A couple of hours before the Democratic Convention opened, Bernie Sanders spoke to many of his supporters outside he convention. He was met enthusiastically, and applauded as he enumerated the victories his campaign has accomplished. But then things turned ugly.His own supporters booed and jeered Sanders when he asked them to support Hillary Clinton to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. It seems that many in the crowd hated Clinton more than they liked Sanders. And some of them, when questioned by the media, said they would prefer Trump be elected than Clinton. That seems to me to be the height of being a sore loser.
But they are also sore winners. Earlier in the day, Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation as head of the Democratic National Committee, and she was booed in a sustained manner by Sanders supporters. They wanted her resignation, and they could have been gracious in victory. Instead, they chose to act like jerks.
These people are doing a disservice to their own cause -- left-wing progressive politics. By their actions, they are alienating both Democrats and Independents -- and they are hurting the progressive cause by making the progressive movement look like it is people by extremists who are just as bad as the extremists of the far-right.
It makes me wonder -- was Bernie's amazing run for the nomination a victory for the progressive movement, or was it just a cult of personality? The poor behavior exhibited by some of Bernie's supporters tends to lend credence to the latter view. That's sad, because it means that at least some of the voters Bernie claimed to have brought to the Democratic Party are not Democrats at all, and will not stay in the party.
I hope, and really believe, that these extremists are just a tiny but vocal portion of Sanders' supporters. And that the majority understand that electing Clinton will push progressive values forward in this country. And they also understand that allowing Trump to be elected would be disastrous for progressive values in this country.
But even if they are a tiny minority, they are giving themselves and the progressive movement in this country a bad image with their behavior.
(NOTE -- The caricature of Bernie Sanders above is by DonkeyHotey.)
