My Fellow Berniecrats, Berniacs, and Berners

My fellow Berniecrats, Berniacs, Berners, or whatever else you call yourselves: I know today is frustrating. It was always going to be frustrating, at least through today.

Though we've lost some states today, the margins matter, and it looks like we will do better than expected in some cases. But in all, through today was always going to be our toughest slog. This is her finest hour this primary season, and that hour is coming to a close.

Now starts coming the better parts of our journey here. We need to turn out. We need to not jump to the GOP to vote against Trump like I'm hearing happened in some open primaries today - he's not going to be stoppable with our votes, however, Bernie will be stoppable without them. We need to get out to the polls when our respective states come up. We need to phone bank the crap outta GOTV. We need to canvass everywhere even the red areas.

In terms of delegates, after today, roughly 2000 delegates will have been given out with roughly 2000 more to go (not counting supers). If we can increase his margins in his friendlier states, we very much still can do this. We need to make all the states count.

So don't listen to the press or the establishment/villager blogs or the Hillary acolytes cuz they will all say this is over. By design, that is supposed to depress us and verbally beat us into line. Don't let it. Those folks are still going to show up for all the remaining states and SO SHOULD WE.

It's not over. She had an early good game, but we go all 4 quarters here. We need to make sure we show up for them all. We need to make sure we don't forget our Berniecrats in the down ticket races. We need to keep our nose to the grindstone. We need to NOT GIVE UP or IN. We can do this.

In solidarity, ~poligirl

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Excellent points made by many here and on Reddit site. We are at the halfway point and and the tide will turn, as we move out of the southern and more conservative states. Keep in mind we are building a movement and must keep moving forward for Bernie, the down ballot Bernieacs and the country. While it will not be easy, the wind will be at our backs as we move to states with younger and more progressive populations. We have just started this battle, keep up the good fight with phone banking, canvassing and donations. Hang Tough and we will prevail. It is looking more and more like 1968 and the progressives will wi this time.

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WoodsDweller's picture

Today was the end of Primary Phase Two, Primary Phase Three starts tomorrow.
Trump is all but guaranteed the Republican nomination, and Clinton will be pivoting to general election mode.
Nobody carried Bernie's speech tonight besides TYT, and even they cut away from it.
Bernie went from nothing to competitive during a media blackout. I'm not all that sure that the MSM is a net benefit to him. Just as he does not need old fashioned campaign financing, he does not need old fashioned media. Why will the revolution not be televised? Because revolution doesn't sell cars, detergent, and adult diapers. The campaign does not end because the networks point their cameras elsewhere.
I for one think that Clinton and Trump starting to focus on one another is a good thing. Whatever time and money Clinton spends bashing Trump is time and money taken away from the primary. Trump can't be bashed soon enough, long enough, or hard enough. I suspect Trump will start ripping Clinton apart and it will become increasingly obvious that she can't win against him. Tactically, it would make more sense for Trump to ignore Clinton until she has things absolutely locked up, but the man is incapable of restraint.
We see Clinton's weakness as a general election candidate. I don't think the general public has picked up on it yet. The pivot to the general will reveal it to those with eyes to see.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

every time hillary focuses on the general, we win, so i say, let her turn her attention to trump. it's all good for us Smile

we have to keep things in perspective: yesterday was the end of hillary's southern firewall bullshit, & in retrospect, we actually did pretty good overall. florida wasn't that great--but it was never expected to be more than it turned out to be--we came within 14 pts in nc(!) & oh (where she'd been ahead by 20-30 pts only a few days ago)--lost ill by less than 2 pts--& tied in mo.

we live to fight another day...& on better ground Smile

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Thank you WoodsDweller. I hope your sense of the public's angst that you anticipate as Clinton and Trump campaign translates. But, you qualify this by says, "those with eyes to see."

I remember sitting in a Holiday Inn banquet room in Rosemont, IL on August 31, 2015 and looking at 100s of people I'd never met before. We had all come together to begin campaigning as volunteers for Bernie Sanders. I know the rally's are exciting. But now there needs to be more organization at the state levels on GOTV, voter registration, and education about voter suppression methods in each state.

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It's an odd combination, in some ways Midwestern, but part of it has a Southern soul.

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I didn't sleep well, and I apologize if this comment rambles.

