At a rally Thursday night in Washington, D.C., presidential candidate Bernie Sanders didn’t mention Hillary Clinton by name, but he did continue to criticize Wall Street, the invasion of Iraq and stated that people “understand that it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics — that we need real change in this country.” [Video]
JEFF COHEN, jcohen at ithaca.edu, @jeffcot
Cohen is co-founder of RootsAction.org, which just put out a petition “Let It Bern. Continue to the Convention,” which urges Sen. Bernie Sanders: “While you are under huge pressure to abandon your presidential campaign, we urge you to complete the process of fully representing the millions of people who’ve worked, donated and voted for you. We hope that you will resist the latest calls from the Democratic Party establishment and corporate media to end our campaign before the national convention.
“This petition offers the names and personal statements of people from around the United States who echo a broad public outcry for this nomination process to reach its full conclusion.
“Your campaign has clearly stood for democratizing the United States, while insisting that democratic principles must apply to the Democratic Party. We believe that every vote should count — including on the convention floor. That should mean a roll call vote on the nominee for president as part of an official process, including the nominating and seconding speeches.”
Cohen said today: “The historic, youth-propelled Bernie campaign disrupted what the Democratic Party establishment hoped would be a coronation, not a competition. In Philadelphia, Bernie’s nearly 2,000 delegates are unlikely to settle for a stage-managed coronation; they want a convention. A fair and democratic convention could help achieve fair alliances against the Trump menace.”
The RootsAction alert continued: “It remains significant that neither candidate will win the 2,383 pledged delegates necessary to secure the nomination, and — contrary to the misleading media reports — neither candidate can do so until the superdelegates vote at the convention in Philadelphia.
“You have said, and we have cheered as you’ve said it, that you will carry this campaign to the convention. We urge you to maintain that position, despite the massive top-down pressures from the corporate media and Democratic Party establishment to prematurely end the campaign.
“We reject the idea that democracy weakens a political party named for democracy. We have worked for constructive debate at the Democratic National Convention, and we look forward to hearing it.”
RootsAction has been critical of the Democratic Party establishment through much of the primary process; see: “For Many Democrats, Six Primary Season Debates ‘Is Just Not Enough’,” “Remove Debbie Wasserman Schultz as DNC Chair,” and “Should Bernie Pay Off Superdelegates Like Hillary?”
Producers may want to use “Burn The Witch,” the recently released song and video by Radiohead, for lead-in.
