# 2016 Bernie Sanders (D-VT) campaign for POTUS thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 28, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754 "2015-04-28T22:40:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 44
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/861 "2016-02-18T02:17:10Z")
Sanders is starting to bore holes in Clinton’s racial “firewall.” Here’s an endorsement from the daughter of Eric Garner, the NYC man who was killed by a policeman using a chokehold. > [@](#): > > ## I trusted establishment Democrats who claimed to represent me, only to later watch them ignore and explain away the injustice of my father’s death. I trusted the system; then I watched as politicians on both sides of the aisle — from Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel to Michigan’s Republican Gov. Rick Snyder — disregard the will of the people they were elected to represent and abdicate their responsibility to protect them. I’ve watched as our system criminalizes blackness while allowing Wall Street to bilk the American people with impunity. > > Black Americans — all Americans — need a leader with a record that speaks for itself. And to me, it’s clear. Of all the presidential candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders is our strongest ally. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/01/29/black-lives-like-my-fathers-should-matter-in-america-thats-why-im-endorsing-bernie-sanders/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/01/29/black-lives-like-my-fathers-should-matter-in-america-thats-why-im-endorsing-bernie-sanders/) A black state senator in Georgia endorsed him. > [@](#): > > The second-highest ranking Democrat in the Georgia state Senate on Tuesday switched his endorsement from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Sen. Bernie Sanders. [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/hillary-clinton-endorsement-swap-bernie-sanders-219321](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/hillary-clinton-endorsement-swap-bernie-sanders-219321) So has former NAACP President Ben Jealous. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/862 "2016-02-18T04:12:28Z")
Drops in the bucket. Hillary’s got this. [pedant]Please, it’s “rein in”, not “reign in”.[\pedant] ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/863 "2016-02-18T05:25:49Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Did you see the letter from Romer, Kreuger, Goolsbee and one other former CEA chair? > > They all pretty much agree that Bernie’s plan doesn’t just not add up, but is actively harmful in its endorsement of the kind of evidence-free economics that the GOP engages in. > > ETA: oops. Missed Measure for Measure’s reference to it. So you did see it! Actually they didn’t say that. They (correctly) said that Gerald Friedman’s _analysis_ of the plan didn’t add up. They didn’t comment on the plan itself. It’s an open letter so I’ll quote from it: [QUOTE= Krueger, Goolsbee, Tyson, Romer] We are concerned to see the Sanders campaign citing extreme claims by Gerald Friedman about the effect of Senator Sanders’s economic plan—claims that cannot be supported by the economic evidence. Friedman asserts that your plan will have huge beneficial impacts on growth rates, income and employment that exceed even the most grandiose predictions by Republicans about the impact of their tax cut proposals. As much as we wish it were so, no credible economic research supports economic impacts of these magnitudes. Making such promises runs against our party’s best traditions of evidence-based policy making and undermines our reputation as the party of responsible arithmetic. These claims undermine the credibility of the progressive economic agenda and make it that much more difficult to challenge the unrealistic claims made by Republican candidates. [/QUOTE] Ok, so the Sanders campaign cited the bogus study. It didn’t sponsor it though and it’s not like Sanders himself has even mentioned it in passing. It is very much in the interest of mainstream Democratic wonks to nip this in the bud. But for Sanders, it’s merely something to walk back a little. > [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > Well, [170 Economists endorsed his plan to reign in Wall Street](http://www.politicususa.com/2016/01/14/170-economists-bernie-sanders-plan-reform-wall-st-rein-greed.html). And[210 Economists backed his idea to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour](http://www.budget.senate.gov/democratic/public/index.cfm/blog?ID=d388e874-ab05-412d-b5ff-266659accef5). So there seems to be vast support for some of his ideas from a wide swath of Economists. # Sure. And I’m guessing few on those lists would endorse Friedman’s analysis. Hey **Qin**! I’ve got a real question. When conservatives throw the word “Socialist” around, they are using the word to smear leftie proposals with insinuations of communism and therefore foreign influences at best and disloyalty to America at worst. It’s a cold war thing. But it’s all a little dated. Here’s my question. For folks your age (not you - you’re