The greatest ratfuck of all time.

[SwampG8r]

Who benefits?
BLM looks foolish and disorganized.
The wedge being forced into the Sanders campaign of race issues is reaffirmed and strengthens.
Hillary is going to get the blame as it profits her in the short term causing a genuine rift in the party which could lead to a sit out.
BLM will lose needed support by many if successfully painted as active agents of HRC
Wedges driven into white progressive support for BLM .

Wow that is one hell of a days work.
So who will benefit from A A and white liberal voter suppression?

My answer is based on long range thinking.
If I am the right I need to first diminish the impact of a movement resonating with both the aa community and white liberals/progressives.
That's BLM which I believe we ALL support the aims of whoever we are on the bandwagon for.
So every one gets hurt feelings and BLM loses credibility and support.
Sanders again is associated in a vague manner as racist or lacking in leadership on race issues despite a lifetime spent in the pursuit of equality for all.
Hillary will be tarred with this too and in fact it began as soon as it happened. She will have lost forever any hope of many Sanders supporters votes as too many will assume Clinton involvement.

I see a deep right wing attack in hopes of suppressing 2 of our sides most regular and consistent blocs.

[Ed Suspicious]

1. I think you might well be on to something.

[SwampG8r]

4. Who benefits

If we are all frustrated if we are all at each other
I actually feel sorry for Hillary since nothing she says no matter how sincere will be fully believed and staying silent on it will earn her the same.
I don't think they staged it (the GOP) but they are using it to divide and distract.

[flamingdem]

2. Worst part is that a small number

of extremists loyal only to themselves can do the damage of the worst of the right. Can't people get a clue about the destructiveness of identity politics, especially when practiced by the overzealous.

[sabrina 1]

3. Interesting. Someone pm'd me earlier that they believed this was a Rovian

controlled event, designed to destroy all the Dem candidates. As you pointed out, Hillary gets the blame, Bernie is smeared in the most infamous Rovian way, 'attack his strength' and the party is split. That leaves the Repubs, Jeb most likely, winning the election.

I said I did not think so, that I believed it was a Hillary campaign dirty trick.

But your OP made me think about it.

It IS a dirty trick, but whose?

Hillary Campaign or Right Wing Rove to split Dems?

Either way it didn't work, thankfully. At least not re Bernie who handled it brilliantly then went on to do the job he was invited to do, protect the most vulnerable citizens of this country.

But you did make me wonder if the Rove scenario might have some validity. It definitely had Rove written all over it, starting with NRN.

[SwampG8r]

5. I believe nrn was a real event

If she showed she would have got what everyone got.
What makes it smell ultra right to me is it also stole credibility from BLM

[thecrow]

10. I feel you have a point there

Plus, I was reminded of the Florida recount when the republicons were in that hallway raging.
The way that woman was shrieking and throwing herself around reminded me of the way
the RW always talks and shrieks over other people. Nothing short of incredible rudeness, and extremely
counterproductive.

[villager]

6. The right did this regularly with movements in the 60's

...and I saw some of it first hand in infiltrated environmental movements in the 80's.

"Cui bono," indeed.

[SwampG8r]

7. Are there many of us left?

Nice to see the old folks represented
59 here and my seeing what went on then taught me there's things you know and things you KNOW
What did that dude say
Known unknowns ......argle bargle

[villager]

9. Yup. A lot of folks think this circular firing squad on the left is new, or accidental

They are set up deliberately, with outside help. And so far, they've always worked.

[azmom]

30. Some of the occupy folks had a taste of it.

We need to learn from all of you who have had experience with it. They will do everything to stop Bernie. We need to be ready.

[JHB]

8. It's funny, because their supporters say the same in reverse

They think Bernie is "sheepdogging" for Hillary.

I located the FB page of the women who disrupted today. One of the commenters in one of the posts cheering his gave this link to explain it to another commenter who didn't understand why Bernie is the target when "Hillary is way worse":

http://www.blackagendareport.com/bernie-sanders-sheepdog-4-hillary

Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders: Sheepdogging for Hillary and the Democrats in 2016
By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

Vermont senator and ostensible socialist Bernie Sanders is playing the sheepdog candidate for Hillary Clinton this year. Bernie's job is to warm up the crowd for Hillary, herding activist energies and the disaffected left back into the Democratic fold one more time. Bernie aims to tie up activist energies and resources till the summer of 2016 when the only remaining choice will be the usual lesser of two evils.
***

Bernie Sanders is this election's Democratic sheepdog. The sheepdog is a card the Democratic party plays every presidential primary season when there's no White House Democrat running for re-election. The sheepdog is a presidential candidate running ostensibly to the left of the establishment Democrat to whom the billionaires will award the nomination. Sheepdogs are herders, and the sheepdog candidate is charged with herding activists and voters back into the Democratic fold who might otherwise drift leftward and outside of the Democratic party, either staying home or trying to build something outside the two party box.

