You know who picked Hillary? The voters.

[YouDig]

Good god, what I'm reading here. It wasn't the "oligarchs" or the overlords or the power elite or Wall Street or the "establishment" or whatever else. It wasn't voter fraud, and it wasn't stupid people voting against their best interest.

It was the voters of the Democratic Party. We had two good candidates, both got plenty of chances to make their case, everyone knew what they stood for, what they had done in the past, what their qualifications were, and what their policies are for the future. Solid arguments can and were made in favor of either one.

And, with all that, the voters chose Hillary.

And by the way, they really aren't that far apart from each other compared to the GOP. Both want to raise the minimum wage, just Bernie wants it a little higher. The GOP wants it lower. Both want universal healthcare, just Bernie wants it single payer, and Hillary wants to expand on Obamacare. The GOP wants to go back to a pure private system. And issue after issue it's like that.

[cantbeserious]

1. Wishful Thinking At Best

eom

[Buzz Clik]

5. I like your sig line! Bernie channeling his inner Rosie the Riveter.

[grossproffit]

8. The only votes that matter are BERNIES!!

[Agschmid]

13. This citizen thinks the voters made the right decision.

[SidDithers]

23. Nicely done...nt

Sid

[Bohemianwriter]

49. Vote for Jamie Dimons's and Loyd Blankfein's money....

As if the voters have made the right decision before....

Reagan
Bush
Bush jr..

[Dr Hobbitstein]

56. Nice. nt

[carburyme]

71. I believe they did!

After all is said and done I'm glad most Americans made the right decision.

[Hortensis]

20. @2.9-3 million MORE popular votes is not wishful thinking.

The people chose and are choosing Hillary Clinton and they are doing it by a very wide margin.

[Human101948]

35. That margin represents one and one half percent of the voting age population of the United States...

so not exactly a rousing endorsement of Hillary by "the pople."

First twelve primaries--

Democratic turnout so far is 11.7% – the highest since 1992, with the notable exception of the extraordinarily high turnout in 2008.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/08/so-far-turnout-in-this-years-primaries-rivals-2008-record/

A whopping 11.7%! Perhaps people don't believe their vote will ever change anything? The fact that aged Socialist Senator Sanders could get almost half of the primary vote shows that "the people" are desparate for something different.

[Hortensis]

62. This is the PRIMARY, Human101948.

In a Democracy, only those citizens who vote get to count in an election. Of course, you could make the same argument that virtually no one supports Bernie, and wouldn't that be not what you intended?


According to Real Clear Politics, the latest tally is that OVER 3 MILLION MORE Democrats have now voted for Hillary than Bernie. 3,116,915 as of the last update.

[redstateblues]

82. We the People won the primary. That means more wanted Hillary than

did Bernie. Simple as that.

[Hortensis]

81. Undoubtedly there are some out there who are

too lazy to know who Bernie is, and for them I agree.

But really, Valen, what would it take to make you accept the simple evidence all around you that a lot of engaged people LIKE, RESPECT, AND ADMIRE Hillary Clinton? A whole LOT of people. And even larger numbers just plain respect her and her platform enough to decide she is their best choice.

[book_worm]

25. Really? she's gotten more than 3 million more votes than Bernie.

Even Trump has gotten more votes than Bernie.

[LexVegas]

2. Minorities are the etablishment in Bernie's Bizarro World. nt

[uponit7771]

10. Yeap, and their issues were treated with a very dismissive attitude from sanders from the start...

... when in 14 in intimated that social issues weren't important in the same interview he said something of the sort that racism had ended.

[Cal33]

32. Hillary won mostly in the Southern states+ those states with closed Primaries. There are

millions of Independents as well as others who were not allowed to vote in them.

[justiceischeap]

39. No one stopped those Independents

from changing their party affiliation. How long have we known about the primaries? If these Independents really wanted to support Sanders in the Primaries, it would have taken them just a bit of time to change their affiliation so they could participate. No one stopped them but lack of knowledge or laziness.

[Cal33]

58. You may be partially right. Sanders did win mostly in those states with open primaries. And

he did win big.

