John Aravosis of AMERICAblog on Sanders' divisive "Democratic establishment" tweet

[highplainsdem]

Link to tweet

Enough with the attacks on the Democratic Party. You know who the “democratic establishment” is? Schmucks like me who gave up making huge salaries so we could work in Washington for low-paying jobs to do good, while Republicans and millionaires like Bernie Sanders slander us.

That Sanders tweet:

Link to tweet

I've got news for the Republican establishment. I've got news for the Democratic establishment. They can't stop us.

[Iliyah]

1. K & R!

[SharonClark]

2. I have to ask.

Did he way his arms around and yell while he said it?

No, this is not sarcasm.

[highplainsdem]

3. Only if he can tweet while waving his arms around and yelling.

[PatSeg]

8. Oh my god

I just got a visual of a President Bernie Sanders waving his arms around, pointing, and yelling at Putin not to interfere in our elections!

[JudyM]

20. He gave him a calling out straight into the news cameras yesterday.

[PatSeg]

23. And I'm sure Putin

was shaking in his boots! "Oh no, stop all that election interference. Bernie just yelled at me!"

[lapucelle]

5. Why did BS tweet that the same day he claimed that Russians were trying to divide us

rather than to help him?

[Cha]

9. Oh is that his talking point? I've seen it around.

He thought it was a good idea because.. fill in the blank..

[lapucelle]

10. Hi Cha!

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/1287558196

[Demsrule86]

17. Hey Cha...Sanders had always disliked the so called Democratic establishment...he just can't

help himself from saying truly destructive things...shows who he is really.

[Cha]

22. Oh yeah.. I'm not offended.. I consider

the source.

[ahlnord]

25. Yes

This is an excellent point!

[uponit7771]

33. +1

[PatSeg]

6. I think he said

what a lot of us are feeling. Bernie's disdain for the "Democratic establishment" is a slap in the face for many Democrats who have lived their beliefs over a lifetime. "They can't stop us" sounds like an attack not a call for unity. Who is "us" anyway?

[MH1]

19. Him and his Bros. ("Us") nt.

[PatSeg]

24. And he thinks he can win a general election

against Trump with "us"? He's a pretty short-sighted politician.

[JudyM]

21. Those who aren't benefiting from, and are actually being hurt by, large donors.

[Cha]

7. Damn Straight!

TY, hpd!

[Demsrule86]

13. Clearly from his words Democrats are not the 'us'.

[Cha]

15. And somehow I knew that..

Link to tweet

[sprinkleeninow]

35. This has turned into real crappy.

😏

Meanwhile...
💙🙏

[Cha]

36. Aloha, sprinkleen!

[Sloumeau]

11. Thank you John Aravosis.

Does Bernie Sanders ever think about who exactly the Democratic "establishment" is? It is all of the people who have been working tirelessly to put in place a Democratic agenda while also fighting the Republicans for years and years. It is people who were doing it in Congress long before Bernie Sanders ever became a Senator.

Every few years, someone comes along in the Democratic Party and wants to "shake things up". These people come and they go, but whatever they do is dwarfed by the work done by the people of the establishment who work tirelessly to make things better. They were here before Bernie Sanders was in Congress, and they will be here working hard long after Bernie Sanders is gone.

If Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee, he and his supporters will call for unity. Keep bashing the Democratic "establishment" and see how much unity you get, Bernie Sanders. See how well you beat Donald Trump when the people you keep bashing turn their backs on you.

[dawg day]

26. Also, the "establishment" is far more diverse

Than almost any other big organization in this country.

[NCProgressive]

12. I weep for our party

[mtngirl47]

27. I weep for our country. n/t

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Hey Bernie!

Pride goeth before the fall

[Cha]

16. Thanks for that.

Link to tweet

[dlk]

18. As has been said, we need a candidate who does more than wave their arms and yell at people

That might make great political theater and make people good. However, it’s far from effective leadership and actually accomplishes nothing. This does much more to divide us than unite us. (P. S. - Nancy Pelosi is an establishment Democrat. Is Bernie saying she’s a problem he intends to stand up against? Seriously?

[bluedye33139]

28. Aravosis accused me of being a White House attorney and blocked me from his blog

10 years ago, when the battle about gay personnel in the military was heating up, I used to post on his blog.

People were saying that Obama with the swipe of a pen could undo don't ask don't tell by decree. I suggested that he could not, and I was discussing the legal issues involved (The president in our system does not have the power to annul laws by decree, among other points) and he finally stepped in and in a series of really weird exchanges, he accused me of being secretly an attorney working for Obama and posting from the White House!

I've never really been able to wrap my mind around that. He is insane.

