They, the gatekeepers of officially sanctioned political reality, are running low on excuses

[Tom Rinaldo]

They are the professional opinion makers plying a discussion framing trade in the media - some well intentioned and others not. They are the career politicians acclimated to playing by traditional rules on a field of conventional wisdom assumptions - some well intentioned and others not. They are the current donor class long grown accustomed to and comfortable with being the King (and Queen) makers in politics - some well intentioned and others not.

They all have minimized Bernie Sanders' message for all of his long career. They said he was on the fringe, and that his views didn't resonate with average Americans. They used him as a caricature to represent the furthest pole possible in American leftist thinking short of literal Marxism. After Sanders announced for President they all but totally ignored him - despite him being a sitting United States Senator. Then they waited for Bernie to be swept away by America's voters as they had concluded he must be

Now they awake to find Bernie Sanders winning a landslide of historic proportions in the nation's first primary against the no longer presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, and they are down to essentially their last excuse. They say Bernie Sanders has tapped into a deep vein of public resentment against the status quo. They say the electorate is in an angry mood. They say that support for Bernie Sanders is a message to the establishment, a giant wake up call protest vote indicating that their needs are not sufficiently being addressed. Implicit in that assessment is a belief that someone other than Bernie Sanders, someone with, they would say, a more realistic platform, will find the right words to acknowledge the public's dissatisfaction with the status quo and then ride that to their own electoral success. They say that might still be Hillary Clinton, or perhaps Joe Biden or John Kerry in a pinch.

What they do not yet say, and remain unwilling to say unless absolutely forced to by the dawning of a new political day in America, is that maybe, just maybe, voters are actually embracing Bernie Sanders FOR the things that he believes in for America, because they believe in them also.

[daleanime]

1. K&R....

[m-lekktor]

2. this is an excellent read!

"the gatekeepers of officially sanctioned reality" that is perfect.

[roguevalley]

18. I would love to hear rendell, McCaskill and shaheen

Now, the wankers.

[m-lekktor]

19. lol

[cantbeserious]

3. Know Thy Enemy - Oligarchs, Corporations, Banks And Their Pundits, Media Minions And MIC Henchmen

eom

[Baitball Blogger]

4. I'm wondering, if Clinton supporters say they won't vote for Bernie if he wins,

will they get booted off DU too?

[daleanime]

8. I hope not....

one-side debate doesn't accomplish much.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. What debate would they bring to the table?

Vote for Trump because we don't like Bernie?

[Ron Green]

5. Yes, Tom, an excellent post!

Thank you.

[closeupready]

6. Yes. With Trump's win, too, they may be finally getting it - they have failed MISERABLY.

Failed in doing their jobs as journalists, representatives, defenders of the Constitution, of American values ...

Voters are so DONE with Establishment institutions that have held them in contempt for the last 40 years.

[Mbrow]

7. Big K&R

This has been the truth for decades, talked about by the left forever it is the reason the green party came about.

[Tom Rinaldo]

29. Their front line of defence was to starve the fire of oxygen

Someone like Ann Coulter of course received a good deal of mainstream media exposure, someone like Amy Gppdman was confined to a leftist media "ghetto" and kept distant from most viewers.

Bernie Sanders has broken through now however. Now they must deal with his message in the full light of day.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

9. winning a landslide of historic proportions

no big deal to them it seems

[Punkingal]

10. isn't that amazing?

[mckara]

11. The Left and the Right are Rejecting Reaganomics, Finally!

Goodbye to debt slavery and rigged markets!

[Fumesucker]

12. I proudly stand with Steven Leser v2.0.08, that dude was a keen judge of character

[Electric Monk]

31. k&r

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=658816

[kath]

33. Indeed he was.

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. +1000000

[Cassiopeia]

14. Our votes for Bernie do not necessarily have anything to do with Hillary.

Bernie has a strong message that resonates with the voters. Many are voting for him because they believe that message.

[Jarqui]

15. Good post. Heartily agree. nt

[oldandhappy]

16. Thank you for the post.

Hope you distributed it far and wide! Well said.

[Tom Rinaldo]

32. Well it just went up at Daily Kos also

We'll see it it gets any traction there. Diaries get lost pretty quickly at Kos, but I always post at DU first.

[TwilightGardener]

17. They'll co-opt his message/sentiments, elbow him out, and then

re-establish the proper order, and all will be business as usual--except maybe extra token bones thrown our way here and there. Like Hillary saying "cut it out, guys!" on a stage with nodding idiots behind her instead of her supposed private admonishment.

[jwirr]

26. If we let this happen we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

[99th_Monkey]

20. I totally agree. While Gatekeepers couldn't see past their noses, Bernie starts a revolution. nt

[robbob]

21. HRC is already trying to shift to the left

Caught a bit of her speach last night. Paraphrasing, but heard something like "Nobody will work harder then me to get big money out of our election process. Nobody but me has the ability to get big money out of politics...".

I repeat, I'm paraphrasing from memory, but it was along those line, and my jaw just dropped. Ms. Goldman Sachs wants to get big money out of politics? Clean your own house first, thought I.

[DUbeornot2be]

23. As the...

...top recipient of wall street funds all she has to do is drop out of the race and she accomplishes her goal...

[whatchamacallit]

22. K&R n/t

[jwirr]

24. K&R

[dchill]

27. k&r

[mhatrw]

28. We have seen the enemy, and it is us.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

34. Their last excuse is that Bernie has a "POC problem"

It'll be interesting to see what the national polling is looking like over the next week & a half. If he starts chipping away @ her lead among POC then her campaign is in trouble.

[Zorra]

35. There's billions more of us than there is of them. nt

[Babel_17]

36. Senator Sanders is going to look just fine when the options are more closely examined

Everybody's wealth is dependent on the people having faith that the system isn't hopelessly broken, and rigged. Within a few months we'll see just who the people will be willing to abide as being their President.

[AZ Progressive]

37. These gatekeepers show how you should not let anyone dictate to you what is reality and what is not

So many things become possible when people decide not to believe what the experts say is and is not possible and go and find out for themselves.

[Tom Rinaldo]

38. Yes. Sometimes the shell cracks and a new truth emeges

This is becoming one of those times when people come out, look around and see each other, and realize this is our world to define. And that we can do this - together.