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Bernie Sanders Called The Democratic Party 'Intellectually Bankrupt' In 1985 Letter

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) once told a fellow left-wing activist that the Democratic Party was too “intellectually bankrupt” to allow the progressive movement to flourish within it.

In a 1985 letter newly obtained by HuffPost in which Sanders debated running for governor, he wrote: “Whether I run for governor or not is really not important. What would be a tragedy, however, is for people with a radical vision to fall into the pathetic camp of the intellectually bankrupt Democratic Party.”

----
Sanders’ three-paragraph missive was addressed to Marty Jezer, an author and progressive activist in the state. Then-Mayor Sanders was writing in response to an August letter from Jezer in which he apologized that a memo he wrote to Sanders had leaked to the press. While the exact contents of the memo are unclear, Jezer’s letter indicates that it encouraged Sanders to run for Congress instead of challenging Kunin.

“1986 is the wrong time for such a race,” Jezer, who died in 2005, wrote. “I hope you will listen to the voices of the committed activists around the state. We sink or swim with this together.”

Sanders ultimately reached a different conclusion: He ran against Kunin as an independent. But the decision was not without dissent. An editorial from the socialist magazine In These Times criticized Sanders for dividing the left.

“In choosing to create a three-way race, Sanders is dividing the left and making more likely the defeat of an incumbent liberal woman governor by a more conservative Republican,” In These Times wrote. (At the time, Kunin was one of only two female governors in the country.)

The editorial prompted Sanders to reply: “I believe that the real changes that are needed in this country … are not going to be brought about by working within the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.”

----
The Vermont senator’s critiques of the Democratic Party are well documented, as CNN reported last July. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he was adamant that a progressive movement could not be built within the party and was highly critical of the moderate “New Democrats” who argued that the party’s progressivism in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s had alienated voters.

“I think that nationally, the party has on issue after issue sold out so many times that if you go before the people and say, ‘Hey, I’m a Democrat,’ you don’t usually generate a lot of enthusiasm,” Sanders said in 1991 about the idea of a progressive trying to work within the party.

Commenting on civil rights activist Jesse Jackson’s Democratic presidential runs in the 1980s, Sanders said he did not agree with Jackson’s decision to work “within the Democratic Party.” (Sanders endorsed Jackson’s candidacy.) His skepticism of the party continued in subsequent decades. In 2011, he said Democrats could be called “Republican-lite” for considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare in order to lessen the deficit. And his first presidential campaign in 2016 didn’t shy away from blasting the party apparatus.

Sanders’ willingness to criticize the Democratic Party speaks to the progressive bona fides highlighted by his supporters. His campaign often relies on decades-old videos of Sanders warning against the Iraq war, multinational trade deals and the climate crisis using the same rhetoric he still uses today.

But the senator’s view of the party — and the role of progressive politics within it — has evolved. He’s since refined his critiques to focus on the “corporate wing of the Democratic Party,” which is composed of the same centrists, including organizations like Third Way, that pushed the party to the right during the 1980s and ’90s.

----
That hasn’t been enough for many of his critics, who accuse him of only half-heartedly campaigning for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 after dragging out the primary, and question whether he would be willing to support down-ballot Democratic candidates who don’t share his progressive ideology.

I recently watched Jimmy's show where he played a clip of Rachel praising Bernie for campaigning so hard for Her. Her wrote him a letter telling him thanks for working so hard to get her elected.

Bernie did 37 rallies for her in 14 days. Hillary only did 8 for Obama. Let's talk about this, Hillary! You worthless ^*#%^!

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Submitted by Snode on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 2:01pm

Bernie was only partially right

@Lily O Lady He left out the part about the dem party being "morally bankrupt" too.

Submitted by Lily O Lady on Mon, 01/20/2020 - 11:40am

True.

@Snode

—

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Submitted by Le Frog on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 5:45pm

I LOVE how the substance of these arguments

@snoopydawg depends on party loyalty when an unacceptably large number of them are constantly voting for Republican garbage.

They must be terrified, not just of Bernie Sanders, but Us.

Bernie Sanders Called The Democratic Party 'Intellectually Bankrupt' In 1985 Letter

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) once told a fellow left-wing activist that the Democratic Party was too “intellectually bankrupt” to allow the progressive movement to flourish within it.