[bluedye33139]

29. He lost his mind when I pointed out that he was a Republican congressional staffer

I had forgotten about that detail. He was a Republican and he worked for right-wing politicians until a weird switch made him into what he is now.

Long story short, I don't trust him.

[Dave in VA]

30. Thanks for posting this

John says what a lot of us who have spent our time and our money for Democratic Party candidates for decades are thinking.

You can't win a general election by pissing on the grunts who have been carrying the message and giving the hours and hours of our time. If we just show up and vote and stay home from all the other activities that a campaign requires then good luck with that!

You can have a great message, but it requires a messenger who will not demonize the people that will be required to GOTV.

So, thanks for saying it out loud, John.

[Hulk]

31. Interesting.....I read his comment differently

When he made that statement, I assumed he was referring to the DNC and their past practice of blackballing him in favor of HRC.

Now it sounds like it's being taken to mean "Democrats" in general. I think we better be careful with shooting arrows. I'd like to hear Bernie explain that comment in a bit more detail. If, in fact, he is/was referring to Democrats in general, then that is something different in my book. I think he has every right to be pissed at the DNC for 2016. Beyond that......

[disndat]

32. I Pray for Biden

Now that the Putin/Trump/Sanders scam has been exposed, people should catch on to what a devious character Sanders
is. He claims to be wide-eyed and unknowing when he also had this same "lift" from Trump/Putin in 2016.
we should have listened to Hillary.

[UncleNoel]

34. Payers are rising toask that the votes rise as well.

I mean this seriouslys.

[jalan48]

37. Poor John, he could be making a huge salary in the private sector and here he is sacrificing for

a mere pittance in the public sector. I'm sure all the millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet working two or three jobs in our new gig economy feel his pain.

[LiberalFighter]

38. He attacks the people that could help him.

[PatrickforO]

40. Oh, for goodness sake! In 2019 Biden made $15 million, and in 2018 $11 million.

Bernie's worth, what? $3.5 million?

I'm kind of sick of the attacks on Bernie for having the temerity to be a millionaire. It is disingenuous at best.

I've stayed out of this argument so far, but I will point out now that there really IS a Democratic base, and there really IS a Democratic Party establishment.

Think it through with me. There is both.

Let's look at the base first. The 'schmucks like me' comment above definitely fits that. These are people like us who are registered Democrats because we are further left than 'independent' and want to retch every time we contemplate Republicans, particularly what that party has become.

THEN, there really IS the Democratic party establishment. That's grass roots. For example, in my county, there is a Democratic party structure. It is made up of people who volunteer their time in organizing and getting out the vote, and it is also those elected officials at all levels.

I am part of the base, but also part of the establishment because I'm on the platform committee for my county party structure.

Now, let us analyze what Bernie is saying just a bit more fairly, shall we? He is talking about bureaucracies. He doesn't cite Max Weber, but remember that when people organize anything, it grows. When it grows to a certain point, it becomes necessary to impose a bureaucracy on it. A bureaucracy is merely an operational structure that allows for increased efficiencies. As time goes by it becomes an 'establishment.' The Democratic Party establishment offers candidates 1) access to being on the ballot, 2) access to voters, and 3) access to donors. It is, in other words, an establishment.

So how does the establishment interact with the base? Sometimes very well, sometimes not so well. For instance in IA, the establishment decided it would increase efficiency with an app. But the base resisted using the app. Maybe the precinct captains didn't like the app. Maybe they hadn't bought into the need for it. Clearly it did not work.

And what is the relationship of the base to the establishment? Is the base a subset of the establishment in a mathematical sense, or is it vice versa - is the establishment a subset of a larger base. I tend to think the latter.

A word also about the Democratic Party establishment as a bureaucracy is also appropriate: Bureaucracies, by nature, are efficient, but as they get older they have an increased conservatism around survival. I use the word 'conservatism' in the sense that the bureaucracy itself will act, sometimes aggressively to ensure, or conserve, its survival.

Now, most of you KNOW all this. That is why I shake my head with all the anti-Bernie rhetoric every time he uses the word 'establishment.' It is most unbecoming from a standpoint of intellectual integrity. Again, I believe the proper word is 'disingenuous.'

[corbettkroehler]

41. Transparency, Anyone?

To those who favor a different candidate in the primary, I give a bit of latitude. However, on the question of those in the establishment Sanders has criticized, I pose the following question: Why so much opposition to transparency?

Link to tweet

[totodeinhere]

42. Bernie is not attacking the average Democrat.

After all, it is average Democrats who have propelled him to front runner status in this primary season and who will propel him to victory in the Nevada caucuses.