Sanders told WaPo's Costa he won't drop out of race even if he stumbles, will contest every state

[highplainsdem]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ascendant-bernie-sanders-turns-his-focus-to-joe-biden-as-iowa-nears/2020/01/02/1132e622-2d7c-11ea-bcd4-24597950008f_story.html

Sanders said in the interview, “I will support someone if they’re more conservative than me because I think it’s imperative that we beat Trump.” But he also made clear that, even if he stumbles, he has no plans to drop out until the race is over, saying what he is “certainly prepared to do is contest every state in this country.”

[Lexee]

1. By yelling cheating? That is what he did before. All states he lost, cheating.

All he won, were merely well earned victories.

[brooklynite]

6. He won't do that this time.....

He has Sirota and Turner to do it for him.

[Lexee]

8. Whatever, that will be the message he gets out. As much damage to Democrats as he can.

Btw, any responsible person would have well addressed Russia helping him out with this, especially as he acknowledged they did it in the past.

[Amimnoch]

36. Exactly, hard to criticize Trumps Russian benefit when he's getting the same support.

Personally, I prefer my candidates not being supported by the Russian propaganda machine.. but maybe that’s just me.

[OnDoutside]

52. It's still early !!!

Plenty of time left. As I said a couple of days ago, if he's not to win the nomination, it would be an awful lot better that he doesn't finish second.

[George II]

2. Just like he refused to say he'd support the ultimate nominee.

[guillaumeb]

12. From the quote:

Sanders said in the interview, “I will support someone if they’re more conservative than me because I think it’s imperative that we beat Trump

That sounds quite clear to me.

[sheshe2]

14. By contesting EVERY STATES VOTE?

[guillaumeb]

44. He regularly polls in the top 3.

And I feel that fact is driving his decision.

[UniteFightBack]

15. He'll be busy contesting every state...when do you think he'll get around to supporting someone

else? You think it will be sooner than 2016?

[guillaumeb]

45. Well,

He regularly polls in the top 3.

And I feel that fact is driving his decision.

[UniteFightBack]

46. That's true but he rarely places first. nt

[guillaumeb]

47. If he were at 1% or less,

like a certain Hawaiian politician, I would suggest that he not compete.

[UniteFightBack]

48. I just hope there is a punctual exit when reality becomes clear. If past history is any indicator.s

[guillaumeb]

49. I agree that if one person is the clear leader,

with not enough contested delegates, I would suggest that the remaining candidates accept that as a mandate from the voters. And that would be the time to declare public support for the nominee.

[ehrnst]

42. By continuing to fight them after they have won?

You seem to have stopped reading before you got to this:

But he also made clear that, even if he stumbles, he has no plans to drop out until the race is over, saying what he is “certainly prepared to do is contest every state in this country.”

[guillaumeb]

43. Given his level of support,

that is understandable. If he were polling at 1 or 2% that would be different.

[ehrnst]

55. So you're OK with him fighting whoever the winner is until the convention.

[guillaumeb]

56. What if there is no clear cut winner?

Are you suggesting that Party Conventions should have no function other than media soundbites?

[ehrnst]

57. He didn't make that distinction, did he?

But nice strawman there, attempting to misrepresent me, to make me sound extreme and ridiculous.

If you had reasonable, calm response in defense of Sanders's statement, you wouldn't need to resort to that kind of defensive fallacy.

Something to think about.

[guillaumeb]

58. You did mention a clear cut winner.

And I asked the obvious follow up question.

[ehrnst]

59. No, you attacked a strawman, because

you didn't have any real defense of that position once I pointed out what the actual implications were. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't defend strawmen others set up to attack.

And no, I didn't take that other bait either...



If you need to misrepresent the other person in order to make your point, perhaps your point needs to be reexamined.

[oasis]

3. Joe's gotta win it quickly and leave this guy far behind in the dust.

Certain lingering malcontents can be ton of trouble.

[empedocles]

16. BS is desperate, his last go round. Like 2016, he'll hang on destructively,

to the bitter end.

[oasis]

18. I'm afraid you're right, but he may be more cooperative this go round

considering the stakes.

Trump must be defeated.

[empedocles]

21. Hopefully he will be more cooperative, but this is his last go round, and

he is angry, driven guy.

[Harris, on the other hand, certainly was ambitious and driven, but was able to let go, and be supportive and gracious]

[LongtimeAZDem]

23. He believes the messianic image his followers imbue him with; he would rather let the country burn

down than surrender that image.

