Il Douché and His Discontents: The 2016 Primary Voting Thread, Part 4

xpost* "public and private higher-ed spending"

Wonder how much this helped Sanders' numbers

Xpost

The Nation always sez i have read all my free articles (for life i guess)... So why did it help Sanders?

Just wondering out loud if voter suppression ends up working in his favor, the article did not get into that

looks like they are working hard to keep both blacks and students home come November, so maybe a wash in the primary

my big takeaway from these primaries is that if the left wants to stand a chance at changing anything they are going to need to [prioritize?] taking over their state governance or the voter suppression alone is going to marginalize them for years to come.

which they are not doing, cuz protest voting for Bernie is easier/more exciting

Right, yes, successful characterization of millions and millions of voters

xpost agreed and also revisiting Voting Rights Act w/ new appointment to court, if/when

Do you guys really think Sanders' down-ticket efforts or lack thereof have more to do with him not caring or acting selfishly than with plain fact that he is not a member of the Dem party, until recently has had zero national profile, not to mention anything even remotely close to the political resources and infrastructure/connections of his opponent, who has been running for President for thirty years?

there's a ton of little things he could be doing that would make a huge difference - his campaign could be sharing its donor lists with allied congressional candidates, for ex.

No - I think you're right. It has to do with his not being a member of the Dem party and having zero national profile, few political resources, infrastructure, lack of experience running a national movement, etc. I don't want to speculate about why he has those disadvantages - maybe it just never occurred to him until recently that building a national movement might be an important thing to do - his attention was locally focused. xp

this was Sunday's NYT op by 2 poli-scientists: the Republicans losing prez elections has become their base of power for everything else:

The electorate is changing in ways that will weaken the Republican advantage in the future — in particular, it’s becoming much more diverse. But Republicans have managed to hold back this tide to some extent by making voting harder (with voter ID laws and the like) and by mobilizing their core voters even more aggressively. And they’ve mobilized them not in spite of their presidential disadvantage, but often by virtue of it.

It is not simply that the G.O.P. enjoys these structural advantages. More and more, it feeds on the failure of its presidential standard-bearers. Party leaders sincerely lament these repeated losses (and may come to lament them more with the Supreme Court’s balance now on the line). They are not trying to win by losing. But they are doing just that, and this tells us a lot about how the contemporary Republican Party works.

Republicans excel at generating and then exploiting hostility to government, and thrive on being in opposition, especially to presidents. Almost without fail, recent presidential losses were followed by a “backlash” election — in 1994, 2010 and 2014 — in which the G.O.P. swept to victories in Congress and statehouses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/opinion/campaign-stops/why-trump-cant-break-the-gop.html?_r=0

"which they are not doing, cuz protest voting for Bernie is easier/more exciting"

I thought they were posting on message boards.

there's a ton of little things he could be doing that would make a huge difference - his campaign could be sharing its donor lists with allied congressional candidates, for ex.

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, April 6, 2016 12:31 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is hilarious considering the lengths the Democratic party has gone to to prevent him from having the same

his lack of support for down-ticket races is concerning to me. there's still a small chance he could get the nomination (i feel like the NY primary in a couple weeks could be the make or break point), so when i think of him as a candidate i still think of how he would actually function as a president, rather than just how he's affecting the left on a macro level by merit of how well he's done so far. i think it would be difficult for him to consolidate democratic support in the house and senate if he didn't make an early and strong effort to support down-ticket races. even more difficult than it would already be, i mean.

I don't want to speculate about why he has those disadvantages

why not?

I agree w you that those things limit his effectiveness re: this revolution that he says is required

xp

This is hilarious considering the lengths the Democratic party has gone to to prevent him from having the same

these things are not related

Bernie wouldn't have to go through the DNC, he could respond to requests for coordination from individual candidates, which his campaign has refused/ignored

Candidates who have endorsed him? Is there some story here which details this?

ive been getting emails from Democracy for America (which supports him) asking for $ for candidates. Proxies will have to do?

are there all that many candidates sympathetic to him running?

