Speaking as a non-Democrat who won’t be voting in this primary, here’s what I see.
Bernie Sanders and his supporters talk a lot about income inequality, health care, student loan debt, Wall Street regulations, global warming, and their candidate’s proposed policies for dealing with these issues.
Hillary Clinton and his supporters talk a lot about how Bernie’s supporters are racist and sexist, and not much else. Really, Hillary’s campaign seems to consist of absolutely nothing other than spurious charges of racism and sexism.
Bernie Sanders speaks the truth, and as Arthur Schopenhauer said, truth goes through three predictable stages. First it is ridiculed, then it is vehemently opposed, and finally it is seen as self evident. The first stage is over and now we’re into phase two.
Frankly I think the DNC has been an embarrassment so far. Not Hillary herself, she’s just acting professionally as usual, but the democratic “establishment” and it’s not-so-subtle way of trying to essentially scare people away from the real progressive candidate. But in a way that makes sense, because the establishment of DNC doesn’t actually seem to be progressive at all but rather neo-liberal. In most other nations (who don’t have a two party system) Bernie and Hillary would not be members of the same party, because they are actually quite far apart on the political spectrum, so I imagine that this is in a way the decider for the democratic party. Is it going to be a neo-liberal organization or a social democratic/progressive one. If Bernie is eventually the nominee, the DNC establishment will have to show their true colors.
It’s so lovely to have Republicans come around and tell us how much they think Sanders is better than Clinton–thanks!
I support Sanders in his primary run, absolutely. But if all you’re hearing Clinton’s campaign say is the shitty things they’re admittedly saying about Sanders, you should clean your ears. Clinton’s greatest strength is her wonkiness, her deep knowledge of issues, and she talks repeatedly about them on the campaign trail and in debates.
Yeah, I really want to stress that even though I think the DNC establishment is a bunch of jerks at this point, I don’t fault Hillary for that and don’t think she’s done anything wrong. I think she’s a competent alternative and a skilled politician, I just don’t agree with her on policy and think Bernie has a LOT more integrity and vision.
When your positions and your supporters hair trigger outrage result in accusations that Gloria Steinem is sexist, and that the ACLU is far-right, your campaign might just be a tad bit out of the mainstream. Just sayin.
Given the “quality” of whichever mediocrity or grotesque your party finally selects, I can see why you wish to turn Democrats against each other. I doubt that it will work.
I am well aware that the Libertarian candidate will not be winning this Presidential election and have been for some time. I do not particularly care about which of the two major parties wins the presidential election. But what I’m saying about Bernie and Hillary, I’m saying because I earnestly believe it. It has nothing to do with “turning Democrats against each other”, which as an ordinary anonymous internet user I have no ability to do.
I would strongly prefer a President Bernie Sanders over President Hillary Clinton, because Bernie is honest and Hillary is not. That’s all there is to it. Bernie has principles and sticks to them. I agree with some of his principles and disagree with others, but at least he has principles. Hillary has no principles.
Bernie himself might be squeaky clean, but from what I’ve seen on the internet (mostly Reddit, admittedly), his supporters will go out of their way to find and up-vote every negative, derogatory article about Clinton, no matter what the source. It’s actually rather soured me on the Bernie brand.
There's no question that Clinton isn't the ideal candidate -- she's low on charisma, she's never going to get the Great Pumpkin to visit her pumpkin patch, and she's got a closet full of, if not skeletons, then certainly a lot of suspicious looking bone fragments. But if you're a career politician who's been detested by the other party for twenty years and the worst thing they can dig up on you is that you handled your email in the same way that previous Secretary's of Defense handled their email and Wall Street firms have wildly overpaid you for your speeches, then I'm sort of OK with that. I'd actually expect Hillary to be a competent Chief Executive -- mildly progressive on social issues, and she won't rock the fiscal boat much
So it seems counter-productive to smear the Hillary brand, given that there's at least an even chance she'll be the one you'd want choosing the next Supreme court judges for you next term.