Letter writer: Bothwell echoes Sanders’ plan to leave Democratic Party

Graphic by Lori Deaton

[Asheville City Council member] Cecil Bothwell’s leaving the Democratic Party because he is a Bernie Sanders supporter seems to echo his candidate’s behavior.

Bernie Sanders was not a Democrat prior to his running for president. He has said he will identify as an independent when he returns to the Senate. Then, why did he run to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president?

He used the power of the Democratic Party to help him to raise money, to get publicity and to be part of the mainstream, politically. That use of the one of the two major, established political parties seems to contradict his constant assertion that he is a revolutionary.

Since he has not given decades of loyalty to and support of the Democratic Party, why should the party give him total support and loyalty? He was clearly using the party for what it could do for him without his having done anything for the party.

While he touts having brought thousands of new voters to the party, the behavior of his independent supporters throughout the Democratic National Convention shows that he did not bring more people to the party. He used the power of the party to bring more voters to himself.

Therefore, for Sanders’ supporters to abandon the Democratic Party because he is not its nominee really makes no sense. He has never been a Democrat and apparently will not be a Democrat in the future.

I hope that if their failure to support the Democratic nominee results in a Trump presidency, the Sanders supporters will be happy with the results of their revenge.

— Pat Scherer
Weaverville

Editor’s note: When contacted by Xpress, Bothwell offered the following statement in response to this letter and another one in this issue: “My exit from the Democratic Party was not triggered by the nomination of Clinton. I became fed up with the corruption at the top, the violation of Democratic Party rules by the Democratic National Committee, and the utter subservience of the national party to corporate money. I have always been an advocate for the working class (of which I am one) and the ideal of government transparency. The DNC has violated those ideals. Anyone who supports the DNC today is an advocate for oligarchy.”

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6 thoughts on “Letter writer: Bothwell echoes Sanders’ plan to leave Democratic Party

  1. The Real World

    Isn’t this the most bizarre election cycle? Here’s the mistake I think many voters make: they believe these candidates are genuine. I assert that is a BIG question mark.

    Yes, what was Bernie really up to? He could have been an HRC recruit, you know, like O’Malley was. Or some hybrid variation — as in, he wanted to run of his own accord but got solicited and promised support to run on the Dem ticket? (Cuz where were your choices, ‘o party of diversity? And why didn’t you complain about the lack of them?)

    Bernie certainly revealed alot many months ago when claiming at a debate, “we’ve heard enough about the emails”, with HRC immediately nodding her head continuously as if she had prior knowledge he would be saying it. He either is a dupe or got royally BS’d because as has since been made plain —there was plenty more to know about the emails, illegal server, etc!

    So, he’s either very dense to not realize she was going to play him like a fiddle or he’s in on the scam and is angling for a cabinet post. Whichever it is, it disqualifies him for one. What a circus!

  2. HRH

    Cecil Bothwell is to be admired for doing the right thing leaving the party of slavery and the KKK! The rest of city council
    should have such GUTS, but they are WAY more indoctrinated to the ‘crackkk CONTROL and enjoy being elected criminals.

    • Ron

      That is a stupid thing to say. Historically it was true but the bigots and kkk’ers left the Democratic Party for the GOP in the sixties. You should know that.

  3. CLW

    Cecil Bothwell is just now discovering that the Democratic Party is a core element of the established order? Even if this is somehow a new revelation to him, that does not mean that one should no longer use common sense and vote strategically.
    Does the following cartoon remind us of anyone?
    https://i.redd.it/iea9soh1eu8x.jpg
    “Yes, a homophobic, Latino-hating, Muslim-hating, racist, sexist pig won the US presidency, but for a beautiful moment in time I got to stamp my feet and refuse to vote for Hillary. You’d understand if you saw how many people on Facebook were impressed with me at the time.”

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