Bernie Sanders lost the delegate battle at the Nevada State Democratic convention this past weekend, which only makes sense since he lost the state when voters voted. However, that didn’t stop one of the biggest explosions of outright crazy in Democratic politics in … forever. Armando debunked the insane conspiracy theories here and here, but of course that’s not stopping what can now only be described as crazies from outright crossing the line, viciously harassing State Democratic Party Chair Roberta Lange. Here’s a sample
MALE CALLER: Hi, Berta 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're paying for you, but I don't know how you sleep at night. You are a sick, twisted piece of shit, and I hope you'll burn for this. And you can return my call at (619) 838-9222. I'd love to go into further detail with you about this, though I am sure you don't have the courage to do so, you cowardless bitch, running off the stage. I hope people find you.
That number has been disconnected, by the way. You know, because of all that courage … Want more? I’ll give you more.
MALE CALLER: You fucking stupid bitch! What the hell are you doing? You’re a fucking corrupt bitch! That is so fucking wrong. You should be ashamed and disgraced. You need to step down from that position because you are bad for America and bad for the Democratic Party. That was fucking bullshit today. You need to step down. You’re a disgrace
MALE CALLER: Oh Roberta, Roberta, Roberta, you old, old hag. Oh, we watched the whole thing in Nevada. You’re really kinda screwed, lady. Um, yeah. Really stupid. Fuck you.
MALE CALLER: Fuck you, bitch
FEMALE CALLER: Hi Roberta, I’m just sitting home in Massachusetts watching all the video that was filmed tonight when you were chairing the Nevada convention. Classy move. By the way, if Bernie’s not on there, we’re voting Trump. It’s agreed. You should read Facebook and Twitter. Wow! You’re really popular and trending right now. You wouldn’t believe it. (Laughs)
MALE CALLER: That was pretty terrible. You probably just guaranteed fire is in Philadelphia. I’m not a psycho Bernie supporter, but there are some out there and you may have made a bad decision by completely ignoring the democratic process tonight. Thanks
And what’s the Sanders campaign doing to tamp down this insanity? About as much as Trump did to tamp down the violence at his rallies.
This is no longer a presidential campaign. I don’t know what it is, but that moment has passed.
Update—More:
And yet more:
Irate Berne Sanders supporters did not just leave threatening voicemails and texts for state Democratic Party Chairwoman Roberta Lange but also launched an assault on the businesses she oversees, the owner says [...]
"Beginning about 3am on Sunday morning our bartenders at Porchlight Grille began getting non-stop phone threats from Bernie partisans," Gallagher told me via email. "The level of threats including death threats and vitriol was astonishing. One of our bartenders was actually a Bernie supporter and was stunned at the threats he was hearing on the phone. He began to respond telling people that he was just trying to do his job and pay off his student loans and their tactics were harming his livelihood. It made no difference to the callers. Their goal was to harass and as became clear....to shut down the business and Roberta’s job with it."
Gallagher said the calls continued during the day Sunday until the eatery disconnected the phone.
"At one point on Sunday before we unplugged the phones, I took a turn at answering and experienced such a nasty call that a Metro officer who happened to be in the tavern as a customer picked up the call and attempted to encourage the woman to stop, explaining that what she was doing was unlawful harassment," Gallagher told me. "It made no difference. She actually responded that it was her right of free speech."
Another update: Nevada Democratic Part explains what really happened. Surprisingly, turns out the Clinton campaign out-organized the Sanders campaign, who didn’t fill all its available delegate slots.
(And btw, what a stupid way to allocate delegates...)