This is a great example of the circular firing squad of progressives/liberals–mouthing off with bullshit criticism and making assumptions and spinning conspiracy theories pulled out of someone’s ass, or collectives asses.

The kerfuffle making the rounds: Bernie has not done enough to support Tim Canova in his primary race against the odious Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in Florida. The vote is August 30th.

A few points, the first three are based on facts, not conjecture, and, #4 is opinion:

1. I was an early contributor to Tim’s campaign. I think he had been in the race just a few weeks earlier this year when he showed up an event I was speaking at on behalf of Bernie at a nurses union local office in Hollywood, FL. He introduced himself, told me what he was up to and I immediately asked him to speak first so people would get to know him. I also made a pitch to people, then, to contribute–and promised my own money, which I followed through on. More recently, I offered to come help in a variety of ways. I say this to make clear that I think Tim would be a strong voice in Congress and I hope Tim wins (I think it’s a tough race first-time around but not impossible).
2. BUT…Tim has been a great beneficiary of Bernie’s support. In May, Bernie sent out an email on behalf of Tim, and only two other candidates. Tim raised, by his own public statements, about $250,000 just from that one email–that’s a huge haul for a challenger; a second, more recent email, in the summer went out and I believe another big six-figure chunk came in (but I couldn’t track that down in the five minutes I had to write this). More important, the stamp of approval from Bernie has raised more money and, as crucial, given Tim lots of activists to work as volunteers. Tim has a very healthy bank account, for a first-time, relatively unknown candidate running against an entrenched incumbent, almost entirely because of Bernie’s support.
3. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is no longer chair of the Democratic National Committee largely because of the pressure from Bernie and the movement. He publicly, many times, made clear he wanted her out–by the way, earning no fans among the elites in the DNC (though, it has to be said, a fair number of some of those elites loathe DWS). Her exit certainly added to Tim’s talking points in the district about why she needs to be defeated.
4. I still support Tim but I’m disappointed that he’s making public statements a la “Bernie hasn’t come to campaign” and/or “he’s not returning my calls.” This strikes me as whining and very ungracious. A more gracious approach would be to profusely thank Bernie for his incredible backing to date and make clear that without Bernie’s endorsement, the campaign would have close to zero chance of succeeding. And, then, shut the fuck up.

Then, lo and behold, like clock work, out come the carpers/conspiracy theorists/whiners/people-who-have-too-much-time-on-their-hands-and-don’t-represent-ANYONE to opine about the reasons Bernie isn’t on-the-ground in that district. The main thesis: In light of his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, Bernie has somehow, explicitly or implicitly, made a deal with the Clinton campaign/DNC not to campaign for Tim.

And what evidence–FACTS–supports that thesis? No facts. Nothing. Zero. I don’t know why Bernie isn’t going to campaign for Tim–maybe he’s tired, maybe he’s pretty busy with other projects, maybe he’s busy with his book, maybe he doesn’t think the campaign is winnable or being run right (I’m not suggesting something is wrong with the campaign plan/progress) or maybe he figures raising a huge chunk of money was all he could, or needed, to do right now. I don’t know the facts.

And neither do the fools who are spinning conspiracy theories.

Either come up with some facts or shut the fuck up.