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Joe BidenCongratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
 

TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
Mon Jan 20, 2020, 08:13 PM Jan 2020

Bernie (2019): Non-Racists May Still Feel Uncomfortable About Voting for an African American

Doesn't Bernie's comment to Elizabeth Warren that a woman can't win sound a lot like his comment on Martin Luther King Day last January that: "there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American."

What the heck did he mean by that? I bet Bernie didn't think that what he said was racist at the time or that it was okay because he was just talking about other "white folks out there who are not necessarily racist." I guess if a minority applies for a job, and the supervisor decides not to hire him, not because the supervisor is racist, but because the store's customers who are not necessarily racist might feel uncomfortable about a minority sales associate, then that is okay in Bernie's world.

Put another way, Bernie's comments to Warren are not the first time he has suggested that minorities and women can't win:

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/bernie-sanders-already-repeating-some-crucial-2016-mistakes

The democratic socialist candidate for president is very good at raising money. In 2016, Bernie Sanders hauled in more than $228 million. This week, he proved that prowess was no fluke, collecting nearly $6 million in the 24 hours after announcing his 2020 bid, obliterating the previous high mark of $1.5 million for Kamala Harris. And the fact that the vast majority of those dollars came in small batches is a healthy thing for participatory democracy: four years ago, 58 percent of Sanders’s contributions were less than $200. This year’s cash came from 225,000 donors sending an on-brand average of $27.

None of Sanders’s opponents are scared by those numbers, however. Because what Sanders was less good at in 2016 was spending his large pile of money to win votes. Particularly the crucial Democratic primary votes of women and African-Americans. Especially in the key state of South Carolina. And three years after being crushed by 47 points there by Hillary Clinton, with an even more challenging field of primary rivals shaping up, Sanders is showing little sign that he’s going to get it right this time around. True, in January he spoke in South Carolina on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Sanders has also taken every opportunity to blast President Donald Trump as a racist. Yet Sanders remains remarkably awkward on the subject: when asked about the candidacies of Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Andrew Gillum in Florida, he declared that “there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American.” Symone Sanders, a strategist who worked for Bernie’s 2016 run, was puzzled by another recent comment that attempted to be high-minded yet came out sounding strangely demeaning. “He has this odd riff, about how candidates can’t just be a woman or a person of color,” she says. “Some people have said it’s tone-deaf—I think it’s a jab, and it’s not something that appeals to women or black voters.”
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
30 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Bernie (2019): Non-Racists May Still Feel Uncomfortable About Voting for an African American (Original Post) TomCADem Jan 2020 OP
maybe he is describing his own experience nt msongs Jan 2020 #1
OMG! nt GemDigger Jan 2020 #2
WHAT? Cha Jan 2020 #3
HuffPo: Bernie Sanders Says Not All Voters Who Feel 'Uncomfortable' With Black Candidates Are Racist TomCADem Jan 2020 #5
I can't say what I really Cha Jan 2020 #6
It is hard to have an open discussion regarding Bernie's own statements TomCADem Jan 2020 #13
I know.. all we can do is keep KICKING Cha Jan 2020 #14
+1000 R B Garr Jan 2020 #18
Ya think??? peggysue2 Jan 2020 #4
+1! Cha Jan 2020 #7
Talk about blind spots. 58Sunliner Jan 2020 #8
Feeling "uncomfortable" about voting for a candidate because they are black is racism by definition. The Valley Below Jan 2020 #9
Bingo. This is why I believe Warren About Bernie Saying Women Can't Win TomCADem Jan 2020 #17
That's well put. LisaM Jan 2020 #26
Preicisely. Cha Jan 2020 #29
Arggh Gothmog Jan 2020 #10
Oh really? Cha Jan 2020 #11
K&R betsuni Jan 2020 #12
It sure seems like boomer_wv Jan 2020 #15
Tell us all about it, BS. Cha Jan 2020 #16
I wonder if that's why he wanted Obama out in 2012? BannonsLiver Jan 2020 #19
KICK! Cha Jan 2020 #20
Oh good god! GMAFB! NurseJackie Jan 2020 #21
That is *literal,* *actual* racism. WhiskeyGrinder Jan 2020 #22
Yup... DanTex Jan 2020 #23
It's called VETTING.. Cha Jan 2020 #24
Does he not know a woman won the popular vote in 2016 and... TreasonousBastard Jan 2020 #25
He doesn't know a woman beat HIM by 4,000,000 votes. LisaM Jan 2020 #27
Just keep using information available to vet Bernie. redstatebluegirl Jan 2020 #28
... Scurrilous Jan 2020 #30
 

msongs

(67,193 posts)
1. maybe he is describing his own experience nt
Mon Jan 20, 2020, 08:32 PM
Jan 2020
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
5. HuffPo: Bernie Sanders Says Not All Voters Who Feel 'Uncomfortable' With Black Candidates Are Racist
Mon Jan 20, 2020, 08:41 PM
Jan 2020

The thing is doesn't what Bernie said sound similar to what he said to Elizabeth Warren that a woman can't win the Presidency? Some folks on this board have tried to justify these comments as being a "private conversation" with Bernie referring to other people and did not reflect his own personal views.

