My advisor in college used to say “Wow, that’s an interesting choice….not one I would have made….”
On the topic of threatening superdelegates, I must say I concur.
Last week, Congressman Rick Larsen took to facebook to wish his constituents a Happy Easter weekend. Unfortunately, that post, and every post since then, has been filled with comments related to one issue only: backing Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Primary Election.
Congressman Rick Larsen typed out a “Happy Easter” message to constituents on his Facebook page Sunday, telling them he hoped they could spend time with their families or other loved ones.
But hundreds of Bernie Sanders supporters were not in a holiday spirit. They lashed the Everett Democrat — one of Washington’s 17 so-called “superdelegates” to the party’s national convention — demanding he drop his support of Hillary Clinton in light of Sanders’ landslide win in Saturday’s caucuses.
“Enjoy your last Easter in office. The people have spoken,” wrote a man from Bellingham in a reply to Larsen. “Wake up voters and vote this schmuck out of office,” raged another from Coupeville.
Larsen isn’t alone. In a barrage of social-media posts, emails and phone calls, Sanders backers have harangued Washington superdelegates, demanding they shift their allegiance to the Vermont senator.
Unfortunately, for other superdelegates, the backlash is even more troublesome:
Another uncommitted superdelegate, Rongey, said she “will vote for the Democratic nominee” at the national convention — but added she has not enjoyed the tone of the blitz by Sanders fans.
She’s been deluged with “bombardment, threats and attempts at shaming” since a pro-Sanders website shared her personal and business contact information.
“I keep chanting ‘this too, shall pass’ and hoping they simmer down,” Rongey said in an email. “Any logically presented, thoughtful requests that anyone may be sending are being completely lost among the cut-and-paste messages and yelling and all caps, and I am sorry for that.”
I had to read that a few times to really believe what I was seeing. Bernie Sanders supporters, who as far as anyone can tell have not yet been told to back off by the Sanders campaign, shared a woman’s private and professional information after threatening her and shaming her for not doing what they wanted her to do.
And the threats continue:
In Saturday’s caucuses, Sanders defeated Clinton in all 39 Washington counties, with 73 percent of the statewide vote, though only 5.8 percent of the state’s 4 million registered voters participated.
snip
If superdelegates don’t fall in line behind the caucus vote soon, some local pro-Sanders activists say, they’ll begin protests.
“We don’t want it to come to that. We would like to see our representatives reflect a democratic process, as opposed to us having to do something like take over space,” said Wesley Irwin, a former organizer for the Sanders campaign who remains a volunteer.
I find it very hard to believe that people think this is OK. I understand that this primary is emotional, and people are very invested — but at what point did it become OK to threaten someone and release someone’s personal information to the public? This is GOP style politics, and it’s NOT OK.
According to pretty recent history, threatening superdelegates doesn’t really work:
Interviews with 10 of the 505 super delegates supporting Clinton Reuters has reached show that nine of them have been approached by people purporting to back Sanders, and nearly all were displeased by the tone of the outreach.
Isabel Framer of Ohio, a superdelegate for Clinton, for example, got a voice mail last week urging her to vote for Sanders “in accordance with the will of the people.”
On the voice mail, heard by Reuters, the anonymous male caller says: “I think it’s crap that you get to vote whichever way you want... I’ll be watching your vote.”
“I’m not easily frightened,” Framer told Reuters. “I’m not going to change a vote over threats.”
Akilah Ensley, a North Carolina superdelegate, said she started hearing more often from Sanders supporters after her name appeared on a Wikipedia list noting her support for Clinton. "Some of them were nice, and some were rather abrasive," she said, adding "attacking my decisions is probably not the best way” to change her mind.
Luis Heredia, an Arizona superdelegate for Clinton, said he has received over 30 phone calls, emails and instant messages from Sanders supporters. “The majority of them are more angry, and the tone is more demanding,” Heredia said.
Lacy Johnson, an Indiana superdelegate backing Clinton, meanwhile, said he had received a mix of messages, including one that he said threatened: “we will make you pay.”
Andres Ramirez, a political consultant in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a superdelegate supporting Clinton, said in the past campaigns would typically try to soft-sell their candidates rather than use pressure tactics.
"The way this has gone down, in my experience, has never happened before," said.
I don’t know what’s gonna happen with this race. The polls are all over the place, and there’s a lot of anger on every side and team in the game. But threats are unnecessary, folks. Calling superdelegates and elected officials and telling them you will “make them pay” is not at all likely to change the system that probably does need some fixing. I know from my own experience, threatening people I disagree with and want something from usually makes them dig in their heels and work harder to stay their own course.
Democratic votes are better than this, friends.