Tag Archive: Bernie Sanders

Raucous unity at the Democratic National Convention

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at recent unity event in New Hampshire

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at recent unity event in New Hampshire

The diverse, outspoken and sometimes raucous Democratic Party was on full display on Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania yesterday. This is the party whose unity is likened to “herding cats.” On the other hand, the outbursts from some delegates at the convention hardly spelled doom and gloom, as some chattering heads on the cable TV news networks intimated. Rather, if you caught the unfiltered convention proceedings via live stream or C-SPAN, you saw a political party reach a noisy state of unity, as only the Democrats can do.

Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and the Democrats unite against Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders during primary season.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders during primary season.

Today in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders held a remarkable unity rally in which Sanders enthusiastically endorsed Clinton for president. Standing in front of a giant American flag with his beaming former rival, Sanders said:

Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process. And I congratulate her for that. She will be the Democratic nominee for president, and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States.

Sanders went on to say, “I have come here to make it as clear as possible as to why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton, and why she must become our next president.”

Both Clinton and Sanders gave substantial speeches at the boisterous event, which highlighted each of their strengths and interests. For example, Sanders focused on economic issues, while Clinton spoke passionately about gun violence, saying, to big cheers, “surely we can agree that weapons of war have no place on the streets of America.” However, one area on which Clinton and Sanders both clearly agreed was the need to defeat Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election. For instance, Sanders said that Trump’s position on health care is the “same old Republican contempt for working families,” while Clinton said, “Donald Trump thinks wages are too high. . . . He does want to get rid of the federal minimum wage altogether.”

Hillary Clinton snoozes to victory

Hillary Clinton campaign truck.

Hillary Clinton campaign truck.

The above headline is exactly what the mainstream media have been trying to avoid for a year and a half. If you’ve ever watched a one-sided sports event, you’ll know the reason why: viewers will tune out, and that’s bad for business. So what we all need to remember is that the mainstream media’s goal during this entire election season is to create more drama, which leads to higher ratings, and money for themselves. This business incentive can be seen in the coverage of Hillary Clinton‘s use of a private email server as Secretary of State, which the FBI just cleared as not a criminal offense.

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders take a beating at Politicon 2016

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson delivers keynote address at Politicon 2016.

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson delivers keynote address at Politicon 2016.

The second Politicon began yesterday in Pasadena, California and continues today. Politicon is billed as “an unconventional political convention” which brings together the most diverse array of political and entertainment figures this side of the White House Correspondents Dinner, including comedians Larry Wilmore and Lizz Winstead; U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California; political consultants James Carville and Paul Begala; conservative media figures Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck; Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson; former Mexican President Vicente Fox and many more. Perhaps the mere fact that this diverse group was featured at Politicon makes them all “establishment” in a way. If so, that might explain why, at yesterday’s event, criticism of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders was widespread.

The Democrats’ day of unity

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at 2008 Orlando, Florida rally

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at 2008 Orlando, Florida rally

President Barack Obama formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for President of the United States via video on Thursday. The video was released after Obama met with Bernie Sanders at the White House, at Sanders’ request. Obama’s endorsement of Clinton was part of a dramatic series of events orchestrated to celebrate and build upon Clinton’s clinching of the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, and to showcase a newfound unity in the Democratic Party in support of Clinton.

Moving on from Sanders to Trump and the general election

Donald Trump and his taxes, a current focus of the Clinton campaign

Donald Trump and his taxes, a current focus of the Clinton campaign

Hillary Clinton has been practically ignoring Bernie Sanders for a month. She hasn’t been attacking Sanders over his scorched-earth efforts to tear down the Democratic Party from within. Clinton hasn’t even been calling on Sanders to release multiple prior years of tax returns, which any serious presidential candidate must do. Instead, because the delegate math now makes her the unstoppable 2016 Democratic Party presidential nominee, Clinton has turned her attention to the general election and her likely opponent, Donald Trump. Yesterday, I decided to follow Hillary Clinton’s lead and attempt to just move on from the battles with Bernie to focus on Trump & the general election. I have to say, it’s very refreshing.

Bernie Sanders’ third party infiltrates the Democratic Party

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and other Democratic Senators at U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and other Democratic Senators at U.S. Supreme Court

Republicans must feel like they’ve dodged a bullet. We have written for years about the GOP Civil War, which threatened to spill out into the open and tear the party apart during the Republican National Convention this summer. That could still happen, but meanwhile, Republican leaders recognized Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee within hours of his Indiana primary win on May 3. Instead, it is now the Democratic Party that is threatened with civil war, as Bernie Sanders essentially runs a third party campaign against the Democratic Party, from inside the Democratic Party.

Issue-based unity for supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders

Democratic U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer, Edward Markey and others demonstrate for a full Supreme Court

Democratic U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer, Edward Markey and others demonstrate for a full Supreme Court

Once again, the 2016 presidential primaries have been an emotional roller-coaster. The Democratic Party, while not engaged in open civil war like the Republicans, has certainly felt the sting. Nasty things have been said, hurt feelings have been felt. Therefore, while Hillary Clinton has all but won the Democratic Party nomination and Bernie Sanders has all but conceded, and the endgame is near, no one can expect Democratic Party unity overnight. Instead, Democratic voters should now focus and fight together on the issues that unite them against the Republicans. Here’s a partial list of such issues:

Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders: the endgame appears

Bernie Sanders speaking in South Bronx, NY

Bernie Sanders speaking in South Bronx, NY

Last night’s Democratic Party primary results in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island were clarifying for a couple of reasons. First, Hillary Clinton‘s wins over Bernie Sanders in four out of the five states other than tiny Rhode Island, especially her healthy and wide margins of victory, respectively, in delegate-rich Pennsylvania and Maryland, all but assured that Clinton will clinch the Democratic Party nomination for president. The other clarifying element of last night’s results was that the endgame for Clinton, Sanders and the Democratic Party finally started to emerge. Here’s what that endgame looked like:

Bernie Sanders vs. Hillary Clinton: time to de-escalate

Hillary Clinton speaking in Durham, NC

Hillary Clinton speaking in Durham, NC

Last night’s New York Democratic Party primary was a defining moment in the sometimes nasty presidential nomination contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Clinton won a decisive victory, with a margin as of this writing of some 16 percent and a net gain of about 33 pledged delegates. [Note: these results are subject to updates]. Coming at a time when Sanders needs to win virtually every state left by a landslide, his loss to Clinton in New York turns his nomination chances from “nearly impossible” to “pretty much unimaginable.” Perhaps knowing this, Sanders spent yesterday in Pennsylvania instead of New York, supposedly to campaign for next Tuesday’s primaries, but then reportedly left his press corps in Pennsylvania last night and exited back home to Vermont. So the question becomes, what happens now?