K&R...Thanks .

This is a vulnerability readily overlooked by people on the left, and it should not be.

can't be totally overshadowed by Trump's highly visible support of ruthless dictators that have murdered thousands of people and are in power today. Why can't any voter with an IQ above 60 see this?

The comparison with Mr. Corbyn and Labour overseas makes it plain. Mr. Corbyn had said and done things, over a career as a leftist gadfly on the back benches, which made it easy to suggest he was no patriot, that he would side with the other party in a conflict or dispute involving Great Britain. To be perceived as lacking in patriotism, let alone as being anti-patriot, is fatal in a democratic polity. A great preponderance of people value patriotism highly, to the point many are actively repelled by persons they perceive have not got it.

Sanders by attacks on this line can readily be made, and would readily made, to appear to not just lack patriotism but to actually be an anti-patriot. Someone who supported the other side in a global conflict, during which the very existence of the nation was at stake. Many of us on the left feel we are a bit above such things, Sanders certainly does, and this makes defense against the line almost impossible, because the person subject to the attack is genuinely bewildered by it, and the instinct to explain, to educate, even to preach, perhaps the most natural reactions when a person is confronted with something he or she perceives rooted in ignorance, will prove fatal if indulged in. It will simply accentuate the person's evident difference from the common national sentiment, and his feeling he is above the rest, and feels he is better than they are. That leads to electoral oblivion.


"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

There's nothing left in Sanders' campaign but a few more days and a few more words before he eventually bows out and resumes his job at being an effective beltway-insider career-politician.

I see no reason to suspect Sanders will act honorably and do the right thing. This is his last throw, and he seems a pig-headed fellow. He has done all he could to sabotage once. I expect people to do what they have done before. His followers are wont to tout his consistency over his career, which is tantamount to saying the man does not and cannot learn. Perhaps he feels he has no mistakes to learn from.

I agree there is no chance Sanders will secure the nomination, but if he were to have done so, it is foolish to pretend he would not be cut to ribbons, and this would be one of the knives. One has only to look at the recent experience of Corbyn and Labour in the United Kingdom.


"Optimists get bitter disappointments. Pessimists get pleasant surprises."

Not out of a sense of loyalty or grace or unity, mind you; but only because he's crunching numbers in his head, and realizes his best scenario is still a negative cost-benefit to both himself and his effectiveness in DC post-election.

Be well!

If Sanders were a better man, we would all be better off.


"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

which is akin to the proverbial head in the sand.

The all-encompassing, self-created illusion is that BS's policies are so great that 90% of the voters will support him and embrace socialism. Evidence diametrically contrary notwithstanding.

Illusions have that effect on people's minds.

Link to tweet

I live in a red area of a red state and grew up in a rural part of it. One of the things some of the right mean when they say he's a "socialist" is...he's Jewish. The strains of anti-Semitism in this country are somewhat hidden, but they have peeked out in the past three years. Remember the tiki-torch march and the chant "Jews will not replace us"? It's there, but polite folks still don't say it. Instead, they will call him a socialist or bring up his NY background or talk about his harsh accent or how grumpy he can sound...they may not tell you that there's deeper reason, but...oh, they will talk happily about our Judeo-Christian values, but the emphasis is on the Christian part.

I hesitated to write that because it's not being talked about--we're still ashamed of that prejudice for the most part. But it's there. I wish I could say it wasn't, that liberalism had won the day, but...

That is a staple of reactionary propaganda. From the beginning, Bolshevism was widely viewed as a Jewish plot, and in many places and circles the term Bolshevik and Jew were considered interchangeable. In more fevered swamps on the right all Stalin's crimes are to this day represented as massacre by Jews of Christians, with Hitler viewed as engaged in righteous vengeance in his extermination campaigns.

sanders is a very weak candidate and would be easy for trump to destroy. In addition to the well written 101 page memorandum with oppo on sanders with a 1000 pages of backup from the Clinton campaign trump has his own oppo file on sanders that would destroy such a weak and divisive candidate like sanders.

Link to tweet

Even after Sanders drops out, he will be portrayed as the true face of all us evil liberal socialist commie fascist Democratic whackadoodles who hate our nation and are trying to destroy it.

Unfortunately for Democrats, Sanders really does give the RW swiftboaters way too many palpable nuggets and odd questions to wire into and dangle from their poisonous constructs. And it's believed just Russia alone would have more to provide whenever Putin chooses. We can only hope opening that particular box would risk backlashing very badly on the treasonous Republicans, but that would still leave all the rest of his 50 years of wannabe socialist revolutionary baggage.

And the longer he carries on, the more solidity the claim would have with ordinary voters....





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

It seems appropriate to break my usual policy and simply kick a piece of mine to the top....





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."