Open letter to David Brock

All right David, we get it. You want to make sure Hillary gets elected, fine. Whether it is because you actually believe in her or you are trying to make up for the fact that as a right wing attack dog you went after the Clintons viciously, or maybe you are just trying to apply the lessons you learned while working at the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation or making up for trying to smear Anita Hill and other liberal leaders. Whatever the reason, you really need to stop HOW you are doing it.

The way that you are asking the Bernie Sanders campaign to stop their legitimate questioning of Hillary Clinton’s policies and economic ties ignores the role of modern political primaries, is undemocratic and worst of all, it is slimy.

{mosads}Calling attention to the fact that Hillary’s SuperPac, the SuperPac you run, is getting unfathomable amounts from special interests groups and Wall Street may seem like “destructive attacks“ to you – the one controlling the bank account, but to the supporters of Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) it is justifiable criticism. The central issue of Sanders’ campaign is about our rigged economy and it’s reprehensible influence on politics; the points Sanders made after the Nevada primary are consistent with that effort.

Adding to that has been the influence of money on politics and the rigged political system, which has been all but admitted to by Democratic Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. So now, not content with the fact that Hillary Clinton has an unfair advantage from the antiquated practice of superdelegates, you want Bernie Sanders to not even bring up core issues and questions that the Democratic voters deserve to know about. This makes me wonder if you are trying to live in a past where the Democratic nomination process was decided by the party leadership before the people who make up the party had a say.

What is least surprising about your comments is the hypocrisy that comes with it. You ask Bernie to “play nice” and not question Hillary’s character when your organization has attacked everything from Senator Sanders’ medical records, campaigning methods, and even his so-called “purity bubble.” In fact, the majority of videos released by your SuperPac are direct attacks on Bernie. If you truly believed that “the stakes for our country are just too high this November … for you to continue to spend your energy and resources on destructive attacks that stand to hurt all Democrats,” then you would demand those videos be taken down and all attacks on Bernie – who may yet become the Democratic nominee – stop.

Already Sanders has thrown away ammunition against Secretary Clinton, including those “damned emails” even though investigation into them has shown that she lobbied for the same trade deal which she recently came out as against. Bernie has consistently said that he “likes” and “respects” Hillary Clinton and has run on the issues and kept the discussion civil where he could have gone very hard on the attack, much to the chagrin of his base.

Really, Sanders’ campaign being light on Hillary is a huge lost opportunity for her and, as a political attack dog, you should know this. Do you really think the GOP candidate will handle Secretary Clinton with kid gloves? The more that is brought up and addressed in the primaries, the less “gotcha” ammunition the right will have in the general election. For every issue and criticism that Bernie can raise, the GOP will raise ten fold and present them with as much vitriol as the American public can stomach. What you really should be doing is asking the Bernie Sanders campaign to be as vicious as possible.

So the crux of it is this, David; either stop being a hypocritical, self-serving political agent (one who tries to justify speaking fees for an hour’s work that equate to more than many American’s lifetime earnings), or recognize the opportunity to deflate the arguments from the right that will be a thousand fold nastier than Senator Sanders. The truth is that right now, you probably are doing more harm than good for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in general.

Kornblatt is a former legislative worker and campaigner in California. He is a long time Democrat and advocate for green issues and progressivism. He currently supports Sanders but will back whoever is the Democrat nominee.