Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumBernie (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
None of Sanderss 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 hes 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 Bernies 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 cant just be a woman or a person of color, she says. Some people have said its tone-deafI think its a jab, and its not something that appeals to women or black voters.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
msongs
(67,193 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
GemDigger
(4,305 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TomCADem
(17,378 posts)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
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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 wasnt 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.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(295,899 posts)think about this.
But, thank you for shining the light on it
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TomCADem
(17,378 posts)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.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(295,899 posts)BS' own words.. front and center.
Thank for this and everything.. I really appreciate it.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
peggysue2
(10,811 posts)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.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
58Sunliner
(4,339 posts)Uncle Bernie wants people to know they aren't racist to vote based on color. OMG.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
The Valley Below
(1,701 posts)Beyond tone deaf.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TomCADem
(17,378 posts)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.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
LisaM
(27,758 posts)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.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(295,899 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Gothmog
(143,998 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(295,899 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
betsuni
(25,122 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
boomer_wv
(673 posts)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.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(295,899 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BannonsLiver
(16,161 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)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.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,145 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
DanTex
(20,709 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Cha
(295,899 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)a black man won it twice before that?
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
LisaM
(27,758 posts)He thinks it was rigged.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
redstatebluegirl
(12,264 posts)Hillary left him alone the last time. This time we need to know who Bernie really is, not who he says he is.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden