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You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Late Night Open Thread: Time for Bernie Sanders to Drop Out

Late Night Open Thread: Time for Bernie Sanders to Drop Out

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Senator Sanders — yes, he has a job already! — could be working with his Senate colleagues tomorrow. Murphy the Trickster God knows we could use every available hand in this crisis, if only to help reading through the various GOP proposals to see what kind of Ayn Rand boobytraps they’re trying to sneak through. Step up and do the hard thing for once, Bernie!

The counter-arguments are, to say the least, unconvincing:

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    I Can No Longer Rationally Discuss The Sanders Campaign

    Good thing this category was kept around after 2016.

    At this point, I think Biden should just disengage from Sanders. Start campaigning solely against Trump and basically just ignore Bernie. No more debates (I think there’s one tentatively scheduled, but no date or place or anything specified), primarily start campaigning in general-election swing states, etc.

  4. 4.

    Leto

    Which one is going to kill us first? Republicans, Purity Ponies, or Corona? Seems like we’re dealing with a shit-fecta tsunami.

  6. 6.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Chris Hayes (Ivy league graduate) says because so much has changed in the last six weeks, so much can change again, and therefore you just can’t say Biden has it won.

  8. 8.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Their excuse is they lost cause the coronavirus kept their voters home.   Well, why didn’t the virus keep Biden’s voters home?

    And what’s their excuse for losing all five primaries last week and losing 10 primaries on Super Tuesday.

  10. 10.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

     

    @Martin: direct quote: “I will just give this caution, the world as it exists now was unthinkable six weeks ago, so I feel so tentative about offering any predictions about what is or isn’t [an] insurmountable [lead for Biden].”

    To say we can’t predict the nomination because so much can change again is stoopid.

  11. 11.

    Mary G

    Been a bit over a week since I got groceries so I went to Instacart. I have bought 82 different items over the years and 57 of them are sold out. There are no delivery times available for tomorrow and no times are being scheduled past that. I ordered a few things and left them in the cart to try later after midnight. Luckily I don’t have to have any of them except cat treats! Petco.com here I come.

  12. 12.

    Geoboy

    It’s time to run the table on the Senate.  For sure keep the energy up on Maine, and Colorado, and Arizona.  But this is a once in a generation, maybe once in a century chance to tie Trump like an anchor to every last one of the Republican senators who voted against in impeachment and who are up for re-election.  We can win North Carolina.  We can win two in Georgia.  We can win in South Carolina.  And sweetest of all, we can make Mitch McConnell not just ex-Majority Leader but ex-Senator.

  14. 14.

    Calouste

    One silver lining to the Corona cloud is that the world is conducting a gigantic experiment in working from home and distance learning. This might have some major long term positive benefits.

  15. 15.

    jc

    Strange how easy it is to imagine a scenario where the general election could get “postponed” due to the health crisis, but we can’t imagine moving up the date to within the next two months, and have everyone vote by mail or online. Bernie should bow out gracefully. We need (new) leadership now, not six months from now.

  16. 16.

    Repatriated

    @Calouste:

    One silver lining to the Corona cloud is that the world is conducting a gigantic experiment in working from home and distance learning. This might have some major long term positive benefits.

    … or it may just be used to justify moving jobs overseas and replacing even adjuncts with canned online classes.

    That’s a policy choice, and policy is driven by politics.
    We need to vote accordingly.

  18. 18.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Why, other than Bernie losing, are these primaries illegit?  I haz a confuzzled. 

    Because he’s too legit to quit!

    I kid.  I kid.  Knitting in the forest has been calling for Wilmer since May 2016.

    Oh Berrrrnie.  Oh Berrrrnie.  Fuck oooff already.

  20. 20.

    Repatriated

    @jc:

     

    Strange how easy it is to imagine a scenario where the general election could get “postponed” due to the health crisis, but we can’t imagine altering the timing of our upcoming election, to where we move up the date to within the next two months, and have everyone vote by mail or online. We need (new) leadership now, not six months from now.

    The institutional structures for a postponement, though pushing the bounds of constitutionality, exist. Those for moving the dates up, do not — no matter how desirable that might be.

  22. 22.

    mrmoshpotato

    @FelonyGovt: I call them Selfish Shithead Children, along with the tens of millions who used their votes to tell Hillary to get fucked.

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne

    @Morzer:

    Prezactly. One of the ways that voters evaluate candidates is by who they hire. Biden has hired some very good people, including former Bernie staffer Symone Sanders. Bernie has hired a bunch of thin-skinned incompetents who spend more time getting into Twitter beefs than they do campaigning. This. Shit. Matters.

