David Sirota's "award-winning journalism"

[dalton99a]

'

[NurseJackie]

1. And now he's part of the Sanders campaign?

Interesting.

[dalton99a]

2. Senior adviser and speechwriter

[NurseJackie]

5. People can often get to know candidates by the company they keep.

And I won't elaborate any further for obvious reasons. My feelings are well known.

[dalton99a]

10. I guess Roger Stone is not available

[DesertRat]

45. Why has he hired such a divisive person?

[Cha]

51. Nina Turner was the red flag.

[Left-over]

36. Sanders needs to support the democrats not tear them down. He does not need to run.

[NurseJackie]

46. The plan is to "destroy to rebuild" the party. There's no doubt about it.

That's the philosophy of the "Justice Democrats" and "Our Revolution". That's why they were so busy ratfucking and SABOTAGING Hillary on ELECTION EVE, trying to ensure that Trump would win.

We're talking WAY past the primary and WAY past the convention... and Sirota was STILL working to "kneecap" Hillary.

The contest was over, and he was LITERALLY doing everything he could to HELP TRUMP to win.

I think that speaks very clearly about his moral compass and tells us a lot about him (and it's not at all flattering.) I think it's fair for anyone to question the judgement and motivation of anyone who would hire him for ANY job.

Link to tweet

[still_one]

3. and when he wrote that bullshit, he NEVER disclosed that he had been spokesperson for Sanders

Last edited Tue Mar 19, 2019, 01:42 PM - Edit history (1)

when he was in the House.

From Nina Turner to David Sirota, by all appearances, the Sanders campaign is saying they could care less if they get support from those who supported Hillary.

We will see how that works out for them

[Perrenial Voter]

27. I don't believe Sirota worked for Sanders since his first

Congressional campaign. Do you have evidence to the contrary?

[still_one]

33. You are correct, though as you alluded he was Sanders' press secretary when

Sanders was a member of the House, and while not verifiable, I don't believe those ties were every broken, but that is my personal speculation, and not fact.

I will edit my previous post accordingly.

[RandySF]

52. Here

Later he moved to Washington, D.C. and worked in the political department of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).[6] His next job was as press aide and then spokesperson for Bernie Sanders, the then independent at-large U.S. Representative from Vermont.[1][5][7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sirota

[RandySF]

4. He was once fired from a campaign

He and another operative set up a phony website and attributed it to his boss’s Latino opponent with racially divisive comments.

[we can do it]

16. +1

[Perrenial Voter]

26. Can you provide details? I never heard about this n/t

[dalton99a]

29. "The black and the brown, if we unite, we're going to control this city"

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/bogusweb.htm

Rep. Evans shakes up staff over Web-site `dirty trick'
By Cynthia Burton, Peter Nicholas and Monica Yant
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

-- Philadelphia mayoral candidate Dwight Evans yesterday accepted the resignation of his campaign manager and fired the deputy manager after learning that the deputy was linked to a bogus Web site apparently intended to hurt a rival candidate.

-- Evans, a state representative from West Oak Lane, denounced the phony Web page as an example of "dirty tricks," said he knew nothing about it until after it appeared, and said he had apologized to the target of the ruse, John White Jr., a rival for the Democratic nomination for mayor.

...
The Web page, which purported to be the official site of White's campaign, highlighted a remark made by White in an interview with Al Dia, a Spanish-language weekly in Philadelphia. The quote reads: "The black and the brown, if we unite, we're going to control this city."

Evans said yesterday he had learned that his deputy campaign manager, David J. Sirota, of Huntingdon Valley, was "associated" with the person who registered the site with Internet service companies -- Robert J. Richman, 23, of Cambridge, Mass.

The two are friends who were classmates at Northwestern University and who share an affinity for Web design. Sirota, owner of a Web design company, bills himself on his own page as a political consultant and Web guru. He has designed sites for U.S. Sen. Bob Graham (D., Fla.), U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel and other politicians.

Evans said he had fired Sirota for "overzealous behavior." He said he believed that Sirota had not created the bogus page but had discussed it with Richman.

...

[Perrenial Voter]

31. Thanks for providing that.

[George II]

39. I believe that campaign was for Mayor of Philadelphia? Not sure though.

[dalton99a]

41. Yes.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/128730038#post29

[Cha]

42. Yes..

Link to tweet

[rzemanfl]

7. Thanks for posting. K&R n/t

[emulatorloo]

8. Not to mention his recent lies about Beto's donations

He lied about individual donations and pretended they were corporate donations.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/inside-bernie-world-s-war-beto-o-rourke-n951016

“It started with David Sirota, a liberal activist and journalist who worked for Sanders many years ago. In a long tweetstorm, Sirota noted that O'Rourke had received more donations from the oil and gas industry than any candidate in the 2018 cycle other than Cruz.

