Sanders' 'narrow path' to victory gets even narrower

[The Magistrate]

15. Shall We Walk Through This V-e-r-y Slowly, Sir?

Here is the quote:

"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."

The evident meaning of the first sentence is that Sanders finds leaving a contest you clearly cannot win is 'peculiar behavior' which requires some explanation, since in his view people just don't do that. The explanation Sanders proffered, for Sen. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigeige halting their campaigns was that they had been pressured by the 'Democratic Establishment' to do so, and so he found himself in a head to head race with Mr. Biden owing to the 'hidden hand' of the 'Democratic Establishment'. The usage 'hidden hand' is a fairly common means of evoking the action of conspirators working behind the scenes out of sight. Since no one but Sanders could detect any reason but normal political behavior in the actions of the Senator and the Mayor, it was a 'hidden hand' indeed.

The second sentence builds on the first, noting that the actions of Sen. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigeige are the normal actions of practicing politicians when they perceive themselves at great disadvantage in a campaign.

The third sentence builds on the first two. The first sentence, which establishes Sanders finds it peculiar two people who obviously had no chance to prevail ceased the contest, and then the second sentence which establishes this is in fact normal behavior for aspiring politicians at great disadvantage. From this, the author concludes reasonably that Sanders finds it normal to continue campaigning even after it is obvious you have been soundly rejected by the voting public, and draws the obvious further conclusion that what Sanders considers normal behavior is in fact pretty peculiar.

Now perhaps you can do me a small favor and state plainly what accusation you imagine me to be making, or that you suspect me to be making. Because the quoted statement seems abundantly clear to me. And that clear meaning comes nowhere near stating that some 'hidden hand' is behind Sanders refusing to end his campaign. The statement simply makes clear by a vivid usage that Sanders seems to believe he was conspired against, by the usual rogue's gallery of the 'Democratic Establishment' and its perfidious creature, the 'Democratic National Committee', who have evidently been balking Sanders' ambitions to lead a progressive revolution for some time now....






"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."