To: Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator and Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State
Candidates Must Disown Uncivilized Conduct
Candidates must, at a minimum, publicly and explicitly repudiate any supporters who engage in or suggest violence, or engage in physical disruption or obscene insults.
Why is this important?
[Even the smallest comment with your signature helps encourage others.]
There can be no excuse for failing to disown uncivilized conduct by a supporter. Clear examples include expressing hope that a fellow Democrat meets a violent death, implicitly threatening harm, hurling obscene insults, and knocking over chairs to disrupt a convention.
In 2008 a supporter of John McCain publicly called on the media to “peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama.” Within hours, McCain announced “I absolutely repudiate such comments.” The offender responded “Why would John McCain repudiate me,” and stopped supporting McCain. Others would instead improve their conduct. Either response solves the problem.
If however, a candidate remains silent, that silence is inevitably taken as encouragement by the offenders. Hence silence makes the candidate culpable and is itself unacceptable.