{"id":73391,"date":"2016-07-26T02:31:21","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T08:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sanders-supporters-protests-overshadow-democratic-national-convention\/"},"modified":"2016-07-26T08:31:21","modified_gmt":"2016-07-26T08:31:21","slug":"sanders-supporters-protests-overshadow-democratic-national-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sanders-supporters-protests-overshadow-democratic-national-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanders supporters\u2019 protests overshadow Democratic National Convention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Michigan
Michigan delegate Melissa Arab offers her protest during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Monday. Despite pleas from Sanders asking his supporters to forsake protests against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, chants of \u201cBernie\u201d echoed through the arena, and boos could be heard nearly every time Clinton\u2019s name was raised.<\/span>John Locher\/Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fueled by the resignation of the party\u2019s chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and outrage that the Democratic National Committee sought to influence the primary in favor of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders supporters overshadowed the start of the party\u2019s convention in Philadelphia on Monday.<\/p>\n

The unrest came despite a plea for unity by Sanders and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a Clinton supporter who presented the convention\u2019s rules report on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primaries brought together some issues we need to address as a Democratic Party, and that is exactly what we should do,\u201d Webb addressed a raucous audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur diversity has made us strong. \u2026\u201d Webb continued. \u201cLet\u2019s all cheer for Bernie when he takes the stage, and let\u2019s also cheer for Hillary when she takes the stage on Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders was scheduled to speak Monday evening.<\/p>\n

The progressive candidate \u2013 who led a \u201cpolitical revolution\u201d \u2013 asked his delegates to show respect for Clinton and her supporters, cautioning that \u201cour credibility as a movement will be damaged\u201d if delegates protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s of utmost importance you explain this to your delegations,\u201d Sanders wrote in a separate text message to delegates.<\/p>\n

But the message was lost on many of his supporters in the audience, who repeatedly shouted \u201cBernie\u201d over those speaking in favor of Clinton, while \u201cbooing\u201d Clinton.<\/p>\n

Some even chanted, \u201clock her up,\u201d a familiar message used by Republicans who believe Clinton should go to prison for using a private email server while secretary of state.<\/p>\n

The Democratic divide was inflamed over the weekend following leaked emails that highlighted an effort by the DNC to tilt the primary in favor of Clinton. The party is expected to remain neutral during the nominating process.<\/p>\n

Wasserman Schultz resigned in the aftermath. On Monday, the DNC announced that she would not preside over the convention this week, after she was heckled at the Florida delegation breakfast, with some yelling \u201cShame!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her ousting served as a monumental and symbolic moment for Sanders supporters who have lamented for months about unfair treatment.<\/p>\n

The divide from the Democratic convention resembled unrest seen by Republicans last week at their convention. Colorado Republicans overwhelmingly declined to support Trump, instead backing Ted Cruz, while attempting a coup against Trump. Cruz refused to endorse Trump.<\/p>\n

Democratic delegates shrugged off the message being sent by protests from their side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support the expression of opinion,\u201d said Root Routledge, a national delegate from Durango, representing Sanders for the 3rd Congressional District. \u201cThis is what democracy looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sal Pace, a 3rd Congressional District delegate for Clinton, said the rift was not as prolific as it might have seemed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great deal was struck on the rules. This reform commission is ground breaking and a sign of cooperation,\u201d Pace, a Pueblo County commissioner, said. \u201cA lot of healing is happening. When Bernie speaks, he asks his supporters to vote Hillary. That\u2019s a stark contrast to the second-place finisher in the GOP, Ted Cruz, who refuses to endorse Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot sure how it looks on TV, but in person it\u2019s very cordial here.\u201d<\/p>\n

pmarcus@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gathering kicks off with unrest despite pleas for unity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[662,663,13,664],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-73391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-democratic-party","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-hillary-clinton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73391"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=73391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}