We are heading towards an Idiocracy!

[Nikose Tyris]

Is it firm then, that Bernie doesn't have an ice cubes chance?

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Nikose Tyris

Is it firm then, that Bernie doesn't have an ice cubes chance?

I wouldn't say it's firm (Hillary only beats him by more than, like, 5% in very very red states and there's still a lot of delegates to fight over), but it doesn't look good (no one who's lost on 'Super Tuesday' has actually won the nomination before).

That said, it's still worth voting for him and keeping the energy up in any further primaries/caucuses because the more of the vote he takes the harder it's going to be for the DNC (and country as a whole) to ignore his message.

Political revolutions--even ones that are about returning to the politics of the 1930s (FDR's new deal)--don't happen overnight, especially with such an entrenched establishment of the rich. We're attempting an overthrow of an oligarchy without burning down the country, here. That's not something to be done in one election cycle.

So, tell your American friends not to be disheartened and to continue fighting as hard as they can for Bernie. Yeah, he probably won't win, but it's not just about him winning. Getting him in would be a huge leap forward, but every delegate he takes from Clinton is a mark against establishment politics that the DNC can't ignore.

[Solid Snake]

My home state went for Bernie, and I helped!
...But realistically speaking, no, there's no way Bernie is going to be the nominee unless a scandal comes to light that is so damning that Hillary is forced out of consideration by the Democratic Party.

Still, I'm proud of Bernie for vastly exceeding last year's modest expectations.
(And I really fucking wish Biden would've run, as Hillary's weakness against Bernie suggests that in a three-way race, Biden either would've taken her down or...even better -- the Biden / Hillary infighting could've actually led Bernie into the driver's seat.)

EDIT: Interestingly, Alaska's win and Colorado's expected (yet not officially confirmed for several more weeks, because caucus shenanigans) victory -- Colorado Republicans are weird -- has given Ted Cruz a fascinating last-minute bump in electors. Unfortunately for Republicans, this would have been extremely appealing if it were Rubio, but Cruz's electoral strengths were really geared towards states that went up on Super Tuesday and there really aren't very many states left that Cruz could successfully compete in. If Rubio had been the beneficiary, I'd be more inclined to suspect the Republican establishment had a fighting chance of knocking Trump out.
...coalescing around Cruz will be difficult, though, because the establishment hates him almost as much as they hate Trump.
However, Cruz -- not Rubio -- is now going to be the beneficiary of calls from conservatives to align with him as the 'anti-Trump' possibility.
It was a bad night for Marco Rubio.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

Originally Posted by Krylo

So, tell your American friends not to be disheartened and to continue fighting as hard as they can for Bernie. Yeah, he probably won't win, but it's not just about him winning. Getting him in would be a huge leap forward, but every delegate he takes from Clinton is a mark against establishment politics that the DNC can't ignore.

Also important is to remember to vote in not just the presidential but congressional, state and local elections as well.

[tacticslion]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

EDIT: Are you as depressed over Clinton and Drumpf being the respective party nominees as I am?
If so, consider escaping along with me to the wonderfully relaxing world of Stardew Valley.
You can farm, maintain a ranch, fish, mine, kill beasts, fall in love with the man or woman of your dreams, actually experience more interesting social link dialogue than you'll find in Persona, and live in a quaint little town, far the fuck away from Hillary and Drumpf supporters.

In a mild bit of humor, in an effort to distract my wife, I did something very similar with our own games.

I was all, "Look, I know this is pretty much the worst, but, uh, let's just play a game and have a great day, anyway, because terrible things are terrible and we can't actually affect what's going on over there. When it's our turn, we'll make as large a difference as we can. The only other thing we can do is pray, be good people, be good to people, hope others make good decisions, and enjoy our lives. Since we try to do the other stuff, let's do the last one. Roll for initiative*!"

It sort-of kind-of worked. Man, the U.S. is... not in a hopeful place at present.

* Okay, we didn't actually roll for initiative. It was mostly an exposition dump about all the good things that came out of all the bad things from the last session we'd played, with a final scene involving a doctor (who'd successfully saved her patient/friend) slapping the guy for "forgetting" to mention the fact that he was experiencing near torturous neurotoxin** side-effects, hence nearly getting himself killed and leaving him in a coma for three days. (When she subsequently demanded that he always tell the doctor of any hurts he has, he cheekily mentioned that the side of his face was kind of stinging for some reason. Ticked the doctor right off!) That was hilarious and fun. And a good session was had by all! (And then sleep. Desperately needed sleep, 'cause, daggum, it's hard to find any kind of downtime schedule around two wonderful kids. )

(I mean, sure, there are people driven insane by surgically-implanted devices enforcing a combination mind-control and schizophrenia; the mega-corp assassin/espionage/agent they'd captured escaped and killed several people on the way out; and they're stuck on a gas giant in ultra-super-lockdown with the only way out apparently being to get a key in a thing that will also allow said agent to escape the planet... and maybe the murderously insane mind-controlled schizo-people... but, it's not the election, so it's probably great! )

** Autocorrect hates this, and the more times I try to correct the spelling, the worse it looks. So oh well.

[Overcast]

[Solid Snake]

Unfortunately, Overcast, there really isn't a liberal / conservative correlation with Bernie's success or failure in certain states (as evidenced by him losing Mass. and winning Oklahoma), if anything there's a racial one -- the higher percentage of whites in a state, the better Bernie seems to perform.

Bernie's performing atrociously with African Americans. I really wish he made a greater effort in the past year to speak to them; it feels like this past month he's been trying as hard as possible to 'catch up' but it's been too little, too late.

[rpgdemon]

That was actually something I'd noticed whenever I saw him in debates. He avoided talking race at all costs, and it actually did get me kind of worried about his stance on it. Like, the answer to, "What do you think of the police killing all these black youths" is not "We need to increase wages of the poor to benefit everyone".

[Overcast]

Well it is more considering the possibility of still achieving big gains. Texas was a massive win for Clinton because Texas is a major population state. It is also a state that Democrats will likely never win, ever. Which makes it hilarious that the California Primary takes place so late in the decision making process as it is the major competitor for huge gains, and is the state the Democrats always win.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

as evidenced by him losing Mass.

To be fair he only lost by 1.4% and Bill was breaking the law in spirit, if not in word, there.

If the margin were wider I wouldn't even contemplate that really mattering, but you know. 1.4% is a very small amount.