This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/us/politics/dnc-speakers-protests-sanders.html

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Bernie Sanders Urges Booing Supporters to Embrace Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Urges Booing Supporters to Embrace Hillary Clinton
(about 2 hours later)
PHILADELPHIA — Hundreds of supporters of Bernie Sanders drowned out the Vermont senator with boos Monday as he tried to make the case on the first day of the Democratic National Convention that his fans would need to vote for Hillary Clinton in order to defeat Donald J. Trump. PHILADELPHIA — Anger and frustration reigned on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, as a divided party grappled Monday with fallout from a email leak that showed its officials trying to ease Hillary Clinton’s path to the presidency while plotting to undermine Senator Bernie Sanders, her rival for the nomination.
At a meeting filled with Sanders delegates, Mr. Sanders tried to convince those gathered that Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, was dangerous and a threat to the Constitution and that, as a result, they needed to vote for Mrs. Clinton. However, as he made the argument, the crowd shouted over him and chanted, “We want Bernie.” Democrats were supposed to be forging a unified front to take on Donald J. Trump this week, but instead more than 1,000 supporters of Mr. Sanders took to the scalding streets of Philadelphia to vent their frustration, some adopting a Republican rallying cry about Mrs. Clinton: “Lock her up!”
“We have got to defeat Donald Trump and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” Mr. Sanders said. Others jeered Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the outgoing party chair, as she gave a speech to Florida delegates. And they even booed Mr. Sanders himself as he encouraged them back Mrs. Clinton.
However, his words were immediately met with loud boos which lasted several seconds even as he tried to continue his speech. The senator then paused and waited for people to quiet down. But as he spoke, many continued to sign loudly and shake their heads. The convention was called to order Monday afternoon, and nearly every mention of Mrs. Clinton brought a smattering of cheers and boos, but so far, it did not match the messy, more organized floor fight that greeted the opening of the Republican convention a week before.
“This is a real world we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue,” Mr. Sanders continued, as some in the crowd continued to boo and voice their displeasure with Mrs. Clinton. “Trump has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign.” Perhaps none were more divided - or loud - as the California delegation. Delegates waved “Nay!” signs and actively booed every mention of her, while those seated on either side cheered back, waving Hillary buttons and chants of “Hill-a-ry!”
Yet the crowd remained fixed on their support of Mr. Sanders and not on the idea of defeating Mr. Trump. Over and over again they chanted, “We want Bernie. Bernie. Bernie. Bernie.” “I’m gonna boo, and I’m gonna do it for the next four days,” said Jody Feldman, 62, of Sacramento, a lifelong Democrat. “The only person who can promote party unity is the person who can win against Donald Trump, and that’s Bernie Sanders.”
The reaction from Mr. Sanders’s supporters was consistent with the anti-Clinton message delivered by demonstrators earlier in the day. Some pro-Sanders protesters took a harder turn on Monday, chanting “Lock her up” in an echo of the message of the Republican National Convention a week earlier, fueled by the resignation of the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Hopes that Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s decision on Sunday afternoon to resign would calm nerves were dashed as the Florida congresswoman publicly addressed her Florida delegation at a breakfast on Monday morning. For those who believed for months that she was rigging the nominating fight, nothing would be forgiven so quickly.
When a truck with the message “Hillary for Prison” cruised by City Hall, where hundreds of Sanders supporters were gathered, several cheered and rushed to pose for pictures. The truck, like an airplane banner with the same message that flew over Cleveland where Republicans met, was sponsored by the pro-Trump website Infowars, which traffics in conspiracy theories. Protesters at her address, wearing Sanders T-shirts and buttons, stood and held signs that read “E-MAILS” and “We Don’t Want Cheaters In Our Party Anyway.”
They booed, loudly, and screamed “fair elections” as Ms. Wasserman Schultz took the lectern and said: “It is so wonderful to be able to be here with my home state. All right everybody now, settle down. Everybody settle down, please.”
They refused.
