Bernie Sanders Met With Boos After Name-Dropping Martin Luther King (2019)

[TomCADem]

Bernie can't hide behind Nina Turner and AOC when it comes to addressing issues of race, particularly when his campaign is going on the offensive and demanding apologies from anyone who questions Bernie's record.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-met-with-boos-after-name-dropping-martin-luther-king-at-she-the-people-summit

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was met with audible groans from the audience Wednesday night at the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston for his response to a question on the rise of white nationalism. Sanders, one of eight Democratic contenders for 2020 featured at the summit, which described itself as “the first-ever presidential candidate forum focused on women of color,” prompted boos from the crowd after defaulting to his usual talking points about immigration reform and mentioning his attendance at the March on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King when asked how he’d handle the issue of white-supremacist violence and what specifically he’d do for women of color. The questioner, former NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Sayu Bhojwani, later tweeted that Sanders “had a rough time” with the question but “came around.” Others were less forgiving. “Bernie was asked important questions and he answered none of them,” tweeted disability-rights advocate Stephanie Olarte. “It is so sad that the moderators ask the questions in different forms to get an answer Y NADA.”

While Bernie has lately been more direct in condemning Trump's racism, the fact of the matter is that Bernie just tends to go through the motions when asked to address racism as these clips make clear:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Cha]

1. Still asking why BS didn't go to be with John Lewis,

and all those who were being honored in Selma, for Marching on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965?

[SunsetDreams2]

3. Exactly +1000

He couldn’t be bothered with it!

He can’t answer a direct question and pivots to his stump speech..M4A, no other major country on earth...blah blah.

[Cha]

5. So much for claiming

a "civil rights" mantle. It was an important place to be on March 1, 2020. John Lewis & all Those who Marched on March 7, 1965

Mahalo, SunsetDreams

[juxtaposed]

2. Warren talks at times with her finger. People are unique.

[TomCADem]

4. Except Warren Is Not Going to Dodge Questions About the Rise...

...in racist violence under Trump.

[juxtaposed]

6. You need to be honest do you think anyone would on the left would do that? and why?

[TomCADem]

8. That Is What Bernie Did On the Video

That is why Bernie was getting booed.

[ChubbyStar]

9. Why is everything a fight with you and Bernie?

Man that must be a ton of stress.

[TomCADem]

16. VOX: Sanders can't lead the Democrats if his campaign treats them like the enemy

Isn't the question why is everything a fight between Bernie and the Democrats? I happen to be a Democrat. Bernie has elevated himself by trying to burn the Democratic party around him and surrounding his campaign with flamethrowers who gleefully attack Democrats. So, yes, I take that personally, when every chance he gets, Bernie or one of his surrogates trashes his would be allies.

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/4/21164091/sanders-biden-super-tuesday-endorsements-primary-2020

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have been running very different kinds of campaigns, built on very different ambitions. Biden’s been running to lead the Democratic Party more or less as it exists today. Sanders, by contrast, has sought to lead a political revolution that will upend not just the Democratic Party but American politics more broadly.

On Super Tuesday, Sanders’s political revolution didn’t turn out, but the Democratic Party did.

“A big problem for the Sanders theory of this race is that when turnout is high, he wins,” writes Dave Weigel, a political reporter at the Washington Post. “Turnout is way up, but the most reliable new voters are Biden-curious suburbanites.” As election analyst Dave Wasserman noted, the new voters Sanders promised to pull into the party didn’t emerge, and as a result, he’s lost ground from 2016.

Sanders didn’t get wiped out on Tuesday night — far from it. He won Vermont, Utah, and Colorado (and likely California, though the final tallies won’t be reported for a while). But Biden surged unexpectedly to win Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Virginia — and as I write this, he’s narrowly favored to win Texas and Maine, too.

[ChubbyStar]

17. I asked why was everything a fight between you and Bernie

Your voice? Say it please.

[TomCADem]

18. Thought I answered it...

I am not sure what you are missing. I told you my opinion. If you want to look at my post history, I have been consistent about my view that Bernie has repeatedly elevated himself by trashing the Democratic party, which I think is harmful for progressive causes. It undermines the coalition he says he wants to lead.

I have not just said this, but I have also linked to articles and stories that show that I am hardly alone in this sentiment.

We are trying to beat Trump not only because of his positions, but because he is not fit to be President. I supported Warren over Bernie because I wanted some who can effectively run for President against someone:
a. Who has pushed racist, right wing talking points scapegoating immigrants and calling efforts at immigration reform "open borders" or "amnesty."
b. Who has long history of engaging in nepotism and sponsoring foundations and businesses that have financially benefited his family.
c. Who has been hostile to our allies in NATO.
d. Who has been hostile to media and complained about coverage as being biased against him.
e. Who elevates himself by demonizing the Democratic party.
f. Who has sided with Russia against U.S. on election security.
g. Who has been sided with authoritarian dictators.
h. Who has not been transparent about their health or their tax returns.
i. Who repeatedly undermines our Democracy by claiming that elections are being rigged against him by the establishment or the deep state.
j. Who is a narcissist and turns every story in to narrative that revolved around him.

