Bernie's Super Secret Plan To Help Democrats By Debating Biden!

[TomCADem]

We know that Biden should start preparing to campaign against Trump in the General Election. So, being the longtime, loyal Democrat that Bernie is, it turns out that Saturday's debate is just the culmination of a collaborative effort by Bernie and Biden to prepare Biden for the general election.

You see, Bernie has been working long and hard, decades in fact, to engage in a bit of cosplay to prepare Biden for someone like Trump. This is why Bernie has done the following in order to properly prepare Biden:

1. Act like a person who has pushed racist, right wing talking points scapegoating immigrants and calling efforts at immigration reform "open borders" or "amnesty" such as in the following appearance on Lou Dobbs:

Bernie's appearance on anti-amnesty special with Lou Dobbs will really help Biden hone his skill in blowing up right wing talking points scapegoating immigrants for unemployment, disease, crime, etc.

2. Act like a hypocrite who has long history of engaging in nepotism and sponsoring foundations and businesses that have financially benefited his family. This is why Bernie has denounced dark money, but has surrogates running SuperPACs like Our Revolution. Likewise, attack opponents for running private foundations, then (you guessed it), run a private foundation to advance your candidacy, the Sanders Institute, then pay your son-in-law a six figure salary even if has no experience running private foundations. This should help Biden get some practice attacking Trump for such foundations. Way to go Bernie!

3. Have a long history of criticizing the need for NATO. Bernie has denounced NATO as being a waste of money and even floated the idea of admitting Russia into NATO even though its purpose is to protect Europe from Russian aggression. This will give Biden a chance to emphasize the importance of standing by our allies in times of crisis like the current Coronavirus pandemic, rather than abandoning them and cozying up to Russia. Once again, Bernie's decades long playacting has been superb.

4. Attack the media and complain about coverage as being biased against him. This cosplay as a narcissist is uncanny. When he does not get coverage, its the Bernie Blackout! When he gets mild criticism, its corporate bias! Complain about MSNBC and CNN, then run to Fox, which will side with you in your fights with Democrats. Bravo Bernie! It almost looks like you really do want the Democrats to lose in 2020. This will help Biden deal with Trump who is complains that coverage of the Coronavirus is just an effort to set him up for impeachment. This gives Biden a chance to say, "Sorry Bernie/Trump, the world does not revolve around you."

5. Elevates himself by demonizing the Democratic party. This is why Bernie has engaged in the weird strategy of repeatedly attacking the Democratic establishment, whose foundation is black voters, even though the race is to be the Democratic nominee. Trump is always bragging about how he is an outsider standing up against the establishment. Likewise, Bernie who has been in Congress since 1991, has been pretending to be an outsider who is standing against the establishment he hopes to lead.

6. Side with Russia against U.S. on election security. Bernie was one of two people to vote against Russian sanctions for election interference. Likewise, Bernie voted against the Magnitsky Act, which was the subject of the infamous Trump tower meeting. Finally, Bernie ditched a close Senate vote designed to stop Trump from lifting Russian sanctions. This is particularly convincing bit of cosplay to channel Trump's inner Putin stooge.

7. Side with authoritarian dictators. Before SNL was doing skits with Trump and Putin, Bernie was fawning over Castro and going on honeymoons in Soviet Russia. And, unlike Trump, we have the actual tapes! Yup, Bernie was laying it a bit thick on this one.

8. Refuse to be transparent about their health. Bernie has promised comprehensive disclosure of his health following his heart attack, but never mind, here is a Trump-like letter saying he is just fine.

9. Repeatedly undermines our Democracy by claiming that elections are being rigged against him by the establishment or the deep state. For example, the claim by AOC that Bernie lost MI due to voter suppression even though turnout particularly among black voters was at record levels? Funny! AOC later let us know she was just kidding!

Link to tweet

10. Refuse to provide details. The Wall? Mexico will pay for it! Medicare for All? No one knows how much it costs (Bernie has said several times he has no idea how much his plan costs). Even better, watch Bernie respond to questions about how to pay for his plans by raising non-sequiturs.

11. Side with gunmakers and vote against control measures like the Brady Act. This is Bernie's chance to mimic Trump by promising to overturn the gunmaker immunity that he helped pass!