It is cowardly in that Bernie is not saying, of course, that he would not vote for a black candidate. Also, Bernie is not even saying that white voters who do not want to vote for black candidates because they are black are racist. Rather, in Bernie's words, they are just uncomfortable, but "not necessarily racist."

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-andrew-gillum-stacey-abrams_n_5be48626e4b0769d24cadd68?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAF7trZFRtfWsdaHLaP6FVfhLpooS9Pqv2HiQMPofJMEEO2nmeVAwIPCkarknSi9MlKL7_KacB-OV2l7IoXF-2Ey7FNAL3CZfDwOmn0kNc2RRtu2Uo6n8pnwxUi8oTL0zMCkdS4eWddtrcFZmSXBx4UTHnq5EHsgXh46kS_D4UQHR

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) drew criticism Thursday after saying many white voters in the South who felt “uncomfortable” voting for black candidates for the first time were “not necessarily racist.”

* * *

“I think you know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American,” Sanders told the outlet. “I think next time around, by the way, it will be a lot easier for them to do that.”

A number of writers and activists of color called Sanders out for implying it wasn’t racist to reject a candidate based on race.

“Many would define not supporting someone based solely on race as racist,” PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor noted.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Cha

(295,899 posts)
6. I can't say what I really
Mon Jan 20, 2020, 08:44 PM
Jan 2020

think about this.

But, thank you for shining the light on it

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
13. It is hard to have an open discussion regarding Bernie's own statements
Sun Jan 26, 2020, 12:18 AM
Jan 2020

It would be nice to have a factual discussion, but instead, it seems that folks exchange canned talking points. Here is Bernie saying something that seems pretty racist, yet no one is really attempting to defend or justify Bernie's statements.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Cha

(295,899 posts)
14. I know.. all we can do is keep KICKING
Sun Jan 26, 2020, 12:21 AM
Jan 2020

BS' own words.. front and center.

Thank for this and everything.. I really appreciate it.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

peggysue2

(10,811 posts)
4. Ya think???
Mon Jan 20, 2020, 08:36 PM
Jan 2020
“Some people have said it’s tone-deaf—I think it’s a jab, and it’s not something that appeals to women or black voters.”

It certainly does not appeal to me! Because being a woman and/or person of color is not a problem. Except in the mind of sexists or racists.

Sorry, this goes beyond tone-deaf.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

58Sunliner

(4,339 posts)
8. Talk about blind spots.
Mon Jan 20, 2020, 09:04 PM
Jan 2020

Uncle Bernie wants people to know they aren't racist to vote based on color. OMG.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

The Valley Below

(1,701 posts)
9. Feeling "uncomfortable" about voting for a candidate because they are black is racism by definition.
Mon Jan 20, 2020, 09:10 PM
Jan 2020

Beyond tone deaf.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
17. Bingo. This is why I believe Warren About Bernie Saying Women Can't Win
Tue Jan 28, 2020, 01:10 PM
Jan 2020

Like Bernie's comments in the OP, Bernie probably thought he was just telling like it is by claiming that a woman can't win because other people might not vote for a woman.

However, just because Bernie is hiding behind the sexism of the electorate does not make Bernie's statements any less sexist.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

LisaM

(27,758 posts)
26. That's well put.
Thu Jan 30, 2020, 05:36 PM
Jan 2020

He has a history of telling women it's more sexist to vote for a woman candidate than for him, too. I think he just sees everything, everything, in terms of class conflict based on income. I don't find him to be particularly investigative on the underlying issues that create those income divides.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

boomer_wv

(673 posts)
15. It sure seems like
Sun Jan 26, 2020, 12:25 AM
Jan 2020

Bernie is going out of his way to give racists a lot of ways to claim that they aren't racists.

Oh, I'm not racist. I just feel uncomfortable voting for anybody darker than Taylor Swift.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Cha

(295,899 posts)
16. Tell us all about it, BS.
Sun Jan 26, 2020, 03:20 AM
Jan 2020
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

BannonsLiver

(16,161 posts)
19. I wonder if that's why he wanted Obama out in 2012?
Tue Jan 28, 2020, 02:01 PM
Jan 2020
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
21. Oh good god! GMAFB!
Tue Jan 28, 2020, 08:02 PM
Jan 2020

I'm so sick of this shit... it's WORSE than being "tone deaf".

It's fucking disqualifying, that's what it is!

He needs to withdraw from the race and return to Vermont.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

WhiskeyGrinder

(22,145 posts)
22. That is *literal,* *actual* racism.
Tue Jan 28, 2020, 08:21 PM
Jan 2020
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

Cha

(295,899 posts)
24. It's called VETTING..
Thu Jan 30, 2020, 05:16 PM
Jan 2020
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
25. Does he not know a woman won the popular vote in 2016 and...
Thu Jan 30, 2020, 05:22 PM
Jan 2020

a black man won it twice before that?

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

LisaM

(27,758 posts)
27. He doesn't know a woman beat HIM by 4,000,000 votes.
Thu Jan 30, 2020, 05:37 PM
Jan 2020

He thinks it was rigged.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

redstatebluegirl

(12,264 posts)
28. Just keep using information available to vet Bernie.
Thu Jan 30, 2020, 06:17 PM
Jan 2020

Hillary left him alone the last time. This time we need to know who Bernie really is, not who he says he is.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
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