I have come to the conclusion that Hillary does not need the votes of DU zealots

[CajunBlazer]

I am sick and tired or hearing, "Hillary has to earn my vote", "If you don't let Bernie win, we will never vote for Hillary in the general election", "Hillary might have won the nomination, but now she has to have our votes to win the general election. I'm paraphrasing of course, and perhaps exaggerating, but you know the type.

Now to be clear - this isn't coming from all Sanders supporters, just the most active zealots who are probably on DU just to support Sanders and after the nomination is secured we will probably never see them again.

The answer that I want to give to these Bernie zealots is, "If you feel that way, go away; we don't need you or your votes." Before I get all kinds of messages saying stuff like, "Are you crazy, you need to be nice to these folks, Hillary needs ever vote she can get", let me first say this - Hillary really doesn't need their votes. Let's have a reality check:

1) Most of these people will never vote for Hillary anyway no matter what we say, many have already admitted that if Bernie isn't the nominee they will vote third party or not vote at all.

2) Even if they would ever consider Voting for Hillary, we still don't need their vote.

Consider this, take the number of total active members of DU. I have no idea but let's say 10,000. Now remove those who have not been active in the current debates and/or have been sitting back observing the food fight. Now remove the Clinton supporters, Now remove the the majority of Sanders supporters who will easily support Hillary in the general election. Some subset of those remaining are the Sanders zealots. Now deduct from those zealots those who would have voted third party if Sanders had not entered the nomination contest and will now surely return to their roots. Now scatter those remaining zealots among 50 states. Now remove all of those zealots who reside states which will not be battle ground states in November.

What do you have left? A few former Bernie zealots in each a few battleground states whose votes "might" make a difference. Now let's test that situation. Let's say that Hillary were to have a worst case scenario similar to that of Al Gore in 1992 when Florida was the deciding state and hung in the balance. After all of the challenges and legal battles, Gore was said to have lost by a little over 500 votes (not that I ever believed that). If you don't count the Florida Bernie zealots on DU who will vote third party regardless, there is no way that the remaining Bernie zealots in Florida would be numerous enough to affect even that close of a contest one way or the other.

So while I don't advocate going out of our way to tick off Bernie zealots, if they confront us I am all for telling them, "Look I can't tell you how to vote, that is something you need to decide for yourself. But please understand, I can't be overly concerned about what you ultimately decide".

[Treant]

1. Utterly agreed

The vast majority of them are feeling bad about the loss, they're lashing out, and want to make you grovel just so they can feel better.

I'm not going to do that. In other locales, my phrasing is far less politic than yours.

Simply put, they've already decided whether they'll vote for Clinton in November. Nothing I can say will change their minds, therefore, there's no point in engaging with them.

Since, on average, those types tend to be the most vituperative, there's another good reason not to engage with them.

[sarae]

18. Well said

The vast majority of them are feeling bad about the loss, they're lashing out, and want to make you grovel just so they can feel better.

^ THIS ^

So true.

[metroins]

2. Extremists

They aren't rational.

The small but very very very vocal Bernie supporters on here are an extreme minority who can do whatever they want. I know a decent amount of Bernie voters in real life who like Hillary and are excited to vote for her. They voted Sanders because he does have a larger picture of what he wants done and people like that. However, most voters are not so extreme that they'd rather Trump win or they believe the RW talking points about Hillary.

I could go on and on, but the few extremists on this board do not represent most independents and if these vocal extremists want to threaten their way in politics, well I don't want their vote.

I back Hillary because she's the most intelligent candidate running and she's proven she's on the side of the Democrats.

[ismnotwasm]

3. Of course not. I completely agree.

It's #berniemath again, each "I won't vote for Hillary on DU = 1000 people. Or maybe 10,000.

She's still winning.

[fleabiscuit]

4. Spot on Cajun. n/t

[Iliyah]

5. K & R

[sheshe2]

6. Tell it! nt

[William769]

7. I have known that all along.

Great post BTW.

[Kingofalldems]

8. Quite a few of those are actually Trump supporters anyway.

[workinclasszero]

9. Thats right

[yallerdawg]

10. I don't know what they are...

or why they are here - but we damn sure don't need them!

[anotherproletariat]

11. I came to this same conclusion a while ago. Previously I was trying to play nice, hoping that

someday we could win over the rapid Berned Ones. But it became clear that this would never happen, so I 've started to fight back. I don't stoop to their level and dish out personal attacks, but I also don't let them get away with posting flat out lies. I'm quite sure that these people are either Right wing shills or people who were never involved in politics before their hero offered them free stuff, thus creating loyal subjects. Either way, they won't be missed.

