Bernie Sanders, 45th president of US

Many believe that this is a impossible, a 74 year old self declared socialist becoming president? Well, polls are beginning to indicate this may actually be possible. First of all, he's now leading Clinton in Iowa and NH polls, which is a source of concern for Clinton side. If he wins Iowa and NH, he could suddenly gain more momentum. Sanders wasn't well known initially but with each debate, he gets more coverage and the more people get to hear him talk, the more votes he gets. I believe he has edged out Clinton in all debates, at least polls seem to indicate it. Republicans have been effective in their nasty smear campaign over years to attack Hillary's character; this whole Benghazi thing and the stupid e-mails was nothing more than a strategy to bring down Hillary and it has worked to a degree. Hillary is a bit of damaged goods and so it is easier for Sanders to win democratic votes. My suspicion is that many Americans like Sanders but don't want to vote for him because they don't think he has a shot, this could change.

What i find interesting is that whilst Clinton is in a dead heat vs all republican candidates in national polls, Sanders is destroying all of them, this is a startling poll to me. I would've expected all republican candidates to do very well vs a 74 year old socialist on national polls? yet sanders has like 55% vs each of the republican front runners and the rest.

Lastly, i think people are underestimating the dissatisfaction with income inequality in this Country. It seems to me like the rich are happy but the middle class and poor think the economy is favoring the rich and openly or secretly supporting Sanders. If Bernie suddenly becomes a viable candidate in Americans' eyes, he will gain more popularity and may actually win. Make no mistake, he will be harder than Clinton to beat in debates, i don't see Trump or any of the republican candidates winning 1 on 1 debates vs Sanders.

 

Sanders is outside the political mainstream. The right wing equivalent is David Duke and the KKK.

Sanders hates capitalism just like the KKK hates blacks. Both need to be shunned.

 

I would love to see Bernie VS Trump.... I'll vote for the Libertarian candidate.

 

yet is is destroying all republican candidates in national polls...

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Sanders would destroy Trump in debates, it would be ugly. I think republicans would much rather have Hillary in debates as they can go on and go about Benghazi and the dumb e-mails... Against Sanders, Trump would be like a child. I have seen Sanders debate and speak on several interviews and on senate floor, this guy is a nightmare on the debate stage. Every time i look up a Sanders debate or interview, he is usually owning whoever is arguing against him.

 

Naive college students love Sanders.

 

Basically anybody who has a decent job will have a hard time voting for Sanders regardless of their views on social issues. He really alienates the upper middle class. I live in CT and people are very angry about GE leaving. There's not this large disdain for GE, there's disdain for the tax policies under an all Democratic legislator and governor. What you'll see in America if Bernie is elected president is corporations all across the country saying they've had enough and there will be a title wave of them moving their headquarters overseas.

 

I would love to see Bernie run against The Donald. At least we would have a chance to shatter the sickening status quoin US politics.

 

the question is what % of america is upper middle class? I agree, most will not opt for Sanders but he is really looking for the middle, lower classes to vote for him. Most americans are not upper class.

 

It is an illusion. You just happen to agree with everything Sanders said. Everyone goes on about "critical thinking." But it rarely actually practiced.

I am sure if I listened to these "debates" I wouldn't agree with you as to who was the winner. Not that politicians actually debate all that much, in any case. They just string together sound bites that often are only tangentially relevant to the topic under discussion.

If you want to see what political debates should be like, see here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYlMEVTa-PI

 

Well as long as they keep their currency in circulation, if it's just gonna be stashed in some account somewhere it will be useless no?

 

Mr Sanders:
You want to give the American people all sorts of free stuff.
How do you plan to pay for it, and if you have to pay for it, is it really free?

 

https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/how-groups-voted/how-groups-voted-2012/
There's a positive correlation between income voter turnout. Household incomes over $100,000 were 28% of the vote in 2012. 54% of that vote went to Romney, 44% went to Obama. How can Bernie muster up anywhere close to 44% of that demographic with his rhetoric? Trump will also have more appeal to the lower class than Romney ever did. He might even use dog whistles over the fact that Bernie's Jewish and he's "Christian". What new group of people does Bernie bring in that Obama didn't in 2008? I only see him losing votes from Obama's base.

