Elizabeth Warren Says Bernie Sanders Sent Volunteers 'Out to Trash Me'

[brooklynite]

New York Times

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — A nearly yearlong run of good will between two of the leading progressives in the 2020 presidential race, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders, appears to be evaporating in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses.

Ms. Warren said on Sunday she was “disappointed” that Mr. Sanders’s campaign had been using a script for volunteers that suggested she was appealing mainly to highly educated voters and would not be able to expand the Democratic Party coalition.

“I was disappointed to hear that Bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me,” Ms. Warren said. “I hope Bernie reconsiders and turns his campaign in a different direction.”

After months of studiously avoiding any negative words about Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren went on to cite the divisiveness of the 2016 primary between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton, suggesting it helped President Trump. “We all saw the impact of the factionalism in 2016, and we can’t have a repeat of that,” she warned. “Democrats need to unite our party and that means pulling in all parts of the Democratic coalition.”

[blm]

1. That's a bad headline. She said she HEARD he did.

Odd that NYT headline would imply that Warren led on this.

[crazytown]

4. "I hope Bernie reconsiders"

she believes it.

[blm]

8. Yes, but the headline implies she led with this accusation instead of

The accurate statement made that she was responding to what she HEARD.

[ritapria]

52. The other side of the Story

From Katie Halper's Twitter Feed :" Here's what actually happened.. A random user who has only posted once before posted that document in the Sanders Volunteer Slack Group ..A moderator promptly removed it and stated it was not a not a Campaign Source " .. These are the statements of an unnamed Sanders volunteer ……. Note : Take this version of events for whatever you think it is worth ...I believe it is only fair to hear the other side of the story …..Elizabeth is using this incident to send out emails asking for campaign contributions and has , without a shred of evidence , accused Bernie of personally directing this operation …………...

[blm]

53. Warren didn't make this up. Contact the reporters.

Considering at least one of the reporters has a pro-Sanders reputation, shouldn’t the scrutiny be on them?

Twisting it into Warren’s fault seems to be a reach.

[TomCADem]

26. #ShePersisted: social media erupts after Mitch McConnell silences Elizabeth Warren

Bernie is not going the first old white male Senator who is trying to bully and shut down Warren, and I am sure Warren is not going to back down.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/8/14546606/elizabeth-warren-mitch-mcconnell-she-persisted

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) thought he was giving a valid reason for the Senate’s decision to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Tuesday night. In reality, he inspired a feminist rallying cry for Democrats opposed to President Donald Trump and his attorney general nominee, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

“She was warned. She was given an explanation,” McConnell said. “Nevertheless, she persisted.”

It’s that last part that quickly caught fire on social media, almost immediately trending as #ShePersisted as soon as the words were public.

Here’s the background: Earlier on Tuesday, Warren tried to read a letter by Coretta Scott King, a civil rights activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr., written in opposition to Sessions’s 1986 nomination to a federal judgeship. (Sessions has a history of opposing civil and voting rights legislation, making him a major threat to civil rights advocates — not just back in 1986 when he was nominated for a judgeship, but today as he’s nominated to head the Justice Department, which enforces civil rights laws.)

[azureblue]

29. not odd at all

Look what they did to Hillary.
What I am suspicious of is the incessant attacks on Bernie, and almost all of them are based upon half truths or out right lies. Time for the Mods here to do a bit of checking for who is posting this stuff.
From here, though, because there are so many anti Bernie troll posts at DU I am going to discount them all as lies and not even read them. Except to call them out..

[Scotch-Irish]

63. I've noticed that, too, Azureblue. Lots of Bernie bashing and trashing going on.

I'm mostly an Elizabeth Warren supporter, but Bernie Sanders is awesome, and would make a great president. I've seen people trashing him because of his age, his health, some dude on his staff having previously worked for Manafort, some crap about trashing Elizabeth Warren.

There are HUGE national and international pressures on our elections anymore, and Bernie and Elizabeth both seem to be really scarey to the established powers that be.

Lots of money is being thrown at trying to get them to fight one another.

[TheFarseer]

67. +1

Thank you

[NYMinute]

54. You're calling your own choice a liar?

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[blm]

56. What a ridiculous claim. I said she didn't initiate this incident

as the headline implies. She said she HEARD he did this.

Surely you couldn’t have misread it so badly. You MUST be kidding.

Surely no one would deliberately misconstrue as badly as you did.

[NYMinute]

59. Let me get it straight here

1. Are you defending Bernie?
2. Are you defending Sen. Warren?
3. None of the above
4. All of the above?

[Thekaspervote]

2. He did... it's not just a rumor

Link to tweet

?s=21

[Cha]

28. Yeah, BS is NOT innocent

Link to tweet

[democrattotheend]

68. I wouldn't call that trashing her

It says absolutely nothing negative about her character. Similar arguments have been made about all of the candidates, including Bernie. In 2016, for example, he was frequently criticized for how white his supporter base was. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if Warren's volunteers are told to say something like "Bernie's my second choice, and I have a lot of respect for him, but I'm concerned that the socialist label is going to scare people away."

