The Bernie Sanders strategy "FAQ"
This "FAQ" outlining the complex strategy of the Bernie Sanders team has been circulating. I'm not familiar with conventions and nomination tactics. Any possibility this strategy is both true and sound?
I don't believe the part where they say it's more important to the DNC to defeat the Republicans than it is for Hillary Clinton to defeat Sanders. I think they are much more incented to keep the status quo (Republican or Democrat, doesn't make any difference) than risk any changes to the systems they benefit so handsomely from.
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FAQ time:
Q. Why did Bernie endorse Hillary now?
A. They threatened to completey shut him out of the convention if he didn't.
Q. Couldn't he have said screw them and go and fight at the convention anyway?
A. No. Hillary has more delegates, Superdelegates, and supporters on the DNC rules committee. They would have voted down every one of our platforms, denied Bernie the opportunity to speak, and basically shut him out of the entire process. All the leverage he has gained up to this point would be gone.
Q. So wait, Bernie DIDN'T quit today?
A. No. He had to say she won the primary, he endorses her and will help the party defeat Trump, yadda yadda but he DID NOT concede. There is a very big and important difference. Had he conceded, all of his delegates would go to Hillary and he would no longer be an option for nominee.
Q. So Bernie can actually still win??
A. YES. And if he wasn't still TRYING to win, he would have conceded. The ONLY option he had to get to the convention with his delegates behind him and have a chance to still win was to do what he did today. He is not a traitor. He didn't sell us out. He did the only possible thing he could have done to keep fighting for the nomination.
Q. So how can Bernie still win if he's losing the delegate count and he just said he will help Hillary win the election?
A. By far the most important thing to the DNC, even more important than making sure Hillary beats Bernie, is making sure the Democratic nominee beats the Republicans in November. They scrutinize every poll, every opinion of the public, every event to judge whether a candidate is strong enough to win in November. There are A LOT of things going on right now that show how weak of a general election candidate Hillary Clinton is:
-66% of the country sees her as untrustworthy
-60% thinks she should have been indicted for the email scandal
-A lot of Bernie supporters won't vote for her
-Congress has requested the Department of Justice investigate her for lying under oath about the email scandal
-There's a possibility more emails will be leaked by wikileaks or hackers further proving her guilt
-Many believe the FBI is secretly investigating the Clinton Foundation
-Her "wins" during the primary havr been tainted with accusations of fraud, suppression, lawsuits, and investigations
And then there's Bernie. An honest candidate people trust and whose approval rating and trustworthy rating crushes Clinton's. This is the argument Bernie will make at the convention. With all his 1,900 delegates inside arguing this case and 100,000 supporters outside arguing this case, we hope the DNC realizes he's the only choice. He CAN win the convention, but he has to get there first. That's why he endorsed her today.
Q. So it's still important that all of his delegates go to the convention and we all still March on it like we planned?
A. It's more important now than it ever was before.
Q. What if the DNC still refuses to nominate him at the convention? Can he still run third party now that he endorsed her?
A. Yes. In fact, running third party has never been an option until AFTER the convention. We need to stick with Bernie and see this through to the convention. He's led us this far. Do not abandon him now.
Q. What if he loses at the convention and doesn't run third party, but instead endorses Hillary 100% and asks us to vote for her?
A. Then our revolution continues without him and we continue to fight against Hillary Clinton and the DNC all the way up to November and beyond by voting for someone like Jill Stein or writing Bernie in. But the time for that is NOT here yet.
#StillSanders #BernieOrBust #OurRevolution
Thierry Castro Thu 14 Jul 2016 8:51PM
I did not write it. I do not know the source (unfortunately), but have seen it come up a few times now on my fb feed. I would like to know if it's official Sanders strategy! Again, I don't know how the mechanisms of DNC conventions work, but what is written seems plausible. Though it wasn't corroborated on the Sanders site where he posted his reasons for endorsing Hillary Clinton, there WAS a poll on the site at the same time asking if his announcement would make you now support Jill Stein... (the answer is yes, of course. unless this strategy doc proves true)
FYI, found it first from a Facebook page "Bernie Friends and Support"
Poll Created Sat 16 Jul 2016 3:58PM
Sustainability is more powerful than your Vote Closed Tue 19 Jul 2016 3:02PM
Multi national corporations are able to buy our government because we continue to buy their unsustainable Products. At a meeting of Think Tank at OWS we came up with the idea of moving our money from coal to solar, from oil to bikes and Plug-in cars, from GMOs to local organic food, from corporate media to independent media and from big banks to local Credit Unions. This moves the center of political balance back to the people. That is why AParallelWorld.com was created.
Is this one of the next steps coming out of the Occupy Movement?
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Agree | 100.0% | 2 |
|
| Abstain | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Disagree | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Block | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 42 |
|
2 of 44 people have participated (4%)
Priscilla Grim
Mon 18 Jul 2016 2:28PM
I agree that we have to invite our time and money into more sustainable efforts. I would like to see more encouragement on this priority, however, this does toe the line of "lifestyle politics" as access to power is not fundamentally changed.
Thierry Castro Sun 17 Jul 2016 8:03AM
Given that Cornel West does not seem to be in the loop with this supposed Sanders strategy, I'm guessing it's not real. But I'll suspend judgement until after the DNC, I guess. It's only a week or so, isn't it?
Alanna Irving Sun 17 Jul 2016 8:37AM
@alangreenhome can I suggest you close this proposal and start a discussion thread about sustainability? Then you can raise a proposal in that thread, instead of here under "Bernie Sanders FAQ". If you go to the main group page, you'll see the green "start a new thread" button, or you can click the yellow "plus" in the bottom right corner of any screen and select "start thread".
Thierry Castro Sun 17 Jul 2016 6:29PM
Agreed. Loomio threads need to stay on topic, or we'll get lost. Polls in particular.
Alan Greenhome Tue 19 Jul 2016 4:12PM
I am just learning how to use Loomeo,sorry if I put it in the wrong place. How do we remove it and start a string about the nexus between Sustainable Transition and the center of political balance moving to the left?
Alanna Irving Tue 19 Jul 2016 8:59PM
No worries! New tools always take some getting used to. You can start a discussion by going to the main group page, you'll see the green "start a new thread" button, or you can click the yellow "plus" in the bottom right corner of any screen and select "start thread". Proposals should be relevant to the discussion their in, so people get the context for the decision their being asked to make.
Alanna Irving Mon 18 Jul 2016 9:42PM
@occupywallstreet are you planning to facilitate this discussion (things like proposals being raised in a relevant discussion)? Or are you hoping the group will self-facilitate?
Inga Jensen · Thu 14 Jul 2016 7:02PM
Thierry, is the FAQ information your composition or is it an actual, publically available doc?