How Bernie Sanders hangs in

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Most of all, on de-industrialization, trade and the hollowing out of the great American heartland by globalism, Mr. Sanders touches a deep nerve, as Donald Trump did. He is in a position to take on Mr. Trump on this issue, which Mr. Sanders will argue is his issue. Let’s think about those counties that flipped to Mr. Trump in 2016 again, and the people who are sending Mr. Sanders $18 checks. Bernie Sanders seems to grasp why Donald Trump won in 2016. He actually talks about our devastated American towns and the link between rural poverty and urban poverty — the first politician since Robert Kennedy to do so.

I am not sure most of his Democratic primary colleagues know there is rural and small-town poverty. But many Americans do. They get it because they have lived it. They see that their economy was exported. They see how communities and families were destroyed. And they never voted for this. They never voted to make Europe, or China, or Brazil rich and rural Ohio or Pennsylvania poor. They never voted for an economy of despair. They want a Marshall Plan for the American heartland.

So Bernie has not only a solid and loyal base but also the ability to grow his base because he has touched on something deep and real: Wall Street and average 401(k) holders may get richer, but small town America continues to atrophy.

(snip)

That brings me to something else that Democrats may be sensing: It will be very hard for Donald Trump to get under Bernie Sanders’ skin, or intimidate him in debates. Mr. Sanders is an uncoached, unprogrammed politician who knows what he thinks and why. He seems pretty fearless and at ease with himself. And that may intimidate Donald Trump.


https://www.toledoblade.com/opinion/keithburris/2020/01/05/how-bernie-sanders-hangs-in-2020-election-democratic-primary-commentary/stories/20200105038

[guillaumeb]

1. Remember the Bill CLinton mantra.

"It's the economy, stupid".

And in large part, it is. Most workers know that they are not doing well. Pretending that Wall Street success means the success of workers is delusional or deceptive. When 40% of Americans could not cover a $400 expense, when most Americans do not directly own stock, when most Americans have little or no savings, it is obvious to all but media pundits that this economy is failing ordinary workers.

[KPN]

35. I'm not sure it's obvious to all but media pundits. Hopefully, it is finally obvious to all

Democrats and most I's, but I'm not even sure of that. If it is, the full extent and effect of "failing ordinary workers" does not seem to be completely evident among some. Either that or they still want to kick the can further down the road so as not to ruffle too many feathers, i.e., play it safe. Something akin to 2016.

[George II]

2. The Toledo Blade? Why are you using "right wing sources"?

They don't want Biden to win and run against trump, so they prop up a weaker candidate.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=Toledo+Blade

[brooklynite]

4. Right-Center isn't a "right wing source".

[George II]

6. I just posted more about this "opinion" writer - he is most definitely a "right wing source".

[brooklynite]

7. You didn't criticize the writer; you criticized the publication.

[George II]

9. The writer is the EDITOR of sister publication, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, both owned by Block.

[ritapria]

3. I want Bernie in those 3 debates against Trump

Trump is a nasty man and Bernie can dish it out as good as he gets …………….Bernie speaks to the needs and concerns of the forgotten working class like no other candidate …...He will bring back the young voters ,the Green Party defectors , the Latinos, and Obama-Trump voters back to the Democratic Fold -in Big Numbers …… These folks don't want a return to normalcy , they want fundamental change … If they were thrilled with the status quo, Trump would have never been elected in the first place ...They are interested in the bread and butter economic issues spoken in blunt , unadorned terms... That is how we win

[zentrum]

32. Me too! I think he's

..the one who can actually beat Rump.

[KPN]

37. Ditto here. I'm beginning to feel llike he has the greatest potential to a beat tRump of any of our

candidates. Of course, some here will say that we are responding to "manipulation" by the press to divide the D vote. But it wasn't this article or any other that makes me feel this way about Sanders' chances relative to the rest of the field. It's been my feeling for quite some time, and was in 2016 as well.

Who will I vote for in the primary? Whoever is the front-runner at the time the Oregon primary occurs, unless itr's Joe. I'll vote for Joe in the GE if he wins our nomination, but I have doubts about whether he can actually win; and I'm not sure he'd actually win our primary if Sanders and Warren weren't splitting some voters.

[DemocracyMouse]

47. Why can't Sanders/Warren decide on a synthesis?

Between them they have America's heart.

Sanders for Prez?
Warren VP or a major cabinet position?

Wait till the chips fall in Iowa/NH, then flip the synthesis switch?

[KPN]

56. Perhaps they will?

[JudyM]

43. There are some here who complain about Sanders' demeanor but this is exactly the edge we need to

come at trump on these core issues... the bread and butter issues trump (deceitfully) won on are the issues Sanders and Warren alone are effectively and deliberately speaking to.

