Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., fears that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ refusal to admit defeat in the Democratic presidential primaries could spark a riotous convention this summer.
“[I]t worries me a great deal,” Feinstein told CNN. “You know, I don’t want to go back to the ’68 convention because I worry about what it does to the electorate as a whole and he should too.”
The 1968 Democratic National Convention was marred by the so-called “Battle of Michigan Avenue,” a televised clash between anti-war protesters and thousands of police officers. The memory has been made more vivid by a tumultuous Democratic party event in Las Vegas over the weekend, featuring “death threats” and “thrown chairs” by Sanders’ supporters.
Sanders has taken criticism, in the media and from Clinton allies, for falling to condemn the incident in harsh terms. “The senator believes that the Democratic Party all over the country would serve its own interests better if it were to figure out a way to welcome people who have been energized and excited by his campaign into the party,” a Sanders campaign spokesman told the New York Times. “It would behoove the party to be more welcoming and engage those people.”
Feinstein said that’s not good enough. “I think that was the time to have sent a full-throated message to his followers that we don’t do this kind of thing,” she said to CNN.
