a PSA: Bernie Sanders ends 2020 presidential campaign

It seems not to be a ruse; I was on the Twit Machine, glanced to the right under Trending,

and found a whole lot of announcements, including a live broadcast at the top.

"The Vermont senator announced in a video statement on Wednesday that he is suspending his bid for the Democratic nomination following disappointing results in the 2020 presidential primaries. "I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful," Sanders said, adding that "the struggle continues."

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TheOtherMaven's picture

and over the cliff we go.

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17 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

wendy davis's picture

@TheOtherMaven

i've read here and there that the new savior at a brokered convention will be...wait for it:

Andrew Cuomo!

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@wendy davis

i've read here and there that the new savior at a brokered convention will be...wait for it:

Andrew Cuomo!

And again, the result will be the same: four more years of Trump.

Bad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

wendy davis's picture

@thanatokephaloides

fan of his, lol.

here's his goodbye speech, and ony 14 mins.:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq7R5LffR-U]

cripes; tonight's passover, too. is his family observant? speaking of bitter herbs...

on edit: his delegates to the convention can fight for a better platform? trump is so f'ed up he needs to suspend his campaign to...not distract or something? what am i not getting?

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@wendy davis

cripes; tonight's passover, too. is his family observant? speaking of bitter herbs...

The bitter herbs matching this situation wouldn't be mere horseradish, but rather New World Capsicum Peppers of the 107 to 108 Scoville range. (At least in Ancient Egypt, the Hebrew families had places to live and enough food to eat!)

As to the resignation video, my answer is:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scFykNMqaws]

Sad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Alligator Ed's picture

@thanatokephaloides Croissants? So unmatzoh-like. Tulsi left with her head up. You are a craven lout. Had you desired, you could have won this. Had you desired, you could have won 2016.

No political autopsy.

Adieu, a le Poseur.

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

but hadn't tulsi endorsed biden on her way out the door?

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wendy davis's picture

@thanatokephaloides

i see by the lyrics (i hadn't been able to make them out)

dunno which to pull out, but maybe:

Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision,
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

Some are born to move the world —
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we’d like to be

Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you — the blind who once could see —
The bell tolls for thee…

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@wendy davis

Great minds and all that!

Biggrin

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

wendy davis's picture

@thanatokephaloides

lyrics that fit, really. thank you for bringing the poignant song and fitting it as an over-arching metaphor to sanders' too-willing demise.

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Roy Blakeley's picture

@wendy davis Unless he drops out, which is very unlikely, Biden will win on the first ballot. If Bernie had stayed in, it might have been brokered.

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wendy davis's picture

@Roy Blakeley

how silly of me. thanks, roy.

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WoodsDweller's picture

@wendy davis
to see Cuomo as VP. Biden has already announced that he will be vetting his cabinet (designed to please the donors). Biden drops out the week after the convention, Cuomo takes the top of the ticket and names someone equally dreadful as his VP, retaining Biden's (the donors') choices of cabinet.
Cuomo might actually be able to beat Trump. We'll see.
But in every case, we lose.

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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

wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

amigo. or even if biden's brain further decompensates or he drops dead.

also, another PSA: Cass's coverage was front-paged early on, and it has 35 comments already in cse folks want to check them out.

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@WoodsDweller
My bet is on Harris. Of course, it might be whoever feels him up.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Alligator Ed's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness @The Voice In the Wilderness [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Yq5m9eLIQ]

The shorter version: slows it down, turn down the lights. Kick back. Inhale.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGczyG6-aAw]

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Alligator Ed's picture

@TheOtherMaven Thank you, Mr. Sanders, my wunnerful Bernie. Thank you for confirming my analysis of you: LOSER.

Hereinafter affiant sayeth naught, in order to quell the onslaught of slings and arrows expected.

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longtalldrink's picture

They pushed him out before the debate, knowing the debate would allow people who are (finally) clamoring for M4A to see that Uncle Joe will have none of that nonsense.

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Well done is better than well said-Ben Franklin

wendy davis's picture

@longtalldrink
who pushed him out, would there have been any more debates, and i'd thought he'd announced no M4A...or was that: 4 now? sorry, i haven't followed along all that closely.

another stupid Q: is M4A the same as single payer?

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Alligator Ed's picture

@wendy davis Depends upon whose brand you favor.

Just remember the prescription of Alan Grayson (where are you, you shit-kicker, when we need you?

"Our medical system: get sick and die."

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

different strokes brands for different folks? and so on, ad so on...but srsly, i haven''t paid enough attention. i'd even heard/seen mention of 2 different versions of M4A on the popular resistance newsletter.

alan grayson? nope, dinnae remember.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@wendy davis

He was in Congress for I think one session, then got redistricted out and couldn't dislodge a nearby Chosen One.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

wendy davis's picture

@TheOtherMaven

and thank you. i'd meant i hadn't remembered the quote. i'll never forget his big headed visage, always 3/4 profile iirc, and something about the weird gleam in his eyes...but yes, he was supremely outspoken, i do remember that.

translation: never admired him, , never trusted him, never liked him... ; )

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wendy davis's picture

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wendy davis's picture

@aliasalias

john prine had crossed over; we kinda hummed and chanted his fave: Sam Stone, and teared over... Rest in Power, friend.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtrALjg0-xQ]

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(all emphasis is mine)

"WE HAVE WON THE IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE"

As many of you will recall Nelson Mandela, one of the great freedom fighters in modern world history, famously said; "It always seems impossible until it is done." And what he meant by that is that the greatest obstacle to real social change has everything to do with the power of the corporate and political establishment to limit our vision as to what is possible and what we are entitled to as human beings.