pretty well read) what does the word “Socialist” imply? What’s the baggage associated with the word? What about “Communist”? “Far left?” I’m wondering how the Republicans will have to update their bag of tricks over the next 30 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/864 "2016-02-18T23:09:16Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > If your insurance is picked up by the government, it becomes much easier to take a chance on a new job, or to start your own business (especially since you won’t have to be paying for your employees’ insurance, either). Maybe in theory. In reality, are there any countries with universal health coverage in which it is easier to start a business than it is in America? As far as I understand it, the opposite is true, due to all of the extra taxes, licenses, insurance, regulation, bureaucracy, ect that goes hand in hand with those types of governments. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/865 "2016-02-19T01:03:24Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > Maybe in theory. In reality, are there any countries with universal health coverage in which it is easier to start a business than it is in America? As far as I understand it, the opposite is true, due to all of the extra taxes, licenses, insurance, regulation, bureaucracy, ect that goes hand in hand with those types of governments. It sure is good we don’t have onerous regulations here then. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/866 "2016-02-19T01:18:12Z")
Let’s consider the socialist hell-holes of Singapore, New Zealand, and Denmark. Singapore has universal health care and spends 3% of GDP on that sector, as compared with 18% for the US. Singapore ranks number 1 worldwide in ease of doing business and number 10 in terms of starting a business. Eh. That’s a city-state. Let’s move on. New Zealand is ranked #2 in terms of doing business and #1 in terms of starting a business. Denmark is 3 and 29. The US is (drumroll), ranked 7 in terms of doing business and… 49 in terms of starting a business. Oh well. [http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings](http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings) Once again, facts trump ideological preconceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/867 "2016-02-19T01:50:45Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > Maybe in theory. In reality, are there any countries with universal health coverage in which it is easier to start a business than it is in America? As far as I understand it, the opposite is true, due to all of the extra taxes, licenses, insurance, regulation, bureaucracy, ect that goes hand in hand with those types of governments. Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, publishes their Index of Economic Freedom each year. The Index measures a variety of benchmarks they associate with[economic freedom](http://www.heritage.org/index/about): > [@](#): > > Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please. In economically free societies, governments allow labor, capital, and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself. Here is the top ten: [ol] [li]Hong Kong[/li][li]Singapore[/li][li]New Zealand [/li][li]Switzerland[/li][li]Australia[/li][li]Canada [/li][li]Chile[/li][li]Ireland[/li][li]Estonia[/li][li]United Kingdom[/li][/ol] Where is the US? Why is it less economically free than Estonia? Notice anything else? They all have socialized medicine. They all have subsidized higher education. They invest in their citizens. You have been misinformed. The US is the eleventh most economically free nation in the world. Perhaps we can learn something from the ten who do it better than we do. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/868 "2016-02-19T02:09:30Z")
Though 11 out of 166 ranked countries isn’t bad! There’s lots of opportunity in the US. Also in Chile, Switzerland, Sweden and the UK for those with the right sort of temperament. It’s just that using conservative ideology as a foundation for understanding the world steers you wrong, wildly wrong, _embarrassingly wrong_. Far better better to be empirical, fact-gathering and pragmatic. [Ideologies—no matter what they are—are bad masters.](http://www.bradford-delong.com/2016/02/the-in-praise-of-alexander-hamilton-section-from-our-concrete-economics-in-fortune-online.html) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/869 "2016-02-19T05:29:26Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Ok, so the Sanders campaign cited the bogus study. It didn’t sponsor it though and it’s not like Sanders himself has even mentioned it in passing. It is very much in the interest of mainstream Democratic wonks to nip this in the bud. But for Sanders, it’s merely something to walk back a little. Well, looks like I’ll have to do the walking back. The Sanders policy director cited the Friedman analysis [at least 3 times](http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/bernie-sanders-responsible-gerald-friedman). And he apparently has doubled down a little, telling NPR that the letter of the 4 former Chairs