In a 1985 letter newly obtained by HuffPost in which Sanders debated running for governor, he wrote: “Whether I run for governor or not is really not important. What would be a tragedy, however, is for people with a radical vision to fall into the pathetic camp of the intellectually bankrupt Democratic Party.”

----
Sanders’ three-paragraph missive was addressed to Marty Jezer, an author and progressive activist in the state. Then-Mayor Sanders was writing in response to an August letter from Jezer in which he apologized that a memo he wrote to Sanders had leaked to the press. While the exact contents of the memo are unclear, Jezer’s letter indicates that it encouraged Sanders to run for Congress instead of challenging Kunin.

“1986 is the wrong time for such a race,” Jezer, who died in 2005, wrote. “I hope you will listen to the voices of the committed activists around the state. We sink or swim with this together.”

Sanders ultimately reached a different conclusion: He ran against Kunin as an independent. But the decision was not without dissent. An editorial from the socialist magazine In These Times criticized Sanders for dividing the left.

“In choosing to create a three-way race, Sanders is dividing the left and making more likely the defeat of an incumbent liberal woman governor by a more conservative Republican,” In These Times wrote. (At the time, Kunin was one of only two female governors in the country.)

The editorial prompted Sanders to reply: “I believe that the real changes that are needed in this country … are not going to be brought about by working within the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.”

----
The Vermont senator’s critiques of the Democratic Party are well documented, as CNN reported last July. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he was adamant that a progressive movement could not be built within the party and was highly critical of the moderate “New Democrats” who argued that the party’s progressivism in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s had alienated voters.

“I think that nationally, the party has on issue after issue sold out so many times that if you go before the people and say, ‘Hey, I’m a Democrat,’ you don’t usually generate a lot of enthusiasm,” Sanders said in 1991 about the idea of a progressive trying to work within the party.

Commenting on civil rights activist Jesse Jackson’s Democratic presidential runs in the 1980s, Sanders said he did not agree with Jackson’s decision to work “within the Democratic Party.” (Sanders endorsed Jackson’s candidacy.) His skepticism of the party continued in subsequent decades. In 2011, he said Democrats could be called “Republican-lite” for considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare in order to lessen the deficit. And his first presidential campaign in 2016 didn’t shy away from blasting the party apparatus.

Sanders’ willingness to criticize the Democratic Party speaks to the progressive bona fides highlighted by his supporters. His campaign often relies on decades-old videos of Sanders warning against the Iraq war, multinational trade deals and the climate crisis using the same rhetoric he still uses today.

But the senator’s view of the party — and the role of progressive politics within it — has evolved. He’s since refined his critiques to focus on the “corporate wing of the Democratic Party,” which is composed of the same centrists, including organizations like Third Way, that pushed the party to the right during the 1980s and ’90s.

----
That hasn’t been enough for many of his critics, who accuse him of only half-heartedly campaigning for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 after dragging out the primary, and question whether he would be willing to support down-ballot Democratic candidates who don’t share his progressive ideology.

I recently watched Jimmy's show where he played a clip of Rachel praising Bernie for campaigning so hard for Her. Her wrote him a letter telling him thanks for working so hard to get her elected.

Bernie did 37 rallies for her in 14 days. Hillary only did 8 for Obama. Let's talk about this, Hillary! You worthless ^*#%^!

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:01pm

Hi snoopy

I'm sure like you, I don’t think Sanders is trying to divide the left. I think he’s trying vigorously to provide an alternative to the mostly self-centered, loathsome members of the Democratic party.

All the shit being flown around is making me want to retreat until the candidate is chosen. If it weren’t summer I’d consider going into hibernation, hopefully awakening to a Sanders/Gabbard name on the ticket.

Bernie Sanders Called The Democratic Party 'Intellectually Bankrupt' In 1985 Letter

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) once told a fellow left-wing activist that the Democratic Party was too “intellectually bankrupt” to allow the progressive movement to flourish within it.

In a 1985 letter newly obtained by HuffPost in which Sanders debated running for governor, he wrote: “Whether I run for governor or not is really not important. What would be a tragedy, however, is for people with a radical vision to fall into the pathetic camp of the intellectually bankrupt Democratic Party.”

----
Sanders’ three-paragraph missive was addressed to Marty Jezer, an author and progressive activist in the state. Then-Mayor Sanders was writing in response to an August letter from Jezer in which he apologized that a memo he wrote to Sanders had leaked to the press. While the exact contents of the memo are unclear, Jezer’s letter indicates that it encouraged Sanders to run for Congress instead of challenging Kunin.

