NY Times: Bernie Sanders Accuses Liberal Think Tank of Smearing Progressive Candidates

[Gothmog]

89. Washington Post-Opinion: Sanders's testiness will revive long-standing concerns

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One of the “digs” on Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the 2016 presidential campaign was that he was all about himself — insufficiently attuned to concerns about unity, quick to lash out at critics and exceptionally thin-skinned. Those concerns surfaced again in Democratic ranks when he hired a rabid social media hit man, David Sirota (who hadn’t initially disclosed his affiliation with the Sanders camp).

Now he has gone into full attack-and-destroy mode, targeting in a vitriolic letter the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank that has advanced, for example, a health-care plan that expands Medicare but is distinct from the Sanders Medicare-for-all plan, and CAP Action Fund, CAP’s political arm.....

What’s the reason for his letter? One can surmise it’s about “working the refs,” trying to intimidate others from criticizing his ideas or him. Sanders’s effort is downright bizarre, when you think about it. Imagine if Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) railed at the New York Times editorial page, demanding more praise, or if Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) demanded the Nation be more friendly. A Democratic veteran of many campaigns (not associated with CAP) observes, “This is disgracefully Trumpian, as Sanders desperately tries to create a fake controversy to change the subject on the eve of the release of his tax returns. … If he can’t take some accurate, fairly lighthearted ribbing from a progressive source, he’s proving that he’d be incapable of weathering the general election hurricane that Trump would unleash.”....

We already have a president who can’t take the rough and tumble of politics and wants to silence critics. I find it hard to imagine that Democrats want someone who might be just as touchy and intolerant of criticism.