I supported Bernie in the primary...I support unity now...

[Ken Burch]

Their needs to be respect from both wings of the party.

[frazzled]

1. But you elected those delegates

Even when we complained about the bad behavior of many Sanders supporters, it was dismissed and laughed at. You voted for these disruptors. I know you are sincere when you say you want unity, but I think you also need to accept your role in the affair.

[Ken Burch]

2. What do you want me to say? That Bernie shouldn't have run?

There was no way of knowing who would be a disruptor, and this doesn't delegitimize the Sanders campaign or the Sanders movement.

I condemn the disrupters and Bernie told them to stop.

But it would have been a tragedy if Bernie hadn't been a candidate.

We'd probably be losing to Trump by fifteen points if HRC had been unopposed.

[frazzled]

5. No, not at all

But you, and Sanders, should have fought vocally and strongly from the very beginning against the swarms of hooligans who were at the core of pushing the campaign forward. That never happened. It was tolerated, even encouraged. It's too late now, and there will be no appeasing them. They were told it's a revolution, that the convention would be contested, that Hillary Clinton was a criminal abettor of Wall Street and worse than any Republican.

And no, you're still dead wrong about pushing Hillary to the left being the savior of her campaign. Will the egotism never end? There is no left left enough for these delegates (who are not true leftists, but rather anarchic libertarian Assange lovers who revel in disruption of any kind, who mistrust government and create bogeymen to whip up unsuspecting others). It's the disaffected centrists that need to be won over: they are the ones most susceptible to Trumpism.

[Ken Burch]

7. You get the people you call "centrists" simply by looking decisive.

They are mainly looking for someone who seems like she has a plan.

They aren't going to be won over by telling the left to go Cheney itself. No one would be impressed by HRC moving further right after the convention. "Sistah Souljah" moments don't work anymore.

There aren't any issues on which a Dem candidate could appease potential xenophobes or Islamaphobics and still be a Democrat after doing so, anyway.

[RAFisher]

8. I vote for a candidate, not these fucking morons.

They should have picked me. I'm not an asshole. I find this shit disgusting.

[Squinch]

29. I think the vast majority of Bernie supporters are of the Silverman variety. Like yourself.

Not like the assholes and fucking morons.

[NurseJackie]

3. ... go ahead! Finish your thought.

Something along the lines of: "... and that's why the Bernie delegates should be allowed to get it out of their system. It's all harmless fun. They're just over-excited. The Hillary wing needs to show them some respect and set a good example."

Or any of the other assorted excuses, and "both sides do it" justifications that I've read today.

[Ken Burch]

4. No. I wasn't going to say that.

I called for unity.

[NurseJackie]

6. Now that I've anticipated it "out loud", I kinda figured that would be your response.

I called for unity.

With a variation of the "both sides are at fault" nonsense. Only one group is disrupting the convention.

[Ken Burch]

9. No, you got me wrong.

What matters is that I called for unity. I don't condone the protests in the hall today...they serve no purpose.

I don't understand, though, why the Clinton-Kaine campaign couldn't have just held off announcing DWS' hiring until after the convention. What was the rush? That couldn't have kept until the delegates went home?

Does it make sense to you that they would hurry that through?

[NurseJackie]

10. I guess they overestimated that group's maturity and ability to handle political disappointment.

Clearly, that group was given more credit than they deserve.

Lesson learned, I guess.

[Ken Burch]

16. It's not that simple, but it shouldn't have happened.

Some of this might have been prevented if some HRC supporters hadn't spent the last year acting like Bernie had no business running, falsely accusing him and his supporters of indifference to bigotry(we were NEVER a campaign that cared only about economic issues and we did try to get POC support)and of being an anti-Democratic cabal, and then spent the last month and a half demanding that Bernie suspend his campaign even though it was enough that he wasn't campaigning against her anymore). Some of you thought we shouldn't even have tried to influence the platform. It was relentless and it was unspeakably vicuous. You could have won by sticking to the issues.