“1986 is the wrong time for such a race,” Jezer, who died in 2005, wrote. “I hope you will listen to the voices of the committed activists around the state. We sink or swim with this together.”

Sanders ultimately reached a different conclusion: He ran against Kunin as an independent. But the decision was not without dissent. An editorial from the socialist magazine In These Times criticized Sanders for dividing the left.

“In choosing to create a three-way race, Sanders is dividing the left and making more likely the defeat of an incumbent liberal woman governor by a more conservative Republican,” In These Times wrote. (At the time, Kunin was one of only two female governors in the country.)

The editorial prompted Sanders to reply: “I believe that the real changes that are needed in this country … are not going to be brought about by working within the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.”

----
The Vermont senator’s critiques of the Democratic Party are well documented, as CNN reported last July. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he was adamant that a progressive movement could not be built within the party and was highly critical of the moderate “New Democrats” who argued that the party’s progressivism in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s had alienated voters.

“I think that nationally, the party has on issue after issue sold out so many times that if you go before the people and say, ‘Hey, I’m a Democrat,’ you don’t usually generate a lot of enthusiasm,” Sanders said in 1991 about the idea of a progressive trying to work within the party.

Commenting on civil rights activist Jesse Jackson’s Democratic presidential runs in the 1980s, Sanders said he did not agree with Jackson’s decision to work “within the Democratic Party.” (Sanders endorsed Jackson’s candidacy.) His skepticism of the party continued in subsequent decades. In 2011, he said Democrats could be called “Republican-lite” for considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare in order to lessen the deficit. And his first presidential campaign in 2016 didn’t shy away from blasting the party apparatus.

Sanders’ willingness to criticize the Democratic Party speaks to the progressive bona fides highlighted by his supporters. His campaign often relies on decades-old videos of Sanders warning against the Iraq war, multinational trade deals and the climate crisis using the same rhetoric he still uses today.

But the senator’s view of the party — and the role of progressive politics within it — has evolved. He’s since refined his critiques to focus on the “corporate wing of the Democratic Party,” which is composed of the same centrists, including organizations like Third Way, that pushed the party to the right during the 1980s and ’90s.

----
That hasn’t been enough for many of his critics, who accuse him of only half-heartedly campaigning for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 after dragging out the primary, and question whether he would be willing to support down-ballot Democratic candidates who don’t share his progressive ideology.

I recently watched Jimmy's show where he played a clip of Rachel praising Bernie for campaigning so hard for Her. Her wrote him a letter telling him thanks for working so hard to get her elected.

Bernie did 37 rallies for her in 14 days. Hillary only did 8 for Obama. Let's talk about this, Hillary! You worthless ^*#%^!

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:53pm

Just realised the first two letters of each name

spell, SaGa.

[video:https://youtu.be/HrkVWVgwwfc]

Submitted by tle on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 9:46am

OT: I'm now firmly in support of Gabbard as VP.

@janis b I was concerned about her not being available for the Secretary of State position, but now I've been reminded that Dennis Kucinich is available for that role.

Just think, the oldest president ever, and the second-youngest VP ever.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 5:00pm

Biden lying to people

Joe Biden is flat out lying. He keeps referring to a video being doctored (aka edited), but he never says he didn't try to cut Social Security, because he can't. For the media not to address this is malpractice, but of course, we expect that. https://t.co/F7L1UIahF4

— Pat the Berner(@PatTheBerner) January 18, 2020

Raise your hand if you have seen videos of ByeDone saying that of course social security needs to be cut? Post it if you have one. I do somewhere and I'll try to find it.

Lmao at Warren. It was a dumb thing for her to say because so what? The DNC and DCCC cleared the way for Liz to run unopposed by a more progressive democrat.

Guys, stay with me but.... What if Elizabeth Warren angrily approached Bernie at the end of the debate, NOT because of their meeting, but because of this exchange? pic.twitter.com/IVbhxUa0jK

— SNAAAKE EATERRRRR (@LegacyZeroYT) January 18, 2020

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 5:45pm

Yep Biden is lying

Is Joe Biden saying his comments here, which are also in the Congressional Record, are “doctored”? pic.twitter.com/PMYzlnxIxc

— Brook Hines (@nashville_brook) January 18, 2020

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by Le Frog on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:34pm

Bernie is now doctoring videos?