So, there you have it. The debate on Saturday is the result of a decades long, forward thinking cosplay by Bernie Sanders to prepare Joe Biden to debate Trump. It is so convincing, that if you close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears, you can still hear Bernie channeling his inner Trump and yelling, angrily during the debate and attacking the Democratic establishment like a Republican.

[R B Garr]

1. He certainly is in no position to hold himself as a moral

authority about Democrats. This is excellent, thank you. The hypocrisy is astounding.

[TomCADem]

6. True. It is like when Bernie attacked Warren for not...

...being a lifelong Democrat. By doing so, Bernie was helping Biden prepare for Trump's willingness to be blatantly hypocritical such as trying to blame President Obama for the spread of the coronavirus even though Trump has cut staff and funding for the CDC and other agencies designed to prevent a global pandemic.

[Cha]

2. KR

[Aquaria]

3. You forgot the sexism he's displayed for quite a long time.

n/t

[ucrdem]

4. Yep. Ocasio-Cortez is not the only surrogate hinting that Sanders is a victim of election fraud.

Sanders himself hinted at it yesterday in his not-a-concession speech. From a C-SPAN transcript:

"WE ARE STRONGLY WINNING INTO ENORMOUS ELITE IMPORTANT AREAS WHICH WILL DETERMINE THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY.

"POLL AFTER POLL, INCLUDING EXIT POLLS, SHOW THAT A STRONG MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SUPPORT OUR PROGRESSIVE AGENDA."

https://www.c-span.org/video/?470263-1/senator-bernie-sanders-stay-race-democratic-nomination&start=135

This is a closed-caption transcript, thus the caps and strange syntax, but what he's hinting is that if the votes were accurately counted, he would be winning.



And that is where this is going, and it will only get worse until clearer minds step in and pull the plug on this year's Circus Sanders.

[TomCADem]

5. True. That was a brilliant bit of Cosplay By The Bernie Campaign!

Remember when Trump's campaign alleged that Hillary Clinton had conspired with the Russians to hack and undermine her campaign? Well, since African Americans are most frequently the subject of voter suppression efforts, AOC is effectively suggesting that Biden's campaign conspired to suppress the vote of his strongest demographic! It makes no sense, which is why it is a brilliant bit of playacting to prepare the Biden campaign for the types of arguments that will be made by the Trump campaign.

[Gore1FL]

7. Part of preparing for the fall is winning the nomination

Part of unifying the party is allowing everyone to participate.

Biden is going to win the nomination. Why attack Sanders and his supporters? If your concern is preparing for the fall, maybe it's time to bring and welcome people into the fold, rather than ostracizing them.

[zackymilly]

8. It's up to the Bernie supporters to come into the fold on their own.

It seems a lot of Bernie supporters are threatening to hold their votes hostage, unless Biden supporters beg for them.
If Bernie supporters want to risk 4 more years of Trump, so be it.

[TomCADem]

12. Exactly. This Will End Up Being a Vote Between Biden and Trump

I think the choice is clear. I voted for Warren in the primaries, but since she does not appear to be the nominee, I will be happy to vote for Biden. It is a no brainer. I am not acting like Biden or his supporters have to suck up to me as I ponder the choice.

Finally, you just can't trust Bernie or his campaign. At Bernie's request, Hillary included Cornel West in the DNC committee drawing up the party's platform where Bernie got a lot of say. Then, what does Cornel West do? He then endorses and campaigns for Jill Stein in an effort to wound Hillary.

At a certain point, it is clear that many Bernie supporters just are using Bernie's campaign to attack Democrats, so there is no point in trying to get them to jump on the bandwagon. They are going to vote for Trump anyways. because they hate Democrats.

[Gore1FL]

15. That's not how elections work.

The candidate has to reach out to voters and win them over. They don't at their own peril.

[zackymilly]

16. Bernie supporters don't vote or vote for Trump at their own peril.

Before Bernie came into the presidential scene in 2016, never have I been told in all my years of voting, that it was my job to get the losing candidates' supporters to come to the winning side. I don't know how long you've been voting, but that's not how I've ever seen 'elections work'.

[Gore1FL]

22. Now you know.

Voting is a contest where the winner gets the most votes. I've been doing it since 1984, but I understood the premise long before that.

