It should have been a triumphant night for Hillary Clinton when her rival Bernie Sanders gave a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Monday (July 25), urging his supporters to vote for her in the November 8 US presidential election.
Advertisement
Still, the attacks, which Clinton believed were stoked by Sanders, infuriated the former president, who was still calling top campaign staff to complain about Sanders’ tactics long after it was clear the Vermont senator could not capture the nomination. Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken and Jeff Merkley.
“Brothers and sisters!” he urged. And we have grand masters that are better than anybody in the world.
While polls show that many former Sanders supporters are coalescing around Clinton’s candidacy, the 1,846 pledged delegates for Sanders at the convention represent some of the most loyal Sanderistas in the country. “This was a tough primary for Hillary Clinton”.
“To all of our supporters here and around the country, I hope you take enormous pride in what we have achieved”, he said. The delegates in the room were a different story, yes, but after they officially vote for the party’s nominee this week, it’s kind of a moot point. For his wife, Clinton will have to be both a character witness and an advocate defending their time in the White House and making the case for why she is best suited to lead the country. “So when Donald Trump calls us criminals and rapists, he is insulting American families”, she said.
Sanders had called on his flock to get behind Clinton twice on Monday before his primetime endorsement speech.
“Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning backs, walking out or other similar displays”, Sanders wrote. “That’s what the corporate media wants”.
The rise of Fudge, as well as Brazile, as now interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, follows the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Shultz as DNC chair amid a Wikileaks scandal in which Democratic Party emails were released showing staffers favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the primary.
Nor was it entirely necessary for them to tell Sanders supporters to stop “being ridiculous”. During Monday afternoon remarks by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, that touched on race, delegates interrupted him, chanting “No TPP!”
One Democratic supporter, Daniel Sammatino, said: “I will never vote for Hillary because I care about the future”. If he keeps it up and she wins, he will be a bigger factor in the Senate than ever before.
First Lady Michelle Obama also delivered a powerful speech in which she rallied passionately behind Clinton. Brazile had to step down from her position as a political contributor with CNN in order to take over her new duties.
“We [feel] like it’s still not over yet”, Douglas said.
But the first day of this year’s DNC showed that distrust, division and even anger remains among many Sanders diehards, including his delegates from Tennessee, where Clinton won big in the Democratic primary in March.
The latter was a reference to recently leaked emails from the organization that has published sensitive information on a variety of topics which showed favoritism for Clinton in her primary fight against Sanders a year ago.
That included a text message to supporters asking them not to protest on the floor of the convention, as a “personal courtesy” to him.
Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that while Sanders’ supporters are protesting, they are more likely simply to stay home on Election Day instead of casting their ballots for Trump.
But Sanders’ self-styled “political revolution” appeared to have transformed into an open revolt. “Knocking on doors, talking to people, handing out leaflets, handing out emails”.
Advertisement
“They throw “party unity” around as if we’re supposed to jump for joy when they mention her name”, said Manuel Zapata, a Sanders delegate from California, referring to Clinton. “If she’s nominated, people are going to end up with somebody bad for president”.