I hope this helps you understand the "why" behind my opposition to Bernie. Conversely, I think we can also understand why Russia and Trump repeatedly boost Bernie vis a vis other Democrats.

[ChubbyStar]

19. Thanks! I think to the best of my common sense I understand

Have a good night.

[thesquanderer]

20. But do you honestly believe your anti-Bernie OPs ever change anyone's opinion about BS here? n/t

[TomCADem]

21. This Is Why I Link to Videos and Quotes of Bernie

For example, when Bernie was leading, BS supporters were arguing that Bernie was a unity candidate who had not attacked Democrats. So, I posted example after example showing otherwise.

Likewise, BS likes to brag that he attended a civil rights march over 50 years ago. But that has repeatedly ignored the black community in Vermont as late as last year when he excluded the local.NAACP to a conference on social justice held by his foundation. Instead, he just invited Campaign supporters, which creates it's own issues.

Likewise, the idea that Bernie has not been Russia friendly in his votes or that he has voted against the Brady Bill or for gun maker immunity is betrayed by his voting record.

The key for me is to get the facts out there in the face of a lot of BS. If people still support BS despite these facts, then so be it. But let's not pretend that BS is what he isn't.

[juxtaposed]

10. life is short, you know he is not a racist so why try to post this shit?

[William769]

12. Do we?

[ChubbyStar]

13. How about this if we don't know if Bernie is a racist

Are you? Fair question.

[TomCADem]

14. Dailykos: Watch Bernie Sanders Agree with Lou Dobbs' "Illegal Aliens" Rant

If Bernie is not a racist, he needs to stop using racist rhetoric scapegoating immigrants such as complaining about amnesty such as when he appeared on Lou Dobbs in a successful effort to kill immigration reform, which would have provided a path to citizenship to many undocumented immigrants. Yes, he flipped flopped, and supported a virtually identical bill later, but this just shows that he is willing to throw immigrants under the bus.

You might say that he has changed, but why does Bernie continue to bash open borders policies when no one has advocated open borders. Instead, it is a straw man used by Republicans (and Bernie) to generate opposing to immigration reform.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/6/1480425/-Watch-Bernie-Sanders-Agree-with-Lou-Dobbs-Illegal-Aliens-Rant

In 2007, Sen. Bernie Sanders was working overtime to kill Ted Kennedy’s immigration reform bill. As part of his effort, he appeared on then-CNN host Lou Dobbs’ program for an interview.

Appearing above a graphic reading “FIGHTING AMNESTY,” Sen. Sanders tells Dobbs that pro-reform Senators are “selling out American workers. In fact, they are selling out our entire country.”

In Dobbs’ next comments, we see the truly ugly side of American populism.

DOBBS: These special interests … it is now so blatant that only those who refuse to see could deny that both the Democratic and Republican parties are owned lock stock and barrel by corporate America and special interests, including the amnesty legislation’s socio-ethnocentric interest groups who really have very little regard for the traditions of this country, the values of this country … it is seemingly impossible to awaken our elected officials to their moral responsibilities. I don’t mean to suggest everyone is in this situation, certainly not yourself, only the majority unfortunately ... Is there any hope that we can change that?

While Sanders opposition to the legislation was supposed to be based in (debunked) economic arguments, here is Dobbs attacking immigrants in moralistic, nativist terms. He combines “socio-ethnocentric interest groups” (whatever that means) with corporate interests intent on destroying representative government. And what was Sanders’ response? Did he challenge the hateful rhetoric coming from Dobbs, emphasizing that his disagreement came from a totally different place? Nope. He instead merely answered Dobbs’ last question, saying “I think there is hope.” He then delivers the typical anti-immigrant line that because “middle class wages are declining,” bringing in guest workers will only “drive down wages” further.

[msongs]

7. this subject is always his deer in the headlights moment followed by a dodge nt

[LiberalFighter]

11. The way I look at it. Sure Sanders was at the Chicago protest in 1963.

But he didn't stay there after graduating. He didn't go back to NY and take that experience with him. No, he went to Vermont.

[ChubbyStar]

15. Maybe we should deconstruct your life

Everything work out as planned? Sheer nonsense.

[NurseJackie]

22. It's called vetting. That's what happens when someone runs for POTUS...

... they get their life "deconstructed". It's not nonsense at all.

Maybe we should deconstruct your life

Why? The person to whom you're responding isn't running for anything. That individual doesn't need to be vetted.