That was my first ever presidential election vote, I was so excited to see someone with legit interest in saving the environment, full of hope for a new future. I remember how giddy it felt to step into the booth.
I lived in florida then, the entire state was thrown out by a legit conspiracy.
Too bad he was vocally pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian liberation up until now. Ready to blindly believe the lies about the 40 babies, and somehow that Israel is allowed continued support every year with our money. Dude has lost all my support ever since bowing to Dems both times and not fighting. He allowed Dems to get what they wanted and all of us are assholes for not fucking around about withholding votes. Bernie got people excited about real change, and then allowed the very establishment we need removed to bring it to a hard stop (like always). Fuck him and his masters that enabled Israel's decades and decades of planned genocide started with the colonization of Palestine by Zionists! He is just doing what all the Dems do, good quotes/speeches and nothing changed.
What more do you want him to do? Politics moves on the margins, and Sanders is now and for as long as I can remember been one of the most Israel critical politicians both in terms of rhetoric and voting history. He is not a king; he is 1% of 1 chamber of the legislative branch of a country that has a lot of issues to deal with.
If only the DNC could get their shit together, if he was the nomination last election, or the one before, or the one before, the world would be in such a better place.
Also, many progressives stayed home or voted for the Green Party. Not that it is more the fault of progressives than SCOTUS, but blame aside, it’s a cautionary tale.
He alone wouldn't have been able to do much. As instead of just having conservatives/Republicans against him, the Democratic party's members in Congress and in other fed and state level spots would also be against him. Until we get third parties in there to break up the eternal gridlock of never moving forward for real people. We just keep being pulled to the right and the centrists only care about not making the rich happy. Burn them and all of it to the ground.
did it though, nothing has really changed sense his presidency has ended and arguably it has all gotten worse, all be it at a SLIGHTLY less breakneck pace. Not only that but his popularity never weigned and he is poiesed to come back, and I will be honest as much as I do not want trump to come back I would be a fool to say I did not expect him to win the election in 2024.
So no, temporarily removing him did basicly nothing, except allow feckless liberals to go to brunch and ignore everything that is going on in the world
His replacement is (like the one he replaced) one of the most unpopular presidents in modern history, and is actively aiding the genocidal Netanyahu government.
The key benefit of the replacement being anyone who is not Netanyahu is that Netanyahu knows he is going to lose the next election and probably be arrested for prior crimes, so he personally has reason to keep the conflict going as long as possible.
Yeah, I wonder what Sanders would do if it were up to him. Netanyahu is part of the problem but it's so much bigger than him, especially after all the years he's been in power influencing things.
Coming around? When was he on the wrong side of this issue?
His October 10 statement includes:
Right now, the international community must focus on reducing humanitarian suffering and protecting innocent people on both sides of this conflict. The targeting of civilians is a war crime, no matter who does it. Israel’s blanket denial of food, water, and other necessities to Gaza is a serious violation of international law and will do nothing but harm innocent civilians. The United States has rightly offered solidarity and support to Israel in responding to Hamas’ attack. But we must also insist on restraint from Israeli forces attacking Gaza and work to secure UN humanitarian access. Let us not forget that half of the two million people in Gaza are children. Children and innocent people do not deserve to be punished for the acts of Hamas.
October 10. 3 days after the initial attack.
Back in January he tried conditioning aid to Israel and requiring the state department to issue human rights report on their conducts.
The Palestinian conflict did not start on Oct 7th it's been happening for decades now. Specifically my gripes are with "The United States has rightly offered solidarity and support to Israel in responding to Hamas’ attack. But we must also insist on restraint from Israeli forces attacking Gaza and work to secure UN humanitarian access." I do not agree that any support should have been given period, Israel has been a genocidal Zionist entity for a long time now and Sanders is well aware of this I'm certain. I'm also frustrated by his request for restraint as if anything other than the dismantling of the Israeli state could possibly suffice.
He is also a proponent of the two state solution which is inherently sympathetic to the settler colonial state.
I'm glad he is wants the genocide to stop but conditional fucking Israeli aid is not the way to do that. They should not be aided. Was it wise to aid apartheid South africa through continued trade relations? Was it right to vilify Mandela as a terrorist? Of course not, we can look back on these actions and see how wrong they were because we know what came to be. So why are we doing it again?
Yes obviously apartheid South Africa and the current palestinian genocide are not a flawless comparison but they are similar enough.
Essentially my point is that he has been much too sympathetic towards Israel for a while. Sure he's probably one of the most radical politicians we have on this issue but I find that to be incredibly disheartening.
To me, Bernie proved that there can be no positive change in the US via voting. When Bernie was looking strong, the democrats and the news media did everything they could to stop him and they succeeded. They were willing to do it even though the polling numbers showed that Hillary was the only legitimate primary candidate who couldn’t beat Trump. They wanted Bernie out no matter what because he represented the positive change that would hurt the ruling class just a little.