Sanders is pulling no punches
On Saturday CNN’s Jack Tapper asked Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders whether he would like to see current Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) defeated by her primary opponent.
“Well, clearly I favor her opponent,” said Sanders. “His views are much closer to mine than as Wasserman-Schultz’s.”
Sanders even went so far as to say that, if elected president, she would lose her spot as DNC chair.
“Let me also say this in all due respect to the current chairperson, if elected president, she would not be reappointed to be chair of the DNC.”
Wasserman-Schultz faces numerous accusations from the Sanders camp as well as from his supporters of being an unfair broker in the 2016 primary contest between him and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This was definitely clear in the aftermath of the fracas that broke out at the Nevada state Democratic convention.
Though Wasserman-Schultz’s tenure as DNC chair has been rocky at times, a Democratic party presidential candidate just said, openly and on the air, that she shouldn’t merely be removed as DNC chair, but also that she should be booted out of congress altogether.
Shots fired, as they say…
This almost certainly raises the stakes of a DNC convention which may be gripped by the spasms of open revolt.
Wasserman-Schultz now has a plain-as-day self-interest in rigging the DNC convention such that it’s as unfair as possible to Sanders in order to save her own political career.
Democrats who worry about party unity for the general election scold Sanders supporters for their alleged recklessness.
But not all see his continued campaign as an inherently bad development. Consider this tweet from Dave Rubin, who is himself no swivel-eyed conservative:
Bernie is basically running to destroy the Democratic party at this point. Since both parties suck I’m fine with that, but just admit it.
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) May 19, 2016
Also considering the broken state of our politics and the quality (or lack thereof) of candidates the Democratic establishment slops into a bowl before the electorate like wet dog food from a can, I doubt Rubin is alone in being willing to live with it too.