Mr. Sanders, who has vowed to do whatever it takes to stop Mr. Trump from winning in November, had little luck trying to make the case to his followers that they should vote for Mrs. Clinton. In a rare display of rebellion at a gathering of his delegates, the Vermont senator was drowned out by boos when he mentioned the name of the presumptive Democratic nominee.
“We have got to defeat Donald Trump and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” Mr. Sanders said to a round of jeers.
Over chants of “we want Bernie,” he added: “This is a real world we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue.”
Mr. Sanders did please his fans when he addressed Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who on Monday took the additional step of abandoning her remaining ceremonial duties at the convention in hopes of avoiding an ugly scene on the convention floor.
“As I think all of you know, Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned yesterday,” he said to rousing applause. “Her resignation opens up the possibility of new leadership at the top of the Democratic Party that will stand with working people and that will open the door of the party to those people who want real change.”
The dissension comes as Democrats are facing an increasingly tough challenge from Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee. A new national poll from CNN/ORC released on Monday showed Mr. Trump receiving a big bounce from his convention, leading Mrs. Clinton 44 percent to 39 percent in a four-way race including Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, the Libertarian and Green Party candidates.
After leading Mr. Trump in most polls for weeks, questions about Mrs. Clinton’s honesty are weighing on her.
The reaction from Mr. Sanders’s supporters was consistent with the anti-Clinton message delivered by demonstrators during the day. Some pro-Sanders protesters took a harder turn with the “lock her up” chants.
“She’s crooked as all get out,” said Brianne Colling, of Canton, Mich., who asked friends to take her picture in front of the sign. “All the proof that’s coming out is that she’s stolen this election from Bernie.”“She’s crooked as all get out,” said Brianne Colling, of Canton, Mich., who asked friends to take her picture in front of the sign. “All the proof that’s coming out is that she’s stolen this election from Bernie.”
Ilene Cook, an emergency room nurse from Petosky, Mich., said of Mrs. Clinton, “For the first time in my life I will vote Republican to keep her out of office.” She used a vulgarity to refer to the presumptive Democratic nominee that was common among Republican delegates in Cleveland. In contrast to Cleveland, where dozens of police officers often surrounded or trailed even small numbers of protesters who showed up during the Republican convention, the police presence in Philadelphia was minimal.
Mrs. Clinton’s low marks for honesty in polls have driven the belief by some Sanders supporters that she and the Democratic National Committee interfered with the nominating contest at Mr. Sanders’s expense. Now die-hard “Bernie or Bust” supporters have seized with greater intensity on what they believe are acts of criminality after the resignation of the committee chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Shultz of Florida, after the disclosure of leaked emails that showed her staff disparaging Mr. Sanders. A helicopter made passes overhead but only four police vehicles drove at the front of the large pro-Sanders march, taking turns blocking other vehicles from bisecting the procession, which took up the whole street.
Most Sanders supporters have come home to support Mrs. Clinton, polls show, and on Monday, during his speech on the first day of the Democratic convention, Mr. Sanders was expected to again plead for party unity to stop Mr. Trump. Other officers rode bikes or walked, including Richard Ross Jr., the head of the department. He estimated that about 1,500 people were marching, and around 5 p.m. roughly 30 people were arrested after they tried to breach the barriers outside the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention was getting underway.
But some segments of his supporters are not mollified, and their language echoes the harshest critiques from Republicans, like Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who elicited roars of “Guilty” while holding a mock indictment of Mrs. Clinton at his party’s convention. The protesters reached the convention center after marching at least three miles from City Hall in temperatures that reached into the mid-90s. Pressing anti-Clinton signs up against a temporary fence, they shouted at arriving delegates and erupted it cheers when the occasional Sanders delegate passed through.
In Philadelphia, a group is planning a mock trial of Mrs. Clinton on Monday. Chants of “Bernie beats Trump” and “hell no, D.N.C., we won’t vote for Hillary,” echoed the surrounding parking lots.