  27. 27.

    hells littlest angel

    I used to genuinely believe, without any evidence, just because I’m nice, that Marianne Williamson was not a complete fucking idiot.

  28. 28.

    danielx

    @Leto:

    Seems like we’re dealing with a shit-fecta tsunami.

    Can I steal that line, or rework it?

    Also too, soon to be available: campaign memoir/meme Bernie Betrayed, at the bargain price of $19.95 plus applicable tax in your jurisdiction. Three percent of every sale will go to a fund for distressed bartenders, minus, um, administrative fees. You heard it here first….

    Jeebus, isolation is setting in.

  31. 31.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Mnemosyne: The problem is that he likes his internet trolls and malcontents. He likes what they’re doing and (I think) they feed his ego.

    It’s proof he shouldn’t be president. He can’t make the decision to get responsible people even when they’re obviously not working out for him.

    ETA: Yep, and I see we’re all on the same page. :)

  33. 33.

    L85NJGT

    Couple of beauts from Sanders reddit:

    Its actually been a rough day for me here in FL. I work in a restaurant and everyone in it was on the bernie train, agreed with his policies and wanted him to win; go in today and not single person voted. I was really bummed. He got my vote tho and I hope its enough

    Bernie not addressing us tonight is so disappointing. Is he just abandoning us? Were we swindled?

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    @danielx: And a rainbow-farting, talking, unicorn butler!

    And we will burn this place to the ground if the rainbows are missing a single color!

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    @L85NJGT:

    Bernie not addressing us tonight is so disappointing. Is he just abandoning us? Were we swindled? 

    Hope they don’t mate with the Waaahhh-Hillary-didn’t-come-to-my-house crowd.

  37. 37.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    I’ve been a lurker and commenter on this site for about 15 years now.  There have been so many times when my fellow jackals have saved me.  But lately, I’m disappointed and I’m not sure exactly what it is but I’m starting to get a clue.  This is what I DO know. I don’t know how many more posts I can stand to read about the Bernie Bros effing over their natural allies on the left when I’m living amongst people who proudly hang truck nutz on their super duper high four wheelers and have huge tail pipes that spew black smoke out of their vehicles to just piss off the libtards.   These are the same people who confront my kid in public because they can’t figure out his gender. I don’t know much longer I can stand to be told by men to be patient for us to elect a woman as President. I also don’t think I can stomach any more artisanal recipe posts about whole effing chickens and frickin  tarragon in Dutch ovens (seriously who owns a fucking Dutch oven, what are you a bunch of cowboys on the Oregon Trail?!). I can’t  even find an effing chicken leg and am contemplating how to instruct my children on how to use  craft paper to wipe their tender behinds with (yes you read that correctly, effing craft paper).  Real people are wondering about how to effing eat and how to get paid when they can’t safely work.  If you’re retired right now, in my eyes you are rich. You may not feel like it but you are.  I and my close loved ones will never be able to retire.  We will work until we die.  So how about some articles on what is being done for those kinds of folks.  There’s too much elitist bullshit on this site.  Seriously guys, stop and look at your privilege.  I think I’m out of here for a while, maybe forever. I know, none of you give a shit, you never respond to me anyway and Cole has always disliked me. You guys will be secure in your little cliques posting recipes only the privileged could possibly prepare during such a time while bemoaning the difficulties of traveling to/from somewhere in the world under such circumstances or whatever problems you run into like the flowers you planted on the back forty haven’t come up yet.  Garden?  You mean a patch of land that that one owns, that one has time to plant something in…and it will actually grow?  Good gods the bubble of this blog is breathtaking sometimes.  I need a break. I’m going to take my deranged poor ass off to isolate for a while. Stay healthy y’all.  Be well.  But check your privilege, many of you honestly have no idea how good you’ve got it.

  38. 38.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: Hey, sorry you’re having such a rough time and we’re hopeful that some of the fed and local policies that are getting put in place can help you out.

    I have some local signups in my area on facebook and nextdoor that are organizing help for people in your situation. Please look and see if there’s any local groups that help you out – people are trying to help each other out there.

    Also: It’s weird, but reading about Bernie folks or the primary is important to people here and election information is still important for the nation at large. But really, right now it’s serving as a distraction from all the awful coronavirus news and it helps some of us feel better.

    I hope things improve for you, D.Ranged. Stay strong.

  39. 39.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mnemosyne:

    Biden has hired some very good people, including former Bernie staffer Symone Sanders.

