5 Ways Bernie's Pick for DNC Chair Is Right-Wing as Hell

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/5-Ways-Bernies-Pick-for-DNC-Chair-Is-Right-Wing-as-Hell-20160609-0025.html

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ campaign aides say they’re looking to replace current Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Politico reported Tuesday.

Gabbard, the previous vice-chair of the committee, resigned from the position back in February in order to campaign for Sanders. Now Sanders appears interested in rewarding that loyalty, despite a record that upon closer examination is anything but progressive. Hailing from Maui, Hawaii, arguably the most progressive county in the United States, Tulsi is the daughter of Mike Gabbard, a Hawaii state senator and a former Republican who was mired in controversies in the 1990s for his anti-gay positions and policies.

It would appear the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The congresswoman, while now echoing the Democratic Party’s line on equality, sounded a different tone as a state lawmaker herself, referring to her father's critics as “homosexual extremist supporters.”

Her reactionary politics are manifested in more than just old comments. Last year she voted to bar war refugees from entering the United States at the same time she voiced support for the dictators and airstrikes that helped create them, breaking with her fellow Democrats to join the most far-right xenophobes in Congress.

That record is why author and Democratic Party activist Shay Chan Hodges has decided to run against Gabbard this year. Hodges argues that Gabbard simply isn’t progressive enough to represent Maui. Here are five reasons why she’s spot on.


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