1984 and 88 the sheepdog candidate was Jesse Jackson. In 92 it was California governor Jerry Brown. In 2000 and 2004 the designated sheepdog was Al Sharpton, and in 2008 it was Dennis Kucinich. This year it's Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. The function of the sheepdog candidate is to give left activists and voters a reason, however illusory, to believe there's a place of influence for them inside the Democratic party, if and only if the eventual Democratic nominee can win in November.

Despite casting millions of voters for the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and other sheepdogs, those leftish Democrat voters are always disregarded when Democrats actually win. Bill Clinton gave us NAFTA, a vicious “welfare reform,” no peace dividend or push for DC statehood, lowered unemployment but mostly in part time and low-wage jobs, and mass incarceration of black and brown people. President Obama doubled down on bailouts of banksters and GM, and immunized them from prosecution but failed to address the most catastrophic fall in black household wealth in history. We got health care for some instead of Medicare for All, the Patriot Act renewed instead of repealed, a race to privatize public education, drone wars and still more mass incarceration of black and brown people. And if President Obama gets his way, we may soon have a global job-destroying wage-lowering NAFTA on steroids, with the TTP and TTIP.

[Ken Burch]

12. Is Black Agenda Report connected to blm, though?

The link you quote makes it sound like this is something aligned with Jill Stein or Ralph...focused on getting AA voters to vote for a third-party presidential candidate above anything else.

(on edit...the link to Stein is clearly established further down in the linked article).

[MH1]

28. Indirectly, at least.

Outside Agitators 206 page posted this link to article at BAR:

https://outsideagitators206.org/blog/democrats-hope-to-bury-blacklivesmatter-under-election-blitz/

by Glen Ford; Black Agenda Report.

The Democrats hope the Black Lives Matter movement, like the Occupy Wall Street movement, will disappear amid the hype of the coming election season.

“The Democrats have mounted a systematic co-option/repression response that will intensify as the election season – and Black cities – heat up.”The Democrats understand that, for the movement to succeed, their party’s power over Black America must be broken.

Go here to read more.

From the linked article:

To succeed, the Black Lives Matter Movement must transform the politics of Black America. By definition, that means declaring war on the Democratic Party, and forcing Black politicians and activists to choose between the Party and the people’s struggle.

The BLM activists that disrupted Sanders' event are claimed to be part of OA206 and OA206 posted their letter "Bow Down Bernie":

https://outsideagitators206.org/blog/seattle-says-bowdownbernie/

[MFrohike]

19. Supporters?

No, the people at BAR are definitely not supporters of BLM. If you don't believe that, read Bruce Dixon's (the author of the article you linked) most recent post. He most definitely addresses his opinion of BLM.

[JHB]

27. I didn't claim anything about Dixon or BAR's opinion about BLM...

It was people who supported Johnson's actions pointing to Dixon's article to explain the term "sheep dog Democrat" for why (in their own opinions) Bernie should be targeted rather than Hillary.

Dixon was definitely an uninvolved third party to the exchange, but since they used his article it does illustrate the thinking of people who have motives for attacking Sanders without being on Hillary's payroll.

[lovemydog]

11. Bigger than slavery, huh?

And where's your proof?

[Ken Burch]

15. Yeah, the title is slightly over-the-top.

It would have been enough to say "The biggest ratfuck of this campaign".

Other than that, the points in the OP are valid.

[el_bryanto]

32. The term Ratfuck refers specifically to dirty tricks aimed at political campaigns

while slavery was awful it wasn't an underhanded dirty trick aimed at a political campaign.

Bryant

[Kurska]

13. Hanlon's Razor

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity

[jtuck004]

16. ^^THIS^^ n/t

[SwampG8r]

22. I am attributing it to malicious stupidity by the Gop nt

[Bobbie Jo]

24. Keep it up

This is a good look and winning strategy for your candidate.

