Bernie Sanders tells Democrats to back off primary attacks

[Tom Rinaldo]

67. Beware of slippery slopes. This isn't about a Democrat attacking a Democrat in a primary

Last edited Thu Mar 8, 2018, 12:23 PM - Edit history (1)

It isn't about a generally Democratically aligned organization like Move On, Our Revolution, or the old DLC attacking a Democrat in a primary. It is about a formal part of the Democratic Party, in this case the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, attacking a Democratic candidate in a Democratic primary.

Whatever one's feelings are about Bernie Sanders as an individual, or about his choosing to be an Independent caucusing with Democrats rather than a Democrat himself, this is not about divisive mudslinging between candidates, or even about how an individual politician could be undermining the Democratic message, it is about how the Democratic Party apparatus functions during Democratic primaries. And it is much more controversial than the DCCC openly expressing a preference for one candidate over another. It is about an organ of the Democratic Party running attack ads against a Democrat running in a Democratic primary. Is that acceptable in principle?

I almost never say never, so I won't say never here. If David Duke was running as a Democrat and had a chance of winning, I would want the party to oppose him. But, in my opinion, it has to rise to circumstances that extreme for me to back that action. Giving funding to a preferred candidate over another can be controversial in itself in some circumstances - but that's not where I tend to draw the line. This instance however, for me, is where that line tends to run.