I’m going to confess right up front that this is an exercise in propaganda — I am writing this diary to make a point and not to attack Bernie Sanders. I like both Sanders and Clinton, and I will vote for the winner in the general election, I am writing this diary because yet again, the rec list is filled with diaries that seek not to support a candidate, not to convince me or anyone else, but to obliterate an opponent. And these diaries are doing a pretty good job. We all know what I’m talking about — the image-filled diaries in which one candidate (Hillary) is equated with war criminals and billionaires, and compared with another candidate (Bernie) who is the last and only chance for America, with lots of pretty images of cornfields and raised fists and revolutionary quotes.
I want to remind folks that we are going to have to come together after the primary season. Build up your candidate, and don’t try to destroy your primary opponent. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are both far more similar to each other, and far superior, to anyone on the Republican side. Trump? Cruz? Rubio? Seriously? Remember who your enemy is and sell your candidate! Quit writing shit assassination pieces that only burn bridges.
Bernie voted against comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 because he was against a guest worker program, that in his view, would result in immigrant labor exploitation and result in more competition for American jobs. A guest worker program had been included in the bill in order to get Republicans to agree to a pathway to citizenship, and most immigrant rights groups, including the National Immigration Forum, had signed on because the benefits of a pathway to citizenship were viewed as more important than the concession on a guest worker program. That’s the way politics works. I was working for an immigration non-profit at the time, and Sanders’ vote was a blow to those of us who had worked on trying to get something done. He did it for understandable political reasons… he was representing Vermont and not New York or California, and he was technically right about the unethical nature of guest worker programs and the risks of exploitation. Such is politics. I disagreed, thought he was being rigid, but understood and knew that he was a far more decent and intelligent man than the GOP assholes who pushed for the guest worker program and who needed to be greased to get the bigger deal done. In fact, now that he is seeking national office and not just Vermont, I think Bernie will be quite good on immigrant rights and protection. On this issue, I prefer Hillary, but it is close. Bernie will be excellent and I will fully support him.
But if I were to play the rec list game, and really try to screw him for his vote, here’s what I’d do:
Clik here to view.
Who works harder than an immigrant? Who works less than a senator? Well, senators don’t work much, unless it’s when they are kowtowing to their vanilla white constituents who somehow think that Vermont is going to be overrun by brown people and become part of some new Aztlan. Who is heartless enough to vote against immigration reform and see families separated, dreams crushed, crops rotting in the fields?
Bernie, that’s who:
Clik here to view.
Check out who Bernie associates with! I’m going to give you two paragraphs, from two senators most responsible for the failure of CIR in 2007. One is from renown confederate bigot Jefferson Beauregard Sessions and the other is from Bernie Sanders. Can you guess which vile piece of propaganda is from which senator?
“On policies like immigration, Sen. S has worked tirelessly to defend US workers and taxpayers from big money special interests. He is unwaveringly committed to the hard working men and women who form the backbone of the nation”
“With poverty increasing and the middle-class shrinking, we must not force American workers into even more economic distress.”
The first is from Sessions, the second from Bernie. This is the politics of division, pitting white working class against Latino immigrants, many of whom are fleeing for their lives. It’s dishonest, underhanded and I just don’t know how anyone who supports this can call himself a progressive. For many of us Jeff Sessions is the enemy. How can we trust Bernie when he takes the same position, with the identical rhetoric!
Who are you with, Bernie?
Clik here to view.
For those of you who are snark challenged, I repeat: Bernie is a good, decent, kind man who is himself a child of immigrants. He will not close the door on refugees. He will pursue comprehensive immigration reform and a just and decent solution for the 11 million undocumented among us. He is against private prisons and would stop using them to hold immigrant detainees. I will max out my contribution to him and work my heart out to see him elected if he is the nominee. I think that Hillary is as good or better on immigration and I will also be glad to support her.
So y’all can go back to tearing the shit out of your opponents. This was a public service announcement to remind you that some of what you read on the wreck list has maybe just a wee bit of manipulation to it. I am thinking about one diary in particular. The reason I cannot fully support Hillary in the primary is that I have concerns about influence and financial industry donations. I think Henry Kissinger is a war criminal. But do I think that Hillary is even remotely similar to Henry Kissinger because she has said polite things about a predecessor? Of course not. Would I prefer to have Hillary appoint the Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury or Ted Cruz? Do you need to ask?
Both of our candidates are good. Tell us why you prefer one or the other — and remember that however strongly you are tempted to bash the other candidate, we are going to want to come back together. So make your case and lay off the manipulation and the flag waving and the propaganda.