Gracious winners

[ecdab]

Assuming that the polling is accurate, this should be a big night for Joe! That said, it will probably be a bitter pill for Bernie's supports, take no joy in that.

Grace and decency are fundamental to the Joe Biden campaign. It's time for folks to start coming together in order to break Trump and the GOP's hold on this Nation, and a welcoming and extended hand works much better than a castigating and pointing finger in achieving that goal.

Let's bring it on home tonight with grace and decency.

[Mister Ed]

1. Thank you. Grace and decency are fundamental to the Joe Biden campaign.

That's it in a nutshell. Let's all hold ourselves to that standard.

[NurseJackie]

2. Sadly, it's not over until the loser concedes.

If any candidate wants to "take it all the way to the convention" (in spite of the numbers and polls and predictions and actual remaining available delegates) ... well ... I think it's safe to conclude that they have zero interest in accepting any gestures of grace from the winners, and that the FIGHT is more important than UNITY.

The ball is in their court.

[ecdab]

3. There is no "they"

Bernie’s folks are not a monolithic block. I know many fine folks that are backing Bernie.

Joe will bring the Democratic nomination home. I’ll agree that the fight isn’t over. But the fight is for voters, it is to broaden the base of support for Joe. Having Bernie’s supports join us is meaningful. Having them resent us is not helpful.

Grace and decency can be a rare commodity online. We could use a lot more of it. Grace and decency is something I very much like about Joe. Not only can we win, we can win while being decent, that is an exceptional thing.

[NurseJackie]

6. You know perfectly well that "their court" refers to Bernie's campaign.

There is no "they"

You know perfectly well that "their court" refers to Bernie's campaign. Why pretend otherwise? THEY are the ones who have engaged in an ugly-ugly negative campaign of lies and smears and insults and denigration and blatant attempts at kneecapping and scorched-earth.

Bernie’s folks are not a monolithic block.

Nobody said they were.

Not only can we win, we can win while being decent, that is an exceptional thing.

I agree. The moment Bernie Sanders concedes and withdraws, then we will have won. Until then... the battle continues. They are the ones who have turned our primary process into a blood sport.

(For clarity and anti-strawman purposes... please be aware that "they" in the previous sentence means the Sanders campaign... not some imaginary monolithic block that needs defending.)

[Turin_C3PO]

4. Yes, I agree.

We’re going to need as many people as possible in our coalition and that includes Sanders voters.

[SidDithers]

5. That all depends on Bernie's actions....nt

Sid

[aikoaiko]

7. that would be nice, but there is little hope of that.

[ecdab]

8. There is little hope for uniformly applied grace

across the board. But if enough folks want decency, at least in this little corner of the internet, we can have some. And some decency is a good start.

[oasis]

9. It's up to Bernie to set the tone in his concession speech and his

actions in the weeks that follow.

[Turin_C3PO]

12. How we behave

as Biden supporters doesn’t depend on what Bernie does, though. We all can take the higher road with a welcoming tone to the many Bernie supporters who will vote Biden in November.

[oasis]

21. All emotion and energy needs to be turned to the defeat of Trump. I'm

going to gear myself totally into that mode. If the soothing of hurt feelings needs to be addressed, I'll leave that for others to do.

[el_bryanto]

10. One other thing to consider

Lets assume that Sanders concedes and Biden wins the nomination. That doesn't change the fact that I support Sanders and Warren not because of any cult of personality - I support them because I believe their positions on the issue to be most correct. And it will be difficult to argue for, say, universal healthcare or fierce financial market regulation without also arguing with Biden. Before for the General Election one can set that aside, to a certain extent, but after the election there's no doubt that Sanders supporters will be very critical of President Biden, should he govern from slightly to the left of the middle.

Bryant

[Turin_C3PO]

14. Sure.

People are expected to be, in a way, in lockstep before the general election but are allowed to criticize once the race is over. Obama certainly didn’t get a free pass here.

[OKNancy]

11. I agree

I think we Biden supporters should not think of the Sanders supporters here at DU the same as those who are so awful on Twitter or Facebook. We will all come together eventually.

[Turin_C3PO]

13. The ones on DU

and the ones I know in real life, including my mom, are nothing like Bernie Bros. I do believe they’re a toxic, loud, minority.

[wyldwolf]

15. It's difficult, though

Before the dawn of the internet, I was aware of the left fringe of the party, and the left fringe outside of the party, but never encountered them.

Since the mid 90s, though, I've been called "corporate whore," "DINO," "Not a REAL Democrat" and worse by these types. I've seen them threaten to throw elections and actually do it. And when, after some time of experiencing this, I fight back and then THEY play the victim?

Yeah, I'll be a gracious winner, content in the knowledge that Bernie and his bros' will have set back this faux "progressive" movement for at least a generation.

[theaocp]

16. Wouldn't it be awesome

For Biden to start espousing support for some of Bernie’s positions? It’d be a great way to reach out. I await some unreasonable chastising, though I hope otherwise.

[Turin_C3PO]

18. It's possible.

He may allow Bernie or Warren to include a bit of their ideas into the platform. I wouldn’t be opposed to it. We’ll see soon enough.

[SidDithers]

19. I'm sure Bernie will have representation...

on the platform committee.

Maybe he can appoint Cornel West again.

Sid

[oasis]

22. West needs to keep his negative ass away from all DNC projects. Forever.

[NCProgressive]

17. Not just Joe's grace and decency

Add to it all these people who also showed incredible grace and decency.

Pete Buttigieg
Amy Klobuchar
Beto O'Rourke
Mike Bloomberg
Kamala Harris
Cory Booker

[William769]

20. To the victor goes the spoils. nt

[TomSlick]

23. Thanks.

No one likes a sore winner.