So Bloomberg's going negative. Against the *supporters* of another candidate.

[DanTex]

So much for the "Bloomberg is aiming squarely at Trump" thing. I guess there's two weeks until Super Tuesday and he's still way behind in the polls, so here we go.

Really, I can't think of a worse long-term plan than running ads against Democratic voters who support another candidate. Particularly when that candidate is currently leading the polls. That's 25 to 30 percent of the Dem primary electorate he's going after. And in head-to-head polls, Bernie leads Bloomberg by about 20 points.

He's basically putting out a slick video version of this parody twitter post...

Link to tweet

[Squinch]

1. Are they his supporters? Or are they Russian bots? Why

not give your fellow BS supporters the benefit of the doubt?

PS. You're honestly not seeing the irony in your post, are you?

[FarPoint]

12. You make a good point...Russian bots were released in massive numbers

over the weekend...so, I will not make any knee jerk assumptions... I'll follow each candidate and filter out the bots..😇

I noticed..the article is by a fella named McFuck????

[George II]

2. I suppose you're okay with the things Bloomberg's ads are pointing out?

[Mike 03]

3. It's definitely got to be this story from yesterday.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=526042

OP: Sanders supporters call for blacklisting of Bloomberg's campaign staff (and not just professionally)

As you can read, they are vowing to ruin their lives and future employment of anyone working on the Bloomberg campaign.

What do you expect?

[BusyBeingBest]

11. He is going to defend his staffers, I would expect any of them to.

[Vivienne235729]

37. WOW. I did not see that. BS people are calling a blacklisting of staffers?

That is a new low. And THIS kind of crap is EXACTLY what turns me off about BS and his people. They prove everyday they are no different from the Trump fringe.

[Autumn]

4. It's okay. As A Bernie supporter I welcome his hate. Every candidate has rude supporters, not just

Bernie.

#mybloombergstory There are some great ads to be made from there.

[Demsrule86]

31. I see supporters here who defend horrible behavior...threatening to ruin the lives of another

candidate's campaign staff is dreadful. And in my opinion a good reason why Sanders should not be the nominee. The more hate Sanders and his staff generates, the less likely they will win the nomination...so maybe people are waking up...and will vote for a different candidate. I hope so.

[Autumn]

40. I see supporters putting curses on Bernie. Some hoping he and his supporters die in a plane crash.

I see supporters of other candidates saying they will not vote for Bernie to teach the far left a lesson. I see people saying if hes the nominee they will stay home. I see supporters of other candidates hoping that Bernie has another heart attack, the topless protesters were a hit with that crowd. Talk about dreadful.

Spare me your outrage over Bernie supporters and their bad behavior. It's all horse shit.

[Cha]

84. I see None of that.. are there links for those accusations?

[Autumn]

86. I posted about them a week ago Cha you were all over the thread, I'm not posting them again.

[Cha]

87. So that's a "no"?

[Autumn]

88. It's an, I'm not going to dance to your tune Cha.

[Cha]

85. Exactly, Demsrule! Of course they're going to deny it.

[LonePirate]

48. The rest of the Dem field combined has only a tiny fraction of the rude supporters Bernie has.

Bernie’s online supporters are second only to 45’s in their sheer numbers and in their general awfulness as human beings.

Yes, Bernie has some wonderful supporters who are great people and they surely outnumber his rude supporters or Bernie Bros or whatever you want to call them. However, it is very close to the old adage of (more than) a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch.

[Autumn]

52. Yeah, they all have some great supporters, and every candidate has some asshole supporters. I don't

vote for anyone based on their supporters, they don't mean shit.

Except in Bernie case then it's a big issue.

[zackymilly]

65. Even after proof is shown that the Biden coffin incident had nothing to do with Bernie...

...he is still getting blamed for it.
I stubbed my toe this morning, and I blame Bernie for not reminding me to put on my shoes.

[Pachamama]

5. LOL....Looks like Bloomberg is getting under the skin and worrying Bernie Bros...

Amazing....all Bloomberg did was point out what the Bernie Bros are doing and that it’s harmful to the Democratic Party cause and the Nations cause and they are flipping out....

Bloomberg is right.....

