or there are leftover Harper supporters there…
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If Clinton becomes the nominee I’m going out and donating to the Green Party.
I’m not going to hold my nose and support someone I can’t stand.
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Ugh. I guess if it did discuss his positions seriously, it would also have to acknowledge that they’re only extremist in the sense that FDR’s policies were. Despite his “socialist” claims (as I imagine you know), what he’s been calling for would have been straightforward Democratic ideals not all that long ago.
Overton Window, etc etc
I hope he stays in the race for a long time, keeping Mrs Clinton’s feet to the fire. His chances look slim, but he has done a lot, and could continue to do a lot, to legitimize policies and ideals to the left of the Window through which most US Americans view politics and government. He’s made me more optimistic about the long game, as has his huge support among young voters.
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I really don’t think he’ll do it, because he buys into the “spoiler” narrative… but it would be nice to see Sanders endorsing or joining the Green Party. Their platform is so much like his, and clearly he has deep disagreements with Hillary Clinton and the Democratic establishment.
Would be nice to see some momentum there. It feels like OWS has led to the Sanders campaign, and advocating for the Greens – or at least reaching out to them in acknowledgement, to join forces to get shit done – would continue that momentum.
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Maybe. It might also be used as ammunition, from both Clinton and (probably) Trump, to further brand, and in the eyes of many, delegitimize, Sanders and his supporters as extremists, commies, etc.
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Trump, and the rest of the GOP, doesn’t need any actual ammunition though. They’ll treat Hillary with the same irrationally intense hatred they already have, and they’ll call her a Communist/Socialist/whatever despite all reality. I think a lot of Republicans would rather see Bernie in the White House just because they haven’t built up decades of enmity against him.
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True, but I was actually thinking more of Mrs Clinton. She’s swung to the left in response to Sanders’ popularity. She’ll have to keep doing some of that just to keep (at least some) of Bernie’s supporters. If she can suddenly brand him as a zealot and a party-buster who went against his pledged allegiance to the Democratic Party, that would likely alienate a lot of his supporters, and I suspect that Sanders and his advisors know that.
Anyway, I’m with you otherwise. I’ll probably vote Green in the general, and have before, an easier choice for me because I’m in a state that always goes Dem. And the discussion seems “academic” to me; he’s said he won’t go independent in this election, and given his consistency, I don’t believe he’ll change his mind.
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I think Sanders will be true to his word. I wonder if he’ll leave the Dems after the election, but I’ll be amazed if he doesn’t fully support Clinton during the general election if she’s the nominee.
Hopefully he’ll take a lot of delegates to the convention and push his agenda as far as he can (keynote speech?), and continue to work to get progressives elected at all levels (which is really important and what I hope the real legacy of his campaign can be).
But I’ll support the Greens over Clinton, unless she really pulls out a staggeringly progressive left wing VP candidate (which she won’t).
(but I don’t have a vote anyway, so…)
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I think his strategy could be subtler than this. If he’s trying to build momentum beyond this election, even if he loses, and start a real movement toward electing left-wing politicians into various levels of government, all he has to “buy into” is the idea that voters believe the spoiler narrative. In convincing democrats to vote left-wing in these local elections, it may be he just sees the prudence in not leaving a bad taste in Democrat voters mouths about a left-wing movement.
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CNN during Bernie Sanders' speech ... pic.twitter.com/BlOHWWHVRP
— David V. Johnson (@contrarianp) March 16, 2016
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How much you want to bet some angry Clinton staffer called in a favor to complain about how nice they were being and ISN’T SHE THE ANOINTED ONE!!! IT’S HER TIME, DAMNIT!!!
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I’m so sick of the Trump-Sanders comparisons, as it just rings so hollow! Sanders isn’t extreme, by any stretch of the imagination… in anything. He’s fucking SANE!!!
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All these MSM fuckstains consider anti-establishment to be extreme; that’s the thing.
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On the surface I kind of understand the comparison. Both candidates are drawing frustrated voters. Those on the right who are sick of politics-as-usual go to Trump; those on the left who hate politics-as-usual feel the Bern (I know I do.) But that’s where any similarity ends. Sanders talks about a revolution, but as many before me have said, his policies aren’t that extreme, more like FDR’s New Deal. Like you said, he’s the sane one. Trump promises everything and then some (no matter how impractical, immoral or illegal) but has been vague on how he’ll get it done. But we shouldn’t be worried, it will be yuge.
Are there any drinks left for me? I need a drink too. 
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I’m not yuge on Sanders, but Clinton is a distant second choice for me and either are leaps and bounds less odious than any of the GOP candidates. I think he’s an honest dreamer and an inspiring figure, but I don’t think his programs would work out, not in this country.
If Sanders got elected, it would entertaining to watch Mitch “It’s About Not Appointing A Judge In This Toxic Partisan Climate But That’s Bullshit Because I’m Keeping Obama’s Olive Branch Nominee In My Back Pocket For December In Case We Can’t Shoehorn A Wingnut Into Office” McConnell scramble to push Merrick Garland through before Obama withdraws him and sticks him with whoever Sanders would nominate 
Yeah, I know McConnell expects Trump or Clinton and figures he’s no worse off with them nominating, but I can dream.
One thing would be novel about a Sanders presidency, I’d be to the right of my president for the first time in my life.
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From an international POV, Sanders is a centre-left politician whose policies are dramatically non-radical.
Clinton is centre-right (i.e. centrist social policy, substantially right of centre on economic and foreign policy).
The entire GOP are extreme-right loonies. Our most extreme-right politicians approximate the “left” wing of the Republicans. The centre and right of the GOP approximate our criminal/terroristic hate groups.
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Well, I wouldn’t mind a slurp for once of some of that beer the rich fucks have been drinking.
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