[getagrip_already]

3. panic leads to desperate measures....

They seem to be lashing out in all directions.

And in bizarre ways. Warren is in no way an elitist. Someone looking to get rich people support wouldn't start the consumer protection agency. That's a populist position.

In fact, she was more effective on populist issues in one term than bernie was in 40 years between the house and senate. Sure, lots of excuses, just no results.

[crazytown]

7. Fast response is not panic.

The Biden campaign should be more concerned about avoiding a 4th in Iowa. HRC recovered from a 3rd in 2008, but Joe ain't no Hillary.

[Thekaspervote]

9. Biden is in a better position that Hillary going into IA caucus

[crazytown]

11. Based on what?

Hillary's 20 point lead in national polls, on Caucus night? Biden hasn't led in the Selzer polls since June.

[getagrip_already]

10. I was referring to bernies camp...

And supporting warren.

How does that warrant an attack on biden?

Fwiw, you can find a dozen or more posts I've made that states iowa and nh are meaningless. It's super tuesday that will sort out the field.

[crazytown]

13. I'm sorry.

I took that as an attack on Warren for fighting back. She took all that crap about m4A without complaint.

[getagrip_already]

15. apologies back at ya if I wasn't clear....

Liz is in the right on this issue. Bernie is projecting.

[crazytown]

18. Warren: ""We all saw the impact of the factionalism in 2016"

Last edited Mon Jan 13, 2020, 02:45 AM - Edit history (2)

Someone should hold Bernie to account for his surrogates. I'm not sure if that's Warren, but someone should, on the debate stage. Sanders says all the right things in person, but the people he has appointed to his leadership team are unapologetic 'Bernie or bust'. No Democratic Administration, other than a Sanders Administration, would let them anywhere near the White House, and they know it. They have nothing to lose.

[BlueMTexpat]

62. Just this.

Indeed!

[Cha]

30. Yep.

[Blue_true]

22. She got hammered for MFA while Bernie walked away scot free,

yet it is him that has by far the worst MFA plan, at least Warren put numbers and an implementation plan to her version.

[crazytown]

23. Some might prefer to see Bernie as the challenger,

I'm not one of them. Sanders has surrounded himself with 'Bernie or Bust' people who will run amok if he loses. Warren would back Biden just as enthusiastically as he backed Hillary in 2016. .

[McKim]

44. I am not running amok!

Really? I support Warren and Sanders and I am going to vote for whoever wins the Democratic primaries. I am hoping that the winner will enfold the values and platform of those who did not make the final cut into their platform. Stop bashing please, we are going nowhere good with this fight from 2016.

[crazytown]

49. The references to people running amok was to the likes of

David Sirota, Nina Turner, Briahna Joy Grey, not only anyone on this board, I apologize if I gave that impression.

Sirota spent election eve bashing Hillary in a dozen tweets. I do retreat from my assertion they will run amok again. Sanders has shown little inclination to reign in his surrogates. By appointing those who advocated a vote for Stein to his leadership team, he reward the worst sort of factionalism.

2016 election eve


This time around

[blm]

38. Other camps focused on Warren as she was leading in Iowa

at that point and gaining nationally. But, also, because they assumed Sanders was no longer a factor after his heart attack, so they laid off him for a couple months as they doubled up on Warren.

[pnwmom]

25. Caucuses like Iowa's will be even less of a factor this time around,

because there are fewer of them, and the March primaries will include California for the first time.

[Demsrule86]

57. I agree with that ...and win or lose Iowa shouldn't matter that much nor New Hampshire.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

24. Look for this to get ugly.

Bernie doesn't have a snowball's chance of winning the nomination and he knows it. So now, he and his little muck-raking minions are going scorched earth. Not a good look, Bernie.

[Paka]

40. Apparently you have some inside information that Bernie can't win.

You need to pass that on to mainstream media so they can quit their panic mode. They now suddenly think he has a chance.

[bluedigger]

5. Making an argument against another candidate is "trashing" now.

Oh, the calumny. 😪

[getagrip_already]

12. when it's baseless, yes....

It's called mudslinging, not debating.

Warren is much more of a populist than bernie. So naturally he attacks her for that. Projection is a trait shared by many pols it seems.

[bluedigger]

17. It is not mudslinging to attack her electability.

I find your response that she is more populist than Bernie to be laughable, but if that is the counter argument her campaign wishes to make, they should do so. Mudslinging would be an attack on SPW's character or motivations.

[getagrip_already]

19. I'm not her campaign....

She's my senator and I've paid attention to what she accomplished.

In one short senate term she accomplished mor for actual people than bernie did in 40 years.