[Vivienne235729]

39. Yep. It's terrible. They are proving him right every day...

[pandr32]

61. +1

[lapucelle]

6. I thought BS claimed that the toxic swarms were only posing as his supporters?

Why would BS and his real supporters have a problem with Bloomberg publicly exposing a predatory swarm that BS claims has nothing to do with his campaign?

[Demsrule86]

32. +10000

[Vivienne235729]

41. Nailed it. Can you say that a little louder for the people in the back?

[BlueWI]

79. Toxic swarms?

People first language is an option, unless stereotyping is preferred.

[rzemanfl]

7. WTAF is this post about? n/t

[highplainsdem]

8. Here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287528032

[rzemanfl]

13. Thank you. n/t

[evertonfc]

9. He has every right to

[brooklynite]

10. Please define "way behind in the polls"

Which polls are you,referring to?

[Sympthsical]

14. Stupid, stupid, stupid

Alienating a bloc of voters needed in November.

I have lost the ability to can.

Attack candidates - never voters. That’s politics 101. When Clinton said “basket of deplorables,” I texted a friend and said, “She just lost the election.”

Same when Romney did his 47% of the people are takers bs.

You never, ever attack voters.

[George II]

18. It's not a "bloc" of voters - it's a subset of supporters who have been vicious and threatening....

....against supporters of other campaigns.

Why is no one, including the candidate for whom they speak, condemning these vile attacks?

[DanTex]

21. Like the subset of the people who Bloomberg stopped-and-frisked that were actually criminals?

Maybe he still hasn't learned that it's not a good thing to broad-brush a group of people based on the actions of a tiny subset.

[George II]

53. A totally different topic, NOTHING to do with Sanders supporters.

[DanTex]

54. It does actually. It's the principle of holding a whole group responsible for the actions of

a tiny subset. A tiny subset of minority males in NYC committed crimes. Because of that, Bloomberg decided to stop and frisk millions of them, even though he and everyone else knew that almost all of the people targeted would be innocent.

A tiny subset of Bernie supporters post rude things on Twitter. Bloomberg cuts an ad portraying the Bernie movement as hateful "Bernie Bros".

They are both examples of generalizing from a tiny group of bad actors to an entire population.

[George II]

56. How about this from a woman who is now Sanders' National Press Secretary?

[DanTex]

58. Umm, that was 2017, she wasn't part of the campaign. Have you heard the stuff Bloomberg said

before he started running for president? Because that tweet is a love poem compared to a lot of the shit Bloomberg has said.

I don't think that tweet was helpful, kind of like Hillary's "nobody likes him" comment, but let's be real.

[George II]

62. So he turned around and hired her as his National Press Secretary. Was that an audition?

[DanTex]

63. Yeah, and Bloomberg turned around and chose himself to run for president.

Was all the stuff he said about women and minorities "an audition"?

[George II]

76. I thought we were talking about Sanders' supporters. Why change the subject?

[DanTex]

77. To point out the absurd double-standards at work.

[Codeine]

60. Meh.

That “bloc” wasn’t going to vote for anyone but their Chosen One anyway. That’s their own argument as to why non-supporters must #bendtheknee and surrender to their hostage tactics.

[DanTex]

19. "Attack candidates - never voters. That's politics 101."

That's exactly right.

[highplainsdem]

15. Bloomberg is highlighting attacks by some Sanders supporters on other candidates and their

supporters.

Just as recent stories in the media have.

Just as a recent SNL cold open did.

In all those cases, pointing out negative behavior is NOT going negative.

The bad behavior of those Sanders supporters is viewed as a problem by most other people.

Deal with it, if you can't bring yourself to admit it's bad behavior.

Because the criticism of Sanders supporters who behave like that will NOT go away.

And Sanders should make a real effort to stop it, instead of pretending it's a problem with all campaigns

[MineralMan]

16. Well, There Is This:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287526042

[DanTex]

17. Yes, there are rude people on twitter. That's not a uniquely Bernie phenomenon, as everyone knows.

That particular tweet was making an analogy to this.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dccc-promises-to-blacklist-firms-that-work-with-candidates-challenging-incumbents_n_5c95126ae4b01ebeef0ec3ae

[George II]

24. No that tweet was NOT making an analogy to the DCCC not working with firms that work with....

....candidates going after DEMOCRATS. Only those complaining about what the DCCC is doing call it a "blacklist"

We went though this before, you have been unable to find any substantive connection between Bloomberg and the DCCC (there's little, if any)

You also have been unable to explain why these nasty people haven't called for a "blacklist" of other candidates' staffers, just Bloomberg.

