How Bernie Sanders's Endorsement Of An Ally Blew Up In His Face

[George II]

How Bernie Sanders’s Endorsement Of An Ally Blew Up In His Face
The Vermont senator withdrew his formal support for Cenk Uygur’s congressional bid, but as one California Democrat noted, “the bad publicity is already out there.”

When Bernie Sanders endorsed Cenk Uygur’s congressional bid in Southern California on Thursday, it was not altogether surprising. Uygur, a founder of the left-wing Young Turks network and outspoken critic of campaign finance corruption, is one of Sanders’s loudest and most prominent supporters in the media.

But the backlash, particularly among the Vermont senator’s allies on the left, was swift and overwhelming, triggered in part by Uygur’s history of sexist and otherwise offensive comments. By Friday, Uygur claimed he was no longer taking endorsements, and Sanders withdrew his blessing.

The net result was a negative two-day news cycle for a Democratic presidential hopeful who often lambastes media outlets for ignoring his candidacy. The campaign looked amateurish and had alienated some of its closest supporters in the process.

“In the big picture, it doesn’t mean a whole hell of a lot,” said Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic strategist who has not endorsed any presidential candidate. “But it’s just one more thing added to the pile where people feel that [the Sanders campaign] doesn’t have their stuff together.”

This is a good read.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-withdraws-endorsement-cenk-uygur-blows-up-2020-democratic-presidential-primary_n_5df453d2e4b047e8889d61b7?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004

[stonecutter357]

1. K&R

[abqtommy]

2. Let's give Bernie a brake. Why, even I make misteaks.

[Skya Rhen]

3. Me to...

[Pachamama]

31. Many would love to give Bernie a Brake

[Blue_true]

45. You're playing with words. nt

[BooScout]

32. I'd be willing to give Bernie a brake.

In fact, that sounds like a great idea!

[NurseJackie]

4. It's a big clue on what his administration could be like.

Bernie made a very bad decision to endorse and he's having a lot of trouble fixing this. What was he thinking?! A quick Google search was all it took. Bare minimum. This could have been avoided.

[Skya Rhen]

5. +1000

[Grokenstein]

28. Come now, any noob can commit such a simple oversight...

...so early in their first campaign!

(cough)

[TwilightZone]

6. In soccer parlance, it was an own goal.

It was also completely avoidable. Just not a smart decision by the campaign, particularly after they were warned by the California arm of the campaign.

[Wawannabe]

27. This!

Bernie does own this fiasco of an endorsement. He was warned by local Dems. He did it anyway.

Some people up thread wanna go ahead and give Bernie a break or a pass.

This is ANOTHER jerk (two this week! Among others) that Bernie and team have been humiliated by because they seem not to care or just don’t vet.

[dansolo]

54. Oh they vet all right

Their vetting is based entirely how much that person supports Bernie. They are willing to overlook all those other isssues, because Bernie doesn't give a shit about them either.

[Cha]

7. LOL..Thank You!

I was going to post that next but this just as good! Shine the Light!

The net result was a negative two-day news cycle for a Democratic presidential hopeful who often lambastes media outlets for ignoring his candidacy. The campaign looked amateurish and had alienated some of its closest supporters in the process.

[OldRed2450]

9. Well, Bernie got the attention he wanted

[Cha]

10. lol.. BS sure did.. and then decided..

maybe endorsing a lewd serial misogynist & racist wasn't such a good attention grabber after all.

[NurseJackie]

12. The entire situation is out of control and turning into a complete goatfuck.

The entire situation is out of control and turning into a complete goatfuck. I just don't see how this can turn out well for BS or the BS campaign.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goatfuck

[OldRed2450]

13. Careful! You might get Cenk and his fans excited.

[CaptYossarian]

23. Both of them?

[OldRed2450]

24. Ha!

[Cha]

15. Yes, I see your point!

They did it.. all by themselves.. not the "corp dems or media's" fault like cenk blames.

[betsuni]

11. A media black-out would've come in handy right about now, if it was real.

[Hav]

14. It's as real as shadow banning on Twitter

It's always a conspiracy, always someone else's fault, a permanent search for enemies and scapegoats to keep you hooked.

[Hortensis]

16. "Doesn't have their stuff together" means "failed to hide their true selves."

And that, of course, is because they too often lack input from outsiders about what's wrong with what they're doing -- beforehand. Like Sanders decision to align with this Uygur creep.

Strange, given Russia's attempts to use our elections to bring us down, and Russia's use of Sanders to turn the nation over to the right in 2016, that Russia's promotion of Uygur and his frequent mentions on RT, aren't at least as damaging, or at least questioned, as their attitudes toward women. Some investigation, or at very least cautionary distance, would be in order for that reason alone.

[SidDithers]

22. +1...nt

Sid

[NYMinute]

17. Too bad animals can't vote

[The Valley Below]

19. You did not!

[NurseJackie]

21. Oh, Wilbur-r-r-r-r!

[PhoenixDem]

18. I am seriously concerned about the vetting process here

Usually, a POTUS candidate's endorsements go through a telescope and a microscope and the endorsee is checked from head to toe.

