It's time for Sanders to bow out gracefully - San Diego Union Tribune

[question everything]

Two years before the 2016 election, pundits sneered when U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said he might run for president because he thought the Democratic Party had lost touch with millions of disaffected Americans. Fast-forward to February 2016, and Sanders stunned the Democratic establishment by almost beating front-runner Hillary Clinton in Iowa and trouncing her in New Hampshire.

Yes, Sanders eventually lost to Clinton. But he gained a place in history books by showing that millions of voters, especially younger ones, were fed up with what they saw as the caution of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Yes, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also fueled the rise of Democratic progressives. But Sanders did the most to reveal many Americans’ appetite for a more generous government — one that offered free college and health care, wiped out student loan debt and required the wealthy to pay far more in taxes.

The 2020 campaign has not gone so well for him. He narrowly lost in Iowa and won in New Hampshire — again — but since the Feb. 29 primary in South Carolina, he has fallen farther and farther behind former Vice President Joe Biden, whose sweep last week in Florida, Illinois and Arizona all but clinched the Democratic nomination. A Sanders aide said he would “assess” his options.

It shouldn’t be a long assessment. Sanders can burnish his name in history by gracefully conceding the nomination and doing as much as he can to ensure his deeply loyal supporters vote for Biden in November. In 2016, an estimated 12% of Sanders supporters — many believing the Democratic Party acted to get Hillary Clinton nominated — voted for Republican Donald Trump. Some didn’t vote at all.

That can’t happen again because as disturbing as Trump’s presidency has been, the last two months may go down as disastrous. While he has accepted the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and sought to safeguard Americans by shutting the nation down, each day brings fresh evidence of what his delay has cost.

(snip)

Sanders and his supporters hoped he’d prevail, but fate has something else in store. If he helps Biden win over his followers and defeat Trump, Sanders will have changed history for the better.

http://www.startribune.com/it-s-time-for-sanders-to-bow-out-gracefully/569041502/

[Laf.La.Dem.]

1. WHY - here at DU!!

We have 49% "undecided"!!

[TwilightZone]

2. Inactive posters.

When candidates drop out, posters are reverted back to undecided. Unless they change it to Biden or Sanders, they remain undecided. Many are inactive; some probably don't know they have to switch.

There are also a lot of Sanders supporters who switched to undecided in an attempt to hide their preference, though it's rather obvious when there are only two candidates left in the race, and often additionally made obvious by their chosen topics.

[Laf.La.Dem.]

3. Thanks!

Twilight Zone - we are now all in that ZONE!!

[TwilightZone]

4. Yes we are.

Ain't that the truth.

[Dem4Life1102]

6. I'm not inactive

I haven't decide for whom I will vote and won't until right before my states primary.

[progressoid]

5. Ugh. This again?

In 2016, an estimated 12% of Sanders supporters...blah blah blah.

As has been pointed out numerous times on DU, many Sanders voters aren't Democrats to begin with so we weren't going to get their votes anyway. People don't vote for the nominee; it happens in every fucking election.

According to a Gallup poll taken at the end of March 2008, only 59 percent of Clinton supporters said they’d vote for Obama and 28 percent of them said they’d vote for John McCain. Likewise, a Washington Post survey from May of that year found 26 percent of Clinton supporters promising to vote McCain and only 64 percent promising to vote for Obama.

As the Post noted on Wednesday, though, “Obama’s support among Clinton primary supporters rose from 64 percent in May to 73 percent in mid-September, 79 percent in mid-October and 83 percent by Election Day, according to [a CNN] exit poll.”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/06/obama-says-democrats-will-unite-like-in-2008-will-they.html

Our energies would be better spent getting those who didn't vote at all in 2016 to the polls in 2020.

[7horses]

7. Biden out now...

Link to tweet

[Cha]

9. BS Lost and he Spent 3x More $$$$$ to Lose than

Biden did to WIN.

Like the San Diego Union Says in the OP.. Time for BS to Bow OUT.

[Cha]

11. "We have to take care of the cure [PERIOD end of sentence]. That [Trump opening businesses] will..

"We have to take care of the cure [PERIOD end of sentence]. That [Trump opening businesses] will make the problem worse no matter what."

Your tweet is Edited & Desperate.

[Captain Stern]

8. I agree that it's time for him to bow out

But it's too late for him to do it gracefully.

That ship has sailed.

[BlueIdaho]

10. Graceful is not a Bernie trait...

I’d like to see him change that - for the sake of his legacy...