i would like to apologize to the bernie supporters

[BainsBane]

187. You forget one key group Sanders did not appeal to

Democrats, specifically the Democratic base--single women and people of color. I get you want to discount our votes and value Republican voters more highly, but no Democrat wins elected office without our votes. Why you think those voters would have automatically been delivered to him, I can't begin to imagine. How do you suppose he would have won Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania without the votes of African Americans? Democrats win because of the cities, and as much as Sanders and his supporters privilege the white male voters in the rural counties, their numbers are not sufficient to carry those states for Democrats.

Sanders alienated the Democratic base during the primary. He made a point of systematically insulting us by boasting that his voters were "real people" instead of "registered Democrats," He insulted organizations and people that put their lives on the line for reproductive rights as "establishment." He dismissed the votes of predominantly African American states as the "confederacy." He also insisted--mid contest-- that Southern states shouldn't go relatively early in the process because they "distorted reality." That 'reality" he wanted prioritized above states placed earlier because of their diversity were the predominantly white caucus states with low voter turnout. And then after he had been mathematically excluded from any possibility of winning (2 months after it was clear to even his own campaign staff that he had already lost) he insisted that the nearly 16 million votes of actual citizens should be overturned in favor of corporate media polls. Yet after all that, you assume those voters would have turned out in droves for him?

Sanders lost by 3.8 million votes. It wasn't even close. He lost on March 15 but stayed in the race for three more months because he raised enormous amounts of money, not because he actually had a chance to win. Even his own campaign staff knew that wasn't possible after March 15.

My constitutional rights are not an excuse. They are my right. I vote for the most qualified candidate, and I will not vote for someone i see as unprepared to assume the presidency because some people insist my voting rights are an "excuse."

The excuses being made here are by people who insist Sanders was somehow owed the nomination, despite not being able to get anywhere close to a majority of voters to vote for him. This continual insistence that he would have won is nothing but a demonstration of entitlement.

I suggest it is you and those like you who need to quit making excuses for a candidate who lost the primary by 3.8 million votes. I suggest you stop referring to the voting rights of citizens as "excuses" and figure out how to get a majority of voters to the polls for your preferred candidate in the future. I can tell you the approach taken in the primary and still being demonstrated now is a sure fire way to ensure that never happens.