More dammit, I want more! |
The Democratic Party platform drafted in St. Louis is an excellent start in bringing forth policies that will help end the 40-year decline of the American middle class. These initiatives, if implemented, will create millions of good-paying jobs, significantly improve health care, and reverse the dangerous trend in this country toward an oligarchic form of society.
Do you hear a "but" coming? Because I hear a "but" coming.
But, let us be clear, this is a document that needs to be significantly improved by the full Platform Committee meeting in Orlando on July 8 and 9.
Now here are some of the progressive provisions in the platform as listed by Sanders himself:
At a time when huge Wall Street financial institutions are bigger now than they were before the taxpayers of this country bailed them out, the platform calls for enacting a 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act and for breaking up too-big-to-fail banks.
The platform calls for a historic expansion of Social Security, closes loopholes that allow corporations to avoid paying taxes, creates millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, makes it easier for workers to join unions, takes on the greed of the pharmaceutical companies, ends disastrous deportation raids, bans private prisons and detention centers, abolishes the death penalty, moves to automatic voter registration and the public financing of elections, eliminates super PACs, and urges passage of a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, among many other initiatives.
These are all major accomplishments that will begin to move this country in the right direction. I congratulate Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), chairman of the Platform Drafting Committee, and all 15 members of the panel for their hard work.
Okay by almost ANY standard that is an incredibly progressive agenda, and the part that Sanders' delegates had in drafting it should give them quite a sense of accomplishment.
But to Sanders it is just not goddamn good enough.
The problems? It does not guarantee a $15 dollar an hour minimum wage, and does not condemn the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP if you prefer.
In other words Sanders has achieved virtually every one of his goals in crafting this Democratic platform, but it is not perfect so he remains dissatisfied.
Now first let us not forget that the Democratic party is NOT married to this platform and there is nothing which forces them to pursue these policies.
Secondly let's remember that just because the Democrats might want to get these policies passed into law, there is absolutely no guarantee that such a thing will happen, especially while facing off against an entrenched Republican opposition.
And thirdly the stated reason that the Hillary delegates refused to sign off on an official opposition to TPP, is because our President is for the deal, and they refused to take a stand in direct opposition to his desires.
And lastly Sanders should know that even if the language opposing TPP is not part of the official platform, Hillary Clinton, who has stated her opposition to the plan, will be against it or not depending on what she thinks is right.
She is not bound by the language of the party platform, so it has no real control over her future decisions as President.
So his op-ed reads like nothing more than the thinnest of excuses for not officially dropping out of the race and endorsing Hillary Clinton.
What he is demanding will not happen, so he wields his progressive purity as a shield to deflect criticism as he continues to milk his last remaining supporters for contributions and basks in the media's attention.
Can't even say I'm surprised.
By the way if you want see just how delusional the remaining Bernie Bros have become just take a listen to H.A. Goodman.
And trust me, he's not the only one holding on to those delusions.
Is Bernie Sanders ever satisfied? Doesn't seem so. He's starting to remind me of Sarah Palin...doesn't know when to get off the stage. He's gone way beyond where he needs to be.
ReplyDeleteI used to be a Bernie supporter until he went crazy, so I got all those daily emails (which I barely if ever read). I have unsubscribed several times, and still got more. So, today, I unsubscribed again and told them my opinion. At the end, the form thanked me and said I was unsubscribed... and then ASKED ME FOR A &@}!,£#!!! CONTRIBUTION!!! WTF does it take to get them to understand that people are sick and tired of this cranky delusional old man???!!!
DeleteGotdang that non-quittin' son of a bitch, Bernie Sanders!
ReplyDeleteHow dare that bastard follow a democratic process in this day and age!
Who the hell does that better-life-for-ALL-Americans-keeping-Hills-to-the-left spewin' dickwad think he is?!?!?!?
All about Bernie, like these are unique ideas and the dems have never supported them. (eye roll) Bernie Butt Sniffer in the house.
DeleteI'm not angry that Bernie won't quit. I think you are putting words in people's mouth. And to rephrase you: How dare someone follow the democratic process and exercise their 1st amendment and disapprove of Bernie Sander's tactics.
