I didn’t want to get too much further mired in the current debates going on at Dailykos about Sanders versus Clinton, but it is troubling to me that so many people here have not noticed the pattern.
Doesn’t anyone else think it is more than a coincidence that all these stories, meant to drive a wedge between Sanders’s groups and the rest of the Democratic Party, are seemingly perfectly timed, when our Party should be super-energized by the recent outcomes in the Kansas and Georgia special elections?
If you, too, find it strange, let me tell you why: We have seen this before.
The most notable recent example I can think of, if when Wikileaks unleashed their first load of DNC leaks, right before the Democratic National Convention.
At the time, I was one of the few kossacks to warn people not to fall for their tricks to divide us:
But the Wikileaks release of the story about DNC officials colluding to smear Bernie Sanders as an Atheist looks to me like an attempt to divide the Democratic Party, sabotage the Convention, exploit our status as second-class citizens, and it seems to be working.
Unfortunately, more people did not wake up to this reality, until it was more firmly established that Russian hackers were behind the leaks. But by then, it was too late, the damage had been done, and we all know how that turned out.
We fell for one of the Right’s classic strategies against the Left: Divide and Conquer. And we are in the midst of a similar attack, yet again.
When Democrats should be riding high, after the near upsets in the Kansas and Georgia special elections (to quote Biden, “a big f***ing deal”), and raring to go in Montana and beyond — we end up stuck, fighting the same primary battles we seemingly fall into every election cycle.
Look. I am not criticizing anyone here for feeling the way you do, or responding to the revelations in whatever way you feel is appropriate. As a person of color, I understand the sentiments and frustrations many here and throughout the Democratic Party’s base feel with Sanders, Perez, and the Democratic Party in general from time to time.
But, Do NOT let the Right manipulate those valid emotions to undermine our movement. They want us fighting amongst ourselves, which allows them a free-er hand to plot against us.
Look at the source of much of the material being used to divide us: the Wall Street Journal. The Intercept. These are not exactly Liberal bastions here, people. I mean, the freaking Wall Street Journal, for crying out loud. Is it any wonder why they would paint an economic populist like Bernie Sanders in the most negative light, possible? Nor, would it be the first time. And — isn’t weird how stories about division within the Democratic Party always seem to outnumber stories about the very real and more prominent division in the Republican Party? It’s because they are trying to deflect attention away from their own side’s weaknesses.
I am not trying to minimize or deny the fact that Sanders said what he said. But, just because something is true, does not mean that they should blind us to the very active manipulation being orchestrated against us. The Wikileaks leaks of DNC emails may have been authentic, but that should not have blinded us to the more real corruptness on the other side of the aisle, after all.
Look, I don’t know how much this diary helps the current tensions around this site. But I felt I had to say something:
We are being played against each other. We are falling for their classic strategy against the Left of Divide and Conquer. And it is working yet again.
Resist the temptation to re-live the primaries. It is time to focus on the real opponents: defeating Republicans in the Montana race, in the Georgia run-off, and every election between now and the next time Dems are in control.