Also, in those trial polls pitting Sanders and Clinton against the Republicans, Sanders
won big against them almost all the time, Clinton lost more often than not.

Let's face it, the majority of Americans prefer Sanders to Clinton. It's only through
the odd rules of the Primary elections, plus unfair tricks from the Establishment
people that Clinton is winning the Primaries so far.

And Sanders has a far better chance of beating Trump than Clinton does. Those
trials polls mentioned above, of which there have been about a dozen since early
summer of 2015, show that Sanders easily beat Trump -- every time. Whereas
Clinton had often lost to Trump. One or two such polls won't mean much, but ALL
of them put together would mean something.

Clinton supporters obviously prefer their weaker candidate to the stronger Sanders.

[Yavin4]

73. Sanders has not been campaigned hard against.

Hillary never ran one negative ad against him. Which is why his favorable are so high. He would get much different treatment in a GE. Polls showing him beating the Republicans are meaningless.

[justiceischeap]

98. There's no partial about it

If these "disenfranchised" Independents really wanted to support Sanders in the primaries, they could have changed their party affiliation to do so. So all these people that support Sanders that are registered Independent don't support him strongly enough to take 5 minutes out of their day to tick a box and drop something in the mail.

Yet, some spend more time complaining about being disenfranchised than doing something about it.

Or they want to somehow proclaim that the system is rigged or someone is cheating their candidate.

Don't get me started on people who rail against the system but don't participate in all levels of governance (voting in elections other than primaries or General). They're the biggest part of the problem.

[brush]

59. Newsflash: NY, MD, PA, CN. DEL are not in the south

Not to mention that Sanders doesn't do well in states that are not mostly white.

You can win the Democratic nomination or the presidency depending on mostly white votes.

That was proven in 2012 when Romney won a huge majority of white votes but lost handily.

Those days are over.

[justiceischeap]

95. Technically MD is part of the south

It's below the Mason-Dixon Line.

[brush]

96. OK.

[AgingAmerican]

65. What a foolish thing to say

Hillary supporters live in a fantasy world

[IamMab]

97. Minorities, gays, women, immigrants; you know, the Elite Class. The ones who have everything.

And want for nothing. Those folks sure have it better than the rest of us white people, amiright?

[Buzz Clik]

3. Oligarchs! You cannot think for yourself. Keep this in mind:

Thinking people choose Bernie.

Everyone else is an idiot.

[seabeyond]

4. Good post You. You are right on. Nt

[baldguy]

6. Democrats selected the Democrat in the race.

The Republicans were rooting for Sanders.

[randome]

7. Like Sanders, many of his followers don't work well with a team. At least here on DU.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[beachbum bob]

9. It's been tough to see all the demonization thrown at the

Majority of Democratic base by sanders supporters... We all share much in common...we do not want any more conservative supreme Court justices, we want to stop the erosion of women's rights, minority rights, we want common sense gun laws...and so many other shared values....THAT is what important....the nonsensical egos driving many sanders supporters need to develop a larger appreciation in attaining these goals by joining us for the upcoming battle to stop the right-wing menace...

[casperthegm]

17. what else do we want?

Opposition to Glass Steagall? Opposition to health care for all? Opposition to college education for all? More wars? No fly zones? More bad trade deals that send jobs overseas? More "stern talks" with Wall Street? Embracing fracking?

It's not that HRC is a flawed, untrustworthy candidate. Well, she is, but the main issue that many of us have is that she's a moderate Republican based on the just some of the issues I've listed. It's odd to me that a campaign that routinely smeared the one candidate who really ran on Democratic values expects Bernie's supporters to overlook all of this and just come on board. Good luck with that.

[redstateblues]

50. Same old smear. Hillary was one of the most Liberal Senators

In Congress. You think by repeating a lie over and over makes it true.

[casperthegm]

52. Which one of my issues is untrue?

I'll be happy to discuss and compare issues. Looking forward to the conversation. Thanks.

[PJMcK]

26. Good points but. . .

Respectfully, I call your attention to your overuse of the ellipses. You might care to read this:

http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ellipses.html

To be clear, I agree with your points. Keep expressing your points of view, beachbum bob!