DeleteI'm angry that he's hurting the Democratic party & Hillary's campaigns.
Lucy
Clinton will vote against the TPP? she's not a member of Congress. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteNope and when Hillary wins, old Bernie is going to get stuck in a corner in a broom closet some where, well away from any power to do more harm than he has already done.
ReplyDeleteBernie seems to think he is the golden prince holding all the power. Wait until after the election when he falls into oblivion faster than a whore's panties.
DeleteThat 'perfect progressive democrat' is already running for re-election... as an Independent for 2018 ... in his state!
DeletePuleez 12:05 Everybody knows Che Bustamante's phony smear was debunked back in March no one's heard much from the shamed-false-meme-maker since. Here, learn something:
Deletehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/5/1496272/-No-Sanders-did-NOT-file-for-re-election-as-an-independent-in-2018
Go look at his senate.gov page, 12:20. Bernie still lists himself as an Independent there. Look it up!
DeleteHere's a partial list of things you must believe in order to be a Republican
ReplyDeletehttp://rightwingcrooks.blogspot.com/
Is it possible he is hanging in as a means to push his convictions through, follow through so there is attention to his agenda? Meanwhile hell bent on his intent he disregards the cons of not conceding?
ReplyDeleteBernie could care less about his "convictions." He's all about Bernie Sanders, party of one, and always has been.
DeleteBeaglemom
That's ridiculous!
DeleteBeaglemom,
DeleteYou got it exactly right.
Enough.
ReplyDeleteBernie needs to lose all seniority and committee assignments in the Senate.
He needs a strong primary challenge by a real Democrat in 2018.
He's nothing but an old troll at this point.
I totally agree about being an old troll, but I don't agree on the committee assignments.
DeleteAl Giordano is organizing against him for the Democrats! He's run 26 successful campaigns.
DeleteYeah, you're right. No one should speak up for making a living wage and we should all be satisfied with becoming paupers.
ReplyDeleteYou betcha'!
That unfortunately is the reality of today's America, it doesn't matter who wins in November, nothing will change.
DeleteYeh, because nobody else in the whole Democrat party has EVER mentioned living wages, except for maybe 99% of them. You're living in an alternate universe, Bernie Bro. He is not God. He brought nothing new except excitement through rebellion.
DeleteEvery four years the Democrats have planks in their platform about providing better lives for everyone. A party platform is not the same as enacted and signed legislation. Seems that not many people reading here have much understanding of what happens at a political convention and then in the real world.
DeleteBeaglemom
Gryphen,
ReplyDeleteIt's first, second, third. No such thing as secondly and thirdly.
@anon 9:23pm
DeleteBack to English class for you! Both are acceptable usages.
Firstly, secondly, thirdly and fourthly etc. are all acceptable. Firstly, 9:33, where did you go to school and, secondly, why didn't you pay attention?
Deletehttp://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/finally-at-last-lastly-or-in-the-end
DeleteBernie will take ALL the credit for the platform as though no one else could possibly have supported those principles. What a goof.
ReplyDeleteAnd to whom, if not Sanders, would you give credit?
Delete@ C Quass
DeleteThe men and women of the Democratic Party that have spent the last 4 yrs working on the platform and new proposals.
The Democratic platform is always liberal, has been so for many decades. Things are supported that will never become law because this is a two-party system. More get enacted when the Democrats control both houses of Congress and the White House. Much less, if anything gets enacted when the GOP is in control. That's how it works. The platform is a kind of Christmas wish list.
DeleteI don't think that Bernie Sanders has paid attention to a Democratic convention any time before in his life. He's been up there in Vermont, painting picket fences and clearing rocks from fields.
Beaglemom
Bernie had seven members on the Platform committee, including some very controversial people to mainstream Democrats. Hillary at 8. The Party had a few more. ALL of them, INCLUDING Bernie's people, voted to pass the platform. and that's not good enough for Bernie. So much for supporting his people.
