General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Bernie alumni seek meeting to address 'sexual violence' on '16 campaign [View all]Gothmog
(145,130 posts)I was a Clinton delegate to the national convention. Real campaigns carefully vet their delegates. I know that I was vetted and I was on a committee that vetted other delegates. The reason for this vetting is that (a) all delegates including pledged delegates has the power to vote for the candidate of their choice and (b) a campaign's delegates reflect on the campaign. All Clinton delegates were warned to be on our best behavior because our conduct would reflect on the candidate.
The Clinton campaign had a very well organized whipping infrastructure. Early on, we were prepared for a series of floor votes on credentials and platform issues. On the first night of the convention, I was warned by my whip that there would be a planned stunt by the sanders delegates where they would boo Congressman John Lewis. I got the text from my whip about 20 to 30 minutes before Congressman John Lewis was to be introduced. According to my whip, sanders was asked to stip this stunt and he declined.
There was really nasty booing of Congressman John Lewis at the convention when he was introduced including some nasty shouts from the sanders delegates. Again, this was a planned stunt by the sanders delegates that sanders was informed about.
In addition to the above, my daughter was my guest to the convention. This was a once in a lifetime trip. 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. I showed my daughter the article cited in the OP and she was not surprised.
Again, according to my whip, sanders knew of the Lewis stunt and declined to take any steps to stop it. There were complaints made to the sanders campaign at the convention about the conduct of his delegates and nothing was done.
Please do not be surprised if these and other incidents come up in ads if sanders runs in 2020. There are a good number of Demcorats who have long memories.