Sanders and Sirota

[boomer_wv]

It's time everyone acknowledge that there is no distance between Bernie Sanders and David Sirota.

I see a lot of people on here talking about attacks on candidates from the Bernie Camp, and when they are proven false a lot of heat comes down on David Sirota. We say things like "I'm sure Bernie didn't approve this." or generally blame Sirota for putting it out there.

If this had happened once, maybe that would fly. However, it happens on a daily basis now. It's most recently seen in him tweeting out doctored videos to scare seniors of Biden. Bernie EMPLOYS Sirota. Everything that Sirota does is being explicitly endorsed by the Bernie Campaign, thereby giving him legitimacy. Do you think if Bernie were elected SIrota wouldn't have a job in the WH? He'd probably end up as Press Sec or in some Sr. Advisor role.

This is like giving Trump a pass on his lies by saying Kellyanne Conway is doing things without his approval. We all know that isn't true and neither is this.

This isn't bashing a democratic candidate either. This is asking every person reading this to be honest with themselves if they support David Sirota or not. If you are planning to vote for Bernie, you are voting for everything that Sirota does as well.

We can't answer Trump with out own version of that kind of divisiveness, vitriol, and lies.

[Hortensis]

1. Sanders is the boss who hired Sirota to carry out his orders. nt

[boomer_wv]

4. Yes.

This fact that Sirota still works for the campaign after doing these things clearly points out that Sanders has directed him to do them.

[highplainsdem]

2. K&R

[Thekaspervote]

3. Oh my!!! A voice of sanity... thank you

[Gothmog]

5. sanders has shown some really poor judgement in his staffing decisions

Sirota is not a nice person. Nina Turner and that Grey woman are both Jill Stein voters. I would hate to see these people have significant roles in government

[boomer_wv]

7. It's not poor judgement.

He's done it too many times and stuck by those people for it to be poor judgement. You could fix that by firing the person and trying again.

This goes to malicious intent. He hired these people specifically to do what they are doing.

His plan is that if he can't win now, he can at least poison the well enough with these attacks to let Trump win and he (or one of his surrogates) can try again in four years.

[Gothmog]

8. I would hate to see people like Sirota, Grey or Nina Turner in positions of power

They are not people who I would be comfortable with

[boomer_wv]

9. I'm sure they would be.

There are a lot of positions in the WH that hold immense power and aren't subject to congressional approval. They would be full of these types.

[George II]

12. Correct. Sanders knew what kind of person Sirota was when he first hired him in 1999....

....after being fired for dirty tricks in a Congressional campaign in Philadelphia. His boss back then was sensible enough to fire him, yet Sanders scooped him up.

[dalton99a]

6. Don't forget Sirota and Sanders go way back

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/22/sanders-speechwriter-racially-inflammatory-website-1232953
New Sanders aide apologizes for role in race-baiting ‘99 website
By HOLLY OTTERBEIN
03/22/2019 05:37 PM EDT

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.

Sirota was the deputy campaign manager for Dwight Evans, a candidate in the 1999 Democratic primary for the mayor of Philadelphia. The site, which was made to look like the page of Evans rival John White, featured a comment White made in large letters, which said, “The black and the brown, if we unite, we're going to control this city.” ...

According to Sirota’s LinkedIn page, he worked as Sanders’ communications director from 1999 to 2001, when the Vermont politician was in the U.S. House.

[George II]

13. It's interesting that the incident in Philadelphia happened in 1999, yet he didn't see the need....

....to apologize for it until 20 years later right around the time he was being hired by Sanders.

One has to wonder what were in those 20,000+ tweets Sirota frantically deleted the day Sanders hired him.

[George II]

10. Sanders and Sirota go back a long time...

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.

The highlighted sentences are EXACTLY what Sirota is doing now for Sanders against Biden - lifting quotes from a longer interview (White) or speech on the Senate Floor (Biden) and presenting them as stand-alone quotes. Sirota was fired by Evans, he hasn't been fired by Sanders yet.

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

Sirota worked in Sanders' DC office in the early 2000s, and also worked on Sanders' 2016 campaign.

They've worked closely on and off for decades. Considering his background, one would have to think that Sirota was hired just for the purpose he's serving today.