The status quo is plainly no longer good enough; it didn’t prevent/arguably contributed to this enormous growing wealth disparity by going along with the desires of corporate donors.

[George II]

5. More about Keith Burris below. You should consider self-deleting this OP.

Controversial editorial director Keith Burris promoted to executive editor of Post-Gazette

Burris has received criticism for his editorials on race and other editorial decisions, as well as rebukes from the union representing P-G employees.

Burris, who was installed by P-G publisher John Block to take over the opinion section last year, is best known as the author behind a now-infamous editorial titled "Reason as Racism." The piece argued that calling someone a racist is "the new McCarthyism" and that the only people that can be deemed racists are mass murders like Dylann Roof, who killed nine people in a church because they were Black. That editorial provoked a significant backlash from Pittsburgh's foundation community and even the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, the labor union that represents P-G employees.

It was also under Burris that cartoonist Rob Rogers was fired for what Rogers said were his critical cartoons of President Donald Trump. Rogers was replaced by cartoonist Steve Kelley, who recently received criticism for drawing three sexist cartoons within one week.

Block has defended the opinion section's sharp shift to the right in recent years, and says he believes there are people in the Pittsburgh region who appreciated the far-right content. One of them is KDKA talk radio host Wendy Bell, but most chatter on social media condemns the P-G's new tactics, mostly because the P-G was considered the city's left-leaning paper for decades.

https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/controversial-editorial-director-keith-burris-promoted-to-executive-editor-of-post-gazette/Content?oid=13719507

[PatSeg]

10. That is very disturbing

You are right, that OP should be deleted and people should be more careful where they find their editorials.

[BannonsLiver]

45. Anything goes as long as it's pro Bernie

[PatSeg]

57. I've never supported any candidate like that

and would expect that candidate would disavow such statements.

[Uncle Joe]

11. I see nothing racist or sexist about the article.

Can you find anything in the article that is racist or sexist?

It's a funny thing if I post Jacobin, Common Dreams etc. they're too far left and if I post this it's too far right.

Your window of information is exceptionally narrow.

I believe that in America today, the primary issues aren't so much left right as up down and the author in the OP speaks to the millions of people that are down.

P.S. One thing is for certain, it's not anti-semitic as in the pic originally posted by "mainstream" Bezos owned paper WAPO, is that paper still acceptable to you?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287407353

[George II]

12. Among other things, the writer fired a cartoonist because he was critical of trump....

...yet you like what he wrote and stick up for his opinions. That's not a narrow "window of information".

The writings of a right wing trump supporter should not be posted on DU.

Your attempt to distract by changing the subject to Bezos has been noted, but it doesn't change the fact that Burris is a right winger writing for the right wing Block Communications.

So noted.

[Uncle Joe]

13. That's not part of the content in the OP and

for that matter I thought the goal was to win former Obama/Trump voters?

I believe this article goes a long way toward that end.

[George II]

15. So now you're lumping Obama and trump voters together? Unbelievable.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Are you disputing the historical fact that some Americans; which voted for Obama

voted for Trump in 2016?

[George II]

19. I don't think anyone who considers him/herself a Democrat should equate Obama voters....

....with trump voters. That's insulting.

[Uncle Joe]

20. Well if the goal for the nominee is only to get Democratic votes in the G.E.

(which by the way Bernie has a 75% approval rating with) no Democratic nominee will win, we need Independent and it wouldn't hurt to have Republican voters as well to not only win but by a landslide as well.

A win by a landslide also increases the chances that progressive policies will take hold.

[KPN]

39. I don't think anyone did that. Everything isn't dichotomous George.

[George II]

41. "I thought the goal was to win former Obama/Trump voters?"

[KPN]

44. Yeah, so? He didn't say all of them did he? It's not an all or nothing thing. It's not

binary, though you seem to see it that way from your response.

[dware]

24. You actually believe that if BS is our nominee, not,

that former Obama/Trump voters are going to vote for a far left socialist?

[Uncle Joe]

25. You make the critical binary mistake

of only viewing the world through a left/right prism while ignoring up and down.

[dware]

29. The only one making a mistake here is you,

the country is by far and large, center left, and BS is in no way center left, he's a far left socialist whose policies do not resonate with the majority of voters, Dems, Ind, and Repubs, however, Joe Biden is a center left politician with much more experience, especially in foreign policy, than Bernie and his policies are much more in line with the vast majority of Americans.

You may not like it, but it's the simple truth and if BS were to somehow win the nomination, then be prepared for another 4 years of the Mango Menace.

[KPN]

42. What the hell are you laughing about? Absolutely, some who voted for Obama and tRump will vote for

Sanders if he is our nominee. Polls have even shown this.

[dware]

59. Ok, then put up the polls showing this.

BS is not in tune with the general public, the country is center left, while BS is a far left socialist, but if you want him for our nominee, then be prepared for another 4 years of the Mango Menace.

