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| Troops to the skirmish line! The elephants will be coming after Bernie! Just think of them as incredibly well funded, "Cold War" elephants.[image] |
Sanders' Campaign:
The State of Play
Sometimes "old" means "experience,"
and sometimes "experience" means breathtaking competence --
at both campaigning and governing.
Sometimes "old" means "experience,"
and sometimes "experience" means breathtaking competence --
at both campaigning and governing.
Perhaps it is not too judgmental to characterize the current field of Presidential "wanna-be's" as clear evidence portraying both the benefit and liability of riding the wave of "lead surfer" in a nation wide personality cult. This is somewhat troubling because political campaigns, at least traditionally, have been all about policy and platform.
So, what happens when a well populated "clutch" of the personality cult types wind up facing one of the policy and platform types? Further, what is the result when one or two of the personality cult types seem to be gaining a curious traction in the numbers while another of the personality cult types seems to be slowly bleeding out -- pretty much like last time -- as more and more of her character and reputation emerge.
Granted, the billionaires' toadies have made ineffective albeit very public efforts to undercut her, but the most material damage seems to have originated from those in her own party who are simply tired after decades of oatmeal. Neither tea bag Republicans nor traditional "brown shoe" Democrats -- including the young -- seem particularly interested in the prospects of electing another moribund, establishment politician with questionable allegiances.
When it comes to MeanMesa's "personality cult" versus "policy oriented" division of the candidates, Sanders' historical credentials spring out instantly. Thirty-five years ago, in 1981, he entered the "hands-on" realm city management, responsibility and decision making. After being re-elected three times as mayor of his home state's largest city, he won subsequent elections as Vermont's US Congressional representative and, finally, as Vermont's US Senator. All of this might be "yesterday's news," but there are a few important details buried in this notable record.
For example, in 2012 he won the US Senate race for his re-election with a 71% majority. Don't fail to notice. This was a majority which included lots of Republicans. Perhaps equally notable, Sanders has been winning elections -- a string of them -- for a variety of seats. He was not a "new face" popping up with plenty of campaign cash for these victories, either. The voters who chose him were quite aware of his positions, character and dependability as a candidate.
On the painfully rare occasions when the useless domestic media broadcasts any comment on the Sanders' candidacy, these facts about his record are assiduously avoided, a pattern which might be considered "editorially generous" to the other candidates who have remarkably sparse experience in either the requirements for election or the details of service for such offices. When the bi-partisan victories such as the one in 2012 are added to the mix, his competition begins to reveal an disturbingly shallow experience background.
Perhaps the closest is Mrs. Clinton, but neither the position as New York's US Senator or Secretary of State, while very visible and certainly very important, included the day-to-day, hard grinding management and decision making found in Sanders' resume.
This post is not recounting all this to validate Sanders' desirability as a potential President. Instead, all these attributes are gathered here to present Sanders' incredible credentials as a candidate. The point here is that this man is a seasoned pro at the art of campaigning with respect to both presenting a palatable persona of honesty and integrity, campaigning with attractive, populist, winning policy proposals AND managing and navigating a successful campaign without crawling into a friendly, "patriotic" billionaire's back pocket. We don't see anything similar to such expertise anywhere else in the 2016 candidate field -- on either side.
The incredible "black out" order issued to the useless domestic media was, at first, admittedly rather irritating to MeanMesa,[...if not out rightly incomprehensible. MeanMesa had no expectation that the media mogul executives would even try something so potentially disastrous to the already quivering tatters of their credibility.] however, as the campaigns have proceeded through their various fetal stages, this "black out" has begun to represent a shocking, fascinating "temporal anomaly!" Sanders can, quite obviously, be "blacked out" if that is what the billionaires and their think tanks choose as their "opposition tactic," but the "temporal anomaly" part arises from the very extremely likely prospect of Sanders winning some very public, very visible primary elections leaving the oligarchs media management campaign not only failed, but dangerously exposed.
No one should be particularly surprised that the early polling results are a contradictory, criss-crossed, contradictory mayhem. Just examine who was running them. By the time of the New Hampshire primary all of the expensively manipulated "fog" will have cleared, and that bright sunshine will be illuminating Sanders' political muscle and revealing a massive embarrassment for the scheme of the media money class after one of their "secret weapons" after another sails harmlessly by Bernie's bow in a clear miss.
