The Genuinely Historic Opportunity Sanders is abt 2 Squander

[82_28]

There is no script but there is inertia.

Is there a percentage share of the vote which couldn't be covered over even by a rigged election?

Edit: A sort of target to aim for? ... I don't really understand the US system.

You're telling us!

[Nordic]

Our masters and overlords gave us the Manchurian Trojan Horse known as Obama to get us to STFU when everybody was completely fed up with Bush/Cheney/Rove.

Some people believe, and it may be documented (but I haven't actually researched it yet) that FDR's role in giving us the New Deal was to throw a bone to the working man to avoid having the country fall further into an angry Labor-led revolution or a softer socialist takeover. It was a palliative.

It is not inconceivable that we could be given a Bernie Sanders, a man who will make the vast majority of Americans feel more optimistic and accepting of their country while continuing the murderous foriegn policy objectives of Pure Empire (and Bernie's foriegn policy is really no different from those of Vlinton, Bush or Obama)

Of course they would make it look like a "revolution" and an enormous triumph of populism and democracy. In other words right now he's at the point in the movie where it looks completely hopeless and the bad guys are winning and he is being offered a comfortable way out (end of the 2nd act).

So we'll see what happens. Clearly he will have to defeat the Wicked Witch Hillary C in order to move on to the next level.

Does this make me cynical? Probably not because I would heartily cheer, with bloodlust, the downfall of the Wicked Witch. I still like movies.

[Iamwhomiam]

divideandconquer wrote,

The only question I have about Sanders is this: why are the power elite's media conglomerates allowing him such a large platform? They could've treated him like Cynthia McKinney in 2008.

That's because Sanders is running as a Democrat and McKinney was running as a Green Party candidate. Big difference between the two in the view of MSM, and more rewarding for them to more fully cover a candidate from one of the two leading parties, 'cause that's where the money is.

But more so because their part is to keep the illusion of democracy alive in the eyes and minds of the public, in full, living color: to keep the populace believing that they are witnessing Democracy in action, that there is an actual 'contest' between candidates and that your 'vote' matters.

Man, what a scam by 'politicians', too, shaking out the pockets of the people every election season! Could you imagine the difficulty one would encounter if they introduced legislation that required the amount of funds raised by political parties every four years be raised through taxation?

I think both major parties are crumbling, and will soon be replaced by some others. Maybe The Rent's Too Damn High Party. Sure, there will still be some diehard members who will cling dearly to their loyalty, like many African Americans against all logic still remain loyal Republicans, just because Lincoln freed the slaves. They seem to be unaware Lincoln was most reluctant to free the slaves.

All one is left with, really, is hope.

[Nordic]

To follow through on what I wrote above:

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/outside ... ts-dinner/

Outsider’ Bernie Sanders only candidate to show up at ‘insider’ White House Correspondents Dinner

Only one presidential candidate — the anti-establishment Bernie Sanders — showed up to rub shoulders with the Washington elite and other celebrities at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

The Vermont senator accepted an invitation from CBS News to attend Sunday’s black-tie event, where he was photographed with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Donna Brazile.


Sanders did not join other guests in wearing a tuxedo, but instead wore a black suit and striped tie.

Which was the setup for this:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... nts-dinner

"We've got the bright new face of the Democratic Party here tonight: Mr. Bernie Sanders," Obama said. "Bernie, you look like a million bucks. Or to put it in terms you'll understand, 37,000 donations of $2

[Laodicean]

On Edit

https://twitter.com/An0malyMusic

[Cordelia]

Outsider’ Bernie Sanders only candidate to show up at ‘insider’ White House Correspondents Dinner

Maybe he was reluctantly doing reconnaissance in case he's elected? More likely, he's no stranger to elite Washington parties, where politicians (and all) gather no matter on which side of the aisle they sit during the day.

[Project Willow]

No, it was a little more cringe worthy than that, to my eyes anyway.

