As the lockstep media barrage rolls on, it is clear that the fracas at the Nevada Convention is yet another attempt at a Dean Scream moment to run the Sanders candidacy out of town.
This time, it is not an un-planned, out-of-context video clip spun into a “deranged” Howard Dean. The Nevada procedural outrage was pre-planned: delegates registration magically changed since the last stage of the delegate balloting. (A “sensitizing” event that has been ongoing throughout the primary season — i.e., a trigger for people fed up with voter suppression.) ; a chairwomen in the bag to shut the convention down in under a minute with no questions asked; state Police on standby, demanding compliance (since when do state police take sides in a procedural fight at a political convention?); facility instantly on lockdown. The speed at which this bare-knuckled script played out announces that this was pre-planned.
This time, its not Sanders who is the screamer; he’s proven to be way to savvy for that. This time it is Sanders supporters, who have just been robbed twice: first by bullshit registration changes, and second by a corrupt, party hack who violated the convention rules. Then, to top it off, the same party hack’s cronies filed a complaint with the DNC against the Sanders supporters for objecting to being robbed.
This is classic “show only one side of the fight” coverage. Let’s only soundbite the most rabid Bernie supporters, the ones most outraged by these calculated slaps in the face. (Let’s not soundbite HRC’s sister-in-law, Barbara Boxer, insulting them from the podium. ) Then, let’s repeat the lies that all Bernie supporters are immature, that they are all sexist and racist, that a vote against HRC in the primaries is somehow a vote for Trump, that the primaries are over and Bernie people are just venting their frustration at losing the nomination — not their frustration at the completely corrupt event that just played out in front of their faces.
We don’t need no steenkin’ context. It’s a Dean Scream.
Another part of the scripted media assault is that the Sanders supporters response was over the top “because it was just one or two convention delegates”. Even putting aside the procedural lynching aspect of the event, that story doesn’t fly. The DNC thought those delegates were vital enough to have its party hack shut down the entire proceedings. They thought they could have their cake and eat it too — steal the votes and smear the Sanders campaign for protesting the theft.
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Why did I bother to write this? Because Charlie Pierce, whose biting humor I deeply enjoy, has thrown himself under my personal bus by reciting all the talking points I just listed. Not really a surprise — Trump vs Clinton is a gold-mine for a satirist like him. However, I will never read his stuff again without my propaganda detector turned on. I feel sad about that; but being sold out is a frequent occurrence for FDR Democrats these days.
The DNC and HRC should get one thing. The more they pull crap like this, the more they damage their “brand”. I am sick of their constant avoidance of policies and of HRC’s dismal record as SoS, and the substitution of procedural fights, meaningless slogans(“its the math”, “its her turn”, “I’m with her”), and David Brock slime-shop smear campaigns for real, honest policy debate. I will not submit to intimidation (as in Nevada), blackmail (a vote for non-HRC is a vote for Trump), and general hippie-punching. With stunts like this, the party is shoving independent and young voters away with a bulldozer. If this is the way the Democratic Party wants to play it, they are going to lose the GE — and of course, they will blame that loss on Sanders, not their own repulsive tactics and strategies.
Because discussion of the primaries has devolved to trench warfare, I expect nothing but vitriol in response. I predict I will be called a CTer, a Trump voter, a sexist, an immature jerk. Like I care.