Clinton supporters are frothing at the mouth.

The BBQ Pit
1

Oh, but not you, dear reader! It’s those other Clinton supporters. So don’t take this personally.

There’s a ‘truth’ floating around for the last six months, that people who support Bernie Sanders for the Democratic party nomination (and ultimately president) are loud, angry, entitled people who can’t shut up. They’re sexist, probably racist, and make everything about Bernie. These ‘Bernheads’ turn the internet into a wasteland of hippy-dippy parroting of feel-good liberal nothings, that they type in the comments section of Huffington Post articles while they man-spread on the subway.

Screw that. There are assholes everywhere; and the more time you spend online the more you are likely to find them. But here on the SDMB, they tend to come in Clinton-flavored packaging.

I ran through the OPs of the first 150 threads in the Elections forum yesterday afternoon, 7 of those were threads started by Clinton supporters, to bash Bernie and/or his supporters. 3 were threads by Bernie fans bashing Clinton. (definitions of ‘bash’ as determined by me. I tried to not include threads that were started as honest speculation about results, or honest questions about policy.)

Anti-Sanders

Feel the #extortion Bernie has planned - SlackerInc

**Summary:**Bernie Sanders is threatening to lead riots and the end of the Democratic party. He makes me so mad!

Elizabeth Warren’s role - DSeid

**Summary:**Elizabeth Warren is going to force Bernie to concede the race. It’ll be great to watch him finally bow to the real politicians.

Barney Frank throws shade at voters, and Bernie Sanders - SlackerInc

**Summary:**Someone who supports Clinton insults Sanders and those who support him. This makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Bernie “we’ll see” if he fundraises for other Democrats - dalej42

**Summary:**I hate Bernie and he’s stupid! I also really want to call him names. Also, he keeps refusing to talk about how he’ll promise to shut up when he looses this race, and that makes me mad!

Bernie’s Soviet “honeymoon” and trips to Nicaragua and Cuba are disqualifying. - SlackerInc

**Summary:**I’m not saying that BERNIE IS A COMUNIST. But I’m just worried that all those nice Republicans who might vote for Hillary probably won’t because they hear that BERNIE IS A COMUNIST. I mean, he’s totally not fit to run for president anyway, but the fact that BERNIE IS A COMUNIST might be upsetting to some. Not me, though, but other people. COMUNIST!

Sanders saved by supers? - DSeid

**Summary:**Bernie Sanders still isn’t quitting. He isn’t saying it, but it’s clear that what he wants is to overturn Democracy. Because he didn’t say he didn’t not want to. What do you think?

Bambi versus Godzilla: the illusions of Sanders-supporters - Sherrerd

**Summary:**Sanders supporters are delusional. Also, they’re meany pants.

(This next one was not started by a Democrat, but only a few posts in there was such a clear example of one of the usual suspects putting Bernie hatred above all else that I feel compelled to put it on this list.)

Sanders’s Supporters Brownshirts Stop Trump Rally in Chicago - Jim’s Son

**Summary:**Thread started by a Trump supporter about how Democratic Party is “the party of hate, fear, anger and violence,” and calling for Bernie to “control his supporters.” Six posts in we get Dalej42 jumping on the bandwagon with: “I am a Hillary supporter in Chicago and I don’t like it at all. I’m quite tired of activists who want to shut people down. Let Trump speak.” . . . because if it’s a post against Bernie, then gosh darn it, he’d better give it a thumbs up.

Anti-Clinton

HRC and the ethics thing. - foolsguinea

**Summary:**Typical rich and powerful people doing shady rich and powerful people things. News at 11. This one’s a game-changer, folks! Trust me.

Another election stolen from Bernie Sanders - boffking

**Summary:**Election shenanigans! Must be Hillary’s fault!

Who is more likely to end up in jail, Clinton or Trump? - boffking

**Summary:**No really. Clinton’s on her way to jail. Because she’s a mean ol’ establishment person.

In all of these threads, the childish name-calling and general playground bullying from Clinton supporters is so thick you can cut it like a knife.

The blinders on the Clinton camp about their behavior is so strong that I almost have to believe that they are just being assholes on purpose, and then shouting “nuh-uh, you are” because they know they can get away with it. From the Bambi versus Godzilla: the illusions of Sanders-supporters thread:

It is to laugh.

2

Man, all this is nothing compared to the '08 primary, at least from my memory.

We’ll all unify before the convention, aside from a few angry holdouts who probably won’t affect anything, just like in '08.

3

Yeah, by the end of the 2008 primaries, I had five posters (some of each side) on ignore until the election was over. This year I’ve only got one.

4

Yep, the Dems have two interesting (if a bit flawed) candidates this year. We’re having a healthy primary season, and we’ll unify come November because we like both Clinton and Sanders, and the Republican alternative is quite frightening. I think most of the “Sanders’ voters won’t support Clinton” nonsense is simply wishful thinking by the Republicans.

5

This just proves that even the slightest criticism of Sanders and his flock is met with over the top hysterics. Dial it down a notch please.

6

Dude, are you for real? You read accusations taht Sanders is extorting Clinton, because he talks about what progrssives want her to say, as slight criticism? You read the response, and not that OP, as over-the-top hysterics? Are you kidding?

There are plenty of Sanders supporters, especially on my FB feed, who are acting obnoxious. Around here, though, it’s Slacker and DSeid and a few others that are being the biggest Elections forum tweakers.

7

I agree with the OP. I’m a Hillary supporter, but there are some people on the Hill side here who make me want to slap a permanent Bernie sticker on my truck. The main culprit is mentioned in the OP. Rhymes with Blacker Dink.