[Luther Blissett]

our "democracy" CAN NOT HANDLE multi-party politics. It's crazy to think we could. The country is barely governable now. What happens when leadership goes to the guy with the mere plurality? or to the one who got 18% over the one who got 17% - who would consider that valid? Human nature dictates that, in maters of real political organizing, it's always TWO sides. Reality ain't that way, but human mobs ARE that way. Before you react and object to this, please think... how in hell would it really work? With the government as it's currently organized. Sure if we turned into a different form, where party doesn't enter into it until voting to organize in the legislature, or some shit, but it get's complicated and a majority can not or will not even understand how shit works as it is.

That is the Opportunity - to REFORM the democratic party by showing that it: Need Not and Must Not chase "conservative" voters and status-quo belligerent policies, that instead it's got to have a heart, some ideas and ideally a plan to "make things better and fix shit" - that is how this transforms us, the polarized wings both chase toward the new Center... The Bernie Consensus.


The Bernie Consensus

and that is the meme (ideally with some real meat behind it) to get out there.

Coalition governments work when the legislative branch still requires a 51% majority to act. Thus, if the plurality winner only has 34% of the house seats, they'd still need to caucus with another party to get anything accomplished. One the flip side, a simple caucus of opposing parties is enough to block a single party for progressing any agenda. Coalition governments are often slower to react and affect real change, compared to American democracy where, if a party has the Legislature and Executive, shit gets done quick (and often wrong).

Now, that's the legislative branch. You are correct that our separate executive branch throws a wrench into the works. If a president was elected with only 18% of the vote, but still wielded the ultimate power of veto and other executive powers, then a small party could hold the country hostage. Most coalition governments elect their head of government from the plurality party, and their power is much diminished compared to our president.

Let's start a fourth branch, the people. It'll be the strongest branch.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Long-read on how Sanders can use his momentum, from Vermont's best media operation:
http://vtdigger.org/fullimagestory/agit ... agitators/

Rote and ultimately un-inspiring but quite good.

[Iamwhomiam]

Well, I enjoyed the site's layout. Thanks for sharing it with us, Rex.

But this, attributed to McKibben, seems like where we're headed: "political frustrations are so high that even if Sanders does not win the presidential nomination, he can take credit for spurring a populist movement that could be ongoing."

Well, I don't think he's referring to taking credit for spurring on those on the right, whose growing movement is being smelled daily, the one that's known as the Tea Party.

Could be ongoing? Seriously? It will be ongoing, whether he wins or loses.

Let's hope Bernie's candidacy is not a mere blip in the history of American politics and soon to be forgotten.

People need to become involved politically at the local level. Become informed, because as it is now our local representatives rarely do inform us us about anything, They are uninformed themselves and often rely on so called leadership to promote legislation which they can then rubber stamp with their approval.

Push your representatives to promote the issues you desire and if they don't, challenge them at the polls. Become a pain in the ass, showing up at every town meeting to share your views. For goodness sake, you have to work to achieve the change you desire.

[Luther Blissett]

Yeah I don't imagine that the exploding anti-establishment who are rejecting the status quo and whose lives are getting no better are going to just start supporting the establishment. They're smarter than that.

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abra ... 34348.html

5 Reasons Bernie Sanders Wins Big With Cruz Dropout
05/03/2016 09:46 pm ET

Seth Abramson

Here are five immediate repercussions to Ted Cruz dropping out of the Republican primary:

1. News coverage for the Democratic primary, and thus Bernie Sanders, will increase exponentially — immediately.

Without Trump in the field, all of the focus on future election nights — nine states and several territories over the next 45 days — will be on Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

2. Sanders will pick up a huge number of what would otherwise be Trump votes in states where voters are still able to register for upcoming Democratic primaries, or are able to cross over and vote in the Democratic primary due to being a registered independent.

Sanders’ vote share in nearly every upcoming primary and caucus just increased, though we don’t know by how much. In some instances, it could be a substantial bump, given that there’s no strategic reason to cast a vote for Donald Trump anymore — now that the Republican National Committee has officially declared him the presumptive nominee and a John Kasich dropout is likely imminent.