of Council of Economic Advisers, “[Does not bother us at all](http://www.vox.com/2016/2/18/11041838/bernienomics-wonks).” Indeed, Matt Yglassias draws a parallel between Bernie and modern conservatism, as I did above: [INDENT]Sanders is running a style of campaign that’s very unusual for a prominent Democrat but extremely common for a Republican. Marco Rubio, for example, has proposed a large tax cut, a balanced budget amendment, an increase in defense spending, and to prevent any cuts in Social Security or Medicare for people currently at or near retirement. This is, obviously, not possible, but it hasn’t been a problem for Rubio in the GOP primary because the 2016 GOP primary — like the 2012, 2008, 2000, 1996, and 1988 primaries — haven’t been about who has the best policy plans. It is about how conservative ideology should be defined and — among those who share a similar definition — who is its most effective champion. The 1980 and 1976 GOP primaries were about whether the Republican Party should be a vehicle of the conservative movement or whether it should continue in the Eisenhower/Nixon/Ford model of right-leaning interest group brokerage — with the conservatives winning in 1980 and never letting go. [/INDENT] [Top Democratic economists don't think much of Bernienomics. He doesn’t care. | Vox](http://www.vox.com/2016/2/18/11041838/bernienomics-wonks) So I have to back peddle - Bernie’s policy director has indeed doubled down on the crazy analysis but so far that’s all. Whether the Sanders campaign will de-emphasize this dubious outside study moving forward remains to be seen. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/870 "2016-02-19T13:38:28Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Drops in the bucket. Hillary’s got this. > > [pedant]Please, it’s “rein in”, not “reign in”.[\pedant] Shaun King endorsed Bernie. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michelle Alexander have both decided to support Bernie as (damning with faint praise) a “lesser evil.” Which, you know, sounds a lot like Bayard Rustin saying, “Both parties stink! They do! But…” And that’s the variety of ringing (e\_e) endorsement that has kept most blacks out of the GOP and voting Democrat for generations. And did I mention that **Shaun King endorsed Bernie.** You’re probably going to see a generational divide among blacks as among whites. It might not be as pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/871 "2016-02-19T13:49:10Z")
I for one am gratified to see a leftie learning from Republican success. Paul Krugman himself has noted that there is a constituency that _want to be lied to._ The Bushes lied on fiscal matters, and Reagan lied on fiscal matters; people didn’t know the difference; and the liars were very popular. If lying–or overoptimistic economic projections–is what sells, maybe Bernie is just being strategic. I have mixed feelings. It’s _annoying_ when politicians talk nonsense. But despite that, I am impressed with the sheer common sense of doing what works in an election. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/872 "2016-02-19T13:52:47Z")
Shaun King? You mean the guy who is so white, they gave him an Oscar on Twitter for playing black? Lol Hillary just got endorsed by Jim Clyburn. I think that might carry _slightly_ greater weight. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/873 "2016-02-19T14:07:46Z")
“Shaun King” – who? “Jim Clyburn” – who? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/874 "2016-02-19T14:12:08Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I for one am gratified to see a leftie learning from Republican success. Paul Krugman himself has noted that there is a constituency that _want to be lied to._ I don’t think Sanders voters see it that way, nor do conservative voters. We all know that the promises aren’t all possible, so you have to figure out what the top priorities will be, because that’s what’ll get done. The only problem in that respect with both Sanders and Rubio is that I’m not sure what they will decide to prioritize. With Sanders, I think it’ll be his free college, since the funding mechanism is the most sound and the easiest to pass. But having an argument over what it means to be a conservative or a liberal is definitely a legitimate thing to campaign over. And to liberals’ credit, most of them don’t believe for a second that Sanders can deliver on his plans. That’s not really the point anyway. Electing Sanders isn’t about getting all that implemented, it’s about electing a true blue liberal and changing the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/875 "2016-02-19T14:22:26Z")
