For Sanders Fans Who Haven't Voted in a Primary Yet:

[MineralMan]

Please consider voting for Joe Biden, instead of casting a vote for Bernie Sanders, who has withdrawn from the campaign.

By voting for Joe Biden, you'll get some practice for the November general election. You'll also be silently endorsing the presumptive Democratic nominee. While voting for Bernie might make you feel like you're supporting him, really you are not doing that. Instead, you are casting a vote that is meaningless in that primary election, since Sanders has withdrawn and will not become the nominee.

I understand your frustration. I understand your sadness that Bernie will not be the nominee. Many times in my 50+ years of voting, I have voted for someone who I did not think would win, simply because that person was the Democratic nominee. I voted that way because I could do nothing else. I could not vote for a Republican, even if I knew that Republican would win in the end.

Presidential elections are binary choices, really. There are no worthwhile protest votes when it comes to that office. Even in the primary elections, voting for a withdrawn candidate is not a valid protest. It is merely a wasted opportunity.

So, please consider voting for Joe Biden. He would appreciate that, and so would I.

[NurseJackie]

1. Nice post.

I doubt it will make any difference with the diehards. But, at least you tried... and I admire you for that.

[Demsrule86]

2. +10000

Thanks for this. Great advice K&R

[The Magistrate]

3. Well Said, Sir --- Practice Makes Perfect

"You will not rise to the occasion. You will default to your level of training."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[BlueWI]

4. Here's a better suggestion.

Take time to convince a few white and/or over 55 voters not to vote for Trump in the GE. That's the real challenge.

What few Sanders supporters are left on this forum are unlikely to take your unsolicited advice. I voted for Warren on Tuesday to affirm that there's a constituency that supports her policies, and I am proud to have supported Warren.

Essentially, though, the primaries are over - Biden won! Why not take this moment to respect differences of opinion on how to vote in the remaining primaries?

Is that simply too much to ask?

[FelineOverlord]

8. For Sanders Fans Who Haven't Voted in a Primary Yet:

I think it's because many voters don't trust Bernie one bit, especially after his cagey
"suspension" speech the other day.

We still have PTSD from his shenanigans in 2016.

Does he want to rack up delegates so that he can try to sabotage the convention again?

Would a virtual convention be better so the BS campaign can't pull their nonsense this year?

[Demsrule86]

11. On Thursday, you voted Warren...well that sends a message about unity doesn't it...not impressed.

[LostOne4Ever]

5. Not voting for Sanders will

Send the Democratic Party the message that Bernie and his Fans are even smaller a group and can be ignored and/or marginalized that much more.

Biden will be the nominee no matter what at this point, but voting for Sanders shows how much further to the left or middle the party has become. The more votes he gets the more seriously his ideas will be taken by the party leadership.

There is no reason a Sanders fan should vote Biden at this point unless they want Sanders and his supporters ideas to have LESS potency.

[Demsrule86]

12. Voting for Sanders and not getting with the Biden program will in the end marginalize those who

claim to be uber progressive ( I am a progressive). They are a minority in our party clearly. And if it looks like we won't get their votes, we will need to move in a more not less moderate way...40 moderates won back the house...that ends M4A and other progressive programs chances to pass even if we get the Senate. The Senate can only be won by winning moderate and conservative states. Thus,it can only get worse. The less we can depend on this group, the more likely we will have to seek more moderate and conservative voters not less. Those who are so worried about Sanders and the platform...and who are not really unifying will lose influence not gain influence in the Democratic Party. Consider if we lose the election, progressive policy is dead thanks to the courts moving right for likely a generation. And if we win, by appealing to moderates and the left doesn't vote for the ticket then we will have to continue to appeal to moderates and not the left. If any constituency wants influence in the Democratic Party they have to show up at the polls, vote blue no matter who and help the Democratic party win elections.We must take back this country from the right. Be a partner in our efforts to stop Trump and Republicans not an adversary.

[LostOne4Ever]

19. I'm not talking about the general but the rest of the Primary

Like you said, we are seen as a minority within the party. Voting Biden in the upcoming Primaries only makes us look even smaller, and thus both necessitating and allowing the party to move to the right.

We can’t let them discount us in such a way. We need to show them just how many of us there are, especially in the primary.

In the general election, I agree with you. Moderates are a necessity and we should Vote Blue no matter who.

If we can show them that we are both a reliable voting block (vote dem in Nov) and a significant portion of the party (vote for those as liberal as we are) in the primary that will be the best way to pressure them to the left.

Vote your conscience now (Warren/Sanders/etc), vote blue in November!

[Bucky]

20. I agree

There are merits to voting for Biden as a show of unity. Mad props if that's where your conscience takes you.

