Sanders, Buttigieg, O’Rourke defend Tulsi Gabbard

[Morphine Prince 109,645]

Washington(CNN) - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday defended his fellow 2020 hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii against the claim that she is a "Russian asset," saying the suggestion is "outrageous."

"Tulsi Gabbard has put her life on the line to defend this country," the Vermont independent tweeted. "People can disagree on issues, but it is outrageous for anyone to suggest that Tulsi is a foreign asset."

Sanders is not the only 2020 Democratic candidate to weigh in on the controversy.

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas also defended Gabbard, saying she "is not being groomed by anyone" and that the focus of the campaign should be on the economy, climate change and other issues affecting Americans.

"That's not correct. Tulsi is not being groomed by anyone. She is her own person," he told reporters after delivering a keynote address Saturday at the Alabama Democratic Conference Semi-Annual Convention in Birmingham. "Obviously (she) has served this country, continues to serve this country, in uniform, in Congress, as a candidate for presidency, so I think those facts speak for themselves." 

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg dismissed the claim on Sunday, saying that "there is no basis for that" and "statements like that ought to be backed by evidence." 

"I don't know what the basis is for that," he told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of The Union." "But I consider her to be a competitor. I respect her service. I also have very different views than she does, especially on foreign policy, and I would prefer to have that argument in terms of policy, which is what we do at debates and what we're doing as we go forward."

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/10/21/politics/bernie-sanders-tulsi-gabbard-tweet/index.html

[Morphine Prince 109,645]

Bernie, this ain’t it chief. 

Should’ve sat there and ate your food.

 

[ltlmnstr 2,771]

I’m tired. That’s all I’m gonna say about her.

[Morphine Prince 109,645]

1 minute ago, ltlmnstr said:

I’m tired. That’s all I’m gonna say about her.

Hillary Clinton is possibly boosting her campaign with all this free press. 

[ltlmnstr 2,771]

2 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

Hillary Clinton is possibly boosting her campaign with all this free press. 

It’s freaking annoying. She should’ve just sat on some yacht and live out her privilege. 

[Othon 34,299]

Don't like her at all, but he's absolutely right.

The notion that the Russian government is "grooming her" to be some sort of asset intent on undermining American politics is conspiratorial nonsense. 

[Buddy 5,686]

YESS! This IS it. I'm officially all in on Bernie now.

[Morphine Prince 109,645]

3 minutes ago, OG Gaga Stan said:

Don't like her at all, but he's absolutely right.

The notion that the Russian government is "grooming her" to be some sort of asset intent on undermining American politics is conspiratorial nonsense. 

They did it with Trump though. 

It’s not crazy to think Russia prefers and works to shift perception of candidates on both sides of the aisle.

Russia does it all over the world. 

[En_Sabah_Nur 9,366]

I wish she would just dropout of the race already!!!  🙄😒😒😒

[Morphine Prince 109,645]

I got a Tulsi ad on here again. Russian adware at work 

[Othon 34,299]

36 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

They did it with Trump though. 

It’s not crazy to think Russia prefers and works to shift perception of candidates on both sides of the aisle.

Russia does it all over the world. 

And we have concrete evidence that Trump actively solicited help from the Russian government and Russian hackers, on multiple occasions. (And even still, there's almost no evidence that the vague notion of "Russian interference" is why Trump actually won anyway. We ran a historically unpopular candidate with a terrible record who led an embarrassing campaign.)

All we have to tie Tulsi to the vague, McCarthyite conceptualization of "The Russians" are accusations from establishment politicians with personal axes to grind when it comes to this particular presidential candidate and angry tweets from centrist Democratic voters (claiming that she's "sowing devision" in the Democratic Party) who have spent the last two years in an insular Twitter world of their own creation (to justify Clinton's loss and absolve Clinton, and themselves by proxy, of any culpability for blowing an insanely winnable election to a clown) where they live and breathe the Russia story and where every critic of capitalism or the status quo is a Russian bot or a secret spy on Putin's payroll. 

Clinton knew what she was doing when she said this. She was encouraging the very same people in Tulsi's replies claiming, over and over again, that she's literally being paid by the Russian government or is taking orders directly from Putin. This conspiracy theory has gotten completely out of control. 

And if the Russian government is actively working to get her elected, they're doing a god awful job. She's polling horribly. 

 

EDIT: Just want to clarify, once again, that I'm not trying to defend Tulsi as a politician. Her record is a mess, her ties to authoritarians around the world like PM Modi are embarrassing, and her policy positions are mediocre at best.

[MJHolland 12,725]

I can't stand Tulsi, but the idea that it's her (direct) fault that Russia is sending bots to boost her is kinda out there. 

[Morphine Prince 109,645]

13 minutes ago, OG Gaga Stan said:

And we have concrete evidence that Trump actively solicited help from the Russian government and Russian hackers, on multiple occasions. (And even still, there's almost no evidence that the vague notion of "Russian interference" is why Trump actually won anyway. We ran a historically unpopular candidate with a terrible record who led an embarrassing campaign.)

All we have to tie Tulsi to the vague, McCarthyite conceptualization of "The Russians" are accusations from establishment politicians with personal axes to grind when it comes to this particular presidential candidate and angry tweets from centrist Democratic voters (claiming that she's "sowing devision" in the Democratic Party) who have spent the last two years in an insular Twitter world of their own creation (to justify Clinton's loss and absolve Clinton, and themselves by proxy, of any culpability for blowing an insanely winnable election to a clown) where they live and breathe the Russia story and where every critic of capitalism or the status quo is a Russian bot or a secret spy on Putin's payroll. 

Clinton knew what she was doing when she said this. She was encouraging the very same people in Tulsi's replies claiming, over and over again, that she's literally being paid by the Russian government or is taking orders directly from Putin. This conspiracy theory has gotten completely out of control. 

And if the Russian government is actively working to get her elected, they're doing a god awful job. She's polling horribly. 

 

EDIT: Just want to clarify, once again, that I'm not trying to defend Tulsi as a politician. Her record is mediocre, her ties to authoritarians around the world like PM Modi are embarrassing, and her policy positions are mediocre at best.

Fair enough. Perhaps Clinton had those motives but I’ve thought similarly without her saying it tbh. 

I’m so over Tulsi, can’t wait for her to end her campaign. 

[derpmonster 22,412]

Tulsi isn't the best candidate but there's literally no evidence for the Russia conspiracy theory.

I expect better of you @Morphine Prince. Hillary has literally cried "Russia" about any single person she doesn't like.

The reason they're defending Tulsi is because it's clear the DNC establishment hates her because she's actually different. Tulsi is better than Hillary. I want Bernie to win but remember the DNC establishment did similar things to Bernie and is still trying.

I don't like Tulsi derailing every conversation at the debates without contributing much and making others look bad but, like, she has foreign policy down. More than you can say about any single candidate other than Bernie.

[Morphine Prince 109,645]

2 minutes ago, derpmonster said:

Tulsi isn't the best candidate but there's literally no evidence for the Russia conspiracy theory.

I expect better of you @Morphine Prince. Hillary has literally cried "Russia" about any single person she doesn't like.

The reason they're defending Tulsi is because it's clear the DNC establishment hates her because she's actually different. Tulsi is better than Hillary. I want Bernie to win but remember the DNC establishment did similar things to Bernie and is still trying.

I don't like Tulsi derailing every conversation at the debates without contributing much and making others look bad but, like, she has foreign policy down. More than you can say about any single candidate other than Bernie.

I have never liked Tusli as a candidate. I also thought this way before Clinton said it