Bernie Sanders to Skip Netroots Nation

[DonViejo]

Before he committed to attending, his team brought up potential concerns that a moderator might have been biased towards him.

Gideon Resnick
Political Reporter

Updated 07.11.19 4:46AM ET Published 07.10.19 7:00PM ET

Before confirming his attendance at this weekend’s Netroots Nation conference in Philadelphia, members of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) team raised concerns about one of the moderators who would be asking questions at a presidential candidate forum on Saturday, according to two sources who described the conversations to The Daily Beast.

The campaign’s questions centered on Markos Moulitsas, the founder and publisher of the progressive activist website Daily Kos, who has been publicly critical of the Independent from Vermont.

“We discussed the moderators after we announced,” Netroots spokesperson Mary Rickles said of conversations with his team. “There was a question about why we chose who we chose. I told them that both Markos and Cheryl have every intention of being unbiased moderators.”

The forum, hosted with Daily Kos, is set to be moderated by Netroots Nation Board of Directors Chair Cheryl Contee and Moulitsas. Presidential candidates who had polled well in the website’s straw polls of the field, including Sanders, were invited to attend as early as April. The conference, held yearly for over a decade, has played host to activists, campaign workers, volunteers and many of the most prominent Democratic presidential candidates. For candidates like Sanders, and his competitors, it presents the opportunity to interact directly with an important liberal and active base of the party.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, the candidates listed as attending were former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Governor Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Warren is the only candidate among the top polling five who has committed to attending.

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-team-might-skip-netroots-over-moderator?ref=home

[Mike Nelson]

1. Good for Elizabeth!

[Autumn]

2. Good decision. No reason for him to go if Moulitsas is a moderator. nt

[qazplm135]

7. Right I mean what's he going to do after that, go on Fox News?

Crazy right?

[Autumn]

8. If he wants to go on Fox News again I see no reason why he shouldn't. Buttigeig,

Gillibrand,Castro and Klobuchar have gone on Fox News. President Obama even went on Fox News. It's only a boogyman here, not IRL

[qazplm135]

11. well sure Kos is way scarier and worse than Fox News

right?

[Autumn]

12. Maybe to you it's scary but not to others. Moulitsas is a partisan "person". No reason Bernie

should go on a panel and talk to him after the way he's gone after him. All the Dem candidates who have appeared on Fox came off quite well. No fear, just truth. YMMV

[qazplm135]

14. yeah heaven forbid

Bernie talks to people who have been critical of him. I mean, Trump doesn't do that, and he's the President!

[Autumn]

15. Bernie isn't going to change that haters mind, so there's no reason to waste his time.

This conversation is going nowhere. Have a nice day.

[qazplm135]

18. lol

but he will change the haters on Fox! He's just that powerful!

[MrsCoffee]

9. Lol!

[tishaLA]

3. Town hall on FNC? Sure! Questions from Markos? Nope!

I mean, if that works for you...

[MrsCoffee]

10. It's silly season again.

[DetlefK]

4. Coward.

He is afraid that a PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRAT might ask him uncomfortable questions.

[left-of-center2012]

5. So 4 of the 20+ are going?

[George II]

6. Didn't he complain about some of the questioners at the CNN Town Hall in February?

Running for president as a Democrat, but upset that the questioners were Democrats.

[aikoaiko]

13. "...Markos and Cheryl have every intention of being unbiased moderators." ... but no guarantees

"every intention"

[Autumn]

16. "every intention" my ass. I'm glad Bernie said no.

[SouthernProgressive]

17. Wasn't this a netroots nation event?

Marissa J taught him a lot and mad him a much better person. He should respect that.

[aikoaiko]

19. No, that was the Seattle open forum on income, i think.

And yes, Black Lives Matter did demonstrate during Bernie's speech in Seatle and at NN that year.

But BLM is not to be conflated with NN.

[SouthernProgressive]

20. Thank you for the follow up.

For some reason I thought it was NN. I don't conflate NN with BLM.