Bernie has shown his incompetence and cronyism in endorsing Cenk and this is a dangerous sign.

Will he have David Sirota as chief of staff and nina turner as secretary of state?

[NurseJackie]

20. It's an alarming omen.

[tishaLA]

46. I don't think it was a failure of vetting

Because the people around his campaign are also involved with the JustUs Democrats and certainly knew what happened there. It actually points to a larger problem: as with people for whom tRump's racism isn't disqualifying, there are folks around the junior senator from VT, and perhaps the candidate himself, for whom the gross misogyny (among other things) isn't disqualifying.

[Lexee]

48. That is the point. Women Democrats, who are the base will know this to be true.

[Aquaria]

51. We knew it to be true in 2016.

Why do you think BS lost the primaries by nearly 4 million votes?

Women and minorities spotted right off that he was a panderer to white male privilege.

[lutherj]

25. Here's an idea. Maybe those who are against Bernie should argue for why

they are for another candidate instead of making spurious arguments about Bernie. I’m pretty sure if I made these kind of arguments against Biden I would be censored and eventually kicked out of the forum. (Got a feeling there are trolls in our midst.)

[Cha]

29. Here's an idea.. BS never should have edorsed

the lewd serial misogynist, cenk uygur.. It "blew up in his face" like the article said.

[lutherj]

36. And then he retracted it. Has Biden retracted his support for the war crime known as the invasion

of Iraq? Did he apologize to Anita Hill? This incident isn’t even a tempest in a teapot.

[Cha]

39. BS "retracted" bc the lewd serial misogynist asked

him to.

Link to tweet

[LongtimeAZDem]

30. All kinds of stuff has been thrown at Biden here, and Biden never endorsed a genocide denier

[lutherj]

34. He was a cheerleader for Bush's invasion of Iraq - does that count? He dragged Anita Hill

through the mud - is that misogyny?

[LongtimeAZDem]

37. He voted for the authorization; he was in no sense a "cheerleader", and he did everything he could

to give Anita Hill a full hearing.

Your characterizations are dishonest in the extreme.

[Cha]

40. NO.. he was NOT a "cheerleader" that's your spin.

your attempts to distract from BS endorsing the vile cenk are NOT working.

[True Blue American]

52. No, he didn't.

Biden was head of the Committee, he had no choice, but he voted against Clarence Thomas!

Facts matter!

[RandiFan1290]

33. correct

[Cha]

42. Nah.. This is all on BS' endorsement of the lewd vile

serial misogynist, cenk uygur, who got busted by justice dems in 2017.. as unfit to serve.

[Cha]

41. BS endorsed a lewd serial misgynist.. that's on BS.. nobody else.

[Me.]

26. I Disagree...I Think It Counts

As it's reflective of poor judgment and not for the 1st time

[Cha]

50. Oh yeah, I see what you mean, Me..

That last paragraph in the OP.. when I read it I thought the same. And, I'm betting there are many of us who are going to make sure .. "it means a whole hell of lot.."

That Dem strategist doesn't get it.

[Me.]

55. It's Just The Same OLe, Same Ole

Last edited Mon Dec 16, 2019, 03:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Business as usual to these 'strategists'

How does one qualify to be a strategist I'd like to know.



aloha Cha

[comradebillyboy]

35. Well Bernie did figure out how to get more media attention. Keep up

the good work Bernie.

[highplainsdem]

38. K&R

[Gothmog]

43. The CA-25 special election is the same day as the Super Tuesday primary

I suspect that Cenk will hurt sanders in the California primary which is why the state campaign asked sanders to not endorse cenk

[Cha]

44. But he endorsed cenk anyway..

I guess BS thought he knew better.. but he didn't.

[Tarheel_Dem]

47. This really puts Biden's verbal "gaffes" into perspective, doesn't it? When you endorse a pervert...

without doing even the most cursory vetting, you can't be trusted to fill out an entire administration. My biggest nightmare is that some of the idiots on the BS campaign would likely end up near the Oval office.

[Cha]

49. Why yes it does! Excellent point, Tarheel!

[True Blue American]

53. Not to mention

That many are not giving facts. Biden, like Hillary, gave Bush the power to take the steps needed after Bush promised war would be a last resort. Bush lied.

And Joe Biden voted against Clarence Thomas!

[R B Garr]

56. Exactly! I was thinking the same thing about "gaffes".

This is a huge gaffe, not just imaginary grammar musings.

Great post!

[Cha]

57. Huge Gaffe!

Hey Aloha, RB~

[R B Garr]

58. Aloha to you, Cha!

This whole Cenk gaffe is quite hypocritical considering the standards for others...

[Cha]

59. Exactly.. Excellent point!

RB

[Blue_true]

60. Bernie not only endorsed Cenk, he is close with a House candidate in Texas

who has made some grossly mysogonistic statements about his female primary opponent (who is leading in poles and fundraising).

Bernie has had past issues taking the concerns of women on the job or in campaigns seriously, his latest troubles show that he has learned nothing from past issues, in fact, a person can realistically argue that he is somewhat hostile to women's issues about sexual harassment and sexual bullying.