General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The hypocrisy of the latest round of Bernie-bashing [View all]karynnj
(59,474 posts)Had he done that Schumer would have taken that position away.
What you and others are doing is not far from attacks on Hillary where her actual response - purposely interpreted in the most jaundiced way possible. Did you see the WV town hall on health care that he did which MSNBC covered? It is things like that that he can do - and do well - that led to Schumer giving him that position.
First of all, where would you find the list of the official Democratic positions? If HRC had won, she would not have been constrained by the Democratic platform. (my answer - of course not) Is there a single leader of the Democratic party? (no) Second, even when we have the Presidency and one might reasonably say the President's position is the Democratic position, are you saying that no one in leadership can argue against that position?
Has Schumer always been quiet if he was against the party's position? His statements on the Iran deal were far more at odds with the Democratic position than anything Sanders has said. Yet, he was in the Democratic leadership then - and Menendez was the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Both leadership positions.
A Senator is really his own boss - even as they all say that their "boss" is all the people in their state. However, they are chosen to represent the state and they have the liberty to follow their own conscience. Note that people like Clinton and Kerry were completely free to give whatever opinions they had on anything as Senator, but were representatives of Obama during their years as Secretary of State. IMO, Schumer was 180 degrees wrong on Iran, but he was 100% within his rights as a Senator and in the Democratic leadership to completely oppose President Obama. Now, with no clearly defined Democratic position, I doubt you can find an example where Sanders is going against the party.