@snoopydawg Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha these are some flimsy straws they are grasping it here.

Submitted by Dr. John Carpenter on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 7:35pm

I could swear he got accused of similar in 2016

@Le Frog I can’t remember exactly but it was a very similar thing where HER was caught on video saying exactly what Bernie said and it was all accusations of doctored videos.

—

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 9:26am

His Lips are moving! n/t

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 5:55pm

Just for fun

Land dolphins. pic.twitter.com/P4k1XsCybE

— Dogs are the best people (@_TheBestDogs) October 12, 2019

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:37pm

land dolphins,

or kangaroo impersonators!

Submitted by Bollox Ref on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:07pm

Joy Reid

has to be one of the most joyless people on the planet.

Good grief.

—

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:10pm

Hope you managed the snow shovelling

without too much pain ; ).

Submitted by Bollox Ref on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:39pm

Fortunately,

Fred knows how to work the snow plow, so I just waved as he got to work. Big paws work wonders.

Good lad.

—

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:41pm

Yeah, right Bollox!

I'll bet it was just the opposite ; ).

Submitted by Bollox Ref on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:58pm

You're right

We don't have a snow plow.

(Don't tell Fred, it'll crush him.)

—

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 7:02pm

I'm glad he's trying to help anyway

Good Lad!

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:13pm

Here is the story on her homophobic remarks

The Joy Reid controversy, from homophobic blog posts to a hacking claim, explained

Joy-Ann Reid on Saturday apologized for her past “hurtful” remarks about LGBTQ people, following the resurfacing of homophobic blog posts from the mid-to-late 2000s. But she also said that she still doesn’t “believe” that she wrote the blog posts, suggesting — without evidence — that they were the result of an elaborate hack.

The host of MSNBC’s weekend show AM Joy has been under fire for newly uncovered blog posts published on Reid’s now-defunct blog, the Reid Report, in the mid-to late 2000s that repeatedly mocked gay people and specific individuals who were allegedly gay.

The posts, for example, suggested — without much, if any, evidence — that Tom Cruise, Karl Rove, and Chief Justice John Robert’s son are gay. Other posts made derogatory remarks about gay people, claiming that “most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing” and that “adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types.” One post acknowledged, “Does that make me homophobic? Probably.”

These are different from previous blog posts that Reid apologized for in December 2017. In those past posts, Reid wrote that then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was gay, nicknamed him “Miss Charlie,” and claimed that he only married a woman for political purposes. Reid said her comments were “insensitive, tone-deaf and dumb. There is no excusing it — not based on the taste-skewing mores of talk radio or the then-blogosphere, and not based on my intentions.” Crist, who’s now a member of Congress, accepted her apology.

Instead of apologizing for the more recently resurfaced blog posts, though, Reid at first denied that she posted them altogether. In a statement to Mediate on Monday, Reid said that the blog posts were the work of hackers and “part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago.”

There was always reason to be skeptical of the claim. For one, the blog posts were archived by internet crawlers and, in those archives, really dated to the mid-to-late 2000s — a time when Reid wasn’t an MSNBC host or even a widely known national figure, raising questions about why someone would bother hacking her. This helped elevate the controversy further, as even some of Reid’s supporters questioned why she didn’t apologize instead of making assertions that have no evidence behind them and that many find literally unbelievable.

Read the rest...

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:25pm

A tad bit more

One thing driving this issue to the forefront is Reid’s past political commentary — which has drawn the ire of people from both the left and right.

On the left, Reid was very critical of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton. This has created an ongoing conflict between Reid and Sanders supporters in particular — which you can get a taste of through a quick Google search for “Joy Reid Bernie Sanders.”

Reid, for example, previously said that Sanders is “not a Democrat” on Meet the Press — since he has classified as an independent before and after the 2016 campaign. She doubled down on this theme in tweets last year, writing that “[t]his demand: that people outside a party get to choose that party’s nominees, is always amazing to me.”

The Twitter thread goes on, ending with, “Not saying they’re not welcome to move in. I’m sure the party would welcome them. But for now? They’re *that* longterm couch friend.”

Reid also criticized some Sanders supporters, in 2016 hosting a segment on “Bernie bros” who were “accused of online trolling, misogyny, and outright bigotry.” Talking to a Washington Post reporter who had written about “some of Bernie Sanders’s more vitriolic supporters,” Reid said, “I read your piece, and it all was so very familiar as somebody who covers this race and who tweets a lot, and so is on social media.”