It's sad that such a tactic is being lauded here, especially considering the historic significance of "blacklisting", and more especially that it's being threatened against the only practicing, devout Jewish candidate.

[MineralMan]

27. Yes, on Twitter and many other places.

Even on DU, sometimes.

[Lunch Lady]

20. +1

[yaesu]

22. the term bernie pro, which was the invention of russia, seems to be used quite a bit

in reality though its just shitting on We The People and the rich do not want anyone to take their control and power away, the government serves them 100%, they want to keep it that way. Bernie is their worst enemy.

[Demsrule86]

23. Sanders people went after the people that work for him basically threatening them...so Bloomberg

had to respond...disgusting actions IMHO going after another campaign...this is why I will never vote for Sanders in a primary; he has my vote in a general... I will spend the campaign should this happen attempting to save the house.

[DanTex]

29. Uhh, no, they didn't. One random twitter post was made as an analogy to the DCCC's blacklisting.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dccc-promises-to-blacklist-firms-that-work-with-candidates-challenging-incumbents_n_5c95126ae4b01ebeef0ec3ae

Unlike the DCCC, random people on twitter have no ability to actually "blacklist" anyone. It was just twitter noise, there's a lot of that. It wasn't "Sanders people".

There's lots of stuff that gets posted on twitter, from supporters of all candidates. I know the media loves the dishonest "Bernie Bro" narrative, but it's plainly absurd and offensive when another candidate attacks supporters like this. It's like when Romney made the "47%" comment painting Obama supporters as lazy people who leech off the state.

[Demsrule86]

34. Always the excuses... it is the campaign.

[DanTex]

38. You're ignoring basic facts here. It's not the campaign. And the DCCC did do blacklisting.

Nobody denies either of those things. The DCCC blacklisting was widely reported in the media and the term "blacklisting" isn't mine, it was used by news reports to describe what the DCCC did.

[dsc]

25. the latest thing they did was dox a Nigerian who supports Pete

it should be noted that in Nigeria being gay is illegal. I haven't a clue if that Pete supporter is gay or not but what do you want to bet that the Nigerian police are looking into whether he is at this very second. All because Bernie supporters, including a journalist it should be noted, doxed him. I hope he isn't gay and doesn't know any gays, I also hope that winds up mattering to the Nigerian police.

[Demsrule86]

35. That could get the man killed...disgusting behavior. It is Trumpian behavior.

[Fontaines D.C.]

26. Frame Jobs

long time reader, first time poster... You have to love the framing job people on this board try to use to get to Bernie supporters. It's almost the classic "When did you stop beating your wife?" - "Are you going to disavow this behavior?" or "Reminds me of the Magats" as if Bernie has somehow been out fomenting hate, using racist dog-whistles or plain hate speech. First off, the whole label itself "bro" is so ridiculous. Yeah, the supporters of Choice, Single Payer, etc. are "bros". I can think of nothing more authoritarian than a billionaire protecting their own interests.

[DanTex]

30. Welcome to DU!

[awesomerwb1]

33. So the "supporters" who call themselves

bernie bros are ridiculous? I agree.

There are two people who could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and their supporters would not have a problem with that.

Trump's and Bernard's. It's absolutely incredible how similar they are. Bernie or bust.

[Fontaines D.C.]

43. Hammer away...

Keep hitting the same nail in that frame. Why do you hate candidates for Single Payer, Choice, etc.?

[awesomerwb1]

46. "Hate"??

He's medicare for all. Not choice. Nice try.

Good bye.

[Fontaines D.C.]

55. OH, so you didn't like the way that was framed?

guess I proved my point.

[awesomerwb1]

59. I Loved it!

I thought the way you framed your comment was incredible. It was Amazing! Outstanding! Remarkable! Should be nominated for a Pulitzer!

Signed:

"Establishment Member since 2000"
"Deep State Card Holding member since ****"
"Free Mason since 2004"
"Illuminati application pending approval"

P.s It's still not "choice". It's M4A with a unicorn attached to it.

[Fontaines D.C.]

69. FYI

My reference to Choice is a woman's right to choose. M4A is a single-payer system.