This is very true. I grew up in Cincinnati, OH and left in 1977. My parents were Republicans, and I grew up in a white, middle-class suburb. When I was in junior high school, my parents sponsored the first AA couple for membership in their United Methodist Church. During this AA couple's confirmation service, my Sunday School teacher -- the one who taught me Jesus Loves the Little Children All the Children of the World ... -- rose up proudly and with drama she walked out of the church, along with her husband and others. I remember asking my father why he would want to be part of an organization that was so hypocritical. He said he felt change could only happen from the inside. I struggle still with his answer today. I never became a member of a church.

The future is struggling to be born. I see the Democratic Party like my Sunday School teacher who walked out of the confirmation service. It lacks any moral authority to speak on any matters of conscience or polity.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

I'm just sick.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Shahryar's picture

April 26th is still out there and then Caliifornia (and Oregon).

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A SHIT LOAD of things happen between "primaries" and THE CONVENTION.

Washerwoman-Schlitz REALLY wants to portray Sanders as someone who will just pull a twump and not appear at the convention if the press is cawing for hillary as it did tonight; I finally put on reruns of the Equalizer TV series on DVD for company. I'm so fucking mad at CBS I may never watch my one favorite program again.. ever.. I simply will NOT view it, or it's gumflapping yucketyyappers ever again. I wouldn't believe one of them if it said the sun came up yesterday in the east.

Look, dammit, even when it's only two people fighting over the nomination -- and this has BECOME a fight and CLINTON turned it into one.. not her team.. SHE did it. Her team, just as Bill's teams before this, hops ONLY when ****she**** says frog, and make no mistake, those are claws at the end of each finger -- even when it's only two people, DELEGATES DO CHANGE THEIR MINDS AND EVEN IF THEY PISS OFF THEIR PEERS ON THE FLOOR, THEY ****DO**** CHANGE VOTES...

and FUCK the "superdelegate" bullshit. They go where the numbers go.. and that is the last shift, and by then the candidate is chosen. NEVER do super delegates form the direction or end of an election. IF there's an exception this year, then IMO the FIX is in and it's time to destroy the party and just to hell with it and go GREEN, though I think THIS YEAR is the now or never point for the planet..

I wish I were healthy enough to be a delegate for WA state, but I'm not, and my state favors the non-pugnaceous...

Just don't knuckle under and fold, unless you want to literally arm yourself and buy enough ammo to last you until you're run over by one of Twump's tanks.

Fentress

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

cnn is saying provisional & absentee ballots are still being counted, with 1500 votes separating bernie & hillary. fingers crossed Smile

whatever happens, tho, we'll split the delegates.

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The losses are disappointing. I cannot fathom people voting against their own interests. BUT...
Bernie is very strong in the next group of states. Continue to support him.
I will NEVER vote for HRC.
Not a threat- a fact.
Time for the people to control the country.... not the 1%

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Johanna Brackney

snoopydawg's picture

I too can't fathom how the hell people are voting against their interests, but many of these people are the ones who think that Obama is one of the best president's ever.
I see people writing that he has ended two wars and haven't started any new ones. WTF?. Do any of them read any other websites besides Kos or have missed the many diaries about the invasions in Libya or Syria?
Or read about the thousands of innocent civilians he has killed after he dropped bombs on them from drones?

Do they approve of the people he has put in his administration? The same fucking ones who were not only in the Clinton administration, but the ones who helped crash the global economy?
From Holder who didn't even bring charges against any of the bankers, Arne Duncan who not only continued Bush's no child left behind but then when he found out about a for profit college defrauding the government, not only just fined them a few million dollars when they should have paid $18 billion and the people who did it weren't prosecuted. And since they didn't have to admit any wrongdoing, the students that took out loans still have to repay them.
He has not only continued the illegal spying, but has expanded it.
His wars on whistleblowers, his betrayal of the health 'insurance' reform that people have seen their insurance rates go up as has their deductibles.
I could go on, but I'm preaching to the choir here. We all know what a sellout he has been.
And Hillary is going to continue where he left off.
And the biggest betrayal is going to be the TPP which in my opinion borderline son treason because he is selling out our national sovereignty over to foreign corporations. And up to 700 thousand more jobs will be lost.
If Hillary is elected president, then we are going to see even more fucking betrayals.
Bernie is offering us what we have been complaining what we have been demanding that the democrats used to stand for before the Clintons created the DLC and moved the party towards the right.

Here's an excellent article about Hillary and what she has done and what she will do. And who she will represent. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-nader/hillary-clinton-sugarcoat_b_92...
I don't care that it was written by Nader. I voted for him over Bill who ruined the Democratic Party and many women's lives.