DeleteLucy
". . . painting picket fences and clearing rocks from fields." hahaha, good one, Beaglemom. Corgimom
DeleteAs usual, you're right on point, Beaglemom. I think we might be "Soul Sisters". Westiemom
DeleteSaint Bernie believes he is the be all and end all to liberal politics. WTF? Seriously, he has brought nothing new. All the things he claims to want have been on the Democrat Party agenda for many years. Go to hell, Old Man, and take your corrupt wife with you. And C quass, you can go with them. You're delusional if you think any of this is new.
DeleteGryphen,
ReplyDeleteThere is also no "lastly." It is "last."
While "finally" is more in use, "lastly" is also perfectly acceptable.
Deleteand sounds ignorant.
Delete@11:57 Oh please. Stop talking about yourself. Better only to be thought a fool, than to post stupid stuff and prove it!
DeleteYour response to Sen. Sanders wanting to add things to help the rest of us have a better life reminds me of the republicans and how they would respond to those things.
ReplyDeleteThe point is, they aren't his ideas and they aren't new.
DeleteThere isn't an intelligent person in the world who trusts either major political party. Bernie, the only GOOD candidate, knows this. Hillary, queen of hiring hitmen, is EVERYTHING you, Gryphen, rail against.
ReplyDelete"queen of hiring hitmen"
DeleteYou're ill.
Your remarks are stunningly stupid if you fall for that false meme about her having people killed. Oh puh-leeze. conspiracy much?
DeleteBernie lost, get over it. Now run back to your reader free blog Celia.
DeleteI trust the Democratic Party.
DeleteBeaglemom
Uh, Bernie isn't that "good." Do some research.
DeleteThey went after Benghazi for $7 million dollars. They went after Whitewater and got nothing. It appears the emails is going to be very little. And you think they'd pass up a chance to show that she was responsible for Vince Foster's death.
DeleteFurther, like any other unexplained death, there was an investigation (by career people, not politicians) that determined it was suicide.
Lucy
The NRA loves the Bern!
Delete"I can never declare my independence. That would be hypocrisy. I am deeply dependent on my fellow human beings, and happily so."
ReplyDeleteOkay, you Bernistas -- enuf is enuf. I still have my "Feel The Bern" bumper sticker proudly displayed along with my "I'm With Hillary" Bumper sticker.
ReplyDeleteGryph asks if we feel "a but" coming on. Well, maybe not, but I do get the distinct scent of an asshole. A really, really big asshole.
As a small business owner I must agree with your assessment. This raising of the minimum wage is nonsense, it's right where it should be. Even that $12 nonsense needs to be squashed. Bernie needs to shut it and leave things like this alone or a lot of people will end up unemployed.
Delete10:40
DeleteIncluding you.
an earned income credit is far more effective for the target group than $15/hr. But $15 hour isn't as sophisticated. It's benefits to workers more obvious. But it's not better. And they won't do both.
DeleteLucy
12:20pm
DeletePeople with too many children and too little income always take advantage of that "earned income credit". It's past time for the IRS to close that loophole. As all it does is reward people for breeding without prior financial planning.
@ 3:02 pm
DeleteI agree with you. Why are people getting back more than they paid in? It just puts the tax burden on the working middle class.
IN a couple more weeks the news outlets will quit giving Bernie air time.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope your man-crush fails with regard to the TPP. The "rust belt," hard hit by Clinton's NAFTA, has gone from a perrenial 70 per cent Dem to 70 per cent Trump. Factor in how the Repubs are making the Dems also own the jobs lost to clean energy, and the Dems cannot afford any more zombie towns/cities. The TPP is the Dem's ticket to the weeds.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you'd like to explain how NAFTA is responsible for jobs lost in the rust belt. Inquiring minds want to know. BTW, it used to take 10 workers to build parts of a car. Now it takes 1, and that job is to make sure the robot works properly. Don't blame that on NAFTA, hon.
DeleteNo jobs have been lost to clean energy. The only way jobs are lost is by Americans buying goods made in other countries which are produced by the materials from other countries.
DeletePerhaps you haven't heard, but lots of jobs that used to be American are now Mexican jobs and that includes auto jobs. Something else that has apparently flown right past your radar is that clean energy replaces dirty energy, and people who did things like mine coal lose their jobs as a result. Real people, with families to support and mortgages, and they don't like losing their jobs - and they vote. See Clinton's recent address to coal workers.