At one point, Reid even criticized Sanders for how he treats his wife, in 2017 writing that Sanders was not a good example of a “credible national authority figure” in the context of #MeToo due to “his physical dismissal of women in his presence (including his own wife).” That tweet drew a response from Jane Sanders, the senator’s wife, who criticized Reid’s “biased reporting about Bernie during the last 2 years.”

After her scandal was put to rest its even more appalling that she brought this witch doctor on her show to say derogatory things about Bernie. It shows me that joy has not changed who she is inside.

#6 The Joy Reid controversy, from homophobic blog posts to a hacking claim, explained Joy-Ann Reid on Saturday apologized for her past “hurtful” remarks about LGBTQ people, following the resurfacing of homophobic blog posts from the mid-to-late 2000s. But she also said that she still doesn’t “believe” that she wrote the blog posts, suggesting — without evidence — that they were the result of an elaborate hack. The host of MSNBC’s weekend show AM Joy has been under fire for newly uncovered blog posts published on Reid’s now-defunct blog, the Reid Report, in the mid-to late 2000s that repeatedly mocked gay people and specific individuals who were allegedly gay. The posts, for example, suggested — without much, if any, evidence — that Tom Cruise, Karl Rove, and Chief Justice John Robert’s son are gay. Other posts made derogatory remarks about gay people, claiming that “most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing” and that “adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types.” One post acknowledged, “Does that make me homophobic? Probably.” These are different from previous blog posts that Reid apologized for in December 2017. In those past posts, Reid wrote that then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was gay, nicknamed him “Miss Charlie,” and claimed that he only married a woman for political purposes. Reid said her comments were “insensitive, tone-deaf and dumb. There is no excusing it — not based on the taste-skewing mores of talk radio or the then-blogosphere, and not based on my intentions.” Crist, who’s now a member of Congress, accepted her apology. Instead of apologizing for the more recently resurfaced blog posts, though, Reid at first denied that she posted them altogether. In a statement to Mediate on Monday, Reid said that the blog posts were the work of hackers and “part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago.” There was always reason to be skeptical of the claim. For one, the blog posts were archived by internet crawlers and, in those archives, really dated to the mid-to-late 2000s — a time when Reid wasn’t an MSNBC host or even a widely known national figure, raising questions about why someone would bother hacking her. This helped elevate the controversy further, as even some of Reid’s supporters questioned why she didn’t apologize instead of making assertions that have no evidence behind them and that many find literally unbelievable. Read the rest...

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by Bollox Ref on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:35pm

Yes, I remember reading her excuses

Not plausible at all. I don't understand her animus with regard to B. Sanders.

#6.4 One thing driving this issue to the forefront is Reid’s past political commentary — which has drawn the ire of people from both the left and right. On the left, Reid was very critical of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton. This has created an ongoing conflict between Reid and Sanders supporters in particular — which you can get a taste of through a quick Google search for “Joy Reid Bernie Sanders.” Reid, for example, previously said that Sanders is “not a Democrat” on Meet the Press — since he has classified as an independent before and after the 2016 campaign. She doubled down on this theme in tweets last year, writing that “[t]his demand: that people outside a party get to choose that party’s nominees, is always amazing to me.” The Twitter thread goes on, ending with, “Not saying they’re not welcome to move in. I’m sure the party would welcome them. But for now? They’re *that* longterm couch friend.” Reid also criticized some Sanders supporters, in 2016 hosting a segment on “Bernie bros” who were “accused of online trolling, misogyny, and outright bigotry.” Talking to a Washington Post reporter who had written about “some of Bernie Sanders’s more vitriolic supporters,” Reid said, “I read your piece, and it all was so very familiar as somebody who covers this race and who tweets a lot, and so is on social media.” At one point, Reid even criticized Sanders for how he treats his wife, in 2017 writing that Sanders was not a good example of a “credible national authority figure” in the context of #MeToo due to “his physical dismissal of women in his presence (including his own wife).” That tweet drew a response from Jane Sanders, the senator’s wife, who criticized Reid’s “biased reporting about Bernie during the last 2 years.” After her scandal was put to rest its even more appalling that she brought this witch doctor on her show to say derogatory things about Bernie. It shows me that joy has not changed who she is inside.

