Bernie Sanders Drops Out of Presidential Race

Bernie Sanders ended his left-wing presidential campaign on Wednesday after a string of stinging primary defeats left him without a viable path to victory, effectively making Joe Biden the Democratic nominee. Sanders, who at one point was the front-runner of the Democratic race, acknowledged in a live-streamed video message that Biden’s commanding lead is insurmountable.

“If I believed we had a feasible path to the nomination, I would certainly continue this campaign, but it’s just not there,” Sanders said from his home in Vermont

The 78-year-old senator also signaled that his exit was necessary because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 10,000 people in the U.S. so far and grounded American life to a halt.

“I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour,” Sanders said.

Proposal: At 6:55 p.m. let's first all applaud Sanders for pushing the Democratic candidates in the right direction. Healthcare and capitalism are broken, which has never been clearer than during this scary moment in our history.

The Berning Question -- Update

UPDATE: Bernie Sanders isn't going anywhere. I get that he wants to -- and should -- drag Biden to the left. (That's what Sanders supporters want, too.) But he should really do this AFTER Biden's elected. No, this isn't the normal way of going about things. But this isn't a normal election.

After a disastrous night in Michigan, Democrats are eager to see where Bernie Sanders goes from here. Two people claim to have inside information, with very disparate takes. I’m, of course, hoping for the former but expecting the latter.

In his piece "Joe Biden is recreating the victorious urban-suburban-rural Nancy Pelosi coalition of 2018," Markos Moulitsas hits the nose on the head:

Quite explicitly, the Sanders campaign identified young voters and white working-class voters as their core. The reason their numbers are down by about half, just about everywhere, is because their young supporters never turned out, and that white working-class vote was happy to have another, more moderate penis to vote for.

Super Joe to the Rescue

‪I can finally breathe. Joe just needs to pick a smart running mate, maybe hint that he’ll only do one term, and I think we have a good chance in November. In the meantime I have to wonder if the Biden campaign was a rom-com in the making, with Obama’s wingman  being the perfect candidate for us who was right there all along.

(Can you imagine having a State Department again? And a Justice Department? And dignity?)

Meanwhile Bernie Sanders 2020 is starting to remind me a lot of Ross Perot in 1996. He still has his loyalists. But I just sensed there weren't nearly as many of them this time around. And all those new voters he was supposed to bring in? It hasn't happened.



Ezra Klein brilliantly addresses a fundamental flaw in the Sanders campaign, brought to light most recently in a now-deleted tweet by kooky Marianne Williamson.



Looking forward:

Biden His Time

It’s been a great 72 hours for the so-called moderate wing of the Democratic Party. But with Super Tuesday upon us, I would say there is a decent chance that Joe Biden’s huge win in South Carolina will be all but forgotten by tonight, and many of us will have to again accept that Bernie Sanders will be the nominee. Fine. As I said yesterday, he can count on my vote. But if a loyal follower felt the need to tweet what’s above, might it be time for all Sanders supporters to come clean about their paranoid behavior thus far, and to try to become a little more understanding of actual Democrats who are sincerely fearful of not only failing to remove a tyrant, but also the very real prospect of also losing the one lever of power we currently hold?

Here's what I'm not sure many of them realize: Most of us support Sanders’s policies, which is why so many of us support Elizabeth Warren. (It’s almost like he’s miscast to play himself.) We just realize that most of them have zero chance of being implemented with Capitol Hill as we know it, so aren’t convinced betting the farm on something that is never going to happen makes much sense. You know what does make a lot of sense? Instead of trying to reinvent government with one man, how about working to elect progressive lawmakers -- the people who can actually effect change? Even the most moderate Democratic president isn’t going to veto Medicare for All if you can get that passed in both chambers of Congress ... so you don’t need Bernie Sanders to do that. 

Via Max Boot’s opinion piece in the Washington Post:

“Part of the problem is Sanders’s hectoring personality. He is a closed-minded ideologue who shows little willingness to compromise and little ability to bring people together. He prefers denouncing those who disagree with him as sellouts rather than trying to persuade them. That helps to explain why in 29 years in Congress he has been the lead sponsor of only three bills that became law -- and two of those were to name post offices.”

How does Bernie tolerate this? It speaks to the reservations many of us have with the entire Sanders operation.

