From a Bogus Website to Bernie Sanders's Inner Circle

[TexasTowelie]

Bernie Sanders first hired his new speechwriter, David Sirota, 20 years ago, shortly after Sirota was fired from a mayoral campaign for his connection to a bogus website that promoted a racially charged quotation, taken out of context, of a black opponent.

In 1999, in Philadelphia, there was a crowded Democratic primary for mayor. Three of the candidates were African American: John White, Dwight Evans, and John Street, all of them friends going back years. But the race got intense early, and David Sirota, then working as the deputy campaign manager for Evans, was part of an effort to cut down White’s support: creating a bogus website, purporting to be the official home page of the White campaign, and using it to promote a racially charged quotation, deliberately taken out of context.

The ruse was soon discovered. Evans, who is now a Democratic member of Congress, fired Sirota. He called Sirota “overzealous” at the time. “I do not want this race to be about race,” Evans said in 1999, calling the site in question an example of “dirty tricks.” The website took a comment that White had made in a broader interview with a Spanish-language weekly, Al Día, and presented the line as if it were an anti-white slogan: “The black and the brown, if we unite, we’re going to control this city.” Local reporters in Philadelphia received emails directing them to the site as though it were part of John White’s campaign.

White, according to news reports at the time, was speaking about the increased political clout African Americans and Latinos could have if they worked together as a coalition. That was February. By the fall, Sirota was hired as the press secretary for Bernie Sanders, then in the House. He was hired by Sanders’s then–chief of staff, Jeff Weaver, who went on to manage Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign and remains a senior adviser to the 2020 campaign.

Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/bernie-sanderss-new-speechwriter-has-controversial-past/585547/

[TwilightZone]

1. Your link goes to a post about Lawrence and Rachel.

Just FYI.

[TexasTowelie]

3. Thank you.

I corrected the link--I had too many tabs open.

[TwilightZone]

4. No worries.

I do that, as well.

[Cha]

6. That happens! Gracias for

posting this, TexasT

[Kurt V.]

2. i approach from the left to say this was a bad hire.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. He's a real bad guy.

The gravamen of the story

Three African Americans were running for mayor of Philadelphia. Sirota who was working for one created a bogus website to make it look like the other was running a race based campaign.

[betsuni]

7. So he's consistent too.

[Cha]

9. Only gotten worse..

Link to tweet

[Cha]

20. "Weaver said such conduct would not be tolerated in a Sanders campaign."

Link to tweet

[Cha]

8. Sirota never acknowledged when he was fired for helping create a fake website

Link to tweet

[ehrnst]

12. Until it became public. Now he says that he's evolved.

“I deeply regret being involved in this whole incident,” David Sirota, Sanders’ senior communications adviser, told POLITICO. “I am absolutely ashamed that it happened, and I have felt genuinely terrible about this for 20 years. Even though I was a junior political staffer, I should have known better, and I certainly do today.”

And we know how much someone admitting that they have evolved on an issue is respected and admired by Senator Sanders.

[Cha]

14. Yeah, sirota has "evolved" but fans say BS

hasn't.. he made a major faux pas for the sanders crowd.

Unlike Some People, Bernie Hasn't "Evolved"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=31843

And, just to be clear.. this is how david sirota has "evolved"..

Link to tweet

[ehrnst]

10. Well, that's interesting. It appears to be true by Sirota's recent admission

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/22/sanders-speechwriter-racially-inflammatory-website-1232953

In a 1999 mayoral race in Philadelphia, Sirota was tied to a fake website apparently intended to scare off white residents from voting for a black opponent. On Friday, the controversial political aide and journalist apologized for his role in the episode.


“I deeply regret being involved in this whole incident,” David Sirota, Sanders’ senior communications adviser, told POLITICO. “I am absolutely ashamed that it happened, and I have felt genuinely terrible about this for 20 years. Even though I was a junior political staffer, I should have known better, and I certainly do today.”

Apologies after one has been publicly outed for something are always reliable. Well, it's good that he evolved.

[Cha]

19. Yeah, the Vetting Light is Shining on them.. so what's

a 3rd party RF to do?

Link to tweet

BS isn't taking calls about it.. shocking.