If we don't believe that we are entitled to health care as a human right, we will never achieve universal health care.

If we don't believe that we are entitled to decent wages and working conditions, millions of us will continue to live in poverty.

If we don't believe that we are entitled to all of the education we require to fulfill our dreams, many of us will leave school saddled with huge debt, or never get the education we need.

If we don't believe that we are entitled to live in a world that has a clean environment and is not ravaged by climate change, we will continue to see more drought, floods, rising sea levels and an increasingly uninhabitable planet.

If we don't believe that we are entitled to live in a world of justice, democracy and fairness – without racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia or religious bigotry – we will continue to have massive income and wealth inequality, prejudice and hatred, mass incarceration, terrified immigrants and hundreds of thousands of Americans sleeping out on the streets of the richest country on earth.

Focusing on that new vision for America is what our campaign has been about and what, in fact, we have accomplished. Few would deny that over the course of the past 5 years our movement has won the ideological struggle. In so called "red" states, and "blue" states and "purple" states, a majority of the American people now understand that we must raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we must guarantee health care as a right to all of our people; that we must transform our energy system away from fossil fuel, and that higher education must be available to all, regardless of income.

It was not long ago that people considered these ideas radical and fringe. Today, they are mainstream ideas – and many of them are already being implemented in cities and states across the country. That's what you accomplished.

In terms of health care, even before the horrific pandemic we are now experiencing, more and more Americans understood that we must move to a Medicare for All, single-payer system. During the primary elections exit polls showed, in state after state, a strong majority of Democratic primary voters supported a single government health insurance program to replace private insurance. That was true even in states where our campaign did not prevail.

And let me just say this: In terms of health care, this horrific crisis that we are now in has exposed how absurd our current employer-based health insurance system is. The current economic downturn we are experiencing has not only led to a massive loss of jobs, but has also resulted in millions of Americans losing their health insurance. While Americans have been told, over and over again, how wonderful our employer-based, private insurance system is, those claims sound very hollow now as a growing number of unemployed workers struggle with how they can afford to go to the doctor, or not go bankrupt with a huge hospital bill. We have always believed that health care must be considered as a human right, not an employee benefit – and we are right.

Please also appreciate that not only are we winning the struggle ideologically, we are also winning it generationally. The future of our country rests with young people and, in state after state, whether we won or whether we lost the Democratic primaries or caucuses, we received a significant majority of the votes, sometimes an overwhelming majority, from people not only 30 or under, but 50 years of age or younger. In other words, the future of this country is with our ideas

THE CURRENT CRISIS

As we are all painfully aware, we now face an unprecedented crisis. Not only are we dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken the lives of many thousands of our people, we are also dealing with an economic meltdown that has resulted in the loss of millions of jobs.

Today, families all across the country face financial hardship unimaginable only a few months ago. And because of the unacceptable levels of income and wealth distribution in our economy, many of our friends and neighbors have little or no savings and are desperately trying to pay their rent or their mortgage or even to put food on the table. This reality makes it clear to me that Congress must address this unprecedented crisis in an unprecedented way that protects the health and economic well being of the working families of our country, not just powerful special interests. As a member of the Democratic leadership in the United States Senate, and as a senator from Vermont, this is something that I intend to be intensely involved in, and which will require an enormous amount of work.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

That takes me to the state of our presidential campaign. I wish I could give you better news, but I think you know the truth. And that is that we are now some 300 delegates behind Vice President Biden, and the path toward victory is virtually impossible. So while we are winning the ideological battle, and while we are winning the support of young people and working people throughout the country, I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful.

And so today I am announcing the suspension of active campaigning, and congratulate Joe Biden, a very decent man, on his victory.

Please know that I do not make this decision lightly. In fact, it has been a very painful decision. Over the past few weeks Jane and I, in consultation with top staff and many of our prominent supporters, have made an honest assessment of the prospects for victory. If I believed we had a feasible path to the nomination I would certainly continue the campaign. But it's not there.

I know there may be some in our movement who disagree with this decision, who would like us to fight on to the last ballot cast at the Democratic convention. I understand that position. But as I see the crisis gripping the nation – exacerbated by a president unwilling or unable to provide any kind of credible leadership – and the work that needs to be done to protect people in this most desperate hour, I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour.