Coates did not endorse Bernie. He did say he would vote for him, but he has written that this was not an endorsement because he is not qualified to judge lots of areas, like foreign policy. Not sure that affects the points raised above. But it was a refreshing thing for him to write, in my view, and worth clarifying. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/876 "2016-02-19T14:52:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t think Sanders voters see it that way, nor do conservative voters. We all know that the promises aren’t all possible, so you have to figure out what the top priorities will be, because that’s what’ll get done. The only problem in that respect with both Sanders and Rubio is that I’m not sure what they will decide to prioritize. With Sanders, I think it’ll be his free college, since the funding mechanism is the most sound and the easiest to pass. > > But having an argument over what it means to be a conservative or a liberal is definitely a legitimate thing to campaign over. And to liberals’ credit, most of them don’t believe for a second that Sanders can deliver on his plans. That’s not really the point anyway. Electing Sanders isn’t about getting all that implemented, it’s about electing a true blue liberal and changing the conversation. The dishonesty, from supply-siders on the right and from Bernie on the left, is not about whether they can get their plans passed, but about what the effects would be if they did. Specifically, how they would allegedly not blow a hole in the budget. Both sides rely on extreme expectations of economic growth and wildly unrealistic assumptions about cost cutting. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/877 "2016-02-19T19:36:52Z")
OK, maybe I have been too diplomatic about the Congressional Black Caucus, because you are still not getting it. Hillary Clinton isn’t just endorsed by black Democratic politicians. She’s endorsed by Democratic politicians who are loyal to the party and its machine. They choose Queen Hillary over an outsider, an independent, an alleged self-righteous rabble-rouser like Bernie Sanders. They choose her for “political” and careerist reasons, not policy reasons. They aren’t endorsing her out of some intrinsic black affinity for Hillary; any more than John Hickenlooper, to pick an arbitrary name, is endorsing her out of some intrinsic white affinity for her. > **[List of Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign endorsements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hillary_Clinton_presidential_campaign_endorsements,_2016)** > > For a list of Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign endorsements, see: > **[List of Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign endorsements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bernie_Sanders_presidential_campaign_endorsements,_2016)** > > This is a list of notable individuals and organizations who voiced their endorsement of Bernie Sanders as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. I think, without adding it up, that _among national-level pols,_ HRC has been endorsed by a greater proportion of white Dem politicians than her proportion of black Dem politicians. Apparently white people\* love\* Hillary! …if you only look at elected Democratic politicians and TV comedians (and Al Franken, who is both :p). And yet, even among whites, even among white women, Bernie is getting the turnout from the young, the poor, _the people that are supposedly Democratic Party constituents._ Even with the machine on her side, she’s fighting for the nomination and might lose. Now, the Black Caucus, they are often referred to as a bunch of “nest-featherers.” They’re not exactly the most inspiring bunch. They are part of the machine, just like all those white Congressmen who endorsed Hillary. And young blacks might not care that much what they say. That does not mean that young blacks will turn out to vote for Bernie. More likely, they’re completely disgusted with this stupid racist country and won’t turn out at all. But if Shaun King and Erica Garner say,\* this guy is on our side, he gets it,\* and if BLM mobilizes young people, then Bernie has a chance with the youth vote. Just as on the white side of the color line. It is uphill for him. Probably more for latinos than for blacks. But Bernie’s appeal is to youth and the poor. The really hard part is getting young poor blacks to even show up at the polls. If Bernie loses (and he still looks like he will) it will be for lack of ground mobilization in that disaffected demographic, not some imagined great racial love for HRC that honestly, _has no reason to exist._ Maybe look at [Shaun King’s interview with Ohio state senator Nina Turner](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/king-respected-ohio-dem-nina-turner-endorses-bernie-sanders-article-1.2439200) back in November 2015: > [@](#): > > **King:** I noticed some people are saying that you abandoned the Democratic Party and are doing a disservice to the country when you endorsed Bernie Sanders. As a lifelong democrat, how do you process that? > > **Turner:** It’s very insulting. > > Let me be honest with you. Democrats in Ohio have never, in the entire history of the state, elected an African American to statewide office. Republicans have done it twice here. When I ran for Secretary of State in Ohio people told me I was crazy. Clearly, the status quo is not working for us in Ohio. Bernie Sanders is a man whose principles have been in line with the working poor and middle class for his