I'm Afraid the Jill Stein Wing of the Sanders Campaign

[MineralMan]

is making predictable mistakes right now. Why Senator Sanders hired so many of them to serve near the top of his campaign is puzzling, but there it is.

In sending out a campaign script to be used by zealous amateur campaigners to attack Elizabeth Warren, those "Steinites" are breaking a very important rule of campaigning for Democratic offices. Senator Sanders and Elizabeth Warren pretty much share a common philosophy, so there is not much distinguishing them from each other. That means that they're dividing up the support from people who share their philosophy.

That's not a good thing in a crowded field of candidates. When you're "dividing and conquering" the same group of potential voters, you're losing your race. If there's a current leader in the race who can stand above the internal squabbling and not participate, that candidate is the one who benefits.

The Jill Stein wing is firm in their beliefs, but not that good at political campaigns. Senator Sanders was a little foolish in hiring them in the first place. They will bite him on the butt - just watch.

[mopinko]

1. jill stein wing russia.

let's not forget what the mueller report had to say.
now, what are we going to do about it?

[MineralMan]

2. We're not going to do anything about it.

Candidates can hire whomever they wish. Any mistakes they make affect them. Bernie doesn't seem to be in control of his own staff. that's not going to help him much.

[justhanginon]

18. Lack of staff control does not bode well for a Sander's administration

were it to happen.

[dewsgirl]

6. I always keep the Russia angle in mind, I really like Sanders

he is in my top two. But I do have questions, at least we know he won't hand the entire government over to Putin, like Trump has.

[mopinko]

9. i think we know they are building him up to tear him down, tho.

how do we fight that?

bernie better lead. soon.

[dewsgirl]

24. I know what you mean and I have no idea.😞

[Sloumeau]

3. Some day, Sanders and Warren may figure out...

that there are not enough Democratic Socialist Liberals to support both of their candidacies. I only hope that they discover it too late.

[MineralMan]

4. I think they'll both hang in there to the bitter end.

If they're bickering with each other, they're ignoring the big donkey in the room. So be it.

[stopwastingmymoney]

13. It's interesting

The two of them are pulling almost half the vote in California, last I saw

You know what they say about California...

[Sloumeau]

23. What do they say about California?

That the finest people are born there?

(I was born in California )

[stopwastingmymoney]

54. I was born there too, still here

They say, as goes California, so goes the country

Remember Prop 187? That was the end of Republicans in CA, now I see large parts of the West going the same

[Farmer-Rick]

5. That makes no sense.

[MineralMan]

8. Hmm...it made sense to me.

But, OK.

[highplainsdem]

7. Stein herself weighed in yesterday on what she called "Liz smearing Bernie":

Link to tweet

As battle rages over Liz smearing Bernie as a secret sexist, consider that if Dem primaries used #RankedChoiceVoting, Sanders & Warren campaigns would be motivated to appeal to each other's supporters for 2nd place votes. Sadly, the current system incentivizes vicious attacks.

[MineralMan]

10. Ah, "Another Country Heard From,"

as my late, ex-mother-in-law would have said.

MYOB, Jill! This is fine...

[George II]

11. Hey Jill, it's no "secret".

[yardwork]

14. Fuck Jill Stein.

If I want hear Vlad Putin's opinion I'll read his words directly.

[Cha]

56. jill stein's RF LIES helped bring us trump.. and

she has the ******* nerve to pop up like nobody noticed.

How's that "Hillary and trump are the same" workin' for you, stein?

Link to tweet

Mahalo, hpd.

[PatSeg]

12. The "Steinites"!

That's a keeper.

I am also at a loss as to why Sanders hired these people. I'm also at a loss to understand why he doesn't start letting some of them go or at least muzzle them. After all he is the leader, he needs to show leadership. Too many of these people do not know how to run a campaign, especially a national one.

[MineralMan]

17. I was torn between "Steiners" and "Steinites."

I'm not sure why I chose the one I did.

[marble falls]

28. Steinaristsas? Steinists? Misguided Idealists?

[MineralMan]

29. So many options.

I made an executive decision. As the President of Me, that is my privilege.

[marble falls]

35. Whatever it is. I'm against it ....

[PatSeg]

39. Oh yes

Steinists is good too!