—

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 10:57pm

Here's Joy saying she didn't write what she did

I decided today to be an Official Body Language Expert.™️ For my first case, I examined whether @MSNBC's @JoyAnnReid lied in claiming that a hacker wrote the homophobic posts on her old blog. My expert verdict is that she is totally not lying. Case closed! pic.twitter.com/XuMWeImHo5

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) January 19, 2020

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by tle on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 9:54am

Interesting that she slurred Crist.

@snoopydawg I never read anything from her blog, but there was plenty of talk about Crist making the rounds. When he married, his wife was called his "beard".

I ignored all that, I was too distracted by his crazy-eyes expression. But he was the perfect candidate for establishment Dems when he switched from "R" to "D" without any change to his policies.

#6 The Joy Reid controversy, from homophobic blog posts to a hacking claim, explained Joy-Ann Reid on Saturday apologized for her past “hurtful” remarks about LGBTQ people, following the resurfacing of homophobic blog posts from the mid-to-late 2000s. But she also said that she still doesn’t “believe” that she wrote the blog posts, suggesting — without evidence — that they were the result of an elaborate hack. The host of MSNBC’s weekend show AM Joy has been under fire for newly uncovered blog posts published on Reid’s now-defunct blog, the Reid Report, in the mid-to late 2000s that repeatedly mocked gay people and specific individuals who were allegedly gay. The posts, for example, suggested — without much, if any, evidence — that Tom Cruise, Karl Rove, and Chief Justice John Robert’s son are gay. Other posts made derogatory remarks about gay people, claiming that “most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing” and that “adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types.” One post acknowledged, “Does that make me homophobic? Probably.” These are different from previous blog posts that Reid apologized for in December 2017. In those past posts, Reid wrote that then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was gay, nicknamed him “Miss Charlie,” and claimed that he only married a woman for political purposes. Reid said her comments were “insensitive, tone-deaf and dumb. There is no excusing it — not based on the taste-skewing mores of talk radio or the then-blogosphere, and not based on my intentions.” Crist, who’s now a member of Congress, accepted her apology. Instead of apologizing for the more recently resurfaced blog posts, though, Reid at first denied that she posted them altogether. In a statement to Mediate on Monday, Reid said that the blog posts were the work of hackers and “part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago.” There was always reason to be skeptical of the claim. For one, the blog posts were archived by internet crawlers and, in those archives, really dated to the mid-to-late 2000s — a time when Reid wasn’t an MSNBC host or even a widely known national figure, raising questions about why someone would bother hacking her. This helped elevate the controversy further, as even some of Reid’s supporters questioned why she didn’t apologize instead of making assertions that have no evidence behind them and that many find literally unbelievable. Read the rest...

Submitted by orlbucfan on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 9:11am

Reid is definitely one of the dumbest.

@Bollox Ref Rec'd!!

—

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:10pm

Joy Reid will will stoop to any level in order to make a point.

But it gets worse: Driver has a penchant for conspiracy theories... pic.twitter.com/8p2XpDIzk9

— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) 18 January 2020

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:43pm

Bernie is getting lots of flack for saying people voted for Trum

because they felt left behind in the economic recovery. But look at who else said that.

Seeing a ton of people slamming Bernie for his answer on how economic anxiety can be weaponized by racist demagogues.

I'm sure those same people will now come for Obama: pic.twitter.com/AyiafmiunZ

— jordan (@JordanUhl) January 18, 2020

Unfortunately Obama seems to believe that he had nothing to do with the rising wealth inequality happening here. Sorry, Barry this does fall on you.

ETA

Here is where the most flack is coming from.

Bernie doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about here. He is clueless about racism except as the residual effect of the class system. This is ignorance. Trump didn't win bc of economic anxiety. Every study says that's BS. https://t.co/iUaEOROtUq

— Tim Wise (@timjacobwise) January 17, 2020

I see people rejecting Trump being president because people were tired of being left behind by the economic recovery. They say that every person who voted for him are racist.

Bernie doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about here. He is clueless about racism except as the residual effect of the class system. This is ignorance. Trump didn't win bc of economic anxiety. Every study says that's BS. https://t.co/iUaEOROtUq

— Tim Wise (@timjacobwise) January 17, 2020

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 6:59pm

I cringe

at the contrariness/hatefulness that American, or any other, politics generates. All it does is highlight the stupidity.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 7:11pm

True dat

The debates should be about policies, but the media always pushes things into the gutter. See below.

