He spent a month and change after he lost the last primary sending advocates on television and into the media openly trying to persuade super delegates that they should commit to the candidate who lost the primary (i.e., overturn the will of the people and deny the nomination to the first female nominee of a major…

Principles? Most of the Democratic candidates share most of the fundamental principles of Sanders even if they prescribe a different approach to trying to reckon with them based on real world scenarios. As for the basic approach to those principles, (i.e., Policies): Elizabeth Warren, obviously.

None of us like to be reminded of that election. Which underscores how profoundly self-centered and short-sighted it was for Sanders to run again in the first place. Sanders’s refusal to exit stage left and allow a new generation (which for him, means Baby Boomers) unencumbered by the bitterness of 2016 to take up the…

Lucky for her, I guess, she won’t have to. She’s going to have to support Joe Biden. Because we live in a world where two really famous nearly 80-year-old men that very few people actively want to vote for and that a lot of people really don’t want to vote for decided they needed one last bite at the apple.

That’s the internal joke of the ad. But the joke is a joke for a reason. Because it’s not really the point of the ad.

Is that even a serious question? Obama wasn’t a populist. Obama used the language of activism, not populism. He was trying to weaponizing public anger or animosity.

I agree that Biden is a terribly flawed candidate. I’ve been saying that since long before he got into the race. Still, he’s going to be the nominee, and a huge part of the reason why is Bernie Sanders decided to run.

I’m not the one bribing them up in a feeble and transparent attempt to deflect criticism away from Sanders without ever having to actually address the criticism. That’s what you’re doing.

Both Warren and Sanders are running on a platform that includes eliminating large sectors of the economy. They both use the language of populist demagogy.

What is the opposite of moderate in your head? I mean this is such a silly hill for you to decide to die on. Moderate is not the opposite of idealism. Hence: pragmatic idealism. Obama did use the language of activism and community organizing, but you must understand that there are lots of moderate activists out there,…

You accused me of using people as props while also ignoring their existence. If you want me to respond to you as though you’re a serious person, start by making a serious argument. 

If we could go back in time and keep Sanders and Biden out, I think it would have been a much more productive primary if the two guys who are going to be 80 before the middle of the next presidential term had sat out.

Do you honestly not know what the word moderate means? The defining characteristic of a moderate politician is somebody who does not get pulled to extreme positions. Hope and change are not indicative or reflective or extreme positions. 

Am I discounting them as irrelevant or am I using them as props? I’m pretty sure those are mutually exclusive concepts.

But that’s a better criticism of Collins than Murkowski.

If Murkowski is one of your least favorite senators, you’re doing it wrong. I mean, she shouldn’t be one of your favorites, obviously, but least favorite? 

Sure, you loosen them to demonstrate that you’re the reasonable one, which also allows you to deflect substantive criticism later on. Look, I haven’t stonewalled anybody. If I thought there was a reasonable request, I’ve shown you that I am willing to work with the Democrats....

Not to be too much of a cynic or conspiracy theorist, but I suspect it’s all theater. He wrote the self-evidently restrictive rules with the intent of loosening them a bit. 

Yeah, we all love women so long as we can use them for props to offer cover to the man we’re trying to protect, eh? 

I think you can actually make an argument that she was including them as part of the toxic culture before she went off on the Bernie Bro tangent, and then the original point got away from her. I think part of it is probably a product of the response being spoken instead of composed in writing.