Part Of The Bernie Problem

Mimi Rocah's taking some heat about her comments on MSNBC, saying "Bernie makes my skin crawl."

That seems a bit harsh, but there's something that's always bugged me about Bernie too. 

I voted for him in the Virginia primary in 2016, but the bloom is off that rose now. It's not that he's become something bad, it's just that I think he's served his purpose - he's made it OK for Dems to show themselves taking the "lefty" positions they need to take.

That's what I've always thought Bernie's job was. It's what I think Hillary and Debbie and Donna figured would be part of a good way to move "left", but maintain the option to do the usual "hippie-punching" whenever they needed to calm the more conservative elements of the Dem Party - the Claire McCaskills and Joe Manchins.

Anyway, I think it mostly worked, even though the Bernie Bros wouldn't let it go when it was time to get back together and make things happen in the general election.

BTW - we know now that a lot of those Bernie Bros may well have been largely spurred on by Bernie Bots, assuming most of them weren't actually Bernie Bots and Trolls and Ghost Accounts.  We don't know nearly enough about that shit yet.

But back to Mimi and the "something ain't quite right with that Bernie guy" meme.

Behold, a GIF:

Bernie gets all gesture-y and Abby Huntsman tries to get him out of her space. Bernie's reaction to her objection has the earmarks of a guy who's being dismissive of her, as he seems to be playing the victim, and then trying to recover by blowing it all off with a smile - almost like he's trying to be self-deprecating, but failing at it.

It ends up as: Bernie, rebutting some nonsense from Stephen Moore, and basically telling Huntsman she doesn't matter.

It's a very bad look in retrospect. I didn't see it that way at the time. Rocah's tweet prompted me to go back and re-watch some stuff, and apply some context.

We're in a different place now. Our "manly" behavior is far more closely scrutinized, and we're just gonna hafta get used to the fact that women aren't putting up with that shit now, and many more of them are willing to get in your face because of it.

On the whole - I'll call it progress and try to figure out how to go with it.

Kaboom

Bernie's right where we need him to be, doing exactly what we need him to do. 

And sometimes, I'd just like to be there to hold the guy's coat while he fucks 'em up.

It's a simple question, @RepTomPrice. Do you believe that health care is a right of all Americans, whether rich or poor? #PriceIsWrong pic.twitter.com/7IkfgWfauF

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 18, 2017

Today's Trae Crowder

Go, Bernie

Try to look past the very simple and very obvious fact that Mark Halperin is an Authoritarian Corporate Propagandist trying to pass himself off as a Political Journalist.

We didn't just get into this mess yesterday, so we're prob'ly not gonna be able to fix it all by tomorrow.

But more specifically - on the usual crap that "conservatives" are always tossing around about "Balanced Budget From Day One", here's your line, Bernie:  "While you can definitely spend your way to oblivion, you can't save your way back to prosperity."  

But while we're working on getting The System back up and running, we have to get a coupla things thru our thick skulls.

First and foremost - stop giving these guys the benefit of the doubt. 

--It's not like Halperin doesn't know what makes the economy work.  

--And it's not like Jeb isn't aware of the fact that Supply Side is bullshit.  

--We have to stop thinking Ted Cruz is trying to practice some good old fashioned democratic self-governance, but he's just not very good at it; or that we simply disagree on the questions of how we should go about moving towards that more perfect union.

I look at what the GOP has been doing for 30+ years, and I get a very bad feeling very deep in my gut.

hat tip = Democratic Underground

Messy And Uncomfortable

“No campaign, and no movement has ever prevailed by trying to stay comfortable. You’re supposed to have messy, awkward, painful moments, and get stronger by working past them. That’s what the work requires, and that’s how you get strong enough to do the work, together.” --Jay Smooth