Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

BootinUp

(49,023 posts)
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 12:05 AM Jun 2016

The Bernie Sanders I Thought I Knew Is Gone

Great blog post.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/GVxGRo][img][/img]
Meeting his flock



Sasha Stone
https://medium.com/sashastone/the-bernie-sanders-i-thought-i-knew-is-gone-1b2dc67385de#.uvcjmn860

How must it feel to feel like a god? Bernie Sanders knows. At the end of each of his debates with Hillary Clinton, he never turned toward her or the news anchors. He always turned to his cheering, adoring fans, soaking up the sunbeams of their love each and every time. Who wouldn’t?

Who is the real Bernie? Is he not the guy I once thought he was? The guy whose videos I watched, who was always ready to give voice to the anger many of us felt whenever Republicans blocked any progress Democrats tried to make? I begin to ask myself: How could that guy be getting so few endorsements from his colleagues anywhere in Congress? Why does this Bernie Sanders act like he doesn’t have a son? Why does this Bernie Sanders treat his own wife so disrespectfully? Finally, why does this Bernie Sanders seem unable to face the reality that he has lost the primary to Hillary Clinton?

snip

The famously obstinate and “holier than thou” temperament Sanders projected was off-putting to his colleagues. Well, to most of them. Not, as it turns out, to an ally who is now the sole focus of his ire — Hillary Clinton. Clinton was a Senator who COULD work with everyone, and still does. As fellow senators, they were on cordial terms, voting along the same lines 93% of the time. They remained friends for over a decade — until the pain of losing to his former colleague became too much for Sanders to bear. It wasn’t just that he was being beaten “by a girl.” It was that he was being beaten by the woman he had first encountered when she was the wife of Bill Clinton, the woman who had the gall to achieve what he couldn’t — delivering a near-socialist healthcare package to Capitol Hill as First Lady. That effort wasn’t pure enough to suit Sanders, the man who never compromised. Too many forces stood in opposition for the Clinton health care plan of 1993 to prevail. Hillary Clinton, though, was undaunted by such roadblocks — she was and is a doer.

All the same, it must have irked Sanders that this woman who had gained prominence as the wife of Bill Clinton rose so fast to be elected Senator from New York and then swiftly proceeded to get things done. She was only in the Senate for two terms, but she accomplished more in that time than Sanders had done during twice as many years in D.C. He would claim that’s because she’s “establishment” — he’d say they’re all establishment, everyone but him. Yes, they are. That’s our government. That’s how it was designed in the Constitution. Three branches, very much established. You can lay blame or credit for solidifying that establishment on FDR, who was as establishment as they come. (You, Senator Sanders, are no FDR).

Full Article ...


35 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The Bernie Sanders I Thought I Knew Is Gone (Original Post) BootinUp Jun 2016 OP
K & R SunSeeker Jun 2016 #1
Addiction to the crowds and adulation... Agnosticsherbet Jun 2016 #2
there are many reasons hardly anybody ever heard of him until a few months ago. nt msongs Jun 2016 #3
Thats how I feel puffy socks Jun 2016 #4
Perfect summary of him bravenak Jun 2016 #5
Sasha Stone is Good Cha Jun 2016 #11
OMG...that last paragraph. teamster633 Jun 2016 #6
I know, huh.. This is important, too.. Cha Jun 2016 #12
Wow, great read, and my feelings exactly. nt anotherproletariat Jun 2016 #7
Nailed it! nt sheshe2 Jun 2016 #8
"Who wouldn't"? I'll tell ya who.. Someone who wasn't an egotistical, arrognant pol.. who Cha Jun 2016 #9
+1 Historic NY Jun 2016 #20
Excellent Cha!!! livetohike Jun 2016 #33
And, then some, livetohike! Gracias! Cha Jun 2016 #34
Great piece, thanks for posting. Looks like the more people get to know him, the less they like him lunamagica Jun 2016 #10
He is Blinded by the Light. MFM008 Jun 2016 #13
Hahahaha! ismnotwasm Jun 2016 #24
Powerful... nt ProudProgressiveNow Jun 2016 #14
sanders supporters who aren't from the fringe leftist groups are leaving sanders in mass beachbum bob Jun 2016 #15
"The old Bernie many of us once respected is gone... handmade34 Jun 2016 #16
26 years in Congress, 40+ on the taxpayer's payroll, he's more "establishment" than anyone else! BobbyDrake Jun 2016 #17
^^^This!^^^ Surya Gayatri Jun 2016 #25
This is great! Thanks for sharing. NurseJackie Jun 2016 #18
Excellent! brer cat Jun 2016 #19
With an emphasis on "bitter" pandr32 Jun 2016 #23
I realize I never knew him Politicub Jun 2016 #21
What a read! pandr32 Jun 2016 #22
Whoa! The last sentence in the piece is devastating and disturbing. Surya Gayatri Jun 2016 #26
That last sentence is indeed accurate in my opinion Gothmog Jun 2016 #28
I also used to like Sanders but now he is coming off as a small and petty man Gothmog Jun 2016 #27
Read the whole thing: blistering, scathing, all true, and sad. nt Hekate Jun 2016 #29
It's not just him. forjusticethunders Jun 2016 #30
Very good point. And Hillary COULD have BootinUp Jun 2016 #31
Democrats must put up someone to challenge him in 2018. Dawson Leery Jun 2016 #32
After reading this, I don't feel as certain about my first choice.... BlancheSplanchnik Jun 2016 #35
 

puffy socks

(1,473 posts)
4. Thats how I feel
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 12:14 AM
Jun 2016

