# 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:** 29
**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:** [October 4, 2019, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/561 "2019-10-04T22:43:25Z")
Media is now reporting that it was a heart attack. > **[Bernie Sanders Had Heart Attack, His Doctors Say as He Leaves Hospital...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/us/politics/bernie-sanders-hospital.html)** > > “After two and a half days in the hospital, I feel great, and after taking a short time off, I look forward to getting back to work,” Mr. Sanders said. ---
**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:** [October 4, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/562 "2019-10-04T23:06:49Z")
Yet he insists he’s going to be in the debates. It’s just stubbornness and hubris. The idea that an octogenarian with a recent heart attack can be a real presidential contender is absurd in the extreme. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/563 "2019-10-05T00:10:11Z")
Asked if he really meant that, Sanders said he “is as serious as a heart attack.” ---
**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:** [October 5, 2019, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/564 "2019-10-05T00:17:10Z")
I would cut him a lot of slack on that. He just got out of the hospital. He will likely think about it and see how quickly he’s recovering. But he can’t project anything other than unwavering certainty until he makes a decision or this incident will definitely sink him. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/565 "2019-10-05T03:49:47Z")
Sanders may have one foot in the grave, but I would vote for a dead Sanders over a live Chump any day of the week. But then, he’s not going to be the nominee. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/566 "2019-10-05T04:16:19Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yet he insists he’s going to be in the debates. It’s just stubbornness and hubris. The idea that an octogenarian with a recent heart attack can be a real presidential contender is absurd in the extreme. Not an octogenarian yet - he’s 78. But a 78-year-old who’s just had a heart attack should not be running for President. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/567 "2019-10-05T04:42:10Z")
I’m rounding up. He would turn 80 in the first few months of his putative presidency. We all know he has no chance, but we are not even properly appreciating how weird it is that he raised the most money in the campaign so far. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/568 "2019-10-05T13:15:54Z")
> [@Northeast\_Refugee](#): > > I don’t support Bernie Sanders, because he’s a senile old Yiddish communist. so far, I agree with you. And I think “godless communist” is pretty much a death knell in the general. > [@Northeast\_Refugee](#): > > …Bernie praised food shortages and one of the most inhumane and repressive regimes in world’s history. I think you misunderstood him. I had old Yiddish communists in the family who supported Russia, and who visited it and sang its praise. And they weren’t saying “it’s better than the US”. They were saying “It’s SOOOO much better than the Russia we fled!” They say people getting enough to eat in an orderly way, where their parents starved. Frankly, the Soviet Union was less oppressive to the Jews than what it replaced (several of my ancestors fled pogroms) and according to my refugee friends from the Soviet Disunion, it was also less oppressive than what replaced it. There’s a reason a LOT of Jews fled in that window between when the Soviet Union fell and the US changed its policy to stop giving automatic refugee status to “Soviet” citizens who requested it. Now, would they have done even better with a less centralized system? Who knows. I’m inclined to think they would have, although the enormous spike in mortality after the fall of the Soviet Union gives some cause for doubt. But the Yiddish communists saw the improvements the communist party made TO RUSSIA, and that’s what they praised. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > As a human being, I hope Bernie recovers from his heart problems and has a long and healthy life ahead of him. As a Democrat, I hope he realizes his mortality and decides running for President is not for him anymore. > Anyone? Yup. And I hope he has the energy and stamina to campaign vigorously for whoever does win the nomination. Please, please, Bernie, give us that. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/569 "2019-10-05T13:16:58Z")
Actually, I don’t think Bernie is senile. But he is an old Yiddish godless communist. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/570 "2019-10-05T15:19:37Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > so far, I agree with you. So you agree with the inferred antisemitism in the remark of a very colorful poster who in a few short posts has already attracted the attention of moderators for inflammatory posting? Okay then. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/571 "2019-10-05T16:12:21Z")
