Disingenuous attacks on Bernie Sanders persist, and his popularity climbs

[Fiendish Thingy]

http://www.salon.com/2017/04/25/the-democrats-hypocrisy-fest-disingenuous-attacks-on-bernie-sanders-persist-and-his-popularity-climbs/

Of course, Kaine wasn’t just personally pro-life; like Mello, he also had a history of supporting anti-abortion measures as governor of Virginia. As ThinkProgress reported in July (around the same time as Hogue’s statement), while in office in Richmond Kaine had “pushed for adoption over abortion, promoted abstinence-only education, passed a law that required parental notification for minors wanting an abortion, and banned late-term abortion.” ThinkProgress noted, “He even signed a bill to use state dollars to create ‘Choose Life’ license plates, which funded state ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’ — facilities whose sole purpose is to dissuade pregnant women from getting an abortion.”

So this entire Heath Mello incident appears to be a thinly veiled sectarian attack against Sanders, driven by bitterness and resentment. For the most outraged Democrats, the problem hasn’t so much been that the Democratic National Committee is supporting a candidate who is moderately pro-life — after all, their 2016 vice presidential candidate was moderately pro-life — but that Bernie Sanders (who still won’t call himself a Democrat, much to their chagrin) has supported a candidate who is moderately pro-life.

Needless to say, capitulating on LGBT rights or women’s reproductive rights is not an option for progressives — and never has been. If a candidate like Mello were indeed planning to “strip women of basic rights and freedoms,” then Sanders would be well-advised to retract his endorsement and vehemently reject Mello’s candidacy. But that’s simply not the case.

Snip

The Clinton camp has basically sought to use Sanders’ passion about economic inequality and political corruption against him, as if someone who is this intense about economic issues must be a “class reductionist” who cares little about social and cultural issues. (It is only mainstream liberals, of course, who treat economic and cultural matters as if they could somehow be separated.) .

The DNC as a system will resist change from the current status quo, yet in order to increase its influence and effectiveness in American politics, and win more elections, change it must.

[katmondoo]

1. It is better to say nothing

[leftstreet]

2. Wait. So Hillary's VP choice was anti-abortion?

[retrowire]

12. Yes.

But so many here seem to forget that we all voted for that because it was better than the alternative.

This is why purity is a lost cause folks. End the crusade against Bernie it's such a waste of energy.

[m-lekktor]

13. The hairspliiters will be here soon to tell you why THAT was ok and not the same. nt

[KittyWampus]

15. We are telling you it's not okay for Bernie to insist on ideological purity on economics

but pragmatic when it comes to women's rights or on those issues that benefit him personally in Vermont like gun rights and boondoggles like the F-35.

That isn't hairsplitting. It's blatantly obvious and has been explained to you over and over and over again.

[SaschaHM]

3. Conor Lynch has been writing pro-Bernie/anti-Clinton stuff since last year.

He even wrote that Hillary Clinton was the conservative option for 2016, but yeah Bernie supporters and progressives can continue to see this as some Clinton camp/Russian plot and see where it leads them.

[Skidmore]

4. Why does working on issues of common concern

have to hinge on the insistence that Dems line up and accept Sanders as infallible? This is about the needs of all people and not one man. Some of those issues cannot be addressed solelt through the filter of econmic justice. It is but one issue and one tool.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. His popularity is largely due to his visibility

At a time when there's no leading Democrat to attract all of the attention, and also to his never having been subjected to what Clinton endured during the campaign and is still enduring.

[ProfessorPlum]

6. Sanders doesn't need this kind of divisive defense

it is enough to note that Mello has a really good record on these matters for years now, and is supported by his local PP.

[George II]

10. Kaine is NOT "anti-abortion". That is simply not true.

[George II]

8. What "Clinton camp" are they talking about? She's still running?

[m-lekktor]

14. Here "camp" sure acts like she still is !!

[awesomerwb]

9. Wish everyone would just shut up

and put country over party and personal interests.

I'm tired of the pro-Bernie and 'counter' Bernie defensive threads. But hey, let's keep dividing the party, it's what the russians-reps want.

Let's unite and take our country back.

[stevenleser]

11. .

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10028976265

[KittyWampus]

16. Another attempt to gas light those of us who are reasonably frustrated w/Sanders