You guys have officially reached the point of no return.

Good luck with that, truly.

[world wide wally]

14. Apparently, there are idiots on all sides when it comes to politics

Don't be an idiot

[Live and Learn]

18. Could be. One thing is for sure, these protests against Bernie don't make any sense. nt

[dreamnightwind]

20. Smells much more like DLC - New Dem tactics to me

I have an open mind, trying to figure this out like everyone else. Bill Clinton's call to Trump set in motion a RW outsider campaign that instantly gave the MSM a convenient way to ignore everything Bernie. My guess is they are worried about the challenge on their left, and are active on several fronts to head it off. Just a guess, at this point.

[wyldwolf]

23. Really? Cite the precedent.

[GoneFishin]

33. I think the right wing in both parties are worried about the candidate from the left, Bernie. They

have a pretty sweet scam going, dangling shiny trinkets in front of their base, while peddling taxpayer cash and political influence to their Wall Street friends.

The Washington insiders will get what they from both Hillary or Jeb, but not Bernie. I don't know exactly who is behind it, but regardless, a worthy and important cause has been co-opted for political machinations targeted against Bernie.

[dreamnightwind]

34. Yep - eom

[PATRICK]

21. The media spin

is creating the political spin and more blowback every which way. There is more important grist for paranoia. A newbie group seeking their place in the light, which does or does not know what it is doing and is used in the game is actually small potatoes- even if it costs you the election. Which is why we toss the small stuff around all the time in interesting ways. No Dem candidate has an inner racist agenda. No GOP candidate really gives a damn which is why no one braves their sacred air space behind the MSM iron curtain.

Trump is getting this treatment at the moment much more than Sanders. I suspect our strongest candidates are big enough to handle it though some of their supporters and all of their detractors obviously are not.

[mnhtnbb]

25. I'm sure Ben Carson and Clarence Thomas are enjoying this immensely.

[DonCoquixote]

26. when the Koches said they would spend a billion dollars

everyone assumed they would know where it was going.

Somewhere, a certain group is signing checks, and laughing all the way to the bank.

[Adrahil]

29. Maybe, but i apply Occam's Razor here.

I think it's just a case of radicalized fringe elements of a movement asserting unwarranted control. In happened in the Occupy movement, it's happenling in BLM.

As to why just Bernie? I think he represents a long-standing tension between white liberalism in the U.S., and Black Liberation politics. I've seen it pop up over the years. Cornel West wrote about when he was honoary Chair of the Democratic Socialists. Lots of literature in Academia about it.

We're just seeing it here. Bernie will adjust, or he won't. BLM with exert a bit more control and restraint on their representatives, or they won't.

[backscatter712]

31. With the news of Marissa Jenae Johnson having been a Sarah Palin fan in the past...

...and having friends in the Tea Party, my suspicions that this is a right-wing engineered ratfucking operation have jumped a thousand-fold.

We're just a couple news cycles from hearing about Planned Parenthood being accused of selling baby parts, thanks to a series of heavily edited videos.

And those of us who say it could be ratfucking are being accused of conspiracy theories...

[NCTraveler]

35. Preservation

The greatest ratfuck of all time.





Who benefits?
BLM looks foolish and disorganized.
The wedge being forced into the Sanders campaign of race issues is reaffirmed and strengthens.
Hillary is going to get the blame as it profits her in the short term causing a genuine rift in the party which could lead to a sit out.
BLM will lose needed support by many if successfully painted as active agents of HRC
Wedges driven into white progressive support for BLM .

Wow that is one hell of a days work.
So who will benefit from A A and white liberal voter suppression?

My answer is based on long range thinking.
If I am the right I need to first diminish the impact of a movement resonating with both the aa community and white liberals/progressives.
That's BLM which I believe we ALL support the aims of whoever we are on the bandwagon for.
So every one gets hurt feelings and BLM loses credibility and support.
Sanders again is associated in a vague manner as racist or lacking in leadership on race issues despite a lifetime spent in the pursuit of equality for all.
Hillary will be tarred with this too and in fact it began as soon as it happened. She will have lost forever any hope of many Sanders supporters votes as too many will assume Clinton involvement.

I see a deep right wing attack in hopes of suppressing 2 of our sides most regular and consistent blocs.

[SwampG8r]

37. Youve posted it over and over and wont readit once.

[bettyellen]

36. Kick for transparency