[marble falls]

40. My favorite, actually. But MM is da boss on this one.

[PatSeg]

38. Oh, that is a tough one

Somehow "Steiners" sounds a bit more derogatory, especially if you say or read with some contempt in your voice!

[MineralMan]

19. Well, since he does not stop them, I have to assume he agrees with them.

That's a disturbing thought. But, he's the candidate. All he has to do is tell them, "Knock that crap off or you're finished." He has not done so.

[PatSeg]

41. I know

That is what bothers me. We've all seen other candidates put their foot down quickly and decisively. Every campaign ends up losing key people. I don't want to believe he agrees with them, but not having control over his staff is almost as bad. If Sanders were to become president, would he take these people with him to the White House? And would he not fire them if they behaved like this?

I honestly believe that he doesn't know how to run a campaign. He's good at giving speeches at his rallies, but organization may not be his strong suit. Running a congressional or senatorial campaign in Vermont is probably much different than a national presidential campaign.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. I'm not at a loss. They were hired for a reason,

which is to throw grenades at the "establishment" and the "corporate" Democrats who are Bernie's rivals. Eventually that was going to include Warren, too. Bernie can sail above the fray while Sirota and Gray and Turner can do the wet work and he pretends to be surprised - surprised! that gambling was going on in his casino.

[PatSeg]

42. Well he can only sail above the fray

for so long. Eventually people will hold him accountable, as they should. It is his campaign and if he is not encouraging them, then it means he cannot or will not control them.

[TheFarseer]

32. I assumed because

It was hard to find any of the more main line Democratic people that would agree to work for him and they would clash on strategy with him too much. I could be wrong. I’ve never really looked into it.

[PatSeg]

43. Yeah, I was wondering the same thing

Though, I would think that there would always be more political consultants and advisers than needed available for hire. Perhaps the ones like Sirota and Turner just happen to be the loudest voices in the room.

Candidates often take a lot of their campaign staff with them to the White House and I cringe at the thought of Nina Turner as the White House press secretary or David Sirota as Chief of Staff (or anything for that matter).

[evertonfc]

15. Sanders isn't going to be the nominee

and some of his supporters will go elsewhere. If he is the nominee , a billion dollars will be spent tagging him a socialist. It will work, we will lose and he will run agian in 2024 with many of the same flame throwers speaking for him. I like Bernie but he keeps bad company

[SidDithers]

16. The Jill Stein wing of the Sanders Campaign is much bigger...

than the Democratic Wing of the Sanders Campaign.

One only has to look at his senior campaign staff to see that.

Sid

[MineralMan]

21. Yes. It would be puzzling if it were not so obvious.

A Democratic primary campaign staffed by non-Democrats. I find that odd, to say the least. It gives me pause, which is why someone else's face is at the bottom of my posts.

[comradebillyboy]

62. Too true.

[The Valley Below]

20. Good post, one quibble.

You stated that it is your belief that Warren and Sanders "pretty much share a common philosophy."

I think that's rather wide of the mark and not true. They have areas of overlap on many stated policy points, but on political philosophy and ideology I thing you've got a pretty wide chasm.

[ritapria]

22. There was no attack on Elizabeth Warren on that script

Do you have any evidence that the Jill Stein wing was behind the production of said script ? ...The script pointed out the fact that Warren's supporters tend to be more affluent and highly educated .. Hence ,she is not going to bring in voters not already in the Democratic Fold ….. This constitutes an "attack" ? ..If you want to check out real attacks , go back to the Democratic Primary Race of 2008 ….Hillary and Barack duked it out ..Negative TV ADS ..Bitter accusations back and forth ….. The whole nine yards.... ..The Warren campaign leak to CNN, dropped on Bernie just 1 day before the debate and 22 days Iowa, was a personal attack ...Not even Mika Brzezinsjki , is buying the line put out by Team Warren ..Hell , even her own team is now siding closer to Bernie's version of the December 2018 meeting than the account promulgated by their boss …...

[MineralMan]

25. Wow! That was really hard to read.

Elipses and other rows of dots are not substitutes for standard English punctuation and paragraphs. Really.

Sorry, but form is crucial to communication.

However, it is good to see you admit that there is a Jill Stein wing in his campaign.

[melman]

30. Attacking someone's writing style is not a substitute for a response

What an ugly, mean-spirited post.

