While @BernieSanders holds his virtual campaign event tonight from Vermont and rails against the ongoing Senate #Coronavirus rescue bill, important to keep in mind he skipped a key procedural vote tonight on the bill. https://t.co/01cY5qvbs8
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) March 22, 2020
Disclaimer: A 78-year old recent heart attack survivor absolutely should be self-quarantining right now. On the other hand, someone who’s second only to Trump in the ‘It’s Always About ME’ sweeps… maybe could’ve been a little more temperate when it came to proclaiming the shortcomings of every other not-Republican candidate. Or at least required his paid surrogates to dial it back a notch, when it came to publicly hoping on social media that the current Democratic ‘Shadow president’ would either die of coronavirus or lose all his supporters to it.
(Give me a break, it’s 3am in my time zone, and this is my self-reward for putting up yesterday’s virtuous info & respite threads, prior to setting up some more for tomorrow.)
To be fair…he's not a Democrat.
— Black Dem Savage ⚖ (@Ldy_Shay) March 23, 2020
Sanders spox tells @AnnieGrayerCNN that Sanders skipped vote bc “the cloture vote would fail, and his absence was effectively a no vote, so he was engaging on policy remotely” and was “weighing in to influence the contours of the bill during negotiations remotely from Vermont.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 23, 2020
Sanders told me last week he was dealing with a “f—ing” global crisis and didn’t want to answer campaign questions. https://t.co/UEYGPTAmIZ At 7p tonight, he had a campaign event – a livestream discussion on the coronavirus – rather than showing up to vote an hour before
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 23, 2020
You can tell how badly the Very Media Serious People rate Bernie’s chances at this point, because they’re suddenly willing to name names. From the Washington Post, paper of record in the town where the monopoly industry is national politics:
Sen. Bernie Sanders has convened a series of weighty discussions about the future of his presidential campaign with his closest confidants, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversations, and at least three potential paths forward have come up in the private talks.
One option that has been raised: Keep the campaign technically active with a goal of winning votes and accumulating delegates to the July nominating convention, but forgo attack ads aimed at delegate leader Joe Biden. Another: Stay in the race and aggressively compete for the nomination. A third choice: End the campaign…
With Biden staked to a solid lead and the future of the remaining primaries in doubt, many in the party are calling for Sanders to bow out, in recognition of the destructive divisions that could deepen if he sticks around. They are eager to pivot to a general election posture against President Trump and want to empower Biden to get started as soon as possible.
At 78, Sanders, a democratic socialist who long toiled on the fringes of the national political debate, might well be in his final national campaign. Unlike four years ago, when there was a clear incentive to keep running against Clinton and build a still-budding movement, he came into this race as a known entity with a proven following — making his current political aspirations less clear…
Biden has made entreaties to Sanders and his supporters, embracing policies the senator has championed and nodding to his youthful movement in recent speeches. Aides from the two campaigns have been in close touch over the coronavirus, officials from both sides said recently, outlining a potential path for negotiations that could lead to an exit more acceptable to Sanders.
It’s not clear he would take it, however. Sanders appears as keen as ever on using his platform to advance his own ideas…
Long-form read from the NYTimes, “How It All Came Apart for Bernie Sanders“:
The Sanders campaign appeared on the brink of a commanding lead in the Democratic race. But a series of fateful decisions and internal divisions have left him all but vanquished…
While Mr. Sanders has not ended his bid, he has fallen far behind Mr. Biden in the delegate count and has taken to trumpeting his success in the battle of ideas rather than arguing that he still has a path to the nomination. His efforts to regain traction have faltered in recent weeks as the coronavirus pandemic has frozen the campaign, and perhaps heightened the appeal of Mr. Biden’s safe-and-steady image…
Perhaps the most significant factor, as with every presidential campaign, was the candidate himself, and the stubborn ideological and stylistic consistency that both endeared Mr. Sanders to his supporters and limited his ability to build a majority coalition larger than his own progressive movement….
For months, his political advisers and outside allies had quietly mulled a shift in tone — the possibility that Mr. Sanders might take even modest steps to show skeptical Democrats that he could unify the party.