Something I didn’t know: Beto O’Rourke is the #2 recipient of oil/gas industry campaign cash in the entire Congress https://t.co/i5z3zHR03u pic.twitter.com/YYLJpg4uFG

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 2, 2018

The missing context: O'Rourke didn't take money from corporate political action committees, and the donations attributed to the oil and gas business include both a handful from executives and many others from lower-level employees of his home state's flagship industry. Altogether, they still account for a little more than half of one percent of all of the money he raised for the election.”

———————

He lied. I wouldn’t trust Sirota’s word even if his tongue came notarized.

[dalton99a]

12. +1. Sirota makes up shit, lies, and obfuscates as much as Trump

[emulatorloo]

17. The hire is a pretty good indication they are going to go scorched earth

against the other Democratic Primary candidates. Dishonest smears, personal attacks and character assasination.

I hope i’m wrong.

Why can’t it be about policy and collegiality? Pretty much all of our candidates are on the same page when it comes to lifting up the US and the 99%

[KitSileya]

28. Funny how most (all?) of Senator Sanders' top campaign staff would be personae non gratae*

on DU since several of them have stated in public that they voted third party in 2016 (and those who haven't been open about it...well, do you seriously think Sirota voted for Sec. Clinton?)




*Latin fudged by myself based on the smidgen of Latin picked up through Church and three University degrees in languages. Please correct if wrong.

[MH1]

30. This attitude by Sanders is why he's on my "please don't" list.

If somehow he gets the nom, I'll vote for him against Trump.

But I think he is just at war with Democrats and doesn't really care if we defeat Trump in 2020.

And that sucks. (especially since I agree with him on policy in a lot of areas)

[MineralMan]

9. What is Bernie Sanders thinking?

First this, and now someone from The Intercept as Press Chief for the campaign.

Go ahead, Bernie. Hire Glenn Greenwald, too...

[emulatorloo]

14. Poor advice from somebody. To put it very very mildly.

Turner? Weaver? Of course IMHO they are terrible hires too.

Does not reassure me about Sanders’ potential cabinet picks.

[dalton99a]

15. It fits his confrontational, nihilist style and revolution narrative.

[BannonsLiver]

25. The good news is you'll never have to worry about Bernie's cabinet picks.

Because Bernie is never going to be President, thankfully. But I tend to agree. His cabinet picks would likely be poor choices if the hires in his campaign are any indication.

[NastyRiffraff]

35. Glenn Greenwald....

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Sanders hired him.

[Blue_Tires]

11. Sirota is a hypocritical piece of shit

He blocked me on twitter just for pointing out his lies...

And in a completely unrelated coincidence, Sirota has been scrubbing his twitter history of his more radioactive hot takes.

[emulatorloo]

13. He didn't like pushback when he posted his half-truth hatchet jobs here at DU

He’d get super defensive when you pointed out he was dealing in half-truths.

IMHO he’s a Greenwald wannabe, but even less ‘qualified’. As you know, my opinion of Greenwald’s ‘journalism’ is pretty much the same as yours.

[MineralMan]

32. He was a DUer? I don't remember that, somehow.

[Blue_Tires]

19. LOL

Last edited Tue Mar 19, 2019, 03:20 PM - Edit history (2)

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

20. David Sirota, manufacturer of ready-made ammunition for the GOP

[Sapient Donkey]

34. Sirota blocks anyone who calls him out.

He blocked me too after I asked for clarification on something he wrote. I was very civil and polite about it too.

[George II]

40. He has me blocked.

[JI7]

18. that's why sanders hired him

[BlueFlorida]

21. No wonder Trump won

That was a colossal hit job.

[dalton99a]

22. A beautiful custom job, delivered at no cost

[nolabear]

23. The more I learn about this campaign the angrier I get.

What is he willing to do for his “cause”? I hope he’s being watched very, very closely and will be fact checked all the way. I’d wish that for all of them but the more I know about this campaign the more I think it’s vital. We need to improve this country’s leadership, not go even further off the bubble.

[R B Garr]

24. Moscow-esque. Truly shameful liar.

[Gothmog]

37. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

38. +1. He hates the Clintons; he hates the Obamas.