8

Help me understand the anger of Hillary voters/ working class white people on the left.

9

The OP is right, especially calling out Sherrerd’s quote:

I rolled my eyes so hard I strained a cornea.

10

Yes I am kidding. Something about the simple dismissive post in the face of all the OP’s apparent research made me laugh.

But have Clinton supporters promised to not vote, to vote Green (or vote Republican if we are to believe the idiotic stereotypes of Clinton supporters), to write in “Bernie”, or to “hold one’s nose while voting for Bernie” if we were to see Bernie win the nomination? No or rarely so. I don’t care about the hyperbolic accusations I am seeing to be honest, but the hyperbolic promise to do one’s part to essentially throw the election is really below the belt. That’s not competitive, that’s vindictive. It’s the shittiest of all the shitty behaviors I’ve seen in this Democratic primary and it’s the most common, by far, among Sanders supporters.

11

“Clinton supporters are frothing at the mouth”

(followed by much frothing at the mouth by a Sanders supporter)

Ah, I love the smell of irony in the morning.

12

And here you are illustrating my point pretty beautifully.

Someone out there somewhere has certainly said all those things about Clinton. You claim that this behavior is most common “by far” among Sanders supporters.

And yet in this venue where you decide to argue and debate, you are completely wrong. This sort of behavior is show to not be more common in Sanders supporters, in fact, quite the opposite.

Things tend to go down like this:

[ul]
[li]Posters on this board see people acting stupid/shitty out there in the world.[/li]
[li]Conveniently, they somehow only manage to notice or care about the people who are shitty towards the candidate they prefer.[/li]
[li]Said posters then come here, where that kind of shittyness is at a minimum, and stink up the place with their own version, building up unsupportable strawmen as justification.[/li]
[li]The posters who do this the most clearly have an anti-Sanders agenda, setting off all irony meters as most of the people displaying the kinds of behavior they feel is just so obvious and rampant are they themselves.[/li][/ul]

13

Which part of my post would you label as “frothing at the mouth”?

14

As someone with no dog in this fight whatsoever… Starting at the first capital and ending with the last period.

15

There are maybe a dozen posters who regularly hyperbolize about Clinton or Sanders, and probably 100 who support one candidate or the other with exclusively or mostly reasoned argument. Maybe the split is 7-5 or 8-4 or something. Trying to draw conclusions from that small set is pretty silly.

You also demonstrate a poor ability to distinguish vitriol from reason. Your inclusion DSeid’s post about Warren is a good example. Here it is in full:

You summarized it as “It’ll be great to watch him finally bow to the real politicians.” That says a lot more about what’s in your head than what’s in that post.

16

Well, the things he mentioned make both more and less sense than you are claiming for them.

For example, he may not see any Clinton supporters threaten not to vote for Sanders. This is true because Clinton is in the lead. Of course her supporters are not making such threats.

Sanders supporters accuse Clinton (or Clinton supporters) of being appeasers, Republicans, fools, etc.

Clinton supporters accuse Sanders (or Sanders supporters) of being ideologues, traitors, fools, etc.

Some of the insults are the same. Some do not cut both ways.

So, yes, it is much more common on this board to see people say they are Sanders supporters who won’t vote for Clinton than vice versa. This is obvious and expected. (Please don’t make me reread so many tedious threads for examples. I’m begging you.) It doesn’t mean anything, but it’s true.

17

Of all the posts I included, this one almost got left off the list, so I will concede it is the weakest of my inclusions in the “anti-Bernie” list.

But, I think it’s pretty fair to interpret “The primary process will be over when Warren says it is over” and “Her stating that it is time to move along and work on the healing and unification process . . . will force Sanders to say it,” particularly coming from DSeid, as yet another in a stream of proclamations about how Sanders has should submit to the inevitable tide of The Party. In this case, it’s that Elizabeth Warren has been securing positions for her people in the Clinton cabinet, before shocking us all with her endorsement of Clinton.

I’m not saying Warren will or won’t endorse Clinton or Sanders, but DSeid’s “analysis” of the situation reads like a Clinton wet dream. It is a “reasoned” argument in only the loosest sense of the word.
At any rate, you are correct that my analysis is perhaps statistically insignificant. However, if people are staking out positions about the behaviors of Sanders and Clinton supporters, maybe someone ought to at least try to get a real picture of what is happening. As this thread is about posting trends on the SDMB, it seemed like a good place to start. Do you have any better suggestions about gauging the tenor of debate on the boards?

Because the point of this all is that I’m tired of seeing arguments that Sanders supporters are crazy and mean, while the evidence here seems at least to point to the fact that everyone is crazy and mean, and IMO leans more towards showing that the loudest and meanest among us come from the Clinton camp.

18

If I may, I’ll join Euphonious Polemic in saying (basically) “the whole damned thing”. Though I do have a dog in the fight - I’m a Clinton supporter.

19

But, again, the evidence most assuredly does not point to “everyone is crazy and mean.” I think it’s quite clear that the vast majority of posters in elections behave pretty reasonably regardless of which candidate they support. In my “anti-Clinton” thread currently in elections, I don’t think I can really tell which of my interlocutors supports which candidate just based on the posts themselves.

So by its very nature your inquiry is looking at a handful of people. I suspect they are the kind of people who post over-the-top strident things about any topic. It just isn’t that interesting or meaningful to say whether it’s 8 rabid anti-Sanders folks or just 5, and vice versa.

20

Wooooooo! I’m invisible!