Shortly after the chair of the NV convention had to close the convention because the security could no longer be guaranteed, some Sanders supporters published her private cell phone number in (among others) the Sanders sub at Reddit.
Since then she has been bombarded with hateful and threatening messages and voicemails.
Here you can hear some of them:
www.ralstonreports.com/…
Hi Roberta Lange. This is a citizen of the United States of America and I just wanted to let you know that I think people like you should be hung in a public execution to show this world that we won’t stand for this sort of corruption. I don’t know what kind of money they are paying to you, but I don’t know how you sleep at night. You are a sick, twisted piece of shit and I hope you burn for this! You can return my call at xxxxxxxxx. I’d love to go into further detail with you about this, though I am sure you don’t have courage to do so. You cowardless bitch, running off the stage! I hope people find you.
You’ve just ruined your life!
We’re coming for your ass.
mobile.nytimes.com/...
Supporters of Mr. Sanders used similar tactics to exert pressure on Ms. Lange, who has received more than 1,000 calls since Saturday night and as many as three text messages per minute. The threats, which came from men and women from across the country, were haunting and personal.
“Loved how you broke the system,” one person wrote in a text message that said he or she knew where Ms. Lange’s grandchildren went to school. “Prepare for hell. Calls won’t stop.”
“I’m scared for my family,” Ms. Lange said. “Scared for my kids.”
I’ll just repeat here what I posted in an earlier diary: a lot of Sanders supporters dont understand the rules of the convention, they saw they had less delegates present than Hillary had and they exploded. Since then nothing but misinformation about what exactly happened has been spread among Sanders supporters.
For a full (but very lengthy) discussion of exactly what happened at the convention, See:
medium.com/…
In the end they are furious about a voice vote of which they have no clue what it was about, and ultimately they are furious that they had less people present, than Hillary had.
But regardless of this: nothing excuses the behavior some Sanders supporters displayed at the convention or the threats and harassment directed at Roberta Lange afterwards.
Remember: in the eyes of Hillary supporters the Clark County convention was a scam, where Hillary’s delegates were stolen from her, but even though the Hillary supporters present there must have been furious, they didnt interrupt the meeting, shout, insult, or threaten anyone.
Even if you feel upset about the proceedings, that is NO excuse for this behavior.
It is time Sanders condemns this behavior and talks some sense into his most fanatic supporters.
“Reid blames Sanders' 'people' for Nevada convention chaos”.
edition.cnn.com/…
Nevada Democrats: Sanders Campaign Has Violent Streak:
abcnews.go.com/…
Nevada's Democratic party on Monday warned the Democratic National Committee that Sen. Bernie Sanders' supporters have a penchant for violence and may seek to disrupt the party's national convention in July, as they did during the Nevada convention Saturday.
"We believe, unfortunately, that the tactics and behavior on display here in Nevada are harbingers of things to come as Democrats gather in Philadelphia in July for our National Convention," Schrager wrote. "We write to alert you to what we perceive as the Sanders campaign's penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior — indeed, actual violence — in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting, and furthermore what we can only describe as their encouragement of, and complicity in, a very dangerous atmosphere that ended in chaos and physical threats to fellow Democrats."
This last sentence seems vital to me. The Sanders campaign has so far completely failed to distance itself from this behavior. Whether it was the threatening behavior against superdelegates, the hitlists out there, or the unruly mob-like behavior at earlier conventions: Sanders profits from it (or so he thinks).
His attacks against the DNC, his remarks how the DNC rigs the primaries against him: this all creates an atmosphere among his followers that is scary to say the least.
He needs to either end his campaign, or at least actively calm his supporters and condemn their behavior.
But the truth is that that is not very likely to happen. The Nevada DNC describes how a spokesperson for the Sanders campaign present at the convention made a false report at the end of the convention suggesting fraud, and thereby made the already explosive atmosphere even worse.
And the Sanders campaign spokesperson said the following today, when confronted with what happened:
www.politico.com/...
"It’s fair for [party leaders] to figure out what happened, and to try to figure out a way to be more open and welcoming than the Nevada Democrats were for their own sake,”
In other words: not a single word to condemn this behavior but instead a suggestion the Nevada Democrats were at fault….
It seems to me at this point, that the whole idea that you can strongarm yourself into the White House comes from within the Sanders’ campaign itself. But I hope I am wrong and that after 3 days maybe today the Sanders campaign will do the decent thing and condemn this behavior.
Edit: removed the phone number in the first quote.