    I gotta wonder why  Ms. Sanders switched to Biden’s campaign.  I read a profile of her (very complimentary, btw) and she was very positive about so many things regarding Bernie.  Makes me wonder why she switched ….. and whether we’ll ever find out.  Maybe in 20yr when she writes her book, sigh.

  40. 40.

    Shalimar

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: He then agreed with his next panelist that it was over.  Hayes is Hayes, always willing to play devil’s advocate for any stupid position.  It doesn’t mean he necessarily agrees with that position.  He likes working through intellectual problems like there aren’t actual lives at stake in the results.

  43. 43.

    Gvg

    We are a country of over 330 million. There are a number of idiots. You can always find some to select and be outraged over. Fox always always has some shocking true crimes on their website that drive clicks and reinforce the particular prejudices of their viewers. We are falling into a similar pattern with anti Bernie stuff. It’s not that he isn’t a bad manager purity pony kind of guy who never gets anything done. He is. It’s just that we are repeating the same things over and over again which makes it seem like their are a lot more of these fools than their really are. Look at the polls. He doesn’t have as many actual supporters as his noise. So let us turn on the GOP. I think it is better for our mental health.

    Also I am sure some of this noise is coming from Russian or non American trolls. Not all, we don’t get to pretend we don’t have any idiots, just we know that is happening some at this time. Not responding helps dampen the effectiveness I think.

  44. 44.

    Shalimar

    The  thing is,  Bernie can still get back in it if he suspends his campaign and then something tragic happens with Biden.   He would arguably have a lot more goodwill with the party if he did that than if he will by forcing this futile race to continue.

  47. 47.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:

    I will miss your voice, but if you need to step back for your own peace of mind right now, please do. I know you’ve been having a really hard time lately, and I know that watching coronavirus barrel down at us is only making it worse

    The thing I’m really pissed about with Bernie is that he’s revealed himself as being all about … himself. He claimed that it was all about his ideas, but he insisted on jumping into the race AFTER Harris and Warren announced and sucking all of the air out of the progressive side of the race. He insisted on staying in the race after his heart attack when he could have passed the torch to Warren. Instead, he undermined and attacked her to make sure that he wouldn’t lose any supporters to her.

    Bernie’s not losing because of his ideas — Biden is already incorporating them into his own campaign because they’re good ideas. Bernie is losing because he’s a terrible candidate who doesn’t have as much support as the MSM thought he did. Ideas aren’t enough to win if you can’t keep your staff on task.

    Take care of yourself and come back when you feel you can. If you can’t bring yourself to work for Biden’s election, please try and work for Mark Kelly’s. I don’t live in AZ, so all I can do for Kelly is give him money. If we can flip the Senate, we can get so much more done. ? 

  49. 49.

    Calouste

    @Shalimar: Other candidates could in-suspend their campaign as well, and Biden could endorse one of them if he can no longer continue.

  50. 50.

    Cckids

    I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned, but Nevada’s governor announced tonight that all non-essential businesses are shut down, as of Wednesday. Casinos, most retail, all of it.
    Thirty days.
    My son, in Reno, works for a small business-his boss just sent out a blast text to all employees telling them the company is closing. Permanently. So he’s out of a job now. Just dammit.

  51. 51.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:

    This is what I DO know. I don’t know how many more posts I can stand to read about the Bernie Bros effing over their natural allies on the left when I’m living amongst people who ….

    I sympathize with what you’re going thru.  I grew up in a small Texas town as one of the few high-performing brown people there — and I still bear the scars.  But that was nothing, compared to what a certain young man a year behind me, went thru: he was (and is) gay, and in the closet.  He no longer lives in my hometown, having escaped as I did.   I can only imagine the mortal terror of his entire childhood.  Can. Only.  Imagine.  It.

    We discuss Bernie’s supporters because, well, I think most people on this site are “Team Broken Glass”: we’ll crawl across broken glass vote for the Democrat.  And we find that many of the more vocal Bernie supporters …. do not share that committment to retaking our country in November.  This is a source of …. disppointment, but also fear, because as you so rightly observe, a lot of horrible things are happening right now, all over.  People are being beaten, killed, starved, denied medical care, etc.  And it’ll only get worse, if we don’t take our country back.

    So when we see a bunch of folks who arguably care more about their particular candidate, than making sure the Democratic Party retakes power, we’re pretty derisive.

    But also, I think it’s important to note that many of us believe in all the same things that Bernie does, to the hilt.  To.  The.  Hilt.  Our problem with him, is that we don’t think he can close the deal — win the general election and enact his agenda.  And what matters to us is winning that election.  Nothing else matters compared to that.