[Martin Eden]

11. Except the voters who were not allowed to vote

Independents overwhelmingly support Sanders over Clinton, but unless they registered as Democrats well in advance (6 months in New York) in closed primaries, they were disenfranchised in the primary election. Add to that all the purges, long lines, etc. (plus the DNC fully backing HRC) it is not accurate to say "the voters picked Hillary." Far too many were shut out.

Elections in the USA are highly dysfunctional, unfair, and subject to tampering -- and not just primaries.

We have to fix our democracy before we can fix anything else.

[cantbeserious]

12. Many Americans Will Come To Regret Their Votes For Trump And HRC

eom

[YouDig]

16. And on the other hand, most of Bernie's big wins came from caucuses that

are very undemocratic and make it very hard for people to vote. Hillary's wins in the South were mostly in open primaries. Texas was open. Ohio, Virgina, etc.

It wasn't the open/closed primary thing that put her over the top. Make every state an open primary, no closed primaries, no caucuses, and Hillary wins by at least as much.

That's irrelevant though. The rules were in place before the contest, and they were followed. The voters chose Hillary.

[Martin Eden]

33. Maybe, maybe not.

We'll never know what the outcome would have been with open primaries, no purges, no long lines, and without the DNC actively supporting one candidate over the other.

Our electoral system needs many reforms, in both the primary and general elections.

"The voters" do not include all the voters who wanted to and had a stake in this primary election. 6 months is an eternity in a primary campaign, and many who are not political junkies started to feel the Bern after it was too late. I can understand why many independents do not want to be registered with either of the two major parties. I'm disgusted with both parties myself, though certainly not in equal measure.

[rdking647]

18. why should independents get to vite in a part primary

independents should have as much say in the D nominee as teh republicans do

[Martin Eden]

30. That's a legitimate question

But the plain fact of the matter is that in many states, many voters who would likely vote for the Democratic candidate in the general election (especially if it is Bernie Sanders) didn't get to vote in either primary. I understand the concern about open primaries. When the nomination for one party is sewn up, voters from that party can switch over to vote for the candidate in the other party they want theirs to run against.

A free and fair representative democracy should expand voter choices, not limit them, and not shut voters out of the process. The two political parties have too much of a stranglehold over the electoral process in our country.

[nadinbrzezinski]

99. And we tax payers should not pay

One red cent for it. Close them, decouple them from state elections, you pay for them...I don't care if you use divination, just don't dare call them democratic with a small d. I mean it.

[dsc]

28. because they chose not to register as a Democrat

despite being told, in no uncertain terms that the primary was a closed primary. Yes, NY deadline is a bit early, I would think 30 to 60 days would be sufficient for the purpose of preventing parties from being overrun by non members (remember NY has a number of rather small parties) but even with that deadline, which is what states like PA have, the independents chose not to register.

[bkkyosemite]

14. Rigged, flipped and Fixed since the beginning of the race.

[Hiraeth]

19. god knows we have the smartest voters, just look at our great education system.

[SidDithers]

21. Exactly...

Sid

[sufrommich]

22. There's a lot of "burn it down" sour grapes

here today. That's to be expected. Time to switch from GD/Primary elections to GD/Presidential elections.

[book_worm]

24. She has now gotten three million more votes than Bernie

It's time some Bernie folks grew up and understood that she is winning both super delegates and the delegates pledged from winning the primaries. She also has a more diverse demographic of voters voting for her.

[Nanjeanne]

27. To be accurate you should probably say the voters over the age of 45 who are

Registered Democrats. They did pick Hillary. We shall see if there are enough of them in the GE.

[leftofcool]

34. There will be plenty of them

Only in the DU bizarro world will younger Dems not vote for the Dem nominee. They sure as hell will not vote for Trump no matter how much Bernie supporters wish it.

[Nanjeanne]

45. Wonderful. Then you have nothing to worry about and life will continue to inch along as

It always has.

As a Bernie supporter, I have no interest in voting for Trump so please do not speak for me or other Bernie supporters. Whether I vote for Clinton depends only on Clinton. So far she hasn't encouraged me to do so.

But you don't need my vote. Your world has Hillary getting all those young, independent and discouraged voters to her side. So Congratulations. You have nothing to worry about. Especially from the bizarro DU world you seem to spend a lot of time in.

