Charlotte Ritchie says:
May 19, 2016 at 2:31 pm
This article is filled with so many specious allegations that it's difficult to know where to start, but first of all, the author caricatures Bernie's candidacy and followers as "bros," "heavily white and male," when in fact Bernie has built a vast and diverse coalition of supporters that is representative of this country. He is the only candidate who is currently shining a bright light on some of the profound suffering in many Native American communities across the land.
The implication that Bernie passively condones violence is just part of a huge smear campaign that the Democratic Establishment, in collusion with the corporate media (WaPo, NYT, MSNBC, CNN) is perpetrating to knock him down in the weeks before the all important California primaries; it's no surprise that CA's two senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were on the airwaves yesterday spewing faux outrage over everything related to Bernie. Where is mention of high profile Clinton supporter, actor Wendell Pierce, who was arrested for bashing a female Sanders supporter in the head, in Atlanta? Where, Joan Walsh, is your outrage over that? Nowhere in this piece is the congratulations Bernie earned by sweeping the Oregon primary by 12% (56-44%). Nowhere mentioned is the fact that many of Bernie's top surrogates are people like African American former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner, actor Danny Glover, Bernie's African American press secretary Symone Sanders, and others too numerous to count. Bernie is currently ahead of Hillary in the Latino vote, and has many high profile surrogates in that community working hard on his behalf. So the suggestion that somehow he is leading a movement of angry, violent prone white males is just insulting, and very poor journalism. It's a hit piece.
Joan Walsh ends by saying: Bernie "thinks he’s the only one who can defeat Donald Trump. But in fact, he’s the only one who can elect him, by tearing the party apart." This is so far from the truth. Bernie has treated Clinton respectfully and has only pointed out the truths that should indeed haunt her campaign: She is hawkish, and nobody disputes that (Iraq war vote, Libya, Honduras etc). She took in some $22 million in speeches to Wall Street and other industry behemoths, between her term as S.O.S. and when she announced her candidacy. She says she didn't know during that period whether she was going to run, but there is much evidence pointing to the fact that she did indeed know. Apparently Donald Trump has volumes of opposition research from which to draw, compared to which what Bernie has said is a drop in the proverbial bucket. There are hours and hours of Hillary in her own words, available on youtube, for all to see, and Donald will no doubt hit her very hard with all of it and more. So to blame Bernie is disrespectful of this very fine man. This is an unacceptable, distorted and dishonest portrayal of his campaign.
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