entire life. > > What I see is a battle between hearts and minds. I hear people saying everywhere that in their heart, they want to support Bernie Sanders, but in their mind, they just don’t know if he can win. Here’s the thing though — you can have both with Bernie. In almost every single poll of him going head to head against the top republican candidates, Bernie wins. > > He wins! > > The mainstream media and most of the democratic establishment had already crowned Secretary Clinton for the nomination 8 years ago, but voters saw differently. And here’s Shaun King’s endorsement of Bernie Sanders, in much stronger positive language than the mostly anti-Hillary words of Ta-Nehisi Coates or Michelle Alexander: [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-bernie-sanders-best-candidate-president-article-1.2498007](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-bernie-sanders-best-candidate-president-article-1.2498007) > [@](#): > > But even more than who he has been over the past few decades, it’s who Sanders is right now, at this pivotal moment in our country, that hooked me. It wasn’t love at first sight, either. > > When women from the Black Lives Matter movement interrupted his campaign speeches and demanded he not only acknowledge state violence against black bodies, but that he also needed to have strong policy positions on the issue, I was all for it. At the time, thousands of liberal white folks were irritated to no end when they saw the demonstration. > > Looking back on it, I truly think it was the most important moment of his campaign. He took the brave interruption to heart. Instead of simply saying “Black Lives Matter” here and there, he released the most comprehensive, thorough, specific plan of any candidate on either side to address police brutality, economic inequality, voting rights, education, health care, gun safety and more. > > It shocked me, actually. I had grown used to politicians shrugging off the pain and pleas of black folks and just assuming we’d vote for them anyway. Bernie didn’t do anything like that. > > He hired Symone Sanders, a black woman who has fought for juvenile justice issues her whole life, not as his juvenile justice liaison, but as his national press secretary. > > He hired one of the most respected immigration activists in the country, Erika Andiola, to not only connect with Latino voters, but to also shape his campaign on immigration issues. > > [snip] > > 1. No presidential candidate has been as clear on what happened to Sandra Bland as Bernie. In addition to meeting with her mother, he came out in December and flat out said “Sandra Bland should not have died while in police custody. There’s no doubt in my mind that she, like too many African-Americans who die in police custody, would be alive today if she were a white woman.” He gets it. Race is not a coincidental factor in police violence, but is a central, determining factor in much of the brutality. This must be acknowledged and Bernie has done so repeatedly. > > [snip] > > We live in a time when we don’t need marginal improvements, we need big changes. Bernie is the right candidate at the right time to bring them. > > I believe in him, I believe in his team and I believe he can win. This race is Bernie’s to win or lose. If he fails to capitalize on his existing support from the anti-police brutality/BLM movement, if he can’t get the volunteers on the ground, he likely will come up short. But the potential is there. Now, there is a grim truth unspoken so far. Lots of black men in this country are disenfranchised, and \*can’t \*vote–maybe especially the under-50 set that are Bernie’s (& BLM’s) ostensible base. But their relatives can. And Bernie doesn’t have to win blacks over outright, just get close, if he starts expanding his support among white voters. ETA: And calling Shaun King a white guy pretending to be black is not only silly & insulting, but wildly missing the point about who he is and what he has done in this country. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/878 "2016-02-19T19:46:08Z")
No, you are the one who is not getting it. I am a political hack. I know the CBC is a political machine. I love the machine. I delight in seeing the machine grind under its giant tank treads the starry-eyed hopes of a bunch of silly idealists. I further delight in knowing that when Bernheads attack the CBC as being part of the establishment machine, the fact that they are right does not do them any favors with black voters. IOW, mwahahahh, resistance is futile, etc. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/879 "2016-02-19T21:46:08Z")
Well, among African-Americans, it seems that every African-American not connected with the Democratic machine has endorsed Bernie, and all those with the political machine have endorsed Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754/880 "2016-02-19T22:26:03Z")
Right, the ones that matter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754.md?page=43) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-bernie-sanders-d-vt-campaign-for-potus-thread/718754.md?page=45)