The Nation: Bernie Sanders Is Hurting Himself by Playing the Victim
"[Sanders] thinks hes the only one who can defeat Donald Trump. But in fact, hes the only one who can elect him, by tearing the party apart."
[url]http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-is-hurting-himself-by-playing-the-victim/[/url]
Its been five days since the conflagration at the Nevada State Democratic Convention, and the embers are still burning. Much of it has singed Senator Bernie Sanders. The intimidation of speakers and the misogynist death threats against party chair Roberta Lange have led to a wave of critical pieces by Bernie supporterssome of them now former Bernie supporters. Sanderss loyal CNN backer Sally Kohn wrote in Time: I Felt the Bern But the Bros Are Extinguishing the Flames. Esquires Charles Pierce, who voted for Sanders, weighed in Tuesday: Its Time for Bernies People to Calm Down. Sanders supporter Harold Meyerson now insists, The Bros Are Undermining Bernie.
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But the Sanders camp is defiant, with the senator himself condemning the threats and reports of violence, butand you never add but to a sentence thats condemning threatening behaviorinsisting party leaders had it coming, because convention rules were less than fair or transparent. Sanders has continued to rip the Democratic Party for unfairness, and his supporters are now telling reporters there will be trouble at the convention in Philadelphia over the rigged primary process.
When you lose a fair fight, then youre sad and disappointed. When you lose a rigged fight, then youre angry and you hit the streets, Charles Chamberlain, the executive director of the liberal group Democracy for America, told MSNBC. He predicted disruption in Philadelphia, and then he went off a cliff: I think a little bit of disruption is exciting. Thats democracy, Chamberlain said. The reality is without that, all you have is boring parliamentary procedure and everyone falls asleep. So I think its exciting and its actually healthy. Disrupting a party convention because parliamentary procedure is boring seems the height of entitlement.
Let me stipulate that the Democratic establishment isnt blameless in this mess. I understand the anger and even fear of Nevada Democrats, but the local partys letter to the DNC charging that theres a penchant for violence in the Sanders campaign was histrionic and only escalated the conflict. I get it: After Clinton supporters were forced to walk a gauntlet of shame in East Los Angeles, screamed at by angry Sandernistas with bullhorns who even bullied children; after protesters crowded Clintons car on the way to a fundraiser; and now, after Nevada, there is growing concern about an apparent mob mentality that can cross the line into physical harassment, if not violence. But describing a penchant for violence is unfair to the many millions of peaceful, respectful Sanders supporters.
antigop
(12,778 posts)Peregrine Took
(7,417 posts)Baobab
(4,667 posts)And Hillary is bad.
MH1
(17,608 posts)And surely your editors at The Nation who allowed this to sully their magazine.
bkkyosemite
(5,792 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)Peregrine Took
(7,417 posts)Ned_Devine
(3,146 posts)mindem
(1,580 posts)that article is a lot of hot air.
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)Gothmog
(145,751 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)So....it depends on your perspective.
Gothmog
(145,751 posts)zalinda
(5,621 posts)Gothmog
(145,751 posts)Here are some facts for the bernie bros to ignore http://www.thenation.com/article/why-im-supporting-hillary-clinton-with-joy-and-without-apologies/
Watching people trash your daughter on social media isnt fun. It got worse when Hillary Clintons Twitter account retweeted her, and worse again when she tweeted about Planned Parenthoods Cecile Richards, a woman she admires, in the wake of the groups controversial decision to endorse Clinton. It turns out Richardss daughter works for Clinton as well, and that began a new round of insults to both our daughters. Either they were beneficiaries of our nepotism, or they somehow used their influence to corrupt their dimwit mothers into ignoring Sanderss obviously superior feminist qualifications. It is interesting to me that none of the ladiesnot Clinton, not me nor my daughter, not Richards nor her daughterare credited with competence or integrity when the Berniebot keyboard warriors break it all down.
Which brings me to another reason Ive felt compelled in the last week to come out publicly and forcefully for Clinton, which is Sanderss dismissing Planned Parenthoods endorsement (and that of NARAL Pro-Choice America) by labeling them part of the establishment. I appreciated Sanders supporter Kathy Geiers acknowledgment here in The Nation that her candidate once again came off as tone-deaf on an issue of gender. Yet Geier seconded Sanderss assertion that these two groups fighting for reproductive justice deserve to be termed establishmentand therefore unfavorably compared to the upstart, grassroots, and genuinely radical groups that back Sanders.
I trust Joan Walsh and Cecile Richards on this issue
zalinda
(5,621 posts)Everything else is hearsay and conjecture.
At least when I say something about Hillary, it comes from video, out of her own mouth. That's proof.
Z
fasttense
(17,301 posts)Aside from endless stories about Trump and "it's Hillary's turn" never ending chants.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)Brother Joe Observes
(61 posts)Resident of Realworld.