1. Take a statement or off-the-cuff comment from some Democratic elected official.

[FSogol]

2. Twist it and take it out of context.
3. Post your outrage to social media and web forums
4. Attack Democrats who support elected Democrats to take pressure off the right wingers and Russian bots
5. Post more outrage and revel in your social media attention!
5. Repeat ad nauseum.
6. Congrats! You're a pure star! Winning!



If this is yours or one of your friends to do lists, please stop. You are not helping the cause, the party, or your favorite pure candidate. Please find something better to do with your time. You are only helping the opposition and those chaos-causing Russian bots.

[NastyRiffraff]

1. It's happening all too often

Who will be the next victim? A Democrat, of course. Some people trash ONLY Democrats while Trump is destroying the country.

[FSogol]

2. Yes. It is pretty transparent. n/t

[leftstreet]

3. If you're investigating Trump, don't make 'off-the-cuff' stmts

Teaching moment for us all

[BainsBane]

21. Investigating him is the very reason

Not to make inflammatory comments in the first place. It is most certainly not an excuse for the glaring double standards in which repeated counts moliments of Trimp are excused.
Nor does it excuse claims she is too old to led office while insisting a man who will be that age should be president.

[NurseJackie]

4. Several people whom I once admired and respected are playing that game. I'm...

... disappointed that I misjudged them. I'll never see them the same way again.

I'm normally a pretty good judge of character. I'm not always right, but most of the time I'm on target. Still, whenever I do make the occasional mistake, it's disappointing (especially when the person/s in question choose to double-down on their lapse in good judgement.)

[FSogol]

6. I think they just got caught up in the social meeting outrage. n/t

[ehrnst]

11. A feeding frenzy of outrage.

OMG - see that!!! Imma jump all over that - don't tell me it's not what I think it is, I NEED TO FEED.

And I will clutch my pearls in more outrage if ANYONE points out that I'm a pristine illustration of double standards....

[mopinko]

5. dont take the bait.

some people around here jump at the bait like it is filet mignon. it is chum, chum. resist.

[FSogol]

7. +1 Exactly. n/t

[elleng]

31. Sure do!

Quite a thread!

[sharedvalues]

8. Right wing and Russian bots help

It's not just deflecting attention away from Russian and right wing social media -- dissing Democrats IS right wing and Russian social media.

[tiredtoo]

9. You folks are missing the message here.

We all are pro Russian probe. But we must also hold our elected officials accountable. Also, do not expect Mueller's efforts to put a stop to the evil emanating from D.C. It hopefully, will remove trump but the evil still exists.

[FSogol]

10. LOL, you think social media attacks on OUR party are helpful to the investigation?

* ?

[Glorfindel]

12. I think your point just got made for you, FSogol.

[FSogol]

13. LOL, If we just bash our successful elected officials enough....

[tiredtoo]

15. Just getting elected with a D behind your name does not imply success

You have to also stand up for Democratic values.

[yardwork]

18. First, Democrats have to gain the majority.

Then, we can use that power to make changes. As long as we're the minority in both houses of Congress and many states, we can't do squat.

Elect Democrats.

[tiredtoo]

14. NO I think holding Dems to stick to our party is helpful to our party.

The investigation has nothing to do with this action.

[grantcart]

16. You forgot "when attacking Democrats push down on the keys really hard and when you push send

stomp your feet up and down"

[tiredtoo]

17. Actually this thread is divisive and is helping the chaos causing Russian bots.

Attacking Dems who call out elected officials for complying with Republicans is divisive.
United we stand, divided we fall.

[FSogol]

23. Ridiculous nonsense. Has Sen Feinstein voted for any of Trumpy's proposals? Has she sided

with him on any issue?

[tiredtoo]

24. Not yet? EOM

[gordianot]

19. Any support of the Trump administration is an act of support of the Russians who attacked us.

I am very cautious of any accusation of Trump or Russian government support as if it were an act of treason.