[Kingofalldems]

12. I just got called stupid in LBN.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141445320#post16

[CajunBlazer]

14. I think that some are long term members of the radical left

Who normally vote Green or some other far left party and were attracted to DU for no other reason than to support Sanders. For that reason they will be gone as soon as that reason is no longer viable.

[kevinmc]

13. Reminds me of 2008 and the PUMA's

not worth the headache to argue over.

[Cha]

15. I've never concerned myself with them or

what the latest whine is.

I always thought Hillary will win without them.. All the hate and rwinger propaganda posts they've made over the last year doesn't exhibit they had any intention of ever voting for her when she won the Nomination.

[BlueMTexpat]

16. I have never believed that the

zealots would vote for ANY "Dem" in the long run - even for Bernie.

Either Bernie would have compromised in some way that would - finally - have violated their "purist" principles so that they would be disillusioned (those who are Greens & Libertarians) or they were always GOPer stooges here on DU to cause division and dissension so as to get the more vulnerable GE candidate nominated.

If Bernie were the Dem nominee, every other word out of Trump's mouth and those of his surrogates 24/7 would have been the "C" word. Donald has never been constrained by truth. But there's not much he can say about Hillary that has not already been thoroughly vetted and debunked.

Bernie has never had the kind of relentless scrutiny that Hillary has. Based on his OTT reaction to a headline which - incorrectly - stated that Hillary had called him "unqualified," he will all too quickly jump down into Trump's favorite slop, to Trump's delight, just as other male candidates have. Trump will easily best him in the slop.

Real Dems liked BOTH candidates and would have supported whichever candidate won the Dem primaries. Hillary has effectively won the primaries and we're just waiting for the primary process to play out entirely. But she will ultimately be declared the winner. She will thus receive the support of an overwhelming majority of, if not all, Dem voters, a large majority of Dem-leaning Indies, and - with Trump as the GOP nominee - a surprising number of votes from Republicans who are still comparatively sane, among them many women.

No, we do not need the zealots at all and we never have. It is they who have needed us.

[72DejaVu]

17. Did we need them before?

If not, why do they think we need them now?

The Democratic nominee has won the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 popular elections. And the results in the one we lost are hinky. So what makes them think we are desperate for the support of a few pissed off armchair activists?

[Her Sister]

19. So about 1,000 BS-or-Bust here in DU!

Scattered in all the States. So about 20 people or so per State!

[CajunBlazer]

23. If they are uniformly distributed....

....which is not a given, more in the higher population states, fewer in the smaller ones. However, given a choice where they can find work in their area, people, especially zealots, like to live with others who are like minded. (Think of Sanders moving from NY to Vermont.) So I would expect a higher concentration in very blue states like Vermont. Bottom line, they are less likely to live in red states or even battle ground states.

[Gothmog]

20. DU does not reflect the Democratic Party or the voting population

[Progressive dog]

21. I've come to that conclusion, too. nt

[charlyvi]

22. They vastly overrate their power in this election.

Young folks have an extremely spotty voting record, yet Dems manage to win elections anyway. I think they have an unrealistic belief in their own importance. Proof of this is the fact that Bernie is losing by quite a bit. They did not come out en masse to succeed in their "revolution". And they repelled quite a few people by demanding Super Delegates fall in line, the FBI should indict Hillary, perhaps her health will fail, yadda yadda yadda. It's not an appealing way to gain supporters.

[Stuckinthebush]

24. Hey, Blaze....have you ever noticed that those zealots have an average of 500 posts?

It makes one go, "Hmmmmm...."

Methinks they aren't real Dems anyway.

[liberal N proud]

26. Nailed it!

[GusBob]

25. Option 3) Some of them will vote for Trump

Out of spite or hope she fails. See the exit polls in WV

These people do not deserve the luxury of being ignored. They need to be identified recognized and vilified

I have said it time and time again they are not democrats

They are demagogues . They will vote for Trump

[CajunBlazer]

29. Most of those Sanders voters in the WV primary who will vote for Trump in the GE...

...have been Trump supporters all along. They were voting for Sanders because they believe he would be an easier opponent for Trump to beat.

WV will never vote for a Democrat in the GE. Especially with coal industry essentially going out of business in what is already a very poor state, even many Democrats will vote for Trump, or any Republican candidate for that matter.

[jazzwinders]

27. I agree!

[rock]

28. Agreed

By far, most of the Bernie Sanders supporters are adults and will make a sensible decision.

[kstewart33]

30. The self-righteous posts declaring a no-vote for Hillary are so, so tiring.

So Bernie supporters won't vote for Hillary. I get it.

The earth isn't shattering. The mountains aren't crumbling. The seas have not parted.

So stop already.

Especially when I'd wager that most rarely if ever vote.