The Rotgut Democratic Establishment Trash Still Hates Bernie More Than They Hate Trump

It infuriates garbage Democrats and their media shills that Bernie is the most popular and beloved politician in America. It absolutely unhinges them. I wonder which contemptible establishment whores-- "many" contemptible establishment whores-- Edward-Isaac Dovere was referring to when he wrote Tuesday that "many top Democrats are furious that Bernie Sanders appears to be running for president again, or at least planning to drag out his decision long enough to freeze the race around him." Wasserman Schultz? Some of the other Clinton garbage who turned America over to Trump? Schumer? Hoyer? Dovere is an imbecile himself so he could well be referring to any congressional jerk foolish enough to talk with him in confidence.

He quickly managed to slip in that Bernie will "be 79 the next time the New Hampshire primary rolls around" and that Jane Sanders' college is being investigated for "potential bank fraud," typically ugly Dovere-branded sliming, the specialty Politico keeps him around for. He also accused Bernie of daring to introduce Medicare-For-All legislation and trying to "force others to sign on" and of daring "to put himself at the center of the conversation."

Another congressman told me today that Dovere is the "biggest asshole pretending to be a journalist... I ever met... [If] I see him coming, I turn around and walk in the other direction."

Another indictment Dovere thrust at Bernie: "He’s joining Ohio Gov. John Kasich for a CNN town hall tonight that’s being held on the evening of the Center for American Progress forward-looking Ideas Conference-- an event Sanders wasn’t invited to. Some of his moves, like collecting names and email addresses via RSVPs to his “unity tour” with new Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez for his Friends of Bernie Sanders group-- a mailing list the DNC itself won’t have any access to-- have alienated his allies on the left." Dovere is just pulling that nonsense out of his ass, of course. No allies of Bernie's on the left are alienated by any such thing. If course to a numbskull like Dovere, "left" means anyone not quite as far right as Paul Ryan or Mark Meadows, or any "ex"-Republican he can find to call Bernie names.

Former DNC chair Donna Brazile warned party leaders against relying on Sanders, unless they’re willing to give in on opening the party to more independents like he wants.

"He's not someone who we should go to, to build or rebuild or expand our party unless he's willing," she said.

Sanders, who has re-registered as an independent and made a point of asserting that independence while he was on tour with Perez, is nonetheless the most popular Democrat and the most popular active politician in the country. He’s savoring it, whether in the stops he’s planning to make this weekend in Montana for Democratic House candidate Rob Quist, or his trip to Iowa, home of the caucuses he nearly won, on July 15 for the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement's "action convention.”

The Democratic establishment has all but abandoned the Montana special election-- just the way they did with Berniecrat Jim Thompson in Kansas. Quist is too independent-minded and progressive for them. They're pouring millions into the more "moderate" Jon Ossoff race in Georgia and nothing close to what's needed in Montana. Blue America is recommending contributions for both candidates-- party unity. And speaking of party unity, Our Revolution endorsed Jimmy Gomez Tuesday, despite the fact that Gomez-- a solid progressive-- was a Hillary backer in 2016.

In Congress, a number of up-and-comers say they’re glad to see Sanders pushing the party toward an economic focus, and away from the social issues of Hillary Clinton’s failed “Stronger Together.” Those voices, and the people who show up by the thousands still at Sanders’ stops around the country, are the ones the gripers should be focused on, his supporters say-- not nursing old grudges or complaining that Sanders would torpedo their chances.

Starting with healthcare-focused rallies in January that he encouraged Senate Democratic leaders to do more widely, Sanders continues traveling the country. He’s also using his newfound celebrity to elevate local-level fights like a unionization drive in Mississippi and the candidacy of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello, whose effort is being managed by one of his former top staffers.

Touring the country with Perez, Sanders sought to stamp his economic populism on the head of the DNC. But people familiar with the arrangement said he also spent much of the time traveling with the party chair on their private Gulfstream jet getting to learn about Perez’s personal history, which he hadn't bothered to read up on earlier.

“For years, our fellow activists on the left have said we need an antidote to the tea party. This is what an antidote to the tea party looks like,” said former NAACP President Ben Jealous-- an Our Revolution board member-- at the group’s meeting in Maryland last month.

Sanders loyalists say they’re eager to stir up the internal fight that they say the party needs to have. To Sanders, it’s the natural next step in his pursuit of the 40-year-old goal of upending the established political system, which they see millions of voters having supported last year. And each passing day of the Trump administration, along with the Democrats’ resistance, has vindicated his belief that substantive change can come when masses rise up.

“Our party is divided into various wings, and Bernie clearly represents one of those wings. It is a progressive, activist, economic populist wing to the party,” said Mark Longabaugh, one of the top strategists for the 2016 campaign, who said he’s among those who’d be ready to sign up again. “The rest of the party still hasn’t wrapped its mind around it.”

Sanders sees everything he’s doing as maximizing his sway in the Senate, using the speculation to build his center of gravity. To the extent he has thought about 2020, he hasn’t gotten into how different the race would likely be if it’s a packed field, rather than the binary choice of 2016.

If he were to run again, he would almost certainly be by far the most famous entrant, dominating the left and sucking up far more television coverage than he did before. But he would also have four years' worth of new baggage to contend with, including barbs from [vile, repulsive, contemptible] Clinton allies [typified by crooks and cheats like the universally-despised, outside of Clinton establishment circles, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Rahm Emanuel] who still quietly blame him for her loss.

Back to Montana for a moment; internal polls are now showing that Quist has caught up with the rich Republican candidate and Bernie's upcoming rallies in Montana this weekend are such a big deal that the first venue in Missoula this Saturday has been changed from the 1,200 seat Wilma Theater to the 7,500-seat Adams Center Field House.