Since Bernie Sanders is the leader of the Democratic Senatorial Outreach

[Chasstev365]

can we please consider a Democrat on DU? I am just asking a valid question.

[elleng]

1. Very valid. Thanks.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. What does this mean? "can we please consider a Democrat"

[Chasstev365]

3. I will reply to you after a few more people state their opinions

[CurtEastPoint]

41. Now I see that you meant can we consider HIM a Democrat on DU.

It was not clear to me.

[onecaliberal]

4. STOP IT!

[Eleanors38]

6. No, you must have MORE! ENJOY, ENJOY!

[Me.]

5. I'm Confused

Can we consider him a Democrat? No.

[onecaliberal]

7. The DEMOCRATS appoint him to chair committees.

[Me.]

10. I Will Take Senator Sanders At His Word

He is an Independant and not a Democrat. The two should not be confused regardless of whatever committee he is on.

[onecaliberal]

14. Your attitude is what kept people home. I'm not fans of them, but do you feel just

As good as they do? IMO you're both immature and helped to elect trump.

[Me.]

19. Such Nonsense, I Can't Even Begin To Say

[SaschaHM]

22. Bernie could be screaming "I'm an independent" and folks would still be insulted if he is called one

[Me.]

23. Seems So

Unreal

[Demsrule86]

62. Anyone who stayed home...is not a progressive anyway.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Well, the Democrats in the Senate seem to like him well enough.

[seaglass]

44. They like his email and voter lists and are practical in trying to keep/get Bernie supporters

in the tent. I don't see anything more than that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

60. If that's all they wanted from him,

I don't think they'd have appointed him the ranking member (minority head) of the Senate Budget Committee and the Subcommittee on Health and Retirement Security.

[treestar]

83. Oh please

He liked their email and voter lists handed to him by a party he never joined.

[yodermon]

9. No. He's only an "Underground" Democrat, and therefore may be bashed with impunity

On Democratic "Underground".

[TonyPDX]

47. Here's what I learned by trying to defend Bernie and having posts removed

(bolding mine)

Don't bash Democratic public figures
Do not post disrespectful nicknames, insults, or highly inflammatory attacks against any Democratic public figures. Do not post anything that could be construed as bashing, trashing, undermining, or depressing turnout for any Democratic general election candidate, and do not compare any Democratic general election candidate unfavorably to their general election opponent(s).

Why we have this rule: Our forum members support and admire a wide variety of Democratic politicians and public figures. Constructive criticism is always welcome, but our members don't expect to see Democrats viciously denigrated on this website. This rule also applies to Independents who align themselves with Democrats (eg: Bernie Sanders).

[JustAnotherGen]

51. This is why so many of us have crept away

To a couple of sites where we can do just that. And there's nothing Skinner can do about it.

[TonyPDX]

52. Yep. This is becoming tiresome.

[JustAnotherGen]

72. Too bad

You guys are now the 'Democratic Establishment' - get used to it.

[Demsrule86]

64. Keep on creeping...DU has TOS and if you can't

abide by it then head on over to wherever...JPR maybe?

[JustAnotherGen]

71. I'm not a 'socialist' I don't belong there

They would never allow it.

[Demsrule86]

73. They are not socialist either...not progressive at all.

no socialist could long for Trump.

[aikoaiko]

67. Is Bill's Clinton Cave still up and running?

That was a hoot during the primaries.

[JustAnotherGen]

70. I don't know what that is?

I was heavily involved in hosting the AfAm Group during that time - making sure bigoted outsiders got the shovethey deserved.

[aikoaiko]

75. BTW I feel fortunate for not getting the shove while trying to communicate

about things which I did not understand.

I think the AA mods did and do a great job of giving people a chance.

[msongs]

11. by his own choice he is a non-democrat/independent who caucuses with democrats nt

[rogue emissary]

12. Here's a question for you

To your assertion that he is working with the party. Therefore he's pretty much a Democrat except in name.

Why is it such a big deal, that he decided not to be identified as a Democrat?

[sarah FAILIN]

16. To me this means

He can leave whenever the mood hits him like a tumbleweed. He did leave when he wasn't given the nomination.

Kinda like dating compared to being married.. To declare yourself married requires a commitment to stay even when the bank account doesn't have money to pay all the bills. To declare yourself a democrat I would expect you to be there full time too. JMO.

I like him though and wish him well.