Voting against our interests indeed! I am just stunned by the stupidity of some of the democrats on Kos.

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

Aardvark's picture

The US is built on exploitation, greed, and hubris.
The exploited want their fair share, which means more of the same.
All group identities, whatever these may be, are self-similar. They have the same social DNA, the same expectations, the same wants. Only the slight variations in taste are different.

Anyway, they are all asleep.

One can wake up, but getting out of the bed is impossible. To be unique and thrive is impossible. The irony is that the same cultural fluff is sold over and over again under the guise of being "different" "new," etc.: it is all the same scales, the same three chords, the same four beats, the same primary colors, the same cliches of love and domination.

I argue that most voters do vote according to their interests. They are interested in the only thing that is on offer in US culture: self-aggrandizement, money, acceptance. The US culture has nothing else to offer. No counterculture has been allowed, is allowed, or will be allowed to have access to any medium in order to spread its message.

It has been like this in human civilization since the first harvest.
I wonder whether this will change before the greenhouse effect parches us and starves us.

Peace and love to you, reader.

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Aardvark (1st thing in the dictionary or "earth pig"?): Maybe it is possible to get out of bed if it is a really horrific nightmare that wakes you, or if you awake because the house on fire. The worst dreams are yet to come and the house is poorly wired and built of straw. So maybe a Trump or Hillary presidency would (can't bring myself to say "will" until the last fat-lady State sings) make more people stand up.

To little, too late, perhaps. - at least as far as the planet goes. I was disappointed when much of the Stimulus Package was spent to make highways better accommodate increased speed limits instead of reducing the limit in order to save gas and make the road a friendlier place for small vehicles that are all but blown away by 70mph 18 wheelers. Would any president dare suggest turning the nice wide shoulder of Interstate Highways into a bicycle, electric cart, and horse-drawn lane? Ha ha! Not yet.

Our culture is a dinosaur, dependent on the remnants of the age of dinosaurs. Anyone remember the old Sinclair Oil Co. Logo? It will probably be on the flag of the last heavily-fortified City-State when things grind to a whimpering stop.

You wonder whether this will change before the greenhouse effect parches us and starves us? I am afraid that when the last bit of sludge is wrung from the earth and pumped into the atmosphere, the question our elite overlords will be asking is:

"How many Chinese tennis shoe-makers do I need to house and feed in order to convert M'Lady's SUV into a 3 ton rickshaw?"

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defaultcitizen

progdog's picture

I wonder if the west coast will ever be considered as anything more than parks and revenue. Complaining about not being able to affect elections makes you a racist or a conservative now. I can't vote for these people, but they don't want me to. Every election is over before we vote.

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prog - weirdo | dog - woof

Yes, your votes count.

IN CASE you hadn't noticed MSM (main stream media) is part of the Clinton Team -- which includes, of course, -- Damnedbe Washerwoman-Schlitz -- are in the control of CORPORATE INTERESTS AND STUPORPACS.

SO IGNORE THEIR BLEATING AND YELL ""fuck you, god damn you liars"" loudly if it's turned on.

Get on the phone and stump for Sanders...

And I hope someone obtains lists of delegates for allegedly decided states to make some appeals for vote changes.

Fentress

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Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

consevadems, according to an article in the nation's mar 21 issue. that way, more liberal candidates like bernie are forced into an endless money-raising-scenario they can't survive.

if more liberal states like california had their primaries early, we'd definitely have a better chance of getting a progressive nominee...& the establishment doesn't want that.

fuck 'em.

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Aardvark's picture

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Cassiodorus's picture

is the presence of "ultra-left" (actually sectarian -- America has no Left) pundits who babble about "now that Bernie's campaign is over we should concentrate on Jill Stein." If they'd bothered to focus on the clear defects of the Green Party (party doesn't support candidates, party process needs a lot of work, party is just a shell), maybe we'd be able to do that in the facile way in which it's presented. Instead what will be necessary at some point, Bernie or no Bernie, is a Green Party "cleaning house."

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"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

detroitmechworks's picture

Green party is being run by the idealist officers. They seriously need a few political Sergeants to start running the day to day.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

I don't have any evidence of this really but..... I think people are starting to vote Hillary because they are scared of Trump's rising and think she is the strongest candidate against him. The polls ALL tell us otherwise, but this may not be in the general public's awareness yet. So part of what we say, and I hope the campaign does the same, is to bust this mythology about Bernie vs. Trump.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin