This was the week that Dudebro Nation ramped up its effort to alienate everyone who disagrees with them. I’ve been measured in my criticism of Team Sanders because I prefer a unified Democratic party, and it’s such a pain in the ass to criticize them at all. The whining is cacophonous. The worst of the Sanders supporters speak in cliches, talking points, and bromides. Hence the post title. Btw, the term Dudebromides was coined by Dr. A.
Let’s see, this week I’ve been called condescending because I actually know something about politics and history. I’ve been called a neo-liberal dupe because I don’t think some of the junior Senator from Vermont’s proposals are realistic, and I must be a dupe because I feel heartburn, not the bern, when dealing with Dudebros. I’ve been called a corporate shill as well. That’s my favorite, a shill is someone who’s paid to advocate for a person or product. I *wish* someone would pay me to express my opinions. I haven’t sold out because the “establishment” hasn’t attempted to bribe me. The list of Dudebromides goes on and on. It should be familiar to anyone who spends time on Twitter interacting with Dudebro Nation.
It’s vexatious (a word I’m trying to revive) that they think the way to win support is by insulting and bullying people. As a man I haven’t been subjected to the “your a man hater” line of attack. The misspelling is deliberate: spelling isn’t their strong suit. I guess that’s for the corrupt establishment types. You don’t need to be able to spell when you speak in Dudebromides. Here’s a typical exchange:
https://twitter.com/hopitoulas/status/732772533573836800
I did not know that I was responsible for Wendell Pierce. Who am I now? Jimmy McNulty?
That long Maddowesque introduction brings me to the point of this post. Although I never supported Senator Sanders, I was impressed by the early stages of his campaign: his focus on policy and refusal to indulge in petty personal attacks. That changed when Team Sanders thought they had a chance to win the nomination. That’s when the tone shifted and some of their supporters began spewing conspiracy theories and bile. It’s gotten to the point that a number of non-MSM pundits who were originally pro-Sanders either dropped their support or stopped defending the excesses of Dudebro Nation. Come on down, John Cole, Boo Radley, Manny Schweitz, Markos Moulitas and Josh Marshall. Here’s how that “establishment stooge” Charlie Pierce put it after the Nevada fiasco:
That being said, this whole mess was over four freaking delegates, and the Sanders people should know better than to conclude what has been a brilliant and important campaign by turning it into an extended temper tantrum.
I voted for Bernie Sanders. I even wrote about why I did here at this very shebeen. But if anybody thinks that, somehow, he is having the nomination “stolen” from him, they are idiots.
They also think it’s the Sixties all over again with a hated Democratic President embroiled in an unpopular war. Wait a minute, Obama has a 90%+ approval rating with Democrats. The sour grapes and sore loserdom coming out of Dudebro Nation *are* reminiscent of the bitterness Gene McCarthy spent his post-1968 life wallowing in. He eventually supported Ronald Reagan. I suspect some of the worst of the Dudebros will vote for Trump to “blow up the establishment.” Come on down, VI Lenin.
Back to my disappointment with the tone of Team Sanders and their refusal to encourage supporters to stop throwing tantrums or to criticize them for doing so. I don’t want to get into the weeds about what happened at the Nevada mishigas. It’s confusing as hell. But I hope that decent people would criticize those who posted Nevada State Chair Roberta Lange’s cell phone number on Twitter and left the following voice mails:
MALE CALLER: Hi Roberta Lange. This is a citizen of the United States of America and I just wanted to let you know that I think people like you should be hung in a public execution to show this world that we won’t stand for this sort of corruption. I don’t know what kind of money they are paying to you, but I don’t know how you sleep at night. You are a sick, twisted piece of shit and I hope you burn for this!
Hey, a “progressive” who’s in favor of public executions. How nice. Here are two more samples of the wit and wisdom of Dudebro Nation:
MALE CALLER: Oh Roberta, Roberta, Roberta, you old, old hag. Oh, we watched the whole thing in Nevada. You’re really kinda screwed, lady. Um, yeah. Really stupid. Fuck you.
MALE CALLER: That was pretty terrible. You probably just guaranteed fire is in Philadelphia. I’m not a psycho Bernie supporter, but there are some out there and you may have made a bad decision by completely ignoring the democratic process tonight. Thanks.
It *should* be a no-brainer for Sanders to condemn this disgusting nonsense but thus far he has not. Either Sanders is afraid of his supporters or he has no problem with sexist hate calls. Some revolution. It’s what happens when you speak in Dudebromides instead of remembering that two wrongs don’t make a right.
