.

[Lorien]

58. She was expecting a win by a significant margin in Iowa

so a virtual tie with a coin toss and irregularities that lead to a "win" by a hair is just about the same as a loss for her. If she can't pull off a strong victory in a fairly red State, how can she ever hope to win in the general election?

[bettyellen]

61. I think it was a typo- or written beforehand and not edited correctly. and the last few

weeks all the polls said it was close.

[Lorien]

63. Every poll that Hillary fans posted as "official"

showed her winning by double digits.

[bettyellen]

67. Well I looked at tons of polls and saw two outliers- one had Bernie up by 8%, another Hilary by 10%

I think, and all of the rest were 3-5%. But I didn't ignore the polls touted by Bernie fans, did you?