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[Rilgin]

137. The other quote floating around is also suspect and is big spin

The most fervent Bernie haters here who have posted endlessly the last few days have contrasted calling Ossof "not a progressive" with stating that Bernie has called Mello "a strong progressive" also using quotes and a "rising star" and other strong endorsement words that seem to contrast with full quotes from his actual interview with respect to his attendance in Omaha and relation to Mello.

I have not found any support that Bernie made any statement calling Mello a progressive, a strong progressive or used the word endorse. As part of the Unity tour he spent one day in Omaha and his actual quote on Mello (paraphrasing) was that he Sanders hoped the democratic mayoral candidate wins because even if he disagreed with him on some issues (meaning unrestricted pro-choice for Bernie), to preserve choice democrats have to win. Just like "I don't know" has been spun to mean "he is not a progressive". Bernie's attendance in Omaha on the unity tour and expression that he hopes Mello wins has been spun to mean Bernie thinks that Mello is a strong progressive and that Bernie strongly endorses him.

I did see one source for the quote "not a progressive" in a Washington post article. However, it does not say where Bernie is supposed to have said it and it may be the source of the misquote of "I don't know" as reported by other reputable news organization.

Like you, it would be nice if some of the haters on this site actually put forth evidence of quotes they attribute to Bernie and a link to a Newspaper article that does not contain any information about where Bernie is supposed to have said something is useful but not actually dispositive. If he said either of these claims, you would think there would be video of it or at least full quotes identifying where and in what context he said it.