# Why don't you support Bernie Sanders? (if you don't) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 17, 2019, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632 "2019-06-17T02:58:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/221 "2019-08-20T22:19:48Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > **Experience**. Other than Biden, nobody can top him in this category. Oh, come on. Warren, Harris, Booker, Castro, and arguably even Buttigieg beat Sanders on the resume. They all have experience that is more in line with the duties of the Oval Office, not to mention having run political races that aren’t in Vermont. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/222 "2019-08-20T22:56:34Z")
> [@XT](#): > > He’s old. I don’t mean age wise, I mean his thinking and politics are stuck in the 70’s. He’s like an old school western European socialist from the 70’s. He opposes nuclear power. I don’t mean he opposes new plants, he wants to accelerate the decommissioning of working plants before they are end of life and basically shut them all down as soon as possible. I think that is the wrong move and kind of stupid, to be honest. And it’s old thinking. > > I’d still vote for him if he gets the nomination over Trump, but I’ll do it with a lot more holding of my nose than I did with Hillary and will feel seriously conflicted if he becomes president. Basically, anyone but Trump is my motto, but Bernie would be the least of my choices. I think I agree with Bernie on much more than you do, but this, to me, is a dealbreaker. (Unless and until he’s nominated, of course). We will not win the fight against climate change without nuclear weapons, plain and simple. And Bernie, of all people, would do nuclear power _right_. He wouldn’t be afraid to impose the necessary oversight, no matter what it cost to the power plant owner’s bottom line. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/223 "2019-08-21T00:03:51Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Oh, come on. Warren, Harris, Booker, Castro, and arguably even Buttigieg beat Sanders on the resume. They all have experience that is more in line with the duties of the Oval Office, not to mention having run political races that aren’t in Vermont. I doubt you’d get very broad agreement on that opinion especially “arguably Buttigieg”. I mean, come on yourself. Sanders has been a Senator, a congressman and a small town mayor. How does being a midsize town mayor possibly trump that? Or big city mayor Castro with no other elected office history? I don’t even know what part of Warren’s resume you’re thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/224 "2019-08-21T00:10:13Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I doubt you’d get very broad agreement on that opinion especially “arguably Buttigieg”. I mean, come on yourself. Sanders has been a Senator, a congressman and a small town mayor. How does being a midsize town mayor possibly trump that? Or big city mayor Castro with no other elected office history? I don’t even know what part of Warren’s resume you’re thinking of. If you don’t even know the experience of each of those other candidates, then your argument is inherently fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/225 "2019-08-21T00:36:31Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Oh, come on. Warren, Harris, Booker, Castro, and arguably even Buttigieg beat Sanders on the resume. They all have experience that is more in line with the duties of the Oval Office, not to mention having run political races that aren’t in Vermont. You forgot the guy who actually was in the Oval office. Mayor Pete? No way. Warren was/is a Senator, just like Bernie. Booker= Mayor, Senator. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/226 "2019-08-21T00:47:01Z")
This guy has such obnoxious people as his campaign surrogates and staff. His supporters demand perfection from everyone else but have excuses at the hand for him. He voted for the 94’ crime bill. He cites that he did it because of two provisions packaged in - the Violence Against Women Act and the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. That he abhorred the rest of it. Yet he also voted against the Amber Alert years later because of other stuff included in the bill. Where’s the consistency? Not to mention he paraded being “tough on crime” with that 94 vote a full 12 years after on his website. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/227 "2019-08-21T00:50:10Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > If you don’t even know the experience of each of those other candidates, then your argument is inherently fucked up. I know the basic background of all of them except Booker. Without further explanation from you, it seems ridiculous on its face. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/228 "2019-08-21T01:09:42Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > If you don’t even know the experience of each of those other candidates, then your argument is inherently fucked up. So, Wikipedia and their own webpages are incorrect? :dubious: ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/229 "2019-08-21T01:20:01Z")
