Bernie Sanders
It’s a little worrying to see Bernie Sanders assume frontrunner status. Not because I oppose him—on the contrary, he’s the least awful major party candidate, even if he’s still to my right—but rather to see how it’s all playing. I probably just have some learning to do.
CNN and MSNBC are shilling for “anyone but Bernie.” It’s obvious every single night. Imagine being a news organization and fighting against the most popular politician in America, if not the world. That’s CNN and MSNBC.
Boycott them both.
— Pat the Berner🌹 (@PatTheBerner) February 22, 2020
Once you see how much MSNBC is like Fox but for the “left” you can’t un-see it. They stack their panels every night with Republicans, ex-Republicans, corrupt Dem insiders, & folks working for think-tanks financed by the GOP. They work for the corporations out to fuck us all over.
— Pat the Berner🌹 (@PatTheBerner) February 22, 2020
IF… anyone but #Bernie was the frontrunner and his supporters bashed them, people would be up in arms.
Now, those who said “stop attacking Hillary, you’re helping Trump” are slamming Sanders. It was wrong to assail HRC then (and I said so), and it’s wrong to assail Bernie now. https://t.co/v9LIFDpVJX
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) February 22, 2020
One thing that worries me is the comparisons. Some are pretty obviously to be expected. All are dismaying.
I started off last night with David Roth’s extraordinarily well-written takedown of Donald Trump, of Democratic Party “centrists,” and of comparisons between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump,[1] which for completeness’ sake, I’m including below. In this category, we can now add the accusation that Russians are supporting Bernie Sanders, which I address in a new blog post entitled, “Attacking the man for who supports him.”
Putin: “Trump says he’s most afraid of Sanders. What can we do to make sure Trump is not defeated by this schmuck?”
GRU Chief: “We came up w/ great idea—BERNIE BROS! Our bots will send crazy tweets & Americans will believe they’re from Bernie’s people! The media will eat it up!”— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) February 22, 2020
This morning, I’ve found a couple more bullshit comparisons, one from a few days ago of a billionaire comparing Sanders to the Coronavirus,[2] and another comparing him to George McGovern, who lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972.[3] The former article simply reports the comparison; the latter rebuts it. I also briefly address the former in that new blog post (see the part about capitalist libertarians).
Gotta tell you, these comparisons just ain’t looking good.
Bess Levin, “Cranky Billionaire Warns Bernie Sanders is ‘a Bigger Threat than the Coronavirus,’” Vanity Fair, February 18, 2020, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/02/leon-cooperman-bernie-sanders-coronavirus
Shane Harris et al., “Bernie Sanders briefed by U.S. officials that Russia is trying to help his presidential campaign,” Washington Post, February 21, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/bernie-sanders-briefed-by-us-officials-that-russia-is-trying-to-help-his-presidential-campaign/2020/02/21/5ad396a6-54bd-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html
David Roth, “Bernie Sanders Is No Donald Trump,” New Republic, February 21, 2020, https://newrepublic.com/article/156639/bernie-sanders-no-donald-trump
Ed Kilgore, “Why Bernie Is Not George McGovern and 2020 Isn’t 1972,” New York, February 22, 2020, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-bernie-is-not-george-mcgovern-and-2020-isnt-1972.html
Pennsylvania
WTAE, “New bill to legalize recreational marijuana unveiled by state lawmaker from Pittsburgh,” February 20, 2020, https://www.wtae.com/article/recreational-marijuana-bill-pittsburgh-state-rep-jake-wheatley/31025380
- [1]David Roth, “Bernie Sanders Is No Donald Trump,” New Republic, February 21, 2020, https://newrepublic.com/article/156639/bernie-sanders-no-donald-trump↩
- [2]Bess Levin, “Cranky Billionaire Warns Bernie Sanders is ‘a Bigger Threat than the Coronavirus,’” Vanity Fair, February 18, 2020, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/02/leon-cooperman-bernie-sanders-coronavirus↩
- [3]Ed Kilgore, “Why Bernie Is Not George McGovern and 2020 Isn’t 1972,” New York, February 22, 2020, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-bernie-is-not-george-mcgovern-and-2020-isnt-1972.html↩