Deletehttp://www.aol.com/article/2016/07/04/trump-and-clinton-probably-want-you-to-ignore-this-fact-checker/21423721/
ReplyDeleteFrom the article:
" There's one candidate who's never had any claims rated as "Pants on Fire" — Bernie Sanders."
Actually, not true. He has earned his Pinocchios.
DeleteActually, 12:03, I am linking to an article that is directly quoting the fact checking organization, Politifact. Where is YOUR proof?
DeleteGoogle it, 3;34
DeleteWhere are Bernie's tax returns, he stated ( or lied) that they would be released months ago.
DeleteWell, 3:34, here is one source of many showing his Pinocchios. Get off your sanctimonious high-horse and stop worshipping him. He puts his pants on like everyone else. http://bit.ly/29eJlln
DeleteIt's interesting you think the party platform doesn't mean shit. When you say none of Bernie's ideas will get passed, then how in the hell do you think Clinton's ideas will get passed. You should learn something about fighting for a cause, never give up. Hillary won't get anything she wants passed, so I guess I'll vote for the Republican candidate, because Republicans have majority and at least they will be able to make law. Your points are ridiculous.
ReplyDelete"Your points are ridiculous."
DeleteSo are your reading skills.
I did not say than none of the policy ideas could get passed, I simply said that fighting for these last few, after winning on so many, is not an exercise in progressiveness but rather an example of ego run amok.
@11:15 Please be good enough to tell us just which laws you think the Republicans will pass (because they are currently in the majority)? Hmmmm?
Delete11:15
DeleteThey aren't Bernie's ideas. That's the point. He takes full credit for ideas that have been fought for years?
12:04 if those ideas have been fought for for years, why are the Clinton reps on the platform committee voting against them?
Delete"So are your reading skills"
DeleteFunny coming from a guy who thinks Clinton will get to vote on TPP when she left the Senate 7-1/2 years ago.
That's right these are progressive ideas that democrats have been fighting for, for years. So why isn't Clinton spearheading these ideas?
Delete12:59pm
DeleteBecause Clinton isn't a progressive, silly, she's just big business as usual, which actually works for most of us.
Face it, there isn't a chance for wage equality in America no matter who is POTUS. Ain't gonna happen in the next 100 years, if even then. Rich gonna be rich and poor gonna be poor, that's the way it works and has worked since the founding of this great land.
Rose colored glasses are just that.
I'll vote for the Republican candidate, because Republicans have majority and at least they will be able to make law.
Delete------------
Can't argue with stupid.
11:15
DeleteYou really stepped in it. You're implying that bad laws are the same as good laws just as long as something gets passed. Here's your sign: STUPID
Here is an e-mail comment from a friend who is still a Bernie supporter:
ReplyDelete"All Hillary has to do is convince us that she really appreciates what Bernie has done to strengthen the Democratic Party and she cares about the issues we're concerned about (including fracking, the TPP, etc.). Although she has plenty of time ... November is a long way off ... it would be smart for her to start shifting her focus to these issues and away from Bernie's decision not to endorse her at this time.
What does one say to that? The "Platform" is a guide/blue print to what the party hopes to achieve in the next four years. Just because something is put in the platform does not make it a reality.
It's a tradition, stupid. Reality is that the House is Republican controlled and may continue to be so and the Senate is a crap shoot. Even a Democratic President (cough-Barack Obama) cannot perform miracles with the Republican obstructionists at work.
Bernie supporters think that only their guy can make things happen - all by himself.
Hell in 28 yrs he has named 2 post offices! Are you saying he isn't an effective politician? You would be correct.
DeleteBernie helped strengthen the Democrat Party? "In what way, Charlie?" That was a big pile of steaming bullshit.
DeleteBernie isn't and will never be satisfied unless his list of demands on the frontrunner are met. Thanks, Gryphen, for the clip of the Bernie Bot and his line of "reasoning". That guy should be on television, preferably on a comedy show because that's not how things work. Hopefully, in a short period of time, no one will even mention his name in the media.