[heaven05]

20. happening more and more

in many many alleged 'progressive' and 'liberal' circles and cliques. I just don't know how people can be so self-centered, self absorbed and selfish when the danger we face as a nation, of many races and cultures, is immense and growing. I understand the 'stealth' RW troll and right of center person yet even their contrived reasonableness is not only suspect but seen for what it is in these days. Destroyers of decency and ultimately of civilization as we know it now. Pure and simple. It is not a game, movie or fantasy sport, politics is a dangerous area of contention these day and getting more so. I hope Democrats get our shit together before the 2018 face-off.

[BainsBane]

22. Note the clamour to remove Feinstein

While those same people insist attacking Stein constitutes a "circular firing squad." Such a circle deliberately excludes Democrats and seeks to establish unity around the reelection of Trump..

[tiredtoo]

25. For the record I have not called for the removal of Feinstein

I do and will continue to call out any Dem that tells me to "give trump a chance". I hear this daily from trumpsters.

[BainsBane]

27. How about Independents

Like Bernie? https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9544851

[tiredtoo]

29. This is different

What i read said Bernie explained conditions we could possibly work with trump on. I saw nothing that said give him a chance.

[BainsBane]

32. "that is different"

And that is precisely why I believe NONE of the noise that dominates around here. When people prove time and time again that they have no intention of maintaining common standards, that they excuse in some what they excoriate in others, they lose any claim to a moral high ground.

The fact that so many prioritize men over laws, principle, and policy is in my mind the single greatest problem in our political culture.

[hfojvt]

26. there's only one way to stop this

do the same thing to Bernie and attack some people as hypocrites and sexists.

Question. What happens if a Democratic elected official really says or does something outrageous?

[Warren DeMontague]

28. You mean like when Harry Reid called the DNC under Debbie Wasserman Schultz "Worthless"?

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/311506-reid-dnc-was-worthless-under-wasserman-schultz

How about when elected Democrat Elizabeth Warren suggested that Barack Obama didn't understand the lived experience of Americans?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elizabeth-warren-obama-criticism-lived-experience-americans-a7711971.html

Or what about when elected Democrat Ray Lujan said there would be no "litmus test" on abortion for backing congressional candidates?

http://time.com/4888785/democrat-chairman-fund-anti-abortion-candidates/


...Those kinds of off-the-cuff comments from Democratic elected officials?

[ProudLib72]

33. This is interesting

Last edited Sat Sep 2, 2017, 11:21 PM - Edit history (1)

The threads we have now are against Feinstein specifically. Those older controversies might have begun as threads against individual Dems, but they moved quickly toward a discussion of the points they were making in general terms (eg: Should abortion be a litmus test?).

That begs the question, Is discussion of these issues in more general terms (without pointing fingers and calling for ouster) worthwhile? In having one of these discussions, we all know from which Dem the issue stems. These threads usually end up being a bunch of infighting nonsense. Should the forum rules be changed so that we can't discuss any issue brought up by an out-of-context remark a Dem makes?

To me, the generalizing of an issue seems like a way to cheat the forum rule about bashing Dems.

[Warren DeMontague]

34. Its a good question, because all Democrats dont agree on everything.

but I think the salient point is, criticism and "bashing" are not the same thing.

Calling out Feinstein for what arguably could be seen as Trump-normalizing comments, is not "bashing" her either.

[Expecting Rain]

35. Twisting her words into outright falsehoods and then creating 5 or 6 or 7 threads here on DU...

is bashing Democrats and it is bashing Dianne Feinstein.

It is divisive and it runs counter to the published principles of this website.

That makes it trollish behavior.

[Warren DeMontague]

36. Then hit the alert button.

You're chasing around people who have been here a lot longer than you, over this.

[ProudLib72]

37. Yeah, I don't think many DUers push it into bashing

I see the terms "criticism" and "bashing" as subjective, though. What disturbs me more are the instances of Dems in office causing controversy. You mentioned Reid as an example. And then there were some people going after Pelosi a while back (Ryan in particular). I just hate to see the infighting that occurs between these elected Dems spill over into DU. Sometimes it seems like having to choose a favorite WWF persona.

[elleng]

30. Thanks, FS.