I was duped...and I was because up until the primaries I hadn't really analyzed his background, so it's my own dmd fault.

Then after the DNC firewall incident Bernie's law suit raised an eyebrow. That's when I began questioning his character.

I was swarmed by Berniebros on another site until I had had enough because most of Hillary's supporters left for sites where they could post their views without being attacked.



Cha

(305,428 posts)
12. I know, huh.. This is important, too..
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 02:15 AM
Jun 2016
You see, for Bernie, it’s still all about Bernie. It’s still about a god’s rise. He can’t accept Hillary’s rise and triumph — even if his denial risks the fate of the country. Has any politician in recent memory ever abandoned so much to achieve so little
?

Cha

(305,428 posts)
9. "Who wouldn't"? I'll tell ya who.. Someone who wasn't an egotistical, arrognant pol.. who
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 01:33 AM
Jun 2016

actually really cared about the people instead of listening to the sound of his own voice. Someone who knew more than a stump speech he'd been using for decades.

How must it feel to feel like a god? Bernie Sanders knows. At the end of each of his debates with Hillary Clinton, he never turned toward her or the news anchors. He always turned to his cheering, adoring fans, soaking up the sunbeams of their love each and every time. Who wouldn’t?

This is the part that pissed me off the most.. BS trying to erase President Obama's Successful Legacy with his own ego.. disingenuously raging on him.. Then Senator Obama went to Vermont to campaign for sanders in 2006.. yeah, so what?! But, sanders is never grateful for any progress and sniffs @ anything that Obama has accomplished.

After 8 years of GOP obstructionism, the stage was set. “Run Bernie Run!” The far-left progressives said, since they felt no shame or culpability in turning their back on President Obama when the going got tough. They were happy and content to blame him. He wasn’t progressive ENOUGH. But Bernie WAS. Bernie would do what Obama couldn’t. He could somehow force the Republican Congress to pass single-payer health care because Obama couldn’t. He could impose higher taxes on the other half of America who did not want more social programs. He could compel Wall Street speculators to foot the bill for free college nationwide. He could dismantle America’s financial system to break up the big banks. Even though he has no earthly way to pull any of that off.

"Oligarchy, Billionaires, Wall Street, Goldman Sachs." BS in a nutshell.



Oh and trump fans only being the ones who tried to smear her with Benghazi? She didn't read DU, did she?

"Though tensions might have run high in 2008, as poll numbers show us, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama ever engaged in such sloppy, cruel, abusive and destructive “anything to win” tactics. They both maintained a level of dignity and civility — a nicety Sanders has conveniently abandoned in the cry for “revolution.”

You see, for Bernie, it’s still all about Bernie. It’s still about a god’s rise. He can’t accept Hillary’s rise and triumph — even if his denial risks the fate of the country. Has any politician in recent memory ever abandoned so much to achieve so little?

Thanks for this Boot, Sasha's Really Good.. I'm thinking Sasha Stone isn't the only one feeling like this.


livetohike

(22,968 posts)
33. Excellent Cha!!!
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 07:47 PM
Jun 2016
Now we know what his colleagues have always known: He's a jagoff (Pittsburgh lingo for jerk).

MFM008

(20,000 posts)
13. He is Blinded by the Light.
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 02:23 AM
Jun 2016

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner (fade out) in the night

Madman drummers bummers,
Indians in the summer
with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps
as the adolescent pumps
his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder,
feelin' kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round

With this very unpleasin',
sneezin' and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground
The calliope crashed to the ground

Well she was...
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Some silicone sister
with a manager mister
told me I got what it takes
She said
"I'll turn you on sonny to something strong,
play the song with the funky break"
And go-cart Mozart
was checkin' out the weather chart
see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Pearly
came by in his curly-wurly
and asked me if I needed a ride
Asked me if I needed a ride

Well she was...
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light

She got down but she never got tight
She's gonna make it through the night
She's gonna make it through the night

------ guitar solo ------

But mama, that's where the fun is
But mama, that's where the fun is
Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun
But mama, that's where the fun is

