Garden Grove mayor Bao Nguyen will be hosting a “political revolution” event next week aimed at furthering the Bernie Sanders campaign through congressional, US Senate, and state and local races. While I’m delighted there’s finally some serious attention to all elections for progressives to engage and elect Democrats, I remain convinced Bernie Sanders isn’t the guy to lead this effort simply because he has never lifted a finger in this effort before he ran for president.
The Bernie camp is still steadfast that party unity means Hillary Democrats have to somehow bend over backwards to accommodate them. If you read Carole Levers account of the Democratic Convention over at the OJ blog, you’d have to believe that someone the Clinton people bugged her hotel room (seriously?). It didn’t matter that Clinton adopted significant chunks of Sanders’ platform into her campaign, it was about being disruptive. There were still some Bernie delegates who insisted the nomination was wide open because superdelegates couldn’t vote until the convention. Bernie is all that matters and for those still carrying his torch, I’ll remind them he still isn’t a Democrat…he remains an independent. If you want to influence the Democratic Party platform Senator Sanders, join the party (if you were holding your breath waiting for him to release his tax returns, you’d be dead by now).
Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen was an early Sanders endorser and is still on the bandwagon (as are a number of other prominent Democrats in OC). And that bandwagon increasingly reminds me of Ralph Nader voters who played a strong role in defeating Al Gore in 2000. We can blame Florida, evangelical gun nuts in Tennesee who turned the state red an didn’t cast ballots for Gore, and the Supreme Court, but had Gore won 8,000 more Nader voters in New Hampshire, he would have taken those four electoral college votes in the Granite State to 270 and the presidency. We would have avoided George W. Bush altogether.
So what I’ll refer to as the “suicide wing” of the Democratic Party, from an article in The Observer linked to below, got for voting for Nader was Citizen’s United, 9/11, war in the Middle East, tax cuts for the rich, massive budget deficits and massive debt needed to prevent a national (and global) economic meltdown. Bernie’s supporters remind me of an odd combination of Nader voters and Trump supporters. Mainly, it’s a refusal to acknowledge that lasting political change happens at a slower pace than many would like. The gay marriage debate is a perfect example. It took years to change hearts and minds and while discrimination against this community certainly still exists, there’s a dramatic sea change today — marriage equality being an amazing reality. There’s still more to do to eliminate discrimination against the LGBTQ in housing and the workforce, but its more a question of when and not if.
Here’s the note Bao sent to supporters:
If you’re like us, you know that the Political Revolution isn’t over by a long shot. We’re fighting every day to get progressives, including Mayor Bao, elected to every level of government! That’s why we’ve decided to host a livestream watch party and organizing kickoff for Bernie’s new organization, Our Revolution. Come join us on August 24th so we can start the next phase of the Political Revolution!
Where: Garden Grove Community Center
11300 Stanford Avenue Garden Grove, CA 92840
When: Wednesday, August 24th, 6pm – 8pm
Click here to say you’re going on Facebook!
Click below to register on BernieSanders.com:
In Solidarity,
The Bao Nguyen for Congress Team
Silly me. I though we had a political revolution when Barack Obama was elected in 2008; progressives stayed home on election day in 2010 helping the GOP retake the House and the Senate which is why we have gridlock in DC today.
An article in the Observer last week spells out exactly what I believe:
The failure of a significant portion of the progressive left to understand that a united front is needed to advance their treasured causes is maddening to Democrats. In a nation in which fewer than one-third of those surveyed identify themselves as liberals, it remains necessary for Democrats to win moderates to attain majorities in elections. But the suicide wing of the progressive left consistently complicates matters by threatening to withhold its votes when Democrats make the necessary compromises to win. And if Democrats cannot win, progressives cannot advance their agenda. It’s that simple.
Some of the most passionate progressives often fail to understand that progress is a process. There’s no silver bullet, and it takes many elections over a sustained period of years to build the kind of momentum and majorities for the changes they want to see. By shooting the Democratic Party in the back at pivotal moments, such as the 1968 and 2000 presidential elections and the 2010 midterms, they have continually derailed their own train. But then, it does seem that the farthest reaches of the far left are far more comfortable when they can “fight the power” rather than fight for power.
