@TulsiGabbard tells @ChuckTodd she's stepping down from DNC position to support Bernie

[lasttrip]

https://mobile.twitter.com/meetthepress
NBC News PR
NBC News PR – Verified account ?@NBCNewsPR

.@MeetThePress EXCLUSIVE: @TulsiGabbard tells @ChuckTodd she's stepping down from DNC position to support @BernieSanders #MTP #FeelTheBern
6:47 AM - 28 Feb 2016
Peace
LT

[nashville_brook]

1. would love if MHP would do the same.

[TDale313]

5. She's a pretty strong Hillary supporter. n/t

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

8. She may see the light after her mistreatment by the powers that be.

[Matariki]

13. Who is MHP?

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. Melissa Harris Perry...MSNBC host who just quit because they preempted her show for election

coverage. She hadn't been on the air for 6 weeks, so she quit.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[Rhiannon12866]

19. Here's more on the story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141361656

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141362273

[Matariki]

24. Oh thanks. I thought we were talking Senators and I was racking my brain!

[Rebkeh]

14. Me too!

I think it's a cynical/skeptic thing though. Not skeptical of the solution, just that not enough people will show up and push their Senators and representatives.

'08 cured me of that, I didn't think America would show up for a black president but they did. Twice!

[think]

2. k&r

[Nyan]

3. Liz, I'm looking at you. nt

[FlatBaroque]

4. I LOVE YOU, Tulsi!

Thank you for the direct poke into DWS' eye.

[Mufaddal]

6. Hers is not the kind of help any progressive should want

Gabbard has ties to Modi's fascist BJP and is a total hawk on Palestine.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/curious-islamophobic-politics-dem-congressmember-tulsi-gabbard

[Fawke Em]

9. Maybe she's moving to the left.

She's giving up the vice-chair to support Bernie based on his platform.



That said, the optics look great after a loss: DNC Vice-Chair Resigns Over DNC's Thumb-Scaling for Hillary.

(BTW, my son is half Palestinian. We should start pressuring her to move from that position. Many automatically take Israel's side without knowing much about what really is going on there. We can hope that's why she took that position and will re-think it).

[Mufaddal]

10. I'll believe it when I see it

The sad truth is that she's not the first person who is nominally progressive on many things, but then aligns with violent neo-fascist extremists like the BJP, whose officials openly admire Hitler, on other areas. The bottom line--to me, at least--is that a friend of Modi and the BJP has no right to the "progressive" label, period. Anyone willing to smile and pose for a photo with BJP members while wearing their sash--this is the equivalent of snapping pics with Klansmen.

Now, she's been treated poorly by the DNC, and that's a separate issue, but it certainly doesn't forgive her BJP support. If she publicly disavowed her support for the BJP and their violent Hindu nationalism and supremacist rhetoric, then I'd be more comfortable even in spite of her sad view on Palestine.

As for the Palestine issue, this is a failing of Warren as well. She is a total hawk on this subject (or a "PEP," as it's known--Progressive Except on Palestine).

[erlewyne]

11. She saw the Light!!!

Things have a way of opening rays of light.

I have recently discovered BERNIE SANDERS and I am damned near
his age.

[jillan]

20. I look at this as more as a big FU to the DNC - she will campaign for him but will not

be making policy decisions for Bernie.

About Palestine, Bernie is not going to let her influence his long held beliefs that we need a 2 state solution & both countries are responsible for the mess they created.

[Mufaddal]

21. That's understandable

and I'm all for her giving the DNC its comeuppance in public. But honestly, her support for the BJP is actually much more disturbing than her views on Palestine--which, like Warren's, are at least typical, in spite of being incredibly disappointing. I think most Americans are simply unfamiliar with the BJP and that's why this hasn't been an issue already.

[jillan]

22. Do you think it will hurt Bernie? Again I don't know if her beliefs will have any effect on Bernie.

He has proven to be steadfast in his beliefs throughout the decades.

Hopefully she will just be there to support him, and not her own views.

[Mufaddal]

23. I think the Clinton campaign will leave it alone

because they understand that nobody in the US (outside of desi communities) know who the BJP are, or anything at all about Modi.