UPDATE: I think it's wrong to underestimate Bernie, but here's a thought. He basically tied for first in two small states including one he’d handily won in 2016,  cleaned up in one (unreliable) caucus and got killed in another. Might the "inevitable" label have been premature?

The FiveThirtyEight Newsletter reports: "And our forecast now says that Biden (484) will get more delegates, on average, out of Super Tuesday than Sanders (463) will. That’s a big shift from as recently as Sunday, when we were forecasting Sanders to get an average of 540 delegates on Super Tuesday and Biden to get an average of 395."

My friend's tweet is spot-on, although it doesn't address the punitive effect we can expect on Election Day if Bernie followers don't get their way.

#VoteBlueNoMatterWho

After reading Jonathan Chait's chilling piece "If Democrats Aren't Terrified of Bernie, They're Not Paying Attention," I allowed myself to get into an online back-and-forth with a comedian I adore who supports Sanders. The comedian wasn't looking for a fight, but he didn't waste much time to throw the "Hillary was the nominee last time and look where that got us" line out. 

Here's how I replied: 

 "But that's the thing. If Bernie got 3 million more votes than Trump I would NEVER throw it in his supporters' faces. Ever. Our system was set up to benefit slave owners -- and you'd better believe if a Democrat had lost the popular vote in two of the past five elections but still occupied the White House, this bullshit would have been fixed by now. Nobody knows for sure what the solution is. We're all just doing the best we can to defeat this monster. But if he loses 49 states ..." :-) 

We're friends now. 

Just sharing because I -- and maybe you -- need to be reminded that we're all on the same side here.

P.S. At least Bernie can count on my dead father's vote!

Page 1 (02/25)

The Daily News: Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape and sex assault by Manhattan jury; victims hail decision as a victory for #MeToo movement

An 11-year-old girl brought a loaded AR-15 to the Idaho statehouse

Baseline: Djokovic confirms existence of a Big 3 group chat!

The Daily Beast: Don't let anyone tell you that Trump and Sanders supporters are like no others

Instagram: Muscle butt in Speedo

Peta: Ozzy Osbourne appears in new ad to discourage cat declawing

The Daily Edition: Michelle Pfeiffer was ‘obsessed’ with Olivia Newton-John at G’Day LA

Los Angeles Times: Twitter is suspending 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts, citing ‘platform manipulation’

Awesome Inventions: A pizza company has finally gone the distance and put tiny chairs to match the little table that comes with pizzas

The Wow Report: Chris Evans in talks to join “Little Shop of Horrors” remake

The Randy Report: Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty to new charges alleging staged hate crime 

Boy Culture: For crack addicts only

Towelroad: Frankie Muniz had a ‘Magic Mike’ moment he said he’ll regret 

Is this why Borna Coric will never come out?



New York Post: Harvey Weinstein taken to Bellevue Hospital as ‘precautionary measure’

The Washington Post: In Cold War travels, Bernie Sanders found much to admire behind enemy lines. Now that’s a problem for his campaign.

Acting intelligence chief's paid consulting work for U.S. nonprofit group funded mostly by Hungary

Katherine Johnson, ‘hidden figure’ at NASA during 1960s space race, dies at 101

Market plunge over coronavirus fears underscores political risk to Trump

The New York Times: The jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty of two felony sex crimes but acquitted him of charges that he is a sexual predator

Among those pressing Trump to weed out disloyalty: Clarence Thomas’s crackpot wife

Sanders says he’ll attract a wave of new voters. It hasn’t happened.

Supreme Court to hear case on gay rights and foster care

The Wall Street Journal: Where’s my cup? Offices find it’s not easy going green

Facebook investigated suspicious pro-Sanders content

#housework #Caturday #CatsOfTwitter #cats #CatsOnTwitter 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/ofVQU18rqJ

— John Sutton (@jsutt32) February 22, 2020

Hot Cat of the Day: And there's always a second cat.

Bern Notice

As the odds increase that Bernie Sanders will be the Democratic nominee, I am trying to talk myself off a ledge and into believing that he could somehow emerge victorious in November. Although he placed last when I took the Washington Post's quiz about which Democratic candidate you agree with most, my only real issue with him is my fear that he is unelectable.

