It is often said that the most dangerous animal is one who is cornered, and has nowhere else to go.
Politically, the comaparative just might be an accomplished politician, looking for one job, who has been stopped dead by his own party…and has nothing to lose by lashing out and saying so.
Excerpted from Philip Rucker, Ann Gearan and Dan Balz\’s article in the Washington Post:
What began as a routine forum of candidate speeches evolved into a surprisingly dramatic day at the Democratic National Committee\’s summer meeting, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland governor Martin O\’Malley issued thinly veiled attacks on Clinton and the party leadership.
Speaking from the dais, with DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz sitting a few feet away, O\’Malley blasted the party\’s limited number of sanctioned debates as a process “rigged” in favor of the front-runner. The DNC is holding six debates, only four before February\’s first caucuses in Iowa, which O\’Malley argued is a disadvantage for all the candidates and a disservice to Democrats generally.
“This sort of rigged process has never been attempted before,” said O\’Malley, who has struggled to gain traction in the polls. He added: “We are the Democratic Party, not the undemocratic party.”
Sanders – who later told reporters he agreed with O’Malley – lamented low Democratic turnout in last year\’s midterm elections and said the party must grow beyond “politics as usual” if it hopes to produce the level of voter enthusiasm required to retain the White House in 2016.
“We need a movement which takes on the economic and political establishment, not one which is part of that establishment,” said Sanders, who is an independent but caucuses with Democrats in the Senate.
Asked later whether he was speaking specifically about Clinton, he told reporters, “I\’ll let you use your imagination on that.”
Wow. A major Democrat (a two-time Mayor of Baltimore and two-time Governor of Maryland) accusing his own party of stacking the deck.
Has O\’Malley lost his mind? Doesn\’t he realize that, by essentially making a frontal attack on the DNC and its chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz, he is screwing himself over with the party?
Let me answer with a question: why should he care?
What can they do to him? He is not seeking any other office, so far as I know, but the presidency, and this is specifically what they are screwing him out of the opportunity to effectively pursue.
In other words, what has he got to lose by lashing out as he has? And what does Bernie Sanders, who isn\’t even a registered Democrat, have to lose? By supporting O\’Malley\’s position, and maybe shaming the DNC into a more equitable stand on debates, he gets as much extra exposure as O\’Malley does. Don\’t think for a moment this has not occurred to Mr. Sanders.
How will this play out? And how will Joe Biden\’s likely entry into the presidential race affect the outcome? We\’ll find that out very shortly.
You can\’t say it won\’t be interesting.