But he has always been disdainful of the art of politics and had to be nudged into wooing even friendly Democratic leaders. As Ms. Warren relentlessly courted Ms. Ocasio-Cortez last fall, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s advisers had to prod Mr. Sanders’s aides into having him call her — a conversation that eventually led to her endorsing him….
Arriving in Charleston, S.C., ahead of the Feb. 29 state primary, Mr. Weaver said the campaign had not yet sought a working relationship with figures like the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because they wanted first to demonstrate the full sweep of their coalition on Super Tuesday three days later. He reached for a Civil War analogy to explain the muscle-flexing strategy. Abraham Lincoln did not issue the Emancipation Proclamation, Mr. Weaver said, until after Union troops turned back the Confederacy at the bloody battle of Antietam….
After being routed across the country, Mr. Sanders knew who to blame in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
“What the establishment wanted was to make sure that people coalesced around Biden and try to defeat me,” Mr. Sanders said. “So that’s not surprising.”
Now that these garbage people lost- not just lost but lost in a massive collapse, getting blown out in state after state- all they have left is endless negativity, trying to bring down the Dem nominee, because (having failed at building a coalition) it's all they're good at.
— Centrism Fan Acct ?? (@Wilson__Valdez) March 20, 2020
Guys this is actually really unhealthy and if you feel this way about any politician you need to take a step back and consider if you're being rational. pic.twitter.com/B74QzcEAeo
— Staying inside to own the virus (@agraybee) March 22, 2020
Guess we all have different hopes and dream… pic.twitter.com/iXFuiDzRZp
— Centrism Fan Acct ?? (@Wilson__Valdez) March 21, 2020
Ask for his birth certificate next, @DavidKlion. pic.twitter.com/qmbtTbeWLN
— Peter Wolf (@peterawolf) March 22, 2020
People are focusing on Weaver and Sirota, but Turner was one of Sanders’s most vicious attack dogs on the trail. She’s gonna be riding the Sanders train to its bitter end. https://t.co/jPHXByEekx
— Peter Wolf (@peterawolf) March 21, 2020
I promise I never expected you to get on board. https://t.co/fDkAPkLGj5
— Staying inside to own the virus (@agraybee) March 21, 2020
Disingenuous claims like "Biden has dementia" and "Biden has disappeared" are more understandable when you realize that the many people pushing them–however they describe themselves politically–want to destroy Biden and the Democratic party more than they want to destroy Trump. https://t.co/eZlINnoLl5
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) March 22, 2020
The cool kids on this website just cannot process that they got their ass kicked by a bunch of cringey normie shitlibs and it's breaking their fucking brains.
Vote for Joe Biden and every Democrat on the ballot in November or you're helping the fascists.
— Galar Regional Medical Director (@weedlewobble) March 22, 2020
J R in WV
First?!
Sanders is a demagogue with no redeeming qualities!
He is not a Democrat of any flavor, but is a tool of the Russian GRU.
I wish I were asleep, but insomnia has me in it’s grip tonite!
Take care, jackals!
mrmoshpotato
Break or thanks – your choice! :)
Any hour is a good hour to tell Hillary’s rented mule to fuck off.
cain
I’m about going to bed, it’s a 1am and I have a 7am meeting… whee! Enjoy the thread kiddos – but remember in the game of life, Trump is an asshole.
frosty
@J R in WV: Not so much insomnia but waking up at dawn after 4 hours of sleep. Why is this happening in retirement and not when I was working and was supposed to get in by 8:00???
?BillinGlendaleCA
@frosty: I’m debating on whether to set my alarm to wake up early to get to Costco at 8am since they’re letting 60+ folk shop early on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
frosty
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m done setting alarms. If it was my choice I’d a) fight the crowds or b) shop somewhere else.
Martin
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I would. My trip to the grocery store on Sat was a fucking nightmare. Early morning, limited participation, everything stocked. Do it.
WereBear
It has occurred to me that, thanks to the oligarch stranglehold on “public discourse,” the nation moves at the rate and depth of our stupidest members. From the FNYT interminably interviewing midwestern diners to the talking heads on the “news” shows, narrow interests rule, experts are argued with, and sense has left the building.
I saw a clip of Elizabeth Warren being interviewed by a reporter who yapped random words at her like a chihuahua and didn’t let her finish. No wonder the average person is so confused and uninformed.