[emulatorloo]

43. Atlantic: David Sirota had been working unofficially for Sanders while savaging the other Democratic

David Sirota had been working unofficially for Sanders while savaging the other Democratic candidates on Twitter.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/sanders-promised-civility-hired-twitter-attack-dog/585259/

Bernie Sanders Just Hired His Twitter Attack Dog
David Sirota had been working unofficially for Sanders while savaging the other Democratic candidates on Twitter.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE
3:49 PM ET

Shortly before he gave speeches launching his 2020 campaign earlier this month, Bernie Sanders emailed his supporters, urging them to “do our very best to engage respectfully with our Democratic opponents—talking about the issues we are fighting for, not about personalities or past grievances. I want to be clear that I condemn bullying and harassment of any kind and in any space.”

What he didn’t include was that one of the people already advising him and helping him write those launch speeches is one of his most famously aggressive supporters online.

Since December, David Sirota has, on Twitter, on his own website, and in columns in The Guardian, been trashing most of Sanders’s Democratic opponents—all without disclosing his work with Sanders—and has been pushing back on critics by saying that he was criticizing the other Democrats as a journalist. He centered many of his attacks on Beto O’Rourke, but he also bashed Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Joe Biden, Kirsten Gillibrand, Michael Bennet, John Hickenlooper, Mike Bloomberg, and even Andrew Cuomo.

Sirota’s hiring as a senior adviser and speechwriter was announced by the Sanders campaign on Tuesday morning after The Atlantic contacted the campaign and inquired about the undisclosed role Sirota held while attacking other Democrats.

Faiz Shakir, Sanders’s campaign manager, confirmed in an interview on Tuesday afternoon that Sirota had been in an advisory role prior to his hiring on March 11. “He was advising beforehand,” Shakir said, explaining that Sirota’s informal work for Sanders goes back months, and was meant to be a trial period to see how the senator, who famously likes to write every word that he says himself, would work with a speechwriter.

<much more at link>

[Cha]

49. sirota.. "wahwahwahwahwahwaaah"

[Gothmog]

44. Sirota was working for sanders when he did Beto hit piece

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

47. For this thread

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Cha]

50. Remember a few months ago when Neera Tanden suggested that Sirota might be attacking Beto

Link to tweet

[Cha]

48. FO, sirota.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Screenshots taken before the mass Twitter deletion preserve the role that Sirota was playing to his 125,000 followers, trying to turn the early online conversation about the 2020 primary race against other candidates, all while unofficially advising Sanders.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/sanders-promised-civility-hired-twitter-attack-dog/585259/

Link to tweet

A couple of tweets, Sirota Deleted..

David Sirota on Twitter: "It's interesting that the Dem establishment ...

Link to tweet

?lang=en
David Sirota on Twitter: "If you are going to blame Trump's election ...

Link to tweet

Wonder what they said?..

[Perrenial Voter]

53. I understand why his recent writings are subject to criticism, if he has been employed

by Bernie Sanders during this time. Even then, this is pretty mild stuff compared to the kind of things David Brock did while supposedly running a news platform, which often involved actual fake or distorted news. But the articles above are from 2015, when he was working as a journalist. I don't think any candidate can expect to be shielded from legitimate reporting.

[betsuni]

55. Could you please give a couple of examples of fake or distorted news David Brock did?

[Gothmog]

54. Washington Post-A Bernie Sanders supporter (and journalist) had a secret he kept from his readers

Link to tweet

A reporter’s undisclosed connection to a political candidate would constitute a breach of journalistic ethics. The basic rule is that journalists are supposed to be free of any personal or financial relationship with those they cover or comment on, even an “informal” relationship. Alternatively, reporters are obligated to at least disclose such relationships so that readers or viewers can evaluate the integrity of the reporting for themselves.

Sirota, 43, not only didn’t mention his relationship with Sanders’s campaign but apparently sought to erase his long history of attacks against Sanders’s opponents, according to the Atlantic. Just hours before his hiring by Sanders was announced, Sirota deleted about 20,000 or so of his tweets. He suggested that the timing of the mass deletion was coincidental, telling the Atlantic that his account was scrubbed by an “autodeleter” that periodically and automatically removes his posts.

It remains unclear how long Sirota advised the Sanders camp before his hiring. Neither Sirota nor Sanders’s representatives responded to multiple requests for comment on Wednesday.

Sirota’s vitriolic tweets and blog posts also appear to be at odds with the ethos of the Sanders’s campaign, which has stressed that it will “respectfully engage” other Democratic candidates. His hiring as a speechwriter also appears to be an acknowledgment that Sanders, whose extemporaneous public remarks have been a sign of his authenticity, will at times be scripted like other politicians.

[Cha]

56. Kinda OT.. but FYI, Goth..

Link to tweet