3. Clinton will have to start spending a great deal of money to fight a two-front war against Donald Trump, who’ll begin his ultra-negative primary campaign against Clinton immediately, and Bernie Sanders, who will avoid attacking Clinton directly but has nevertheless vowed to take the Democratic primary to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

This is the worst imaginable scenario for Clinton, as her negatives have always gone up when she’s in the midst of a campaign — and now she’s in the middle of two at once. With Clinton’s attention divided, her ability to respond to any Bernie Sanders surge in upcoming states will be limited.

4. Sanders now has a greatly increased chance of winning all of the remaining Democratic primaries and caucuses.

Sanders was already looking strong in Oregon, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota, Kentucky, North Dakota, and California, but given that he’s within single digits in New Jersey (where Trump is very popular) and performed incredibly well with nonwhite voters in Indiana (meaning New Mexico could be in play), it’s not unthinkable that Hillary Clinton could lose all of the remaining primaries and caucuses and therefore as many as thirteen or fourteen contests in a row to finish the Democratic primary season.

This would send Clinton to Philly a deeply wounded front-runner, even if she maintains a strong (but much diminished) delegate lead over Sanders. So there’s a chance that Clinton will go to Philly with a delegate lead but also having lost 22 or 23 of the final 30 contests in the Democratic primary.

If that happens, it’s tough to say how super-delegates will view a Clinton candidacy, especially now that the latest national polling (Rasmussen) already has her down by two points to Trump.

5. The Democrats will have a contested convention, and the Republicans won’t.

Few saw this coming, but assuming Bernie Sanders maintains his pledge to contest the Democratic convention unless Clinton can get 2,383 pledged delegates by June 14th — which she can’t, barring a miracle — only one of the two major parties will go to their convention divided, and with (not for nothing) the sort of logistical hurdles that come with that. For instance, when does Clinton roll out a Vice Presidential candidate? Before a convention she knows will be contested? At a time when a few super-delegates might abandon her?

The larger question: do some quantity of super-delegates switch to Sanders if the possibilities explored in items #1 through #4 above — particularly with respect to the upcoming primaries and caucuses — come to pass?

All we know for sure is that Ted Cruz dropping out of the Republican race has changed the Democratic race almost as profoundly as the Republican one.

[justdrew]

thing is though, polling is trash, total garbage, worthless. They're not getting representative samples, I just don't think polls work anymore, exit or otherwise... and there are too many motivated parties able to bias those polls. Who PAYS for the polls? Answer: "the media" - and surprise surprise, over and over again, polls confirm their pre-existing bias/preference. So it's not surprising Trump and Clinton are now "close" - they would have to be to fit the desired horse-race narrative.

IF we could look at sales figures for poll reports, I think we'd find: the ones that come out showing "unconventional" or "unwelcome" results, don't sell as well.

[Nordic]

The races are always "close" now. In the main elections. It fits the narrative in the "divide and conquer" universe.

"Americans are divided on ________" are words in so many "news" stories.

They tell us what we think and we believe them.

Do I believe Hillary has the support she supposedly has demonstrated through the primaries? No I don't. I believe it's as real as her fake Twitter followers.

We have an odd thing happening with Trump. It's not close. The establishment truly seems to not want him. And they can't even fake getting someone else in there to make it "close". How did that happen? Who was supposed to be the GOP nominee, or was it all a bunch of losers on purpose to set the stage for Hillary coronation?

[Novem5er]

It's been my belief that there hasn't been a serious GOP candidate since 2004 when Bush won his second term and spent the next 4 years destroying the Republican brand. McCain was not a serious candidate (a War candidate when the country had already turned against Iraq?) and Romney was not a serious candidate. Now look at this year's rabble. The GOP knows it's nearly impossible for them to win, demographically, a national election. Serious GOP players run for governor or just stay in the private sector.

They know a Dem in the White House only infuriates their base, which makes local elections that much easier, which is why we have so many GOP filled state legislatures, governor mansions, and House representatives. Those offices are better for business than the presidency ever was.