Confronting The Dark Shadow Over The Bernie Sanders Campaign

Here's a question to get the old bean working this morning: Would you want Bernie Sanders to be the Democratic presidential nominee even if it meant the likelihood of the Republican nominee winning because your effing principles are more important to you than handing back the keys to the national car to the GOP?

Before we proceed, might I respectfully suggest that Sanders fanatics -- those of you who can't see the electoral forest for the mighty Bernie oak and Feel the Bern when it's actually your hair on fire -- leave the room because what we're interested in here is discussing a hugely frightening scenario, and the usual ad hominem attacks from people blinded by the light emanating from Bernie's halo are only going to get in the way.

Okay? Ready?

Sanders is far and away the best presidential candidate for the times in which we live, and along with Barack Obama and George McGovern, the best candidate of my lifetime. Sanders is far and away the best candidate to build on the not shabby Obama legacy and further distance America from the darkness of the Bush era. Like Hillary Clinton, he talks the progressive talk, but unlike Clinton he actually walks the progressive walk. His advocacy for closing the gap between rich and poor, cracking down on the continuing excesses of Wall Street, on truly universal health care and making public colleges tuition-free, among other policy initiatives, are a breath of fresh air in these deeply toxic political times.

read more