David Schapira, a former Dem primary opponent/friend of Krysten Sinema, spills the tea:

[demmiblue]

Link to tweet

Ok, I’ve had it. I remained silent about Kyrsten Sinema for 10 years, but it’s time to break the silence.

I always had a distaste for candidates who criticize their opponents after they lose an election. It comes off as sour grapes even if it’s well-founded. But…(1/10)

I need to scratch an “I told you so” itch. For those who weren’t around or don’t remember, after serving in the AZ legislature together for five years, Kyrsten moved into my district in 2012 to run for Congress in a Dem primary against @AndreiCherny and me.

Fair to say…(2/10)

Kyrsten and I were friends before she jumped into the AZ9 race. We spoke after her decision and committed we would not “go negative” against each other in the campaign. We held a press conference and released a joint statement saying so.

She had nothing to lose because…(3/10)

She was the front-runner in early polling w/ her firebrand reputation in progressive circles. Everyone figured I’d have to bring her down with some dirt to pull ahead. But I kept my promise and ran a clean campaign.

Things changed when my grassroots campaign pulled ahead…(4/10)

In the final months of the race, Kyrsten’s campaign spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on mail to Democratic primary voters with 2 attacks against me:

1. She said I supported John McCain for President over Obama.

2. She said I supported private-school vouchers.

So…(5/10)

Both claims were ridiculous, and she knew it. I interned for McCain when I was in college, but I was an OG @BarackObama supporter. I INTRODUCED Kyrsten to then-Senator Obama at an event in AZ and begged her to endorse him after her candidate dropped out.

On vouchers…(6/10)

I led a task force to investigate private-school vouchers and was the clearest voice against school privatization throughout our time together in the legislature. I later worked with @arizona_sos to stop voucher expansion and now work to oppose privatization outside of AZ. (7/10)

Kyrsten broke a promise to me and AZ voters to run a clean campaign. She lied about a friend to win an election. She later apologized and told me she had to do it or she would have lost, as if that made it okay.

And that brings me to the moral of this story…(8/10)

Kyrsten is the worst kind of hypocrite. Believe it or not, her core beliefs align with the progressive values of @TheDemocrats, BUT there is nothing she won’t say or do to increase her notoriety or importance. She will abandon values and friendships to climb to the top. (9/10)

As she leaves the political party and the voters who gave her political life, people will say she is crazy or stupid, but those people don’t know her. She is level-headed and brilliant, but she will stop at nothing and step on anyone to get what she wants.

(10/10)

P.S. Call it sour grapes, but it’s all true.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1601255884142714880.html

[dalton99a]

1. "There is nothing she won't say or do to increase her notoriety or importance"

and to pave the way for a high profile and highly lucrative career after the Senate

[Captain Zero]

15. "She will stop at nothing and step on anyone"

Memo to self and others.

[iluvtennis]

29. +1.

[chocolatpi]

61. I agree. My advise to her

would be to tread carefully on the "little people" on her way up the ladder. They may be waiting for her on the way down.

[TheBlackAdder]

31. She amplified her notoriety: She managed to be just as detested as Ted Cruz--a monumental feat!

[InstantGratification]

40. "highly lucrative career after the Senate"

I think that is her fall back position. By switching to Independent, she has taken the primary challenge that was surely coming to her completely off the table. She gets a free pass to the general election while her R and D opponents have to spend resources in the primary while she banks hers for the fight that matters.

She is daring Democrats to run a 3 way race against her and the Republican. If D's do it, she will peel off enough D voters to tank the race and hand it to the R. It's almost blackmail: Run against me and lose the seat to a Republican who will always vote against you or support me and get my vote sometimes, usually with strings attached to appease me. I think the phrase is making "the Devil's bargain."

[cachukis]

2. "Power corrupts. Absolute power..."

[NQAS]

3. IOW...

It’s all about her.

Hmmmm…. Sound like any narcissists you know? You know, experts say that psychopaths and sociopaths live among us. Narcissists also. These are mental illnesses that can in many cases be managed. In some cases not. But you have to acknowledge the illness and accept treatment. Tfg chose neither. Looks like this nutjob has chosen the same. What sad, pathetic people they are. And dangerous.

[CitizenZero]

62. I Think The Difference

I think that the difference between Sinema and Trump is that Trump is a buffoon and Sinema is sharp. I believe that they are both self-interested narcissists, but Sinema is a smart one whereas Trump is a stupid one.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Color me not surprised...

