I don’t see a rightward drift. Hillary is to the left of Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. She will be the most liberal president in my lifetime (since JFK).
He may or may not… The defensiveness of many Hillary folks is astounding. If she’s so strong why is everyone so dismissing of Sanders.
If there’s “no way…” why say so? It simply just “won’t happen”. Seems it can go unsaid about Omalley and Chafee.
I think some (not all) Hillary supporters feel real put out by having to acknowledge the democratic primary as potentially competitive. The DNC clearly feels this way, hence the debate schedule.
I support Hillary, I support Bernie. More so than both I support a democrat in '16.
The winner will be stronger with a competative primary. Anybody who doesn’t believe that both didn’t pay attention in 08 or is afraid their candidate will lose.
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I mostly agree. I was a young volunteer for Bernie way back on his first run for mayor of Burlington, so I have huge respect for him. But I worry that Bernie, and his young followers will start to think that he can actually win the nomination then the election. He cannot win either; the money doesn’t add up, the super delegates don’t add up and the electoral college doesn’t add up. Like is or not Hillary is our only chance of not having president Trump, and even that is going to be a brutal and uncertain fight
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You’re not paying close enough attention. He has explained MANY times why he voted (very rarely) with the NRA. On every single other vote over his career, he has voted AGAINST them, and has a D- ranking with them. Go look up interviews with him, he explains it quite well and it certainly won’t back him into a corner.
Besides, do you honestly think that’s the most important issue facing the nation right now???
Preposterous. You’re falling for the anti-Bernie media lines - and don’t forget that we’re still MANY MONTHS OUT. He only announced his candidacy a few months ago and people immediately started saying “Oh, the numbers don’t add up, guess he can’t win!” Meanwhile he keeps getting closer and closer to Hillary. Of course he doesn’t have AS MUCH money as her, but he certainly will have enough to win. Money isn’t the only factor, ya know.
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You’re delusional! Hillary is not to the left of Obama, or Carter - she’s a friggin war hawk who’s in bed with the multinational corps and banks. Look who her biggest campaign donors are - she’s a right-wing hawk in Democrats clothing. Most people acknowledge this.
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Unskew away.
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Well, I’m 72, and I think I’m a real Democrat. As a real Democrat, I’m thrilled with Hillary’s emphasis on bread-and-butter policies that will get Americans back to work and address the real problems of American families. I don’t think we need a candidate who thinks a campaign slogan of “Toss The Plutocrats Out” is our ticket to the a White House. I well recall when JFK was accused during the 1960 campaign of not being liberal enough. Kennedy replied that he was an idealist, but an idealist without illusions. I think of Hillary as being in the same tradition. Which is the tradition of winning Democratic campaigns.
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Well said. Our bench ain’t big but it’s deep.
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Well, I had a couple political positions in the Carter Administration, and I can assure you that Hillary has a much more aggressive domestic political agenda than Jimmy Carter ever had while he was president.
I like Sanders. At the moment, his biggest weakness is (some of) his supporters. You’re a case in point.
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It will take Bernie ten minutes to explain his gun votes. And it will take Hillary 30 seconds to demolish them. The problem with Bernie’s acolytes is that they think he’s St. Sanders. He’s not.
What are the left’s extremist views that are supported by one of our Presidental candidates?
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Cabchi: I like both Sanders and Clinton.
But bear in mind that the VT state constitution embeds an unambiguous right for citizens to keep and bear arms — none of that federal second amendment ambiguity, no question about whether it refers to a militia.
Article 16th. Right to bear arms; standing armies; military power subordinate to civil
That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State - and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power.
In VT you can carry concealed WITHOUT permit and that’s generally understood to be a (state) constitutional right. What that means: politicians generally don’t get elected to statewide office in VT without supporting firearms rights. It’s called representing your constituency.
Former VT Governor Howard Dean? Mr. “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party”? — “A” rating from the NRA. Same deal. You don’t have to like it, but that is the political reality in that particular, small, somewhat eccentric state: Ben & Jerry’s, Subarus, and Glocks.
So let’s put it this way: Sanders will have less difficulty explaining his various (and IMO unfortunate) positions on gun rights than HRC will have explaining her Iraq war vote. Which will forever be a stain on her short time in the United States Senate. Sanders was in Congress, too. He did not make that mistake.
Let’s keep the focus on candidates, not on litmus tests. M’kay?
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It’s a good thing.
Take out Biden and there is not such a significant change.
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It’ll be big news for Sanders when he polls well in a state that has a large minority population.
Look, I like Bernie Sanders a great deal. I like his policies, but as a candidate he is completely unappealing to me. He seems perpetually annoyed and he has a sort of barking tone. I think if we nominated him minorities would stay home and he would be a disaster in a year where we cannot afford to lose. We can’t afford to lose the presidency to a Republican who will no doubt have the opportunity to nominate a SCOTUS judge, gut Obama’s legacy, and will be running for reelection as an incumbent in 2020, a redistricting year. I love that he’s pushing HRC to the left, and I want him to continue to do so, but his weakness as a candidate seems fairly obvious to me.
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Bernie Sanders cannot win the presidency. He will be 76 by Jan. of 2016 and he represents a very small state. I am a voting Democrat and will not vote for Bernie in a primary. The illusion that he will push the party to the left so its worthwhile is so much nonsense. This turning out the base stuff is media hype. I am the base and I vote. Bernie does not represent the my views. Like most Democrats who actually vote we view Bernie as a nice old guy who knows he can represent Vermont in the Senate as long as he wishes so he can propose things that will never become law.
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I am a 70 year Democrat and I agree.
Well said.