And the smears against Bernie continue.

[Skwmom]

This article is pure bullshit. Bernie is the one person who really stands for bringing everyone together. Have the Democratic Establishment figured out that their mistreatment of Bernie ONLY magnifies their weaknesses?

Giordano has become so disenchanted with Sanders that he's contemplating a challenge to the democratic socialist's Vermont Senate seat in 2018. If Sanders doesn't enthusiastically support Clinton as the nominee by the convention, Giordano says, he'll establish residency in Vermont and start working on a Senate campaign.

This seems like a dizzying shift. But Giordano explains that he's not so much committed to Clinton as a candidate as he's committed to "the Obama coalition." "The future of progressive politics is in the multi-racial coalition," Giordano told me by Skype from his home in Mexico City.

Giordano thinks Sanders has disrupted that critical progressive coalition. The Vermont senator "has a blind spot on racial justice issues," Giordano argues. He is "exploiting racial and gender divisions... in a way that harms the movement." For instance, Sanders' comments about the illegitimacy of the primary process, and dismissal of Clinton's victories in Southern states, which were fueled by black voters, have "poisoned the well," Giordano says, and made unity against the Republicans difficult. That divisiveness, he believes, "also harms the people of Vermont. He's going to be a pariah in Congress. He's not going to be able to get anything done for Vermont."

Giordano's impetus for challenging Sanders in 2018, then, is explicitly about party coalitions, cohesion, and pragmatic efforts at change. He is threatening to oppose Sanders because Sanders is, in his view, threatening the unity of the Democratic Party coalition.


http://theweek.com/articles/627770/could-political-gadfly-steal-bernie-sanders-senate-seat

[djean111]

1. There is no coalition any more, as far as I can see.

The Party moved to the right, and not everybody is going with it.

Giordano is just an opportunist.

[GoneFishin]

30. Yep. Right wingers don't give a shit about equal rights or racial equality. Money is the only

thing the Party leaders give a shit about. Expectations that the Party will deliver more than an occasional token bone to the underprivileged is naïve.

[NurseJackie]

2. Good for him! If that's Giordano's decision, then I wish him luck.

Why should Sanders or his supporters be afraid of a challenge? It's good for democracy, right? It keeps candidates on their toes, right? Make them WORK for the nomination and the office instead of running unopposed and being "coronated", right?

[HERVEPA]

3. No work at all. Bernie is incredibly popular in Vermont. Learn a bit how this works.

[Tarc]

8. You think Sanders doesn't need to work or worry much for his own reelection?

My my, doesn't that sound a bit...establishment-esque.

[HERVEPA]

11. Yo genius, he has an 87% approval rating

[brooklynite]

15. In which case, a Primary will be easy work...

I don't personally care, but I note that most of the folks who gripe about the DNC and the DSCC complain that it insists on "protecting incumbents"...

[Tarc]

17. My goodness, well, why have an election in 2018 at all? Just hold a coronation.

[HERVEPA]

19. Your humor is humorless.

[HooptieWagon]

22. Conservadems aren't the brightest bulbs.

Some gas-bag living in Mexico says he's going to move to Vermont and challange Sanders? I'm pretty sure of Vermonters response....

[HERVEPA]

36. yup. True.

[GoneFishin]

37. Yep. I am going to need some popcorn for that one. nt

[YouDig]

4. Bernie stands for a lot of things, but brining everyone together is definitely not one of them.

Bringing everyone together would mean, not that he's lost, endorsing Hillary and unifying the party to defeat Trump. Bernie is doing the opposite of that, he's dividing the party.

[Starry Messenger]

5. I thought you guys liked democracy?

[yardwork]

10. Talk about coronations.....

[JimDandy]

31. Coronations are necessary only for candidates who: have abysmal approval ratings, abysmal trust

ratings and abysmal genuiness ratings; lack enthusiastic supporters and need the DNC and media to prop them up full-time, from start to finish.

That sounds like some other candidate. It's certainly not Bernie. But, hey VT, like every other state in this economy, could use the infusion of money from Giordano's doomed run.

[CrowCityDem]

6. I thought Bernie stood for democracy. Didn't he want a primary against Obama? Why not him?

[merrily]

7. Sounds as though he's committed to running for Senate and making up stuff about why.

Bernie has long served Vermont and he won the Vermont primary by over 86%, so they must be okay with him. If Giordano wins it as a carpetbagger, that will really be something.

But this signals something else. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has never supported a Democrat who wants to challenge Sanders and Sanders has been the candidate of the Vermont Democratic Party, even though he doesn't accept that nomination.

Are the DSCC and the VDP going to punish Sanders for running for President as a Democrat? If so, why?

[HooptieWagon]

24. Sanders exposed the corruption and RW corporatism in the halls of power.

It seems TPTB don't like the curtain being pulled back.

[eastwestdem]

9. He really needs to stay in the race. Once he drops, no one will pay attention to him

anymore. Please don't drop Bernie!!

[CobaltBlue]

12. Skwmom—No real progressive is upset at Bernie and a suck-up for Obama

[GoldenSF]

13. Why spike the football?

I'm not understanding why Hillary supporters continue to spike the football. Why can't you be a gracious winner?

It doesn't win friends. Please understand that the side that doesn't win needs time and space. What they don't need is continued attacks. You won, ok? Time to be conciliatory.

[Lizzie Poppet]

21. Like candidate, like supporters.

I expect no better of them.

[HooptieWagon]

25. Opposition to the Queen must be punished.

[Alex4Martinez]

14. We are now voting against our own self interests.

It's sad to watch.

It's easy to see how many on the right, low information voters and bigots, vote down public works projects and the like in their rejection of any form of government program.

But now, with crystal clear evidence that Clinton is not very progressive we see endless Bernie bashing and support for the oligarchy all in the name of I don't know what.

[SidDithers]

16. Is Giordano going to primary Bernie?...

I mean, Bernie's a a Democrat now, right? Surely he'll be running as a Dem in 2018.

Right?

Sid

[itsrobert]

18. If he runs, and Bernie still does not run as a Democrat

DU Rules come into play.

[Lizzie Poppet]

20. Anyone who claims Sanders "has a blind spot on racial justice issues" is...

...a fuckwit of the highest order.

But if this dipshit wants to try and carpetbag his way into the Senate in Vermont, (and if Bernie decides to seek reelection, which I suspect he won't), then at least he'll provide some unintentional comedy.

[HooptieWagon]

28. He sounds like another demagogue appealing to low-information voters.

He won't get any traction in Vermont. It will be good comedy, and a deserved big embarrassment to the third Way.

[Exilednight]

23. his home in Mexico City? talk about carpet bagging.

[RufusTFirefly]

27. Bernie has proven you can run a viable, energizing campaign without...

... the help of SuperPACs and Establishment endorsements.

Imagine how this must terrify the Powers That Be.

They need to nip this insurrection in the bud before others are tempted to follow his lead.

Personally, I would recommend against flying to Eveleth, Minnesota.

[MariaThinks]

29. Good for Giordana. I'm glad to see him exercising his democratic rights

[GreatGazoo]

32. Old saying: "A liar can be discredited but a truth teller must be destroyed." eom

[Snotcicles]

35. This Antonio Porchia quote fits very well.

"Truth has very few friends and those few are suicides"

[MineralMan]

33. As do the smears against Hillary.

We should stop doing that, I think, and join forces.

I'm game. How about you?

[amborin]

34. narcissists & sociopaths accuse innocent victims of their own criminality

the clinton campaign has resorted to constant racial and ethnic divisiveness