Bernie being openly non-religious adds real weight to my consideration, he being the first since Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Also his consideration for adding Warren as both VP and active Treasury Secretary. However, Bernie would be 82 at the end of his first term and Warren only 74, and a woman so statistically and apparently sharper longer, more expectantly able to serve two fullminded terms without Reaganing. Warren as first woman president has it's appeal, including socially and as some healing from Rep/Rus stealing the 2016 from Clinton. Bernie has also been striking the same steady drumbeat as an underdog for over 50 years and I'm unable to imagine him reevaluating given new info and status in office. It will take more than two terms of non-Rep rule for maybe humanity to recover.

My very first Democratic Party Presidential Primary absentee ballot is sitting in my inbox. Change my mind? I'll also watch the final Dem debates before filling circles or buying the postage.

If you want more than two terms of non-Rep rule then (for a number of reasons) Bernie is pretty much your only option. What I and others have been harping about for years is the direct relation between a Republican win (or more specifically the apathy of Dem voters) after a Dem President that does nothing to heal the previous Republican's wholesale dismantling of government, their continuation of imperial warmongering, and moving farther and farther to the right to capture the mythical "swing voter." A vote for Bernie Sanders is not just a vote for the man, it's a vote for the movement he's building which will hopefully last long after he's gone. It's about rebuilding the social safety nets, revitalizing unions, attacking money in politics, and acknowledging that we've been entrenched in a one-sided Class War for decades. Frankly, he's the only authentic candidate in the race and Elizabeth Warren's continual shift back to the right and her recent attacks on him only solidify that fact.

I'm not sure how up to date you are on things so please allow me to paint a picture for you and the peanut gallery about what's happened in the last week or so since none of it was posted here.

Elizabeth Warren's Fake Beef With Bernie Sanders Is a Sign the Primaries Are Heating Up - About a week ago, a currently unverified script showed up on the Bernie campaign Slack channel with guidelines on how to approach people who were leaning towards other candidates in order to convince them to vote for Bernie. In regards to Warren it said:

"I like Elizabeth Warren. [optional] In fact, she’s my second choice. But here’s my concern about her. People who support her are highly educated, more affluent people who are going to show up and vote Democratic no matter what. She's bringing no new bases into the Democratic Party. We need to turn out disaffected working-class voters if we’re going to beat Trump"

The script was taken down from the campaign Slack channel shortly afterwards. Soon Alex Thompson, a reporter with Politico who reports on the Warren campaign, published an article claiming the Sanders campaign was going negative and attacking Warren's supporters. Hours later the Warren campaign is sending out emails calling for donations to fight back against the Sanders campaign's attacks for calling her supporters "highly educated, more affluent people." these things are true and verifiable btw.

Now you could say this is just some harmless rubbing between campaigns but later that day CNN breaks an unverified story claiming that in 2018, in a private conversation between Bernie and Warren, Bernie supposedly said a woman couldn't become president. Now long story short, Warren had apparently been spreading this story around to a few of her aides over the years since then. Sanders called bullshit (he pleaded with Warren to run in 2015,after all) and gradually the reported story changed from Bernie saying a woman can't be president to something along the lines of him expressing concerns that Trump would use nefarious tactics AFTER Warren asked him if he thought a women could win. Corporate media, of course, runs with the original bullshit sexism claim (created by Warren!), while on social media link after link is shared of Bernie over the years expressing his support for a female president.

Cut to the debate! (Also on CNN)

Moderator: [paraphrasing]Bernie did you say a woman can't be president?
Bernie: "As a matter of fact, I didn't say it. [...] Anybody that knows me knows it's incomprehensible that I would think a woman can not be president." etc etc he goes into his usual spiel about beating trump with platform and ignoring the media scandals.
Moderator: [direct quote] So you're saying that you never told Senator Warren that a woman could not win the election?
Bernie: [direct quote] That is correct.
Moderator: [direct fucking quote!] Senator Warren, what did you think when Bernie Sanders told you that a woman could not win the election?
Warren: [direct fucking quote!] I disagreed.
Warren then goes into some unity bullshit pretending that she had nothing to do with all of this.

After the debate... Warren goes over to Sanders, he offers to shake her hand... SHE REFUSES! They speak. The suspense, what's happening, no one knows....

