Congrats. I hope you were well received.

@RoboGraham I honestly have no idea, even tho I continued to watch the program for another hour after I hung up. None of the later callers made any reference to my comments, tho there was another Bernie supporter who came up later on. Compared to the other callers I heard, both before and after me, I was much more analytical and sophisticated. No one else seemed to get that Trump was the symptom, not the disease, that comes from the Dems focusing on identity politics and nominating only status quo-supporting, corporate centrists. Those were part of my exact words in my call.

@TomMcGiverin You are out of their league. Most people don't understand the lingo you were using because they aren't informed. I'm sure there were some listeners who got your meaning and gave your comments some thought.

@RoboGraham I agree. Call me a snob or elitist if you like, but the way I see it, the uninformed are a lost cause and I won't waste my time trying to reach or reason with them. Like it or not, the uninformed are allowed to vote and most of them do, so we who are informed are stuck with their stupidity whether we deserve it or not. I wish there was a way to prevent the uninformed from voting, but I don't get to make the rules. Most people in Iowa, however, that go thru the trouble of participating the caucuses, are pretty informed.

@TomMcGiverin Uninformed people voting is a big problem but I don't believe that barring them from voting is a good solution. High voter turn out is how we win, voter repression is a republican strategy. I want to increase the right to vote as much as possible. I want prisoners to have the right to vote.

I think there would be some major problems with restricting the voting rights of uninformed people. Who decides who is informed enough? Who writes the test? Who does the evaluation? Who is going to make sure that the people doing those things don't manipulate it to their advantage to keep out people who are likely to vote for the other side? I think what counts as informed will become very subjective and very partisan and it will be similar to a poll tax.

I also don't believe that uninformed people are a lost cause. Everyone was uninformed before they became informed. Even if you can't educate everyone, you put your message in simpler terms and make it relevant to their needs and understanding and they will get it. They are a massive portion of the populace and they shouldn't be shut out or ignored. Their wants and needs are just as valid as anyone else's.

@RoboGraham Your points are all valid, but I still won't bother with the uninformed or stupid. I won't dumb down my comments for anyone. I am too old, impatient and intolerant, I suppose, for that. Probably part of why I never had or wanted kids and am uncomfortable around the retarded, who I know can't help being simple-minded. I'll leave it to you or others who are more patient, to do the outreach. One thing I'll say for Bernie, he keeps his language very simple and basic, that's part of why he is so good a campaigner. He also avoids going negative as much as possible, unlike me.

@TomMcGiverin I think he avoids going negative a little too much.

@RoboGraham I agree, but in the primaries he has to when the rest of the party is so against him. But in a general election, I have no doubt he can and would go negative against Trump. He is already speaking very negative about Trump all the time.

@TomMcGiverin Oh yeah I'm sure he will let Trump have it. I wish he would do the same to some extent with Biden. If he did, the race wouldn't be as tight as it is.

@RoboGraham He can't do that or the party leaders would find a way to screw him over more, plus it would give the media more ammo to slam him on. He doesn't want to alienate blacks or older Dem voters who like Biden.

@TomMcGiverin Yeah that's true. But still, I'd like to see him call Joe out more onf his shitty record and corruption.

@RoboGraham Don't we all? Too bad most of us aren't old enough to remember his 1987 prez campaign when he had to drop out after being caught plagarising something in one of his campaign speeches.

@TomMcGiverin I was born that year. I put up a video about that today. If he wins the nomination, heaven forbid, Trump will beat him over the head with that stuff and it will be a colossal defeat.

@RoboGraham I know, I have been trying to tell anyone who will listen that Biden is the MOST unelectable Dem, because, like Hillary, he would be so easily attacked by Trump. Plus, with Biden, there is also the corruption the Repubs brought up during the impeachment trial this week. The Dems need someone who is both tough and squeaky clean, like Bernie, if they want to beat Trump. Thing is, tho, the Dems would rather lose again than nominate Bernie.

@TomMcGiverin They know that at least Trump will keep the corruption wheel spinning while Bernie will try to break it.

@RoboGraham Exactly..Warren says she will challenge the corruption in government, but when you look at how chummy she is with Hillary and that she was a Repub until 15 years ago, you have to be pretty gullible to believe her. Unfortunately, many who support her are that way, besides being overly obsessed with electing a female prez. I honestly think many Dem voters are that way in that they put gender ahead of policy to a degree that is laughable...

@TomMcGiverin I have been blocked by many a Lizzie Chick who equate my criticisms of their candidate with sexism.

@RoboGraham I hear you. One thing I hated about Obama is that no matter how much you weren't a racist, any criticism of Obama was called racist if you were white, like me. Same thing thing with Warren or Hillary, if you were male. Like I always said, identity politics is both the source and the symptom of so many problems with our politics. When will most people wise up and realize that what should really matter are policy, character, and whether their record matches their words and policy positions? Until then, those things, along with tribalism, and the corruption of money in politics, will leave us fooked beyond help.....