    I’m sorry you’re feeling the weight of these times.  Please take care.

    P.S. When I first came to this site a few years ago, I was kind of bemused by people discussing their pets, and remodeling, and gardens, and then switching to politics.  But y’know, the point of all those other things, is that it’s a way of showing who you are, and a way of distracting from politics.  Because the news is grim, so grim.  We can’t always focus on the horror, y’know.  Look into the abyss, and the abyss will find a way of looking back into you, as they say.

  52. 52.

    Shalimar

    @Calouste: That is what will actually happen.  The party will back the person Biden chooses.  I think Bernie has a better chance of being that person if he suspends his campaign, but it is still a very slim chance.

    What Bernie thinks is that he will continue accumulating delegates, end up with 40% of them, and those delegates will give him the leverage to be the 2nd choice if one is necessary.  There is no way that strategy convinces any actual Democrats to go with him.

  54. 54.

    opiejeanne

    @Mary G: I placed an order with Instacart on Monday, they scheduled delivery for Tuesday.

    On Tuesday Morning they said it would come on Wednesday.

    I just checked, now they’re saying we’ll get it on Saturday. I’ve never used them before, but I understand that they are slammed so I might just cancel the order and get the neighbor who volunteered to pick up some stuff for us. Not sure what we’re having for supper tomorrow. Was going to make pizza and I’ve got everything I need except fresh mushrooms. I don’t want to use canned, because no. They’re for emergencies, for moments of desperation,  and this isn’t that.

  55. 55.

    Patricia Kayden

    @FelonyGovt: At this point, they’re Trump supporters and should be called such.  No way will they support Biden in the general election.
    Can the DNC prohibit non-Democrats from running in our primaries, please?!  Allowing Bernie to run has been a disaster.  He’s not a Democrat so he doesn’t care about the party.  He’s perfectly okay with Trump getting a second term as are the majority of his supporters.

  56. 56.

    Mary G

    @opiejeanne: I’ve used them pretty much since the beginning and had hoped maybe being an old customer would help, but no. I checked at 12:04 a.m. and they said no more slots for today. Luckily I am not completely out of most things and we have a lot of frozen food it’d probably take a month to go through. There are a lot of grocery places starting the early hour for seniors only, so might try that next week if a housemate can take me.

  57. 57.

    joel hanes

    @Mary G:

    Here in Silicon Valley, where we oldsters are supposed to not leave our homes,  Amazon Fresh has no available delivery slots for the next ten days.

  58. 58.

    Mary G

    @opiejeanne: @joel hanes: We had Amazon Fresh for a month or two, but evidently there wasn’t enough demand and they quit. I just checked Instacart again and they were giving out delivery slots for Monday 3/23, so I took one of those.

  59. 59.

    Amir Khalid

    @Shalimar:

    I would be very disappointed in Biden if he chose Wilmer as his running mate. VPOTUS Wilmer wouldn’t make an able or willing team player — he’d be a liability both in the campaign and in office.

  62. 62.

    opiejeanne

    @Mary G: They’ve already assigned me a slot for Saturday. I can make something else tomorrow instead of pizza. Just have to remember what my backup plan was. I can’t make quiche until I can get some half and half, and that may be one of the hold-ups because they seem to have a limited supply.

    Funny, they offered me a substitute of fat free half and half, which sounds like skim milk. I mean, what is cream when you remove the fat? I’m having trouble imagining.

    First world problems. We may be having weenies and beans for a couple of days

    Meanwhile, the neighbor across the street offered us some eggs, because he’s got 7 dozen right now. Backyard chickens. That was very nice; we are currently well-egged, with 17 left in the cartons, but maybe David should have taken a dozen just because.

  63. 63.

    opiejeanne

    I should go to sleep, but I’ve been having trouble with that in recent weeks, more than usual.

    I had an interesting discussion with a HS senior on twitter this evening. I thought at first she was some dim-bulb woman stuck at home with three toddlers because she mentioned that she was worried about her parents getting the coronavirus because they’re so old, and she asked if this test vaccine will cure everyone. No, just a kid getting cheated out of her senior year. It really sucks.

  64. 64.

    SWMBO

    @opiejeanne: We should have a semi-respite thread on recipes for the Covid19 apocalypse.  One that I keep falling back on is what my family called borderale beans.  1 large can or 2 regular cans of pinto beans.  1 can of tamales.   heat and eat.  If you go to the trouble of making pinto beans from scratch, you can add in all the spices and make it tastier.  But for a quick, oh shit what’s for dinner meal,  it isn’t bad.

  65. 65.