You're correct. It did work, because we're talking about policy now aren't we?

[awesomerwb1]

71. Incredible! Outstanding!

Marvelous!

P.S All candidates support the right to choose. Sorry to break the news to you.

[Fresh_Start]

50. the similarities are a deliberate outcome of those specific politicians strategies.

"At the root of populist movements is a delineation between "normal folk" and "the elite." For example, "We" are the people and "they" are the ones who cheat, control and subjugate us, along with their supporters. These concepts are impossible to define in clearer terms because they don't reflect objective realities. More than anything else, the divide is grounded on identity and emotion that stem from making a sharp distinction between friend and enemy"

...

• Anyone who disagrees with the body politic should be spurned and, if necessary, intimidated. Those who try to stabilize political institutions will hinder the advancement of populism.


• Actions are channeled through provocation and protest. It is argued that dialogue no longer makes sense since it is controlled by the elite.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2017/01/24/why-populism-is-rising-and-how-to-combat-it/#73abdc271d44

[jrthin]

28. He has every right to. Too many have been afraid to

take on the Bernie Bros bullying tactics.

[Demsrule86]

36. And they should consider that Bloomberg could probably actually do what they can only threaten.

They could find employment avenues closed to them for this sort of behavior.

[jrthin]

57. Exactly!

[George II]

42. You're happy with stuff like this?

[DanTex]

44. LOL. You're not going to impress me with tweets from people not part of Bernie's campaign.

Everyone, including you, knows that anyone could go do a twitter search and find some shit posted by supporters of any of the candidates. It's such an absurd game to play.

[George II]

45. "LOL" indeed. Go check out:

@BenjaminPDixon on twitter. He's not just some anonymous supporter "not part of Bernie's campaign"!

[DanTex]

47. Oh, I know Ben Dixon. He's the guy who found the Bloomberg tape from the Aspen Institute.

He's a journalist and podcaster, he's not a member of the Bernie campaign.

[George II]

49. An you're apparently okay with the tweet I posted, right? Remember, Bloomberg's ad was NOT.....

....directed toward Sanders of his "campaign" (since you're parsing words), it was pointing out what Sanders' SUPPORTERS are doing. And you're upset with that, implying that you're satisfied with what Sanders' SUPPORTERS are doing.

You haven't said a single word of condemnation of what Sanders' SUPPORTERS are doing.

[DanTex]

51. I disagree with that tweet, but it's the opinion of one person not part of any campaign.

Who cares? Why do you go around digging up tweets and asking me to condemn them? What's the point? Do you think I couldn't find tweets by Biden and Bloomberg supporters that you'd disagree with?

Yes, I know the ad was directed against supporters. That's makes it worse. The supporters of Bernie Sanders (or any other candidate) are people who we all need to vote for the Dem and against Trump in the general election. There is no more effective way to tear the party apart than to run ads against supporters.

[LongtimeAZDem]

64. Either Bernie condemns these actions, or he is endorsing them. It's as simple as that.

Fortunately, most of those doing this are keyboard warriors who won't vote anyway, so their support doesn't matter.

[DanTex]

67. Bizarre standard that for some reason people only apply to Bernie.

Nobody asks, say, Biden, or Bloomberg to comb through twitter to condemn every rude post made by one of their supporters. And that's not because there aren't any such rude posts. There are plenty, from all sides.

The reason is that, obviously, neither Bloomberg nor Biden nor Bernie are responsible for what random people post on twitter.

[NurseJackie]

72. "ALL SIDES" eh??!!! LOL! LOL!

There are plenty, from all sides.

"ALL SIDES" eh??!!! LOL! LOL!

I've yet to see any candidate who has hired the likes of Sirota with his lies and venom and insults, or the Stein-loving Nina Turner with her smears and innuendo, and then there's Brianna Joy Gray.... another Stein-voter... what a piece of work SHE is!

You can learn a lot about someone by the company they keep AND by the ones that are hired to be on a campaign... either officially or unofficially. And when staffers like Matt Orfalea put out disgusting videos... well, that just provide clarity as to the underlying mindset of the campaign.

neither Bloomberg nor Biden nor Bernie are responsible for what random people post on twitter.

Only one of those three has "set the tone" with their hires and staffers. That's the difference. It all starts at the top.

