A WHOPPER OF A LIE: Bernie Sanders is weak.

[Skwmom]

A weak man would never have the guts to stand up to the corrupt people who control our government.

Furthermore,

A weak man would never have stood up for civil rights long before it was popular to do so (and continue to do so without calculating how it will impact his "white" vote).

A weak man would never have stood up for gay rights long before it was popular to do so.

A weak man would never have stood up for immigrant rights when so many stood on the sidelines calculating the political odds.

A weak man would never have stood up for worker rights when the corporate owners were opposed and the political class stood silent.

Bernie Sanders is a man with an iron will.

Because Bernie Sanders handled a matter with dignity or grace does not make him a weak man.

A weak man takes the easier road. Bernie Sanders has NEVER traveled the easier road.

[JI7]

1. or even decide to take on this run for national office

That he knows will be difficult .especially at his age. And he has also listened and learned from others.

[slipslidingaway]

2. knr nt

[giftedgirl77]

3. When I look at Bernie Sanders all I can think is...

we had better water down his wine & make sure he doesn't drive after dark.

[BillZBubb]

6. The ageist critiques another Democratic candidate!

Are any of them young enough to satisfy you? Or do they all just look too old and too white?

[Le Taz Hot]

42. He may be older but he just did 4 exhausting gigs in 2 days

so he's obviously doing something right. Let's see you do that. Oh, and by the way. Enjoy your stay. I've a feeling it will be a short one.

"gifted" my ass.

[azmom]

4. He's a strong, brave and courageous.

[slipslidingaway]

5. kick n/t

[BillZBubb]

7. Unfortunately, he looked weak on that stage in Seattle.

That gave the republicans (and maybe some Hillary supporters) ammo to use if he gets the nomination.

I agree he is not weak, but in politics it only takes one slip up for the opposition to create that negative image.

[Skwmom]

11. Really? He didn't look weak to me. He looked a man who keeps his cool in very disruptive

circumstances.

Hillary's team doesn't need ammo. They either make it up or distort the truth.

[redstateblues]

13. In politics perception is reality

[BillZBubb]

15. Exactly.

The republicans can spin that scene in a very negative way.

[RichVRichV]

31. Spin is easy to defeat.

You just shine a light on it and expose it for the lie it is. In the past there was no way to counter the constant attacks in real time. Now there's 50 million plus fact checkers online. Spin only works on the willfully ignorant now.

[BillZBubb]

45. Tell that to President Gore, or President Kerry.

Remember how Gore claimed he "invented the Internet"? or that Kerry's Purple Hearts were because he needed bandaids?

The Internet was functioning then, too.

Spin is very, very difficult to overcome when it is done relentlessly and consistently.

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. Wait, Hillary supporters would use "ammo" if Bernie got the nomination?

What an odd thing to say.

I will support the Democratic candidate, regardless of who it might be. I hope all supporters of various primary candidates would do the same.

[BillZBubb]

47. No, I meant in their case BEFORE the nomination is decided.

I added the parenthetical as an afterthought and didn't correct the entire sentence.

The reason I added it is because I saw a thread here making that very claim.

[alcibiades_mystery]

53. It's a dumb claim, before or after the nomination

Shame on any Clinton supporter who made it.

[RichVRichV]

33. The image will only work on those who were never available to us anyways.

The truly undecided will see patience and compassion to go along with his strong message. There's more to being a leader than just strength. A point that people sometimes need to be reminded of.

[djean111]

41. Redditor grandson showed ME a picture from that day. He asked what I thought,

I said you first. He said - I see a man who is being a gentleman and who is determined to not take the bait. That is pretty much the opinion of the 85,000 Redditors who belong to the Bernie sub-reddit.
The only places I see "weak" are RW sources and, of course, right here. Both have similar agendas, IMO.

[BillZBubb]

48. Gosh, on Bernie sub-reddit. Talk about confirmation bias.

Of course Bernie supporters want to see it that way. He's their guy.

What we are talking about is how the independent voters in an election can be swayed one way or another. The RW smear machine will use this against Sanders if he is the nominee--I guarantee it. If it only sways a couple of percent of the independents, it could cost us the election.

I have no similar agenda to the RW. I want a Democrat elected president. At this point I haven't decided which of the Democratic candidates I will vote for in the primary. I get accused of being pro-Bernie all the time. I'm sure this thread has people thinking I am pro-Hillary. I'm actually pro both.

