Full disclosure: My candidate is Elizabeth Warren, for reasons I won’t go into in a Bernie diary because, well, it’s a Bernie diary.
But though I prefer Warren as my progressive champion, I’m not among the cohort of Democrats who think Bernie would be a disastrous candidate. And I’m in pretty good company, it turns out.
In a public discussion with Capital Times associate editor John Nichols in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sunday, Russ Feingold, who represented Wisconsin for three terms in the U.S. Senate before RoJo the Clown defeated him in the GOP wave election of 2010, said he’s not afraid of a Bernie Sanders nomination. In fact, he thinks the Vermont senator could bring voters out in droves this November.
“I believe that Bernie Sanders is potentially creating a miracle of turnout,” Feingold said. “Yes, you should try to convince people that voted for Trump. But I have a little trouble understanding people who voted for Trump. And there are so many people from diverse backgrounds and others who, if they feel that the political process is open to them, they will vote.”
For the record, Feingold is also Team Warren — “I’ve been saying for months that if I had a ballot in front of me I’d vote for Elizabeth,” he said — but he acknowledges he’s “torn” between Warren and Sanders.
He also said he’s seen a new Bernie emerge since the senator’s heart attack in October: “It’s the oddest thing, because I served with Bernie, and he was not the most fun guy. Ever since this heart attack, he seems very loose.”
For the record, Feingold is not a fan of Michael Bloomberg or the way the multibillionaire has gone about trying to secure the nomination: “I fundamentally believe if one person can put that much money into their own campaign, or give it to somebody else, it’s fundamentally and inherently corrupt. But if I had to go for Michael Bloomberg over Donald Trump I would in a New York minute, as they say.”
Is Trump still chafing your arse-cheeks? Then Dear F*cking Lunatic: 101 Obscenely Rude Letters to Donald Trump and its boffo sequels Dear Pr*sident A**clown: 101 More Rude Letters to Donald Trump and Dear F*cking Moron: 101 More Letters to Donald Trump by Aldous J. Pennyfarthing are the pick-me-up you need! Reviewers have called these books “hysterically funny,” “cathartic,” and “laugh-out-loud” comic relief. And they’re way, way cheaper than therapy.