The New York Times notes that Sanders won big on Saturday and is now the clear front-runner. Former Vice President Joe Biden saved enough face to march on to his must-win in South Carolina a week from now. Pete Buttigieg finished in the top tier again and embraced the urgency of knocking down a rising Sanders, though it is not clear where he wins next. And Elizabeth Warren is awash in cash after her debate dismantling of Michael Bloomberg -- $9 million in three days -- but the performance did not nudge her up in the standings in Nevada, in part due to early caucusing(!), which happened before the aforementioned debate.

How about this?

Yes, Sanders alienates many so-called swing voters -- who may or may not really exist anymore -- and anti-Trump Republicans who seriously might have voted for the Democratic offering ... except him. But let's assume all of the normal Democrats who desperately do not want four more years of this demagogue do their job and vote for him (Hillary Clinton did get nearly three million more votes than Trump in 2016). And Sanders does bring out a youth and/or independent vote that stayed home in 2016. Might that do the trick against a badly damaged Trump?

I think the key states again will be Virginia and Nevada, where Hillary handily defeated Bernie in 2016. Bernie has shown he's popular in Nevada this weekend -- despite all the pushback he was getting from the Culinary Workers Union there -- and will need to have a strong showing in Virginia on Super Tuesday to allay my fears there. The other one to watch is Arizona on March 17. My suspicion is Wisconsin has gone to the dark side, and may not come back anytime soon. If I'm right, we'll need to pick up a new state now that Florida and especially Ohio appear to be lost. Increasingly purple Arizona seems like the most likely one. But while it was "this close" to electing a moderate candidate like Clinton (over Trump), will it be as ready to do the same with Sanders? Clinton defeated Sanders 56% to 41% four years ago.

On a purely anecdotal basis, I offer this: In 2016, I felt the country was awash in people "feeling the Bern." This time, though, I don't. The few people I know who supported him then say he's the wrong candidate for this election, or that his time has passed. While he has done well in all three primary events thus well, he's not winning by huge margins. Should we be reading into this or was it just easier when it more of a two-person contest (against Clinton)?

As far as all of the socialism stuff is concerned, I do think Sanders has more liabilities than any of the other candidates. But if Trump can turn one of the most qualified people in the history of the union into a convicted felon -- guilty of only having a vagina -- and was misusing his office to try to do the same to Joe Biden -- odds are he will do that to whoever is nominated, so perhaps we need to just assume the worst no matter what.

My old NYT colleague Jesse Fox Mayshark had this to say:

A few thoughts on "electability." Or well just one thought, really: Nobody knows. I had conservative friends who were 100 percent certain that Barack Obama wasn't electable in 2008 and were cackling over his rise in the Democratic primaries. A black guy with a Muslim name, running in the first open-seat presidential race since 9/11? No way.
In 2016, I along with many other people was 100 percent certain that Donald Trump a.) couldn't possibly win the Republican nomination; and b.) couldn't possibly win the presidency. I mostly viewed his campaign as a source of entertainment.  

I have seen candidates for local and state offices win elections that I didn't think they possibly could. I have also seen candidates who seemed unstoppable get stopped. Elections are weird. Politics is complicated. People are unpredictable. A lot of factors come into play.  

I'm not saying people shouldn't consider what they view as "electability" in their political decision-making, I think most people do in one way or another. I just think it's a difficult thing to quantify, and the highway of political punditry is littered with the roadkill of mistaken assumptions. (How's THAT for a metaphor?)  

There is ultimately only one real metric of electability, and that's getting elected. Our recent history tells us there are many ways to do that, and many ways to screw it up. Which is to say, wherever you are on the political spectrum, whichever candidates you love or hate or despair at the thought of, whatever momentum you perceive or don't, the reality is that nobody knows. 

Andy Humm, co-host of Gay USA, adds this, which felt like a bit of an admonishment of me, even though he doesn't know who I am!

