If you're a Sanders supporter, have you ever been disappointed by something—anything—he's done?
I'm curious because in the past week, the Sanders campaign has done THREE TWO egregiously stupid things that I frankly can't see anyone but the blindest of his followers supporting or excusing.
First, the Sanders campaign is threatening in a letter to disrupt the Democratic convention unless Barney Frank and Dannel Malloy are disqualified from serving as platform committee chairs. Why? They're the maaaan:
The letter calls Rep. Frank and Gov. Malloy “self-proclaimed partisans intent on marginalizing Sanders Campaign supporters.”
Two good, solid Democrats are too much a part of the system to be trusted to help run the Democratic party. So says the presumptive loser of the nominating process, who actually was given—in a concession—power in choosing some of the major players at the convention, and chose Cornel Freakin' West, who thinks Barack Obama is a “counterfeit.”
Sanders, day by day, continues to show that his true goal is simply to gum up the works for the Democrats. He is like Nader on free steroids, and I don't think that is going to end when Hillary clinches, and I'm not at all confident it will end at or after the convention. Trump recently laughed that Bernie gives him some of his best lines.
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UPDATE: The following section includes information about a video clip purporting to show Sanders enter a rally to a homophobic song. The campaign has provided info that shows the video is fake, and of course they are—Big Brother-style—insisting it was manufactured to tilt California to Hillary. More in the post following this.
Second, Sanders used an infamous “shoot the gays” DMX rap song at a rally. Seriously? Why would that song have ever been chosen, and the lyrics not vetted? These lyrics:
I show no love, to homo thugs. Empty out, reloaded and throw more slugs. How you gonna explain f*ckin a man?
Even if we squashed the beef, I ain’t touchin ya hand
I don’t buck with chumps, for those to been to jail
That’s the cat with the Kool-Aid on his lips and pumps
I don’t f*ck with niggaz that think they broads
If Hillary did this, it would be a top-of-the-electronic-fold story on every single gay blog, gay groups would be addressing it and the mainstream press would be reporting on it.
More importantly, Hillary's gay supporters would be expressing disbelief and anger, and would add it to the list of things about her that we see as strikes. I'm sure an apology would wipe away any chance of longstanding resentment, but it would not be excused and blown off. Hillary's principled gay (and gay-positive) supporters hauled her to the carpet when she made her Nancy Reagan AIDS gaffe, for which she apologized and which led to a meeting with AIDS activists.
This song was an intentional choice; it's no coincidence that it was used but cut off before the homophobic and transphobic lyrics began:
Third Second, the Sanders campaign—apparently miffed that AIDS activist Peter Staley rightfully dressed it down for mischaracterizing Bernie's own meeting with AIDS activists—attacked Staley in a way that's really unforgivable:
Warren Gunnels—Bernie's policy director— tweeted that Staley, whose activism he put in quotes, was running a campaign of hate and had made a fortune from big drug companies.
This is libelous and malicious, not a dumb misunderstanding. It's also another reflection of the singleminded, addled world view of the Sanders Cult—everyone but they are on the take, a part of the establishment, ruled by cash.
The first misstep I wrote about above is proof that the Sanders campaign isn't going to be happy with any structural or procedural concessions, and looks ready to try to make the Democratic convention a huge mess. That means they're committed to harming Hillary Clinton as a nominee in any way possible. If you're still clinging to the argument that Sanders has made the Democratic Party stronger, or are still peddling the idea that he, like all past also-rans, intends to be helpful to Hillary post-convention, this should at the very least give you pause. (If you are a #NeverHillary person, this doesn't apply to you.)
The second misstep is dumb as hell and warrants an apology, though I wouldn't say it means Bernie chose the music (!) or knew about the lyrics. It does show callous disregard for the LGBT community by someone or someones on his staff.
The third second misstep is something I truly do not think should be excusable unless Sanders apologizes and fires Warren Gunnels. He went after Peter Staley personally. Peter Staley is a hero to the LGBT community, and just because he is a Hillary supporter; he does not deserve to be smeared in this very serious way.
Gunnels later deleted his tweet. That's not fucking enough.
I had a FB friend who went ape when Hillary made her Nancy Reagan gaffe, and he declared because of that, in spite of being a fan of hers for decades, he would never vote for her again. He also began posting highly inflammatory, negative Clinton memes. I wonder if he will be able to allow how much more serious this misstep by the Sanders campaign is, and how much more fairly it could be argued to reflect Sanders' own commitment to HIV/AIDS and LGBT issues?
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