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In reply to the discussion: There Is No "Bernie Bashing". There's Reasonable Annoyance At His Insults & Unhelpful Comments [View all]JHan
(10,173 posts)I did ask myself - Should I judge Sanders on him misspeaking on this occasion or other occasions?
Of course, Politicians say things that get misinterpreted unfairly.
But is it misspeaking when there's a trend to the comments going back decades? When repeated over and over?
A politician misspeaking once, and facing pushback, knows to not make the same mistake twice. They even make an apology or seek to clarify their comments. I don't expect Sanders to get it right all the time, I don't expect perfection in politicians, that is a fool's errand.
But Sanders' stance on the Democratic party and other issues are known and not him misspeaking. They're not words that need any sort of added context, like the video you shared of Clinton's views on coal. Often times Sander's words feed incorrect narratives about the party, harmful narratives that have no basis in fact. As a millennial I saw the effect of his criticisms since the election - some see it as "proof" that the Democratic Party is still corrupt and beholden to corporate overlords. "Proof" that there's no change. The DNC chair race became a proxy fight of the primaries, the same themes - inane themes - of "corporate" "insider" "old guard" - yes Progressive Perez, because of his ties to Clinton and Obama aides, was smeared. How does this belligerence help? why is this belligerence excused?
No one is saying Sanders should not have a voice, and this is the other twist in these debates. Raising concerns about all I described interpreted as "hating" - Individuals at this point don't concern me as much as the movement to rid ourselves of conservative policies that harm us. So we need pragmatism right now - not purity tests, not slamming the party gratuitously, but focusing on the objective at hand which is retaking the house, retaking the senate and putting a Democratic President in office.
Every second spent wasting time attacking the party for silly reasons is a second that could have been better spent attacking the Corporate Party - the GOP - that has taken us to a pre-Ayn Randian stage where there's a real possibility all the progress of the past 80 years may be undone.
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