But let me say this very emphatically: As you all know, we have never been just a campaign. We are a grassroots multi-racial, multi-generational movement which has always believed that real change never comes from the top on down, but always from the bottom on up. We have taken on Wall Street, the insurance companies, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, the military industrial complex, the prison industrial complex and the greed of the entire corporate elite. That struggle continues. While this campaign is coming to an end, our movement is not.

Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." The fight for justice is what our campaign was about. The fight for justice is what our movement remains about.

And, on a practical note, let me also say this: I will stay on the ballot in all remaining states and continue to gather delegates. While Vice President Biden will be the nominee, we should still work to assemble as many delegates as possible at the Democratic convention where we will be able to exert significant influence over the party platform and other functions.

Then, together, standing united, we will go forward to defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in modern American history. And we will fight to elect strong progressives at every level of government – from Congress to the school board.

As I hope all of you know, this race has never been about me. I ran for the presidency because I believed as president I could accelerate and institutionalize the progressive change that we are all building together. And, if we keep organizing and fighting, I have no doubt that our victory is inevitable. While the path may be slower now, we WILL change this country and, with like-minded friends around the globe, the entire world.

On a very personal note, speaking for Jane, myself and our entire family, we will always carry in our hearts the memory of the extraordinary people we have met across the country. We often hear about the beauty of America. And this is an incredibly beautiful country.

But to me the beauty I will remember most is in the faces of the people we have met from one corner of this country to the other. The compassion, love and decency I saw in them makes me so hopeful for our future. It also makes me more determined than ever to work to create a country that reflects those values and lifts up all our people.

Please stay in this fight with me. Let us go forward together. The struggle continues.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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wendy davis's picture

@aliasalias

iirc, all of that was in his goodbye speech, but this is what i find baffling as all giddy-up:

But as I see the crisis gripping the nation – exacerbated by a president unwilling or unable to provide any kind of credible leadership – and the work that needs to be done to protect people in this most desperate hour, I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour.

and big woop: who pays any attention to a party platform?

And, on a practical note, let me also say this: I will stay on the ballot in all remaining states and continue to gather delegates. While Vice President Biden will be the nominee, we should still work to assemble as many delegates as possible at the Democratic convention where we will be able to exert significant influence over the party platform and other functions.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@wendy davis

It does what it pleases, to whomever it pleases, whenever and as often as it pleases.

WHEN - not if - the violent revolution starts, Sen. Sanders, remember that you were the last hope for peaceful revolution,

AND YOU PISSED IT AWAY.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

wendy davis's picture

@TheOtherMaven

lifetime. i was a delegate to both the platform committee and rules committees twice at state conventions in denver.

you're imagining a second 1776 then? well, never mind, that wasn't really about a tea tax...but they got the (metaphorical) 101st airborne, but i do hear you on:

'those who make peaceful revolution impossible...'. the thing is, he wasn't really a revolutionary in any meaningful sense of the word, imo. his supporters just hoped like hell he was, so: 'Our Revolution'. he was an FDR democrat, capitalist reformer, pretty damned Imperialist, to boot.

but i am truly sorry that you feel so ripped off. i would do if i'd been supporting him, the other maven.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@TheOtherMaven

But as I see the crisis gripping the nation – exacerbated by a president unwilling or unable to provide any kind of credible leadership – and the work that needs to be done to protect people in this most desperate hour

.

Typical TDS! Where are the Russkies, who helped Commander Cheeto capture the White House from the Giant Rodent of Chappaqua. Bernie, did Ivan fuck you up behind the wood shop? Put the nice make-up on to hide the tears that you don't spill, so when you appear in public, people will not see the tear-stained face of the man with Alligator tears.

The Progressive's Prayer (from the Church of Saint Bernie hymnal):

"My Queen, Who art in Chappaqua, hollowed be your name. Thy Queendom come to save us in our time of Peril."

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

loud with your polemical deconstruction. really, what did that mean? some folks on another thread think he quit cuz he feared continuing his campaign would expose his workers to...coronovirus as does 'Ian Welsh'.

riiiiiight. er: telephones? emails?

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WoodsDweller's picture

@wendy davis
includes the rules committees. While nobody outside activists care, it actually matters for future cycles.

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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

@WoodsDweller

during this -no rinse- cycle?
Don't believe it.
This is cop out # 1.
What are we to learn from this?

Going forward, Mr. Sanders is not going to lead the charge.
Up to us now. Jigger the cause. Think Mr. Berne knows where this
fiasco goes. Can't blame him for tucking back at this point.
He brought the fight to us, up to us now to fight.

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wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

it could matter for future cycles, but i doubt it will. it's a stacked deck with the duopoly always in power.

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@aliasalias
I'm reminded of the WW II admiral who wrote a letter to the head of the Naval Academy complaining of the emphasis on sportsmanship. "We don't need good losers in the Fleet. What we need are tough bastards that will win!" Halsey? It sounds like Halsey.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Alligator Ed's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness To quote George S. Patton addressing his Third Army troops: "I don't want any of you to die for your country. I want you make sure the bastards die for their country".

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wendy davis's picture

here's wishin' us all well (i'd tried to find the version from michael the archangel film):

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCDZzf4ragg]

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