Prominent Hillary Clinton supporter Tom Watson compared Bernie Sanders’ Washington Square Park rally to a Nazi rally in a tweet before hastily deleting it. Twitter user @goodbyethirdway took a screenshot of Watson’s tweet and tweeted it from his own account for posterity.
Tom Watson is co-founder of HillaryMen, a group of male feminists in support of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He launched the project with Peter Daou, a former advisor to Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, and publisher of the pro-Clinton site Blue Nation Review. Watson is also the founder of a consulting firm that advises nonprofits, and an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York.
Sanders’ rally in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park was attended by approximately 27,000 supporters, making it one of his biggest rallies ever. The Vermont senator was joined by Spike Lee, Rosario Dawson, Shailene Woodley, Linda Sarsour, and other campaign surrogates.
However, Sanders faced blowback over surrogate and healthcare activist Paul Song’s comment about electing Democratic “corporate whores,” which Sanders has since apologized for. Song clarified on Twitter that his comment was in reference to Democratic members of Congress who receive campaign money from the healthcare lobby.
Though Sen. Sanders has made it clear he doesn’t stand by his surrogates’ remarks, neither Hillary Clinton nor her campaign have yet to apologize for the offensive comment from one of her most outspoken New York supporters. Sanders, the son of a Polish immigrant who fled occupied Nazi territory, would undoubtedly take offense to comparisons to the Nazi leader who is likely responsible for the murder of his ancestors.
Watson, after all, felt that Sanders’ surrogate should have apologized for his remarks. And Peter Daou tweeted coverage from NBC claiming Sanders surrogates are overshadowing Sanders’ message. Will either one of them apologize for the Nazi comparison?
As of this writing, neither Tom Watson nor Peter Daou have responded to interview requests.
Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact Tom via email at tom.v.cahill@gmail.com.