Obviously it's up tot he person running to earn people's votes.

[TomCADem]

9. Those Are Just Facts. The Parallels Between Bernie and Trump Are Uncanny

The reason must be as you note to test Biden so that he can prepare for the fall. So, lets thank Bernie for the elaborate cosplay.

Also, since when is noting facts, ostracizing? If you think one of the statements regarding Bernie's positions is not true, then please let me know. Otherwise, Bernie should be proud to defend his record as noted above.

[Gore1FL]

14. So what? Sanders won't be the nominee. Why antagonize his followers?

Are we just planing ahead for the scapegoat or are we having a shitfest? From my perspective it looks the same.

[TomCADem]

18. Are You Suggesting That Bernie's Followers Are Just a Personality Cult?

And they think that Bernie alone can fix things? And that they would vote for Trump or not vote at all out of spite, particularly after the last four years?

Oh wait!

I get it!

You are saying that Bernie's followers are just cosplaying along with Bernie, because no serious person would thing that it is a tough choice between any Democratic candidate and Donald Trump. This is Democratic Underground. I personally supported Warren, but I am happy to support and vote for Biden over Trump. It really is not a hard choice.

I think that a lot of folks who may have voted for Bernie would easily switch to Biden over Trump.

[Gore1FL]

19. I am suggesting that if you tell people to fuck off enough they will.

And when they do, they people here will gnash their teeth wondering why.

[TomCADem]

25. It Is A Good Thing Then That I Am Just Noting Bernie's Own Words and Positions

Now, if Bernie supporters are having trouble accepting those positions, then I really can't help that. Let me put it this way, if a Bernie supporter is happy with Bernie's past opposition to the Brady Bill, scapegoating of immigrants, Russia friendly votes, anti-trade policies, then we can agree to disagree. Indeed, given those positions, I can see why such a person would vote for Trump. For example, I can see Joe Rogan voting for Trump over Biden.

But you know what? That is okay. We need to be proud of our positions. Afterall, I don't see any Bernie supporter saying that they are not going to vote for Bernie. It is always some other guy.

[Gore1FL]

31. Then don;t be mad when they don't join the team

I am sick of DU members telling people to go away forever and getting mad when they do it. I prefer being civil.

YMMV.

[TomCADem]

33. If Someone Is Racist or Pro-Russian, Should We Change Our Positions?

This is comes down to what it means to be a Democrat. Bernie is selling out by touting the endorsement of someone like Joe Rogan, who has a long history of being homophobic. Bernie was selling out by endorsing Cenk Uygur, former Republican, who was has long history of sexist statements. I get your view that Bernie needs their votes.

But we need to stand up for what we believe in as Democrats versus what Trump stands for as a Republican. That is the choice. In the end, elections are about choices. People need to be informed to make those choices. I understand your view that some folks might be offended by the facts. Still, I have yet to see many folks say that they won't vote for the Democratic nominee based on what I have written.

If we just tell people what they want to here, then we are going to end up where we are now with Trump. We cannot be afraid of the truth. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

[Gore1FL]

35. Who is asking you to change postions?

I am asking for civility.

[TomCADem]

36. Not Saying That Bernie Has Multiple Heart Attacks...

...or issuing press releases that Bernie is corrupt, or that Bernie is in the pocket of oil industry, etc., like Bernie's campaign has done with respect to other candidates.

My post went through Bernie's positions and votes, and has Bernie been a hypocrite. Yes, he has. The whole business with the Sanders Institute Foundation is a specific and recent factual example of this.

Now, am I going to start spamming the board with snake emojies or start distributing racist, sexist or anti-semitic statements about Bernie? No. That would not be civil.

[Gore1FL]

37. What benefit did that get you? What benefit does it get Biden?

I mean, sure. Attack people for no benefit other than spite if you want, even if it harms our candidate. It's a free country an all, antagonize as you wish. Please don't bemoan a lack of loyalty in those you have driven off, however.

[TwilightZone]

10. 538 currently has Biden forecast to win every remaining race.

The race is over. It's been over. Continuing it at this point is a waste of time and resources for everyone involved.

[Gore1FL]

13. It's never a waste to let people vote

Let voices be heard.

[ucrdem]

17. It might be a public health hazard though.

Not every state has mail-in balloting.

