Discussion: Biden On Pressuring Sanders To Exit Race: 'We Should Be A Little Graceful'

Getting really tired about how people have to walk on eggshells around Sanders and his paper thin skin.
This s*%t isn’t about you Sanders, this is about our country, and stopping a lunatic from f*%king it up.

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We have been graceful. The grace period ended last night.

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I agree with Joe in principle, but the fact that he even feels the need to make the comment is a sign of how ridiculous the situation is. It’s like having a child in the house who throws volcanic screaming tantrums if he doesn’t get his way on literally every goddamn thing, and everybody around him ceaselessly coddles the little shit in fear of another outburst.

It would be entirely different if the primary race had literally been in doubt until last night—I could sympathize with the disappointment of a true, last-minute loss. But the fact is that the race has essentially been decided for a number of weeks now, and Sanders has had more than ample time to reconcile himself to that fact, and plan accordingly.

Instead, he clung to the mind-boggling delusion that Clinton was going to be indicted any day now by the FBI, and that he was going to be able to persuade the same superdelegates who he’s been calling corrupt tools of Wall Street to abandon Clinton and vote for him. He’s been living in a fantasyland of his own construction.

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Give him until just after the meeting with President Obama tomorrow then when the White House gate is closing behind him tell him to get with the party or fuck off.

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This is embarrassing for Sanders. If he doesn’t endorse Hillary after meeting Clinton tomorrow, I think Obama will give him a pacifier.

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Translation: Take your time, Bernie, but do it SOON.

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Yeah cause they’ve been so damn graceful this whole time.

Joe, you’re too nice for your own good and I know you were a senator and y’all stick together, but you’re talking to the wrong people.

Tell them to get graceful for a change.

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Well I was thinking of something along the following lines:

Dear Mr. Sanders,
We’ve felt the Bern for a long time. But now we’ve developed a painful blister and we want to get rid of it. Please help us.
Thank you,
The Democrats.

Is that graceful enough?

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Uh oh! Grampa is going to be really cranky. It’s tea time and we’ve run out of digestive biscuits. Quick, someone get some before he wakes up.

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OK, so long as Bernie is sitting quietly in his Vermont homestead, we can wait. But if he starts to harangue Clinton, or rouse passions for a convention fight, then the Dems take action.

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Part of my wish for Sanders to exit may be based on the feeling that this primary has been going on since my very early youth! Seems like the elections should have been about six months ago & we’re still messing about with primaries. I dread the actual election, though, because the following day all the talk about the next round will begin. I do wish we could confine ourselves to a reasonable election calendar as some countries seem able to do.

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Biden is right. There’s only downside in Hillary or ā€œThe Establishmentā€ haranguing Bernie – for now.

Obama can put quiet pressure on Bernie. Senate leaders can privately discuss the advantages to him in endorsing Hillary now and in helping to get a Democratic majority in the Senate. His own supporters (e.g. Merkley and MoveOn.org) can urge him publicly to endorse. The commentariat can write about the need for him to endorse before he loses all his political capital. And dozens of little conversations no doubt are taking place right now to help bring individual delegates into the fold.

But a big public snit would only help the Republicans. Let Hillary keep the focus on Trump, and the Senate candidates do their thing. Don’t get distracted by escalating internal disagreements.

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Independents are not team players (by definition). I’m glad he ran inside the tent rather than in a Nader-esque sidecar. But Bernie’s affiliation with Dems has it’s limits. He’ll never be a big Clinton supporter.

Never the less, the HRC train is leaving the station. All aboard!

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He’ll never be a big Clinton supporter.

Yep. I’ll be surprised if an endorsement isn’t faint-hearted and filled with qualifiers and implied threats.

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Bernie or bust people right now.

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I understand the politics of it. I’m certainly in favor of stategic pragmatism and all that. But…

It kind of irks me that a woman has won the nomination, and yet we’re still expected to remain deferential and ā€˜graceful’ in order to appease the ego of her male counterpart. It’s problematic to say the least.

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Clinton, Obama and Biden seem to be coping just fine. You, on the other hand, need a binky and a nap.

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Great attitude if don’t want his supporters voting Democratic. Yelling at people that they are stupid is always a great way to get them on your side, right? Works every time. Make sure you emphasize how they don’t understand how important this all is like you uniquely do. That’s sure to make them see how right you are. Right?

Biden gets that. Boxer, who was even the in person target of a lot of Sander’s supporters aggression gets that. TPM commentors don’t seem to have a clue.

Politics is hard. This is one of the hard parts.

Hey, here’s what’s important, right from Josh on the front page:

ā€œPennsylvania is a great microcosm of the issue Clinton faces in winning over Sanders fans. Among people who support Sanders in a head to head match up with Trump, only 72% support Clinton in the general. 10% would go to Trump, 6% to Stein, 4% to Johnson, and 9% are undecided. If Clinton could win over even just half of those Sanders supporting hold outs her lead over Trump would go from a tenuous 41-40 to a comfortable 47-40. Whether it’s possible for her to do that time will tell.ā€

Stop obsessing with how dumb people who don’t agree with you on 10% of things broadly are, and start behaving as if those people are your allies. If Clinton loses, it’s not because hippies weren’t punched hard enough, it’s because you kept punching the hippies instead of winning their votes. Look in the mirror first.

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Just Read the Politico article, about Sanders’ role in his campaign that Josh refers to.

Vindictive, mean-spirted, self absorbed, old wombat. Send him packing.

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