This is why I am voting for Bernie (just as I did in the 2016 primary)

[Fragment]

(This is from a blog that perfectly summaries my reasoning — and yes I will vote for whoever wins the primary, except for Bloomberg.)

For every major policy mistake the United States has made in the last 30 years, there is video of Bernie Sanders trying to stop it.

As far as I can tell, that's true. Against the endless wars. Against the Patriot Act. Against financial deregulation. Said Citizens United was a disaster.

And he's been for all the right things just as long. He got arrested protesting segregation in 1963, and that wasn't his first protest against racism. He supported gay rights as mayor of Burlington, VT in 1983, which was ahead of the curve.

There just isn't another presidential candidate in either party who has been on the right side of every major issue for that long. Almost all the others have at least one stance from their past that looks terrible now. Biden was tight with Strom Thurmond and is partly responsible for forfeiture laws that let police rob citizens. Pete Buttigieg's time at McKinsey has forced him to deny any link with a Canadian bread price fixing scandal, and his team studied privatizing the Postal Service (if they took more than five minutes to say Hell No, that's disqualifying). Elizabeth Warren was a Republican conservative back in the 1980's (but at least she learns and grows! Good on ya!) Bloomberg was giving millions to the GOP just two years ago. Gabbard is just horrible.

Klobuchar seems okay but, I'll say it again, Bernie was getting arrested working for civil rights when she was three. Yang is cool but he's dropped out. Steyer answers the question, "What if Bloomberg but not evil?" Like the others not yet mentioned, however, he's not polling high enough to matter. He can support other candidates, as Bloomberg would do if he were not, you know, evil.

So, yeah. Bernie. He's always done the right thing. Give him power to do more of it. With anyone else, you cannot be sure they will do the right thing, and with some of them, you can be sure they won't.

[applegrove]

1. Bloomberg has promised to keep funding for the D Party in the GE even if he loses

the nomination. That is not evil.

[DanieRains]

2. If Mike Is It He Has My Vote

But funding Republicans is a big no no in my book.

Republicans have been pure evil since the Contract on America in Newt's day.

Sorry Mikey.

I do love how you keep hitting Trump over the head with the 2 x 4 though.

He deserves it.

[FarPoint]

3. Bernie just is not a Democrat....

Bernie uses the Democratic Party...like a Booty Call. I hate being used even when the intention may be good for the moment.

[DanieRains]

5. He Is A Democrat In Every Way Except He Doesn't Take Money From The 1%

Every one of Bernie's positions I can mostly, or completely agree with.

We are both REAL DEMOCRATS.

[pazzyanne]

8. Question:

If Bernie is a "real Democrat", why does he run as an independent in his state elections? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Demsrule86]

18. He is the 1% in term of income.

[HerbChestnut]

21. Bernie has been fighting for progressive policies his entire life.

He's more of a Democrat than most other candidates currently running.

[Doitnow]

4. Right there with you. May I add one of his best signs of leadership. Bernie has set a new standard

In that he refuses to take money from big donors. We know for sure he will be doing the will of what most Americans want ——-for a change! That took courage. I don’t care what he calls himself, Bernie is more of a Democrat than many in the party today.

[Demsrule86]

19. He has a super pac with very little transparency...

[delisen]

6. Alas there are no political gods.

[Frasier Balzov]

7. He's using the last of his energy to campaign.

There won't be enough remaining to govern with.

[W_HAMILTON]

9. He hasn't been right on guns.

He is just as imperfect as anyone else running, but -- unlike Sanders -- at least many of them also have some accomplishments to their name.

Simply being against everything and never getting anything accomplished is not praiseworthy -- it just means that someone is a contrarian who shits on everyone else for trying to do what they believe is the right thing.

Me? I'll take someone with some hits and a few misses as long as they get a hit every now and then.

[stopbush]

10. Hasn't been right on the F35.

[stopbush]

11. If you won't vote for Bloomberg if he's our nominee, then I frankly don't give a shit

what you think about anything.

[dinnocenzo25]

12. So True!

A man with an inherent true moral compass...

[Amimnoch]

13. If he just ran on his strengths while attacking Trump.. I could very well be with you.

His positions on issues are not a problem for me. In fact, I'm totally with him in most of them. I've often spoken very highly of Warren, and how can a person love warren but detest Bernie if it's issues driven? They can't.

It's not as others have suggested and jealousy at how he can energize a segment of new voters, especially the young/millennials. That's something that I likewise love about him.

It's all about the large volume of over-the-top attacks that he's been delivering for years against the Democratic Party, the DNC, just about every long time Democratic Party leader that hasn't bowed down to kiss his ring (which is almost all of them).

Agree with it or not, even if it's fair or not, there's many who do blame him for putting Trump into place in the first place as a result of this rhetoric mentioned above. Something that definitely did not help this lingering bitterness was his staffing of people at the top of his campaign that actually were open, boisterous, and completely unapologetic Stein supporters.

Worse, many of us are seeing him doing the same thing this time around, and see his antics as helping usher in a 2nd 4 years of Trump.

I can categorically say that if his campaign was focused on attacking Trump (instead of the Democratic Party), not only would I be so much more open to support him, but he'd likely be on the top of my list of candidates to support. Hell, if he'd really change gears, stop the attacks, and get his campaign and most vocal surrogates to stop the attacks, I'd probably have him in my sig line now.

[Squinch]

15. I think we need to relook at the old saw that he energizes new voters

and brings them to the voting booths.

In 2018, yes. Young voters came out in record numbers. But the vast majority of Our Revolution candidates lost and lost big. Young voters did not vote for the far left candidates. The moderate candidates were the winners of the day, flipping dozens of republican held seats.

And in NH, yes BS got 50% of the youth vote. But the youth vote was no larger a percentage of the total than it always is. In the state that is BSs next door neighbor. The youth vote was 14%. BSs share of the youth vote was only 7% of the total electorate.

The youth vote, when it shows up, seems to be a lot more moderate than conventional wisdom suggests.

And yes. His attacks are constant and they damage the party. He's my last choice.

[Laelth]

16. Solid, positive post. Thank you. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[gollygee]

17. Why I am not voting for him even though I did in the 2016 primary

He can't win. I thought he could in 2016, but I was wrong about how conservative the US is. I am way way to the left of most Americans. The US isn't going to vote for Bernie Sanders in a general election - ever.

[dsc]

20. He supported the Charleston loophole and immunity for fire arms manufacturers

and he voted to put nuclear waste in poor areas of Texas. The first two are responsible for multiple thousands of deaths per year.

[Codeine]

22. Bernie is moral and righteous

and is almost always on the side of good and decency. But it’s also true that he hasn’t accomplished shit, that his political energy is entirely based on negativity and resentment, and that he surrounds himself with assholes for a campaign team. He stirs up his naive and overly-emotional base to the point where they literally cannot conceive of anything but “my way or the highway.”

I like Bernie, but I will not vote for him in a primary. I will not #bendtheknee no matter how much your side screeches at me.