Despite claims by Hillary surrogates and the mainstream media, there is no evidence of violence occurring at the Nevada Democratic Convention

The establishment media has been pushing a grotesquely deceitful narrative about so-called “violence” from Bernie Sanders supporters. The recent Nevada Democratic Convention got heated, and out of it the media has tried to paint Bernie supporters as violent. Not only are these claims baseless, they don’t spell well for a united Democratic Party come November.

The Nevada convention was a debacle, and Bernie supporters felt legitimately cheated by the state party. Yes there was a lot of shouting, and it did get heated. Politics has a way of getting the passion out of people, for sure. Fifty-eight Bernie delegates were barred entry due to a rather shady process. There were also some shady rule changes rushed through by a voice-vote, in which the votes were decided without a clear count, rules which favored the Hillary Clinton camp. This of course left Bernie supporters justifiably angry.

The mainstream media did not really cover the Nevada convention as the chaos broke out. There was almost no TV coverage of the event until after Hillary and her camp complained about Bernie and his “penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior.” Once Hillary accused Bernie supporters of violence, then the media seemed interested in covering the event in Nevada. Funny how things work out.

The real travesty out of this Nevadan debacle is that there have been bogus reports circulating on the mainstream media that Bernie supporters committed acts of violence at the convention and that Hillary operatives were physically threatened and “feared for their safety.”

The media has been demanding an apology and condemnation from Bernie Sanders, and have even gone as low to compare Bernie supporters to Trump supporters. These claims have no weight to them, but that hasn’t stopped the establishment from running with it.

Let’s examine this claim that Bernie supporters reacted violently at the Nevada convention. The convention was videoed heavily, so we do have an actual way of confirming these accounts. Yes, a lot of shouting and cursing took place, words got heated. However, no video showed any act of physical violence taking place.

There was no punching or throwing chairs, as the media has claimed. One video showed a man holding a chair over his head, but he soon put the chair down, and hugged out his frustration with other Bernie supporters.

Video also showed that the event had a clear police presence, and in no instance did it show them arresting anyone or breaking up acts of violence. Again, the event has a lot of video, and certainly a raucous act of violence would have turned up in a clip somewhere. But absolutely no evidence at all exists that violence took place.

Barbara Boxer, a California Senator and Hillary surrogate, who attended the convention in Nevada, said that she “feared for her safety” during the events. She of course implied that Bernie supporters were behaving violently, towing the establishment line.

Surprising, no video shows Boxer under any threat of danger, nor Roberta Lange (head of the Nevada Democratic Party). Both Boxer and Lange were under heavy Secret Service protection, and there was also a police presence at the convention (as mentioned earlier). Neither Boxer nor Lange were attacked, nor were there any signs of being physically threatened by anyone. Boxer even blew a kiss to the crowd as she was walking off the stage, a strange gesture by someone who felt threatened.

The establishment media has also been circulating tapes of what seems to be threats against Nevada Democratic leader Roberta Lange, which are claimed to be from Bernie supporters. Yet, the calls were never traced and the identities of the callers are not clear. Obviously if these were Bernie supporters, we should condemn them for such threats. However, we have no idea who these people were, and it seems unfair to paint all Bernie supporters as violent based on unconfirmed allegations.

Despite the fact that we have no actual confirmation that violence occurred, media pundits and Hillary surrogates are making the rounds and demanding Bernie apologize and condemn the violence that didn’t actually take place.

Bernie of course rightfully refused to cower, and rather than bow to bogus claims he attacked the reason his supporters were so angry in the first place. The Nevada convention was shady, and its events only helped reinforce the suspicion held by Bernie supporters that the Democratic establishment is rigging the system in Hillary’s favor.

What happened in Nevada is only another example of the Democratic Party establishment rigging the game against Bernie, and his supporters have a right to be angry. This is a bad sign going forward, especially if Hillary has any hope to unite the progressive base behind her in the general election.

Hillary and her surrogates have been giving a lot of talks about party unity, yet it seems an unwise strategy to unify the party by blatantly rigging the rules against Bernie and then calling his supporters violent when they rightfully express their (non-violent) anger.

Things have gotten so ridiculous that writers and Hillary supporters on social media have been comparing Bernie and his supporters to the likes of Trump. Bernie has run one of the most non-violent campaigns in history, matching with his equally non-violent career. Can you honestly make the case that Bernie Sanders, arguably the most non-violent and anti-war candidate we’ve ever had, is somehow fostering his people to commit violence? Again, on what grounds?

22 COMMENTS

  1. “The Nevada convention was a debacle, and Bernie supporters felt legitimately cheated by the state party.” Er, what was legitimate about the cheating? I think you meant to say that Bernie supporters legitimately felt cheated by the state party.

    • I AM a Democrat! And this is a typical answer from on High:
      I have heard from many voters recently who are confused about why their sample ballot or vote by mail (VBM) ballot for the June 7 Presidential Primary Election does not list the presidential candidates.Problems viewing this E-mail? Please click here.

