There is an uncomfortable half-truth that conservatives tell about liberals which stabs at the limbs of the progressive movement. That is the line about white liberals pandering to black voters. The reason I call it a half-truth is because it ignores the fact that black Democrats are leaders in their own right. The conservative rhetoric would have you believe that black people are "gullible voters" and not ever candidates or political players themselves. It is racist, in that sense - depicting black democrats as inferior to everyone else.
Bernie Sanders, with help from Cornel West and Killer Mike, made himself the perfect example of this liberal pandering. On Super Tuesday, black Democratic voters decided they've had enough.
Cornel West, a Sanders surrogate on the campaign trail, for his part, made an appearance on CNN, where he shouted down a young black man and disrespected him for being a Hillary Clinton supporter. He basically called the young man ignorant. It was shameful. But he didn't stop there... West went on to claim that "Hillary called our community Super Predators."
That was a lie.
Hillary Clinton never called the black community "Super Predators". The only time she ever used the phrase was in 1996 and she was describing gang members who have no conscience and a penchant for violence... race had nothing to do with it.
The Super Predator lie is part of a larger mythological narrative that Sanders has patched together using right-wing talking points and hacked up clips of Hillary's media appearances over the years... of which there are plenty.
Another example of this is the now infamous "marriage is between a man and a woman" floor speech. The video clip that Sanders' supporters have callously strewn across the internet is heavily edited and only shows Hillary affirming that she believed "marriage is the sacred bond between a man and a woman." This is meant to make the viewer perceive her as homophobic. The reality of that speech, however, is that Hillary was speaking in DEFENSE of LGBT Civil Unions when Republicans had presented a bill to outlaw them. Hillary, of course, voted against the anti-gay bill that was presented that day.
So, by lying to black and gay voters about Clinton's record, the Sanders campaign is doing the worst kind of pandering. It's a smear job. It's snake oil.
Bernie Sanders promised he would run a clean campaign. He has done exactly the opposite and he has encouraged his supporters to behave like an angry mob, attacking the social media of anyone who dares to defy their so-called revolution. It backfired. It will continue to backfire.