It’s time to unite behind Hillary Clinton and it’s time to back Democrats for office. The change the far left wing of the Party wants can only happen if Democrats are elected.
Bao is foolish.
He has WASTED any political capitol he had a while ago.
FIRST, he his sexuality, until politically expedient.
NEXT, he achieved NOTHING as GG Mayor.
NOT TO BE OUTDONE: He is drunkenly recorded by GGPD in an embarrassing display of sophomoric rhetoric.
WAITHERE’S MORE: Breaks out the F$%k stick against Loretta (who supported him), Can’t play nice with Lou, who is going to CRUSH HIM.
The only smart thing he’s done is call out Joe DONE for being a phony and has been, while Dunn’s supporters were chained to the bong.
Speaking of has been, Bao is the best one term mayor Garden Grove has had in a while.
Yeah, Diamond, Nelson, Nguyen, Moreno and LeTourneau’s –OC’s Suicide Squard
Except Nelson and Moreno have been Democrats for what, all of a year?
Dan….you must have mistakenly read something into the article that I wrote…I stated that the hotel provided our group with a meeting room and that it may have been bugged since the Hillary people were aware of all of our “agreed upon chants”…I did not say that MY hotel room was bugged. At least get it right!
The mere suggestion the Clinton people “bugged” *any* room to eavesdrop on Sanders delegates without proof is demonstrable crazy talk.
As for the young lady who said John Hanna shoved her, nice flop as they say in soccer. Let me know when Bernie gets around to releasing the tax returns he promised to do OK? And can release them along with his registration to our party since he’s still an independent.
here you go Carole; you wrote: The confirmed Bernie delegates were conducting organizing meetings in a room in back of the indoor pool location. The management learned of this and told us to leave. They returned about 10 minutes later and informed us that they were allowing us to use a couple of meeting rooms in the hotel for our meetings. They provided the room numbers and told us they would be ready in about 15-20 minutes. The Hillary campaign knew in advance what we were planning to chant, when we were planning to do these and the Hillary delegates were provided with counter chants. For example, when we chanted “No More Wars” … they began chanting “USA!, USA!” and other appropriate counter-chants. They were also provided with the “appropriate counter signs” to wave and hold and were told to hold multiple signs in order to block our protest signs from cameras. Because the Hilary campaign knew in advance EXACTLY and SPECIFICALLY what chants and actions we were planning to carry out for the next day, it appeared to us that our room had been bugged.
C’mon, seriously? Bugging? Chanting USA, USA works for *any* chant.
But you illustrate my point exactly; the suicide wing of the party would rather write in a different candidate or not vote by not getting their way and when Republicans get elected because someone threw a tantrum, we all suffer for it. Looking forward to your vote for Hillary Clinton on November 8. Bernie’s doing it, why shouldn’t you?
Apparently Bao has decided which of the 2 races he would definitely lose to pursue.
Of the 2 races he is/was destined to lose he has apparently decided to fruitlessly pursue a failed race for congress.
Well, in Orange County its still hard for a Democratic though its changing in the northern part of the county. I bet in 10 years its easier for both Dems and libertarians as the Republicans become less dominate in the County. You people seem to prefer the Dems or libertarians.
Well, you have the same thing with the Repubicians Gary Johnson is attracting about 10 percent that is tired of the Pat Buchanan like Donald Trump that is not opposed to free trade even Jeff Sessions state benefits from free trade since Airbus started production in Alabama. Wages in Alabama are lower than France or Germany. The trade can work both ways. A lot of European companies are in Orange County because wages are cheaper in Orange County than Western Europe but the Trump supporters like JR just whine about a low paying garment company in Santa Ana locating to Mexico. Democrats are not the only ones with disagreements and the Republican ones have lead to people going to Gary Johnson/Weld.