      Senator Ben Allen

      A MESSAGE ABOUT VOTING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

      I have heard from many voters recently who are confused about why their sample ballot or vote by mail (VBM) ballot for the June 7 Presidential Primary Election does not list the presidential candidates. I am writing to offer clarification on this matter so that everyone who wants to cast a vote for president has the opportunity to do so.

      Voters who registered to vote without stating a political party preference are called “no party preference” or “NPP” voters. NPP voters will automatically receive a non-partisan ballot, which will have no presidential candidates listed.

      Each political party has the option of allowing NPP voters to vote in their presidential primary election. This year, the American Independent, Democratic, and Libertarian parties chose to do so. If you are an NPP voter who wishes to vote for a presidential candidate seeking the nomination of one of these parties, here are two ways you can do so:

      If NPP Voters have already received a non-partisan ballot in the mail, they have the option of going to their polling place on Election Day where they can surrender that ballot and request a ballot for one of the three participating political parties.
      If NPP voters still want to vote one of those party ballots by mail (even if they have already received their non-partisan ballot in the mail) they must complete a new vote-by-mail application indicating which of the three political party ballots they want, and mail or return it in person to their county elections office. These vote-by-mail ballot applications must arrive by May 31.
      The Republican, Green, and Peace and Freedom parties have chosen not to allow NPP voters to request their party’s presidential ballot or participate in their presidential primary election.

      If an NPP voter wants to vote for a presidential candidate seeking the nomination of the Republican, Green, or Peace and Freedom party, the NPP voter must re-register to vote with one of those parties by May 23, 2016. Voters can register or re-register online here: http://www.registertovote.ca.gov.

      A vote by mail ballot application can be found here:

      http://www.lavote.net/documents/election_info/06072016_VBM-App.pdf

      If you have questions, you may call the toll-free voter information line for Los Angeles County, at 1-800-815-2666, or visit them online at http://www.lavote.net/home/voting-elections.

      California State Senator Ben Allen – District 26

      Website: http://senate.ca.gov/allen
      Contact: Senator Ben Allen

      Capitol Office
      State Capitol, Room 2054
      Sacramento, CA 95814
      Phone: (916) 651-4026
      Fax: (916) 651-4926

      District Office
      2512 Artesia Blvd., #320
      Redondo Beach, CA 90278-3279
      Phone: (310) 318-6994
      Fax: (310) 318-6733?

      California State Senate Majority Caucus

      (c) 2015 California State Senate

      And these guys don’t have a clue either. Fall back: Trump.. Blow the bridge. af

  2. Dear QM:

    URGENT: Here is a direct quote from my sample ballot for the democratic party, to which I enrolled to enable me to vote for Bernie. It is printed under the headline Presidential (Party-Nominated/Partisan Offices), first page, top of the page:
    “Result: The candidate who moves on to the general election is the candidate nominated by their national political party and may not be the candidate that was elected by popular vote in the California primary election.”
    I switched party to Dem so that I could vote for Bernie. According to this, it’s a done deal and my vote doesn’t matter.
    I am a Mendocino County voter.
    On the same ballot for Lake Co., this notice is worded in contradiction to mine.
    In Humboldt Co., this paragraph doesn’t exist.

    PLEASE HELP US! WE HAVE REGISTERED MANY PEOPLE WHO SIMPLY WANTED TO VOTE FOR BERNIE!
    We have been grossly deceived. Please help us.

    Ms. Anon Forrest, Potter Valley, CA, 95469

    • Don’t worry… Your vote for Bernie in the California Primary is one step in the Process… So PLEASE make sure you Vote for Bernie on the Advance ballot or on Voting day!!

      Some parts of the Democratic Party establishment are just trying to muddy the waters and confuse people so they can reduce Bernie’s turnout to Hillary’s advantage!!

      VOTE… YOUR vote is important, and it will Count… and bring your friends to Vote with you!!

      • Wrong. We’ve called our local registrars and CA Constituents’ Affairs…both affirm that the national Dem Party will choose the candidate, just like the Mendocino Co ballot says, and the Lake Co ballot contradicts and the Humboldt ballot ignores. af

        • No… I’m Not Wrong… and Neither are the Local registrars… the National party at the Convention Chooses the Candidate… and YOU by Voting in the state Primary Choose the delegates that go to The National convention… If Bernie Wins California He gets more delegates than Hillary… therefore more votes for Bernie!! That is How YOUR vote Counts!

            • The Actual delegates are chosen at the California State Dem. convention… all you can do at this stage is to cast your Vote For Bernie Sanders for Democratic party nominee…. If you want to get more Involved, then you need to contact Bernie’s California State Campaign office!! They would be able to give you names and put you into contact with the right people.