Although these prospects are quite pleasant on their own merit as we consider them, remember that both of these will land like potato sacks on the gaseous "overwhelming polling victories" the oligarchs have been touting.
The Sanders' support is real. It is material, and it portends an almost unbelievable political potency.pregnant reality of that approaching moment suggests that the "upset" may be even more delicious than the "wet dream" in MeanMesa's fantasy.
In that troubled dream Sanders slowly and patiently survives primaries until he is able to, at some later point, stand up as some sort of viable candidate left trapped in the arena with Hillary Clinton. In MeanMesa's "even more delicious" scenario Sanders will become an indisputable "force to be reckoned with" leaving the confused and bewildered Clintons sitting quietly in an abandoned primary office in South Carolina.
This may sound like another geriatric exaggeration, but if trends continue as they are going now, by May the entire GOP field will have very publicly demonstrated a crippling lack of capacity to "deal with reality." [Traditionally, beyond the trailer park bigots and hill billies, 'dealing with reality' has been a necessary credential for both Presidential candidates and Presidents.] Even the GOP's almost comatose trailer park crowd will be wondering "If he's as good as he's been saying he is, how in the world did 'our guy' miss this?"
Already, the front line "establishment" GOP candidates are desperately hoping that the billionaires' will protect them by manipulating the sold out domestic media. There is a real possibility that the billionaires will do exactly this, but even the big money boys will be shaken by this time. The grumbling plutocrats will be experiencing the first nips of seven digit "buyer's remorse" as they watch the politically impossible rapidly sweeping away their billion dollar Citizen United "fix-it" budget and their hollow, inauthentic candidates -- along with their truly creepy, oligarchic looting dreams and schemes.
Bernie Sanders is patiently, meticulously and essentially painlessly dismantling the establishment meat grinder piece by piece. Most of the "heavy grinding" is being provided by the salivating billionaires screaming out the orders to all the politicians and media moguls the own. For example, the Owners of the Republican Party will not even allow their loud mouthed Presidential candidates to mention the name when the cameras are rolling.
On the other side of a couple of primary victories, this is about to change.
So, what happens when a well populated "clutch" of the personality cult types wind up facing one of the policy and platform types? Further, what is the result when one or two of the personality cult types seem to be gaining a curious traction in the numbers while another of the personality cult types seems to be slowly bleeding out -- pretty much like last time -- as more and more of her character and reputation emerge.
Granted, the billionaires' toadies have made ineffective albeit very public efforts to undercut her, but the most material damage seems to have originated from those in her own party who are simply tired after decades of oatmeal. Neither tea bag Republicans nor traditional "brown shoe" Democrats -- including the young -- seem particularly interested in the prospects of electing another moribund, establishment politician with questionable allegiances.
The Political "Personality Cult"
versus the "Hard Policy" Candidates
versus the "Hard Policy" Candidates
Don't leave the cake out in the rain...
When it comes to MeanMesa's "personality cult" versus "policy oriented" division of the candidates, Sanders' historical credentials spring out instantly. Thirty-five years ago, in 1981, he entered the "hands-on" realm city management, responsibility and decision making. After being re-elected three times as mayor of his home state's largest city, he won subsequent elections as Vermont's US Congressional representative and, finally, as Vermont's US Senator. All of this might be "yesterday's news," but there are a few important details buried in this notable record.
For example, in 2012 he won the US Senate race for his re-election with a 71% majority. Don't fail to notice. This was a majority which included lots of Republicans. Perhaps equally notable, Sanders has been winning elections -- a string of them -- for a variety of seats. He was not a "new face" popping up with plenty of campaign cash for these victories, either. The voters who chose him were quite aware of his positions, character and dependability as a candidate.
On the painfully rare occasions when the useless domestic media broadcasts any comment on the Sanders' candidacy, these facts about his record are assiduously avoided, a pattern which might be considered "editorially generous" to the other candidates who have remarkably sparse experience in either the requirements for election or the details of service for such offices. When the bi-partisan victories such as the one in 2012 are added to the mix, his competition begins to reveal an disturbingly shallow experience background.