[KPN]

60. You can do your own research. I'm not your lackey. I know what I've read and seen in the past.

and fully comfortable with that.

As for the country is center left: that is a bunch of baloney that started decades ago with the right saying the country is "center". The center today is yesterday's far right on economic issues making today's center left yesterday's right. I'm tired of Democrats giving ground on these labels and then espousing it as so. Stick up for the working class or lose their vote. We've done plenty of that in recent past. Ergo, 2016 (and yeah, before you or anyone else bellows, racism is and was a major influence in 2016 and will remain so as long as we, on economic issues, remain as you so euphemistically maintain "center left".

[dware]

62. It goes like this,

you made the claim, you prove it, or is it that you can't?

[KPN]

66. Think what you will.

I'll give you that I could possibly have conflated polls showing 2016 Trump voters planning to vote for other than Trump in 2020 with leaning toward voting for Sanders specifically. But my recollection is having seen that exactly.

But I'm not going to spend time looking for sources. I principally chimed in here because your gif up-thread struck me as obnoxious and meant to ridicule. I know better, but sometimes I can't resist engaging when I see stuff like that especially from a relative newcomer.

[dware]

68. Fair enough.

And I'm not a relative newcomer, I was here when DU first kicked off, but life caught up with me and I had to abandon DU 14 years ago, but, now that I'm my own boss, I decided to rejoin the DU family, but I sure gotta say, this isn't the DU I remember from the early 2000's, it's much more, well, let's just say, wild.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

16. Don't pay any attention to people who hang on right winger Jennifer Rubin's every word.

Her own ombudsman said she should be fired

“Not because she’s conservative, but because she’s just plain bad," Pexton writes in the letter, which was published by Washington City Paper.

"She doesn’t travel within a hundred miles of Post standards," Pexton argues. "She parrots and peddles every silly right-wing theory to come down the pike in transparent attempts to get Web hits.”

[George II]

18. Another attempt to change the subject, from RWer Keith Burris to Jennifer Rubin....

[KPN]

38. +1000!

[UniteFightBack]

8. The disingenuous is dazzling: "I am not sure most of his Democratic primary colleagues know there is

rural and small-town poverty."

Opinion DISMISSED.

[George II]

21. Sure, Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, doesn't know there is "rural and small-town poverty"....

....and neither do Amy Kloubuchar or Joe Biden! What is that writer smoking? Has he ever looked at a map or thought about where Sanders' Democratic colleagues came from and live today?

[UniteFightBack]

22. It's almost as if they think of Sanders is a God or perhaps sent by one. nt

[Uncle Joe]

23. Where they live is secondary to their policies and the desperate needs of the nation.

Bernie's policies most aggressively address those needs across the board.

[George II]

30. The writer said that they don't KNOW there is "rural and small-town poverty"....

He wasn't talking about policy in that statement. You're going to tell us that those three, if not more, don't KNOW that there is rural and small-town poverty? That's ludicrous.

Buttigieg lives in and was MAYOR of a small city (100,000) right in the middle of a rural section of Indiana. A city where 25% of the residents live below the poverty line.

Joe Biden grew up in a small city, Wilmington (70,000) in rural Delaware/Pennsylvania, a city where 27% of the residents live below the poverty line.

Again, you and that RW writer are trying to tell us that they don't know about small-town and rural poverty? Give us a break!!!

[betsuni]

61. That is because establishment Democrats are coastal elites who nibble canapes with their wealthy

donor classes and Wall Streets behind closed wine cave doors.

Bernie and his campaign say it all the time so it must be true!

[MineralMan]

14. Well, the right would surely like Senator Sanders to be the nominee.

That's clear enough. I'm not convinced, though, that it's a good idea at all.

In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not.

[Gothmog]

26. If sanders is the nominee, trump will win 45+ states

trump would love to run against sanders

[MineralMan]

28. I think that's a distinct possibility.

The Republicans will play the "Socialist" card, and it's likely to be effective.

I'm about winning the 2020 election, and that's my primary goal. I don't think Sanders can win. I think Biden can. So, that's who I'm supporting in the primaries. It's a simple equation for me.

[Gothmog]

34. The GOP and Rusisia have a ton of oppo on sanders

There are a ton of videos of sanders attending and applauding the crowd at central American events where they shouted death to America and there are great videos of sanders praising Castro and other leaders who were hostile to the US. trump would run these videos in attack ads in a constant loop

In 2016, Russia was very successful in depressing the vote of African Americans for Clinton by using face book and other social media to claim that Hillary was not a friend of African Americans. Russia would depress the African American vote if sanders was the nominee by running videos of sanders supporters booing John Lewis, Elijah Cummings, Marcia Flood and Stacy Abrams at the National Convention. There is still a great deal of anger about the conduct of sanders supporters towards African Americans and Russia has a ton of material to use against sanders.

