Bernie Sanders can’t afford to stay silent any longer

[workinclasszero]

Bernie Sanders can’t afford to stay silent any longer

Rise of extremist supporters causing a rift in the party

In Nevada, Trump-like anger boils over at state convention

Democratic candidate must step up, condemn supporters’ actions

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

A lot of Democrats don’t want to admit it, but Donald Trump isn’t the only presidential candidate playing with fire and recklessly courting an angry mob.

For the latest round of curse-word hurling, chair throwing, social-media stalking and conspiracy-theory swapping, look no further than the supporters of Bernie Sanders.

Over the weekend, dozens of Sanders devotees lost their minds after the Nevada Democratic Party, meeting for its convention in Las Vegas, awarded a majority of delegates to front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Convinced that the establishment had rigged the rules and that Sanders delegates had been excluded for unfair reasons, they booed and traded barbs with people on stage, including Clinton surrogate and keynote speaker U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.

The convention ended abruptly, descending into chaos that was captured for the world to relive on Facebook and YouTube.

Death threats and vandalism followed, prompting Nevada Democratic Party offices to close on Monday and its chairwoman, Roberta Lange, to release some downright disgusting voicemails and text messages she had received from Sanders supporters. She also reported threats against her grandchildren.

http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article78199247.html

[stopbush]

1. Sanders won't say anything because at his core he's a coward.

[nini]

2. Exactly.. just walk away is his solution

He makes me ill

[hamsterjill]

6. I've lost all respect for him.

I've tried to at least be civil as to Senator Sanders, but his failure to denounce the violence and chaos has made me lose respect for him.

Yes, he wants to walk away and let others fight the battle for him. And that same comparison is going to be drawn by many Americans as to how he handled the Viet Nam war if he were to be the nominee, which he will not be.

He is running for the office of the President of the United States, which office requires leadership. He needs to LEAD his supporters. He needs to denounce any and all violent acts, and he needs to stop advocating chaos.

[nini]

7. Yep.. His childish behavior is not presidential

I guess people think being a jerk will get things done and he's their guy!

[BobbyDrake]

11. He never wanted to lead, though.

Remember, his plan for Congress was not to work with Republicans and Democrats through negotiation and compromise. His plan was to point to his supporters in D.C. outside the House and Senate and say, "...or else!" The threat of violence is not something new, despite how people are reacting to Nevada this weekend.

[BlueMTexpat]

3. And at least some of his

supporters on DU are fine with those actions.

I''ve got most of those on Ignore already, but I spotted a few more today and for me, they're gone.

[pandr32]

5. He wants this

Make no mistake. He thinks he has "the American People" fighting for him.

He has known for some time that his "political revolution" wasn't going to work unless his supporters had lots of "enthusiasm" and were "energized" to show up and demand that the 1% no longer got their way and that corruption in politics ended--returning government to "the American People" who all happen to support Bernie. The rest are--well--who knows?

Bernie has said in interviews that he doesn't have a coalition of (corrupt, Clinton machine) support in Congress and so in order to get things done he need only point out his vast support that demands the process of government to work in their favor. I guess he means that harassing phone calls, and other messages are meant to scare the beJezzus out of elected officials who will fear being primaried--you know, just like the Tea Party did to the Republicans.

Bernie supporters are all now sanctioned vanguards of the democratic process (Bernie's version of what that is), thanks to Bernie Sanders and his well-matched wife Jane (also great at getting her way thanks to what we have been finding out about the fear and intimidation environment she loves to create in her work space and how she, in fact, does love nepotism and crony capitalism when she can reward her favorite people while "demoting" the ones she doesn't favor so much).

I don't think Bernie is a coward--but a deeply flawed man who has learned the rules don't work for his "my way or the highway" attitude--believing he knows what is best for everybody else, so why forge alliances and co-operate with others? His "revolution" is now becoming unhinged and violent and Bernie is fine with it. The end justifies the means for him and Jane.

[KittyWampus]

8. He is a coward. Witness his use of the term "democratic socialist".

He throws the "democratic" in to use as a fig leaf.

Democratic socialists don't do political revolutions nor do they seek to destroy the Leftwing party.

[Little Star]

10. Democratic socialists don't but narcissists do.

[Cha]

4. They're calling burnie's fans reeking like trump fans.. he damn well better start

coming up with something besides his damn stump speech and railing @ the Democratic Party.. which is damn sight better than the thing he's the head of.

Mahalo, working~

[Walk away]

9. Bernie Sanders must be all in with death threats to Democrats...

Otherwise he would have done the decent thing and told his supporters to stop harassing Roberta Lange. I am sure that Law Enforcement is investigating this and Bernie & Jane are in for a HUUUUGE law suit!

Now that's an FBI investigation I can get behind!