Bernie is rising.
The mainstream media is all over the “Bernie can win” theme.
Bret Stephens writes in the NY Times, Of Course Bernie Can Win — To say Sanders is unelectable is indefensible. Harry Enten writes at CNN, Yes, Bernie Sanders can pull it off.
Bernie also is on the attack, with his campaign operatives badmouthing Elizabeth Warren barely below the surface while Bernie plays nice above surface.
The conventional wisdom, including by Obama-land alums, is that Bernie is the candidate against whom Trump most wants to run.
“If I were a campaign manager for Donald Trump and I look at the field, I would very much want to run against Bernie Sanders,” [Jim] Messina said. “I think the contrast is the best. He can say, ‘I’m a business guy, the economy’s good and this guy’s a socialist.’ I think that contrast for Trump is likely one that he’d be excited about in a way that he wouldn’t be as excited about Biden or potentially Mayor Pete or some of the more Midwestern moderate candidates.”
Regardless of prospects, I wrote not long ago that Bernie v. Trump is the battle we need, just as Britain needed Corbyn v. Johnson.
There will be plenty of time for pointing out what a total disaster Bernie would be to our economy and foreign policy. But I’m not sure that alone is how you beat Bernie — there is an even more powerful tool: Mockery of what Bernie’s America would look like if he were able to implement his policies.
Nothing is as powerful as humor. And nothing is as biting as Soviet humor, which has special significance given Bernie’s honeymoon in the Soviet Union and embrace of socialism and socialist tyrants. Soviet humor offers a fatalistic window into the reality of a Bernieconomy and your health under Berniecare.
I traveled extensively throughout the Soviet Union during the cold war, from the “stans” to Soviet Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Estonia and, of course, Moscow (where I studied) and Leningrad. I really appreciated the enduring wit and humor of average Soviets. The people I met were uniformly friendly and welcoming, despite their government, and I came to appreciate their endearing but fatalistic outlook and humor, a byproduct of Russian domination of the country.
Thinking about Bernie, I thought about how Ronald Reagan loved to tell Soviet jokes. Or at least jokes attributed to Soviets. Regardless of origin, they make very Soviet points.
So, here’s to you, Bernie (the first one is my favorite, and could just as easily be applied to your doctor under Berniecare):
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