Link to tweet

[nycbos]

11. I am shocked SHOCKED to find gambling on here.

[mcar]

13. K&R!

[Hortensis]

15. Shockingly, this was all known 20 years ago.

And it was known in 2015 and 2016 when Sanders hired this creep again to do his thing against Democrats.

And all that is known now in the 2019 campaign season as Sanders has yet again hired this creep to smear Democratic candidates. Along with other hostile agents who've been hired. Sanders HAS to know he has no chance of becoming the Democratic Party nominee. So, what's this about?
What's the real goal?

Link to tweet

[MH1]

27. Sanders' purpose is to kneecap Democrats

The further this goes, the more I am convinced.

Is he so out of touch he really thinks he can get the nomination? I doubt it. That only leaves one other option.

I'd vote for a fucking hamster over Sanders in the primary. (okay as long as the hamster isn't orange)

[Hortensis]

29. It seems as if that has to be a goal. But why?

I'm neither a psychiatrist nor an investigative journalist. Could he really be so deluded that he imagines the Republicans and Russia could destroy either the Democratic Party alone or both parties? And that he'd somehow end up the inheritor, leading a glorious new democratic socialist nation?

Hundreds of millions believe a version of this with Christians as Bernie and Jews and Muslims destroying each other, and some of his followers have said they need the Democratic Party to fall, so delusion is far from uncommon and can do wonderful things. But none of this fantasy would be remotely possible, and it's actually the nicest theory I can come up with.

[BlueFlorida]

16. OMG -- that is bad

It shocks me to believe that we have a Lee Atwater/Karl Rove/Roger Stone on our side.

How can the Democrats hold the moral high ground if we play dirty tricks?

That fake website and fake quote sounds like wikileaks level disruption.

[NurseJackie]

17. Sanders just needs to go ahead and withdraw now...

... this is going to turn into a big oogie mess that will likely do much damage to the rest of his career.

[Cha]

18. The Sanders campaign ignored requests for comment on hiring (for the second time) a person fired...

Link to tweet

[SFnomad]

21. How long will it take for BS to determine this dirty trickster is a liability to the campaign? n/t

[MH1]

28. How long will it take for Democrats to send BS packing?

He isn't in the race to help beat Trump.

I've seen enough and I'm convinced. There will be people who won't vote for actual Democrats. So be it. Let's get the best Democratic candidate we can that will win the purple states we need. No sense trying to win over people who follow people like Sirota.

[Cha]

22. The ruse was soon discovered..

The ruse was soon discovered. Evans, who is now a Democratic member of Congress, fired Sirota. He called Sirota “overzealous” at the time. “I do not want this race to be about race,” Evans said in 1999, calling the site in question an example of “dirty tricks.” The website took a comment that White had made in a broader interview with a Spanish-language weekly, Al Día, and presented the line as if it were an anti-white slogan: “The black and the brown, if we unite, we’re going to control this city.” Local reporters in Philadelphia received emails directing them to the site as though it were part of John White’s campaign.

That's what Sirota is still about.. a ruse.

Link to tweet

He helped get trump rigged in.

[brer cat]

23. K&R

[Skidmore]

24. K&R nt

[Gothmog]

25. What it means that Bernie Sanders is hiring people who think all the non-Bernie democrats are bad

Link to tweet

[Hortensis]

30. "Biden? Extremely bad. O'Rourke? Real bad. Booker? Bad, bad, bad.

Harris? Bad. Gillibrand? Bad.

Castro? Surprisingly good! (“By any standards, a towering figure.”) Sorry, wait — that was Fidel Castro. Julián Castro is also bad.

Even Elizabeth Warren rates at best a meh, especially in comparison with you know who. ... “Bernie Sanders is the best candidate — the only candidate who could be considered anything even close to socialist, and the one to beat Trump. A President Sanders isn’t some idealist fantasy, he is our best bet by a mile."

Political psychologists say extremists, left and right, are characterized by extreme righteousness, belief in imminent crisis (always), and belief that only they can save "the masses" incapable of understanding. And, of course, to maintain their self-serving fantasies requires extreme dishonesty and ruthless disregard for what the clueless "masses" really want.

[stonecutter357]

26. K&R