But there's just as much merit in casting a vote for Sanders, which really is casting a vote for a progressive delegate to vote on platform resolutions in the convention.

I don't truck much with the simplistic left vs center formulation of party policy debates. Either policy makes sense, or doesn't make sense. Calling it left or right or centrist is only dumbing-down the question. What we need is national policies that look after all citizens equally, and treat healthcare as the vital national resource that every other country in the developed world recognizes and protects.

Savant for Bernie, if that's where your heart takes you. It won't slow down Joe Biden's nomination or prevent his election. But it will help tell the working class that the Democrats mean business.

[thesquanderer]

6. re: "voting for Bernie...you are casting a vote that is meaningless in that primary election"

Since we KNOW Biden will get the nomination, ALL votes cast from this point forth are EQUALLY meaningless. That is, none will affect the outcome.

There is no inherent greater benefit in saying "here's another vote for Joe" than there is in saying "I know Joe will be the nominee, but honestly, I'd rather have had..." Sanders, or someone else who may still be on your ballot. Such a vote will not affect Biden's nomination. But it does let someone show support for a person or their ideas regardless. A Democracy is about expressing your preferences. Okay, sometimes maybe one must "fall in line" for the greater good. But in this case, expressing a different preference can be done without having any impact on Biden's successful nomination.

[The Magistrate]

15. However, Sir, Sanders' Clear Intent To Pitch a Fight And Disrupt At the Convention

Towards which end he is asking his devotees to provide him more delegates, even though he is ostensibly not contesting the nomination, does make votes cast in upcoming primaries meaningful, even though they almost certainly will not affect the nomination itself. To Sanders' mind, the more delegates he has, the more harm to unity and comity he can do, and so the more weight there will be behind his attempts to blackmail his way to greater influence in rules and planks and other convention business. Since damage to the 'Democratic Establishment' has always been Sanders' chief goal, in a very real sense Sanders has not actually ceased campaigning at all.





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[Bucky]

21. Oh that's hogwash. Bernie Sanders doesn't intend to disrupt the convention

He's going to hold a debate on platform questions. And we should all come together on that. That's what the convention is for, to create the conventions of the Democratic Party. That will work best if all sectors of the party are represented in the convention that also happens to nominate Joe Biden (and God willing Val Demmings).

[The Magistrate]

23. You Fail To Impress, Sir, Anyone Who Recalls The 2016 Convention

There is no reason whatever to suspect Sanders and his delegates will perform any better this year then he and his delegates performed four years ago.

Platform planks are meaningless. No one heeds the Party platform, it neither guides the campaign nor governs actions once in office.

The only meaningful things Sanders could seek would be changes in the rules which would make it easier for him, or someone like him in future, to succeed in a campaign for the nomination of the Democratic Party while actually campaigning for overthrow of its leadership, against the clear wishes of a majority of its membership and elected officials. Any changes in rules he seeks ought to be resisted by the majority of delegates, and one expects they will be, even in the face of the blackmail threats of disruption Sanders will use to back his demand that a minority receive recognition all out of proportion to its actual voting strength.





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[democrattotheend]

17. Exactly. Well said.

I planned to vote for Elizabeth Warren and now that there is no contested primary I plan to do so again, because I might as well "vote my heart" at this point. I will be voting for Biden in November of course.

[USALiberal]

7. Bernie fans, ignore this post and vote for who you want to vote for! Nt

[Demsrule86]

13. Right lets fight this to the bitter end so Trump can be reelected right?

[Bucky]

22. You have nothing to fear but fear itself

And, obviously, the coronavirus.

[TransitJohn]

9. WTF is up with the belittling "fan" appellation...

...that only ever is applied to Bernie supporters? Hmm? I wonder.

[MineralMan]

10. I'm a Biden Fan.

Nothing wrong with that.

[Demsrule86]

14. I am a Biden fan. Fact is I see some here who simply are bitter that their guy didn't win and who

are reluctant to unify. I don't think Sanders has done enough to unify either...I do not mean you by the way...just in general.I would urge anyone who feels this way to consider this. Either Biden or Trump will win election in November...pick one. As a Democrat and a progressive only Joe Biden is acceptable to me. And I would add that any vote for a third party, staying home or writing in Sanders is a vote for Trump period.

[democrattotheend]

16. My primary vote is meaningless now either way

So I am free to vote for the person I really wanted to vote for to begin with. In my case that's Elizabeth Warren. If she is still on the ballot if/when we ever get to vote, I'll be voting for her.

I will of course vote for Biden in November, but I don't see any more benefit to voting for him in the primary than to voting for any other candidate. If we didn't have other elections that day I might not bother voting at all.

[Demsrule86]

18. Great post MM. K&R