Well, obviously he thinks Warren being a prof or serving as a special advisor is more “in line” with the job of president or something. Ditto Castro holding the high flying job of HUD secretary, I assume. Really curious how he would argue Buttigieg though. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/230 "2019-08-21T01:20:08Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > We will not win the fight against climate change without nuclear weapons, plain and simple. So we bomb the oil companies’ HQs into the Stone Age? That’s… that’s brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/231 "2019-08-21T10:29:15Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I know the basic background of all of them except Booker. So go ahead and explain what all these candidates I mentioned have been doing for their professional life, and why that experience doesn’t count. I’m saying that legislative experience isn’t the only thing that counts. Candidates have stronger educational backgrounds, more varied experience, more executive experience, private sector experience, etc. And again, Bernie’s experience in Congress is really based on longevity rather than accomplishment. He’s no Ted Kennedy. Just because someone punches a clock at their job for a few decades doesn’t mean they are a valuable employee. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/232 "2019-08-21T11:59:22Z")
Yeah, I’ll get right on that. After all, it’s my duty to prove your statement wrong! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/233 "2019-08-21T15:55:13Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > So go ahead and explain what all these candidates I mentioned have been doing for their professional life, and why that experience doesn’t count. I’m saying that legislative experience isn’t the only thing that counts. _You_ made the statement, _you_ back it up. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/234 "2019-08-21T16:06:19Z")
It’s not unreasonable to have differences of opinion on what experience is “in line” with the job of President. One could easily think running a government department is great experience for running all the departments. I would argue that Warren’s experience pre-elected office was great for a Senator’s resume and disagree that it’s particularly “in line” with the job requirements of the top job. What prompted my response was the “arguably Buttigieg” because that is so off the wall it smells like saying anything to put Sanders at the bottom of the list. And I am not a Sanders supporter. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/235 "2019-08-21T16:30:10Z")
Yeah, Bernie has literally had the same experience as Buttigieg (small town mayor) PLUS nearly 30 years in Congress. That seems like a hard argument to make, no matter how much you downgrade his Congressional experience because he was mostly a gadfly rather than a party leader. Also, Bernie does have experience founding and running a profitable small business before going into politics, so his private sector experience isn’t zero. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/236 "2019-08-21T18:03:04Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Alright, following Happy’s suggestion in the Biden thread, I will bump this to serve as the Bernie thread… I guess so, but I really wish you had started a new thread that didn’t have such a pessimistic title. I’m on Twitter and I follow Bernie, he’s got a lot of tweets about his policies, the most recent being the one about [Criminal justice refom](https://reason.com/2019/08/20/bernie-sanders-calls-for-legalizing-marijuana-and-curtailing-asset-forfeiture-in-sprawling-criminal-justice-plan/). But I also see a lot of Bernie bashing and ad hominum attacks that just don’t make any sense and I find it discouraging. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/237 "2019-08-21T18:10:14Z")
To repair damage done to us and to others throughout the world Trump needs to be defeated so badly that the message of “We will NEVER be this stupid again!” is crystal clear. Bernie just doesn’t have the numbers to accomplish this according to every damn poll of consequence out there, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/238 "2019-08-21T18:12:29Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > That seems like a hard argument to make, no matter how much you downgrade his Congressional experience because he was mostly a gadfly rather than a party leader. Why wasn’t he a party leader? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/239 "2019-08-21T18:55:11Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Yeah, Bernie has literally had the same experience as Buttigieg… Being mayor of a city ten times larger is better experience, especially when the focus of one’s mayoralty didn’t revolve around the Contras and Sandinistas. As for the others, they have academic and executive experience that Sanders does not. He’s like a C+ member of Congress, so his decades of press releases and minor achievements does little. His leadership tenure at the Budget Committee especially has been a big nothing. He’s like the guy who went to Harvard and didn’t work hard, but expects the fact that he went to the Big H to mean something. Of the group, we have Rhodes Scholars, distinguished Harvard alumni, heads of major agencies, departments, and moderate sized cities with big city problems. Warren’s role the CFPB is ten times more substantive than anything Bernie has ever done, and I think Buttigieg’s brief military service is arguably as significant as a good chunk of Sanders’ congressional tenure, in that Bernie focused press releases and Buttigieg learned some Pashto. IOW, one did something that was marginally significant. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/240 "2019-08-21T19:00:37Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Why wasn’t he a party leader? Because he’s a joke, obviously. I mean, look at all the colleague who respect his issues-based leadership so much that they are lining up to — oh wait. All the people who’ve worked with Sanders in be Senate and have made an endorsement seem to be endorsing Biden, except one (the other Vermont Senator). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632.md?page=13)