Bernie speaking on 1st day at Women's conference is a great idea & it's easy to show why...

[BainsBane]

226. There are many activists who do not agree with the choice

and I understand you are excited to see a convention to promote Bernie. There is nothing wrong with the organizers doing that, except for the fact they raised money under false pretenses and waited until after the return date to announce his role. And now they refuse to return that money. They could have organized a conference entitled women for Bernie, Bernie 2020, or even simply declared from the start that it was to be based around him and his 2016 supporters. They instead chose to conceal that fact and take money from people who they knew, or should have known, would not contribute to that cause. Of course they did something similar with the women's march. They hid their intent to use the event to attack Clinton and thereby justify Trump's placement in power. Only women all around the country made it about women's empowerment and resistance to the sexual predator in the Oval Office.

While you may think the only worthwhile activism on earth involves promoting Bernie's career, there are all kinds of women who do the "establishment" work of risking their lives to get reproductive healthcare to the poor, who do community organizing in the poorest communities in America, and otherwise focus on issues that don't revolve around Bernie Sanders. You may consider them and their causes inferior, but they are nonetheless activists.

You invoked "mansplaining" and charges of racism to attack criticism of the planners by women, many of whom are themselves women of color. I haven't once seen you express concern about racism or women's rights, though I did see you agree with WillyT's Stockholm syndrome comments about African Americans. https://www.democraticunderground.com/1251688729#post241 I also remember your being enthusiastic about the anti-choice candidate in PA, and IIRC you likewise supported Keith Mello's candidacy.

Abortion rights are a baseline for women's rights. Evidence shows that when women lack access to abortion, their likelihood of dropping into serous poverty greatly increases. And when women are poor, so are children. Then there is the minor matter of staying alive. By all but eliminating access to reproductive healthcare, Texas quickly gained the distinction of having the highest pregnancy mortality rate in the developed world. Abortion rights are not "wedge issues" or the "culture wars." They are essential to the survival of women, to feed ourselves and children, and to live beyond early adulthood. Deprioritizing reproductive rights threatens that and is unacceptable to the vast majority of women in this country.