A simple thought occurred to me this morning. I am not sure why I’d not specifically isolated this feeling before. Maybe being lied to has become so much part of the reality of politics today that I’m just not conditioned to immediately recognize this alien emotion of feeling respected by a politician.
In any event, the dust-up about Hillary Clinton sending out Chelsea to weave an anti-single payer attack against Bernie Sanders got me thinking. The lie being pushed is so obvious, so blatantly proven disingenuous at best, that I was left thinking, “how stupid does she think we are?” The answer, I’m forced to assume, is she thinks Americans are pretty damned stupid, in fact, she’s counting on it. Maybe some of us are -- for sure we are as a nation not especially well-informed on substantive matters — but even then, is that negative manipulation based on distorted facts something we should admire, something we should accept? Do we just, like so many I’ve read here, sluff it off as “hey, that’s the way it is” or even, in the paraphrasing of idiot Chris Cillizza, praising prevarication as “good politics”?
While basting in my anger this morning, it hit me...Bernie does not do that. Bernie does NOT feed me bull shit he knows is a steaming pile and expect I’m so fucking dumb I’ll swallow it. Holy hell! What a refreshing thought. Maybe that’s why I feel Bernie respects the People, it is because HE DOES! How do we know this? He doesn’t lie to us, he doesn’t tell us his opponent is the devil or try to twist their words. Hell, even when defending himself on this assault his campaign simply and adroitly sends out a tweet of a picture of he and Hillary together, with a handwritten note from Hillary that says:
Really, is a caption needed here? I won’t insult your intelligence.Ouch! But, notice Bernie respects us so much he doesn’t even need to spell out the punchline. He knows we are smart enough to understand the message.
To me, this really is a great kindness being offered to the American voter. When last did you NOT feel pandered to by a politician? When last did you feel like you were not being talked down to? When was the last time you felt a politician did not feel above you? Right or left, which politician do you think made time for you, the common voter? How often have you been fed talking points from a politician on a Sunday show and been left knowing the pol thinks the audience are all rubes, and in fact the politician was counting on that?
So yes, I know now this is one of the things I hate most about many of our politicians. Feed me lies, and you’ve lost me, 1. for being a liar, 2. for trying to negatively manipulate me, 3. for insulting my intelligence. But most importantly, I’ll chalk this up as another reason to support Senator Bernie Sanders.
Vote for Bernie, he respects you!
"We're gonna treat the American people as intelligent. And, by the way, that's a very unusual thing.”