ReplyDeleteIn 3 weeks it won't matter what Bernie thinks, the news outlets won't care once he is not voted in.
DeleteIt doesn't matter what he thinks now.
DeleteBest comment I've seen about Sanders all weekend: "A man who won't take Yes for an answer."
ReplyDeleteI like Joe Biden's sentiment, which I read on THE NATION:
ReplyDeleteJoe Biden understands something about the Democratic Party and its future that his fellow partisans would do well to consider. “I don’t think any Democrat’s ever won saying, ‘We can’t think that big—we ought to really downsize here because it’s not realistic,’” the vice president told The New York Times in April. “C’mon man, this is the Democratic Party! I’m not part of the party that says, ‘Well, we can’t do it.’” Mocking Hillary Clinton’s criticism of Bernie Sanders for proposing bold reforms, Biden dismissed the politics of lowered expectations. “I like the idea of saying, ‘We can do much more,’ because we can,” he declared, leading the Times to observe that, while Biden wasn’t making an endorsement, “He’ll take Mr. Sanders’s aspirational approach over Mrs. Clinton’s caution any day.”
Thank you, Mr. Vice-President.
Bernie and the progressives don't have to worry Hills position on the TPP. I'm sure, being a middle-class representing Democrat, her immediate reaction was 'NO'...but it had a kind of a 'YESSY' aftertaste.
ReplyDeleteThen there's a part of her that loves it! But then there's another part of her that hates the first part for loving it because the second part hates it!
SO there is one thing you can count on...
...She's definitely 'FORGAINST IT!'
♎
Go Hillary! We love you!
DeleteAs a long time Bernie supporter, I am disgusted with his continuing nonsense. It really doesn't matter what's in the platform unless the CONGRESS (who makes the laws) returns to Dem control.
ReplyDeleteUnder the rethugs, there will be 4 more years of gridlock.
I want to know 2 things, how was Bernie allowed to run as a Democrat and since he has been in the Senate how many bills did he draft to stop those evil people on Wall St?
ReplyDeletebut, but, but what happened to FREE COLLEGE????
ReplyDeleteBernie is going to lose all those young people who want their FREE COLLEGE !!!!!!
rlington Collage was going to be a "free" college before Jane Sanders caused it to go bankrupt and make student debt more than quadruple. Someone walked away with "free: money but it wasn't the students, only Jane walked away with a fistful of dollars.
Delete3 weeks Bernie bots and no one will remember his name in 2 months.
ReplyDeleteWhose name?
DeleteNew York Post
ReplyDeleteSanders delegates shocked they need cash for DNC trip
By Mary Kay Linge July 4, 2016 | 2:51am
Some of Bernie Sanders’ 1,831 New York delegates can’t scrape up enough cash to attend this month’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia — so they’ve turned to crowd-funding Web sites to raise the cash.
“The cost definitely was a surprise,” said Jessica Frisco, 23, a delegate from the Upper West Side. “People are freaking out.”
Unlike the savvy operators who usually win slots as convention delegates, some from Sanders’ campaign say they had no idea they would have to spend up to $5,000 on travel expenses.
At least 20 Sanders delegates from New York have set up online crowd-funding campaigns to plead for cash.
http://nypost.com/2016/07/04/sanders-delegates-shocked-they-need-cash-for-dnc-travel/
WTF?
Free Secret Service (Sanders)
Free police motorcade (Sanders)
Free trip to Rome (Sanders)
Free college
Free this
Free that
Next Sanders delegates are going to want an all paid cruise to the island of their choice.
Has no one ever explained to Jessica Frisco that life is not free. How did she think she was going to get to the convention in Philadelphia? She could drive, of course, but then she'd have to park her car.
DeleteBeaglemom
When Bernie Sanders tells you he's going to give you something for free, remember this
ReplyDeleteNOTHING IS FREE!
Somebody is paying for it!
That guy in the video is goofy & delusional. Saying he doesn't care what others have to say about who is the frontrunner is crazy. He needs to take his meds & go take a nap. Shessshhh
ReplyDelete