To some, acting to push the Democratic Party further to the left is "hijacking the party"

[Tom Rinaldo]

149. Yes, JPR threads happen, a little less frequently. But it's July, the election was over 8 months ago

Were Obama supporters still obsessing about P.U.M.A.s ("Party Unity My Ass&quot eight months after the election?
But the talking points that have emerged, instead of just going after BoBs ("Bernie or Bust&quot at JPR, has been a conflation whereby all support for Bernie is tagged as an obsessive wanting to win over racist Trump voters on economic grounds through a willingness to throw women and minorities under the bus to do so.

Anytime Bernie says something that can be construed as ammunition against him, yeah it gets posted multiple times by those who dislike him. He off the cuff said when asked that he wasn't sure if Ossoff was a progressive and this joint went nuts for weeks about it - even though the Republicans wanted Sanders to hug Ossoff proudly as a lefty radical. They still ran ads that attempted to tie Ossoff to Bernie in a negative way - they would have had a field day if Sanders injected himself into that race. I've already seen 4 or 5 different well rec'ed OPs about that local Our Revolution meeting. It seems there is a new one posted every day, but I still am waiting for some clarification whether those 13 people were following any national organization mandates. And no I do not think it is Bernie's aim to get trashed for making disparaging remarks about the Democratic Party. I think he wants a discussion about our political future and how to use politics to improve the lives of most Americans.

See, in all sincerity, you kind of just illustrated my point. There are two words with somewhat overlapping definitions, criticize and disparage. For this I used "Merriam Webster":

Criticize :
1) to consider the merits and demerits of and judge accordingly : evaluate

2) to find fault with : point out the faults of


Disparage:
1) to lower in rank or reputation : degrade

2) to depreciate (see depreciate 1) by indirect means (such as invidious comparison) : speak slightingly about

Whatever Bill Clinton was doing with the Democratic Leadership Council (which he chaired in 1990 and 1991) when he either criticized or disparaged the National Democratic Party, is no different than what Bernie Sanders is doing now when he offer his views on how to achieve policies that benefit the working and middle class, aside from heir differing ideological content.

Blll Clinton was part of a movement to change the Democratic Party. He pointedly called himself a "New Democrat" to distinguish himself from the previous mainstream. When Bill Clinton said "The era of big government is over" do you think he was rejecting what Republicans under Ronald Raagan and Gorge H. W. Bush were promoting, or what Democrats under the leadership of Walter Mondale and Mike Dukakis were promoting? I would say the latter. Do you think is intent was to "degrade" the Democratic Party or to advocate for changes? I would say the latter.

Wiki says this about the DLC:
"The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation[1] founded in 1985 that, upon its formation, argued the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it took in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. One of its main purposes was to win back white middle class voters with ideas that addressed their concerns.[2] The DLC hailed President Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of Third Way politicians and as a DLC success story."

Were they disparaging the Democratic Party through their actions and statements, or merely trying to influence it? I again say the latter although - I opposed the DLC.

There is much to admire about Hillary Clinton. I respect that you strongly supported her. Anytime a candidate loses a race that most people assumed s/he would win, there inevitably will be some criticism of the campaign - and it is not always fair. But that goes on across the full breadth of the Party - that is what party operatives and pundits always do, it's not just bitter grapes Bernie people who try to deconstruct what went wrong.