Sounds like one of those people who, after the friendship ends, you wonder if their prior friendship was at all real.

[KS Toronado]

7. Yep, the backstabbers.

[barbtries]

5. bald-faced lies.

does anyone else remember gwbush swearing that rumsfeld's job was secure, then he was gone the day after the election? when asked why he lied, gw shrugged and said, "it was an election," and nobody took it any further than that. i'm still outraged to this day.

this story about sinema just reminded me of that. gee, sorry, it was the expedient thing to do at the time, sure you understand - and apparently many people do understand that. i'm not one of them.

[NewHendoLib]

6. toxic narcissist.

[area51]

13. +1 n/t

[onetexan]

8. Oh she is neither crazy nor stupid, rather the opposite

She is a calculating narcissist. Everything she does is selfserving, and hypocritic.

[2naSalit]

10. +1

[True Blue American]

46. That was clear

The first time I noticed her on the Senate floor. Watching het in action did not change my mind.

[paleotn]

9. She's just another grifter....

All of it is about her, not a single, solitary thing but her. But unlike GQP grifters, this move was quite slick and smart. I grudgingly give her that.

[DFW]

11. If Machiavelli were a grad student doing a dissertation on her, we would have........

"The Princess"

[Celerity]

18. thread winner

[yonder]

47. +1.

[dlk]

12. The ends justify the means...

When someone has no conscience, they can do anything.

[Phoenix61]

16. Sounds like the profile for Anti-Social Personality Disorder.

They do well in careers where having a conscience limits your options. Seems she had chosen well.

[IbogaProject]

17. Someone from AZ on here knew her

And said she was a agent of chaos or some such. She had dated someone in their family and wouldn't go into details. The other big red flag is she avoids press and constituents.

[OMGWTF]

19. As an Independent Cinema (sic) won't have a primary challenger

She will take votes from the Dem and give us Rethuglican Senator Kari Lake.

[peppertree]

20. As 'agingdem' so aptly put it, she wants to be just like Manchin when she grows up: RICH

And if she has to sell her mother to make it happen, so be it.

[Snarkoleptic]

21. She's an attention seeker as well.

[dalton99a]

38. +1

[relayerbob]

22. It'll be a long drop to the bottom

When she discovers she has burned every bridge. I hope after 2024 to never hear her name again.

[awesomerwb1]

26. She'll be on fox spews

[keep_left]

42. I wonder if we'll hear about the catfights with Tulsi...

...whose own career has followed a similar trajectory to Fox News. Watch out for the back stabbers, Tulsi!

[Stallion]

23. Her Brilliance Will Help Her When She is Forced to Look for New Job in 2024

[MarcA]

24. A Narcissist Sociopath who has Progressive Values

who wants to be in charge and rule others.

[Ray Bruns]

25. Hey David, your a day late and a buck short

[Onama Biden Man]

27. Sinema obviously has a personality disorder

She acts like an agent of chaos and behaves like like people with narcissistic and sociopathic tendencies. She justifies her immorality by what she believes is best for herself ; everyone else be damned. She may be intelligent, but she is also reckless. Sinema needlessly torched her own political career. There is no way she will get re-elected. She’ll never win running as an independent. She’ll never be the nominee for the republican or democrat ticket. Being the agent of chaos and narcissist that she is, she’ll probably run as an independent to split the democratic vote and hand the republican the seat. Once that happens, her political career will officially be vaporized. She’ll probably then become a lobbyist and continue to enrich herself because we have such a fucked up political system that allows it. If she would have been a loyal democrat and supported the party and the president, she would have had a long career in the senate. She did this to herself.

[Yavin4]

28. She's cooked. She has no future.

Sure, the media will do their level best to prop her up, but she has no constituency. She has no money, no ties, no loyalty. Nothing. The entire state will hate her eventually.

[calimary]

36. Unfortunately she seems to be doin' alright so far.

I don’t like her. And I certainly don’t trust her - any farther than I can throw my house.

[Yavin4]

39. She's a sitting senator.

So, yeah, she's doing okay...for now, but her future in politics is bleak. It's really hard to get elected to office, esp. statewide offices, without a major political party behind you. Yes, there are some quirky states like AL, ME, and VT, but they are the exception due to their population size/makeup and the familiarity of their incumbent senators.