[rogue emissary]

24. That's an apt analogy.

Funny thing is it takes more time explaining why he's still an Independent. When he could have just stuck to his word that he would stay a Democratic and DU wouldn't be having this argument.

[Skidmore]

42. This.

I consider him to be a fair weather friend, a variety which cannot be trusted when things get tough.

[MelissaB]

74. Things are tough now. What's Berning doing?

Leading the charge.

[uponit7771]

63. +1

[Chasstev365]

15. Yodermon summed up why we can't seem to get past the Hillary/Bernie rift

"He may be bashed with impunity." That attitude will not heal the divisions.

With the GOP controlling everything and megalomaniac as president, we should be listening to anyone with ideas how to fight back. It's time let go of 2016 and unite in the fight of our lifetime.

[SaschaHM]

17. Bernie Sanders is an independent who caucuses with the Dems. Period.

Let's stop foisting titles and labels on the man that he clearly doesn't want while not running in Democratic primaries.

Let's listen to him when he says he is an independent.

[Chasstev365]

18. Let's stop bashing with impunity!

[SaschaHM]

20. Who is bashing him?

Bernie chose his label and the times (Senate primary and the 2016 primary) that he became a Democrat were to run in primaries. Those are the facts.

[panader0]

56. Check this OP to see a few of the bashers:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028407753

[SaschaHM]

57. Poor Bernie.

I could post some other OPs to show Hillary and other Dem bashing. Everyone gets bashed here and atleast with Bernie, juries seems to be willing to hide those that bash him. The OP creator accused me of bashing him because I said what Bernie chose as his party label.

[panader0]

58. He ran for POTUS as a Democrat. He chose that party label.

[SaschaHM]

59. And then he went back to being an independent.

He chose that label when he needed it. Now he doesn't.

[yodermon]

68. "Went right back", what do you mean?

he was elected as an Independent, so he'll finish his term as he was elected.

Your statement might mean something if he chooses to run for reelection as an Indy again. He may have announced that, if so i stand corrected.

Last thing: he chose to run as a Dem as a favor to the Dems. Otherwise he would have run as a 3rd party spoiler. I'm sure none of us would have wanted that.

[SaschaHM]

69. I don't care why he ran or how.

We're talking about labels here and party membership. Bernie Sanders has been an independent for the 20+ years that he has been in Washington and he is an independent now. The whole "I was elected" nonsense is just that. There was/is nothing forcing him to be an Independent and given that he has filed paperwork to run in 2018 as an Independent, I doubt he will run as a Dem(unless it is to win and then decline the nomination as he did in 2006). I'm glad that he decides to caucus with us and bolster our numbers, but I'm going to respect his wishes to be an independent and answer that when asked. Why can't his supporters here on DU do the same? He's an Independent and that's what he wants to be.

[treestar]

84. Yes. If he wanted to be a Democrat

He would be a Democrat.

[Maru Kitteh]

21. Maybe he should drop the habit of insulting grassroots Democrats like he did tonite

on Rachel Maddow when he credited himself with "bringing working people" to the party and saying that Democrats were resisting him. Like the Unions and ALL of us grassroots working men and women of all colors haven't been here till he walked in the party, became a Democrat for a few months and then left again.

I find his self-glorification and self-congratulations regrettable, and as a grassroots Democrat who WORKS, I find his insult to me (as if I don't work) and my party unacceptable. It absolutely extinguishes any good will I try to build for him and dog knows,I have tried. I keep hoping he might drop this unfortunate affect, but I guess I must be a misguided optimist..

I did not appreciate his denigration tonight.

If Rachel does indeed have a "long-standing date" with him I'm going to have to start standing her up I'm afraid. It seems I tolerate Senator Sanders a little better when I do not actually watch him.

[elleng]

28. I saw no 'self-glorification,'

and surely no 'denigration.'

[dionysus]

45. People see exactly what they want to see...

[Cha]

31. Thank you for that report from tv land, Maru. So nothing's changed.

Our Dems work hard.. they should be encouraged not denigrated.

[Maru Kitteh]

37. I keep hoping Cha. I keep getting getting dissapointed but I keep hoping.

I really do like many of the things he says, but he should realize he doesn't have to bash us Democrats to move forward.

And if that isn't what he means to do, then he needs to learn to communicate in a way that isn't so polarizing. That's on him.

[Cha]

38. How could he not mean it? Been doing too long. I don't even listen to what he

says because of that.

[aikoaiko]

66. As a Democrat on the ground, I heard no denigration or self-glorification

He did bring more working class people to the Democratic Party by running.