Identity politics allows pols who are corrupt and phony to con voters into supporting them despite their faults, just to see someone who looks like them or shares their sexuality. Long before Mayor Pete, I used to say that after Obama and Hillary, the next identity politics prez candidate would be a gay Hispanic man. With Mayor Pete, I was only partially wrong....

Wow, that is some shady shit. The cancelling of the poll that is.

Instead of the capitalist socialism we have now where the money (ergo the rich people and corporate people) control the means of production for the benefit of the money (rich and corporations).

That whole voting thing we do is now just a simulacrum of democracy. No matter how you vote the results are the same - even if you support a party or President who says they will change things their corporate owners and the entrenched gerrymandered majority will block them at every turn.

@prometheus I'm not as cynical, there are some like Bernie and AOC, for example, that are not owned by corporations.

I don't think it's fair to describe a nation lacking in universal healthcare and housing democratic socialist.

I don't think it will be the 60s again for three reasons. One, the corporate media is much more unwilling to fairly cover radical politicians or movements like they did in the 60s. And even tho the internet is somewhat of an equalizer of that for younger people, the older people who vote still get most or all of their info from the TV and newspapers and radio. Second, the two major parties and the media have pretty well killed hope for radical change among most Americans who are middle aged or older than that. Third, the 60s taught a very sobering lesson to potential leaders of political or social movements, thru all the assassinations that happened, so much that very few people are courageous enough to risk getting whacked if they run against the system on the left.

And in case any potential leaders forgot about those assassinations, the PTB issued a reminder early in the new century with the assassination of Paul Wellstone thru plane crash....

@TomMcGiverin Yeah, you'd have to be one courageous Mofo to challenge the establishment. There were brave badasses willing to take the risk then and someone will step now. Every era needs heroes. Martyrdom is appealing to some.

@RoboGraham I hope you are right about that, but right now the only two I see that have the courage and the charisma are Bernie and AOC.

@TomMcGiverin Yeah those two are the real deal, everyone else, eh. But new heroes appear on the scene on occasion. And they appear more frequently in times of strife, which is where we are headed.

@Ms_McSteven The best way to get all the votes for someone other than Trump is to nominate the candidate who appeals to the most people. Someone who can energize the youth vote, encourage disaffected potential voters to get involved by offering them something that will actually have a positive benefit on their lives rather than just more status quo and can get the vote blue no matter who votes in addition.

@RoboGraham That would be Bernie, because he offers more than just the usual status quo-maintaining identity politics of the Dem party. The Repubs will always have the votes of racists, evangelicals and the rich. Right now, they also have the votes of angry, working class whites who have been left behind in the economy. Bernie has lots of appeal to that last group and would have had it four years ago if Hillary hadn't cheated him out of the nomination. That's why I think he would have beat Trump four years ago and will beat him now if given the nomination this time. This should be the real argument about electability, not this bullshit about labels like socialism and being too old or radical. Ever since Obama, people of all genders and races in America have been hungering for a real choice in the prez race for a candidate who was not corrupt and out to support the rich and corporate America over the common folks. Bernie is the only candidate who can provide that reliably, instead of caving or selling out after being elected, like Obama did. The people are ready to support him, even tho the corporate media never will....

@TomMcGiverin That is correct. Bernie also happens to be the only candidate who is fully funded by we the people and has a long and unheard of consistency of advocating for the working class. He has a level of authenticity that is unmatched which sets him apart from corrupt neoliberals like Biden and Trump.

@RoboGraham You're absolutely right about that. I guess we'll find out soon enough if the people are capable of seeing who is truly on their side and who isn't, despite what the corporate media and the Dem party tell them.

@TomMcGiverin Things are looking up. I'm running into a lot of support for the cause and there are a lot of very promising signs. It took him a lifetime but he finally got enough people to listen and understand what needs to be done.

@Ms_McSteven Agreed, I will be voting blue.

@Ms_McSteven I will be voting blue in the general no matter what, but if the Dems screw Bernie again, I hope the party blows up for good and I will never vote blue again for a centrist corporatist prez candidate...

@TomMcGiverin I will vote blue in that, I will be voting for Bernie regardless. Bernie is blue, so I'm voting blue.

@RoboGraham They mean in the general election if Bernie isn't nominated....

@TomMcGiverin I know, I intend to vote for Bernie in the general. No matter what.

@RoboGraham What if they nominate a centrist instead?

@TomMcGiverin I'll vote for Sanders.

@Ms_McSteven I live in Maryland. My state will go blue no matter what I do. This gives me the freedom to vote on principal, for who I actually want to vote for rather than selecting the lesser of two evils. It also allows me to show the establishment that my vote must be earned and I won't give it freely to a neoliberal corporatists just because people like you attempt to shame into doing it.

@Ms_McSteven I hear ya, I'd be on edge about it too. Hopefully Sanders will win the nomination so that people in your state aren't put in that difficult position again.

We had better choose wisely in the next few months.