Good primary, everyone.

[bearsfootball516]

I wasn't around for the 2008 or 2016 primary, but I've heard that they were REALLY ugly, especially 2008, and this primary was actually pretty civil in comparison. Can anybody vouch for that?

[brush]

1. IMO 2016 was much nastier than 2008, with the bernie bros and russian bots and all.

[democrattotheend]

7. I thought 2008 was nastier

We had so many "PUMAs" who eventually got banned. TBH, there are only a few people still here whom I remember being 2008 Hillary supporters. And 2008 was definitely nastier between the campaigns than 2016 was, although they did unify earlier.

I think part of the reason people remember 2016 being worse was because of the post-general election recriminations on this forum. We didn't have that in 2008 because our candidate won. If Obama had lost, I imagine there would have been similar post-election sniping about whether Hillary would have won and whether she cost him the election by not being supportive enough.

[MFM008]

2. 2016

By far.

[Demsrule86]

3. I can...this primary was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better.

It was the wild wild west before. 2016 was awful.

[Hortensis]

4. 2016 and its results have been a grim learning experience

for enough of us to make a difference. The blue wave of the 2018 midterms seems to have been both indicator and predictor of that.

in seven decades I've never even borrowed an Ambien or Ativan from a friend, but the hope the midterms gave me, and the continued wave of support for Democratic ideals through this primary season, saved me from having to ask our physician for something to help get me through 2020.

[thesquanderer]

5. Yes, this was relatively civil. Almost all the venom ended up...

...directed to either Sanders or Gabbard. Gabbard was never a major player. So really, just Sanders. (I'm not saying there was none toward Biden, but it was much less.) In 2016, it went more equally both ways, it was terribly harsh on Sanders AND terribly harsh on Hillary. And in 2008, it was tough on both Obama and Hillary, which I think also reflected that the 2008 campaign itself was rougher than the 2016 or 2020 campaigns, I believe in part because of the racial undertones.

[democrattotheend]

8. Exactly. 2020 was very one-sided here.

It seems like there was a ton of animosity toward Bernie and his supporters, and very few supporters here. I guess some of the ones who were here went to JPR, and others like me supported Warren or someone else this time. That said, the few Bernie supporters who stayed here were respectful and not obnoxious like some of the Bernie supporters on other sites.

[Politicub]

6. 2016 was hell. The changes implemented after that made DU so much better

I had to log off from DU for the months of the primary in 2016 and only sporadically looked at the site during the GE.