[DanTex]

73. Uh, yeah. Have you been to twitter? People say rude stuff there.

[NurseJackie]

74. Aw. GMAFB!

Have you been to twitter? People say rude stuff there.

Aw. GMAFB!

Sirota. Turner. Gray. Orfalea. Sarandon. Cusack. These toxic smears and attacks (so close to the top and within the campaign itself) aren't things that just happen and suddenly materialize from nothing within a complete vacuum. Just be honest with yourself and stop trying to blame others when you know that what I'm saying is true. The answers that you seek must come from within.

[BlueIdaho]

70. Statements like these

Need to be rejected, not explained.

[davs797]

66. His attacks will further divide

I do think it will unite Bernie supporters to push harder though. I just donated to his campaign for the first time. I’m broke but this is important. I want someone with values leading America. Bloomberg doesn’t represent mine.

[Quixote1818]

80. I was on the Bloomberg FB page and had to leave today

Nothing but attack after attack on Sanders now and Sanders folks retaliating. It was too depressing so I unlinked the group. I liked the page because I thought he was just going after Trump and was enjoying the posts. Completely different atmosphere today.

[Gothmog]

68. I have seen the conduct of sanders supporters up close and I agree with Bloomberg

Normally going to a national convention is a once in a life time experience. I have worked really hard inside the party on campaigns and voter protection issues for a very long time to earn this trip. Too bad that sanders and his vetted delegates ruined that experience and did their best to help trump. A candidate has absolute approval rights over their pledged delegates because these delegates can change their votes and these delegates represent the candidate and campaign. I helped vet Clinton delegates and I know that I was vetted. The Clinton campaign told us that we represent her and that our actions would reflect on her and her campaign.

In contrast, sanders sent one very weak text the Sunday night before the convention and then did little or nothing to control his delegates. It was nasty I was there when the sanders delegates booed Congressman John Lewis. I was warned about this stunt 30 minutes before it happened by the Clinton campaign whip. According to my whip, sanders was asked to stop this event and declined. That incident will be used against sanders by Russia to suppress the African American vote just as was done in 2016

Link to tweet

Russia will just run material showing sanders delegates booing John Lewis, Elijah Cummings and others to suppress the vote of African American voters and I feel that this tactic would be very effective

I was at the Texas delegation breakfast when a group of sanders delegates marched in and demanded that we condemn Clinton and change our votes to sanders.

sanders spoke to the Texas delegation the next morning and his speech was again solely about himself. There was a mini-riot due to his delegates the prior morning and the only thing that sanders talked about was himself. sanders did nothing to deal with the fact that his delegates were out of control and did nothing to try to help Hillary Clinton win the general election.

Finally a group of sanders delegates yelled at my daughter and called her the c-Word because she would not try to get me to change my vote. Again sanders was asked to tell his delegates to behave during the convention and sanders refused

[kabelle]

75. his supporters reach millions

Their hateful message needs to be condemned.

[Nikki28]

78. I don't mean to be mean

but I was jumping up and down with a happy dance with the Bloomberg video.You do not mess with someone who knows how to play the game. Bloomberg excites me despite him having a Repukes back ground because he has what it takes to go after the real threat. Bernie has turned me off from the moment he went bitter on H C when she won the nomination.I think M.B knows what is at stake which is why he has focused his attention on Trump..aka real threat.We would be in a terrible shape if we did not have M.B running after helping us take back the house . We need to be smart and let him do his thing. I bet you money Trump team would love to have him.Since we got him;I think we should treat him nicely and learn from him when it comes to our real target.Go M.B.

[Aaron Pereira]

81. Motivated supporters are the one thing he can't buy so naturally he's threatened by that.

I'm sure he will continue to dishonestly portray a small percentage of rude supporters as characteristic of Bernie's entire base.

[JustAnotherGen]

82. It is what it is

No one gets a free pass. If a supporter is behaving badly online - they should be called out. I saw the ad on MSNBC this morning - and it did a good job of defining WHICH of Sanders supporters were being called out.

[ehrnst]

83. There is precedent on Sanders' side doing this.

[Gothmog]

89. This is a very effective press release

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Gothmog]

90. This is a very effective press release

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Gothmog]

91. Bloomberg campaign calls out specific tweets by Sanders aides Briahna Joy Gray, David Sirota and Ni

Link to tweet