[wittynickname]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Sanders is the best and worst thing that could happen tot he US.

Best because, well policy-wise they need someone like him. Worst because the vast majority of Americans don't realize that, associate any sort of social-leaning policy as communist, and I fully expect at least a few violent protests from people like the Oregon nutjobs.



Bill Clinton has been the best option for President pretty much since he left office. He should just run again.

I feel like when a progressive agenda is coming from an old white dude rather than a middle aged black one, the Oregon nutjob types aren't likely to get as vocal or vitriolic. Conservatives don't like Liberals--but to say that race has nothing to do with the violent rhetoric against Obama would be false.

Originally Posted by Kavvy

I don't know. The republicans may nominate a number of different crazies to which anyone may be able to beat once we are into the general election.

So, Sanders could win vs a few of them, however, he won't beat Hillary.


Sanders is only providing some sort of competition for Hillary, and getting his ideas into the national dialog- which is commendable.

I think another really good thing about Sanders being in the race is that he's so far left that he forces Hillary to pull to the left, because he's bringing up issues that the Democratic base is very concerned about, which are more progressive and more likely to have a socialist style solution.

Originally Posted by nik-

I don't like Clinton either. I don't like the money that comes into the Clinton Foundation, basically an "off the books" campaign donation, from foreign governments. I don't like the indebtedness to and fawning over the Saudis and I don't like that she's basically a political weather vane.

I still think she wins though, but who knows what happens in the next 10 months.




I think the main Sanders issue is the "Socialism" boogie man that's basically been bred into the American public for 60 years. It's ridiculous, but this is a place where millions upon millions of people vote with their bible against their best interests.

Which I always found absolutely hilarious, that Bible thumpers are so likely to vote GOP/Conservative solely on the abortion/gay marriage issues. Because Jesus said nothing about abortion or homosexuality--but he said a whole lot about helping the poor and disenfranchised. And he wasn't too fond of violence, but those Bible thumpers are also generally pretty strong NRA voters. Pro-life and pro-gun was always a combination I couldn't figure out.

I think that if Sanders was receiving the kind of media coverage that Trump is, he would be getting much better results in polling. That he refuses to have a Super PAC is refreshing, that he refuses big money from big Pharma and big business, big oil, etc, is a really huge thing in his favor. I think a lot of Americans are tired of politicians voting based on whoever's putting money into their campaigns, and Sanders is fighting against that kind of big money in politics.

Politicians are generally scumbags, even the decent ones. Sanders just seems like he actually got into the business of politics because he actually wants to positively impact public policy. He also hasn't really changed his tune based on the times. He was doing sit-ins for civil rights 40 years ago, he was pro-gay rights in the early 90s, well before most politicians went near the issue.