Bernie drops out.

No surprise, I suppose. The 2020 election season has now been rendered pointless.

https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1247540886885543936

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snoopydawg's picture

@CB

This is what I meant. Only raise your hand if you think Nancy will be upset if he wins. The PTB love what Trump is doing for them without nary a whimper from democrats. The latest two things are rolling back envelopes Environmental regulations and possibly getting rid of the payroll taxes. No more workers compensation insurance? Great now people can sue for liability if they get hurt at work. Oh wait...McCarthyism McConnell dammit and Trump want to pass legislation letting them off the hook for this. Right now it's only if people get COVID because they made their employees work, but you know if they get an inch...

Edited became of darn autocratic Autocorrect dammit! Twice. Thrice

lol..

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11 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Hawkfish's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger

It sounded to me like he could no longer split his attention between the senate and the campaign trail. He is mortal and has to “decide what to do with the time that is given him”.

I really hope he doesn’t try to hold rallies though. Last time he did that in Seattle for HRC he got booed at the Moore Theatre instead of being cheered at Seattle Center. He may not have had the killer instinct that was needed in this political moment but he did far more than most of us.

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15 users have voted.

We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@Hawkfish @Hawkfish

It sounded to me like he could no longer split his attention between the senate and the campaign trail.

and remains incredibly true to form.

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13 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

magiamma's picture

tonight via Zoom to decide what to do. There are still a lot of down ballot issues. Some people feel that we should still push to have people vote for Bernie so as to get delegates to the convention. Should be an interesting meeting.

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19 users have voted.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@magiamma @magiamma
of the remaining primaries might be the only tactic left for modifying Dem establishment behavior.

I know low turnout typically favors incumbents, but primary turnout that is too low makes those same incumbents targets in the general. Watch 'em squirm in swing districts when they realize the numbers to win the general no longer add up.

And yeah, I don't want to leave down ballot races high and dry, but after seeing how they screwed Bernie and others (see e.g. Jessica Cisneros) what are the odds than any other Progressive challenger stands a fair shot at unseating a Blue Dog?

[EDIT: I do not endorse this. See below]

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19 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

magiamma's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger
the fuckifIknow...

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8 users have voted.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@magiamma @magiamma

Forget a boycott - better to keep everybody fighting and continuing to organize regardless of the DNC's preferred outcome.

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11 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Shahryar's picture

who didn't realize Biden was so far away from the needed delegates. He said we, in Oregon, wouldn't have any say since we're so late in the process. I explained to him what the count is and that, with the postponed primaries elsewhere, our vote by mail primary next month could matter quite a lot.

And that was last night and now this.

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26 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@Shahryar

There are so many states that haven't voted yet. People have been calling for Bernie to drop out because of whatever made up reasons, but remember how Hillary stayed in against Obama until June and turned her campaign into one of the nastiest ever?

I didn't listen to his speech to see if he was concerned about people having to vote during the epidemic, but gee don't we have the option of mail in voting?

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23 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

magiamma's picture

@Shahryar
phone banking for that very reason. If they shut down the phone app for Bernie we will use OR or some other app.

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11 users have voted.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@Shahryar there it is -- no say. Your young'un was right.

This is an established pattern. I think the template was the Democratic race in 1984. It was Jesse Jackson vs. Gary Hart(pence) vs. Walter Mondale. After much hoopla "the party" (or whomever; maybe we should just call the real agency behind the Democratic Party "the man behind the curtain") selected Mondale, who lost to Reagan.

This year you have all the party hopefuls dropping out around Super Tuesday and endorsing Joe Biden. Sure, it looks a bit forced. But they felt they had to stick to the pattern.

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20 users have voted.

"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

magiamma's picture

@Cassiodorus
It was scripted to a 'T', but still gonna try until it is no longer possible. We are so fucked.

No say OR no se? Heh. Looks like we lose either way.

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12 users have voted.

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MsDidi's picture

@Cassiodorus
I'm old enough to have been around for Jesse's campaign. Had never seen a reason to vote until he ran, so I registered for the first time to vote in the Dem primary. Those of us who rushed in right before the deadline -- who were obviously registering for Jesse -- did not receive voters' cards unti the week after the primary. The Dems knew what why there was such a surge of last minute registrants. Could recount lots of ways that they stole votes in Western PA, how they bribed people in the Black community to bring in the Social Security numbers and vote for dead people, how the voting machines were rigged to process a vote for the endorsed candidates when folks voted for others, how poll workers sat in back rooms and put white out on he results from the voting machines. People who haven't worked inside the belly of the beast want to believe this isn't what happens in metropolitan areas -- or the Deep South which has now "turned" two primary contests even though none of those states will ever vote blue in a general election. All the easier to jerry-rig the results. It's so cynical and obvious, but more and more young people are seeing it.

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19 users have voted.
VirtualMaestro's picture

Been lurking here off and on since the "Ides of March", and finally registered to post an analogy that I haven't seen mentioned before.

Super Tuesday was the DNC's "shock-and-awe" moment. I was certainly experiencing both in large quantities following Super Tuesday, and was amazed at what the powers-that-be were able to accomplish in so short of a time, getting all the candidates to immediately align against Bernie, and flipping his controlling lead into a hopeless sham almost literally overnight. I found myself in kind of a stupor in the week or two following that, wondering what the hell happened, and not really wanting to engage in any political discussion.

