Bernie Sanders is like Jesus: He's pretty rad, his fan club sucks

The BBQ Pit
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(And yes, I realize Bernie’s Jewish. So was Jesus.)

First let me get this out of the way: I support Bernie Sanders for President.

I think his policies will be better for this country. I trust him. I appreciate his views on economics, healthcare, education and foreign policy.

I think this country’s politics at the national level have shifted far more rightward than I am comfortable with over the past few decades and I also think that based on polling on specific issues that this shift is also out of step with how Americans feel.

I live in a state that votes very late so I have little say in the nomination process but I plan on voting for Bernie Sanders even if by the time it gets to me he is out of the race officially or mathematically.

All of that said, Bernie Sanders fans (aka Bernie Bros) are giving RON PAUL supporters a run for the money of most annoying political voices ever. They’re even more annoying than Trump supporters because Trump supporters were always assholes. Most of the Bernie supporters are like-minded and thoughtful, just COMPLETELY unable to step back and look at the election rationally.

Right now the math doesn’t look good for Bernie. But don’t try and tell a Bernie supporter that. They refuse to believe that between the voting that has already taken place and the demographics of the remaining states and how far back Sanders is that his path to a majority of pledged delegates is beyond tenuous.

And there’s the shrill cries about how Hillary is a criminal. Guys, the Republicans have been trying to get Hillary for decades now. If she did as much as jaywalk, they would have got someone to prosecute.

These cries are coming form the same people who are known liars - they are Republicans, after all. The bullshit they threw at Obama - from birth certificates to death panels - has been fraught with bullshit. They still want nothing more than to make Benghazi a thing. They - and the Bernie Bots - are the only people who think her emails are a thing.

And the conspiracy theories that they embrace shows me that in their mind, the only reason Hillary Clinton has about 2.5 million more votes than Bernie at this point is all because of the media and the DNC shilling for Hillary.

This is unmitigated horseshit.

The media naturally covered someone who had a relative in the oval office, who was considered the front-runner way back when the race began, someone who raised and spent way more money than the rest of the field combined.

Except I’m not talking about Hillary. I’m talking about Jeb!

Everyone can see how well that worked out for him.

Bernie droids are making every little thing as the reason Bernie is losing other than more people are voting for the other candidate. Bernie was ripped off in Arizona! Yeah, the elections run by the state’s mostly Republican officials was rigged, and they somehow managed to disenfranchise 72,000 Bernie voters - because that’s how many votes he lost by in the 17-point Clinton win.

They scream about how he is left off a Washington DC ballot! Except that isn’t happening because they don’t vote for two and a half months and does anyone believe the problem won’t get fixed in that time? Yes, Bernie Douchebags.

And I really, really enjoy watching Bernie supporters tell black people who to vote for and call them idiots for their choice. Nothing appeals to the black voter block in this country than condescension.

And even worse is that almost none of the Bernie Bitches seem motivated in the slightest about local elections. I am a big supporter of John Fetterman for Senate. He also is a very progressive guy. Why aren’t the Sanders supporters in my state also clamoring for Fetterman? They likely don’t know who he is.

The fact is that this country is not quite ready for what Bernie is selling. I have hope that we’re gonna get there (his appeal to the youth) and I have hope it’ll be sooner than later (his showing and ability to stay in the race will allow him to impart his agenda upon Hillary at the convention).

As a Bernie supporter, I am thrilled that he moved Clinton left! Other Bernie supporters see that as evidence she is a horrible person. Meanwhile, Politifact says the two candidates are nearly equally trustworthy. But not to them!

And then we get to the Bernie supporters who cry that they will never support Hillary. Okay, go and vote for Ralph Nader again, that worked out so well the last time. And really, Trump and Cruz are exactly like Hillary! Oh wait, they’re not. But try and explain that to the Bernie Dolts.

As much as a small part of me hopes for a miracle, I have resigned myself to Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee. I am hopeful that Bernie will do and say the right things at the convention that show that he did impact Hillary’s priorities and that some of the not-so-hard-headed Bernie fans will feel okay voting for her.

Although RON PAUL idiots are still floating around so I am not holding my breath.

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I have had to take a break from reading political sites, normally one of my favorite pastimes, because I am so goddamn tired of hearing about how the bird means that Bernie has been chosen by God or the will of the universe or whatever. I can’t stand feeling this much annoyance at people who I ostensibly agree with and I support your pitting 100%.

Hopefully people will calm the hell down after the primary is over.

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Since when is there any sort of social or political movement worth squat that doesn’t engender some level of fanaticism? I suppose you could avoid it by starting a movement over an issue that nobody much gives a shit about, and cannot be persuaded to. Outside of that, you pays your money, you takes your chances.

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Bernie is getting screwed by the DNC and his supporters know it. It’s politics as usual. Hillary was pre-chosen by the big money donors, Democrat Party bigwigs, the state political parties, and the media outlets. In spite of all these handicaps, Bernie is attracting larger crowds than Hillary and enjoys the support of millions of voters. Voters who are tired of the SSDD politics.

Good government requires that the branches of government work together. Which Democrat candidate has the best chance of reaching a working compromise with Congress, Hillary or Bernie? I believe it’s Bernie. Hillary will use Executive Orders to skirt Congress, the elected representatives of the people, and she will use Executive Privilege to hide her actions from the voters.

