Well well, I was wondering if or when TPM was going to pick up this story. It’s freaking outrageous and if this is a rehearsal for the national convention, it isn’t going to win the Sandersnistas anything but more scorn.
One more reason that Bernie needs to acknowledge that he has no viable path to the nomination and bow out as gracefully as he can at this late date. I lost hope long ago that he will support Hillary after she’s nominated but he simply can’t take this mess he’s made to the convention.
spencersmom - that’s exactly what Paul Krugman said about it:
“Sanders could end all of this at any point. He doesn’t even have to drop
out, all he needs to do is talk honestly about the realities — and
clearly condemn the kind of behavior we saw in Las Vegas over the weekend. But I’m losing hope that he will ever do the right thing.”
What’s the old maxim? If you go far enough left you meet up with the right? Doesn’t seem to be much difference between the violence on the left or the violence on the right towards those they disagree with. The more Sanders allows or encourages this, the less appealing he is. Sanders’ rhetoric is different but the rage and hostility he engenders is the same as Trump.
Can’t say I’m shocked based on the fumes of angry, paranoid delusion wafting from my Facebook feed these past few months. Here in New York, they’re convinced that Hillary stole the election by rigging the vote – in NYC, which is where her base of support was statewide. In Arizona, of course, they all know she rigged it by persuading the state’s Republican government to suppress the vote in predominately Hispanic communities and urban centers, which was also her base of support, but never mind that… This is where the hermetically-sealed, huff-your-own-stuff self-reinforcing-ideology effect of social networks comes into play. These fringey Berners are wallowing in algorithmically-served faux-news from the fever-swampy likes of usuncut, Salon, HuffPo, Shaun King columns, etc., and they aren’t being exposed to any information that would contradict that, so…
“We do not condone violence or encourage violence or even threats of violence,” campaign spokesman Michael Briggs told the AP, adding that the campaign “had no role in encouraging the activity that the party is complaining about. We have a First Amendment and respect the rights of the people to make their voices heard.”
What a weak, feckless response. Imagine if Republicans behaved this way and their candidate (no, not even the candidate, a spokesperson from the campaign) provided such a ho-hum response. Oh, wait, no need to imagine. We’ve seen it again and again at Trump rallies.
Exactly. Interesting that a while ago it seemed that the Repub convention would be violent. Now they’ve calmed down a bit and it’s the Dems. Damn Bernie. I’m embarrassed and I hope he is too.
But yeah … it’s a great thing he’s staying in until the convention … great for the party …
Which party?
I mean you have the GOP all torn up about Trump, and even giving Democrats an edge in the Senate and Sanders supporters would rather throw all that away and give it to trump just because their guy didn’t win the primary. I mean I voted for him but I was under no illusion he was actually going to win. It’s like they really want Trump to be president. I mean I didn’t get Dean in 2004 and didn’t throw a fit about it when Kerry was nominated.
Sounds like a political move to get Sander’s to drop out.
“…I was wondering if or when TPM was going to pick up this story…”
Me too. Been following it closely since it started and I’m a bit surprised that it hasn’t gotten much play in the mainstream press.
The fact that Sanders hasn’t come out and condemned the actions of his supporters speaks volumes.
As someone else said, Sanders is the Gamergate candidate.
Yikes.
Disappointment all around.
Disappointed in the Sanders camp for these antics.
Disappointed that Trump is leading HRC in swing states.
Disappointed that the Koch brothers got their class warfare bill passed in NC, and all anyone is talking about is the bathroom part of the bill.
Disappointed that Repubs always win.
Disappointed that I’ll have to get used to seeing the words “President Trump” in print.
Well, the more liberal children of Tea Party parents are trying to take over the Democrats like their parents took over the Republicans.
I started our really liking Bernie, but mealy mouthed garbage like that is quickly eroding my remaining sympathies.
Sure feels that way, doesn’t it?
The Facts about the Nevada Democratic State Convention
These are the facts about what happened at Saturday’s Democratic Convention. It’s important that everyone understand what happened and why it happened so we can come together and move forward.
It all comes down to simple math:
- Based on the county convention results, Bernie Sanders had 2,124 delegate slots to the State Convention and Hillary Clinton had 1,722 delegate slots to the State Convention.
- On Saturday at the State Convention, after all of the alternates were seated, Hillary Clinton filled 1,695 of her delegate slots and Bernie Sanders only filled 1,662 at the State Convention — giving Clinton a 33-delegate margin of victory.