[MineralMan]

31. Thanks for your polite diatribe.

What I wrote was true. It was hard to read. Writing is what I do for a living. I take it seriously. Good day to you.

[melman]

33. It wasn't a diatribe

You couldn't address their points so you insulted them instead. It's ugly.

[MineralMan]

34. Again, good day to you, sir or madam, as the case may be...

[melman]

36. Not for nothing

but it's pretty hilarious to see a serial comma abuser play the punctuation card to begin with.

[Apollo Zeus]

58. Weak. Sauce.

Really.

[marble falls]

26. Can we just not relive past primaries??

[Demsrule86]

46. She was called an elitist...so yeah she was attacked...and they lied about it at first...and then

admitted to using it to canvass in early states last weekend...disgusting.

[TwilightZone]

53. It's an official script approved by the campaign.

The assertion that none of the former Stein supporters in Sanders' campaign, many of whom are high-level, had anything to do with it is pretty unlikely to be accurate.

"confirming that the script was an official campaign document"

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/14/sanders-admits-anti-warren-script-early-states-098786

[Proud Liberal Dem]

37. Some of the stuff I'm seeing on Social Media ATM does not seem good

A lot of the hardcore Berners are busy trashing Warren, Michael Moore put out a podcast of his own basically lamenting Warren's campaign's accusation of sexism against Sanders, a lot of them making her sound like Hillary 2.0 and that she is a liar and corporate shill, basically just recycling attacks on Hillary and the DNC from 2016. I have a bad feeling that some of them will feel (again) like Sanders was robbed by the DNC if he doesn't win the nod. Some of them are pretty cultish about Bernie, almost like Trump supporters IMHO. I'm pretty much for Warren, but I'll vote for whoever wins. I worry that this is turning into an ugly slugfest between the two camps.

[Demsrule86]

47. The DNC has nothing to do with this...and they were never going to vote for anyone but Sanders IMHO.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

52. No I agree

[Gothmog]

44. I am also afraid of this wing of the party

[question everything]

45. "Senator Sanders and Elizabeth Warren?"

Why not Senators Sanders and Warren? Why not Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren? Or why not Bernie Sanders and Senator Warren?

Here is the problem in a nutshell.

[MineralMan]

48. I see what you mean.

You're right. I could have phrased that better. My bad.

[question everything]

55. Nothing against you personally

It is just ingrained in our culture, especially us older people.

[Happy Hoosier]

49. Sanders hiring these folks is a major problem...

... no doubt he feels some personal loyalty to them, and no doubt he feels their essential values align with his. And that concerns me. I fear what happens to the broad democratic coalition if these folks are placed in positions of power.

Sanders appears, to me, to be a terrible manager, whatever one might think of his ideas.

[MineralMan]

50. Well, it certainly is for some Democratic voters.

Those, like me, remember Jill Stein's impact on the 2016 general election. We could see the votes she received in the three states that tipped Trump into office.

Also, those who remember the photo of Jill Stein at table with Vladimir Putin.

Many Democrats have a difficult time accepting the presence of her supporters in high positions on Senator Sanders' campaign staff. He will not receive my vote in the Minnesota Primary because of that.

Of course, in the unlikely event that he becomes the Democratic nominee for President, I would vote for him, but that's a pure survival vote.

[getagrip_already]

51. Here's the thing about them.....

They won't vote for bernie if he is somehow the nominee.

They will find some reason to vote third party for an even more extreme candidate and abandon him.

They will NEVER vote for a dem. Ever.

[NYMinute]

57. I agree ... although foolish is not the adjective I'd use

There are worse adjectives that are more apt for the situation.

[Hortensis]

59. Yes. He hires people who think like him, approve his tactics,

and not only want to help carry them out but dependably follow his orders.

So, whatever the word is for professional attack dogs he can count on to carry out his campaign strategy as he dictates, and who'd vote for dysfunctional wingnuts in rejection of the party their candidate is running under?

In any case, it's obvious that Sanders doesn't see them the way MM does. This is the second time he's filled his presidential campaign with this type. I pay Sanders the respect of believing it's very intentional.

And Warren the respect to believe she wouldn't touch any of them with a ten-foot pole. They're VERY different people.

[Cha]

60. KICK!

[MH1]

61. Maybe it's planned disruption and no "mistake" at all.

(I am referring to the actions by 3rd party ex-candidates and their supporters.)