Mar 5, 2016

Why Democrats Need to Wake up & Realize It Is Bernie or Bust

By David Spring / washingtonforberniesanders.com

I know this is going to be hard for loyal Democrats to accept. But in this article, I will explain why loyal Democrats need to wake up and realize that, in this crazy 2016 Presidential Election, it is now either Bernie or Bust. Recently, I was in a room with a bunch of Hillary supporters. It was pretty shocking listening to some of the reasons they supported Hillary. If you are a Bernie supporter, you may want to read this article - because there is a possibility you will run into Hillary supporters at your precinct caucus. I will try to prepare you for some of the arguments you are likely to hear from Hillary supporters - versus what the facts really are.

No Difference Between Bernie and Hillary???
First, they will claim that there is "no real difference between Bernie and Hillary on major issues." Both want to create jobs and reign in Wall Street Banks. Both want to make college more affordable and lower the cost of health care. Both want to get money out of politics. Both want to raise taxes on billionaires and major corporations. In fact, the only major difference between Bernie and Hillary is that Bernie is a man and Hillary is a woman - and it is time we had a woman President. Really, they actually said that.

The fact that Hillary is literally being financed by the Wall Street banks does not seem to matter to Hillary supporters. The fact that Bernie does not want to just make college or health care "affordable" but he wants to make both of these basic human rights FREE also does not matter. The fact that Hillary's views on war and bombing other countries back to the stone ages is more similar to Donald Trump than Bernie Sanders also does not matter.

So let's start with a basic history lesson that you can use as a helpful reminder that Bernie and Hillary are not really two peas in a pod. Back in the 1960's, Hillary was a Goldwater Girl (for those who may not know, Goldwater was a radical racist right wing Republican Presidential candidate who vowed to re-segregate the South). Meanwhile, Bernie was an anti-war protester who took part in Martin Luther King's March on Washington DC. So Hillary and Bernie come from very different backgrounds.

01
In the 1980's, while Bernie was running for Mayor of Burlington in order to improve their parks, Hillary was on the Board of Directors of a union busting corporation called Walmart that made billions in profits by paying their workers starvation wages.

02
In the 1990's, Bill and Hillary Clinton started a new wing of the Democratic Party called the "New Democrats" and also called the Democratic Leadership Council." Unlike old FDR Democrats, New Democrats were and still are pro-business, anti-union. In other words, they were and still are what we used to call Republicans. They helped pass the destructive trade legislation called NAFTA that transfered millions of jobs from America to sweat shops in China. New Democrats along with Republicans repealed the Glass Steagall Bank Regulation Act - a move which led to the 2008 Economic Crash.

Meanwhile, while Hillary was busy moving the Democratic Party to the right of Ronald Reagan, Bernie was advocating for rebuilding infrastructure (just like Dwight Eisenhower did in the 1950s). But unlike good old Ike, Bernie was called a Socialist for proposing the rebuilding of roads, schools, parks and bridges. Bernie also opposed the repeal of Glass Steagall. In a speech on the House floor, then-Representative Sanders hammered the repeal bill for creating new "taxpayer exposure to potential losses should a financial conglomerate fail....It will lead to a small number of corporations dominating the financial service industry and further concentration of economic power."

In 2002, Bernie voted against the joint resolution to authorize the use of force against Iraq and voted against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Meanwhile, Hillary led the charge in the Democratic Party to eliminate Saddam Hussein and his non-existent "weapons of mass destruction." Hillary also led the invasion of Libya with her famous quote, "We came, we saw, he died." Both Iraq and Libya have turned into quagmires.

But the worst was Hillary advocating for the current war in Syria. In August 2011, Hillary led the US into disaster in Syria with her declaration that Assad must “get out of the way,” backed by secret CIA operations. More than 10 million Syrians are displaced, and the refugees are drowning in the Mediterranean while undermining the political stability of Greece and the European Union. Hillary supporters are apparently clueless about Hillary's roll in any of these wars.

Why Bernie is Much More Likely than Hillary to Defeat Donald Trump
Perhaps the biggest unsubstantiated claim made by Hillary supporters is that she is "more likely to defeat Donald Trump." Apparently Hillary supporters do not read national polls. All of the latest polls show Hillary and Donald dead even. Meanwhile Bernie leads Donald by about 10%. Why is it that Bernie is more likely to beat Donald Trump? The answer is that Hillary is simply not trusted. 74% of all Independent swing voters do not trust Hillary to tell the truth. This matters because Independent Voters are now 43% of all voters. They will decide who the next President will be!

04
A poll of more than five thousand Independent Voters by the Independent Voter Project found that Bernie Sanders had the approval of 45%, Donald Trump had 26% and Hillary Clinton only had 9%. Bernie leads Hillary 5 to 1 and Donald leads her by 3 to 1!!!

In fact, many more Americans trust Donald Trump (41%) than trust Hillary Clinton (33%).

