Bernie Sanders hires David Sirota as campaign spokesman

[Xing]

Not a fan, but it's not like they're going to have enormous influence over his policies. I swear, some of you really are worse than the so-called "Bernie Bros" you love to cry about all the time, who are a small (albeit vocal) percentage of his supporters anyway.

[Xing]

Not a fan, but it's not like they're going to have enormous influence over his policies. I swear, some of you really are worse than the so-called "Bernie Bros" you love to cry about all the time, who are a small (albeit vocal) percentage of his supporters anyway.

Sirota isn't hired to influence policy, he is hired to do what he does best: use his social media presence and army of trolls to slander and defame Sanders' opponents.

If he does that, that's definitely wrong, as is the amount of social media against Sanders. The "unity" talk cuts both ways.

[Xing]

Can we start a "Bernie makes me so maaaad waaaaah!" megathread? Or just a "[Democratic candidate] is literally the devil" megathread?

[Xing]

Can we start a "Bernie makes me so maaaad waaaaah!" megathread? Or just a "[Democratic candidate] is literally the devil" megathread?

This is a troublesome, mean-spirited, odious comment. To insinuate that your political opponents are nothing more than petulant babies for finding a campaign hiring to be unethical is beneath you. Well, at least I thought.

Yeah, clearly everything people on this forum say about Sanders is "legitimate criticism" or "scrutiny" made with the best of intentions, and not based on blaming him/holding a grudge against him for Clinton's loss (which is totally rational and backed up by evidence.)  I'm seriously not allowed to call other Democrats out when I think they actually are being petty and childish? Not even when they go after every little detail about Sanders, no matter how relevant it is, all the while claiming that we need "party unity", and blaming "Sanders supporters" for Clinton's loss and the division in the party when most of us got behind Clinton in 2016?

This idea that I'm the mean-spirited one unless I sit down, shut my mouth, and let other Democrats rip apart a candidate I believe in who has already brought many people into the political process, and has an agenda that Democrats can actually sell, and then claim that we're not allowed to be critical of other candidates since that's divisive is absurd. I've said that some of the criticism of Harris/O'Rourke/other candidates is also silly, sometimes bordering on hysterical, so it's not like I deny that the childishness is coming from many directions. As you (hopefully) saw in my comment, I did suggest a megathread for exaggerated and petty complaints about all candidates, so at least I make some effort to check my bias, which is more than can be said for a lot of my fellow Democrats.

The attitude that I see in the Democratic Party right now is leading me to believe that Trump is more likely than not to win re-election regardless of who the nominee is. I'm very invested in stopping that from happening, which is why I want to slap some sense into people who are constantly going after a given Democratic candidate with a machete under the guise of "muh scrutiny." If you think you're so much better and less "odious" than I am, why don't you tell me what I'm getting wrong and what I should be doing?

[Xing]

Can we start a "Bernie makes me so maaaad waaaaah!" megathread? Or just a "[Democratic candidate] is literally the devil" megathread?

You're better than this.

Look at this forum and tell me I'm wrong. I'm hardly the one here who should be accused of posting something "beneath" myself.

[Xing]

Can we start a "Bernie makes me so maaaad waaaaah!" megathread? Or just a "[Democratic candidate] is literally the devil" megathread?

You're better than this.

Look at this forum and tell me I'm wrong. I'm hardly the one here who should be accused of posting something "beneath" myself.

You're veering into fhtagn-esque drivel man.

So you've got nothing to say about any of the points I made in my other post? Just another insult (I guess that's what it's supposed to be, though I've never gotten all the hate for fhtagn)? That's disappointing.

[Xing]

Can we start a "Bernie makes me so maaaad waaaaah!" megathread? Or just a "[Democratic candidate] is literally the devil" megathread?

You're better than this.

Look at this forum and tell me I'm wrong. I'm hardly the one here who should be accused of posting something "beneath" myself.

Xing, I like you and respect your contributions. But the "I criticize both sides " bit is a little disingenuous when the only time you criticize the other side is when you gratuitously tack on a sentence to the end of 25% of your posts about how the anti-Bernie-bros are bad. I know you are quite smart and capable of introspection. So ask yourself are you really being a truly objective observer and evaluator of this board's discourse and events that it stems from?

And hey, if you aren't, that's fine! I'm self-aware enough to admit that a lot of my posting on the 2020 board is motivated in large part by the animosity I feel towards Sanders supporters. This despite actually being much more receptive to Sanders than I was three years ago! But I'm not in denial about the role that I'm playing here. I'm sh**tposting but I'm not pretending that I'm up to anything else.

And, yes? I agree with you that the quality of the average poster on this forum could be much higher. Which is why I'm disappointed to see one of the thoughtful posters taking the gloves off and reaching into the gutter.

If you're asking me whether or not I'm biased, yes, of course I'll admit that I'm biased. My preferences in the race play a role, I'm sure, but it's also because I see that the vitriol coming from the Sanders side is addressed by many, and not a lot of people point out that the same people who do that can be very vitriolic themselves. I think that this is incredibly damaging to the Democrats, and is only going to hurt our chances more as time goes on, which is why I really am trying to get people to check themselves and look at what they're saying about Democratic candidates. I'm not perfect, true, and anyone is free to claim that I should call out attacks on other Democratic candidates more. That's a fair criticism.

If I do take the gloves off, it's because the stakes are very high in this election. I'd go into more detail in a PM, but I'll just say that I may have more at stake in this election than the average Atlas poster. That's why I call out people who call for unity, but only behind their preferred candidate(s). People have to realize that when we try to spin any tiny imperfection of a Democratic candidate as a dealbreaker, we're giving the Republicans tons of ammunition.

[Xing]

Can we start a "Bernie makes me so maaaad waaaaah!" megathread? Or just a "[Democratic candidate] is literally the devil" megathread?

You're better than this.

Look at this forum and tell me I'm wrong. I'm hardly the one here who should be accused of posting something "beneath" myself.

You're veering into fhtagn-esque drivel man.

So you've got nothing to say about any of the points I made in my other post? Just another insult (I guess that's what it's supposed to be, though I've never gotten all the hate for fhtagn)? That's disappointing.

I legitimately didn't see your response sir. That said, I think uh... peenie_weenie's first paragraph summarizes my views on your post well.

Sirota is an inherently divisive figure in Democratic politics. That's his brand, and you'll have to cease worrying about anti-Bernie Bros for a moment and realize that this adversarial figure preys on the Democratic disunity you and I worry about.

If he proves to actually play a key role, then yes, that's cause for concern. Unfortunately, it is commonplace for campaigns to have attack dogs, and he proves to be that, then yes, criticizing Sanders for it is fair game. Claiming that this "disqualifies" him, not so much.