Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Talbot on establishment response to Bernie's NH win

I far prefer his narrative, as it seems to be more factually based:

"Those anguished wails you're hearing are coming from the deep power suites in New York and Washington. Yesterday was not a good day for the permanent government -- that matrix of Wall Street, national security, corporate media and political poobahs that has prided itself on running the country no matter who sits in the Oval Office. Bernie Sanders won New Hampshire, continuing his inexorable march to the Democratic nomination. And Donald Trump escalated his lawless reign by intervening in the sentencing of his dark strategist, Roger Stone. It's clear right now that the deep state -- at least the center of that vast ecosystem of power -- is no longer holding, and is no longer capable of controlling the fates of the Democratic Party OR Republican Party.

"Taking note of the continuing downfall of the Democratic Party "establishment," the New York Times does some whistling past the graveyard -- arguing that Bernie's primary vote so far is less than the combined vote of his centrist rivals. But this is exactly what the corporate press kept telling itself as Trump kept winning -- sometimes by small margins -- in his own crowded 2016 GOP race. What the Times does not fully appreciate is that Bernie -- like Trump -- is consolidating his base and will win over even many Biden and Warren voters (as polls show) when those two candidates head toward the exits. Bernie is the ONLY Democratic candidate who has built a strong base of support among nonwhite voters, who will become increasingly more important in future primaries. And he's the only Democrat in the field who is 100% supported by grassroots donors, average Americans like you and me who keep refilling his tank, day after day, month after month.

"Displaying the disarray in establishment circles, corporate media pundits leap from candidate to candidate in their stop-Bernie frenzy, one week getting giddy about Buttigieg, then swooning for Klobuchar. And they're increasingly in a tizzy about Daddy Warbucks -- Mike Bloomberg and his mountains of gold. Perhaps HE can outspend Bernie's vast army of small donors and buy the White House, the pundits keep hoping.

"But that's a battle that Sanders is yearning to have -- the people vs. the billionaire, democracy vs. plutocracy. Never in American political history would a choice about our future be so stark --- and the contrast will be just as bold when Bernie faces Trump in the general election. I think Bernie will also win in November. Because as I keep saying, you beat fake populism with real populism.

"The corporate elites have been all too happy with Trump and his tax windfalls and regulation-slashing. They might be unhappy with his boorish manners, but they're frowning all the way to the bank. President Bernie Sanders will be a different story -- the leader of a class war in which the underdogs finally start biting back."

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