Some brimstone baritone
anticyclone
rolling stone
preacher from the east
Says, "Dethrone the dictaphone,
hit it in its funny bone,
and that's where they expect it least"
And some new-mown chaperone
was standin' in the corner,
watching the young girls dance
And some fresh-sown moonstone
was messin' with his frozen zone,
reminding him of romance
The calliope crashed to the ground

But she was...
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

{the following two sections are sung simultaneously}

1)
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
~ Blinded by the light

2) ~ Madman drummers bummers,
Indians in the summer
with a teenage diplomat
~ In the dumps with the mumps
as the adolescent pumps
his way into his hat
~ With a boulder on my shoulder,
feelin' kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
~ With this very unpleasin',
sneezin' and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground
~ Now Scott with a slingshot
finally found a tender spot
and throws his lover in the sand
~ And some bloodshot forget-me-not
said daddy's within earshot
save the buckshot, turn up the band
runner in the night
~ Some silicone sister
with a manager mister
told me I go what it takes
~ She said "I'll turn you on sonny to something strong"

She got down but She Never Got Touched
It's gonna make it through the night



Read more: Manfred Mann - Blinded By The Light Lyrics | MetroLyrics

 

beachbum bob

(10,437 posts)
15. sanders supporters who aren't from the fringe leftist groups are leaving sanders in mass
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 04:11 AM
Jun 2016

they see the real colors of this man who has made a living of being the angry outsider.....and he is finally turning them off....as a man you offers little else except outrageous indignation on everything and whining excuses when things don't go his way


his temperament alone disqualifies him from being president just like trump's temperament does.....their is no leader or statesmen in either man

handmade34

(22,925 posts)
16. "The old Bernie many of us once respected is gone...
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 05:27 AM
Jun 2016

He doesn’t exist anymore and maybe he never did. After all, in the end, men are men..."

he still has a place in the Senate

 

BobbyDrake

(2,542 posts)
17. 26 years in Congress, 40+ on the taxpayer's payroll, he's more "establishment" than anyone else!
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 05:54 AM
Jun 2016

That's why I've always considered him a fraud. He doesn't even live up to the ideals he preaches about. He's a parasite, a lazy do-nothing rabble-rouser who opposes everything that doesn't match his vision of perfection. (Nevermind that his vision clearly needs glasses these days, because it's certainly not seeing the world for the way it actually is.)

I can't wait for him to be gone from this presidential election.

 

Surya Gayatri

(15,445 posts)
25. ^^^This!^^^
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 12:58 PM
Jun 2016
He's a parasite, a lazy do-nothing rabble-rouser who opposes everything that doesn't match his vision of perfection.

brer cat

(26,275 posts)
19. Excellent!
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 09:21 AM
Jun 2016

Putting self above the good of the country is a loser's game, and he is playing it out to the very bitter end. He will go home after the convention exposed as a charlatan.

Politicub

(12,288 posts)
21. I realize I never knew him
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 11:42 AM
Jun 2016

I thought it was cool that there was someone who described himself as a democratic socialist served in the senate.

At the time I didn't know that democratic socialist means a preachy, petulant, one-note and nasty politician. No thanks.

 

Surya Gayatri

(15,445 posts)
26. Whoa! The last sentence in the piece is devastating and disturbing.
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 01:21 PM
Jun 2016

I won't post it for fear of the ravening BSer alert swarm. It mentions male rage as a very potent metaphor. Go have a look.

https://medium.com/sashastone/the-bernie-sanders-i-thought-i-knew-is-gone-1b2dc67385de#.uvcjmn860


Gothmog

(154,537 posts)
27. I also used to like Sanders but now he is coming off as a small and petty man
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 03:07 PM
Jun 2016

I also used to like Sanders and many of his policies. I never believed that Sanders was a viable general election candidate and I still believe this. Sanders is now looking very small and petty and it has become clear that he is not suited for a general election contest

 

forjusticethunders

(1,151 posts)
30. It's not just him.
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 06:03 PM
Jun 2016

There are a lot of well-off white men who have made a living for decades stoking anger about the various inequities of American society without actually having a plan to do anything about it, let alone work with the people who ARE doing something about it. In a way, "leftist" and "progressive" have become their own corporate brands (similar to Green), designed to sell shoddy products to naive, idealistic, and hopeful consumers.

BootinUp

(49,023 posts)
31. Very good point. And Hillary COULD have
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 06:06 PM
Jun 2016

attacked Bernie harder, and made that kind of argument. Problem is, we have too many suckers that'll believe anything on any day.

BlancheSplanchnik

(20,219 posts)
35. After reading this, I don't feel as certain about my first choice....
Sun Jun 5, 2016, 11:27 PM
Jun 2016

I might be a little late, since I haven't watched any tv media. But after reading this...I can't find anything that looks like unfounded criticism.

I had high hopes, and really wanted ( still wish for) a revolution.

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»Hillary Clinton»The Bernie Sanders I Thou...