It's also not like there's no risk, in a tight race, to calling in the elderly Socialist for a photo-op. There are more sensible plays. I mean I doubt he's turning down invitations for reasons other than scheduling. Can you enumerate these?

There is one running for PA senate who has endorsed him and his campaign desperately needs funding. I'm sure there are others but I don't think the Bernie campaign has the resources or wherewithal. They have their hands full just making sure they're opening enough campaign offices in primary states.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanderss-candidates-for-congress-an-snl-alum-a-hay-farmer-and-a-guy-with-a-bernie-tattoo/2016/02/26/6e44bd7c-da4c-11e5-81ae-7491b9b9e7df_story.html

They have their hands full just making sure they're opening enough campaign offices in primary states.

yup, and this is precisely what makes me angry about his campaign - ass-backwards priorities

so easy when you're running against the Machine, dawg

his campaign is prioritizing his bid for the presidency (a non-achievable goal) over actual "revolution" that would produce electoral and legislative victories for the left

xp

xpost Mordy I think that is a fair take

his campaign is prioritizing his bid for the presidency (a non-achievable goal)

yes, that should be the campaign's #1 bead right now, tacitly acknowledging he's lost. Go work for Pelosi.

his campaign is prioritizing his bid for the presidency (a non-achievable goal) over actual "revolution" that would produce electoral and legislative victories for the left

so, his campaign for the presidency is foolishly prioritizing his campaign for the presidency?

p much!

This nerve of this Sanders guy

he should stop pretending that his fairytale dream of being president = revolution

he has said the OPPOSITE of that, clown

Nan's not up for reelection this year Morbz

xp

are you Rob Reiner?

it's extremely unlikely sanders would continue to bring in the kind of money he's been receiving if his campaign (if you could even call it that at that point, maybe more like a PAC) decided to start punting the presidential election and support candidates his donors haven't heard of. which is a problem, insofar as one accepts that this is a problem, with the sanders supporters, not sanders himself

but shakey knows this and is just being a douche

he has said the OPPOSITE of that, clown

This is even more nonsensical! "First I get elected President, then a revolution happens that retakes local, state and federal legislatures - somehow by magic!" it's so delusional.

peronally I find it outrageous that some of these budding down-ticket "revolutionaries" aren't instead devoting their efforts to children in pre-schools across this great nation, spending time to shape the minds of tomorrow's leaders, our future

personally argh

which is a problem, insofar as one accepts that this is a problem, with the sanders supporters, not sanders himself

yes this IS the problem, but idk why we should give Sanders a pass and blame his supporters exclusively, one wouldn't exist without the other

xp

in the meantime Sanders can keep spending his hard-earned $20 donations on billboards in San Francisco - why doesn't he just set his donor money on fire if he's going to be this stupid with it, feel the burn!

this whole line of thinking pr much sums up the Dem party's decades of capitulation

lol right

The billboard does sound like a misstep possibly based on what I think is a misconception that what Bernie lacks is still name recognition. Hard to imagine this is still true at this late date in the campaign but I still hear it from supporters as an explanation for why he's behind in polling in key states.

I'm sure that right now the opposition has really got its panties in a twist that Ted Cruz isn't in Indiana right now shooting hoops with Dan Coats

revolution comes with the 2018 midterms, shakey

you know, when the Republicans get supermajorities bcz of all the ClintonHate.

that billboard probably cost bernie 20 minutes worth of donations, get out of here

i do like this idea that bernie decides to start punting elections and spending money on local races and the money just keeps on flowing in. who's the delusional one?

yes but Morbs you are predicating that on Clinton victory, if indeed she gets the nom it may be the Dems w/ midterm bounce courtesy of President Cruz

/going to take a shower now/

‏@thehill
Clinton: "I'm not even sure" Sanders is a Democrat http://hill.cm/i2yIAZQ

‏@ggreenwald
So often in US politics, campaigns try to turn a candidate's best attributes into liabilities