Perhaps the closest is Mrs. Clinton, but neither the position as New York's US Senator or Secretary of State, while very visible and certainly very important, included the day-to-day, hard grinding management and decision making found in Sanders' resume.
This post is not recounting all this to validate Sanders' desirability as a potential President. Instead, all these attributes are gathered here to present Sanders' incredible credentials as a candidate. The point here is that this man is a seasoned pro at the art of campaigning with respect to both presenting a palatable persona of honesty and integrity, campaigning with attractive, populist, winning policy proposals AND managing and navigating a successful campaign without crawling into a friendly, "patriotic" billionaire's back pocket. We don't see anything similar to such expertise anywhere else in the 2016 candidate field -- on either side.
 |
| Is this the year of social media politics? When there is no other media, maybe.[fB] |
No one should be particularly surprised that the early polling results are a contradictory, criss-crossed, contradictory mayhem. Just examine who was running them. By the time of the New Hampshire primary all of the expensively manipulated "fog" will have cleared, and that bright sunshine will be illuminating Sanders' political muscle and revealing a massive embarrassment for the scheme of the media money class after one of their "secret weapons" after another sails harmlessly by Bernie's bow in a clear miss.
Although these prospects are quite pleasant on their own merit as we consider them, remember that both of these will land like potato sacks on the gaseous "overwhelming polling victories" the oligarchs have been touting.
 |
| Fully one third of the posts on MeanMesa's fB page are from Sanders supporters. The rest are talking cats and UFO photos. [image fB/NewsHub] |
In that troubled dream Sanders slowly and patiently survives primaries until he is able to, at some later point, stand up as some sort of viable candidate left trapped in the arena with Hillary Clinton. In MeanMesa's "even more delicious" scenario Sanders will become an indisputable "force to be reckoned with" leaving the confused and bewildered Clintons sitting quietly in an abandoned primary office in South Carolina.
Are the Billionaires Too Drunk To Pay Attention?
Abortion! Benghazi! Carpet bombing! Selling baby parts!
LOOK! Isn't that Donald Trump's helicopter?
LOOK! Isn't that Donald Trump's helicopter?
Now, where were we...
This may sound like another geriatric exaggeration, but if trends continue as they are going now, by May the entire GOP field will have very publicly demonstrated a crippling lack of capacity to "deal with reality." [Traditionally, beyond the trailer park bigots and hill billies, 'dealing with reality' has been a necessary credential for both Presidential candidates and Presidents.] Even the GOP's almost comatose trailer park crowd will be wondering "If he's as good as he's been saying he is, how in the world did 'our guy' miss this?"
Already, the front line "establishment" GOP candidates are desperately hoping that the billionaires' will protect them by manipulating the sold out domestic media. There is a real possibility that the billionaires will do exactly this, but even the big money boys will be shaken by this time. The grumbling plutocrats will be experiencing the first nips of seven digit "buyer's remorse" as they watch the politically impossible rapidly sweeping away their billion dollar Citizen United "fix-it" budget and their hollow, inauthentic candidates -- along with their truly creepy, oligarchic looting dreams and schemes.
Bernie Sanders is patiently, meticulously and essentially painlessly dismantling the establishment meat grinder piece by piece. Most of the "heavy grinding" is being provided by the salivating billionaires screaming out the orders to all the politicians and media moguls the own. For example, the Owners of the Republican Party will not even allow their loud mouthed Presidential candidates to mention the name when the cameras are rolling.
On the other side of a couple of primary victories, this is about to change.
Clearly suffering from being so crassly excluded from this County Club Clown Car control festival, poor Donald Trump has still mustered up enough gumption to label Sanders a "whacko Communist." Unhappily for Donald, such a potentially repeatable epithet might have actually gained some traction with the trailer park crowd had it not been buried in the odorous context of everything else The Donald has been consistently grumbling and screeching.
However, if you are a billionaire having nightly wet dream fantasies about owning the entire Republic, well...let's just say that Senator Sanders represents an absolutely horrifying "numbers problem." Further, "cruel fate's timing" could not be worse for your scheme -- national polling shows that the Vermont Mayor is murdering every one of the well financed toadies you've sent to "do your dirty work."