It’s a deliberate tactic to confuse and obfuscate any kind of decision making.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Martin: I’m planning on it, but it’s more of a choice between today or Thursday.
Chyron HR
It’s not even evil (for once), it’s just so fucking stupid.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@frosty: Even though I’m not doing the 9 to 5 thing, I still have to set alarms for stuff.
TheMightyTrowel
OT so… I just met some of my neighbours for the first time. They moved in about 6 mo ago and have a couple of kids (maybe age 8 and 10?) who have rapidly made a whole pack of friends with whom they play in our small, quiet street. It’s great. Anyhow, Mama Neighbour came banging at my door to demand whether I’d put a letter in her mailbox. She asked this in an increasingly threatening tone for about 2 min before explaining that she’d had a threatening letter and since I was the only person in the street she didn’t know she thought it was likely from me. I was pretty appalled at this and more so when she said it regarded her kids playing outside. I introduced myself, explained that I would never do something like that (nor would I ever!!) and suggested she call the police to put it on record. I’m not entirely sure she believed me, but shit. What a scary thing to get as a mum and what a terribly already scary time to get it. Why are people such wankers?
Martin
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Fewer trips is better, so if you can wait and pick up more, do it that way.
?BillinGlendaleCA
On the news tonight the mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes came down with COVID-19, he apparently got it from passing a mic from person to person at
(IIRC) an awards dinnerbirthday party for the former mayor, at the Trump National Golf Course.Amir Khalid
One of three U of Malaya Medical Centre clinics where I have appointments this week just texted to postpone me to a week before Christmas, and now I need to get a prescription to cover me till then. Sigh. Doesn’t necessarily have to do with Covid-19. I have two clinic appointments that are still on, as far as I know. Fingers crossed they don’t get postponed too.
Patricia Kayden
Does Bernie know that some of his followers are hoping that Biden will die? I mean, wth? I hope he never runs again. It’s perfectly okay for the DNC to enact a policy prohibiting non-Democrats from running under the umbrella of the Democratic Party.
WereBear
@Amir Khalid: Good luck Amir! You have been added to my Worry List.
Baud
We call them voters.
Chyron HR
@Patricia Kayden:
As Bernie said regarding his delegates’ behavior at the 2016 convention, “I don’t want to be associated with that narrative.”
mrmoshpotato
@Patricia Kayden:
Do you think Vermont Jesus would care? Biden’s a roadblock on the path to GLORIOUS REVOLUTION!
Fucking cosplay Commies.
Amir Khalid
@WereBear:
Not the first time that one clinic has done this. I should be okay.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: “Waaahhhhh!!! I’m gonna get beaten worse this time around!”
Deep in the Vermont forest, safe from disease (but maybe not another heart attack), artisan, knitted hats await their creation.
Amir Khalid
@Chyron HR:
Yeah, but did he ever actually tell his supporters to lay off? As I recall, he never did. He won’t now, either; he doesn’t want to catch any blame for his out-of-control supporters, but he doesn’t mind profiting from their actions.
Alaska Reader
@Patricia Kayden:
I’m with you on that. Sick of people who are not Democrats riding our coattails and not contributing. More often than not, they turn around and end up more trouble than they were ever worth. We end up looking like idiots for hosting the turncoats.
Alaska Reader
A crisis always bring out the wingnut in a person if it’s lurking there.
And when they’re a proud wingnut to begin with, what you get is people like Texas ‘Die for the Economy’ Lt Governor, Georgia’s ‘Pray it Away’ governor, and the already batshit crazy Trump morphing into a weaponized wrecking ball.
Amir Khalid
More of that dog who really enjoys jumping into piles of leaves, because why not?
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Exactly right. He eggs them on by speaking in code a lot of times, but he knows what he is doing.
Lapassionara
@Baud: Yes. There are two short-hand words that are red flags for me. They are “the establishment” and “the elites.”
I need a vocabulary lesson.
mrmoshpotato
Thanks for clearing that up, President Stupid! (h/t Mr_Electrico)
JPL
@TheMightyTrowel: That sucks and I’m so sorry.
