It's Official: Bernie Backs Biden

11 Comments

by: Colorado Pols

Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden

Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden on Monday during a surprise appearance on the former vice president’s livecast.

Sanders, who formally suspended his campaign last week, said he needed everyone — not just his supporters — to back Biden and make sure that President Trump becomes a one-term president.

“Today, I am asking all Americans — I’m asking every Democrat; I’m asking every independent; I’m asking a lot of Republicans — to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” Sanders told Biden.

“I will do all that I can to see that that happens, Joe,” Sanders pledged, after calling President Trump a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and a religious bigot who botched the nation’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic.

After dropping out of the race for President earlier this month, it was expected that Sanders would eventually endorse former Vice President Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee. There was concern that Sanders might take his time in announcing his support for Biden — bringing up questions from 2016 about whether or not Sanders did enough to support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton — but today’s news is an encouraging sign for Democrats.

The bigger question remains whether Sanders can get the rest of the Bernie Band to row in the same direction; Bernie’s former campaign press secretary said today that she was NOT endorsing Biden.

During a livestream today featuring both Biden and Sanders, the conversation hinted at a significant role for Bernie in the upcoming campaign. Sanders had been reluctant to attack Biden for most of the Democratic campaign because of a genuine friendship the two men had built during their time in the Senate.

11 thoughts on “It’s Official: Bernie Backs Biden”

davebarnes says:

April 13, 2020 at 2:03 pm

About fucking time.
Now, where is Mike Bloomberg and all his promised money?

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1. JeffcoBlue says:
  
  April 13, 2020 at 2:04 pm
  
  Bloomberg was/is a lying perv.
  
  It had better be a big check.
  
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kwtree says:

April 13, 2020 at 2:55 pm

Bernie’s a class act, as always. Good for him. It’s worthwhile posting what Joe Zemek posted on Facebook – Helpful advice for those who feel compelled to shame and scold Sanders supporters as their own backasswards way of promoting Democratic Unity:

Joe Zemek
April 9 at 9:03 AM ·
OK, this is for the Biden supporting and/or Unity Now! folks.
Shhhhhhh.
Just take a break from talking to Bernie people about November. For like, at least April/May; consider maybe through August.
Does anyone have November ballots *now? No. Will anyone have one before October? No. Is this really an issue for right now? Not really, no.
And a lot is going to happen that we do not know, and cannot predict, without regard to how we feel or what we think today.
It's fine to be freaked out, anxious, nervous, scared, etc. about November. Add the pandemic to what is already ultra high stakes, and it's even more fine to feel this way.
But – and I am speaking now as a political professional, whose literal salaried job it is to maximize Dem-inclined turnout in November – it is harmful to talk to or otherwise engage people in any way that is coercive, bullying, browbeating, voter-shaming, accusatory, or pre-blaming for a bad outcome.
It is HARMFUL, and your feelings do not in any way justify it.
Like Bernie folks, you may have strong opinions that are a mix of hard truth, softer interpreted truth, and unexamined, uncorrected falsities, from 2016 through today. Engaging now may seem like you're doing something helpful by "encouraging" unity ASAP as beneficial for November 3, but that is often not the case at all. More often, it's far more about assuaging one's own anxiety and fear than it is doing work that is demonstrably helpful with regard to November 3 success. It's your own ego demanding satisfaction, and arrogantly believing that your words are special mind-changers, if only those fools will listen to you.
Again, this is very harmful, and it's what so many do without even realizing it. The only person who can change their mind is them. And if we are going to be helpful in this process, the method that works is to *Listen*, not to *Tell*. I have tens of thousands of my own knocked doors backing this up, as well as the peer- reviewed experience of all the other multi-ten-thousand door knockers. This is the time to quiet our anxieties, listen, allow others to vent, be gentle in correcting untruths, but refraining from judgment, etc.
This is good advice generally, but please, let's make a conscious effort to catch ourselves in greater awareness of what we are truly feeling, and if you're worried about November, reset that awareness from someone else's behavior to your own.
Thanks.

Now, with Bernie endorsing Biden, this rings even more true. The candidates themselves have spoken. Most Bernie supporters (90%) will vote Dem for all the obvious reasons. My Facebook feed is full of women who are upset about the latest sex assault allegations against Biden. And you don’t have any right to tell us not to feel what we feel about it.
We’re not idiots; we understand that $rump is an existential threat, and we’ll vote blue in November. Against $rump if not for Biden.
So follow Joe Z’s good advice: Listen, don’t preach.

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1. Conserv. Head Banger says:
  
  April 13, 2020 at 3:30 pm
  
  "allegations……" The Times does give the full story. Many former Biden female staffers recall nothing like Ms. Reade alleges. And Ms. Reade apparently has a history of admiration for Vladimir Putin.
  
  Yes, kwtree, you have every right to believe and feel the way you want. But it's a two way street. You have no right to criticize others who don't share your feelings.
  
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  1. gertie97 says:
    
    April 13, 2020 at 3:47 pm
    
    This one's been around the interwebz and bears repeating for anyone butthurt about how the Democratic primary race came out:
    
    We'll be choosing who will pick RBG's successor.
    
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kwtree says:

April 13, 2020 at 4:31 pm

CHB- perhaps you can point out where I “criticized others who don’t share your feelings”. “Listen, don’t tell” does go two ways. You are free to disregard Zemek’s advice, and probably will.

I really hope that Reade will be proven to be on Putin’s payroll, and her accusation to be untrue- the timing, at least, is suspect- but it probably will continue to poison the dialogue until November. We’re never going to know the truth.

The trolls and bots will promote it and other anti-Biden stories non-stop, as they did in 2016.

What I’m trying to do is to recommend sensitivity in dealing with survivors of sexual assault— which at least 1/3 of women, and 1/7 men are. You can say, as you did, that It’s not proven, not corroborated by office contemporaries.

Stick to known facts, not speculation about the accuser. Or about my (assumed) motives in posting the story.

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1. Gilpin Guy says:
  
  April 13, 2020 at 4:46 pm
  
  No need for self-deprecation kw. You don't "poison" the dialogue in the least. I always find your posts well thought out and inflammatory in a progressive way. Please continue to articulate your concerns and we'll continue to verbally joust with you in a congenial way.
  
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  1. kwtree says:
    
    April 13, 2020 at 5:48 pm
    
    Gee, G G….”Inflammatory in a progressive way.” That may be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about my writing on this blog. 😊
    
    I’ll take it – thanks.
    
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    1. Gilpin Guy says:
      
      April 13, 2020 at 7:15 pm
      
      Your welcome! Now let us work to remove the corrupt sexual predator from our government payrolls.
      
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    2. Voyageur says:
      
      April 13, 2020 at 10:58 pm
      
      How about “progressive in a strident, Ride of the Valkyries” way?
      
      . As for examples, how about your repeated assaults on itolduso for the sin of disagreeing with you?
      
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Gilpin Guy says:

April 13, 2020 at 4:48 pm

Sanders supporting Biden is a big deal. The two must have achieved some kind of meeting of the minds. Oh wait it simpler than that. They both want to remove the orange cancer from the White House.

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