Now, perhaps as many as one fourth of these billionaires is smart enough to finally pick up on these facts before the "cookies are completely over done." Granted, even though these types live in Murdoch's "Conservative Wonderland," they will -- at some point -- slowly begin to rationally countenance the cast iron, bad drugs toothache reality of Sanders' populist popularity among voters.
For the meat handed plutocrats their dream of a well funded 2016 election victory is squirming out of their hands day by day. The only question "remaining on the table" concerns precisely how long this realization will take to penetrate the right wing's numbing, narcotic chorus of blatantly "inaccurate" mouth junk experts such as FOX, ABC, CNN and the like who have exclusively had their ears.
For the meat handed plutocrats their dream of a well funded 2016 election victory is squirming out of their hands day by day. The only question "remaining on the table" concerns precisely how long this realization will take to penetrate the right wing's numbing, narcotic chorus of blatantly "inaccurate" mouth junk experts such as FOX, ABC, CNN and the like who have exclusively had their ears.
MeanMesa reminds visitors to the blog that "Mittens" Romney famously rolled into his "victory celebration" lubricated with a narcotic wet dream of taking control of the entire planet. THIS is what happens to the denizens of FOX-land -- after a certain point they have absolutely no idea what is actually happening. Mittens, after utterly botching his political take over attempt and following the arrival of the outcome of the 2012 balloting, headed out for his GOP "victory" rally without a written concession speech. How does one meander so far from the "surly bonds" of reality? Easy. Just listen to FOX.
Anticipating the Plutocrats' "Counter Attack"
Their accountants and think tank strategists
are probably telling them to cut their losses
and head to the Country Club for a nice drink.
Somewhere along the path to the Democratic nomination we can -- quite confidently -- expect the billionaires to see through Rupert Murdoch's addictive, soporific veil. After the months of tactical maneuvering they've conducted while presuming that Hillary Clinton was to be their preeminent opponent [This error was the predictable result of their exclusive reliance upon FOX and the others for information about the 2016 election's "inevitables."], they will suddenly find themselves confronted by a terrifyingly different, unexpected competitor.
Compared to Mrs. Clinton, Sanders will most likely be truly frightening for them. Not the least among the difference to be found between the Democratic hopefuls will be the quality of "policy" versus "personality."
So, although the billionaires and their think tanks are awkwardly unaccustomed to delivering "political sucker punches" based on actual "policy" arguments as compared to "personality" arguments, we must anticipate that in no time the Owners of the Republican Party will be unleashing massive numbers of well financed, negative media purchases directed at Sanders. MeanMesa presumes that the first waves of these will be curiously "off target," but the billionaires' think tank psych-experts will re-calibrate rather quickly.
Happily, we can review a little recent history to see a similar process. In the following article from The Intercept Glenn Greenwald compares the rise of Bernie Sanders' candidacy to the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, a decidedly liberal "surprise," who was unexpectedly elected recently as the Leader of the Labour Party in the UK.
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| Glenn Greenwald January 21, 2016 |
The Seven Stages
of Establishment Backlash:
Corbyn/Sanders Edition
[Excerpted. Links in original content disabled for formatting.
Read the entire article here - The Intercept]
The British political and media establishment incrementally lost its collective mind over the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the country’s Labour Party, and its unraveling and implosion show no signs of receding yet. Bernie Sanders is nowhere near as radical as Corbyn; they are not even in the same universe. But, especially on economic issues, Sanders is a more fundamental, systemic critic than the oligarchical power centers are willing to tolerate, and his rejection of corporate dominance over politics, and corporate support for his campaigns, is particularly menacing. He is thus regarded as America’s version of a far-left extremist, threatening establishment power.
For those who observed the unfolding of the British reaction to Corbyn’s victory, it’s been fascinating to watch the D.C./Democratic establishment’s reaction to Sanders’ emergence replicate that, reading from the same script. I personally think Clinton’s nomination is extremely likely, but evidence of a growing Sanders movement is unmistakable. Because of the broader trends driving it, this is clearly unsettling to establishment Democrats — as it should be.
