The protesters stormed the convention hall shouting "black lives matter!" This was an opportunity for him to address a critical issue at a critical moment. Instead, he treated them as hecklers. An annoyance.
Sanders delivered his standard stump speech and threatened to leave if they continued to interrupt him.
He stuck to his riff on jobs and wages. When told it was near the end, a clearly agitated Sanders said "good!"
Nice.
Sanders was scheduled to meet with representatives of the organization Black Lives Matter after the speech, but his campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, attended the meeting instead.
Again, NICE.
Had Bernie bothered to listen to their concerns and address this critical issue, instead of telling them to sit down and be quiet, he would have moved the needle in his favor.
Instead, he missed his shot and pissed off a lot of people in the process.
Lest you guys think I am a Bernie Basher, I am not. I think his race in the campaign is critical for pushing economic disparity on the front burner for this campaign season. I thought, up to this point, he was a pretty adept campaigner.
But the disappointment in his behavior has been reflected on message boards throughout the black community. I get that it was a disruption, but for God's sakes, getting killed everyday is a bit of a disruption as well and some of us want to know when people who are supposedly on our side are going to do something about it.
Not told to sit down, shut up, and listen to a standard stump speech. O'Malley is a joke, but Bernie was a disappointment.
