Bernie Sanders Is Hurting Himself by Playing the Victim

[workinclasszero]

Bernie Sanders Is Hurting Himself by Playing the Victim
The Vermont senator could turn from movement leader into the messiah of an angry white male cult with his claims of a “rigged” nomination process.
By Joan WalshTwitterYESTERDAY 1:36 PM

It’s been five days since the conflagration at the Nevada State Democratic Convention, and the embers are still burning. Much of it has singed Senator Bernie Sanders. The intimidation of speakers and the misogynist death threats against party chair Roberta Lange have led to a wave of critical pieces by Bernie supporters—some of them now former Bernie supporters. Sanders’s loyal CNN backer Sally Kohn wrote in Time: “I Felt the Bern But the Bros Are Extinguishing the Flames.” Esquire’s Charles Pierce, who voted for Sanders, weighed in Tuesday: “It’s Time for Bernie’s People to Calm Down.” Sanders supporter Harold Meyerson now insists, “The Bros Are Undermining Bernie.”

In the pages of the Sanders fanzine Salon (for which I used to work), at least two Bernie supporters have written that it’s over: For them, the mayhem in Las Vegas has doused the burn. Even on Sanders-friendly Reddit, former Berners were leaving the fold. Much of the media has reacted with shock to the Nevada chaos, and Sanders surrogates have faced tougher grilling on cable news than they have for the entire campaign.

But the Sanders camp is defiant, with the senator himself condemning the threats and reports of violence, but—and you never add “but” to a sentence that’s condemning threatening behavior—insisting party leaders had it coming, because convention rules were less than fair or “transparent.” Sanders has continued to rip the Democratic Party for unfairness, and his supporters are now telling reporters there will be trouble at the convention in Philadelphia over the “rigged” primary process.

http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-is-hurting-himself-by-playing-the-victim/

[mikeysnot]

1. ^^^^

[Rockyj]

2. Sanders is NOT playing victim!

Hillary race baits, plays woman victim card, and her campaign & 1% pay Hillary SHILLS & provocateurs to promote violence & BLAME it on Bernie supporters! #NeverHillary is here and will NEVER go away & every Progressive Democrat I know will NOT vote for Hillary! I don't know any Progressive Bernie Sanders supporters threatening violence.
WTFU people its Hillary's Camp creating this mess!
If Hillary really cares about America she needs to END her corrupt 1% funded campaign NOW!

[SFnomad]

3. #smh - reading your screed, it's clear you're a part of the problem, not a part of the solution n/t

[Logical]

5. Nothing hurts hillary more than her rude arrogant supporters.

[SFnomad]

6. You might want to take a long look in a mirror n/t

[Logical]

7. I see you when i look in the mirror, weird! Nt

[NCTraveler]

29. You two probably have so much in common that you are absolutely correct. nt.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "race bait" and "woman victim card" are RW terms. nt

[Rockyj]

14. Race Bait is & playing woman victim card does not belong...

to RW. The way she treated Black Lives Matter protestors was horrible & she used the woman victim card on Bernie Sanders of all people!
Hillary camp is using everything they can, which makes them look desperate.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. What you just wrote

makes zero sense... Particularly since you continue to use the terms.

And as a note, any protest group who disrupts does so with that intent in mind. The bigger issue is whether the one being disrupted actually follows up later or refuses to come off the canned stump speech that essentially marginalizes the protestor's concern. I.e., Bernie refuses to acknowledge the importance of "social justice" being a more impactful issue to POC - and this goes beyond silly utterances about "ghettoes", because even billionaires like Oprah will tell you economics make no difference thanks to her black face.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. In other news, 31,000 people came to see him in California yesterday. n/t

[scscholar]

9. Making death threats is not playing the victim!

It's actually aggressive.

[w4rma]

26. Prove that it wasn't paid Hillary trolls who did that. Noone was arrested. (nt)

[Gothmog]

10. Great article

[nc4bo]

11. Well he obviously can't play the damsel in distress routine so

There's that.

Only a woman could pull off silencing valid criticism of her error(s) of judgment(s) by claiming those criticisms were/are purely rooted in sexist behavior.

Yes, HIll is a real piece of work in that regard.

No, Bernie's no victim but Hill sure as hell did her best to act like one multiple times.

[grossproffit]

12. "Here's a delightful note a Sanders supporter left on my site. Doing you proud, Bernie!"

[img][/img]

Via the authors Twitter feed.

[workinclasszero]

13. Classic Bro hate right there

That creep is a real POS, damn.

[Rockyj]

15. Why not post all the HORRID tweets from Hillary Camp?

[nc4bo]

18. It would take too long. nt

[MoonRiver]

22. Because they don't exist.

If they did you'd be posting them!

[forjusticethunders]

16. that's straight out of the nastier parts of Reddit

in terms of tone and word choice.

The white male rage is real.

[polly7]

17. uuhhh ....... I honestly don't even think Sanders has it in him to 'play victim'.

Strange post.

But then every honest criticism here against Clinton has been claimed sexist, racist, whatever was the meme trotted out for the day to make her a victim.

[ucrdem]

19. Calling for his supporters to be treated with respect is playing the victim.

Bizarre, yes, but there it is.

[polly7]

23. Is this politics or playschool? Are afternoon mats supplied?

And demanding respect for others is what every good human should do. The only ones 'playing victim' are those having so much fun doing the ugly, lying Brock crap and getting called on it.

[frylock]

25. That's not claiming victimhood ffs.

[Orsino]

20. Classic parody.

I love the part where "Joan Walsh" calls Salon a Sanders fanzine.

[frylock]

24. ..

[tonyt53]

27. Yeah, well, let those same Bernie-ites show up in Phily

The building trades unions, the only unions that have actually grown, are all endorsing Hillary. They plan on showing in force in Philly. Some people will get their asses kicked, and I doubt it will be those building tradesmen. Those Bernie-ites won;t have their mothers there to help them.

[eastwestdem]

28. He totally is! But the events of this week have worked wonders as a recruiting tool.

Canvassing for Hillary in CA has never been more fun.