[djean111]

51. I think a great many of the Bernie supporters on Reddit, like my grandson, have been

uninterested in politics before Bernie. What interests me is that they are not the desired "team players". They like what Bernie says, they would be just as enthusiastic about Liz Warren. I don't think they are going to embrace another candidate if Bernie is out. So I was interested in how my grandson saw the picture.

[Le Taz Hot]

43. LOL!

Is that the Hillary talking point de jeur? Four gigs in 2 days. ONE would have exhausted most of us. But you keep those talking points going. The .001% thanks you for your servitude.

[BillZBubb]

52. Another erroneous statement.

I'm not a Hillary supporter at this time. I am not a Bernie supporter at this time. I am a Democratic supporter.

BTW, I've been slammed as a "Sanders Supporter" time and again this week for denouncing the Seattle tactics of BLM. I am consistent on this--what they did hurt Democrats, not just Bernie.

So, live in your cocoon and LOL to your heart's content.

[restorefreedom]

9. kindness and civility

should never be mistaken for weakness. but poor repubs don't know anything about kindness or civility, so how could they understand?

Kahlil Gibran — 'Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.'

[tblue]

20. PRECISELY.

I believe Bernie is a man of incredible courage, grace and integrity. Really a model of a statesman and human being.

[DirtyHippyBastard]

25. +1 nt

[beam me up scottie]

10. Consider the source.

The anti-Bernie brigade has to work overtime to come up with new memes since the old ones aren't working.

Continuing to dismiss his record and use his strengths against him just makes them look weak and desperate.

Everyone on DU knows Bernie is the most progressive candidate - even the swift boaters.

That's why they're scrambling right now, Bernie is soaring here and elsewhere and they just cannot tolerate it.

[Live and Learn]

18. I know, right?

This is getting ridiculous, his hair, the color of his supporters and now his age. What will it be next?

[beam me up scottie]

23. Well they started red baiting again so that would be my guess:

Did you know Bernie HONEYMOONED in the Soviet Union!!1!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=512726

At least they're recycling.

[restorefreedom]

26. recycling is good for the environment

they are being green

[beam me up scottie]

27. Yes, and new memes are expensive!

They're thrifty!

[restorefreedom]

29. ooohh good point! nt

[progressoid]

30. The USSR!

Same shit they said about Bill Clinton going to the USSR when he was a college student.

[beam me up scottie]

32. But this is SO much worse than what Bill Clinton did, they made sure to point that out.

Bernie took his new bride with him so she could be contaminated with Commie Cooties too.

[progressoid]

37. I bet Bernie and his wife are friends with Putin!

[beam me up scottie]

44. SHOCKING picture of Bernie's wedding reception in the Soviet Union:

[progressoid]

46. Oh yeah! Party in the USSR!

[stone space]

12. Come on, Donald. Show Bernie how tough you are!

[stone space]

14. Trump Calls Jesus "A Loser"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1218209336

[passiveporcupine]

16. You got that right!

[C Moon]

17. I saw this one coming from the GOP corner. I'm sure the Bernie camp did, as well.

[jwirr]

19. That is becaue Bernie Sanders is a man of peace who is big enough to stand and listen. And then

do the right thing.

[Aerows]

21. Bernie was damned if he did, damned since he didn't

with regard to the Seattle Social Security and Medicare rally.

Had the young ladies been arrested, everyone would have been calling him a hypocrite. By allowing them to speak, people call him weak.

The truth is, I think Bernie did the right thing. He didn't have a particularly great set of options.

[historylovr]

24. +1

[gollygee]

49. I agree. There were no good answers and I think he did fine and didn't look weak.

The idea response would have been to thank them for coming and offer them a few minutes to speak on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death. But it didn't look like the situation lent itself to that. I think he did as well as he could. Protests are messy, and it was messy, but he didn't look weak.

[SolutionisSolidarity]

57. I think he tried that.

But tensions were so high they couldn't come to an agreement. Maybe Bernie should invite BLM to all his future events ahead of time and carve out a piece of the schedule for them. If they are going to come anyway, it might as well be as welcome guests.

[BainsBane]

28. Honestly, the thought never occurred to me

Until I saw so many of his supporters acting like he was too delicate to take criticism. I was left with the impression that they didn't think he was strong, particularly when one insisted that Hillary should come out and defend him and his supporters from implications that they were racist. I thought, y'all need Hillary to defend you? That doesn't exactly strike me as a note of endorsement for one's own candidate.

[RichVRichV]

34. We must see things differently.

I don't see calling out bs as "acting like he was too delicate to take critisicm".