My eyes were opened in 2009 following Obama's handling of the banksters and the public option. I knew then that we needed drastic change, and the corporate Dems weren't going to get us there. Now I will always remember Super Tuesday 2020 as the moment my eyes were opened completely to the futility of accomplishing anything worthwhile under our current political system, no matter who may be leading the charge. It just doesn't matter; they will be stopped, one way or another. And we'll all be left out here in the cold.

Fuck.

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37 users have voted.
longtalldrink's picture

@VirtualMaestro is the refusal of ANYONE to call out the DNC on their cheating. And old smug ass Biden will take the nomination, even though he knows it was rigged against his "good friend".

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26 users have voted.

Well done is better than well said-Ben Franklin

@longtalldrink The DNC certainly cheated, little campaigning, no ground game, big win. But do you think Biden is there enough to know that? I'm sure he thinks he won it all on his own.

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10 users have voted.

@VirtualMaestro

I hope you will contribute more and often to the discussions here.

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17 users have voted.

this was only surprising in that it came at this time and not a couple of weeks ago.

I hope he lobbies Biden hard to get him to move in the direction of M4A, his chief issue. Seems like a no-brainer.

Bernie could still be out there leading the coordinated, group Dem response on the virus crisis, which effort is badly needed to counteract the lies and misinformation coming from Trump. He and others could also organize to lead on the second round of relief, given how the left largely allowed Chuck and Nancy to write the bill with McC.

Another idea is for him to organize with Stacey Abrams to get federal legislation towards mandating easy mail-in voting for November for all federal offices. The time to do that is now, and not 5 months from now. It may make the difference between having a semblance of a legitimate election and one where restrictive voting laws in states run by Rs dictates low turnout and thus a Trump win.

Securing a safe vote for Nov has to be very high priority right now. Other than the virus, it's the main thing I'm concerned about.

Meanwhile let's see if Biden can make it to even the August Dem (virtual) convention. Gov Newsom would be far preferable to the overhyped crank Cuomo to replace Biden. But right now this seems too good an outcome to realistically expect.

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8 users have voted.
TheOtherMaven's picture

@wokkamile

so it ain't gonna happen.

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11 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Granma's picture

What bothers me a LOT is the US Supreme Court decision on Wisconsin voting. And it was delivered remotely. They are carefully social distancing, but refused to allow that safety to the people of Wisconsin. I saw it as deciding the election when I heard their decision. And it made me very angry.

Think about it. There is no way a person can pretend we have a democracy of any sort in this country.

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24 users have voted.

@Granma

the proof is in the pudding

voters do not count in this system

like it or leave it

no choice

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17 users have voted.

makes me sad. Take care everyone.

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12 users have voted.

Bernie in the end proved himself to be an inept politician given his vote on the stimulus bill or whatever it was called.

While he popularized certain policies like M4A, he could not take it home politically. He talked of revolution and how he frightened the establishment. And in the end, he capitulated to the establishment in a rather willingly way.

In the end, Bernie was reduced to "I will propose some bills..."

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11 users have voted.
janis b's picture

My only consolation, is that as senator he will still have a platform from which to keep arguing for the common good.

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7 users have voted.
Bob In Portland's picture

My logic here is to vote for Biden or whatever bag of potatoes the DNC puts on the podium. But also I have finally thrown in the towel for the Democratic Party. The current President as well as just about all in a position to run for President from that party, are generally abhorrent. For my mental health I can't let Trump have another four years.

A little off-topic but I stopped by 538 and found out how the strident neoliberals were taking the news.

I must admit, all of the people who commented knew nothing about the vote-flipping in the Iowa caucus. One even said that the oligarchy had nothing to do with DNC choices or their handling of the primaries. No siree, just pure democracy at work.

I am broken. I'm going to sit, get stoned and doodle. Humanity has failed me.

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8 users have voted.
Granma's picture

@Bob In Portland I will probably write him in in Nobvember unless I find a 3rd party candidate I like.

The SCOTUS decision was Monday. I think their jumping in and the corona virus influenced Bernie's decision to drop out now. He was unwilling to urge people to the polls and the Supremes made it clear they weren't going to support voting by mail/absentee ballots.

I feel no anger toward Bernie. Lots of people have lots of criticisms of him. But I have heard not one suggestion about how he could go forward given these circumstances. Why blame him?

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9 users have voted.
The Liberal Moonbat's picture

Perhaps this is why "memes" were invented (and there are at least a couple doozies):

https://www.reddit.com/r/PresidentialRaceMemes/

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6 users have voted.

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janis b's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat @The Liberal Moonbat

The memes were good, and the music makes it even funnier!

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6 users have voted.

The democrats simply would never allow it: 2016 should have been a strong enough signal for that.

America as a nation has two paths forward: the current path, in which a fascist and exterminist duopoly continue to extract resources past the point of viability to enrich themselves, ending with a nation that is unquestionably comparable to what we'd call "third world" today; and a path in which people rise up and force a third option, salvaging whatever can be in a nation with diminished wealth and influence but better structured to support the people.

These things come in cycles, and we're "due" for another period of great social change. The only question is whether the duopoly and their useful and sometimes unwitting idiots (e.g. folks at DKos, other democratic party collaborators) will permit peaceful, if turbulent change.

I believe it's still possible for the second option to occur peacefully, but that time is rapidly coming to a close, in my opinion. If we're not there already, at some point in the next 10-20 years we'll be past the point of no return for unrest: something like the civil unrest at the late 19th/early 20th century and during the Civil Rights era will be required. I'll be close to the current retirement age by then. If even that isn't enough at that time, I might actually live to see a time when full-scale violent upheaval is the only option for salvation and worry desperately about the impact to my young adult children.

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8 users have voted.

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