2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBernie, Bernie, Bernie...
I'm really fed up with so many on this site blaming Bernie for HRC's loss. A loss is a loss. If people truly believed in her, they would have voted for her. I read recently Bernie forced HRC to lean more left than remain centrist. That wasn't the case between her and Obama; and she lost to him.
States, I truly never would turn red turned red---like Pennsylvania. Yeah, that really shocked me. I don't think Bernie had anything to do with that. Was/Am I a Bernie supporter hell yeah! But I wasn't supporting Bernie because I hated HRC---I was actually supporting a person who was adding to a two party system and leading a strong coalition.
I HATE a two party system. I hate the electoral college. Voices are lost---you either have to stick to one or another but can't seem to move past it. I liked Bernie's politics, no doubt. But he was building something there that I feel the US needed. Not to mention it was a focus on social programs that I appreciate.
In reality, if we have to blame someone or people for HRC's loss---it's the fact she could not in any way connect with uneducated White women voters. Not to mention her ratings with educated White women voters versus Trumps was negligible. Bernie didn't do anything. I think even the reporters were shocked by how much White women voters influenced the election---because they had spent so much of their time on the Latino vote.
They took for granted that White women voters would go for HRC without a doubt. Just like they expected Obama to have the Black vote. They underestimated their numbers, presence, and what they stood for. Never take women for granted, no matter the colour of their skin.
So rather than harass Bernie---lets focus on voting statistics and who matter aside from getting our small town people to run for town elections. That's the way to make proactive changes and who's minds we have to influence if not change.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)I am so glad this forum will be gone tomorrow!
FSogol
(46,655 posts)Let the show begin.
Response to WhiteTara (Reply #4)
Chasstev365 This message was self-deleted by its author.
Beer is good, however I prefer whine... ooops I meant wine.
vaberella
(24,634 posts)fleur-de-lisa
(14,674 posts)I supported Bernie in the primary but happily voted for Hillary during the general election, especially after it was apparent what Comey was up to.
A maniac takes office tomorrow!
still_one
(96,779 posts)encouraged his supporters to vote for her.
I also blame those progressives who refused to vote for Hillary by either voting third party or not voting
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Why are all the Sanders fans down playing the Russian hacking? Is is because they are that propaganda up too and spread it all over? Seriously, if you don't think Comney and the hacking mattered I think you're tripping.
It mattered a great deal.
vaberella
(24,634 posts)I'm just saying there was more here than just comies...especially when I look at the numbers. I'm sorry--I don't think comies really think as far as women voters. Just saying.
JI7
(90,758 posts)underthematrix
(5,811 posts)This needs to be your starting place because this is not about an individual. This is about the overthrow of our govt.
vaberella
(24,634 posts)democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Bernie is also not a democrat. It is too late now, but should be remembered next time so we don't shoot ourselves in the foot and become losers again.
TDale313
(7,822 posts)People are frustrated with the status quo. They feel their needs are not being addressed. Dems can figure out how to deal with that or they can continue to lose.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)I also believe very few would want what is about to besiege US.
TDale313
(7,822 posts)This is truly frightening. And I live in a deep blue state and still supported Hillary in the General because she was far better than the alternative and in the end I wanted her to have as strong a showing in the popular vote as possible- to repudiate Trump and his hate filled agenda.
But Dems need to wake up. This should have been a major soul- searching moment. If anything should have told them "what we're doing isn't working" this should have been it. Sadly I don't get the sense that the message was received.
QC
(26,371 posts)and yes, those concerns are absolutely justified--to avoid doing that soul-searching.
Everything is fine, they tell themselves, so let's just keep doing what we've been doing. No need to question anything. La la la la la I can't hear you.
VoicesAcrossAmerica
(70 posts)For those who don't remember, in 2008 it was really close between Obama and Clinton. Had it gone the other way, wanna bet how many people would have blamed Obama for Clinton's eventual loss to McCain?
What the DC Dems don't understand is that Republicans HATE Clinton. It isn't fair. She doesn't deserve it. But they are rabid. And because she's not a great campaigner, she doesn't inspire the base to overcome this.
Primaries have been a lot more vicious than Bernie vs Hillary. He isn't responsible for articulating the way many people in the country feel. And voters are not responsible for not voting for her. It was the job of her campaign to create a strategy to beat Trump. But because they were primarily a bunch of rich white democrats, those are the only states they managed to win. They truly thought they could make Republicans vote for Hilary if they just showed them how awful Trump was. The problem is, Republicans are Republicans because they want Republican programs. And they really want a Conservative Supreme Court Justice. That "Trumped" their personal dislike of Trump.
Had Clinton's team chosen a strategy to inspire people to vote for her she'd have won. But I'm sorry, the worst idea I've ever heard in my life is I'm With Her. Had they simply changed it to She's With Me even it would have been so much better.