The consumer protection agency was a populist success. What, besides supporting the nra, did bernie do?

[zentrum]

35. Exactly. I'm surprised Elizabeth

......used that word.

[Paka]

41. You got it.

Actually stating facts is now considered "trashing." It's out of control and sadly will most likely get worse.

[aikoaiko]

6. I had no idea she was a Bernie Blamer for HRC's 2016 loss.

That's disappointing.

[left-of-center2012]

14. Yep ... posted here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287418328

[comradebillyboy]

16. That's just how Bernie rolls. His staff does the dirty work

and Sanders pretends not to notice.

[getagrip_already]

20. ding ding ding - we have a winner......

Agree completely.

[UniteFightBack]

61. +1000

[The Valley Below]

21. Sanders will alienate the whole field and then he'll wonder why he's not the nominee

of a party he refuses to join and isn't shy about criticizing?

The system must be rigged.

[Hortensis]

27. :) Yes. And There never was "good will." Sanders is who and what

he was in 2015-2016, and Warren, his colleague for decades -- who refused to endorse him back then -- could never have had any delusions. Even shabby pretense abandoned is all.

[The Valley Below]

34. I believe she ran, in part, to make sure Sanders would never be the nominee.

I suspect he feels the same way.

The non-agression pact's failure was inevitable in my estimation.

[betsuni]

45. I agree, why she was the first one out of the gate.

She knew what would happen. Bernie trying to out-progress her. She came out with a detailed student debt plan with a cap at $50,000, then Bernie came out with his: all student debt CANCELLED. And when pressed for details, said "I don't have the plan in my pocket right now."

And now the inevitable attacks on things other than policy while insisting it is all about the policies.

[Hortensis]

46. +100. I've suspected that was a motive, but not the only one.

She believes strongly in herself, in a healthy, rational way. And it was Warren and her own achievements that created the great demand for her, and left a vacuum that Sanders has been trying to use in his own way ever since.

[The Valley Below]

47. I also belive that she believes in her own campaign (in a a healthy, rational way).

I respect her a great deal.

[EveHammond13]

31. why can't he just focus on saying what is positive about himself

[zentrum]

32. I would hardly call

...his words "trashing".

[Scurrilous]

33. ...

Link to tweet

[crazytown]

42. Words spoken more in sorrow than combat.

[Rollerman]

36. Another thread trashing one candidate without discussing any policy differences

This is the recipe for the Trump re-election. “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.”

[lapucelle]

39. Character, accountability and leadership matter.

Besides, according to the Politico story (Holly Otterbein shares the byline), the scripted talking points don't concern policy differences.

Sanders’ campaign has begun stealthily attacking Warren as a candidate of the upper crust who could not expand the Democratic base in a general election, according to talking points his campaign is using to sway voters and obtained by Politico.

The script instructs Sanders volunteers to tell voters leaning toward the Massachusetts senator that the “people who support her are highly-educated, more affluent people who are going to show up and vote Democratic no matter what” and that “she's bringing no new bases into the Democratic Party.”

The document also instructs to tell voters who are favorable toward Pete Buttigieg that he lacks support among African Americans and young people and to tell voters sympathetic to former Vice President Joe Biden that “he doesn’t really have any volunteers” and that “no one is really excited about him.” All of the attacks relate to the electability of Sanders' top rivals.

snip==================================================================================

As for character, leadership, and accountability, the Politico story aso notes:

“We were told never to go negative or contrast with other candidates,” a person close to Sanders’ campaign told POLITICO. “Bernie would let us know when it was O.K.. So if that’s happening, he’s aware.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/11/bernie-quietly-goes-negative-on-warren-097594

[crazytown]

43. Holly Otterbein has been practically embedded in the Sanders Campaign

She bears them no ill will. Just ask her Dad.

[George II]

48. Bazinga!

[crazytown]

50. I'm guessing 'the Wrath of The Bern' will be heading her way,

but you can hardly expect a journalist to sign an NDA.

[Hekate]

51. Well, my policy and that of my top candidates is to not allow my surrogates to trash other Dems...

It is indeed a shame when that happens.

[NYMinute]

55. Bernie will stop at nothing

He will destroy every Democratic opponent because he feels ENTITLED to the nomination.

[NYMinute]

64. Are you saying you won't vote for Biden when he is the nominee?

[marble falls]

66. It sounded like he was threatening to vote for Trump!

[SaschaHM]

58. Bernie is a true Democrat!

This is one of the truest ways to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory! When close to 30%+ of candidates supporters are going to have to realign for a caucus and for contests after it, maybe you shouldn't start the scorched earth campaign before a vote is cast.

His DMR lead was a 3% difference. There's no universe in which rival campaigns don't steer voters to other groups if they are below the threshold to squash that difference. Why would demoralized staffers give the Sanders campaign the satisfaction of a victory if this is what they're up against?

[NYMinute]

65. +++++++