And as for calling for Hillary to defend him, people were just pointing out that Bernie has publicly defended Hillary on multiple occasions (going so far as to call some of the attacks against her sexist) yet she has not publicly defended him for unjust attacks once this primary season.

This point is particularly poignant since Bernie was attacked here a while back for "not being a real Democrat" and "doing nothing to support the party".

[BainsBane]

35. That wasn't the post I read where the person insisted I tell Hillary

like she and I are BFFs or something, to defend not only Sanders but his supporters who were calling BLM every name in the book.
I said if she did such a thing I would have to seriously consider whether I should support her. Wrong is wrong, and that mess was wrong.

[RichVRichV]

36. That's different from the ones I saw, sounds like an irrational post.

Btw, what were these aweful names Sanders posters were calling BLM? I'm going to assume they were worse than the "white supremist liberals" the blm protester called the Sander's supporters and Bernie?

[BainsBane]

39. Let's see

Last edited Thu Aug 13, 2015, 04:25 AM - Edit history (2)

Subhuman, they should use the servants entrance, thugs, fundie, anarchist, Nazis, fascists, vengeful, violent, ungrateful, a Koch plant, agitator, a bully, an agent of George Soros and Hillary Clinton, a Tea Bagger. Then it was accompanied by calling an African American member "brain damaged" for supporting Clinton; that post was left by a jury. The entire discussion was about those women exceeding their place, daring to question someone who was their superior. That message was clear throughout the discussions on social media. Then of course at the rally itself there were shouts to tase the women. Because after all, what says progressive criminal justice reform better than "tase 'em"?

I know there were more, but truthfully I avoided most of the threads because I found it so painful to read. The entire notion that white people are the victims in this is also pretty awful. We are talking about the loss of lives, but the fact is for too many their feelings will always be more important. It is that white fragility, a concept discussed by anti-racism theorists and activists, that is in fact the single greatest obstacle to combating racism in America. The idea that in any discussion of racism, even lethal racist violence, how white people feel about that discussion becomes the central focus because frankly it matters more to them. That is why after 400 years we continue to have a society structured around racial inequality and racist violence.

[RichVRichV]

40. Can you post some links please?

I did a keyword search on DU for some of those, such as subhuman, servant's entrance, Nazi, fascist, etc, and came up with nothing.

I remember the "was she a plant" threads. Those happened shortly after the event and were based on how irrational the whole event was. It was pure speculation, and being a plant for Hillary was quickly dismissed. Assuming the worst from something doesn't make people aweful, it just makes them human.

I wouldn't call agitator or bully aweful at all. In fact they are valid descriptions of the event.

I'm beginning to wonder just how many of these attacks you claim actually happened on this site. I'm in gd:p all the time and haven't seen most of what you describe.



As for the crowd there, do you condemn entire people when someone is a dick at a sporting event? There are assholes everywhere. I'd say giving 4.5 minutes of relative silence in solidarity after being berated and talked down to was pretty civil of them.



And you want to talk about being tone death. Calling a Jew a white supremist is the opitome of not understanding what a group of people have gone through.

[frylock]

59. Still waiting for those links to back up this pile of shit..

it's only been 10 hours since it was first requested that you back up your assertions, but take your time.

[kenfrequed]

50. Wow

The depths that this opinion sinks to is truly galling.


You actually reinforce Donald Trump's implications just because you happen to support a different candidate. How lovely of you.

In what universe do you actually imagine this will convince anyone of anything other than the possibility that you might be unhinged?

[nsd]

38. It was the organizers' fault.

The rally in Seattle wasn't a Sanders event. His people didn't organize it or control it. Sanders was simply invited to speak, and he probably assumed that the organizers were competent.

But they weren't. They didn't have good security, and they didn't have any plan of action when the BLM protestors showed up. The organizers shouldn't have allowed those people to get on stage or take the mic, and they should have had some means of getting the protestors off the stage immediately. No negotiating, no pleading, just get them the hell off the stage. What happened was pathetic, but I blame the organizers, not Sanders.

[Skwmom]

58. I don't think it was anyone's fault. The organizer at the podium (assuming that is who he was)

did a great job under the circumstances.

[treestar]

54. Standing up to the corrupt people to control our government

So what does that mean? Who are the corrupt people? What did Bernie do to stand up to them?

[apnu]

55. They said the same thing about Obama in 2008.

And look how much ass PBO's kicked.

Don't believe a thing the GOP says.

[Jester Messiah]

56. I do think he should declare enough to be enough. No more mic-snatching.

It sets a bad precedent; a president can't be the sort that lets people walk all over him.