JudyM
(29,536 posts)made that choice not because Bernie didn't endorse her immediately (that's ridiculous!) but because they were too revolted by the rigging by the DNC et al..., in other words, by strategic decisions made by or for Hillary's campaign, which were reasonably attributed to her. I was really turned off by how her campaign tried to keep Sanders down procedurally rather than trying to win on the issues. I ended up up voting for her but I can see why less devoted Dems who supported sanders may have sat home.
Welcome to DU!
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)JudyM
(29,536 posts)Because how could DWS & Hillary's strategy have anything to do with her loss of the electoral vote?
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)JTFrog
(14,274 posts)There is definitely a lesson to be learned here. But it's not whatever you are trying to sell.
joshcryer
(62,506 posts)...before Sanders endorsed Clinton.
Absurd.
JudyM
(29,536 posts)for her. The amount of time taken to endorse her didn't make a difference -or can you point to evidence that it did? That's just a false trope used to blame Bernie. The DNC pulled tricks to keep him marginalized and that deviousness came to light and hurt Hillary. After the convention Bernie actually was on the road campaigning for her more than she herself was campaigning... check his schedule, he worked hard to get her elected.
joshcryer
(62,506 posts)DNCs shenanigans did not result in Clinton getting 4 million more votes than Sanders. It's absurd on the face of it.
Had Clinton waited 8 weeks to endorse Obama in 2008 people would have rightly been outraged. Somehow logic and reason just go out the window here.
They needed a joint unity campaign like what happened in 2008. Instead Clinton was forced into appeasement mode and the rust belt went meh.
TDale313
(7,822 posts)Because fairly or not we had a Candidate in the General whose last name has become synonymous with Nafta and bad trade deals.
JHan
(10,173 posts)1) holding their nose
2) lesser of two evils
She deserved neither of those descriptions and it affected enthusiasm. When the polls showed she was a sure bet, lots stayed home because they'd rather not - as if HRC was the most disgusting thing to vote for ever.
Now we have a shameless narcissistic pathetic incompetent treasonous PoS about to be *President.
JudyM
(29,536 posts)It was strategic decisions. Don't spend time in WI, spend more time getting donations than having rallies to gin up enthusiasm.
Why didn't Hillary stand up for those of us who voted for her by challenging the close votes in WI, MI etc? And be sure to blame that on Sanders, too.
marlakay
(12,205 posts)More of his followrs wouldn't have followed him to Hillary. He was doing what he promised his people and slowly pulled them towards her.
He had a strong movement and he knew if he moved sooner more would vote third party.
joshcryer
(62,506 posts)The very people who didn't vote were the rust belt which he was engaging.
He did not get them out to vote.
Response to vaberella (Original post)
Post removed
stonecutter357
(12,776 posts)Gothmog
(155,157 posts)Here is a good example Sanders really hurting Clinton. I am still mad at the number of times that trump used Sanders' claims against Clinton. Sanders' baseless charges that the system was fixed and rigged were used by trump to great effect and hurt Clinton http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rigged-system-donald-trump_us_5855cb44e4b08debb7898607?section=us_politics
I think he was able to thread a certain toxic needle. But he did win, and were all going to pay the price.
John Weaver, aide to Ohio Gov. John Kasichs presidential campaign
The underlying irony for those who sought to end what they perceived as corruption is that they may well have elected a president whose record through the years and whose actions since the election signal it could be the most openly corrupt administration in generations.....
And if Sanders rhetoric during the primaries started that stew simmering with his talk about the system only working for the rich, Trump brought it to a full boil with his remarks blaming undocumented immigrants and trade agreements that he claimed were forged as the result of open corruption.
Sanders' bogus rigged process claim hurt a great deal.
Gothmog
(155,157 posts)This is the only thing that Sanders cares about
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)We should never allow that to happen again. Period.
And why does it seem that only Bernie and Stein supporters are in denial? They also deny that Comey, Russia, racism, sexism, gerrymandering, cheating or hacking had anything to do with the outcome.
It's all laughable.
P.S. - Buy My Book!
betsuni
(27,274 posts)delisen
(6,544 posts)The Nader revolt against the "establishment" and the Sanders revolt against the "establishment." Every so many election cycles we relearn the harsh lesson: There is a difference between the two parties.
Clinton connected with enough men and women to win an election by almost 3 million votes.
Bernie Sanders is a big boy. He does not seem to feel harassed. He played hardball politics, heeded some good and he did some damage. He doesn't seem to be worrying about the damage and seems comfortable working within the confines of the new illegitimate government. He is a reformer and that is OK.
I find his vision narrow-and in the tradition of that Democratic Party mistake of 2004 -John Edwards. (Sanders being more ethical however). I myself am not a true believer in any political leader. I think true believers damage Democracy which requires reasoning and judgement in an electorate.
Democracy is under attack in a way it has not been since World War II. We had a gutsy Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who publicly denounced the new authoritarianism in Russia and stood up for free elections. She has paid a political price. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut, played it safe, ignored human rights, figuring few of us would care anyway, worked out oil deals with Putin.
I suspect Putin would have preferred to hack an election for a pragmatically evil but well-organized person rather than the unpredictable Trump-but we will never know.