Bernie, There Will Be No Revolution Without Reproductive Rights

[Rilgin]

71. The problem is that you appear to have made up this quote with regard to Sanders

I googled "rising star" sanders and mello. That particular statement was not said by Bernie, although it might have been said by Keith Ellison and Nina Turner. I think/hope that you have just been mislead by the recent hits on Sanders and are not part of the exaggerated outrage.

For the past 2 days, DU has been awash with inflated attacks on Bernie from people who have attacked him since he choose to run for president. The pretense is that something new and absolutely beyond belief happened yesterday by inflating and exaggerating and in some cases just lying.

Exaggeration 101. One of the red state stops on the "Unity Tour" organized by the DNC to try to bring the Democratic Party unity was Omaha. It was just one stop and despite NPR saying anonymous DNC staffers are trying to distance themselves from the selection who knows who picked it or why. It was one day and Mello right or wrong is the Democratic Party mayoral candidate for OMAHA. I would expect him to be on the stage. From the angst yesterday and today directed at Bernie, you would think he hand picked Mello at a young age, mentoring him always, has given speech after speech endorsing him rather than stopping in Omaha as one of many stops and answering a question about him by saying in essence that he hopes Mello wins and at the same time saying only if Democrats get in can they actually accomplish reproductive freedom. His quote "endorsement" is pretty tepid. I have only seen quotes saying he disagrees with him on reproductive rights and links his hoping he wins only to the fact that he is a democrat.

Ignore everything else besides the one cherry picked quote. Sanders has a long history of support for civil rights, women's rights, and reproductive choice. Before he ran, you would not have found anyone on this site attacking him with the fervor they attack him now. He does think they are not distinct issues from economic rights and thinks that improving economic equality will address some racial and social issues. I have never seen any quotes where he says that everything is economic. Yes some people in the democratic party disagree with the linkage and some agree but this is a long way from the exaggerated claims made the last few days.

Inflate. Make the argument that a Vermont senator on a nationwide tour organized with the DNC is responsible for a local candidate with a mixed history on an important issue but who is a democrat being supported by the DNC. Ignore arguments that other prominent democrats have the same mixed histories including prominently Tim Kaine who both supported mandatory ultrasound in Virginia in the early to mid 2000's and said he disagreed with Hillary with respect to Abortion in 2016 and did a few day flip flop over his support of the Hyde Amendment. In both cases, I do not personally support either Kaine or Mello other than the fact that they are not actual republicans but I do not seen any difference. Both have supported repressive measures in the past and both have had statements that they would not let their personal opinions affect their performance. The only real difference is if you discuss Kaine, you can not attack Sanders and the last two days has only been about that attack.