Sanders’ California delegation among loudest, angriest in attacking Clinton
PHILADELPHIA — Rocked by a fresh email scandal, the Democratic National Convention opened in chaos Monday with Bernie Sanders’ supporters in full revolt, jeering speakers, berating Hillary Clinton delegates and shattering calls for party unity. But in a dramatic cap to a tension-filled day, Sanders implored his backers to support Clinton as the only option to advance their “political revolution” — and keep Donald Trump out of the White House.
“I am proud to stand with her tonight,” Sanders told a rapt and rowdy convention.
It was a nightmarish start for Clinton as many Sanders delegates booed every utterance of her name in anger over revelations from leaked emails that party officials had sought to undermine his campaign.
California’s Sanders delegation was among her loudest critics inside the convention hall, where even the opening prayer was greeted with shouts of “Bernie! Bernie!”
Instead of concentrating only on his political crusade against a “rigged economy” and “corrupt political system,” Sanders found himself among the many party bigwigs trying to play peacemaker.
Minutes after stepping on stage to an ovation that lasted roughly three minutes, Sanders gave his most impassioned endorsement yet of Clinton declaring that she “will make an outstanding president.”
Democrats will find out quickly if Sanders’ convention-floor endorsement can unite a fractious party and help it over the next three days to boost Clinton’s fortunes and convince voters that Trump cannot be trusted with the presidency.
Among those who left the convention floor unsold on Clinton was Alex White, a Sanders delegate from Berkeley, who joined in the booing chorus.
“I don’t think a single Bernie delegate was persuaded by a single thing said on stage,” he said. “Everyone was offering up empty platitudes.”
At the same time, he knew he was being shushed.
“Could it have been done in a more diplomatic way? Sure. But you see all the ways we were disrespected. They shoved this unity thing down our throats. What are we left to do?”
Sanders delegates arrived in Philadelphia fighting mad after a weekend of tumult within the party when WikiLeaks unleashed nearly 20,000 private emails from Democratic National Committee officials showing they favored Clinton’s campaign at the expense of Sanders.
The DNC issued an apology to Sanders and his supporters on Monday for the email scandal, but that didn’t appease many of them.
Bernie backers from the Golden State booed Clinton supporter and gay rights icon Barney Frank. They also jeered comedian Sarah Silverman, who as a former Sanders backer was supposed to take the edge off the evening but wound up telling hecklers, “You’re being ridiculous.”
There were fewer boos for first lady Michelle Obama, who urged Democrats to “pour every last ounce of our passion and strength” on behalf of Clinton.
“I want someone with the proven strength to persevere,” Obama said, “someone who understands the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.”
Several speakers took aim at Trump, castigating him for his bankruptcies and the demise of Trump University. “Time after time he preyed on working people, people in debt, people who have fallen on hard times,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. “He’s conned them, he’s defrauded them and he’s ripped them off.”
Sanders’ speech marked a turning point for the Vermont senator, who even earlier in the day had couched his support for Clinton primarily in warning supporters about the dangers of a Trump presidency. Instead, Sanders, who acknowledged his disappointment at narrowly losing the Democratic nomination, made the case for Clinton as a champion for many of the politics he pushed during the campaign — as well as the only candidate who can bring the country together.
“While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths,” Sanders said.
The speech had to have been a relief to the Clinton campaign, but Sanders never told supporters flat out that a protest vote against Clinton would put the country in danger, said Marc Sandalow, associate academic director for UC’s Washington Center.
“Sanders has a lot of young supporters who have never experienced voting for a presidential candidate they don’t like,” Sandalow said. “He certainly didn’t wave off those who have been disrupting the convention on his behalf.”
Sanders had emailed delegates Monday afternoon urging them to behave themselves on the convention floor.
Jeering, he warned, would make it harder to build a progressive coalition and play into Trump’s hands.
“I think the credibility of this movement is being tarnished by the actions of some of the people in the California delegation,” said Nick Seider, a Sanders delegate from Orange County.
But David Padover, a Sanders delegate and aerospace engineer from San Jose, compared the disruptions to “Yelp reviews. The unhappy customers make the most noise,” he said.
“Still,” he said, “I think it’s good because it’s what democracy is all about.”
The unrest began early Monday morning as Sanders delegates chanted “Bernie” and booed Clinton supporters addressing a meeting of the California state delegation, including U.S. Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Mike Honda.
“We are not here to fall for the party unity ploy,” said Sanders delegate Robert Shearer from Humboldt County, who remained on his feet throughout the program shouting down the speakers at the Marriott Hotel. “Hillary Clinton and the DNC have not embraced the principles of our political revolution. We’re going to keep fighting.”
In a hotel ballroom set with platters of bacon and eggs, tensions mounted between both sides, with one Clinton delegate complaining that a Sanders supporter smacked her shoulder with a Sanders sticker.
“You get emotional, but you don’t hit someone,” said Mary Jane Sanchez-Fulton, a Clinton delegate from Palm Springs who held the crumpled Sanders sticker in her hand. “You’re going to divide, divide and divide. That’s not what this country is built on.”
Hours later, sizing up the convention’s first day, the most vocal, anti-Clinton Sanders delegates gathered in the hallway outside the convention immediately after Sanders’ speech and chanted, “I will not be bullied by Hillary Clinton. I will not vote for Hillary Clinton. But don’t blame us if Donald Trump is elected.”
Whether the anti-Clinton brigade used up all its energy on Monday will be clear Tuesday night: Former President Bill Clinton takes the stage as one of the marquee speakers.