2016 Postmortem

then I missed that.

I have some links, too, even though you are accusing me "having false assumptions then write as if they are fact."

"There is no need to be so divided between us when we can have both economic *and* social justice." Tell that to Bernie.

Advocating throwing LGBT and women's reproductive health under the bus to help southern senators with white working class voters in 2013 was also not helpful. Gay Marriage and abortion impact people's lives, and are not a card to deal or keep.

http://www.rawstory.com/2013/10/bernie-sanders-tells-ed-schultz-southern-democrats-are-tired-of-being-abandoned-by-the-party/

His history on marriage equality is a bit more checkered than he likes to talk about - he would not support it in Vermont during an election year, saying it was "too divisive" right after he voted against DOMA, because "it's a state's rights issue.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/10/05/bernie_sanders_on_marriage_equality_he_s_no_longtime_champion.html

Bernie may have posted things on his website concerning people of color, but he didn't seem to worry too much about the Black vote - especially the Southern vote, when it came to the campaign.

http://fusion.net/story/323539/how-bernie-sanders-lost-black-voters/


Insulting women who run for office by implying that they would tell people to "vote for me because I'm a woman," didn't give him much credibility. Nor did his statements about the woman he ran against for Governor:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/bernie-sanders-madeleine-kunin-feminism

The far left is not immune to casual sexism, or even blatant sexism - which is why feminism broke off on its own.

http://reason.com/blog/2015/10/14/sanders-when-a-mother-has-a-baby-she-sho

https://while-you-were-sleeping.com/2016/05/27/please-stop-calling-sanders-a-feminist/

He had an opportunity to make inroads on disability, but fell short:

https://shiksappeal.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/berned-by-bernie-sanders/

He managed to to alienate HIV activists:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/5/26/1531538/-Bernie-Sanders-Manipulates-a-False-Message-From-His-Meeting-with-HIV-AIDS-Activists-Today

The very troubling fact that he would not release his tax returns as a candidate may indicate that he doesn't want to show that he is continuing to profit from a nuclear waste site that he pushed through, displacing many low income people of color - which Paul Wellstone called environmental racism.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/4/16/1516075/-Sanders-are-still-profiting-from-Sierra-Blanca-nuclear-waste-dump-per-their-2014-tax-return

So, I think that his statements on his website should be taken in context. This is not meant to be a pissing contest, but I won't be scolded for pointing out that Bernie has some real drawbacks, and I don't think that he should be determining where Democrats go from here - especially after he lost most of his staff from "our revolution" when he turned it into a Superpac, and broke his word that Jeff Weaver wouldn't be involved.

We have a LOT to lose if we go the wrong direction as a party, and Bernie is not the one to lead.

Is that clearer?