2015-09-15 – Yesterday, Sen. Bernie Sanders took his campaign for President to the opposition by speaking at conservative Liberty University. In his speech, he acknowledge deep differences between his liberal views and the conservative views of most of his audience, but he went there because—

“I believe from the bottom of my heart that it is vitally important for those of us who hold different views to be able to engage in a civil discourse. Too often in our country — and I think both sides bear responsibility for us – there is too much shouting at each other. There is too much making fun of each other.”

He applauded Liberty University in its effort to “teach its students how to behave with decency and with honesty and how you can best relate to your fellow human beings.”

So, not only has Bernie taken his message to the “unworthy” right, but he acknowledges that maybe they aren’t unworthy at all. That “maybe, just maybe, we can try to work together” to solve some of the problems of the world.”

What a radical idea.

(Video of the speech can be found here. The text, annotated by the Washington Post, can be found here.)

* * *

It’s obvious why the polls show Bernie Sanders catching and even passing Hillary Clinton in some of the key primary states. He is a good guy. But the media divides our society into segments so that poll results like this are inevitable.

The radical candidate with the idea of talking to the opposition gets a lot of points for doing so from the liberalati (as in “liberal illuminati,” not “liberal latte,” though I guess both fit). Partisans on the left have, for years, complained that conservative voters are voting against their interests and now Bernie Sanders is crossing over to actually talk to them. (Odd, though, that this should be such a radical idea.)

So Bernie’s numbers go up . . . among likely Democratic primary voters.

We don’t know yet, what will result from his outreach.

* * *

The flip side of these numbers, of course, is that Hillary Clinton’s numbers are going down. There has been a relentless campaign by conservatives in this country to portray Hillary Clinton as untrustworthy. And it seems to be working . . . among likely Democratic primary voters.

So, while the Republican Party has not yet been able to winnow its number of Presidential candidates to as few as a dozen, they have been successful in attacking the candidate they most fear to face in the general election.

If they are going to end up fielding a weak candidate as their nominee, their best hope is to go up against another weak nominee.

It’s pretty crazy to me to see Saunders supporters so excited about tearing Hillary down.

Of course, Bernie Sanders himself explicitly rejects this approach. He believes that “it is important for those with different views in our country to engage in civil discourse – not just to shout at each other or make fun of each other.”

#BernieSanders #FeelTheBern #Hillary