He didn't say he was the only one to do so or that no working class people were in the party prior to his primary run.

[demmiblue]

25. The administrators pretty much covered this in the ATA forum:

[img][/img]

[Chasstev365]

27. Thank you! That answers my queston

[demmiblue]

29. Another one (when mentioned that he is an Independent and not a Democrat):

[img][/img]

[riderinthestorm]

85. Bookmarking for this post. Thank you. nt

[sturnz0r]

26. the browser link is lower case democratic,

and the graphic is uppercase... what kind of democrat am I?

[democratisphere]

30. Time to turn the page on Bernie

Move on to a new day.

[SecularMotion]

32. No

IMO, it's time to move the Bernie Sanders group as a sub-group from under "Democrats" on DU.

The "Support Groups" category with "Bereavement" would be a better fit.

[Warren DeMontague]

33. the fucking unhinged Sanders-hate is off the damn charts, in some circles. They'll never let it go.

Personally, I think it's time for our party to get new leadership anyway, people like Gavin Newsom- West Coast, non-Boomer, pro cannabis legalization, understanding technology instead of inherently distrustful of it, etc etc.

But Bernie Sanders is a valuable part of our coalition and should be treated as such.

[Eleanors38]

79. Yeah, I show these posts to friends at the coffee house, and they are in disbelief.

[NWCorona]

35. I am a diehard Bernie supporter and my opinion is that he isn't a Democrat

He's an independent from VT who is now a part of the Democratic leadership team in the Senate. And that is a milestone that we should be proud of.

[madokie]

43. I'm with you

[Orsino]

55. Yep.

And he has some lessons for Democrats who are free to learn.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

36. Why doesn't he join the Democratic party then?

That is a valid answer.

[pangaia]

39. That was a question. ??

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

40. Rhetorical question

But I'm sure you know that.

[Wabbajack_]

46. Whether he calls himself a Democrat or not

There is no meaningful distinction between him and a Democrat. He sits with Democrats, he votes like a good Democrat, Democrats don't put up a candidate against him. If he wants to rock his "I" for whatever reason, even after running in the Democratic primaires for President, I don't get the point but whatever, who cares.

[Chasstev365]

48. THE POINT OF THIS POST

It is so juvenile for SOME members on DU to hide behind the "Bernie is not a a democrat" as a way to get around the "No Bashing a Democratic Official." rule. If the Democratic Party has given him a leadership position, that should settle the matter, although Skinner already said Bernie should be considered a Democrat.

And it is really sad that someone will probably try to report this post because I merely bring it up.

[Eleanors38]

77. Which brings up another point: What is underground about Democratic Underground?

[LWolf]

49. The above-ground

neo-liberal establishment contingent on DU will never forgive him for being who he is; so no.

Happily, DU is not the real world.

[Eleanors38]

78. But... But... My Adnoid tablet says it is!!!

[MineralMan]

50. Bernie Sanders is not the enemy. The Republican Party is.

We seriously need to stop bickering among ourselves and give our attention to the Republicans raping our system without consent.

Anything Bernie Sanders does to help fight that battle is welcome. We're wasting our time every time we are fighting with each other. Let's go kick the Republican rapists in the head and stop their assault, for Pete's sake.

[panader0]

53. He is more of a Democrat than many with a (D) behind their names.

He ran for POTUS as a Democrat. The anger toward him by a certain section of
DU is disturbing. The primary is over and Bernie will be one of the most powerful
people in our corner going forward.

[Demsrule86]

65. Unless you join the party, you are not any sort of Democrat.

He is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats period. His refusal to join certainly does not encourage those who support him to become Democrats now does it?

[Orsino]

54. Not sure what valid question you are asking.

I don't have a problem with Sanders being in charge of outreach at some level.

[Chasstev365]

80. I am trying to illustrate that many feel that can disparage Bernie saying he is not a Democr

I think it's wrong!

[Orsino]

81. Probably a lot of overlap with those who'll never forgive him...

...for primarying Clinton.

[Demsrule86]

61. Of course, but he would need to become a Democrat.

I fail to understand how he can do outreach for a party he does not belong to...he sends conflicting messages.

[Eleanors38]

76. Uh-oh. Pssst. A Democrat is -- ahem -- leading.

[treestar]

82. No

He is not one, except when he wants to run for POTUS.

Biggest mistake the Democratic party ever made, in hindsight of course. Should not have let him run as a Democrat.