Sunday, June 19, 2016

NYTimes: Bernie Sanders Die-Hards Gather and Try to Look Past November


Case: I don't know if this article accurately characterizes the People's Summit. I doubt it since it works hard at painting, a la Krugman, the Sanders campaign as a fringe movement.

Nonetheless there is indeed an infantile, and in some cases, outright scab, element persistently trying to exploit the Sanders campaign in a witting or unwitting effort to elect Trump. The #anyonebuthillary, #bernieorbust groupings have equivalent hashtags: #OKTrump, and just plain #bust.

None of these forces have paid much attention to Sanders actual politics or history. Some are Republican plants. Some can't seem to grasp the third grade political math of the two party system.

Here is a bit of Vermont Sanders historyy these forces may not be aware of: lots of leftist factions of sectarian bent over the years have tried to ride Sanders to advance feet-firmly-in-mid-air "principles" only to be disappointed, and full of flatulent outrage, when it turned out they did not own Bernie. Instead, he would Use Them in agitation, but discard them in governing. Also, not a few economically and socially privileged progressives were frequently put off with Sanders straightforward and consistent working class first style and approaches to politics. He always understood that working families do not often have the luxury of "remaining pure and aloof" of the "lesser evil". Even though he ran for office as an independent he always ran to win, never as a spoiler.

Perhaps this PEOPLE'S SUMMIT was premature. As Sanders has said: the first task is to crush Trump AND Every possible Republican. The second is to launch 100, or 1000, Bernie style campaigns at the local and state levels.

Or, perhaps this article is a complete fraud, like the"bitter and angry Bernie" politico pieces sourced by a staffer Sanders had fired for being an R agent. In which case this commentary is a waste of time.

Cheers

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Here's a story from The New York Times I thought you'd find interesting:

At an event called "The People's Summit" in Chicago, Mr. Sanders's backers discussed their plans to carry on his message and their intentions for the general election.

Read More: http://nyti.ms/1sMV1p9

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