on Du and all over the internet go ape shit because Black Lives Matter dared to interrupt Bernie at Netroots? It was Brock who made them claim Black Lives Matter was funded by George Soros? It was Brock who make posters here insist daring to even ask about what Sanders would do for race issues was tantamount to the Southern Strategy? It was Brock who made Sanders supporters condescend and insult African American activists on Twitter, telling them that the fact Bernie had appeared in a protest forty years ago was all that mattered and that they had no right to criticize him?
And when we warned you back then that what you were doing was devastating to Sanders campaign, when black Sanders supporters warned you all, you all doubled down. And that incredibly obtuse reaction to concerns by the single most loyal Democratic voting block was not the fault of those who engaged in it. It was all David Brock's fault. Common Dreams says so, and Kremlin-funded, Putin-apologist propaganda sites are always right.
Cry me a fucking river. That was all self-inflicted. I saw it it real time. I saw people warn Sanders supporters in real time. And I saw those supporters react with absolute contempt not only toward the concerns of black voters but women voters as well. We were told that wanting to hear a candidate speak about abortion rights was "weak." Black voters were told similar things.
But it wasn't the fault of the people who actually did everything in their power to alienate support for their candidate. It was David Brock. The Kremlin says so, therefore it must be true.
But David Brock ignored Bernie's superiority! He failed to create ads highlighting how Bernie was a civil rights champion, how Burlington became a heaven for refugees. Bernie spent the great majority of his $225 million fund raising haul of corporate TV ads, but it was Brock's responsibility to highlight--rather than "ignore"--Bernie's heroic background as savior of the black and brown.
I live in Burlington and I KNOW the anger among Democrats and progressives here that to DEFINE Sanders as not very good for POC that our city and state - among the bluest, most tolerant places in the country - were smeared
You live in Burlington, a city in the whitest state of America, and you know that progressives were angry that they were expected to lower themselves to address concerns of voters about civil rights. Yes, exactly. Why someone running for office be expected to speak to the concerns of voters--of large demographic constituencies? VT is so tolerant, it has the lowest non-white population in the country. I wonder what became of all those refugees by the 2010 census?
https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2011-02-10-vermont-census_N.htm
So what if Progressive VT dumps its toxic waste in a poor brown community in Texas.
So what if Sanders refused to speak to the residents of Sierra Blanca when they came to DC, and so what if, as his Senate financial disclosure reports reveal, he continues to profit from it? Progressive toxic waste dumped on brown communities is so much better than when it comes from non-progressives. Residents of Sierra Blanca should take pride knowing that their children's lives are compromised for true "progressives."
So what if he voted for the Minute Men, voted against ever immigration reform bill from the time he entered congress until shortly before running for President?
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/sep/22/fact-checking-viral-graphic-critical-bernie-sander/
So what if he voted for the very same crime bill he used to attack Clinton? What does a voting record matter compared to a photo from 40 years ago?
And if Brock was so nefarious, how is it that NONE of the mountains of opp research that Kurt Eichenwald talked about seeing ended up being used? How come there was so little mention of Sierra Blanca or Sanders historic level of campaign finance violations? How come Old Towne got scant attention on a few blogs rather than a thorough investigation? How is it that we still haven't seen a single press story on Islands Family Trust?
Meanwhile, to this day, people who refused to vote for Clinton justify their decision by pointing to false claims about campaign finance that Sanders made a centerpiece of his own campaign, claims that relied on and reinforced the electorate's ignorance of campaign finance law. They repeat Bernie's claims about the primary being "rigged." Their response to the rise of fascism is to repeat those false claims as justification for their failing to stand up to fascism in the Nov. election. Now, I understand a little thing like a White Supremacist regime in the White House can't compare to the outrage you feel that someone dared to criticize Bernie. You'll just have to soldier under the burden of oppression by all those black and brown voters who failed to realize that Bernie was their savior, superior to the John Lewises and Dolores Huertas, insulted by Sanders supporters, who bear the physical scars of violent racism from fighting on the front lines of civil rights.
Your argument reveals an appalling double standard. You think nothing of denouncing any criticism of Sanders, while showing absolutely no concern about the torrent of character assassination launched toward Clinton. Your argument that any criticism of Sanders on civil rights was nefarious and illegitimate and your invocation of Burlington as a shining example tells me that you think white "progressives' are better fit to form judgments on civil rights matters than civil rights activists or voters of color. Additionally, your insistence that Brock was responsible for events all of saw unfold in real time shows not only a refusal to take responsibility for the shortcomings of that campaign and its supporters but a determination to continue to double down on the same mistakes that doomed it. Not only do you deflect responsibility for the truly offensive barge of insults and attacks against BLM and other civil rights activists by Sanders supporters, your post echoes some of the sentiment that underlay it. It was arguments like that that led black folks on twitter to start the #Berniesoblack hash tag. Now, you choose to not to learn from that experience. You prefer to double down on it, to show that the appalling sense of entitlement that led people to behave in such ways in 2015 remains undaunted. Since I want you to fail, since I abhor the class and race entitlement that underlies the restorationist agenda, I think it's good you keep revealing the soul of your movement for all to see.
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