Feeling the Bern!

[DanTex]

Been leaning Warren, Bernie, or Yang for a while, but Yang is out and Warren doesn't seem to be catching much momentum. So it's Bernie for me. Here's why.

In 2008 the conventional wisdom was that a black first-term senator with middle name Hussein and whose pastor said "god damn America" right after 9-11 would get crushed. I supported him anyway, and he made history.
In 2016 the CW was that a socialist could never win, and the moderate, most qualified candidate in history would roll over the crazy racist orange buffoon who bragged about grabbing women by the p******. I went with the CW, and the orange racist won.

This year, again, the CW says the socialist can't win, but the CW has been consistently wrong for a while now. To me, the candidates with the best chance to win are Sanders and Bloomberg. Bernie has enthusiasm, and Bloomberg has billions. They both have some electability weaknesses too. Bloomberg will alienate a significant part of the base which might hurt turnout. Bernie has the "socialism" thing which might hurt with suburban moderates.

Beyond that, on a policy level, Bloomberg is basically a pro-choice Mitt Romney who believes in climate change. Just go down the line of issues, not just stop and frisk, but unions, financial regulation, fiscal austerity, etc. If it comes down to it, of course I'll happily vote Bloomberg over Trump. I'd also happily vote Mitt Romney over Trump (or a magic 8-ball, or a tree stump...). But in a primary, I just can't support a fiscally conservative, George W Bush supporting former Republican who became a Dem right before the election, and who is parlaying his wealth into political power. Especially when Bernie's policies are very much in line with my own.

So Bernie it is!

PS, not saying I'm a fortune teller, but I did support Obama in 2008 and Clinton in 2016, so...