A recent ABC News poll found that, even Democratic Voters think Bernie Sanders is more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Clinton:

05

I have conducted my own informal poll with hundreds of Independent voters at Bernie rallies in Washington state. I have yet to find a single Independent voter willing to support Hillary if Bernie is not the Democratic nominee. Most loyal Democrats who support Bernie would support Hillary - but Hillary cannot win the Presidency without getting the support of Independent voters. And the fact is that Independent Voters will not support Hillary because most of them think she is not honest (among other things).

Up to 30% of Sanders supporters will not support Clinton. They will stay home, vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, write in Bernie Sanders or vote for Trump. Here is what one Bernie supporter said:"I would vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in a heartbeat," said Patt Coltem, 60, of St. Paul. "She's just too shady. She's a pathological liar."

Even more disturbing is Hillary Clinton's negative net favorability ratings. Net favorability is the percent of voters with a positive opinion of a candidate minus those with a negative opinion of a candidate. In every Presidential election since 1980, no Presidential candidate with a negative rating has ever won. As of January 2016, Hillary has a negative net rating of Minus 12%. In other words, the odds of Hillary winning the Presidency at this point are zero. Meanwhile, Bernie leads all candidates with a positive net rating of Plus 12%. This puts Bernie very close to Obama's 2008 Net favorable rating of Plus 14%. Every month for the past year, Bernie's favorability numbers have been going up while Hillary's numbers have been plunging. In short, if Bernie is the nominee, he wins the General Election in a landslide. If Hillary is the nominee, we are likely to have Donald Trump as our next President.



What is driving the voters to move away from Hillary and toward Bernie and/or Donald?
The single greatest factor is likely the economy. Despite what the corrupt corporate media wants us to believe, the number of people not in the labor force is now at a record high. Half of all young adults under the age of 25 cannot find a good paying full time job. Most Americans are now opposed to unfair trade deals such as TPP which ship American jobs to sweat shops in China. Most Americans are also growing weary of the trillions of dollars spent on wars all over the world. All of these factors work against Hillary and in favor of Bernie.

Who Really Won Super Tuesday?
Hillary supporters claim that she beat Bernie badly on Super Tuesday. In fact, with the exception of Virginia, Hillary only won in southern states that are almost certain to vote for Donald Trump in the General Election. In Democratic states, Bernie racked up huge victories in Colorado, Minnesota, Vermont and New Hampshire. Bernie and Hillary tied in two other Democratic states (Nevada and Massachusetts). Even in Massachusetts, there seems to be a big disparity between the votes counted by hand (most of whom went to Bernie) versus the votes counted by machine (must of whom went to Hillary). In fact, a CNN exit poll in Massachusetts taken the day of the election confirmed that Bernie won Massachusetts by a margin of 52% to 46%.

So the real score among Democratic states is Bernie 4, Hillary 1 with 2 ties (maybe). But you would never know it from the corrupt corporate press!

The real winner on Super Tuesday was not Hillary or Bernie but Donal Trump. Republicans turned out about 3 million more voters in 2016 than they did in 2008. Meanwhile Democrats lost about 3 million voters compared to their 2008 turnout.

06
Most of these 3 million were likely Obama "independent" voters in 2008 that are now voting for Trump in 2016. The only Democratic state that increased voter turnout compared to 2008 was Minnesota - all thanks to Bernie!

Running Clinton against Trump is a disastrous, suicidal proposition
Here is a quote from Current Affairs website:
 

 "A Clinton match-up is highly likely to be an unmitigated electoral disaster, whereas a Sanders candidacy stands a far better chance. Every one of Clinton’s (considerable) weaknesses plays to every one of Trump’s strengths, whereas every one of Trump’s (few) weaknesses plays to every one of Sanders’s strengths. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, running Clinton against Trump is a disastrous, suicidal proposition."

Here is a similar take on Bernie Sanders from the Young Turks (6 minutes)
 




Would Americans Really Vote for Donald Trump???
Democrats have short memories. In 1980, no one ever thought the nation would vote to make a reality TV star named Ronald Reagan President of the United States. But Reagan won in a landslide (despite getting only 51% of the popular vote).

07

Our economy still has not recovered from that disastrous 1980 election. Donald Trump is reading right out of the Ronald Reagan play book. Democrats also fail to realize how close we came to losing the 2012 election. Obama only won the 2012 election by a thin margin of 52% to 48%. It would only take a change of 5% of the vote - one in 20 voters - to turn the 2016 Presidential election into a Donald Trump landslide.

It is time for Democrats to wake up and realize that the choice is not between Bernie and Hillary... It is between Bernie and Donald Trump. Will they wake up? Or will Donald Trump be our next President?

My advice for all loyal Democrats is to go to BernieSanders.com, click on the Volunteer button and start sharing this article with everyone that will be voting in upcoming Democratic Primaries. A vote for Hillary is a vote for Donald. Anything else is wishful thinking. As always, I look forward to your questions and comments.

Regards,
David Spring M. Ed.
Washington for Bernie Sanders
spring for schools at gmail dot com

Editor's note: The original intro to the article had some local references. We've adapted it for a national audience.

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