- Clinton only had 27 delegate positions vacant on Saturday. Sanders left 462 vacant. Clinton filled 98 percent of her available delegate slots at the State Convention, and Sanders only filled 78 percent of his available delegate slots.
- In plain terms, the Clinton campaign organized and got nearly all of their delegates to the State Convention. The Sanders campaign did not.
On the false and wildly inaccurate accusations that there were 64 potential Sanders delegates in question who were “denied” by the State Convention’s Credentials Committee on Saturday:
- Six of the 64 potential delegates were seated as delegates after investigation.
- The remaining potential delegates were ineligible for two main reasons: 1) They were not registered Democratic voters in Nevada by May 1, 2016, and 2) Their information — such as address, date of birth and name — could not be found or identified, and they did not respond to requests from the party and campaigns to correct it.
- Only eight of the ineligible delegates even attempted to register at the State Convention.
- The so-called “minority report” about these ineligible delegates was not written by the Credentials Committee — it was written by national Sanders campaign staff on site. A member of Sanders’ National Delegate Operations Team drafted and arranged for a member of that committee to attempt to deliver an incendiary report that caused chaos and violence at the convention. It was inaccurate, misleading and subsequently discredited by the Credentials Committee.
- The Credentials Committee, the panel that made decisions on these issues, was co-chaired by supporters of both campaigns and the membership of the committee was also equally divided between supporters of both campaigns. This was done to ensure that the entire process was fair, transparent and accountable for both campaigns and their supporters. The committee worked diligently and cooperatively all day, under incredibly trying circumstances, to be fair and impartial in its work.
National Delegates Results
In terms of the final results for National Delegates, Nevada’s 23 District-Level Delegates are allocated based on the percentage of the precinct caucus vote on February 20. Clinton won 13 of these, compared to 10 for Sanders. The seven At-Large and five Pledged PLEO Delegates are determined based on the State Convention results. Because Clinton had a majority of delegates at the State Convention, she carried the At-Large Delegates 4–3 and the Pledged PLEO Delegates 3–2. So Clinton earned 20 pledged delegates and Sanders earned 15 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July.
We understand that the caucus to convention process can be confusing. That’s why we have said it’s time to re-examine the caucus system. But everything the State Party did here was fair, transparent and appropriate according to our delegate selection plan. The convention rules were consistent with how previous State Conventions have been run in previous election cycles. And we made sure to include an equal number of supporters from both campaigns to run the State Convention committees.
The Tone and Tenor of this Democratic Primary
It’s unfortunate that while we were making these efforts to ensure that we conducted a fair State Convention, the Sanders campaign was deliberately sharing misinformation about how the convention operates to get people riled up. And after starting this fire, they had no capacity — and no desire — to control their own supporters from hurling threats and insults and being disruptive to the proceedings. We were forced to conclude the State Convention at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel quickly because event security no longer had the capacity to control the unruly and unpredictable crowd.
Our State Party chairwoman Roberta Lange has led Nevada Democrats with honor and integrity since 2011. We’re proud to be one of the most effective state party organizations in the country, and that’s in no small part thanks to her leadership. Since the State Convention was adjourned Saturday night and Sanders supporters posted her cell phone number and other contact information online, our chairwoman has received thousands of death threats and threats of violence and misogynistic insults that aren’t fit to print. Our chairwoman had to be given a security detail throughout Saturday just to be able to move around the room and go to the bathroom safely. Our office was vandalized by protesters with hateful insults. This activity is beyond the pale.
Nevada is a major battleground state in 2016. Winning Nevada is critical for Democrats to hold the White House and take back the Senate this year. It is time to fix the tone and tenor of this Democratic primary so that we can move forward and unify to defeat Donald Trump and elect Democrats up and down the ballot this November.
No. It sounds like Sanders refusing to put out the brushfire of crazy he has fueled.
There’s a stunning amount of privilege on display among Sanders’ most ardent supporters. Black southern voters shouldn’t count, low turnout caucuses should count more, Republican and independent voters should get a say, and if all else fails, Trump should win in order to punish Clinton voters (since Sanders voters live in an impenetrable bubble that will magically protect them President Trump, and a Republican controlled Congress and SCOTUS). Meanwhile, fuck the minorities, women, poor people, middle class, those who’s lives depend on Obamacare, the country, the planet, etc. We either get our ponies and unicorns, or the entire world gets it.
I saw something on Twitter that said Bernie was asked about the NV chaos at a press availability this morning and he walked away mid-question. Has anyone seen video of this?