She's going to the route of Joe Lieberman. Haven't heard from that dude in a while have you?

[calimary]

45. Joe Lieberman? Happy and gratified to say no on that one.

[former9thward]

53. I don't think Lieberman is a great example for your point.

He was defeated for re-election in his Senate primary and then ran as a Independent in the general election. He won, beating the Democratic primary winner by 10 points.

[uponit7771]

59. Lieberman had money Cinema doesn't.

[former9thward]

65. Sinema has plenty of money.

In AZ she ran non stop commercials this spring and summer before our August primary. On all the networks. She wasn't even on the ballot. Those commercials were not free.

[uponit7771]

66. with dem infrastructure, she's not rich IINM. OTOH if she does have that kind of money find out

... where it comes from no doubt.

[Yavin4]

60. Lieberman had great name recognition and a long history in the state

He was Al Gore's running mate. He never ran for another term bc he knew he would be toast. Where is he now?

[former9thward]

64. Where is he now?

He is 80. Is no one allowed to retire no matter the age?

[uponit7771]

58. She doesn't need money right now and there's no way DNC is going to allow he to Lieberman the

... party again.

[uponit7771]

57. "..She has no money.." I think this is the biggest part of why she's toast.

[quakerboy]

63. How would that effect her future?

All she has to do is be able to pull a few percent of democrats in a GE and she becomes a highly paid kingmaker. And then after the election she just has to come out and be an outspoken critic of democrats to get lots of press and payments.

[Uncle Joe]

30. My own belief is that Sinema was an oligarch plant from the beginning

They're just playing both sides.

Thanks for the thread demmiblue

[dalton99a]

34. +1

[H2O Man]

32. Recommended.

[PortTack]

33. We need to run a strong dem candidate in '24, let her run as an independent and move on

Otherwise we have a sometimes poor democratic senator that will continue to hold the party hostage.
Yes, we may lose the seat, but to continue to play her game for another 6 years…NO!

She’s not worth it.

[Martin68]

35. The ends rarely justify the means, and politicians who behave unethical or immorally to

win elections carry the seeds of their own destruction within them. Meanwhile, such unprincipled politicians are bound to take actions in office that are destructive in the short and the long term, because they act in their own interests, not those of their constituency. Thanks for the great piece on your relationship with Sinema.

[Quanto Magnus]

37. Ambition, ego

and dishonest.... Sounds like a perfect GQP candidate.

I don't think she has core beliefs beyond her own advancement.

[Blue Owl]

41. We need a Sinema enema

Cleanse us of this wretched, self-serving, ethically bankrupt hypocrite...

[JusticeForAll]

43. Am I allowed to say she is a pathetic piece of shit?

now that she is not a Democrat?

[Cha]

44. Wow.. and there it is.. just

like was imagined.

I sense Blowback Karma in KS's future.

[SunSeeker]

48. K & R & Retweeted!

[LudwigPastorius]

49. Contradictory:

"...her core beliefs align with (the) progressive values..."

And,..."She will abandon values and friendships to climb to the top."

If she will abandon a belief in the pursuit of power, it is not a "core belief". It is a "selling point".

[Pacifist Patriot]

50. Everything I have been reading about her lately screams NPD.

Good grief I am so sick of narcissists!!!!!

[Corgigal]

51. Yes, tell us ..

Keith Olberman talked some dirt about her too.

Next, tell us more. Someone, we know you’re there.

[Irishxs]

52. Good For Schipiara!!

Good also for The Majority Report clip. An eye opening experience!!

[Joinfortmill]

54. I believe you. She also seems to have no core.

[Hekate]

55. Fills in more of what Coventina wrote yesterday...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217449335

[Poiuyt]

56. K&R

[cstanleytech]

67. Comes down to what is someone willing to do for power? We saw what the Republicans have been willing

to do in their quest for it.
At one time they were the party that opposed the expansion of slavery and they were the party of Lincoln and they worked to keep the country together.
Gradually though they lost power and to gain it back they gradually started embracing people that they would not have given the time of day to 100 years ago and that is why we have the modern Republican party.
A party that corrupted itself in the bid to gain power and now they have it but they are not actually the same party and the same can happen to the Democratic party if we are not careful and if we make the same mistake the Republicans made.

[AZLD4Candidate]

68. Great. She's a sociopath.