The people on the floor shouldn't have taken the bait...but it's also true that they should never have been baited.

[NurseJackie]

17. Oh, Ken. (Sigh.)

No matter how you try to shift the blame ... these individuals make their own immature decisions.

And do you REALLY want to re-hash the campaign? Is that you "excuse" and justification for their childish behavior today? "Unspeakably vicious" ?? Good lord!

So they're bitter over the pointed and critical treatment Bernie received during the campaign ... and even then it was NOTHING compared to what Bernie would have received as the nominee.

The people on the floor shouldn't have taken the bait...but it's also true that they should never have been baited.

Nonsense. They weren't "baited" ... they're over-reacting to ordinary political and party activities. You can't excuse their behavior by acting as if they were lured into doing something that they wouldn't have otherwise done. This wasn't some VICE STING operation.

You know as well as anyone that if it hadn't been this, it would have been something else. What we've got here are a bunch of tipsy, angry and bitter SORE LOSERS.

Nobody will ever take the "Bernie Revolution" seriously again. This is the last stop. Their final "hurrah". (Maybe they're actually doing us a favor.)

[Ken Burch]

18. If you want Bernie's revolution to end, you don't want change.

Just electing Dem politicians by itself isn't enough.

There has to be a perpetual mass movement to make them do the right things.

The forced demobilization of the Obama movement as soon as the votes were in proves this.

If Rahm hadn't told the movement to stop, the Republican Congress would never have been elected.

[NurseJackie]

19. If malcontents want it to succeed they need to ...

... understand that their immature disrespectful stunts aren't the way to earn respect and to be taken seriously. Turning the Democratic convention into OWS is short sighted and doomed to failure.

[Ken Burch]

20. I'm not sure it is that.

Tell me this...I agree with you that the outbursts should not have happened, but why couldn't HRC's campaign just have waited until the convention was over to announce the hiring of DWS? What harm could possibly have come of having a cooling-off period before they sprung that on people?

Would it have been asking too much not to do something they knew would be more provocative than anything else they could possibly have done this week?

Why take the risk?

If they had announced if next week, none of this would have happened.

[NurseJackie]

21. You're repeating yourself now ... Please return to my post

... where I comment "lesson learned"and repeat the exchange over and over. (What fun!)Their only mistake was in giving the Bernie folks too much credit. In reality they're just a bunch of big babies.

[Ken Burch]

22. It was a handful of people.

You can't fairly characterize the Sanders movement overall that way.

And your candidate can't win in the fall if she spends the week doing things like this.

You need us...we need you.

[NurseJackie]

23. A "handful" with an embarrassing number of defenders.

Hilary will be fine. You overestimate the importance of the dedicated haters.

[Doctor Jack]

11. Sorry about the a-holes, Ken

If someone says they voted for Sanders but are now all for unity and helping Clinton win, maybe don't tell them to fuck off. We need a united democratic party in November. Yes, a small minority of Sanders supporters are not on the same page and are being very loud about it but let's not push more people over to them by saying "thanks but no thanks, now don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Cooler heads will prevail, they always do.

[Ken Burch]

12. I hope you are right. n/t.

[Doctor Jack]

13. Its hot out, people are grumpy

Maybe someone should send some ice cream and lemonade to the convention.

[Ken Burch]

15. Not a bad idea. I hope Ben and Jerry are listening. n/t.

[Stuart G]

14. Yes..

[LostOne4Ever]

24. I also supported Bernie in the Primary and unity now

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#00009d]Thank you for making this thread![/font]

[Ken Burch]

25. Just trying to help. I'm really hoping the rest of the week won't be like this.

[apcalc]

26. Thank you, Ken. Unity is the only way. We must work together.

[RazBerryBeret]

27. I'm with 'ya Ken...

there are assholes everywhere.

[David__77]

28. I don't think the party has two wings.

That said, I believe I get your meaning.