# Bernie Sanders is like Jesus: He's pretty rad, his fan club sucks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 31, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782 "2016-03-31T21:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [April 4, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/81 "2016-04-04T20:07:17Z")
I am surprised the OP didn’t use “Bernie Babies” as one of his jibes. I was going to pit them by that name, but since this thread is already here, I will just join it, even though unlike the OP, I didn’t and would not vote for Bernie, unless it was in the general election, because unlike the Bernie Babies, I’m not a poor sport who will sit home and sulk if my candidates don’t get as many votes as their primary opponents. They need to grow the fuck up. BERNIE BABIES: Waaahhh…it’s not fair! All those Establishment types are usurping the power that rightly belongs to us, the ‘true progressive base’ of the party. DEMOCRATIC GROWNUPS: Wait, aren’t you mostly a bunch of middle class white kids? So you’re the base, and you should run the party, but black and brown people, environmental organizations, labor unions, and everyone over 30 should just sit down and shut up? Have you ever done any grunt work for the party, or for downballot races? Do you even vote in the midterms? BERNIE BABIES: Waahhh! I borrowed $100K to get a comparative religions degree from a private college, and now I want the government to pay it back. DEMOCRATIC GROWNUPS: Hmmm…your family looks pretty well off. Shouldn’t we target federal student aid to the needy? BERNIE BABIES: You’re, like, all old and stuff. You just don’t get it. I’m gonna go vote for Jill.Stein, she really gets me. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/82 "2016-04-04T23:53:34Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > … > > BERNIE BABIES: Waahhh! I borrowed $100K to get a comparative religions degree from a private college… (Post shortened in deference to our hamsters) Nice cherry pick but evades the questions. For that matter, how many MBA’s can we support? How many kids we got in college right now who think that the _Wolf of Wall Street_ is a role model? And how many years have we been assuring kids that a college education is the ticket to the middle class? Do you really need a liberal arts degree to sit in a meeting and wait for your cue to agree with the boss? What is college _for_? And their parents still buy that bullshit! They feel like they’ve failed their children if they cannot provide them with a college education, they set them off in the marathon race with their shoes untied! So of course they encourage those kids to take out loans, seems a reasonable investment to buy your ticket. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/83 "2016-04-05T01:10:50Z")
I share your concerns. But if these people are to be considered adults, they have to bear some responsibility for their own choices as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/84 "2016-04-05T03:55:48Z")
Bernie is very clearly the president America needs. But not the one it deserves. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/85 "2016-04-05T04:15:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Health care. Even with a Dem president and a Dem Congress, all we could get was a plan originally devised by a Republican think-tank that benefits the health-insurance companies. Single-payer was never discussed, was completely outside the Overton Window from the start, and any kind of “public option” was tossed the moment Obama got the first bit of pushback. And that’s exactly how the corporate interests wanted it. You’re using Obamacare as an example of increasing conservatism in politics? The same plan that the GOP can’t wait to kill? _boggle_ ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/86 "2016-04-05T04:40:59Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > You’re using Obamacare as an example of increasing conservatism in politics? The same plan that the GOP can’t wait to kill? _boggle_ Exactly so. It _is_ boggling when you realize that, had it merely been called _Romneycare_, it would have been championed as the Republican victory it, in fact, is. ---
**Author:** ![drew870mitchell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drew870mitchell/32/3946_2.png) [@drew870mitchell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drew870mitchell)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/87 "2016-04-05T07:35:40Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Bernie is very clearly the president America needs. But not the one it deserves. Sanders is the Senator America needs. We’d be much, much better off if a majority of Senators were like him. The character stuff that makes Sanders a good person for a legislative body, IMO, doesn’t all translate to the Presidency. The needs of the office are different. More importantly, while the GOP is in such a shambles, the Presidency is pretty safe ground for the Democrats and we need to be gaining more reliable Democratic (or Independents who will caucus with and then pretend to be Democrats when running for President even) Senate and House seats rather than promoting out the ones we already have. Some people call Hillary voters cynics as though pragmatism in the face of reality is a vice. If that’s so then I wear my cynic badge with pride. I know I’m in a vanishing minority on this point, but the most stirred I’ve been by any politician this entire cycle has been when Hillary talks about ‘progressivism that gets things done.’ The things both candidates have done can be and have already been spun into the dirt, so if you respond with “well what about Clinton this” or “Sanders that” and I don’t reply, you’re not right, you’ve more likely just uttered something not worth engaging ---
**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:** [April 5, 2016, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/88 "2016-04-05T07:40:38Z")
Well said! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/89 "2016-04-05T16:28:33Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > BERNIE BABIES: Waaahhh…it’s not fair! All those Establishment types are usurping the power that rightly belongs to us, the ‘true progressive base’ of the party. > > DEMOCRATIC GROWNUPS: Wait, aren’t you mostly a bunch of middle class white kids? Actually, Sanders has been getting a lot of working-class support, [including some union endorsements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bernie_Sanders_presidential_campaign_endorsements,_2016#Labor_organizations), though [Clinton has gotten more](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hillary_Clinton_presidential_campaign_endorsements,_2016#Labor_unions). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/90 "2016-04-05T16:28:47Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > You’re using Obamacare as an example of increasing conservatism in politics? The same plan that the GOP can’t wait to kill? _boggle_ The GOP wants to kill it purely because it was proposed by Obama. It was developed by the Dems in the spirit of seeking common ground, but that has proved pointless to attempt for the last seven years due to mindless obstructionism. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/91 "2016-04-05T16:29:52Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > You’re using Obamacare as an example of increasing conservatism in politics? The same plan that the GOP can’t wait to kill? _boggle_ _It was their idea._ ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/92 "2016-04-05T16:57:50Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > DEMOCRATIC GROWNUPS: Wait, aren’t you mostly a bunch of middle class white kids? You got a cite for this, or is this more of your playing fast and loose with the truth? We can define your terms: “Mostly”–let’s be generous and say more than 60% “Middle class”–let’s be generous and talk about any household income greater than double the poverty level. “White”–no problem “Kids”–let’s be generous and say that anyone under the age of 30 is considered a kid by a nasty old fart like yourself. Can you back up your claim? Are you defining your terms differently? Or is this more of your belief that grownups get to lie about anything they want as long as it advances their cause? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/93 "2016-04-05T17:28:39Z")
Never trust anyone under thirty. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/94 "2016-04-05T20:30:18Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Never trust anyone under thirty. I don’t know about you, but at my age I don’t trust anyone under 50! But seriously, we who came of age in the 60s are special not only wrt to our elders, but to our youngers, too! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/95 "2016-04-05T20:41:11Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t know about you, but at my age I don’t trust anyone under 50! > > But seriously, we who came of age in the 60s are special not only wrt to our elders, but to our youngers, too! Wait a minute…Slacker, are you a baby boomer? That would explain so goddamned much about you. Not all boomers think they’re god’s gift to enlightenment, but it’s definitely a risk factor for that syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/96 "2016-04-05T20:48:27Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Wait a minute…Slacker, are you a baby boomer? That would explain so goddamned much about you. Not all boomers think they’re god’s gift to enlightenment, but it’s definitely a risk factor for that syndrome. Boomer, indeed. Or, as some us like to call ourselves: The Greatest Generation. Perhaps you’ve heard that term before!? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/97 "2016-04-05T21:36:36Z")
Only from each other. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/98 "2016-04-05T21:52:16Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The GOP wants to kill it purely because it was proposed by Obama. It was developed by the Dems in the spirit of seeking common ground, but that has proved pointless to attempt for the last seven years due to mindless obstructionism. Let’s pretend this is true. Doesn’t that show that despite the best (or worst) efforts of the GOP to stop Obamacare it got through? I.e. their obstructionism wasn’t enough to prevent it. That seems like a pretty good indication that conservatism isn’t growing. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/99 "2016-04-05T21:59:24Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > You got a cite for this, or is this more of your playing fast and loose with the truth? > > We can define your terms: > > “Mostly”–let’s be generous and say more than 60% > “Middle class”–let’s be generous and talk about any household income greater than double the poverty level. > “White”–no problem > “Kids”–let’s be generous and say that anyone under the age of 30 is considered a kid by a nasty old fart like yourself. > > Can you back up your claim? Are you defining your terms differently? Or is this more of your belief that grownups get to lie about anything they want as long as it advances their cause? I will work on finding some data on the question. In the meantime, can you back up your claim that I’m a habitual prevaricator? Also, before I look at any data I’m going to concede that you may have me on a technicality. So I will withdraw my claim and substitute it with the one that I meant to make but spoke imprecisely: _Middle-class white kids are the only demographic group (race/gender/income) that mostly supports Sanders._ I agree to use your definition of “mostly”, “kids”, and “middle-class”, with the proviso that the last category also includes the wealthy. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Wait a minute…Slacker, are you a baby boomer? I am not. To give you an idea: I was precocious in my interest in politics and history, but I was not aware there was such a thing as a president until the Carter Administration. I was alive when Ford was in office, but he is a figure from the history books for me, even though my parents listened to NPR constantly and watched PBS Newshour every night. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782/100 "2016-04-05T22:15:25Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > _Middle-class white kids are the only demographic group (race/gender/income) that mostly supports Sanders._ > > I agree to use your definition of “mostly”, “kids”, and “middle-class”, with the proviso that the last category also includes the wealthy. Whoops, obviously the parenthetical bit there should have read “race/_age_/income” to match the assertion made and the definition of terms. BTW, **LHOD:** I would have thought the “slacker” in my SN was a dead giveaway that I’m a GenXer. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-is-like-jesus-hes-pretty-rad-his-fan-club-sucks/750782.md?page=6)