It is clear to me that if sanders was the nominee, trump would win 45+ states.

[Uncle Joe]

31. If Trump would love to run against Bernie why did he

attack Biden's son during the Democratic Primaries and not wait until the G.E.?

Even Trump has enough sense to know that Democrats hate him and attacking Biden's son would create a natural partisan counter reaction that would benefit Joe; during the primaries giving him a better chance of winning the nomination.

Bernie would clean Trump's clock and he knows it.

[Gothmog]

33. trump attacked Biden because trump fears Joe Biden

trump attacked Joe during the primary because he wants to run against the weakest possible candidate in the primary which is sanders. sanders has so much baggage that it is not funny. trump would win 45+ states if sanders is the nominee

[KPN]

48. And I frankly feel that way about Joe. I lean to Sanders between the two. If they are still in the

running at primary time here in Oregon, I'll be voting for whoever is leading between Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg -- I'd also consider Yang if he's leading among the four.

Having said that, if Joe does win the primary and the nomination, I will most certainly and gladly cast my vote in the GE for him. No question.

[vsrazdem]

27. This is a positive post about Bernie, so it must be taken down, and apparently you should

check the credentials of the opinion writers of every local paper before posting a positive Bernie post. That about sums it up.

[George II]

36. Not merely an opinion writer of a local paper, he's the executive editor, vice president, and....

...editorial director for right-wing Block Newspapers.

He's a person who fired a cartoonist because he was critical of donald trump and has written some questionable columns in the past.

He also made the stupid comment in that column that Sanders' colleagues "don't know there is rural and small-town poverty", even though at least two of them were born in and grew up in small towns/cities in rural areas that have high poverty levels.

That alone disqualifies the credibility of the editor.

But, I guess any port in a storm.

[vsrazdem]

46. Right and the average Bernie supporter should investigate the author of all opinion pieces before

posting a positive article. Sure.

[George II]

49. Yes, at least give a cursory look at who wrote the piece and where it came from. I know I do....

....I've been burned enough to know better.

[KPN]

50. Lol. Exactly. Too funny.

[LanternWaste]

64. I'd think anyone except hacks and cheerleaders would check out the credentials

I'd think anyone except hacks and cheerleaders would check out the credentials of any author of an article they post.

That about sums it up, part II.

[Democreator]

40. I like Bernie but I want him to campaign in Missouri because here in Missouri we've lost many jobs.

I think the major issue in Missouri in Year Two Thousand and Twenty will be the economy. Missouri has lost more jobs than all adjacent states combined.

[David__77]

51. Welcome to this site!

I hope he campaigns in Missouri too!

[flying_wahini]

52. Meh.

[KPN]

53. I sincerely hope Bernie Sanders hangs in this at least until Oregon's primary, and

all the way to the end if possible. If he is the front-runner behind Joe or outright, I will cast my primary vote for him. The man has done more than any politician in my lifetime to move the needle back a bit to the left again, but there's still a long ways to go just to get back to the center in my view. For that reason, I want his voice and persona to stay in the spotlight as long as possible.

As an aside, and to clarify my statement above, the term "center" as it is used today strikes me as a misnomer -- and clearly so. In fact, it's actually right (not center) on economic issues as far as I can tell ... and I'm pretty damned sure the majority of Americans are not "right" of the actual real center or even "center-right". When I hear "center-left", I hear "right" on economic issues. And I reject that.

[Uncle Joe]

54. Thanks for sharing KPN.

[The Valley Below]

55. Personally, i would not post an article that equated the way

my candidate "touches a deep nerve" in a fashion that's similar to Donald J Trump.

Of course, no one says that about my preferred candidate.

[myohmy2]

58. +1

" Wall Street and average 401(k) holders may get richer, but small town America continues to atrophy. "

" It will be very hard for Donald Trump to get under Bernie Sanders’ skin, or intimidate him in debates. Mr. Sanders is an uncoached, unprogrammed politician who knows what he thinks and why. He seems pretty fearless and at ease with himself. And that may intimidate Donald Trump. "

...that's about it...

[Skidmore]

63. Mr. Sanders is above all things a

politician of the worst kind. His demagoguery is right up there with the best of demagogues. He has his own lexicon and formulations of dissemblance. He has practiced for decades so, of course, he is at ease with himself.

[NYMinute]

65. Right wing strategy to prop up Sanders in order to hurt Biden

Trump fears Biden the most. Trump knows he will have a cakewalk against Bernie.

Remember Jeremy Corbyn?

[HeartlandProgressive]

67. K&R

[kcr]

69. Not a great look for Bernie

When his fans peddle right-wing sources to back him.

[Uncle Joe]

70. Well here are some left wing sources.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287411214


https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287411192