[Gore1FL]

20. That's an argument to cancel all elections.

We fought wars to protect that right. Eliminating it is off-the-table.

[ucrdem]

28. No one is suggesting we cancel elections.

The Democratic primary however is effectively over and Bernie needs to get the message.

[Gore1FL]

32. Primaries are elections.

What message are we sending? Certainly nothing welcoming.

[ucrdem]

38. Elections should be held as scheduled, but voters shouldn't be given false hope.

If Sanders doesn't have a chance of winning he shouldn't urge his supporters to vote in the middle of a pandemic. If there are downballot races that's another issue but dragging this primary on unnecessarily is pure vanity.

[Gore1FL]

39. Who is giving anyone false hope?

It's a process. If you short-circuit the process people will feel rightfully cheated from being able to participate. That causes animosity. It provides ammo to those who wish to use it. Let Biden win without any question marks. Invite Sander's supporters to the victory party when it happens.

November is the prize.

[ucrdem]

41. This just in from Bernie's press secretary:

Seems she doesn't think it's "safe" to vote on Tuesday:

Link to tweet

You were saying?

[betsuni]

11. K&R

[Scurrilous]

21. I was so wrong about him. *sob*

I thought of him as self centered, caring only for his own goals. So wrong..

[Celerity]

23. I overall agree but you're pushing a RW talking point that was pushed by the detestable Daily Caller

you said:

9. Repeatedly undermines our Democracy by claiming that elections are being rigged against him by the establishment or the deep state. For example, the claim by AOC that Bernie lost MI due to voter suppression even though turnout particularly among black voters was at record levels? Funny! AOC later let us know she was just kidding!

This is disingenuous framing at best

I watched the election coverage

MSNBC had reporters at the University of Michigan and at the University of Texas

The lines were insane, at the end of the night, they interviewed some of that last students. Some had to wait 4, 5, 6 hours to vote.

That is crazy. Regardless of who was responsible that IS voter suppression. Why the hell should people around my age (late teens to early/mid 20's) have to wait 4 or 6 hours to vote just because they are uni students and have not had enough polling places in place for them (or have had them shut down)?

Also, that type of shite is going on nationwide, systemically driven mostly by the Rethugs to close down polling places in BOTH minority areas and in university-heavy areas. That is going to fuck us HARD in the general.

That is what AOC was talking about. Calling attention to the long lines is NOT blaming the lose on voter suppression as the principal factor, it is simply pointing out what happened.

She was not spinning up CT.

She said so in her own words.



You are latching onto a RW DC spin job and repeating it.

[Turin_C3PO]

27. Agreed.

Some people in their dislike of Bernie, are going too far with the accusations. I have many, many, problems with Sanders but we have to remember that the true enemy is that Thing in the Whitehouse.

[Celerity]

29. I really worry about the near to middle term event horizon for our Party

Because of the first past the post plurality single member district system we constitutionally operate under (in other words, no proportional representation) there is basically only 3 real choices a voter faces in the US. Our Party, Rethug, or stay home and do not vote.

I see a 'let's purge as many of the further left progressives as we can' mentality alluded to (even if only hinted at, but have seen it inferred a bit stronger) on here at times. The rationale often given is that only centre left or actual centrists can win, which may be the case (actually is the case so far) in many districts, but those are also often barely blue, to pink, to purple, to red ones. If there really was a serious move to run out most all of the progressives in even blue and deep blue districts, the law of diminishing returns will kick in. The Party will drift even more to the right and when further left (and young voters as well, although there are multiple dynamics at play in terms of us) voters are told basically 'too bad,where are you going to go, to the Rethugs???' many will just (stupidly or not) drift away. In an effort to make up for those lost votes, the main remaining low hanging fruit is going to be harvested by eating into the slightly centre right moderate Republican and indy voters.

In an effort to outreach and garner those potential voters, the party will slide more to the right, which will, in turn, alienate even more on the left. It sets up a vicious circle. There simply is no way, in a 2 party only system, to have a House Democratic caucus composed of 95% New Democrat (yes that's how they spell it) Coalition and/or Blue Dogs, nor a Senate Dem Caucus that is almost exclusively composed of Sinema/Manchin/Hickenlooper (assuming he wins, which I am 95% certain he will) types. The Party's voting bloc nationally is simply too diverse to sustain that. I suppose some could counter that we simply absorb even of the centre to centre right voters, take them away from a batshit crazy ultra RW fascist, white nationalist (at core) Rethuglican party, but there will come an inflection point where a huge amount of the left simply schisms out in that was indeed the course we embarked upon. That would be ruinous for not just our Party, but the nation as a whole.

