February 12, 2020: The Granite State, Bernie Bashing, O.K. Boomer

Yesterday was election day in the state of New Hampshire. As the good citizens of the granite state went to the polls, in the first in the nation primary election, to choose delegates to their respective national conventions, the excitement was palpable. Seeking signs of the times, MSNBC's Ari Melber left his studio desk in search of tea leaves. Happening upon a cafe in Manchester, New Hampshire, he fell upon a lady who had just cast her ballot. When he asked her which candidate she voted for she told him Bernie Sanders.

Melber asked her why Bernie?, to which she responded that she had considered voting for others, and was about to cast her ballot for someone else, but the vituperation directed at Bernie and his supporters on MSNBC had made the decision for her. You see, she informed the MSNBC host, she watches the 'network' all the time, demonstrating her liberal bona fides. But she felt that Bernie was being unfairly treated and, in protest, voted for him.

Indeed he has. As Sanders, recovering from a heart attack last fall, has risen in the polls, the reaction at the so-called megaphone of the American 'left', has been near apocalyptic. The panel on “Morning Joe” hosted by former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough, is routinely disparaging of Sanders, his platform and his followers. The 'round table' discussions, when they turn to Sanders at all, routinely tell the audience that Bernie can't win and that his nomination would surely give our Caesar Disgustus four more years. Throughout the day, former Clinton minions are dragged out to complain about the “Bernie Bros” who, they maintain, are the core of his supporters.  Doctrinaire idiologues, white, hostile, young males: unreasonable, unable to compromise and in search of political mischief. He has no support among 'people of color' they complain. He cannot possibly win. Last week they dragged out the aging James Carville, the Louisiana hound who has spent his life under the Clinton's front porch. Carville, predictably, pronounced his 'judgment' that Bernie is a prescription for disaster, telling his audience that the best candidate in the field is Senator Bennet, who, after last night's showing, has now bowed out of the race. So much for the prognostications of Bill Clinton's old political brain. O.K. Boomer. So 20^th century. 

This is what happens when a generation is raised reading Ayn Rand and Orwell's Animal Farm not knowing that Rand collected her Social Security and Orwell was a Socialist. 

Then there is Chris Matthews, whose “Hardball” program has become a veritable platform for Bernie Bashing. After the Iowa results, which Bernie won, and looking down the barrel of the polls coming not only from New Hampshire, but Nevada, California and the rest of the 'super Tuesday' contests, Matthews went into full panic. “If someone were to fall by the side of the road”, he asked his audience, “who do you think would stop and help? I can see Biden do it. Warren? Maybe. I can't see Bernie doing it, can you? When presented video of Bernie responding to people in his audience collapsing and his running from the podium to their assistance, Matthews retracted. Yes he retracted, momentarily, only to assert with a straight face a few nights later that Bernie, like some Commissar would have no problems rounding people up in central park and shooting them. 

"And don't criticize 
what you can't understand"    \
            ----Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin

What causes this hysteria is the word 'socialism', which in less troubled times and among less troubled minds, is quickly defended. Hosts on MSNBC have defended socialism, Lawrence O'Donnell among them, rightly pointing out that Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, workers-compensation, education and transportation spending, farm subsidies, and hundreds of other programs are a form of socialism. But for Matthews and his ilk, card-carrying members of The Generation of Swine, the mere mention of the word is enough for them to soil themselves. O.K. Boomer.

The smear of Sanders is nearly complete on the very media that should be rushing to his defense and trumpeting his success. The fact is that Sanders' support is hardly limited to “Bernie's Bros”. Indeed, his support in the black community is second only to Biden's. And, with Joe's support among blacks down 22% in the week following the Iowa debacle, South Carolina no longer looks like a refuge. Further, Sanders has more support among Latino's than any other candidate further giving lie to the charge that Sanders support is strong but inelastic. Moreover, the very label “Bernie's Bros” is a slander, implying as it does a sexist taint. The fact is that more women than men under 35 support Sanders. The truth is that Bernie is building a diverse coalition of supporters that will carry him to convention and, perhaps, the nomination. In fact, Bernie finished first among blacks and Latino's in the New Hampshire primary.   Inconvenient facts that the talking heads on 'liberal' media find disconcerting.

MSNBC, CNN and the rest of the media chose to focus on the delegate count instead of the actual votes cast in Iowa, which gave Buttigieg the narrow 'lead', in essence robbing Sanders of his victory. The Mayor of South Bend achieved this because of the way the raw vote at each caucus was rounded up or down. For instance: let's say the jurisdiction would choose 6 delegates to the state convention. Bernie gets 2.48 and Buttigieg and Warren get 1.67 each. When the numbers are rounded, each is apportioned 2. So, when worked out state wide, you see how it is possible to win the popular vote and come in second in actual delegates.

So using the most favorable outcome for any challenger to Sanders—in this case Buttigieg—the media set upon the delegate count in order to report the result, declaring the Mayor the front-runner. Now, after New Hampshire they scurry about, like rats on a ship, seeking a way to diminish Sanders' victory by telling their audience that he got only half the support he had against Clinton 4 years ago, ignoring the fact that there are many more in the race and it is a much more divided field.

If you want to get the truth about Bernie you will have to look past the broadcast media which are, after all, corporate conglomerates. Bernie scares the hell out of them, and for good reason. Sanders is the one candidate in the race that isn't a corporate shill.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison