Bernie Sanders's Mob
Take a good look at the supporters of the man who won the most votes in New Hampshire, socialist Bernie Sanders, who had more than 138,000 votes as of this hour: At a Feb. 7 rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Sanders made it clear that unlike Obama, he would channel, rather than deflect, anti–Wall Street anger if elected president. To a throng of 1,500 voters packed into a community college gymnasium, Sanders vowed to crack down on Wall Street bankers. As he spoke, Sanders was continually interrupted by shouts from the audience of "Break 'em up!" and "They should go to jail!" . . . Mathew Pitman, 34, of Portsmouth, said a combination of higher taxes and smaller banks was the only thing that could bring Wall Street to heel. "Subject them to the same level of taxation as people like me," he said, "and break up the big banks." John Joyal, 59, of Sommersworth, New Hampshire, was pushing an all-of-the-above plan. "Taxes, fines, jail, manacles--I'm for all of it," he said. "Citizens United needs to be overturned, too." Others took their cue from how bankers have been treated abroad. "We should do what they did in Iceland," said Keiran Brennan, who had driven up from Wellesley, Massachusetts. "Put them in jail." Added Nora Hussey, also from Wellesley, gesturing toward a giant "Bernie Sanders 2016" posted, "Or just elect him." Notice these folks aren't brimming with specific charges, or a sense that anybody they dislike must be proven guilty before a jury of their peers. They just want to see rich people go to jail. From a separate article: Mauza, 71, said his condominium's value is still down a third from before the financial crisis, that his property taxes have nevertheless gone up, and that "people are mad at Wall Street because of what happened to their retirement savings." "All those banks got bailed out, after they all went overboard," he said. "Not as many people went to jail as probably should have." Either no one remembers, or no one cares to admit, the banks paid back the money. (The American people lost $11.2 billion on the General Motors bailout, making sure the car company could continue to sell cars that would kill you if your key chain was too heavy.) From Sanders's victory speech: Listen to this, when the top three drug companies in this country made $45 billion dollars in profit last year, that is an obscenity, and let me tell you something. When we make it to the White House, the pharmaceutical industry will not continue to rip-off the American people. That $45 billion seems like a lot . . . until you realize country spends about $375 billion on medicine each year. That's a profit rate of 12 percent. Still seem so outrageous? How many lifesaving drugs has Bernie Sanders developed? In an earlier appearance, Sanders said, "We're going to have to make the decision to say, I'm sorry, we can't make money out of health care." Never mind that doctors, nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, drug researchers, and specialists of all kinds spend years and small fortunes learning their skills and developing their treatments. Bernie Sanders has decided they're charging too much because they're greedy! (As a senator, Bernie Sanders makes $174,000 per year. According to Payscale.com, the average general practice doctor makes $143,000.) The Payback Election Continuing the theme, John Podhoretz offers a look at the ugly future a Sanders and Trump-dominated general election will bring: Sanders says he's going to throw bankers in jail, raise everybody's taxes -- and provide universal health care. Trump says he'll deport every illegal immigrant, keep Muslims out of the country until "we can find out what the hell is going on," force Mexico to build a wall, levy a 45 percent tariff on China -- and provide universal health care. Simple, straightforward and catchy -- that's the key. And none of it is your fault. Everything bad that's happening, everything that makes you nervous and worried and uncertain about the future, is the result of a great wrong that is being done to you. Sanders says it's being done by malefactors of great wealth. Trump says it's being done by morons and idiots who run Washington and are getting their hats handed to them by canny malefactors in Beijing and Mexico City. Will this message carry beyond New Hampshire? Of course it will, whatever happens to the candidacies of these two men. On the Republican side, Ted Cruz has been trying to figure out a way to layer Trumpism on his own anti-establishment conservatism -- and he may be Trump's only viable rival after Tuesday night. Last week in a debate, Hillary Clinton claimed Wall Street is simply terrified of her because she's been so mean to it, which is hilarious nonsense, but whatever. Don't look for uplift. Don't seek vision. This is probably going to be the payback election -- America at its worst. It's Put Up or Shut Up Time for Marco Rubio It was one thing to hear Rubio fans arguing that a relatively close third-place finish represented a good night for him in Iowa. It's another to hear them* arguing that his fifth-place finish in New Hampshire last night represents no big deal. Why is it so crazy to expect more out of Rubio? He's the star of the 2010 wave, arguably the most natural on the stump since Reagan, looks like a young JFK crossed with Enrique Iglesias, knows foreign policy backwards and forwards, has the inspiring child-of-immigrants story, and can do humor as seen with the football video, plus lawmakers are lining up to endorse him, including former rivals like Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal, Rush Limbaugh is defending him on the Obama knows what he's doing statement . . . . . . and yet somehow against a bunch of guys who aren't as politically gifted, he's gotten 23 percent in Iowa and now 10.5 percent in New Hampshire. He's at about 13 percent in South Carolina and about 20 percent nationally. If he's as great as his fans think he is, why are so few Republicans seeing what they're seeing? Our Elaina Johnson, writing from New Hampshire: Rubio is going to try to shake it. And in fact, he began to do so when he confronted the crestfallen crowd at his so-called victory rally here on Tuesday evening. "I know many of you are disappointed with tonight. I'm disappointed with tonight," he said. That sort of directness, particularly when it reveals vulnerability, is rare in politics. It also cut against the caricature of the candidate as a pre-programmed drone. "Our disappointment is not on you, it's on me," he continued. "I did not do well on Saturday night. That will never happen again." The audience erupted as if the decision desks had just declared him victor. *Yes, a lot of days I'm a Rubio fan. But I like to think of myself as being clear-eyed about his mistakes and bad decisions. ADDENDA: Boy, the attack-dog pose in the debate did wonders for Christie, huh? He finished with 7.5 percent.  | 
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