It wasn’t supposed to be this way: Hillary Clinton, the Dowager Empress of Chappaqua, was supposed to have only sham opposition (let’s see… how about a wild-haired “socialist” from one of the whitest states in the Union; now there’s a sure loser!) in her stately waddle to the Democrat nomination for president this year. After all, she was unfairly beaten by an upstart nobody last time out, complied an impressive body count during her resume-enhancing stint at State, and therefore she was now owed.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum: Sanders keeps beating her in state after state. His supporters have an energy sadly lacking among the geriatric Baby Boomers who support Clinton, mostly because “she’s a woman.” And now the media is getting mad:
Violence. Death threats. Vile, misogynistic names screamed at women. Rage. Hatred. Menacing, anonymous phone calls to homes and offices. Public officials whisked offstage by security agents frightened of the growing mob. None of this has any place in a political campaign. And the candidate who has been tolerating this obscene behavior among his supporters is showing himself to be unfit for office.
So, Senator Sanders, either get control of what is becoming your increasingly unhinged cult or get out of the race. Whatever respect sane liberals had for you is rapidly dwindling, and the damage being inflicted on your reputation may be unfixable. If you can’t even manage the vicious thugs who act in your name, you can’t be trusted to run a convenience store, much less the country.
Kurt Eichenwald here sounds a lot like the #neverTrump crew on the other side: same outrage, same entitlement, same tiny feet.
When Bernie Sanders launched his presidential campaign, he seemed to be the kind of candidate who would inspire voters from the liberal blocs of the Democratic Party, push the party leftward and influence the future direction of politics—either as the nominee or as a force for change. But Sanders has increasingly signaled that he is in this race for Sanders, and day after day shows himself to be a whining crybaby with little interest in a broader movement. His vicious—and often ridiculous—attacks on the party whenever he doesn’t win a contest have inspired a level of ignorant fanaticism among a large swath of his supporters that is becoming more akin to what might be seen at an out-of-control rally for Donald Trump. Signs are emerging that the Sanders campaign is transmogrifying into the type of movement through which tyrants are born.
Perhaps the fact that the man really is a communist, and attended a Stalinist kibbutz in Israel as a young man, has something to do with that; you can’t make an omelet, and all that jazz. But this long tirade (do yourself a favor and don’t read the whole thing) against Sanders does serve to illustrate that the mainstream Alinskyite Left embodied, so to speak, by Mrs. Clinton is desperately afraid of what the radical Alinskyite Left may do to their candidate over the next few months.
And here we thought the Republican convention was going to have all the fireworks.
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