[brush]

60. You left out all the POCs who voted for Clinton and who Sanders never figured out . . .

how to reach, many under 45.

[Nanjeanne]

86. Actually I think many of the POC under 45 voted for Sanders. But whatever you think is

Fine by me.

[brush]

87. Many maybe, but I don't believe most did.

Do you have any stats to back that up?

[Nanjeanne]

88. Not in my pocket. I remember reading it but honestly it's not as important to me to find them as

it appears to be for you. Sorry to disappoint you.

[brush]

89. I don't have to find them. I'm AA and have many young voters in my family . . .

and know who they voted for.

[Nanjeanne]

90. Oh you want anecdotes? I thought you wanted stats. My mistake.

[brush]

92. Young AA voters voted similarly to their older family members.

The younger voters in my family are no different than others.

It's Sanders campaign-created meme that young AA voters mostly voted for him.

It's not true. See the vote results. He lost.

[Nanjeanne]

93. Ok - if you say so. I won't ask you for stats to back that up. You believe this so much I want you

to be happy!

[JonathanRackham]

29. The primaries are not over, the day is not done.

Hillary people fear California.

[randome]

31. Right. And she's broke and desperate, too! It shows with win after win!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

[leftofcool]

37. She is ahead by double digits. Where is the fear?

[sufrommich]

40. Why would we fear California?

[Agnosticsherbet]

44. Proportional distribution of delegates means Sanders is no longer running to win the nomination

Clinton came close in 2008, about 90 delegates behind, and a 1% difference in popular vote.

California will not give Sanders the Win.
Sanders could win every state, including California, and he will still lose due to proportional distribution of delegates.
The primary, when compared to 2008, isn't even close.

For that reason, there will not be a floor fight at the convention. Clinton will be declared the nominee on the first ballot by the delegates, and they will know that she has won long before Cleveland.

On the plus side, I think Sanders is trying to build a movement. Nothing wrong with that.
On the minus, he is enriching a few very highly paid campaign consultants, adding the pool of 1%ers. (Devine, Weaver)

I am waiting for Sanders to be honest enough to say, "I can not win, but I am running to build my movement."

[brush]

63. Not really. California is heavily diverse. Sanders does not do well in states with . . .

diverse demographics.

Clinton will win there too.

[Thinkingabout]

36. K & R, good post.

We the people have spoken by 3 million strong.

[choie]

38. Uh huh

She won with help from Wall Street and other corporate donors, the DNC and the Media. If you don't see that, you're blind.

[COLGATE4]

43. Proof positive about what the other posters are saying.

Total disregard for the facts. Blame some amorphous group - "Wall Street" "Corporate donors" "the Media" for Bernie's failure to capture more actual votes than Hillary. It couldn't possibly be the fault of the candidate or his message. No, it's those spooky 'bad people' who always steal the victory away from poor Bernie. It's called magical thinking.

[randome]

46. Dark Matter may have had something to do with it, too!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

[COLGATE4]

47. I heard it was really Chemtrails. (Psst. Alex Jones told me)

[JCanete]

70. Really? So then that's also the case when the GOP wins too right?

It has nothing to do with a big moneyed machine telling the voters a false narrative to convince them to vote against their self-interests ... or voter suppression, or anything nefarious from the spooky "bad people." It has nothing to do with super-pacs and media complicity. George Bush really did just come across as the better candidate with his talented oration skills. He didn't get a little help from his friends. Seriously?

Or is it only a crazy conspiracy when its looking at your mainstream candidate? I'm all for you debunking any specific conspiracy with regards to the DNC and Hillary, but if you're going to paint the picture of American politics as this glorious mecca where the people's will be done and the interests of the wealthy have no dramatic pull on the process, then either I have a bridge to sell you, or no thanks, I think I'll pass on the bridge you're selling.

[choie]

94. Amorphous group??

That must be amorphous money in Clinton's coffers..

[brush]

64. No, she won because she appealed to the base of the party . . .

African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, gays, women, sensible progressive whites, Native Americans.