The reason that this corporate shill for the evil establishment uses the term Dudebro is that I am well aware that the majority of Sanders supporters are not Lefty Insult Comedians. I prefer to paint with a narrower brush even though I agree with what Amanda Marcotte said in her piece Bernie Bros out of control. I guess she’s a condescending corporate lackey even though she’s one of the original net roots bloggers and works for the site that publishes Ha Ha Goodman.
I will be thrilled when this is over so we can focus our fire where it really belongs: on the Trump Tower of Babble and the Republican party. I do, however, have a constructive suggestion before closing. It’s past time to abolish caucuses and hold primaries in every state. Caucuses are inherently undemocratic and lead to the sort of shenanigans that happened last weekend in Nevada. Let’s also try discussing things like adults instead of speaking in Dudebromides.
My sneaking suspicion is that in the Berniebro cohort we’re talking about a relative handful of actual Sanders supporters, augmented by some opportunistic trolls from the dark side.
That being said, I was disappointed in Sen. Sanders’ statement (echoed online by some friends) that the Democratic party needs to open itself up to other voters. There’s no secret handshake, no entry fee, no password: You want to be a Democrat? Mark the little box on your voter registration form. It’s pretty easy. Although it does require a personal declaration that that’s the political party someone identifies with, and it’s been the style for many years to refuse to be boxed in by the establishment, man. I get that, even if I don’t agree with it.
Newcomers to the party should also recognize that there are people who got here years ahead of them, people who have been working on campaigns for a long time, decades even, staffing the phone banks, walking the neighborhoods, handing out literature, talking to voters, and attending the meetings. They’ve invested their time and themselves pretty heavily in the party, and they may not be receptive to some arriviste breezing through the door to tell them they’ve been doing it wrong all this time, and please turn control of the party apparatus over to them because of their evident genius in deciding to join the party.
What makes people think Sanders supporters are all newcomers? Or kids? Sanders has gotten the support of a number of state and local union organizations, even when national leaders of the same groups have supported Clinton. In many cases, those are and have been the most active elements of the Democratic party for years. They are the people who’ve been schlepping brochures door-to-door and making calls for a variety of Democrats over the years. They were the people impacted by things like NAFTA, and they were the people affected by the 2008 crash. They can’t afford to send their kids to college any more. They still can’t afford medical care. While Clinton certainly has the support of many people at the top of national and local party leadership, that’s not always the case among the rank-and-file of party loyalists.
Superb piece. I’d like to ask: When are people going to get hip to “the site that publishes Ha Ha Goodman”?
Salon is not what it was in David Talbot’s day. Salon has always been a money-loser and is kept alive via two sources: Hedge fund manager William Hambrecht and John Warnock of Adobe Systems. Hambrecht’s influence seems the more dominant; he has made sure that his daughter Betsy became CEO. Hambrecht profited mightily from the TARP bailout. Previously, Betsy was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs and the founder of a Hong Kong online stock brokerage called Boom.com.
I think the sheer hypocrisy involved here should be obvious. Salon routinesly chides Hillary’s ties to Goldman and to Wall Street, but Wall Street money funds Salon — which is run, day to day, by a Goldman alum.
Moreover, the elder Hambrecht is trying to push through legislation which will make life immeasurably easier for pump-and-dump stock traders and other chiselers — the sort who fund Alex Jones.
As for Warnock: Many people don’t understand that Adobe is a DoD contractor, and that it has partnered up with the In-Q-Tel (CIA) funded company Carahsoft. I imagine that they will get plenty of contracts if Trump wins.
Ha Ha Goodman has a rather spooky background, if you care to look at it.
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2016/04/wanna-know-salons-dark-secrets-site-is.html
In fact, I think we should take a closer look at ALL of the people now writing for Salon. When the site began, it published the work of known and respected investigative reporters — Conason, Lyons, Waas, and so forth. The new crew? Every time I look into them, I don’t like what I see.
I’ve said it several times before: Salon used to be my jam. There was a slow decline in recent years but it seems to have accelerated in the last year, especially since Joan Walsh left. It’s a pity and it means that I miss some good stuff because I’m tired of wading through the click baity muck. Thanks for the link.
functional insanity and disruptive bullshit from the dark side easily discover and utilize the fringe thinkers orbiting planet bernie and the usual cons and liars babble on to distract the electorate from the vacuum of and paucity of intelligence of herr drumph…
it wasn’t funny the first time in the original german and it stinks now…
Reblogged this on Ceres Station.