  3. So this is what is bothering me: there are party stalwarts, operatives, committed people, whatever you want to call them and then there are the people who are new to the game, excited by it all and passionate, which is just fine. However, there has also been a real lack of leadership and structure and encouragement that fosters: resentment between the old and new guard; frustration on the part of those who just want the excitement and probably have not done the slog work of campaigning, calling people, knocking on doors handing out flyers. What you learn by doing the tough stuff is that people are complicated, as are your feelings. So chill; take some time to identify common ground as well as differences and take aim at two things, fixing the things you can agree to fix and keeping the guy with the bad combover out of the White House ’cause the other side was clearly too disorganized to do its job.

  4. The dang main stream liberal media. Oh yeah the liberal part does not work very well for this spin job. Main stream still makes it sound big and bad.

  5. As bad as all of the reporting about the convention has been, I’ve been just as frustrated by the ways that a few Democratic politicians have furthered that bogus narrative. Both Senator Claire McCaskill and Nancy Pelosi have released statements in support of Bernie Sanders, but both of those statements contain some variation of “I know the violence at the Nevada convention isn’t typical of Senator Sanders’ campaign or his supporters.”

    Which only further entrenches the idea that violence actually occurred.

    If I was feeling really paranoid, I might wonder if these statements were actually intended to further entrench that narrative, while at the same time APPEARING to support Bernie Sanders. I know that seems like a very House of Cards, Machiavellian, paranoid thing to think, but we’ve seen so many examples of obvious rigging of the system, it’s hard not to think that way.

  6. I appreciate the details and tone of this piece, but continually linking to Young Turks as “proof” doesn’t help. In your links alone, Cenk Uygur makes false claims about the HRC campaign having paid trolls and sarcastically and condescendingly dismisses claims of people being fearful.

    Debates about violence aside, the “game” isn’t rigged — it has rules. The political parties are basically clubs, not open block parties. I think it’s important to find and point out valid issues with voter registration and misuse of power. However, let’s focus on the real issues (decimating the VRA, anyone?).

    Where is the rescinding of claims that the NY Dems “rigged” a ballot to only include five and not six Sanders delegates in one of the districts? It was a lack of organization on the Sanders’ Campaign that created that situation — but most people I talk to think it was the HRC campaign who “rigged” it. Not true…and yet, now it’s out there and believed. The other issues in NY also affected Clinton supporters, arguably more than Sanders supporters. But because of the slant to the coverage, and an underlying belief that (again) the “game is rigged” it made it seem like only one group was affected. It all adds to the false narrative that everything is against a certain group which creates a victim mentality facing inward and a seething hatred based in falsehoods facing outward.

  7. I’ve heard some of the comments left on Lange’s phone. Vile. Not all violence is physical. Bernie would do well to address this kind of behavior directly. So far, the silence is deafening.

    • There are Extremists on all Sides… and Even if the callers were Bernie supporters the actions of an individual acting Independently is the The responsibility of neither Bernie nor the Campaign. Bernie issued a condemnation of the calls and disavowed any link to the campaign… and unless there is direct Proof that the Campaign directly organized any of the events the matter should be dropped and left in the hands of the police.

      As for the Campaign organizing any of the dissent, The ONLY link shown, has been one Activist who from the Stage reminded Bernie supporters, who were DEMANDING a Recount of the delegates after a blatantly Biased Ruling on a Voice Vote by the Chair, that they must stay in their seats and NOT LEAVE, as leaving would be detrimental should the Hillary-Friendly Chair decide to call the recount only when she thought that Hillary supporters outnumbered Bernie’s! There Was NO Collusion or organization to encourage violence, Other than the Actions of The DNC and Nevada Chairwomen herself!!

      • So it’s not up to Bernie to condemn the threats but it is the fault of the DNC Nevada chairman for those threats…. I think you have it all wrong. Those people that made those threatening phone calls aren’t anyone I want in my Democratic Party, Bernie can keep them.

        • Actually, I don’t want those Hillary (& Bill) 3rd-way Centrist DINOs that have corrupted and subverted FDR’s Democratic Vision in MY Democratic Party… so You and Hillary and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Nevada Chair are all welcome to join The Republican party where you Rightly Belong !! Thank You… please don’t let the Door Slam on your way out!! 😀

    • Those comments good just as Easily been left by Paid Tolls working for Hillary looking to Frame Bernie Supporters…. Or they could have been made by a Bernie supporter… there is NO PROOF to link those calls Directly to Bernie Or his organized campaign!!

      • I had that thought. I won’t discount it totally, but it’s conspiracy-style thinking, and I’ll go by Occam’s razor and take the simpler explanation. People were upset and pissed, and some folks don’t observe limits on their behavior. There is more than a whiff of misogyny underlying some the anti-Hillary stuff I see online. I write this as someone who has supported Bernie’s campaign.

        • Please check my post above. It will explain the depth of the deception in California Dem primary. Then check out HC’s statement in the Huffington Post re: California’s votes won’t matter. She’s right, thanks to the DNC.
          It is very difficult to remain blind to the collusion and manipulation taking place in this “election.” Please, Bernie, go 3rd party. You’re beating a dead horse. af

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