Not all protesters said Mrs. Clinton should be fitted for prison stripes, as one sign had it. Ethan Cohen, 16, of Worcester, Mass., stood across from City Hall, holding a banner that listed statements about Hillary Clinton’s private email server and wearing a T-shirt that read “Bernie 2016.” Molly Tyson, 44, of San Francisco, said she was hoping the group’s message, and presence at the perimeter, would convince arriving superdelegates to shift their support to Mr. Sanders.
“What we saw with the R.N.C. last week with the ‘Lock her up’ chants, I think it’s going too far,” he said attributing a lot of such sentiments to “party politics, divisions, pure hatred of her.” “We feel like this is a turning point,” Ms. Tyson said, especially now that there is actual evidence of the kind of bias against Mr. Sanders by the committee they have been alleging “from the beginning.”
Not everyone who came out was in opposition to Mrs. Clinton.
As protesters were about to begin a march, a prominent and respected Sanders surrogate, Nina Turner, showed up, apparently to quiet the anti-Clinton passions.As protesters were about to begin a march, a prominent and respected Sanders surrogate, Nina Turner, showed up, apparently to quiet the anti-Clinton passions.
“Republicans got their own problems — don’t bring that nonsense here,” she said when asked about the “Hillary for Prison” message. She urged the crowd to support Democratic candidates and not defect to a third-party alternative. “I want the Senator Sanders supporters to stay in the revolution,” she said. “It isn’t about him. It’s about us.”“Republicans got their own problems — don’t bring that nonsense here,” she said when asked about the “Hillary for Prison” message. She urged the crowd to support Democratic candidates and not defect to a third-party alternative. “I want the Senator Sanders supporters to stay in the revolution,” she said. “It isn’t about him. It’s about us.”
She also rebutted protesters who were arguing that Mrs. Clinton’s handling of her emails while secretary of state showed that she was guilty of criminal activity, despite the finding by the F.B.I. director that she was not.She also rebutted protesters who were arguing that Mrs. Clinton’s handling of her emails while secretary of state showed that she was guilty of criminal activity, despite the finding by the F.B.I. director that she was not.
“People might not be happy about that, but where I want to see our energies go toward is holding Democrats and Republicans accountable,” she said. “People might not be happy about that, but where I want to see our energies go toward is holding Democrats and Republicans accountable,” she said
Mr. Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts were scheduled to address the convention on its opening night and their mission was to rally progressive Democrats who are feeling scorned to come to Mrs. Clinton’s side.
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding the leaked emails showed no signs of dissipating. The D.N.C. sought to put the leak saga behind it by publicly apologizing to Mr. Sanders and his supporters and promising that it was committed to remaining neutral in primary contests.
The F.B.I. said that it was investigating the intrusions into the party’s emails, which private investigators have attributed to two Russian intelligence agencies, and that it would “hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
Federal officials say the investigation has been underway since the spring, when the F.B.I. was first notified of the Democratic committee’s suspicions that it had been hacked.
“A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the F.B.I. will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace,” a statement issued by the F.B.I. said on Monday.
The prospect of an incursion by Russian hackers has been playing into Mr. Trump’s narrative of a country that lacks law and order and is spiraling into disarray. At a campaign event in Roanoke, Va., he mused about the situation with glee.
“Honestly whether you like her or not, she worked very hard to rig the system so that Hillary got it,” Mr. Trump said of Ms. Wasserman Schultz.
He added sarcastically: “Little did she know that China, Russia — one of our many, many friends — came in and hacked the hell out of us.”
For Mrs. Clinton, who spent the day campaigning in North Carolina, the divisions come as a disappointment at time when she wanted to project a message of orderly optimism.
“I’ll tell you, we’re going to have a very different kind of convention than they had last week,” Mrs. Clinton said at an event for volunteers at a theater in Charlotte, adding that the Republican convention included “divisiveness,” “finger-pointing” and “fear-mongering.”
She went on to attack Mr. Trump’s penchant for praising dictators, lobbing personal insults - “rotten Clinton” was his moniker of the day - and threatening to retreat from international alliances. And she insisted that the Democrats would put their best foot forward this week.
“I am very excited about contrasting our vision and values with what we saw from Donald Trump and the Republicans,” she said.