Excusing Bad Behavior is Never a Good Thing

[Renaissance Man]

Let's not contort ourselves into pretzels excusing what those DNC staffers did, in those e-mail exchanges.

Yes, these were "private opinions and sentiments" that used official DNC servers (transmitted through e-mail addresses associated with the Democratic National Committee).

If the interest was in avoiding the appearance of being partial and ensuring that no one there violated the DNC bylaw on impartiality, discussion about strategy against one of the candidates attempting to secure the nomination should have been had without use of that medium (official DNC e-mail addresses and servers).

... and I won't even get into how disgusting and revolting it is that an alleged Democrat would begin a conversation on potentially using Jew and Atheist-Baiting as a political strategy against one of its primary candidates.

If you're trying to give cover to the DNC by suggesting that Jeff Weaver, Tad Devine, and Senator Sanders' campaign may have done the same thing, you're comparing a political party (that, in its bylaws, requires the DNC to remain neutral in the nominating process) and the campaign for an individual candidate.

When two candidates are working to secure the nomination of a party, there is actual strategy that is discussed in an effort to secure the nomination, and this often involves "dirtying up" the opposing candidate.

There should NEVER be strategy discussed by alleged "impartial" staffers of the party to either help or harm a candidate attempting to secure its nomination.

To those who are trying to excuse this because of your thoughts on Vladimir Putin's nefarious use in attempting to divide a party, let me spell it out for you:

YOUR DISLIKE OF PUTIN DOES NOT EXCUSE BAD BEHAVIOR BY DNC STAFFERS VIOLATING A DNC BYLAW.

[DanTex]

1. The DNC staffers did not violate a DNC bylaw.

There are no DNC bylaws dealing with what DNC members are allowed to think or talk about in private non-official communications.

You're right, excusing bad behavior is never a good thing. Excusing the bad behavior of Wikileaks working in concert with Russian state hackers simply because you have a grudge against the DNC is not a good thing.

[Renaissance Man]

3. Did you even read my post?

Did you even read the part about these discussions being had on DNC servers using DNC e-mail addresses?

[DanTex]

5. I have personal conversations on my work email. Do you?

Is that really what this is about? Which server was hosting the conversations?

[Renaissance Man]

6. Actually, I don't.

I don't have personal conversations on work e-mail, because it violates my employer's computer use policy.

In this instance, the personal conversations using DNC e-mail addresses violated one of the employer's bylaws.

[DanTex]

9. Good for you. But a lot of people do. It's not a big deal.

The emails didn't violate the DNC's bylaws, they were private communications. If DWS went on TV and said that Hillary should be the nominee, that would have violated the bylaws.

DWS is allowed to have an opinion, just like everyone else. She has to maintain the impartiality of the nominating process, which she did. But that doesn't mean that when the Sanders campaign is calling her corrupt and asking for her resignation, she can't make a private comment about that on email.

[MyNameGoesHere]

12. So you never inform your employer you have a personal appointment?

All your time off is work related? You never let them know by email or text you're running late because of some personal issue? Never is so definitive.

[JaneyVee]

2. Having opinions = bad behavior now?

The DNC bent over backwards for Bernie Sanders. They let a non Democrat run in their primaries and gave him access to decades of resources, tools, and voter rolls. Then he sues them.

[Bluenorthwest]

21. Are you claiming all opinions are good behaviors? Trump has some opinions I find most

offensive. They are his opinions and he has a right to them, they are still foul and would never get my endorsement.

[JaneyVee]

22. An opinion is an opinion, not bad behavior.

[DURHAM D]

4. oh please

The Clintons have spent a life time trying to buildup the Democratic Party. BS proudly spent years tearing it down.

Why would those staffers dedicated to building something up not resent the interloper. Personally I think they were very restrained.

[Surya Gayatri]

11. ^^^AMEN to this!^^^

Why would those staffers dedicated to building something up not resent the interloper. Personally I think they were very restrained.

[LongtimeAZDem]

7. Fair's fair; release all the internal Sanders campaign emails, so we can compare behavior (nt)

[Renaissance Man]

8. It's clear you didn't read the OP.

I said this:

"If you're trying to give cover to the DNC by suggesting that Jeff Weaver, Tad Devine, and Senator Sanders campaign may have done the same thing, you're comparing a political party (that, in its bylaws, requires the DNC to remain neutral in the nominating process) and the campaign for an individual candidate.

When two candidates are working to secure the nomination of a party, there is actual strategy that is discussed in an effort to secure the nomination, and this often involves "dirtying up" the opposing candidate.

There should NEVER be strategy discussed by alleged "impartial" staffers of the party to either help or harm a candidate attempting to secure its nomination."

[LongtimeAZDem]

10. I did; I don't care at this point

Sanders never stopped identifying himself as an independent in his press releases, re-submitted as a independent for the 2018 elections, and continually attacked the DNC all through the process. By his own actions, he forfeited any expectation of impartiality.

That a few internal staffers vented frustration in ways that were never translated to any actual strategy doesn't bother me in the least, and the fact that people are screaming about thin now, as Trump moves ahead in the polls, once again proves that they really don't understand the gravity of what's happening here.

[joeybee12]

13. Fox Noise loves your talking points...

Turn it on, they're saying the same thing.

[Renaissance Man]

15. I voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary.

In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama (in the primary and general election).

In 2004, I voted for John Edwards in the primary (and John Kerry in the general election).

In 2000, I voted for the Gore/Lieberman ticket (it was literally my first presidential election in which I was eligible to vote).

So, excuse this all you want. It doesn't take away from the validity of my point. It seems the DNC agrees with me as well, seeing as though Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has been locked out of all appearances at the convention.

By the way, I'm still going to run to the polls to vote for Hillary. Try to be objective about this.

[joeybee12]

16. I am...and it's not a big deal

And if you read everything instead of the talking points you see from right-wing sites and luncatic sites, like jackpine, it's not a bid deal...people didn't like Bernie, that's all there is to it...nice try.

[Renaissance Man]

19. Wrong, again.

I came to this conclusion on my own, after seeing all of the pretzel twisting by some folks on the board this morning.

[sufrommich]

17. +1000. nt

[glennward]

14. What Bylaw was violated? REally just asking? nt

[Renaissance Man]

18. Article 5, Section 4

Article 5, Section 4 of the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic Party:

"In the conduct and management of the affairs and procedures of the Democratic National Committee, particularly as they apply to the preparation and conduct of the Presidential nomination process, the Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness as between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process."

[glennward]

20. So what exactly did DWS or anyone DO, comments aside, that did not maintain

evenhandedness during the nominating process? They can say anything...but what exactly did they do? There are other e-mails that show they went out of their way to protect Bernie.

[Renaissance Man]

23. What does "maintain" mean?

Since we're parsing words, the definition of the word "maintain" is to keep possession of, to continue to use, practice, to continue to hold or have, to keep in mind or remember, or to hold in place or position.

By simply "holding" the discussion on DNC e-mail servers about strategy that could be taken against a candidate in the primary, the DNC staffers did not maintain their impartiality.