Aside from that, I've just thought of it as an interesting display of jealousy. We have a good-hearted candidate. They don't.
I don't mind the association of Sanders with Mother Mary. I was raised as a Catholic and have found deep associations between Mary and the ancient goddess whom the male priesthood changed into a mere human, though a blessed one. Many of the great cathedrals of Europe were built over former goddess shrines, specifically to co-opt the particular power of worshiping God as a woman. To me, now, that goddess represents Mother Earth and all her critters and her totality as the life-giver--as well as the loving, compassionate, nurturing aspect of human life. Without that, we wouldn't be here, as a race of sentient beings. Who carried the babies on their backs or on their hips for thousands of miles out of Africa to everywhere? Who taught their babies to speak? Who taught them to think? Who taught men to be more than simply hungry hunters? Who taught men to love? Who taught them to think of the future?
Just my thoughts as to why people first of all worshiped the Woman, and made images of her (which male anthropologists used to dismiss as mere "fertility figures"
. Love of children and of fertility and birth led to so many advances in human society and in the human brain. It probably was the beginning of science (noting women's cycles' connection to the moon, etc.) and certainly contributed to the beginnings of human organization and cooperation.
Sanders is the only candidate who has stated that restoring and protecting the Earth is our MORAL duty. He is the only serious presidential contender who has EVER said so (to my memory; or, in any case, has said so and meant it). He was personally drawn to Vermont after attending summer camp as a kid in Brooklyn and finding that he loved nature. (He said this in an interview.) He is a big supporter of organic farming in VT. Organic farmers respect Mother Earth and her ways, and consequently grow much better food--far more nutritious and better tasting.
The Church taught that Mary was (is) a virgin--gave birth to the god-man Jesus without sex, which I have always found ridiculous (even as a kid). That is their core MISTAKE as to everything that followed theologically and their various insults to women (and worse) down through the centuries. However, that IS one aspect of the ancient goddess--the virgin, the innocent girl, the woman who removes herself from men either completely or as a ritual (in the ancient temples) after what was considered healing sex with men (producing children who were raised by the temple). The other aspects of the goddess are the mother (overseer of life) and the crone (overseer of death and regeneration).
The sacred virgin became a repeated theme in sainthood stories of the Church. It was obsessive. Not a week went by when some little "holy card" with a sainted virgin on it was given to me as a little girl. I finally rejected it all as a male obsession. But the notions of purity and purification remain in all of us. They are deeply embedded in our psyche.
One of Sanders' greatest attractions--to me, and I imagine to many others--is that he is not OF the utterly filthy, corrupt and devastatingly bad campaign finance system by which our government is bought and sold by the uber rich. He is pure--or as pure as anyone can get--in this respect. And I think he also offers the transformative notion of purification--that we can reform our system, that democracy can be reborn.
In all of these senses, I don't find the Clintonites' crude little cartoon joke offensive. It is a left-handed compliment. (Ha-ha!) They wish they had a candidate that people look up to in this way. And the fact that they very decidedly don't have such a candidate annoys them, makes them jealous, drives them to poke fun. Too bad they've lost their ideals.
Yes, it is probably offensive to many. It isn't to me. It is just sad that when there is a spark of the divine--a good heart, a genuine commitment to clean government, the desire for a decent society--in a public figure, some respond with ridicule. But every public figure who has had this divine spark has suffered ridicule, even far worse than this. It is not worship to honestly acknowledge such a quality. It is simply a joy to see it in any human being, let alone in a politician.
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