But the social media explosion!😍😍😍


The next day, CNN releases the audio. Turns out Warren accuses Bernie of calling her a liar on national TV and tries to start shit while they were both still mic'ed up. Definitely not planned or anything.

Of course, that's not the end of it or anything; Corporate media is still accusing Bernie of being a liar and sexist, msnbc is airing segments with bullshit body language experts examining how he's a liar, pundits are writing articles about how "Liz" just taught a master class for handling mansplaining politicians and their sexist handshakes or some shit.

But in the real world?


Epilogue

Thanks for this, really. I've been on the road for over three months, largely disconnected. My "same steady beat" was made out of a mix of what you would call authentic admiration in Sanders' sticking to what is right as advocate, though also hesitation in wanting some political flexibility in leaders willing to make the best from new situations.

Their controversy seem most likely a set aside honest misunderstanding bubbling back during campaign heat. W: How do you think H Clinton can win this election? S: This is the list of places I can imagine where unscrupulous Rep would pry election pushback due to her being a woman. W: So you think a woman can't be president.

Sanders is loveable, his branding so pure, it makes me a bit ill imagining him getting truly slandered by Republicans/Russia/Fox as to H Clinton. We can expect Sanders keeping straight to message and pushing through as they add one nonsense corpse after another to cling and drag along forever behind, beating down. Warren has a hot torch to swing toward opposition weight, sharp little knives for kidneys, eyes for action. Sanders being mostly ignored is an understandable soreness for you, as is for me, though some relief as well that such a huggable character has gotten no true beatdown attempt. Neither has Warren, though that wouldn't bother me nearly as much, she seemingly bloodhungry for politic as well as policy. Sanders coming in for a jovial forgiving handshake seems true to nature, as does Warren's straight to accounting, and Sanders' mumbling accepting walk offstage while Warren keeps to center forefront. It's too easy to imagine the same from a triumphant Trump staying on camera while a bruised Bernie goes to have a think. Sanders is building a movement expecting setbacks to overcome. Warren is a kill taker.

Only my thoughts, here forming. Maybe I want too vengeance, a just end to the GOP as crime syndicate, heads on spikes, figuratively.

You're welcome, but I'm still really feeling you're not up to date on the warren of the past 6 months. Like you're still seeing #shepersisted Warren rather than #herdaughterwithahealthcareindustrybackgroundboughthertheWFPendorsement or #shewasworkingwiththeclintonadminbehindthescenesduringthe2016demprimarywhilepretendingtobeneutral or #herclaimsofbeingnativeamericanfordecadesgomuchfurtherthanjustacheckinabox. She's been getting called out on a lot of her past lies in public and she gets flustered easily, that's actually one of the reasons I think she's been in on the past week of smears; Her candid responses were very well prepared ahead of time, she knew what was coming. I dunno, frankly I think it's moot at this point. The NYT endorsement came out today and she wasn't even able to secure that on her own, it was a dual endorsement with her and Klobuchar. Both people who haven't come anywhere close to polling first in Iowa or anywhere else. A lot of "anyone but Bernie" energy there, especially with them not even ranking him in the top 4 contenders.

I can't imagine why they didn't pick him.🤔😂😂
Bernie Sanders: "Look, I don't tolerate bullshit terribly well" to NYT editorial board - The Weekly


As for attacking him, that's what this past week was. Like a lightswitch being flicked on about 2 or 3 weeks ago he went from being ignored to suddenly getting a bunch of positive press (Why is no one talking about him as the front runner? Bernie may actually have a chance. etc..) And then like clockwork the attacks started, he's fared it just fine. One of the highlights from Peter Daou going strong Left was he revealed that the opposition research the Clinton campaign did on Bernie back in 2016 turned up nothing. So, they'll manufacture the necessary controversies, but he's authentic and as long he continues down the path the people need him to he'll get their support. If anything I'd say this past week or so has actually backfired and solidified a lot of people towards #BernieOrBust since Warren was about the only person many of us were willing to compromise on.

#SandersYouth

Fucking finally.

He... Does not enjoy the impersonations?

I think he's one of those people who hates everything.

I imagine it would dominate his life and career.

Ex-Castro Staffer And Top Iowa Democrat Endorses Bernie Sanders

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