Will Bernie Sanders be gracious in defeat?

[Lyin' Steve]

Bernie Sanders' campaign is over.  The only big states left are New York, New Jersey, Maryland, California, and Pennsylvania.  In order to close his 300+ delegate deficit, he needs to win all five by gigantic margins, yet all five are highly favorable to Hillary.  It's simply not going to happen.  He's a smart man and realizes this.

He could drop out tomorrow and spend the next few months campaigning with her and trying to help heal the wounds of the campaign.  He could even spend the next two weeks gracefully gliding his campaign to earth to ensure the transition of his supporters to her is smooth, while tacitly acknowledging that it's over by not attacking her or asking for more debates and playing down his inevitable wins in Alaska, Wyoming, Hawaii, Washington, etc.

He could also carry on giving his same stump speech every day until the convention and not even mentioning how far behind he is, and have his surrogates give spin answers or sweep impossible math under the rug on TV shows.  Just stubbornly keep trucking on, denying reality and demanding attention.  Eventually, the media will stop covering him entirely and talk about him with the same disdain with which they talked about Carson, i.e. "is this guy still running?  Bernie still doesn't realize it's over."

Or, he could go nuclear on Hillary, attack her with everything he's got and try to use complicated Ron Paul rules to strip her of her delegates or take her off the ballot in future states.  Demand two dozen debates and ask "what is she hiding?  why is she afraid?" when she refuses.  Bring Monica Lewinsky out on the campaign trail and hold a rally on Vince Foster's grave.

Death with dignity or Monty Python's black knight approach?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Too gracious, he really should have gone negative on Hillary after she went negative on him.

[This account no longer in use.]

We get it, Lyin' Steve. You have some sort of hatred for Bernie Sanders. Now sit down and shut up. You have contributed absolutely nothing of value to this forum since the day you first joined.

[Crumpets]

Absolutely. He knew it would take a minor miracle for him to actually become the 45th President of the United States, and I think he will be completely content with a Clinton Presidency, so long as she pledges to enact some of his bigger policy points. I also think she probably has a place for him in her administration if he wants it.

Reddit and TYT on the other hand...

[Antonio the Sixth]

Just because he's not going to win doesn't mean he should drop out. There are other reasons to keep on fighting.

But no, obviously he's not going to go "nuclear" on Hillary or anything. The Democratic campaign has been very civil so far, and it will continue being so.

[Lyin' Steve]

We get it, Lyin' Steve. You have some sort of hatred for Bernie Sanders. Now sit down and shut up. You have contributed absolutely nothing of value to this forum since the day you first joined.

cool it bud

[The Other Castro]

Yes. The overarching goal at the start of his campaign was to influence the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, and the country as a whole. Given Clinton's leftward shift to more Sanders-esque policies and rhetoric, he'll probably agree that he succeeded in his goal to some extent. He'll support Clinton wholeheartedly to carry his ideas into the White House.

[Maxwell]

Just because he's not going to win doesn't mean he should drop out. There are other reasons to keep on fighting.

But no, obviously he's not going to go "nuclear" on Hillary or anything. The Democratic campaign has been very civil so far, and it will continue being so.

Agreed. And I hope he doesn't drop out, for the sake of the Democrats continuing to show how well their primary process is going compared to the literal riots happening on the Republican side.

[This account no longer in use.]

We get it, Lyin' Steve. You have some sort of hatred for Bernie Sanders. Now sit down and shut up. You have contributed absolutely nothing of value to this forum since the day you first joined.

cool it bud

Wow. That burn was so hot that the temperature in my room dropped a good 50 degrees.

[Lyin' Steve]

We get it, Lyin' Steve. You have some sort of hatred for Bernie Sanders. Now sit down and shut up. You have contributed absolutely nothing of value to this forum since the day you first joined.

cool it bud

Wow. That burn was so hot that the temperature in my room dropped a good 50 degrees.

It wasn't a burn.  I don't know why you're trying to pick a fight.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Yes. The overarching goal at the start of his campaign was to influence the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, and the country as a whole. Given Clinton's leftward shift to more Sanders-esque policies and rhetoric, he'll probably agree that he succeeded in his goal to some extent. He'll support Clinton wholeheartedly to carry his ideas into the White House.

No, the goal was to win, not to have Hillary feint left.

[This account no longer in use.]

We get it, Lyin' Steve. You have some sort of hatred for Bernie Sanders. Now sit down and shut up. You have contributed absolutely nothing of value to this forum since the day you first joined.

cool it bud

Wow. That burn was so hot that the temperature in my room dropped a good 50 degrees.

It wasn't a burn.  I don't know why you're trying to pick a fight.

I'm 'trying to pick a fight' because you are a mindless hack and troll who has done nothing that will leave any meaningful impact on this website.