The sad thing is, at the rally for Bernie in San Jose yesterday, I saw a big Sikh contingent. Probably a lot of the same Sikhs who organized a big anti-Modi rally when he was visiting here in Silicon Valley. I'm guessing those people are waking up today to the news about Gabbard will not be thrilled, and it may hurt his support in Muslim communities as well if they find out about her views on, and relationship with, the BJP and Modi.

Of course, the votes of the Muslim community don't count for much, for better or worse, and CAIR did a poll indicating that Hillary has something like a 30% lead among Muslim voters over Bernie (which is baffling and sad, especially since I've never met a Muslim who supports Hillary, but met plenty who like Bernie).

Still, if the Clinton campaign was not its own worst enemy, the first thing they would be doing now is getting ad packages together with quotes from Modi and BJP politicians, including pictures of Hindutva textbooks, praising Hitler and drawing connections between Modi and the anti-Muslim rioting in Gujarat in 2002 that left 800 Muslims slaughtered by his Hindu nationalists.

[jillan]

25. That is interesting. Thank you for pointing this out. We'll have to wait and see how

this plays out.

[Mufaddal]

26. I also think it would be unseemly to come across as attacking a vet

So that's probably another reason for them to leave it. I think they don't want to look like sore winners right now, coming out of SC. I wouldn't worry too much about it. It upsets me a lot on principle however.

[TBF]

28. Bernie lived in Israel when younger & is strongly in support of 2-state

I don't see that changing anytime soon.

[Mufaddal]

29. 2-state is not the issue

The two state solution remains the international consensus; his view on that is not a problem at all. Apartheid is the issue. And yeah, he lived there, and then later he publicly advocated cutting off arms sales. He used to be publicly on the right side of this, and his brother, Larry, still is. I don't have a lot of questions, personally, about whether Bernie will introduce better policy when it comes to Israel-Palestine. I fully expect him to, and moreover I expect him to be much more receptive to the anti-apartheid movement than Hillary, who goes out of her way time and again to demonstrate that she is a total hawk on Israel/Palestine.

Anyway, the issue here is not just Gabbard's position on Palestine, which is at least the standard (albeit morally queasy) position. Like Warren, she's a PEP. It's her support for a fascistic, violent Hindu supremacist movement in India that is responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people in the Gujarat riots, and which actively promotes Hitler as a great guy--and that she takes their money, and also happens to vote for Modi's interests.

[TBF]

30. Ah, ok - like many other Americans (I suspect)

I will need to read up on this. I'm ashamed to say I don't know much about India. If she does support such an effort she certainly isn't my choice for VP or anything. Is there a good source you recommend on this? Thank you in advance.

[Mufaddal]

31. Most Americans won't

and I can't honestly blame them; they have no real reason to know anything about Indian politics. It's not like I was paying attention myself until Modi came along.

In general, Loonwatch (an Islamophobia tracking site) had a superb series about the rise of Modi:
http://www.loonwatch.com/2014/04/narendra-modi-and-the-rise-of-indias-neo-fascist-far-right-the-facts/
http://www.loonwatch.com/2014/04/nazism-and-narendra-modi-the-ideological-influence-on-indias-next-prime-minister/
http://www.loonwatch.com/2014/06/triumph-of-the-will-narendra-modi-the-rss-and-the-big-lie-propaganda-technique/

Most of those articles contain links to a number of major papers on the subject of the fascist origins and outlook of the BJP & RSS (the latter being the paramilitary of the former), and the threat of Modi rule.

In the context of Gabbard:
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/curious-islamophobic-politics-dem-congressmember-tulsi-gabbard

[Geronimoe]

7. There are going to be a lot of kitchen sinks

thrown at her.

[AzDar]

12. Excellent. She's very impressive...

[Omaha Steve]

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[in_cog_ni_to]

17. Maybe we'll get INSIDE INFORMATION on what exactly the corrupt DWS/DNC is doing/has done

during this election.

Good for her!

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[Gene Debs]

18. If I had been in her shoes I think I'd have much preferred not to step down, but to

simply make my endorsement of Sanders and then let them push me out. I think the publicity would have been better.