[WA-03 Democrat]

26. This

[ehrnst]

61. +1000

[Amimnoch]

37. It's the same stakes as last time.

It was to keep Trump out in 2016, now it’s to get Trump out in 2020.

Sooo many things to be bitter about, but the Garland torpedoing alone is enough reason for me to love all of our candidates BUT BS.

[msongs]

4. contesting each state is fine, torpedoing the democratic party not so fine nt

[Mike Nelson]

5. Yup...

... don't need an interview to learn this fact. Bernie is staying in the contest until the bitter end.

[NYMinute]

34. Bitter end a Trump win

Which is a win to his supporters because they get the "I told you so" moment

[The Valley Below]

7. The revolution is eternal.

[TidalWave46]

9. He can afford to. In every way imaginable. NT

[SCVDem]

10. Bernie or Bust?

Always the divider!

I cannot support that.

[Amimnoch]

38. Is now driving the anyone BUT bernie or bust movement. -nt

[PubliusEnigma]

11. Pied Piper Gonna Pipe.

[Lexee]

13. Lol, this. Right off the cliff.

[Progressive dog]

17. Of course Sanders will contest every state in the primary

and he'll be helping Trump go after the Democrats right through the convention. IMO

[NYMinute]

33. That seems to be the goal nt

[Joe941]

19. It's a gotcha question. This is the correct answer...

The last thing you will hear from any candidate is they are going to give up. Its political suicide. So Bernie played this question perfectly. He is a great candidate with all the correct answers.

[LanternWaste]

25. Blame the media, question the polls, rinse, lather, repeat as necessary.

[NYMinute]

32. and blame the Democratic party while not blaming the republicans nt

[W_HAMILTON]

20. As a former Sanders voter...

…who now completely regrets ever supporting him, my message to current Sanders supporters is this: please reconsider your support for this man. He is not good for the party and he is not good for beating Trump. He has become a disruptive force and we are seeing on a national stage why he has accomplished so little in his career and why he is actually a deterrent to many of the policies he claims to champion. He is a progressive that makes no progress and he is now threatening to do in 2020 what he did in 2016. He learns nothing. The only way we can keep him and his divisive group of campaign staff and supporters from doing the same thing this time around is to beat him so soundly in the primary that he is basically marginalized and ignored during the general.

[WA-03 Democrat]

27. Great Summary

Thank you for posting this!!

Go Joe Go!!!

[NYMinute]

31. Very well put nt

[RelativelyJones]

51. Thanks for this. Absolutely true.

[Joe941]

53. He is the only person I will support.

He is the candidate of real change.

[LongtimeAZDem]

22. The fact that Sanders has never even entertained the notion of any responsibility for the

outcome of the last election demonstrates that he has no real interest in the good of the country, only his own self-promotion.

[Skidmore]

24. +1 nt

[NYMinute]

29. ++++++

[Joe941]

54. He is blamed every day for 2016 but may I remind you...

He isnt the one who lost.

[NYMinute]

28. Obviously, the goal is not to help a Democrat win

and unite the party ahead of the convention.

[Hortensis]

30. He will do it. He has the money operation.

But he can't use it to buy votes, and that's critical.

Wherever Sanders's brand of populism sells to less than 15% of a state's voters (and the RW is the big market for that), he will lose every elector to the candidates who do. Of course, since Trump has no primary competition, many trumpsters and other conservatives will once again cross-vote for Sanders as a spoiler in open primary states.

BUT, if he doesn't get 300 delegates to the convention, he can't be nominated and repeat 2016. He'll spend the convention as one of the ex-candidate superdelegate observers. His angry and disappointed "lock her up" types will be free to demonstrate outside.

Something to shoot for.

[Gothmog]

35. I saw the result of this at the 2016 Philadelphia convention

It was not pretty. This attitude gave rise to a ton of horrible conduct by sanders and his supporters

[samnsara]

39. he wants to win more than beat trump...

..sad scary and dangerous imho

[kcr]

40. 4 more years of Trump because of him

Wonderful

[ehrnst]

41. "Not me, Us."

Somehow that statement to WAPO doesn't really fit with his campaign branding....

[The Valley Below]

60. Irony is dead.

[tritsofme]

50. Sanders will not be constrained by the petty little things, like mathematics!

My guess is that he pointlessly lingers long after elimination, at least as long as those campaign dollars keep flowing to the coffers!

[Baltimike]

62. another reason I am not voting for him. nt