Why do supposedly reasonable liberals totally lose their shit when someone’s about to pass Hillary Clinton in a primary poll?
I won’t try for fake evenhandedness here: most of the venom I see is coming from supporters of Mr. Obama, who want their hero or nobody. I’m not the first to point out that the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality. We’ve already had that from the Bush administration — remember Operation Flight Suit? We really don’t want to go there again.
What’s particularly saddening is the way many Obama supporters seem happy with the application of “Clinton rules” — the term a number of observers use for the way pundits and some news organizations treat any action or statement by the Clintons, no matter how innocuous, as proof of evil intent.
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For one thing, Mrs. Clinton may yet be the nominee — and if Obama supporters care about anything beyond hero worship, they should want to see her win in November.
— Paul Krugman, Feb 11, 2008
On that date, Barack Obama had 1155 delegates to Hillary’s 1122. 2277, or 64% of total pledged delegates had been awarded.
Today, Bernie trails Hillary 1303 to 1087. 59% of all pledged delegates have been awarded. And Krugman gives us this recycled slop.
Some Sanders supporters responded angrily when these concerns were raised, immediately accusing anyone expressing doubts about their hero of being corrupt if not actually criminal. But intolerance and cultishness from some of a candidate’s supporters are one thing; what about the candidate himself?
Unfortunately, in the past few days the answer has become all too clear: Mr. Sanders is starting to sound like his worst followers. Bernie is becoming a Bernie Bro.
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Is Mr. Sanders positioning himself to join the “Bernie or bust” crowd, walking away if he can’t pull off an extraordinary upset, and possibly helping put Donald Trump or Ted Cruz in the White House? If not, what does he think he’s doing?
— Paul Krugman, Apr 8, 2016
Also, BernieBros. As if Internet Trolls totally weren’t a thing till Bernie came along.
Can the editors at the NYT please bump the Krugman-matic, because it seems to be stuck in a loop. Oh wait, it’s the NYT editors. Silly Me.
PS. If you remove the outlier Morning consult poll, they’re pretty much tied in the polls. Or as the Atlantic puts it, Sanders catches Clinton.
PPS. h/t @Billmon1