Just as was true for Corbyn, there is a direct correlation between the strength of Sanders and the intensity of the bitter and ugly attacks unleashed at him by the D.C. and Democratic political and media establishment. There were, roughly speaking, seven stages to this establishment revolt in the U.K. against Corbyn, and the U.S. reaction to Sanders is closely following the same script:
STAGE 1: Polite condescension toward what is perceived to be harmless (we think it’s really wonderful that your views are being aired).
STAGE 2: Light, casual mockery as the self-belief among supporters grows (no, dears, a left-wing extremist will not win, but it’s nice to see you excited).
STAGE 3: Self-pity and angry etiquette lectures directed at supporters upon realization that they are not performing their duty of meek surrender, flavored with heavy doses of concern trolling (nobody but nobody is as rude and gauche online to journalists as these crusaders, and it’s unfortunately hurting their candidate’s cause!).
STAGE 4: Smear the candidate and his supporters with innuendos of sexism and racism by falsely claiming only white men support them (you like this candidate because he’s white and male like you, not because of ideology or policy or contempt for the party establishment’s corporatist, pro-war approach).
STAGE 5: Brazen invocation of right-wing attacks to marginalize and demonize, as polls prove the candidate is a credible threat (he’s weak on terrorism, will surrender to ISIS, has crazy associations, and is a clone of Mao and Stalin).
STAGE 6: Issuance of grave and hysterical warnings about the pending apocalypse if the establishment candidate is rejected, as the possibility of losing becomes imminent (you are destined for decades, perhaps even generations, of powerlessness if you disobey our decrees about who to select).
STAGE 7: Full-scale and unrestrained meltdown, panic, lashing-out, threats, recriminations, self-important foot-stomping, overt union with the Right, complete fury (I can no longer in good conscience support this party of misfits, terrorist-lovers, communists, and heathens).
Britain is well into Stage 7, and may even invent a whole new level (anonymous British military officials expressly threatened a “mutiny” if Corbyn were democratically elected as prime minister). The Democratic media and political establishment has been in the heart of Stage 5 for weeks and is now entering Stage 6. The arrival of Stage 7 is guaranteed if Sanders wins Iowa.
Manning the Sanders Skirmish Line
A matter of preparation AND unbending intent
Hike up your garters! It's going to get crazy.
In terms of the electorate the billionaires have a firm grip on the trailer park crowd. There will be little incentive for the billionaires to complicate this asset with additional propaganda, but if Bernie Sanders emerges as the Democratic Party front runner, the predictable political propaganda histrionics will explode with "all the vigor that money can buy." We can further presume that the now clearly established, various, competing chancres in the GOP will each craft these attacks in the specific manner most beneficial to promoting their ideology.
MeanMesa should share a few "intuitive conclusions" about the state of the US electorate.
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| Yes, this is the bunch who plan to attack Bernie. [image source] |
1. Ask 100 voters if they particularly care who wins the 2016 election. The majority answer will probably be: "Not really."
2. Ask 100 voters if they realize that -- along with the House, Senate and Supreme Court -- 3/4 of the States are now completely in GOP hands. Ask them if this makes them think that the Democrats are really going to be the "winning team."
3. Ask 100 voters if they have ever heard of Bernie Sanders. Ask the ones who have responded with a "yes" to mention three things about the policies he is proposing in his campaign.
How can "collections of nobodies" [us] possibly stop the rush of billionaire inspired, carefully crafted "inaccuracies" [lies] to the millions of uninformed, uneducated, uninterested voters?
This may sound daunting, but it is a challenge we can meet. The way we meet it is by knocking on hundreds of thousands of doors in states having primary elections and in states not having primary elections. This means everywhere. [MeanMesa has done plenty of door to door canvassing. It works lots better than phone banking. Why? Because you're standing there in front of them, staring them in the eye. They will know you care, and they will know you mean what you're saying.]
This means being able to actually discuss the Sanders campaign when someone answers one of those doors. This means knowing enough about Bernie Sanders to explain who he is to one of those voters.
There will not be a groundswell shift of public opinion with the media as useless as it is. The Democratic Party is the best chance we have as Americans right now. If the Republicans lose this election -- big time -- the GOP will wither and die. Once that is accomplished, it will be time to rid ourselves of the Democratic Party and replace it with something that works.
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