This is in response to a Rec listed diary, one which calls Bernie Sanders to task for defending Tusli Gabbard against some rather slanderous indirect references to her as a “Russian asset.”
All I can say is this. I'm not much of a Tulsi Gabbard fan. There’s lots to dislike about her, much of which has already been said here and which need not be rehashed. But that said, she's currently polling at around 1%. She's not going to be the Democratic nominee.
As far as Hillary Clinton's indirect references to her as a Russian asset, without proof, my response is that once again, Hillary is once again sticking her foot in her mouth. She did this back in 2016 with her "basket of deplorables" comment, which mostly had the effect of motivating Trump's base to vote for him. Was that comment true? Probably. But did she need to make it? No. Similarly, her Gabbard comments may have a grain of truth in them. But in this case, coming from her, they can and will run the risk of causing divisions among Democratic voters. Is that really what she wants? Is that what her supporters want?
As far me, I’m with Cory Booker, who is quoted as saying "We need to focus on winning this election ... talking about the urgencies that we have before us and not indulging in what I think is, for me, not a relevant story."
Amen to that.
Anyway, the diary to which I am referring, and its gleeful slandering of Sanders which put it on the Rec list here just goes to show that it is not just the Breitbart quoting MAGA crowd which is capable of baseless accusations and conspiratorial thinking. Because that is what I am seeing here.
Again, I’d rather we stay focused on Trump and not repeat the mistakes of the past, yet again. And I am assuming that Sanders would pretty much want the same thing.
Again, Gabbard is a flawed presidential candidate. But she is still a legitimate candidate and an elected member of the House. Referring to her as an asset of any country is a pretty serious charge and it should not be made lightly. Other candidates coming to her defense on this charge, as they have been doing, doesn’t make this charge any more valid, or helpful to the chance to defeat Trump, without some actual evidence to back it up. We should let the primary process just play out.