[Cha]

11. I thought that was a given.

[dlk]

14. If Sanders didn't agree with what Sirota was doing, he would let him go

The fact that Sirota still has a job let’s everyone know where Bernie truly stands.

[ehrnst]

15. The buck stops with the Candidate. (nt)

[peggysue2]

18. Yes!!!!

If a surrogate is out of line, the candidate has the ability to fire that surrogate. If the behavior continues and the surrogate retains his/her position, then the reasonable conclusion is the candidate approves the behavior.

The Senator from Vermont closes his eyes and pretends he has no accountability, that he cannot be on top of all his field operators. Poor excuse. Doesn't say much about his ability to lead a nation of nearly 330 million people.

Another bad look.

[NCProgressive]

16. Sirota probably gets a second pacheck from Moscow

A vote for Sanders is a vote for Trump

[grantcart]

17. I don't know, does Sirota take temporary Democratic membership?

[stopdiggin]

19. reluctantly agree.

in order to be OK with Sanders ...
You really kinda have to be OK with his campaign .. and staff.

[mcar]

20. Kick

[iamthebandfanman]

21. So

when we nominated Hillary,
were we voting for everything Goldwater stood for ?

[Demsrule86]

23. Kind of silly as she did not employ Goldwater. One assumes that Sirota's actions are just fine with

Sanders as he is still employed.

[LongtimeAZDem]

32. +1

[Demsrule86]

34. Thanks...hey what do you think of McSally's chances...what a witch only with a B...saw her

shrieking at some reporter just doing his job...God she needs to go.

[LongtimeAZDem]

35. I'm not sure; I wanted Ruben Gallego to run against her, but he passed when Mark Kelly announced

I don't trust the polls that put Kelly ahead; once the election starts in earnest, I think his gun policy will sink him. I hope I'm wrong.

[Demsrule86]

36. I am hoping so too...if it could happen in Virginia...it could happen in Arizona...where guns

were either not a voting issue or people do want regulation.

[LongtimeAZDem]

37. I dunno; the West is different

[Demsrule86]

40. I know ....fingers crossed...keep me updated if you think about it or have a chance.

[boomer_wv]

26. Here we go

Bernie supporters bringing up stuff from 40 and 50 years ago.

[dsc]

29. Please link where she employed goldwater

I'm waiting

[Blue_true]

39. Wow, that was an extrapolation.

Hillary as a teenager knocking on doors for a person that she didn't support as a college student. Also, she didn't put Goldwater on her campaign payroll and ignore all his previous attacks on democrats during that very same campaign.

[melman]

22. Sirota is brilliant

He single-handedly forced the issue of Social Security into the conversation. The mainstream media had been ignoring it and it never even came up at all in the last debate.


Now, due to Sirota's efforts Biden has to deal with the focus on his history with SS. And that ain't good for him. Because all the nonsense of "doctored videos" aside when you really look at his history and the comments he's made..it's all there.

[Demsrule86]

24. Nothing to deal with...and he used a doctored video...that is not OK.

I would never vote for Sanders in a primary...never-only a general. And Sanders was my second choice before his what I consider dirty campaign tactics. Now I choose Warren if Biden somehow is not the nominee...she is trustworthy and a Democrat.

[melman]

28. There's far more than just that one video

You can deny it all you want but it's all out there and it's all real.

[Demsrule86]

31. I know all about it...stuff taken from the 80's...all he other BS...but Biden has a great SS plan

now, and the desperation of the Sanders campaign will only get Sanders out faster. Biden has an 89% record...same as Ted Kennedy...and those promoting this look untruthful and desperate.

[Demsrule86]

25. And Sirota is a scumbag...and Sanders hired him.

[George II]

38. He's hired him THREE times! The first time he hired him to work in his Congressional office...

...just weeks after he got fired by Dwight Evans for setting up a racist website and attributing it to Evans' opponent in a Congressional election campaign in Philadelphia.

Then he hired him to work on his 2016 campaign. And now he's hired him to work on this campaign. The curious thing is that Sirota was so ashamed of his "past" that he cleaned out his twitter account (20,000+ tweets) the day Sanders hired him early last year.

[Demsrule86]

41. This shows very poor judgment.

[The Valley Below]

33. Sirota is a dirty-trickser. Nothing more.

His hire reflects very badly on Bernard Sanders.

[Me.]

27. THIS...

[betsuni]

30. K&R