    J R in WV

    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:

    March 18, 2020 at 2:10 am

    I’ve been a lurker and commenter on this site for about 15 years now.  There have been so many times when my fellow jackals have saved me.  But lately, I’m disappointed and I’m not sure exactly what it is but I’m starting to get a clue.

    Hey, D-Ranged in AZ, I like you and would miss you if you do go away. So please don’t!

    It’s late, you’re stressed for very good reason. I am retired, I do feel rich or at least well-to-do*, I try to help my neighbors out and have done so over the years. Things right now are massively F’ed up, partly on Trump’s part and much of the rest by other Rs screwing up regularly according to their rules.

    But things will improve over the next couple of weeks. Perhaps you can find an old sears catalog on thin paper, which would be better than craft paper? Or teach them to bidet with a hand held shower nozzle? I’ve done that… as one poster here said the other day, my commode is only 2 feet from my shower.

    *I feel less well-to-do every day as Trump-induced financial panic reduces the value of our life’s savings, which is what makes the difference between just getting by on pensions and Social Security — we were DINKs, double income no kids, and were able to put money away for the “rainy day” everyone worries about.

    Now it is raining a Noah’s flood out and the money we saved is running down Wall Street’s gutters like the rain. We will be OK, and I hope you will be OK too.

    Please stick around, while I’m a little sick and tired of either Election or Virus threads, there are enough other OT remarks to keep me amused. LIke now, at 5 am, I’m hoping to get back to sleep in a few minutes, but while I try to calm down, I can read these threads and chill. And let the dog in and out and in and out and… well you got that picture.

    TAke care, have a virtual hug, wash you hands when you come in the house, good luck finding the stuff you need. Try an Asian MArt if there’s one in your town…  or Dollar General, they have a wide variety of stuff…

  67. 67.

    Chyron HR

    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:

    I’m living amongst people who proudly hang truck nutz on their super duper high four wheelers and have huge tail pipes that spew black smoke out of their vehicles to just piss off the libtards. These are the same people who confront my kid in public because they can’t figure out his gender.

    Yes, we’re aware, those are the people Bernie calls the “noble white working class” and “not deplorable”.

  70. 70.

    Amir Khalid

    We’re in a time of great and unexpected Angst. Our access to our daily routine, our work, our leisure, so much of our lives, is being constricted before our eyes. We’re all having to make big adjustments for, well, we don’t know how long. And all this on top of the concerns we already had going on.

    The conversation at Balloon Juice right now is capturing all this Angst, and for some of us it’s getting a little too intense. Of late I’ve seen people get disheartened by the grimness, or get unhappy with each other over something, and sometimes they decide they need a break from Balloon Juice. It seems there’s more of that happening than usual — people taking refuge, from what is meant to be a refuge from the Crazy Out There. Some of the Crazy Out There has managed to seep in; it was probably inevitable in these times.

    I don’t even know where I’m going with this comment. At first I was going to say, ease off on the “please don’t go” replies, don’t inadvertently guilt people out of doing what’s best for their own tranquillity. But that felt like me lecturing you guys, a job I don’t feel all that qualified for. So I’ll just put this out there: this is what I’m seeing here.

  71. 71.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    100% serious answer:  They think the primaries are rigged because they take as prima facie that Sanders and socialism are what people actually want.  The same as with Hillary, they look at Biden and feel no enthusiasm.  Their friends say the same thing.  Therefor it is unimaginable, obviously false, that anyone wants to vote for Biden.  This fits perfectly into pidgin Marxist theory and their personal observations of a world rigged in the rich’s favor.  If the working man has been offered a chance to eat the rich and is not voting for it, someone working for the rich must be cheating.

  72. 72.

    sgrAstar

    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:  Dear Mrs D. Please take heart.  There are Juicers and Jackals from all parts of the economic spectrum here. Some of us are able to find joy and share it- I really admire the gardeners, the cooks, the ubiquitous animal lovers for that.  They show us what love and generosity really are. We are, as much as it’s possible, a community. And…we’re ALL scared. Reach out. What I know about this silly virtual community is that the call for help is always answered.

    ps: My sister gave me a dutch oven for my birthday. They appear to be quite popular- I’m hoping Tamara will teach me how to use it.

    ?

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amir Khalid:

    I think we all understand that Ms. D is feeling frightened and overwhelmed and needs to take a break. I took a quiet break from this place myself a few months ago.

    But she also seemed to be feeling a hostility directed towards her that at least some of us wanted to reassure her we don’t feel. We’re not trying to guilt her into staying, we’re trying to reassure her that we do like her and that we will welcome her back when she feels ready.

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