Frankensteinbeck
@Amir Khalid:
During one 2016 caucus (Nevada?) Sanders’ supporters tried to rig the second round despite losing the first, failed, and then declared they were the ones cheated. There was a lot of shouting, declarations Hillary was a ‘whore’, and someone raised a chair in threat. Sanders’ response to this disgusting behavior was to tell his supporters that they were legitimately angry, but violence was too much.
I have never forgiven him for it. No, they were not legitimately angry. They literally tried to cheat and got pissed they failed. He stokes this bullshit belief that the Democratic Party is deliberately cheating progressives out of a better world, and there is nothing more poisonous he could do. It drives away young idealists, who will never vote Democrat after swallowing that shit no matter what he says about ‘do it anyway.’
WereBear
@Alaska Reader:
So true!
Frankensteinbeck
I must be in moderation. Weird. The point was, Sanders’ may not openly encourage the nasty behavior of his fans, but he feeds them lies about Democrats cheating. Nothing could be more damaging.
Frankensteinbeck
Okay, I guess I’m in moderation and I don’t even know.
Baud
@Lapassionara:
Not just that. Here’s Jacobin spreading propaganda about Biden’s mental health.
Here’s Bernie at a Fox News town hall.
Bernie presented it in a different context, but he knew what code words to convey.
Amir Khalid
I’m watching the Health Ministry Director-General’s daily press conference on YouTube. 212 new cases and 1 death since yesterday, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports. He’s mostly describing the Ministry’s efforts to track down possible cases, focusing on the Tabligh members who attended the gathering in a Seri Petaling mosque. (Seri Petaling is a suburb south of KL.)
OzarkHillbilly
@Patricia Kayden: @Alaska Reader: I understand the feeling and agree with the sentiment but there is a reason the DEM party wants him to run in the primary. It is so he won’t run an independent campaign during the general. YMMV and I really don’t like it but it does make sense.
OzarkHillbilly
A thing I really don’t think we will ever do.
Chyron HR
@Baud:
Just imagine if Biden had said, verbatim, in a campaign speech: “I think Bernie was somewhere — where was he, I don’t know — Michigan or some place else the other day.”
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
And let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that Bernie doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
I watched his stoopid roundtable livestream. You’re not going to believe this, but it was…. [checks notes]… his usual stump speech.
AOC, Tlaib, and Omar added their own views, but Bernie was his usual broken record.
mrmoshpotato
@Chyron HR: The Titanic’s dead would hear the whining and tell the Junior Communists to shut the fuck up.
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Thanx for this. Makes me miss when the Woofmeister was that young and spry even more, but still a joy to see.
Lapassionara
@Baud: argh. Although a campaign focused on health might just get more people to notice Trump’s large dilated pupils when he is in front of the lights and the cameras. Something is definitely wrong with him, both mentally and physically.
mrmoshpotato
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Ok Little Marco. My hands are enormous by the way!
PsiFighter37
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: If AOC is so goddamn smart, she would know that she shouldn’t make any more appearances with Bernie.
I’m starting to think that of the ‘Squad’, Ayanna Pressley may be the only one who is worth a damn when it comes to being a politician who gets shit done.
Anne Laurie
My health center has been good about mailing my medications to me every month — is that a possibility for you / your doctor?
(Normally my insurance company is really nitpicky about not letting me call in & renew even one day early, but when I called a week early this month, the pharmacy got them to agree to a two-month supply. I’d been hoping for three months, but settled.)
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: I find the lack of leafpiles disturbing.
mrmoshpotato
@PsiFighter37: You just hate that you aren’t in the cool kids club!
Chyron HR
@PsiFighter37:
That’s like advising Diamond and/or Silk not to make any more appearances with Trump.
mrmoshpotato
@Chyron HR: Please – Broken Beer Bottles and Burlap.
Chyron HR
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Do his worshipers only have to tithe $27 worth of Twitch bits, or does Bernie make them pay for Twitch’s 140% markup, too?
Amir Khalid
@Anne Laurie:
Alas, I shall have to schlep to the UMMC pharmacy every month for my drugs. They don’t do delivery, except in maternity*.
*Please to forgive stale joke.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
Stella’s joie de vivre is an example to us all.
WaterGirl
@Frankensteinbeck: You were in spam, and once one comment goes into spam, WordPress thinks you are a spammer, and then everything you post goes into spam.
You are now marked Not Spam and all 3 of your comments have been released and approved.