Bernie does what he does best: drops out of the race
Remember that old Timothy Leary prescription – “turn on, tune in, drop out”? I bet Bernie does.
Today he announced he’s dropping out of the race, although he remains on the ballot for the rest of the primaries.
“I wish I could give you better news, but I think you know the truth. And that is that we are now some 300 delegates behind Vice President Biden and the path to victory is virtually impossible,” Sanders said.“I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful, and so today I am announcing the suspension of my campaign.”
He said that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic had hastened his decision to suspend his campaign, saying that continuing his presidential bid would only distract from efforts to combat the outbreak and damage it has done to the U.S. economy.
“I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour,” he said.
The most important work of all, of course, is to unite in criticizing Trump’s handling of the health crisis.
Truth is, Bernie was the front runner until the DNC became alarmed and decided to marshall its considerable forces – including the MSM – to do Sanders in.
So now they are left with a lot of angry Sanders supporters, Joe Biden, and a Possible Player to be Named Later.
Trump wasted no time:
Bernie Sanders is OUT! Thank you to Elizabeth Warren. If not for her, Bernie would have won almost every state on Super Tuesday! This ended just like the Democrats & the DNC wanted, same as the Crooked Hillary fiasco. The Bernie people should come to the Republican Party, TRADE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020
This has been the strangest campaign season in my memory. And it’s not over yet. Now that the DNC has stopped Bernie, will they manage to stop Biden, which is a bit more complex procedurally but could be done? And if not, will they manage to drag him over the finish line somehow? Will the long push to get the public to hate and reject Trump be successful, even with Biden nominally at the helm? And if not Biden, than who?
What a mess.
I don’t think Bernie has dropped out.
He has suspended his campaign but will stay on the ballot and will continue to seek delegates.
If he is still on the ballot in November it will be a torpedo below the waterline for the Democrats even if they can sneak in a candidate who is not senile.
They embraced the Commie serpent hoping to steal his supporters even though he isn’t a democrat. That might work as well for them as it did for Cleopztra.
Rachelle:
Yes – as I wrote, he will stay on the ballot for the primaries, and a lot of his supporters are angry.
However, how many of them will be angry enough in November to stay home, write him in, or vote for Trump, remains to be seen.
My totally non political mother today on Biden:
‘This man can’t be president he can’t even string two sentences together, at least Trump knows what he’s doing’
If Biden’s mental state has reached my non media watching mother I can’t imagine what it will be like in a couple of months.
I think very soon Biden drops out and they appoint Warren, Harris, or Klobuchar. Outside chance of Bloomberg. Admittedly, I know nothing of how it would work procedurally, but I think by whatever mechanisms that’s what will happen.
On the bright side, I’m looking forward to asking smart people if they voted for Biden 🙂
It seems to me that Bernie is only holding and pursuing delegates because he wants control or influence over the Dem convention or the closed-door meetings preceding the convention. Doesn’t that imply that he believes there will be an ABB (Anybody But Biden) movement? Alternatively, he may desire a say over the VP selection.
Best shot so far: Scott Adams
@ScottAdamsSays
“It’s official: Trump is running unopposed.”
I envision a crazy turn of events in this crazy year: Biden dropping out due to health reasons early this summer. They can’t seriously think he can win. Heck, they can’t offer him up as a sacrificial lamb to lose because it will damage the DNC’s chances in the future, that’s how sad it could be. I loathe the man and even I feel pity because he looks and acts, when they actually roll him out, like he’s twilighting at the memory care facility. Pitiable. Unseemly. Its disgusting.
They will appoint someone to take his place when he drops out, it will be a ‘spiritual’ successor with Biden’s blessing.
My bet is they will twist and bend (and rewrite rules in secret meetings) to allow Andrew Cuomo to run. Or someone else they can spin as ‘sane’ and ‘moderate’.
I have a friend (Republican) who is very smart about politics. He says there is no way the Democrats can nominate anyone other than Biden. No way — can’t do it — delusional to think it. We have a $10 bet. I just don’t see how he can win the bet. As Griffin says above: “there’s no way that man can be President.” My friend was also wrong about Trump winning in 2016. Guess I oughta re-think my comment in the first sentence above. But I’m not going to spend that $10 until I can feel it in my hands.
“there’s no way that man can be President.” – Griffin
There was no way this man could be a Senator, but he was elected anyway.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/missouri-elects-dead-man-as-senator-623222.html
This appears to be a bipartisan thing, by the way – not just a quirk of being Democrats (turns out there were actually 5).
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/26281/4-dead-politicians-who-still-got-elected
The hinge is that once ballots are printed (or approved, perhaps), there is often no legal way in some states to remove the candidate’s name, so either somebody is appointed heir-presumptive before the election, and is thus the true candidate, or the voters of the deceased’s party know that someone else from their party will be appointed to serve, so they vote for the person that cannot, in any way, serve in the elective office.
Democrats will vote for Biden as the place-holder for the real candidate, whoever that turns out to be — and the DNC may not even publicly announce a name before the ballots are cast.
Democrat and Independent NeverTrumpers don’t care who beats him.
Voters who DO care may be a little more careful with their ballots.
The only thing we’re sure of: it won’t be Bernie.
Here is the thing about Bernie: Who is making his ad buys?
When Pat Buchanan ran for president, his sister Bay was his media buyer. This means she arranged all of his campaign ad purchases. Pat had matching funds, and these buys were in the tens of millions of dollars. As his buyer, Bay took a seven percent fee on every ad dollar spent. This was important, because Bay’s previous cash cow, a fundraising list, was suffering from donor die-off.
So who’s buying Bernie’s ads? That person or company is the benefactor of Bernie running. Bernie may have never expected to win–it was clear in 2016 that the DNC would never let him win–but he can put a lot of money in someone’s pocket. Plus, I am sure he has at least one PAC and a sophisticated fund raising program, and someone is taking a fat slice of both. It could be his wife….
F – “I have a friend (Republican) who is very smart about politics. He says there is no way the Democrats can nominate anyone other than Biden.”
One can be very smart about small differences within some given paradigm, or frame. The vast majority of the time the current paradigm holds, so being right, and smart, is like accurately predicting who will win, and by how much, in multiple places. Presidents, Governors, Senators, House Representatives; state offices.
Still “outside of the box” events do happen; paradigms can be exceptionally violated or even broken. Black swan events can happen. This pandemic is NOT a Black Swan, tho the CDC / FDA/ CYA-Bureaucrats will say it was, in order to excuse their own incompetence.
Trump getting elected was closer to a black swan. Lots of usually smart folk (usually more correct than most others) had bad predictions. Is the prior political paradigm being broken, or was Trump just an exception?
The DNC seems to be able to break their own rules to a) get Bloomberg in debates, and then b) stop Tulsi from getting into debates. This looks to me like the cracking, if not breaking, of the prior paradigm. I’m sure the Dems CAN nominate somebody else; I’m not sure they will.
It’s certain they will if Biden dies before the nomination. Here’s what Vox said in 2016: https://www.vox.com/2016/9/12/12887632/if-presidential-nominee-drops-out
either party would use a system a little like the Democratic Party’s superdelegates, but on steroids. The members of the parties’ national committees would get together to vote for whomever they want. The candidate with the majority of votes from the national party committees — which consist of 350 people for the DNC and 150 people for the RNC — would then become the presidential nominee.
So, F, who wins your bet if Biden gets nominated at the (virtual?) convention and THEN drops out so somebody else is the Dem on the ballot in November?
I think this is very plausible, in the 40% range. No surprise if it happens, tho probably won’t.