Well then, we're home free. Nothing but blue skies ahead.

I bet you don't admire them enough to vote for them.

Establishment Dems rose up in unison to kneecap Bernie. The "champions" of democracy got Greens taken off the ballot in multiple states. That right there is a tacit admission that they knew people weren't buying what they were selling.

@WilliamCharles I agree with you in 2016 but in 2020 Bernie supporters had either given up or changed their mind.

@Lorajay - I think the facts show otherwise. Bernie came out of the starting blocks stronger than he did in 2016. And that's even with the DNC packing the field. There was a concerted effort to kneecap Bernie's run by all the usual suspects.

That people get get disheartened in the face of such shenanigans is understandable and largely predictable. It caused people to sit out 2016 because they felt (accurately, imho) that the party showed their vote didn't really matter.

It came close to being the case in 2020, but this time more people held their nose for Biden based on Trump being so undeniably awful (the very purpose of the DNC's pied piper strategy). And yet Biden still had no coattails. Bernie would have delivered the blue wave Dems assured everyone would materialize.

@Lorajay - still still chaps my hide to this day.

@Lorajay - [sigh]

Like I said, Bernie came out of the starting gate strong.

@WilliamCharles I know I'm only talking about one precinct but I worked for Bernie not just supported him in 2016 and he won Oklahoma in 2016. I also know the enthusiasm was not there for him in 2020 and not just in my age group. 2016 Bernie supporters still supported the principals but they didn't work for him and many didn't even vote. Yes some of them splintered off to other candidates. I liked Warren another friend liked Pete. You're also absolutely right that every friend I knew that supported Bernie before was determined to make sure everyone voted against Trump.

I realize Oklahoma is far from an example of the rest of America but I have been active in the Oklahoma Democratic party for 20 years and feel I know what happened here.

We agree on so many things including that the Democratic powers that be did not want Bernie but I think the number of candidates was very possibly the result of the fact that they knew Trump was vulnerable. Our big difference is I'm not angry about what happened.

@Lorajay - I think the increased number of candidates in 2020 was because the greenlight they didn't get in 2016 was given for 2020. Bernie was thought of as a token candidate so it didn't look as if Hillary was running unopposed and he wasn't expected to turn out to be such a threat. No one else was willing to challenge her. Obama, who it was said was not going to put his thumb on the scale for Biden, wound up doing just that out of concern that Bernie was trouncing the field, including his former VP.

I truly appreciate your insight and the insider details. I offer my own views and various pieces I feel support or mirror them because I think these details get left out of the current Democratic narrative. They can't even cop to the fact that they rolled the dice with their pied piper strategy and wound up not being able to beat their own handpicked ringer.

What I put forth isn't so much an "I'm right and everyone else is wrong" mindset, but I also feel if DNC shenanigans and perfidy aren't addressed, nothing will fundamentally change. I find the best way to fine tune my own understanding of things is to put my views out there, and defend them as best as I am able. Quite often, this approach is was usually has me reevaluating my position on any given issue.

Establishment Dems seek to maintain their stranglehold on power within the party. Not because they feel their path is the way to ensure victory against the right (the supposed rationale for superdelegates), but because they're happy perpetuating their corporate grift bankrolled by the donor class. For the oligarchs, it's largely win-win regardless as long as they remain the puppetmasters.

Marginally better than an out and out criminal enterprise is hardly a glowing recommendation. Using Biden’s mediocrity as a selling point was the last straw as far as Establishment Dems go.

@K9Kohle789 - I honestly don't believe Biden will complete his first term. I feel his cognitive decline is masked by medication, but it will have diminishing effectiveness over time.

He basically gets to coast in the job as virtually anyone looks good compared to Dolt 45. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and that Biden is not just business as usual doing the work of the donor class.

We shall see. But I'll not be cheering his every worn platitude either.

@WilliamCharles What unadulterated horse manure!!!!

@wordywalt - well then, he's home free. Guess everyone was clamoring for Creepy Addled Uncle Joe and I just didn't see it.

[sigh]