# Sanders campaign turning into a cringe comedy **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 22, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798 "2016-02-22T14:48:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/41 "2016-02-22T19:12:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I think part of what’s going on is that Trump’s economic outlook is fairly strong on the social safety net, if I understand correctly For years, the Republican coalition has hinged around hostility to the safety net, hostility to sexual freedom, and hostility toward foreigners. Trump removes one or even two of those pieces, and suddenly people who were excluded from the Republican coalition start to join. Absolutely right. Trump is running a campaign that has no party affliation, really. GOP of convenience, airtime, party dollars, etc. But It’s the Party of Trump, seemingly above politics just as Hitler’s Nazi’s were appealing because they cherry picked what they liked of politics, but were above it all, and people liked it because they had enough of political parties making them appear “weak” ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/42 "2016-02-22T19:14:31Z")
Not going to read this thread, because I’m getting my fill of **Slacker** in several other threads already. Just popping in to say that his persistent starting of new anti-Bernie threads which are all pretty much the same is rapidly approaching the point of “cringe comedy”. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/43 "2016-02-22T20:28:46Z")
I don’t see anything in Sanders’s campaign that is cringe-worthy. I’m not supporting him in the primaries, but he’s a good man doing a good job of selling his vision. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/44 "2016-02-22T20:35:41Z")
You know I’m pretty much indifferent to Sanders but I always feel he is disingenuous when it comes to these black civil rights/police brutality issues. It seems like after the incident where the Black Lives Matter members inserted themselves into his campaign event where they took the microphone, he just hopped on board and started pandering to get votes, I feel like he really doesn’t genuinely care about the issue. Now I could be wrong, I had never even heard of him before this presidential election so I don’t know much about his past and views. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/45 "2016-02-22T20:38:24Z")
Blame this one on his handlers. Somebody didn’t brief the man. He should have gotten a plate and eaten with them. He went to a post-church luncheon - that means a whole bunch of hungry folks who probably wouldn’t have given Jesus himself the time of day unless he was pouring the sweet tea. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/46 "2016-02-22T21:07:41Z")
> [@pool](#): > > You know I’m pretty much indifferent to Sanders but I always feel he is disingenuous when it comes to these black civil rights/police brutality issues. It seems like after the incident where the Black Lives Matter members inserted themselves into his campaign event where they took the microphone, he just hopped on board and started pandering to get votes, I feel like he really doesn’t genuinely care about the issue. Now I could be wrong, I had never even heard of him before this presidential election so I don’t know much about his past and views. I don’t think he’s disingenuous, I do think he cares a lot about racial issues. But he sees basically everything through his income inequality lens. He’s good at staying on message, and he’s sincere in his belief that if we solved income inequality, that would solve a lot of issues. He might be optimistic in how that would get done, or how much it would solve everything else, but I do think he’s sincere. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/47 "2016-02-22T21:23:27Z")
> [@pool](#): > > You know I’m pretty much indifferent to Sanders but I always feel he is disingenuous when it comes to these black civil rights/police brutality issues. It seems like after the incident where the Black Lives Matter members inserted themselves into his campaign event where they took the microphone, he just hopped on board and started pandering to get votes, I feel like he really doesn’t genuinely care about the issue. Now I could be wrong, I had never even heard of him before this presidential election so I don’t know much about his past and views. That’s not at all how I see it. He’s been involved in racial justice issues for half a century. Living in Vermont has perhaps blunted his awareness of the racial impact on economic injustice–and when he got confronted with that, he changed his approach. That’s not pandering, that’s being a person willing to listen to criticism. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/48 "2016-02-22T21:36:10Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > I don’t think he’s disingenuous, I do think he cares a lot about racial issues. But he sees basically everything through his income inequality lens. Agreed. And I agree with him that income inequality is a major factor in racial issues. Not the only major factor, though. ---
**Author:** ![holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holmes)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/49 "2016-02-22T21:51:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Blame this one on his handlers. Somebody didn’t brief the man. He should have gotten a plate and eaten with them. He went to a post-church luncheon - that means a whole bunch of hungry folks who probably wouldn’t have given Jesus himself the time of day unless he was pouring the sweet tea. I like the guy, but the first thing I thought was, why is he talking when people are trying to eat? Doesn’t he know better? It’s that being just a little out of touch with the culture that’s killing him. People sense that he’s not used to being around them and even though he may well be sincere, he’s not able to connect with some of them the way Clinton can and will. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/50 "2016-02-22T22:09:36Z")
> [@holmes](#): > > I like the guy, but the first thing I thought was, why is he talking when people are trying to eat? Doesn’t he know better? > > It’s that being just a little out of touch with the culture that’s killing him. People sense that he’s not used to being around them and even though he may well be sincere, he’s not able to connect with some of them the way Clinton can and will. So does that mean at a Bar mitzvah he would have let them finish eating or they would have applauded while they were eating? ---
**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:** [February 22, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/51 "2016-02-22T22:11:35Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I cited two, actually: Oh, you cited two instances? Well, then that’s… no different at all, really. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/52 "2016-02-22T22:22:42Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Oh, you cited two instances? Well, then that’s… no different at all, really. It’s actually 100% more powerful than one cite. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/53 "2016-02-22T22:30:17Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > It’s actually 100% more powerful than one cite. It’s also still less than 1% of all the campaign events that have occurred, either way. Which way of looking at it do you think is a better characterization of the campaign as a whole (which is the what this thread is allegedly about)? ---
**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:** [February 22, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/54 "2016-02-22T23:20:14Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Agreed. > > And I agree with him that income inequality is a major factor in racial issues. Not the only major factor, though. My suspicion since the beginning is that he’s gone into this with an “It’s the economy, stupid!” focus, determined not to let anyone distract him with side issues. For the most part it serves him well: “We’re sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!” But once in awhile, like now, it’s tripping him up. He might know intellectually that race is a confounding factor beyond income inequality, thus his meetings with BLM et al. But his inclination remains to focus on class, not race. ---
**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 22, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/55 "2016-02-22T23:38:10Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Blame this one on his handlers. Yes, exactly why I was in stitches imagining a scene like in “Veep” as soon as they leave. No one responded before: do you guys know that show? I always think it’s well known because it wins awards and gets a lot of critical love, but when I ask people I know IRL, I seem to never find anyone familiar with the show. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I think part of what’s going on is that Trump’s economic outlook is fairly strong on the social safety net, if I understand correctly For years, the Republican coalition has hinged around hostility to the safety net, hostility to sexual freedom, and hostility toward foreigners. Trump removes one or even two of those pieces, and suddenly people who were excluded from the Republican coalition start to join. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > To be fair, that’s not Slacker’s critique of Sanders (inasmuch as at some point in the past he did offer a reasoned critique of Sanders). His suggestion is that this isn’t Sanders’s world at all; rather, Sanders’s world is one in which Trump is president, because Sanders can’t win. And if Sanders does win, it’s a world in which Republicans hold a supermajority of both houses of Congress in 2018, as the backlash against Sanders’s politics builds to a crescendo. > > This is a reasonable fear, and it’s the main reason why my support of Sanders is so qualified: I support Sanders’s campaign at this point because I believe the campaign itself is a positive thing, regardless of the near-impossibility of a Sanders presidency. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > My suspicion since the beginning is that he’s gone into this with an “It’s the economy, stupid!” focus, determined not to let anyone distract him with side issues. For the most part it serves him well: “We’re sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!” > > But once in awhile, like now, it’s tripping him up. He might know intellectually that race is a confounding factor beyond income inequality, thus his meetings with BLM et al. But his inclination remains to focus on class, not race. **LHOD** , these are all incisive and very well observed. I obviously underestimated your perspicacity, not to mention the rarely found attribute of being able to treat a sparring partner’s argument fairly ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/56 "2016-02-22T23:49:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s also still less than 1% of all the campaign events that have occurred, either way. Which way of looking at it do you think is a better characterization of the campaign as a whole (which is the what this thread is allegedly about)? I was just being sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798/57 "2016-02-22T23:51:41Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > . . . but once I’m \*really \*sure he’s eliminated as a threat . . . Do you mean “threat” to anything other than Clinton’s candidacy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanders-campaign-turning-into-a-cringe-comedy/746798.md?page=2)