Again, I don't have a candidate. But stop with the "Bernie is not a Democrat" line. Bernie has done nothing but caucus with Democrats in the Senate and support other Democrats for public office--unlike Bloomberg, for instance, who switched his registration from Democrat to Republican to Independent (is he a Democrat now?) and supported a Republican for U.S. Senate with millions as recently as 2018. Trump had barely switched to the Republican Party when he won their nomination and remade the party in his racist image. If Bernie wins the nomination (no sure thing but becoming more likely) it is because we Democratic voters have been moving left in the 21st century. The conventional wisdom is you win elections in the center--but that's not how Trump did it and that's not how Bernie is trying to do it. And he is being validated by Democratic voters.

Also of note: This came up in Humm's memories yesterday -- his first exposure to a little-known mayor from South Bend, Ind.:

I know the race for chair of the Democratic National Committee is between Congress Member Keith Ellison, who I've been favoring, and former Labor Secretary Tom Perez. But if I was just judging from the CNN debate tonight, I'd go with South Bend Mayor Peter Buttigieg, 35, not because he is openly gay -- though he integrates his identity smoothly -- but because he was poised, appealing, sharp, and communicated well on a slew of controversial issues in ways that will connect with a range of voters. Those may not be all the skills needed to rejuvenate our ailing party, but he sure stood out in this crowd.

The Politics of Dating

Nicole Najafi went out with every presidential candidate so you don’t have to ...

Read them all HERE.

Bern Victim

‪I have to hand it to Lady Bunny, who is nothing if not loyal. Girl appears to be selling her best dress at a consignment shop in Chelsea -- undoubtedly to raise money for her man Bernie Sanders ... ‬

Russia Is Said to Be Interfering to Aid Sanders in Democratic Primaries

Gee, I wonder why Russia wants to see a Sanders vs. Trump matchup?

This is just not good. I understand why Bernie is frustrated. But stirring up ridiculous conspiracy theories about an Establishment Media out to get Bernie has been a long-time fallback for him, his campaign and his followers. It is really dangerous in an age of misinformation. https://t.co/no3iZfMzBt

— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) February 21, 2020

I never bought into the idea that "Sanders is a lot like Trump" because Sanders isn't an evil grifter. But this anti-media bullshit shows there actually is some overlap -- and I really don't like it.

It should be really easy to defeat badly damaged Trump -- is it too soon to panic?

Is it too late to come crawling back to Uncle Joe?

Maybe with a good running mate?

Three on One?

Liam Kerr of the Welcome Party is the latest to claim to know what nobody knows about the 2020 Democratic primary: He writes:

But the rush to crown Sanders as the heir apparent to the Democratic nomination overlooks a central dynamic. Sanders is topping the polls as Biden’s support has eroded and the moderate lane has completely fractured. Yet the combined backing for progressive candidates is much lower than it was in the fall -- in fact, it now trails the combined support for moderates considerably.

Fine. Assuming this is true, then I guess I must abandon my preference of President Warren. But in favor of whom? What no one seems to be acknowledging is that we can't run three people against him and none of these three seems to be going away anytime soon.

P.S. Speaking of Warren. Found this interesting in Jennifer Finney Boylan's column in the New York Times today:

If Senator Elizabeth Warren winds up not becoming the nominee, it is possible that one reason for this was voter uncertainty about her “Medicare for all” proposal. Apparently whenever Americans consider this idea, we are thrown into a panic by the possibility that we will lose our health care insurance, and that it will be replaced by some governmental entity.

Such as Medicare, which people like, by a wide margin.[Satisfaction with medical care among Medicare benefciaries is found to be generally high (80-90 percent).]

Ronald Reagan denounced Medicare, back in 1961, as socialized medicine. If Medicare wasn’t blocked, he said, “one of these days we are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.” Before Medicare, only 54 percent of Americans 65 and over had hospital coverage; three years after its passage, 96 percent of older Americans did. Eighty percent to 90 percent of recipients really like Medicare -- and these older Americans are the most conservative voters in the country.

Which makes you think.

I admit I have never quite understood the hatred Reagan had for Medicare, nor the hatred today’s Republicans have for Obamacare (itself modeled on Romneycare, a Republican idea). Is it just that they cannot abide the idea that government sometimes -- even if only as a last resort -- does good things?

That Reagan actually said that with a straight face gives us the sad answer to her question: Yes.

Tweet Nothings

Actually these are kinda something else!