And FWIW not sure the pogroms were much worse than Stalinism on Russia’s Jews. Or that Stalin’s forced famines killing millions were an improvement over what was. Thing is that relatives in the ‘30s and ‘40s didn’t have access to information about those things. Sanders had no excuse for not knowing that. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/572 "2019-10-05T17:38:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Not an octogenarian yet - he’s 78. But a 78-year-old who’s just had a heart attack should not be running for President. Pfft!! Just give the VP slot to Elizabeth Warren. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/573 "2019-10-05T19:30:33Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > So you agree with the inferred antisemitism in the remark of a very colorful poster who in a few short posts has already attracted the attention of moderators for inflammatory posting? > > Okay then. Uh, I agreed with part of the first sentence of a long post. And I’m a Jew, and generally like Jews, but I think “unambiguously not Christian” is a major negative in US politics. Bernie isn’t actively Jewish, he’s an atheist. But his Jewish background means he can’t fake being Christian like, I dunno, trump can. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/574 "2019-10-05T19:37:43Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > And FWIW not sure the pogroms were much worse than Stalinism on Russia’s Jews. Or that Stalin’s forced famines killing millions were an improvement over what was. Thing is that relatives in the ‘30s and ‘40s didn’t have access to information about those things. Sanders had no excuse for not knowing that. Those are fair points. My MIL and her brother visited the Soviet Union as children, with their parents. They were probably 4 and 6 at the time, so this would have been before WWII. I have only heard about the trip from them, and they experienced it as children. Their parents were favorably impressed with the Soviet Union, and thought it had been a huge improvement over Czarist Russia. But they wouldn’t have known about the famines. I think it was fairly common for American Communists to admire the Soviet Union at the time. Also, Czarist Russia was a really shitty place if you weren’t a noble. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/575 "2019-10-05T21:08:21Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Uh, I agreed with part of the first sentence of a long post. You agreed with a rather racist first sentence of a long post. If you just meant to say Bernie isn’t electable because he’s an old jewish communist, that would have been different but that’s not what you agreed with. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2019, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/576 "2019-10-05T22:43:09Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > So you agree with the inferred antisemitism in the remark of a very colorful poster who in a few short posts has already attracted the attention of moderators for inflammatory posting? > > Okay then. Don’t you mean “_implied_ antisemitism”? Or “what many of us inferred to be antisemitism”? ---
**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:** [October 5, 2019, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/577 "2019-10-05T22:51:50Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Wishing Bernie a long and happy retirement. > > But the campaign season is hardly started, and the first primaries are months away, and campaigning is not going to be good for him. And “if he can’t make it thru a campaign, what will happen if he is President” is a perfectly legitimate question, and not one with a unambiguously reassuring answer. I doubt he ever had a realistic chance at the nomination. Maybe he will continue - more to push his issues to the forefront than because he will have a chance to do anything about them as President - but if he actually wants his issues to be enacted he might do well to drop out and endorse Warren. Will that automatically transfer all the Bernie Bros to her? I don’t know. But Warren plus Bernie’s support has a better chance than Bernie alone, or Warren alone. > > Probably won’t happen. > > Regards, > Shodan Bernie’s campaign manager shared this article on his Twitter page. Bernie is going nowhere! [WHY BERNIE HAS TO WIN](https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/10/why-bernie-has-to-win) > [@](#): > > But I also feel like this candidacy is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do something incredible, and that if we don’t take it we’ll regret it, and that he knows that, and that he’s willing to destroy himself and shorten his life and give up whatever he might have wanted to do with his twilight years in order to accomplish the most serious political mission of any of our lifetimes. It has to be done, and he knows it. I don’t think he’s particularly glad that it’s fallen on him to do it, but it has. And so he will do it or he will die trying, and the rest of us need to do whatever we can to make sure he doesn’t have to die trying. If he’s willing to kill himself for this, if he’ll fight to the last breath, who are we to talk about the Questions and Doubts about Whether He Can Do It, instead of spending our time making sure that he does do it. Don’t be the person who spent their time watching Bernie and speculating about whether he would hold out. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/578 "2019-10-05T23:03:55Z")
“Willing to destroy himself and shorten his life” from the campaign manager?!? 😕 :eek: That’s…interesting…political messaging from the fundraising frontrunner. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/579 "2019-10-05T23:20:27Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > You agreed with a rather racist first sentence of a long post. If you just meant to say Bernie isn’t electable because he’s an old jewish communist, that would have been different but that’s not what you agreed with. I read it as a comment on electiblity, not that he doesn’t want a Jew is president. Maybe I misread that. Mostly, I wanted to give some color around Bernie’s support of the Soviet Union, which I think has been taken out of context and misunderstood. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632/580 "2019-10-06T00:14:34Z")
I think you misread that. If you glance at a few of Northeast Refugee’s you probably won’t get the impression he wants an electable Dem candidate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-support-bernie-sanders-if-you-dont/835632.md?page=30)