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What they'll do is merge with a smaller company overseas and set up their headquarters there. That's been the theme of companies lately. We've seen numerous companies do this with Ireland.

 

If Sanders' supporters put their hacky sacks down long enough to go to the polls he should do well.

 

The Clintonistas are claiming the fix is in and she already has all the delegates she needs.

 

Sanders has a host of problems. First, he does not have the big dollar donors required to fund a fight in 50 states, nor is he likely to get them. Second he does not have a serious ground presence in those 50 states,or the political connections to establish one quickly, while Hillary just had wake hers up from last time. Third, if it starts to get close, the superdelegates in the party will become far more important. They will not reward a man who just waltzed into the party tent less than a year ago over a woman who has been a registered and very loyal Dem for over 50 years. Fourth, the demographic groups he is doing well in, are not big on actually showing up at the polls. He is doing well with the working and non -working poor and the youth vote and they are either to busy to register / vote, or too indifferent. Both groups are also going to have more trouble showing that photo ID with current address than other demographic democrats. Fifth, Omama will pull his strings behind the scenes for Hillary. Things will only get worse for Sanders if Bloomburg gets more attention.

I like the guy and may even vote for him, but he is going to be sunk by Super Tuesday, unless there is a major shift secondary to a Hillary implosion or an indictment.

 

I think Trump is scared of Bernie.

 

If Trump wins the GOP nomination, Bernie will have the advantage of running against a less experienced candidate than McCain or Romney who were both pretty goodn in the one on one debates. Trump could easily stick his foot in his mouth big time or have a total meltdown.

 

That's hilarious! Still, I would love to see a Sanders / Trump debate.

With Sanders, the issue of who is his vice President is important since odds are he won't finish out his term.

 

Trump just went up against a national debate champion and came out ahead.

 

republican debates are all about soundbites, personal attacks and zingers, democratic debates are actually quite substantive and i'm not just saying it because i'm democrat.

 

Yes, yes you are.

 

nothing is free, even the land you and I walk on. If people want to use public roads, bridges and live on land, they have ti pay for it. The word taxes has this sort of evil connotation to it but it's nothing more than a fee which represents the fact that nothing is free.

Now, yes Sanders wants to make things more affordable but he doesn't want to just hand out free money for everything to promote laziness, this is obviously the twisted republican perspective. Go to Denmark, Norway, Canada, places which actually have a higher living standard than the US, people lazy over there? They work, just like you and I work.

Sanders simply wants to make two things more affordable - Healthcare and education. Before the ACA, if you were sick and unemployed, insurance companies f-ed you over. Is there anything more unAmerican than this? Actually, something more inhumane? The ACA took care of this but Sanders believes the ACA is actually a republican idea (which is sort of true - e.g. Romneycare) which is primarily privatized. Sanders believes the most cost effective way is a single payer system as the corporate cronies in today's healthcare system make costs per capita the highest of any other Country, it's horrifically managed.

Education. Does it make any sense that only the rich can afford the best schools? Talk about discrimination against the lower class.

Aside from these two areas, Sanders doesn't really advocate big government. You see, Republicans are the biggest spenders, ironic isn't it? Reagan quadrupled the national debt, Bush was a massive spender but they just focus on military and other areas whereas democrats on education and healthcare.

 

If he wins I will support him and hope for the best just like I always do. He couldn't be any worse than another Bush or Clinton. If Saunders wins, I hope he will get the support of the American people also. I would vote for Trump or Saunders over either Clinton or Bush. I would not be surprised if Trump gets to the point where he is the obvious winner on the GOP side and a "lone nut gunman" kills him. Same thing if Bernie starts kicking Hillary's ass. Both of these guys are scary as hell to those who are used to controlling US and world politics. Either of them might be a refreshing change.

 

Does this mean that Sanders lied about wanting to make college "free"?
Not "affordable", but "tuition free and debt free"?
https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/