Our party prides itself on being a 'big tent' but being a big tent comes with a certain amount of compromise involved. We cannot just say 'like it or too bad, you have no options' as they do have the option to sit it out, which then will engender even more distrust and scapegoating from people remaining in the party. I know many on here detest AOC, but if she is (unlikely but I still have see so many posts cheering it on) primaried and run out, OR she is reditricted out of her seat post-2020 census, that will have a huge negative impact on the further left leaning voters, including a shedload of younger ones. This problem will continue on as long as the oldest Gen Xers, and especially the Boomers and old gens are still a huge part of the electorate (and they will be for years to come). They not only vote in massive numbers for the Rethugs, but a significant number who do vote Democratic self identify and very centre moderates or even conservatives. That is is stark contrast to the younger gens, especially the 2nd half of the Millenials, then the Zennials (my micro gen), and finally the older Gen Zers (obviously the younger Z'ers too, as they approach the age of being able to vote.)

Given that we only have two parties here by the very nature of our constitutional set-up, accommodations and compromise on SOME level needs to be the order of the day from both ends of the Democratic spectrum. I see the words 'purity test' tossed out (in some cases legitimately) towards the left as a pejorative, BUT it is a two way street, and it surely seems like a purity test going the other way to want to whittle down the left to as small as possible number (just enough to win control of Congress and the POTUS in some cases), and then to often try to block most any sort of legislation that might be somewhat to their liking, whilst supporting some legislation they dislike strongly, some even to the point of hating.

I hate to use the damn MFA as an example (as it has zero chance at passing for a LONG time given the overall tilt of the US electorally), BUT if it did, somehow, pass say 5 or 6 years from now, if it was indeed rammed through Congress (the circumstance to get it there are beyond the scope of this post) and a 2nd term Biden DID (as he said he would do) veto it, all hell would break loose. Given that it has NO chance of passing in the next 9 years or so, I do not see why Biden went full bore and said he would veto it, as IF it was actually passed, that would intrinsically mean it had truly MASSIVE popular voter support. Preemptively saying he would veto it even then is a bit of needless and somewhat provocative slap at the farther left folk IMHO (especially as we KNOW it is not going to get anywhere near to passing in his two potential upcoming terms.)

I know many (and they are not even Sanders supporters) people who would like to see it (some sort of government-mandated TRULY universal healthcare system that removes all or damn near all of the profit-motive from what is indeed a human right in the 21st century) eventually come to pass (I am NOT saying it has to be a mirror image Bernie's model of MFA at all, and I guess Joe could use that as a semi-out, but that is starting to venture into too-clever-by-half parsing territory that many simply do not hear) and to shut down even that theoretical seems to serve no constructive purpose. Many did not like his answer on that veto.

Now, I must add, NONE that I talked to will say that was make or break in terms of voting Dem at all, hell no, BUT there are millions of potential Democratic voters (yes, a tonne of them Bernie or Warren people, and yes, a lot of them lifelong Dems, not these indy bro disruptive types out there in the aether) for whom it is a far bigger deal (in theory for many) than my small cohort that I just alluded to.

[Hortensis]

24. Excellent, thanks!

Most of the similarities between Trump and Sanders presumably are reflections of them in their roles as populist leaders, sharing converging attitudes and appealing to the same kinds of people. Inevitably they must frequently behave the same.

Yet I’ve never gotten used to these flashes of awareness that keep striking bizarre and wrong — that they are so different and yet the similarities keep flashing danger, sometimes when you least expect them, like brief reflections of the other from mirrors as they pass.

[Squinch]

26. Well done. I can't tell you how sick I am of this shit. He is tossing away his relevance with both

hands and he's hurting us in the General.

[onetexan]

30. LOL well it isn't a secret anymore since u've posted it here

[TomCADem]

40. Watching the Debate. It Seems Like Both Followed the Script

[BootinUp]

34. K&R