The sour grapes hypocrisy of Bernie Sanders acolytes.

By Curt_Anderson

November 8, 2021 6:34 pm

Category: Politics


(0.0 from 0 votes)

People on or near the periphery of the political left are normally quick to endorse alternatives to the major political party candidates. America's most famous democratic socialist, Bernie Sanders, runs for his senate seat as an independent.

Byron Brown is a Black man who wins elections in Buffalo with its one third Black population. Running a write-in campaign is enormously difficult and rarely successful in any circumstances.

(Politico)Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown infuriated progressives with his winning write-in campaign last week against the democratic socialist who beat him in the primary.

Now prominent left-wing Democrats are calling for the veteran New York mayor’s head, urging Democrats to strip Brown of his position on the Democratic National Committee.

“When you pull a stunt like this, somebody wins a primary, a working-class woman, and you go to every rich donor in both parties to fund a write-in campaign … it’s a disgrace,” said Larry Cohen, chair of the Bernie Sanders-aligned group Our Revolution.

Cohen, a DNC member himself, said he plans to organize an effort to press Democrats to remove Brown from his post on the national committee. And on Monday, India Walton, the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Buffalo mayor, threw her weight behind the move: “Not only do I support the DNC revoking Byron Brown's post; I believe it would set a dangerous precedent not to,” she said in a statement to POLITICO.

Cited and related links:

  1. politico.com
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Comments on "The sour grapes hypocrisy of Bernie Sanders acolytes."

  1. by Donna on November 9, 2021 6:51 am
    I don't care whether or not Brown is removed from his DNC post (they say he won't be,) but I think it was pretty shitty for the DNC to not endorse the candidate who won the Democratic primary, India Walton. Call it sour grapes, but that caused me to decide to quit the Democratic Party. I've been an independent most of my life anyhow. I've only been a registered Democrat since last year.

    This is the kind of thing that causes young people, especially progressives, which most of them are, to be cynical about politics - and actually not just young people. The DNC is doing a poor job of enticing young voters to support the party and it's setting up the Democrats to become increasingly irrelevant. The only reason Biden won was because so many Americans despise Trump.


  2. by Donna on November 9, 2021 7:22 am
    Actually the DNC eventually endorsed Walton, but it wasn't a full-throated endorsement. See link below.
    cityandstateny.com


  3. by Donna on November 9, 2021 7:36 am
    Arizona's Democratic primary election is closed, meaning that you have to be a registered Dem to vote in it, so unfortunately I'm going to have to remain a Democrat.


  4. by Curt_Anderson on November 9, 2021 9:54 am
    Donna,
    It's not too hard to see why the DNC would be lukewarm toward a person why managed a primary win but doesn't identify as a Democrat. Walton had endorsements from both NY senators and AOC, so it was probably similar to the standard mayoral endorsement. Walton labels herself as a democratic socialist and was endorsed by the Democratic-Socialist party.

    The Democrats should insist that only registered Democrats run in their Democratic primaries. If there was a opening at the church or synagogue for a preacher or rabbi, there would be a requirement that applicants subscribe to that religion---and not just since yesterday.

    If only Democrats were allowed to run in Democrats' primaries they'd avoid scenes like what happened in Buffalo.


  5. by Donna on November 9, 2021 12:58 pm
    India Walton is a registered Democrat.


  6. by Curt_Anderson on November 9, 2021 1:04 pm
    According to your cityandstateny.com link she is a socialist (small s). She calls herself a democratic-socialist. I haven't seen anywhere that she is a registered Democrat. And if so, since when has she been a Democrat?


  7. by Curt_Anderson on November 9, 2021 1:17 pm
    I don't believe she is a registered Democrat. If she did register as one, she did so begrudgingly. In a DemocracyNow! interview they introduced her as a "socialist" and repeatedly called her a socialist. She didn't make any effort to correct or amend that label or to clarify that she's a Democrat even she is "also" a Democrat.
    democracynow.org


  8. by Donna on November 9, 2021 1:29 pm
    She's a Democrat. Everywhere I've looked, she's listed as a Democrat.


    en.m.wikipedia.org


  9. by Donna on November 9, 2021 1:37 pm
    Here's another source - Ballotpedia. There's a (D) next to her name, not (I) or (S).

    You need to face the fact that India Walton is a Democrat.
    ballotpedia.org


  10. by Curt_Anderson on November 9, 2021 1:43 pm
    Donna,
    According to your wikipedia link, "Walton running as a socialist, and Brown running with moderate Democratic". It never says she's a Democrat.

    As far as Ballotpedia, the (D) designation is only because she won the Democratic primary. It doesn't mean she is registered as a Democrat.

    Anyway, she certainly avoided being labeled a Democrat and leaned heavily on her socialist label. If the voters were not aware that she's a Democrat, that's on her.



  11. by Donna on November 9, 2021 2:12 pm
    This is really getting annoying. On the Ballotpedia link, near the bottom, other candidates who ran in that election are listed. Two or three were independents and are labeled as such. India Walton and Brown are labeled as Democrats.

    You're wrong. She's a Democrat.


  12. by Curt_Anderson on November 9, 2021 2:37 pm
    I hope you can forgive me for thinking she may not be a Democrat, or maybe she's a Democrat-come-lately or an "and a Democrat too".

    How a socialist won the Buffalo mayoral primary
    (Vox)When India Walton — the socialist challenger to a four-term incumbent mayor with deep ties to New York’s Democratic Party — won the Democratic primary for Buffalo’s mayoral race, the result was a surprise to nearly everyone but her campaign team.
    vox.com


  13. by Donna on November 9, 2021 5:29 pm
    Or maybe she's always been a Democrat. There are probably quite a few socialist Democrats on Congress.


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