Page 1 Roundup (01/29)

The Daily News: Murder suspect Fotis Dulos in ‘critical condition’ after suspected suicide attempt at Conn. mansion

Get a load of the suicidal wife-killer's hot ginger lawyer

#PresidentPence: At least it's an improvement until we can elect someone new

ProPublica: How is it that Don Jr. was given a license, after the fact, by the government of Mongolia, to shoot an endangered sheep?

Instagram: Andy Murray's cock wins the Dolly Parton Challenge

Elle: David Sedaris knows his sister Amy well 

The Hill: Don't let anyone tell you money doesn't buy influence in politics

Gay Star News: Czechs back same-sex marriage as country debates changing law

Intelligencer:  There's no way to know what would happen if Bernie were the candidate. But this sounds very much how I envision it.

If you're turned off by nutty Jonathan Chait, above, try this:

David Frum: Bernie can't wait

Jesse Singal: Journalism is being eaten alive by opinion

David Mixner: Mayor Pete for president

David Frum: This might come in handy for your next Facebook fight

Deadline: The 'Saved by the Bell' revival finally has its cast, and Zack Morris’s son is so on point

Towleroad: This ‘smooth bottom twink’ doesn’t want to be labeled

New York Post: Kobe Bryant’s wife Vanessa ‘can’t finish a sentence without crying’: pals

Washington Post reinstates Felicia Sonmez after Kobe Bryant rape case tweet

Gr8er Days: The great Alan Alda is 84 -- how I loved "The Four Seasons"!

The Washington Post: Anatomy of a ‘smear’: How John Bolton became a target of the pro-Trump Internet

Confronting the reality of sexual violence is hard. Even for Oprah Winfrey.

The New York Times: Republicans scramble for votes to BLOCK witnesses

Ben Smith of BuzzFeed named New York Times media columnist

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly: Mike Pompeo called me a liar. That's not what bothers me.

The Wall Street Journal: Harvard chemistry chairman charged on alleged undisclosed ties to China

Super Bowl means ‘avocado hand’ is back -- with a Vengeance

Page 1 Roundup (01/27)

The Daily News: Former NBA star Kobe Bryant and daughter killed in Southern California helicopter crash

Couple attacked, spit on transgender journalist on Harlem subway platform

Mike Lupica: Kobe Bryant leaves behind one of sports’ most complicated legacies

Michelle Obama wins her first Grammy for ‘Becoming’ audiobook

Instagram: Britney beau's pecs arrived before he did

Bloomberg: Human Rights Campaign demands Sanders renounce Rogan endorsement

Des Moines Register: Elizabeth Warren gets coveted Iowa endorsement

Boy Culture: Matt Rettenmund had a bizarre encounter with Tanqueray, the stripper who became an overnight sensation after appearing on Humans of New York

Celebs we have lost so far in 2020

Gr8er Days: John Karlen of "Dark Shadows," "Cagney and Lacy" dies at 86

ESPN: Women's Tennis Association to legitimize something Serena Williams says she never did #StillWaitingForApology

Twitter: I'd like to get sweaty in this gym

The Guardian: Tracey Thorn: ‘I went through a phase of carrying Camus under my arm’

CBS: Sorry to hear about Huey Lewis's health problems

Remembering songwriter Allee Willis

New York Post: Kobe Bryant’s helicopter was flying dangerously low before fatal crash

Pilot, other victims ID’d

Page Six: Lana Del Ray is dating a hot 46-year-old cop

The Washington Post: Bernie Bros are still horrible 

Emails support NPR host after Pompeo calls her a liar in setting up contentious interview

The New York Times: Trump tied Ukraine aid to inquiries he sought, Bolton book says

Adam Schiff, calling Trump ‘wrathful and vindictive,’ sees tweet as a threat

6 revelatory moments from the video of Trump’s private donor dinner

Elizabeth Warren’s celebrity crush sealed the deal for me (and Pete confirmed he’s a stick in the mud)!

Margo Lion, producer of ‘Hairspray’ and more, dies at 75

The Wall Street Journal: You thought Brexit was dumb -- wait'll you see the museum in its honor

Synthetic frogs challenge science class rite of passage: ‘It was a lot easier and didn’t smell as bad.’

The best -- and weirdest -- men’s trends from the fall shows

State attorneys general to meet with Justice officials to coordinate on Google probe

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