A post from Reddit - Bernie Sanders group
I know this idea has been reiterated here a few times, but I can't stress this point enough.
I was at the rally last night in South Carolina, and I noticed a few things about Hillary's supporters. First of all, they were well organized. Most of them were wearing matching blue shirts and many of them were bussed in from surrounding areas. This is something that I feel like we all could learn from.
However, as a group, they had a mentality which is not conducive to any dialogue with outsiders and they had a very strong "team" mentality Frankly, many of them were even hateful to those that were not in their "group".
A few instances I noticed:
I was in the crowd in front of Hardball before they started, and this guy came up behind the crowd wearing a Hillary t-shirt telling people that he had free water. I asked him where, or if I could have any, and he replied, "Are you a Hillary supporter? Oh, then that gets tough right there. No water for you."
Hillary supporters kept chanting and talking over this bullhorn they had WHILE Chris Matthews was trying to record his show there, LIVE. Before the show had started, one of the crew had announced to the crowd that we were allowed to be loud on intro and outro shots, but we needed to be quiet and respectful while Chris Matthews was talking. They totally disregarded what he had to say.
Now, I understand that all of these things are anecdotal, but this is what I saw all night. I really believe that as a group, we remain open, friendly, and willing to converse with "the other side", we could gain headway with undecided voters. The mentality that I saw in many of the Hillary supporters was non-inclusive, and as I spoke to them, many were ill-informed on the issues.
We need to keep this in mind over the next few months. I firmly believe that if we have better character than what I saw tonight, we will come out ahead. We need to represent Bernie in a good manner.
Edit: This post should by no means be considered a blanket statement against Hillary supporters. I tried hard not to embellish details in my post, but rather just document what I saw. That being said, obviously there were plenty of Hillary supporters who were friendly and non-provocative. I shared small talk with a few of them, and ultimately we would make the point that we're all on the same "team".
https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/3rx1c6/i_was_at_the_democratic_presidential_forum_last/
= new reply since forum marked as read
I remember reading in Tip O'Neill's Man of the House, which he wrote upon his retirement from Congress, that personal vitriol and hatred was first truly injected into the workings of the House by none other than Newt Gingrich - with a substantial assist from former New York Republican John Le Boutillier.
It was Gingrich who introduced the long-running GOP custom of waiting until the floor of the House was empty, unleashing attacks upon Democrats or some issue supported by Democrats, and then standing back as if waiting for a response (which, of course, led many viewers to believe the Democrats had no reply).
The rancor, according to O'Neill, got especially bad once the 'Reagan robots' (the far-right GOP freshmen elected in 1980) came into the scene - the worst by far being Le Boutillier, who had an insult or epithet at the ready for just about every Democrat in the House (O'Neill especially, whom he called "big, fat, and out of control - just like the Federal Government"
.
Luckily for Tip, a lot of these crassholes ended up losing their seats during the Reagan recession in 1982. House Democrats today, as you know, aren't nearly so lucky.
situation, but not up close and personal. But recently I asked a person I know who DOES support Bernie if the only group I could work with was one that included Bernie, but also firm about Hillary. I was told there "might" be a group for Bernie supporters, but unless I was totally committed to both candidates it would be best not to join the one I got an invitation to.
Not sure what to make of this, but it sure left me thinking 'WOW, I may join, but it was conditional' and have to say I think the group might not be for me. Can't explain the feeling, but it just feels uncomfortable!
WHO sends these messages and why is does it feel like I won't feel comfortable joining? So, I do what I can do to get the message out with a small group who puts out Bernie's message.
