Tag Archives: New York primary

Bernie turns mean against Hillary

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What in the world has gotten into U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders?

The kind old gentleman has turned into a grouchy curmudgeon as he seeks to forestall Hillary Clinton’s march to the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

Sanders lit into Clinton at a Brooklyn, N.Y., rally over the weekend, firing up an already-raucous crowd.

Isn’t this the fellow who said he was “tired of hearing about your damn e-mails” during an earlier Democratic debate with Clinton? Isn’t this the man who pledged to keep his campaign positive?

It ain’t happening these days, I’ll tell you.

He’s teeing off on Clinton’s acceptance of big money from “corporate special interests” which, he says, have corrupted the electoral system. He’s questioning her “judgment” in voting to approve funds for the Iraq War. He’s labeling her a tool of the super PACs that have lined up behind her candidacy.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/276624-sanders-scathing-clinton-attack-invigorates-brooklyn

I’m sure it gives Sanders a rush to hear all the cheering, whoopin’ and hollerin’ from the crowds that come to hear his message.

It also seems to smack a bit of desperation from someone who needs to win Tuesday’s New York primary if he is going to remain a serious challenger to the Clinton juggernaut.

If he doesn’t win the primary, they might start blinking the “last call” lights on Sanders’ campaign.

I’ll say this about Sanders: He’s managed to dictate the terms of the Democratic primary debate. To that end, he’s scored a sufficient victory already.

This extreme negativity, though, is unbecoming from someone who once sought to stay on the high road.

 

Paradise awaits political panderers

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New York is a paradise for those who love to pander for votes.

That’s especially true in New York City, the Big Apple.

Think of it: The city of 8 million-plus residents has a large Jewish-American population; the Catholic Church is big there, as well; it has a large African-American bloc of residents and a significant LGBT community; it is home to blue-collar and white-collar residents; progressives and conservatives live there; a lot of veterans call NYC home; immigrants from all over the world have settled there.

Why, there’s a group to which to pander for any of the five candidates competing for their parties’ presidential nomination.

The city has enough groups to go around several times among all five of them.

The state’s all-important primary is coming up a week from this coming Tuesday.

For Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, this is it. He’s got to win it to stay viable as a presidential hopeful. Donald J. Trump must win the Republican primary big, too. Bernie was born in Brooklyn; Trump was born in Queens. They’re home boys. They might have less need to pander than the others.

Rest assured, though, they’re going to pander to the home-boy crowd, the folks who want to vote for one of their own.

I can hear them now talking smack with crowds about how they know more about the city than their rivals. Yep, that’s pandering, too.

Meanwhile, the others — even Hillary Clinton, who represented New York in the Senate for eight years — are going to try to out-pander each other in their quests for votes.

It won’t be pretty.

Then again, gut-fighter politics hardly ever is a thing of beauty.