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Whichever can heal the sick and raise the dead.

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The Apathy Party! Fighting passion since 1973, if we could be bothered.

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Everybody’s heard about the bird. Everybody knows the bird is the Word.

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[shrug] The Abolitionists were extremely annoying. The early-20th-Century American Socialists and even sometimes the Progressives were annoying. The Civil Rights activists and the ant-Vietnam-War protesters were annoying. But none of them sucked.

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Exhibit A.

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If doorhinge supports Sanders for President, I’ll eat my hat.

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He’s making the same “arguments” as the Bernie Bros regardless of whether he supports him or not.

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I dig Bernie quite a bit. I voted for him in the Michigan primary. And I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the Bernie Bro fanaticism but I haven’t witnessed too much. I’m on the fence about whether these folks should be raising hell at Trump rallies (obviously I oppose any form of violence, horse-slapping included.)

I want to know where there is room to, as a Democrat, raise legitimate issues with Hillary without painting her as the Demon Whore of Babylon. I promise you her gender ain’t the problem… I’d vote Elizabeth Warren into office in a motherfuckin’ heartbeat. I admit I do have some trouble distinguishing the Republican party line on Hillary from the actual truth of her actions. But she doesn’t sit right with me. I’ll vote for her if it comes to that, but I kind of resent the implication I’ve picked up from many Hillary supporters that I’m just a misogynist irrational hater if I don’t like her.

So I’m on board with this pitting insofar as I feel like it’s getting increasingly more difficult to have a nuanced political opinion about damn near anything.

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Do you have a hat?

Do you have a video camera?

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Uh-oh.

Seriously, you do? Based on all the posts of yours that I have read on this message board, I would never ever ever ever ever ever ever have thought that you would support a Democrat, even a Democrat-for-the-purposes-of-running-for-President-only. If, while going to my closet to look to see if I have a hat, I faint, fall down, and hurt myself, it’s your fault.

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I find myself more and more in Hillary’s camp. Bernie supporters are making it easy.

Imagine if Bernie did win the presidency. When he has even more trouble than Obama getting things done, the true believers will turn on him fast.

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That’s actually my biggest fear. He gets into office and is the reincarnation of Jimmy Carter (don’t die yet Jimmy!). Well intentioned, incapable of getting anything done, leading to 12 years of GOP Presidents - AND the Democrats had the advantage of Watergate!

I’m a big Carter fan, I think he was possible the best human being we’ve had in office - certainly the best in my lifetime - but he was a lousy President.

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I think he’s older than Jesus too.

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Your metaphor works way better than you mean it to. Most Christians are perfectly fine, wonderful people who are just doing the best they can in life. The problem is that arrogant assholes tend to think everyone deserves to hear what they have to say and end up being among the loudest.

It’s true among Christians (witness Franklin Graham, that slimy piece of shit). It’s true among Sanders supporters (Susan Sarandon, just shut your piehole). It’s true among Clinton supporters (have you read the ridiculous tripe SlackerInc is vomiting all over Elections?)

The vast majority of folks I know who support Sanders aren’t acting like insane assholes over him. It’s just that the tiny minority I know who do act like insane assholes do so in part by spamming social media with their insane assholery.

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Hillary. She’s a better politician, and is supporting other Democratic candidates while Bernie isn’t.

Neither will get any cooperation from the Republicans of course, since the Republicans are criminally incompetent lunatics who shouldn’t be in a position of authority of any kind.

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Nice OP. Nice response.

But I wouldn’t form a false equivalence between Clinton and Sanders supporters. Clinton supporters are nowhere near as bad in 2016. A good part of the reason for that is Sanders is losing and his supporters are frustrated. The other part is that Clinton is a transactional politician who isn’t going to inspire the same level of passion as a longtime gadfly.

I like Bernie Sanders. But to be honest I like Barney Frank even more. And Frank is getting a little sick of the Bernie Bros.

Nice to see you around Der. Krugman presented a nice model of Republican behavior in his blog today: [INDENT][INDENT]…what is the modern GOP? A simple model that accounts for just about everything you see is that it’s an engine designed to harness white resentment on behalf of higher incomes for the donor class. [/INDENT][/INDENT] Krugman goes into detail about the carrots and sticks wielded by the donor class on politicos and pundits. And the demographic changes which are disrupting the professional wingnut business model. He figures that those trying to reform the Republicans are pretty much doomed for the foreseeable future. But not necessarily forever: [INDENT][INDENT]But back to the Republicans: the reformist hope was, I guess, that the donor class itself would realize the need to soften the party’s ideology in the face of a changing society. But the right-wing rich are different from you and me: they can and do surround themselves with people telling them that if only they say the usual things louder — if only they run yet another ad accusing Donald Trump of not being a true conservative — they can reestablish the old order. Remember, it took five presidential defeats — 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, and the shocker in 1948 — before the old GOP accepted the legitimacy of the New Deal. If that’s the standard, would-be Republican reformers might have to wait through two terms of Hillary and one of her successor before getting a hearing.

For now, at least, the reformers have no constituency. [/INDENT][/INDENT] In other words, give it another generation or so. I say though that if Trump is thoroughly trounced the process could be accelerated. Democrats retooled after their 1984 loss with far less justification.