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by Cant Stop the M... on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 10:18am

Tim Wise? The white guy who made a name for himself

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

saying online that other white people were racist? The guy who parlayed that into getting a big ol' spotlight put on his big ol' white self? That Tim Wise?

—

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 12:27pm

Yep that Tim Wise

He posted a thread on why Bernie was wrong for saying that people voted for Trump for other reasons than being racist. I screwed up posting the same tweet twice but you can read it if you're interested. Lots of assholes tweeting crappy stuff about Bernie.

But this body language expert really takes the cake.

'Why No One Trusts the Media': MSNBC Slammed for Featuring 'Body Language Expert' Who Calls Sanders a Liar

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 7:09pm

Stay classy blue check Twitter

Bernie is such a cuck. Liz Warren pegs him with a strap-on on National TV and he’s like “yes mistress fuck me harder.”

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 17, 2020

Don't bother reading the replies to the tweet. It's yucky beyond belief. But seriously this is taking things too far IMO.

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by Dr. John Carpenter on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 7:40pm

Sadly I understand the gross part

@snoopydawg but I don’t follow his analogy. The high rolling DNC audience laughed when Warren was asked about the he said/she said. And Bernie shot a hole in her “only winners up here are women” bit. Not sure how one could arrive at the conclusion our blue check has.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 7:21pm

Cenk might have just sunk his campaign

It turns out media sources might have leaked to one another about Warren-Sanders dispute & that didn't come from @ewarren campaign. Anyone still denying national media has hostility toward @BernieSanders campaign is being purposely obtuse. No one hates progressives more than MSM.

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) January 18, 2020

Come on dude this ain't rocket science. It's true that the media has goosed this goose, but Warren doubled down on her accusations.

Man people are flying high on Twitter today. I'm seeing lots of great stuff that I'm not posting here.

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by Centaurea on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 2:07am

The source of the leak

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/01/obama-puts-social-security-...

I have a pretty good idea of who orchestrated that leak.

Warren and Bernie met at her request. She told him that she'd decided to run in 2020. During their conversation, they chatted about politics, including women in politics. In her statement this week, Warren described it as she and Bernie engaging in "punditry". It was a philosophical discussion, in other words.

After the meeting, Liz talked about it with two of her staff members. (I believe one of them was a former Hillary and/or DNC staffer.) The staffers reported back to the DNC about what went on in the meeting. Maybe Warren herself told the DNC directly.

The DNC kept this information on file, biding their time until the appropriate monent for them to bring it out and weaponize it against Bernie. (Not necessarily in favor of Warren, but against Bernie.)

The DNC saw their moment this past week, right before the CNN debate. They coordinated their attack on Bernie with the corporate media, just as they did in 2015-16.

That's what I believe happened. My only question is whether Warren's original discussion with Bernie was a deliberate set-up.

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

Submitted by jean on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 9:31pm

my 2 dogs used to do this in

my 2 dogs used to do this in the bean fields - so fun!

Submitted by Snode on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 2:32pm

Biden can try to walk away from the video

but he had a hand in forming the Simpson Bowles Catfood Commission.

"The commission would deliver its recommendations after this fall’s congressional elections, postponing potentially painful decisions about the nation’s fiscal future until after Democrats face the voters. But if the commission approves a deficit-reduction plan, Congress would have to act on it quickly under the agreement, forged late Tuesday in a meeting with Vice President Biden, White House budget director Peter R. Orszag, and Democratic lawmakers led by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.)."

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 3:33pm

OFFS Warren!

“How could the American people want someone who lies to them?” @ewarren says after I asked if it’s disqualifying for a presidential candidate to lie to the American people about anything pic.twitter.com/b4AxH5Bq1m

— Zak Hudak (@cbszak) January 19, 2020

Whomever this guy was talking about it's you who has been lying to us. Let's recount shall we?

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by humphrey on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 5:18pm

There is only one thing to do after her comment.

@snoopydawg She should immediately drop out of the race.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 8:39pm

She really should drop out

Or does she seriously believe that calling herself a Native American for decades doesn't qualify as lying? I think it does because she gave so many different excuses for doing it.

I had high cheekbones
My parents had to elope cuz one was NA
My grandfather had high cheekbones
And many others.

It would be more forgiving for me if she had tried to help Native Americans, but she didn't. Even after she got caught she still hasn't done anything for them.

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Sun, 01/19/2020 - 9:06pm

That puts her a long way below Iron Eyes Cody