No, the goal was to win, not to have Hillary feint left.

The goal wasn't to win, you blithering idiot.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Bernie's basically established the overall vision of the Democratic platform for at least the next decade. Even if he didn't win, he did good. Also, he's probably done more to de-stigmatize the label "socialist" in American politics than anyone since Eugene Debs.

[The Other Castro]

Yes. The overarching goal at the start of his campaign was to influence the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, and the country as a whole. Given Clinton's leftward shift to more Sanders-esque policies and rhetoric, he'll probably agree that he succeeded in his goal to some extent. He'll support Clinton wholeheartedly to carry his ideas into the White House.

No, the goal was to win, not to have Hillary feint left.

I don't believe for one second that Sanders thought he had any chance of actually winning when he first entered the race. Obviously that changed later on, but the original goal is still the heart of his campaign.

[Lyin' Steve]

We get it, Lyin' Steve. You have some sort of hatred for Bernie Sanders. Now sit down and shut up. You have contributed absolutely nothing of value to this forum since the day you first joined.

cool it bud

Wow. That burn was so hot that the temperature in my room dropped a good 50 degrees.

It wasn't a burn.  I don't know why you're trying to pick a fight.

I'm 'trying to pick a fight' because you are a mindless hack and troll who has done nothing that will leave any meaningful impact on this website.

No, the goal was to win, not to have Hillary feint left.

The goal wasn't to win, you blithering idiot.

k
mods can you move these insults somewhere where they don't clutter the thread?  Thanks

[IceSpear]

Yes. The overarching goal at the start of his campaign was to influence the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, and the country as a whole. Given Clinton's leftward shift to more Sanders-esque policies and rhetoric, he'll probably agree that he succeeded in his goal to some extent. He'll support Clinton wholeheartedly to carry his ideas into the White House.

No, the goal was to win, not to have Hillary feint left.

Do you really think Bernie thought he could win when he began his campaign?

Maybe later on it seemed possible to him, but initially there's no way.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Yes. The overarching goal at the start of his campaign was to influence the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, and the country as a whole. Given Clinton's leftward shift to more Sanders-esque policies and rhetoric, he'll probably agree that he succeeded in his goal to some extent. He'll support Clinton wholeheartedly to carry his ideas into the White House.

No, the goal was to win, not to have Hillary feint left.

Do you really think Bernie thought he could win when he began his campaign?

Maybe later on it seemed possible to him, but initially there's no way.

Back in 2014, he was saying he was thinking of running, but only if he thought he could win.  Just because he wasn't taken seriously for a long time didn't mean it wasn't a serious campaign.

[RaphaelDLG]

Of the three options you mentioned, I think #2 is the most likely.

He will continue to stay in the race forever to advance his message and pressure the democratic party to adopt his policies, and generally will not cease being a stubborn old codger. 

But at and after the convention he will emphasize the dire necessity of voting for Clinton to stop Trump and talk about how he has known the secretary for many years and likes and respects her blah blah blah.

[Admiral Kizaru]

Bernie Sanders will certainly be. He's a thoroughly decent and honest man who's already achieved far more than his wildest dreams would have envisaged when he first entered the race.

Some of his supporters on the other hand though ...

[win win]

I think he will run as an independent like Nader.

[Boston Bread]

I think he will run as an independent.

lolno

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

Bernie Sanders will certainly be. He's a thoroughly decent and honest man who's already achieved far more than his wildest dreams would have envisaged when he first entered the race.

Some of his supporters on the other hand though ...

Agreed. I respect Sanders he's a good man I support him also with Hillary. I expect him to drop out when she wins the nomination and he will endorse her. About 95% of his supporters will flock to her.

[Shadows]

We get it, Lyin' Steve. You have some sort of hatred for Bernie Sanders. Now sit down and shut up. You have contributed absolutely nothing of value to this forum since the day you first joined.

This guy is just despicable - Class less person. The Clintonhacks in these forum are some of the most pathetic virtual people there is & give a bad name to the few decent Clinton supporters.

I put him on ignore - Thank god!

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

We get it, Lyin' Steve. You have some sort of hatred for Bernie Sanders. Now sit down and shut up. You have contributed absolutely nothing of value to this forum since the day you first joined.

This guy is just despicable - Class less person. The Clintonhacks in these forum are some of the most pathetic virtual people there is & give a bad name to the few decent Clinton supporters.

I put him on ignore - Thank god!

There would definitely be more material to work with if someone was running a campaign against Hillary supporters rather than the actual campaign against Bernie supporters. Nina Turner says she's gotten a lot of sh**t for being a black woman who supports Bernie.

[Flake]

You have a really weird hatred of Sanders, Lyin Steve.