Sanders appealed to mostly whites. You can win the Democratic nomination nor the presidency depending on mostly white votes.

Romney proved that in 2012 when he won a huge majority of white votes but lost handily to Obama and the Obama coalition which I delineated above.

[Turin_C3PO]

67. Partially correct.

But it also breaks down along age lines. Younger minorities, women and white males supported Sanders. The older generation broke for Clinton.

[brush]

69. Sanders did have huge appeal to millennials and college students

but I would've say that about younger blacks, and I'm not so sure about younger Latinos.

[pinebox]

41. Like those in AZ?

No. The entitled who were allowed to vote.
There's the difference.

[mcar]

42. Yes!

[Bohemianwriter]

48. Unless you are a voter suppressed by the system..

If you can stand this kind of tactics fvrom the Hillary camp, then you have no right to complain about republicans who have been using this tactic for years.

It's also nice to see how you say that the people who did not vote for Hillary didn't count.

Democracy is one step closer to it's eternal grave...

[Trust Buster]

51. They can't admit the obvious. Democrats rejected Sanders by the millions, especially minorities.

[Alfresco]

53. K&R

[treestar]

54. You are right

I saw a stat that Bernie and Hillary Senate votes agreed 93% of the time.

DU has been exaggerating for much for so long people are starting to believe their own nonsense.

[amborin]

55. The DNC and the M$M chose Hillary; voters absorb media messaging, or they identify w/elites

[SHRED]

57. The media still controls the message

And people will follow.

Yeah there is the internet but the M$M rules for now and both candidates were not treated equally.

[YoungDemCA]

61. K & fucking R

Thanks for this thread, YouDig.

[Dem2]

66. Best post ever from a newby

I had just one vote too, it was the people who spoke and they chose who the candidate will be. It doesn't matter if it was my favorite candidate, it just matters that they are many 1000's of times better than the Republican psychopaths running for said office.

K&R

[Turin_C3PO]

68. I don't think he was treated fairly

by the DNC, especially in the beginning. Not saying he would have won,but I think it would have been much closer.

[NurseJackie]

72. I know! It's crazy isn't it?

[frylock]

74. Best of luck to you in the GE.

[apnu]

76. Hillary will be fine

She's got two advantages to keep in mind.

1) African Americans and Latinos are very positive on here, and women also.

2) Trump will probably be the nominee, and his negatives will be so 'yuge' he'll put the House and Senate in play for the Democrats and Hillary's coat-tails will be very long indeed.

Between those two, she's going to be fine.

[frylock]

79. All is well.

[apnu]

80. No it isn't. But the notion that Hillary will lose in the GE "because" is false.

She's got quite a few advantages both with the groups backing her and the party. Plus the Republicans are so awful, so repugnant, this year is a gift to the Democrats.

Pity that a progressive candidate won't be the one to take advantage of it, that sucks. But the field is very favorable for any Democrat right now. Again, plus Hillary's advantages with African Americans, women and Latinos, she's got a very strong hand to play.

I can separate my desires (Bernie) from reality (Hillary) and talk about things even though what I want isn't likely.

[Arugula Latte]

91. The best that can be said is "Yeah, Hillary is awful, but the Republicans are REALLY awful."

[Scurrilous]

75. Yep.

Those bastards...

[Beacool]

78. On this board, denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

For months they have twisted themselves into pretzels trying to justify Hillary's predominance in the primaries. I kept responding that it was quite simple: more Democrats have voted for Hillary than have voted for her opponent.

It's not that complicated.

[jwirr]

83. Haven't you forgotten the 33 State Democratic Party deal

that gave her a way to launder money through those states and also committed their super-delegates to her all before we had any chance to vote. My vote was useless from the minute I walked into the caucus because my state party had betrayed me.

So tell me that the voters selected her. When the party I belong to furthered her campaign with huge amounts of money for one candidate and signed a deal to give her their super delegates.

I was not born yesterday. We do not have a democracy any more.

[timmymoff]

84. This citizen won't be.

[rhett o rick]

85. Bullcrap. The Progressive Wing is miles apart from the Conservative Wing.

Clinton agrees with the Republicons on more issues than she disagrees. The neocons love her as does Wall Street.