Bernie Sanders Delegates Display Anger and Discord Hours Before DNC Begins
PHILADELPHIA — Signs of discord among delegate supporters of Bernie Sanders were apparent on Monday as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was disrupted at a California delegate breakfast and exiting Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was heckled at a meeting of Florida’s convention representatives.
Meanwhile, a group of Sanders supporters from the Bernie Delegates Network said at a press conference that they are exploring an alternative to Tim Kaine as the vice presidential nominee, reflecting unhappiness among some of Sanders’ delegates that presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton did not choose a favorite of the progressive wing like Elizabeth Warren.
Giving fuel to the protest was the release late last week of a trove of DNC emails by Wikileaks, including messages showing that some party officials showed favoritism to Clinton. That had long been a suspicion of Sanders and his supporters.
Norman Solomon, coordinator the group and a delegate from California, said that the selection of Kaine was a “thumb in the eye” to Sanders supporters. He contends that there is strong support for a challenge, but he said that they are still working on just who would be that alternative. He said that one of the problems with finding a candidate is that “those who want to lunch at the White House next year run the other way.”
Solomon said that they are independent of the Sanders campaign, but that Sanders has not encouraged them nor has he told them to stop their potential protest. Solomon raised the possibility of a protest on the convention floor, although it is unclear exactly what that would be.
Sanders, who endorsed Clinton, is scheduled to speak to the convention later on Monday, when he is expected to talk about the need to defeat GOP nominee Donald Trump.
He said that it was “possible to be angry at the emails, angry at the choice of Tim Kaine and still recognize that it is essential to defeat Donald Trump.”
The current discord already is dominating news coverage of the convention, exactly what the Clinton campaign and others do not want as they try to convey party unity and contrast this week to the Republican Convention in Cleveland.
Trump weighed in all morning on Twitter, calling the Democratic gathering a “total mess.”
“But fear not, the dishonest media will find a good spinnn!”
News networks ran footage of Wasserman Schultz attempting to address a breakfast of the Florida delegation, her home state, amid attendees who waved signs of “E-mails” and jeered her at certain points in her speech.
At the California delegation breakfast, some attendees shouted “Wikileaks,’ and booed at the mention of party unity. Others chanted “Bernie! Bernie!” and drowned out some of the speakers.
The Wall Street Journal reported that some Sanders supporters chanted “Lock Her Up!” during a pre-convention demonstration on Sunday. Trump delegates made the same chant last week at the Republican convention.
Wasserman Schultz is planning to gavel in at the convention on Monday afternoon, as her resignation is not official until the end of the week and the convention. She will be succeeded on an interim basis by Donna Brazile.
Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was at the meeting of the California delegation, said, “Clearly, there are people who are very upset. I think that they are mostly upset at the DNC emails that were uncovered by Russian hackers, given to Wikileaks, then given to the world. Frankly, they have every reason to be upset. I am upset as well and I am an unabashedly a Hillary Clinton supporter,
He added, “I hope that they realize there is no connection between Hillary’s campaign and the people that wrote those emails. I hope that tonight Bernie Sanders will tell us why he ran and what he stands, and then get strongly behind Hillary Clinton and ask his supporters to do the same. Whatever anger people have toward the DNC has nothing to do with Hillary and frankly, everything to do with Trump.”
Update: Wassermann Schultz will not gavel in tonight, according to a statement she issued on Monday afternoon.
Sanders himself was booed on Monday afternoon as he addressed supporters in Philadelphia.
“We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,’ he said, before supporters booed.
“Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue. Trump has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign.”
Meanwhile, a pro-marijunana legalization protest was more of a pro-Bernie demonstrations, as thousands marched down Broad Street with signs that read, “DNC Leaks Shame” and “Not for Sale Bernie.”
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