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Today, Jim and Greg applaud the practical approach of Dr. Fauci on chloroquine. They also grumble as Nancy Pelosi and Andrew Cuomo are still not sold on the COVID-19 relief bill, and Jim unloads on Bernie for still focusing on the 2020 campaign.
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Bernie’s song lamenting the practical end of the primaries:
“It’s Not Easy Being Green.”
Or perhaps Red, in his case.
I don’t know. Bernie might think Joe won’t actually make it as a viable nominee, and if they go with someone besides Bernie (looking at you Cu0mo, not you, Hillary), there might be quite the ruckus.
He is an angry muppet.
Don’t Republicans and conservatives want Bernie to stay in the race as long as possible?
Mysteriously, Jim Geraghty is constantly urging him to throw in the towel, and help the Democratic Party, but never says why.
True. As long as Sanders remains a candidate, he can stake a claim to being first runner-up at the Democratic National Convention, if by then Biden’s confused his coronavirus update with his skinny dipping excursions on the Eastern Shore of Delaware, and the party is forced to look elsewhere before the nomination vote. He loses a lot of that power if he gets out, giving the Dems a chance to go with someone else, who was either in the race (Warren, Buttigieg) or not (Cuomo, Hillary).
Actually, Jim has been very clear about why he thinks Sanders should give up. What’s mysterious is why you won’t tell us what it is you’re implying here. Why do YOU think Jim is urging this?
OK, I’ll bite. Why does he think Sanders should give up — and which party’s interest will this serve?
My suspicion is that, like Mitt Romney, Jim enjoys patting himself on the back for being “above” partisanship.
I think it was Jim mostly didn’t want to risk the possibility that Sanders could get the nomination and then actually win in November. But that seems basically impossible now. Whether Sanders might try a third-party or write-in run now, which could drain votes from Biden and help Trump win, might be less likely if the pimary battle continues through all states and Bernie is unquestionably defeated. Maybe Jim figures that if Bernie gets out now he’s MORE likely to go to a third party or write-in attempt?
But somehow it’s difficult for me to believe that Jim looks at it that deeply.
Meanwhile, can even Democrat voters believe that Biden would be doing a better job in the current situation? He’s more likely to make fun of the virus for having a lower IQ than his, and call it a dog-faced pony soldier virus…
Jim has stated that he thinks Sanders should hang it up because he can’t win, and given the coronavirus situation forcing further debates and primary votes is needlessly endangering people.
I speculate he also wants to see the most radical leftist in the field defeated to ensure that the most radical leftist in the field doesn’t get one step closer to the presidency. He’s not taking a W in November for granted here.
Well it seems more likely that a candidate Bernie would be defeated in November, than a candidate Biden. Having a candidate Biden who might actually WIN, seems in some ways more risky. President Biden would be maybe 95% or more the same amount of disaster as President Bernie. And he could actually do more real damage, since even Democrats in Congress might resist what Bernie would want to do, but they could be a lot more compliant to a President Biden.
Bernie staying in gives him leverage to affect the platform.
There is a risk in there, because people have bought into Joe being a dopey moderate instead of a dishonest hack who crafts his message to the person speaking.
We will rail against creeping socialism, but be dismissed because we *always* say that.
I’m not sure how/why, unless Biden doesn’t get enough delegates to win the nomination easily, which seems unlikely at this point.
Even as Biden tells the American people he is not like Bernie, he needs Bernie to tell his own followers the opposite.
I doubt Bernie would do that even if he dropped out. He might not do it even after Biden gets the nomination. But even if he did, I suspect a lot of Bernie voters would just stay home.
Last time around, Bernie eventually (July) endorsed Hillary. Why should it be different this time?
Maybe because he figures this is his last chance? Maybe he has even less respect for Biden than he did for Hillary/
If Biden is still standing, by the time of the convention, Bernie’s last chance is over. Unless he takes the third-party route (very unlikely), there’s nothing left to do except endorse Biden — after extracting as many concessions as possible, of course.
Bernie can probably have anything he wants, except the Veep slot. That’s going to a black or Latino, probably a woman.
Well but that’s just it. Once clearly defeated in the primaries, especially if Bernie stays in all the way through, I don’t see him having much ability to extract concessions. Bernie himself might think it’s more important to defeat Trump than to elect Bernie, but I’m not sure how many of his followers agree. And if the DNC mucky-mucks see that, they would have no reason to give concessions if there doesn’t appear to be any benefit to it.
Bernie can endorse Biden pro forma via Twitter — or he can stand next to him at the convention and raise arms together. Bernie can sit out the election — or he can campaign for Biden where he can do the most good. That Bernie’s supporters will ignore his opinion of Biden is exceedingly improbable, so he still has a few chips to cash in.
I guess my argument would be that those who are willing to switch their vote from Bernie to Biden in order to defeat Trump, would do that simply because Bernie doesn’t end up being the nominee. Those who would stay home if Their Bernie isn’t the nominee, I just don’t see that changing because Bernie says it’s okay. They will be too mad, or whatever.