The Man in the Middle

Take a look at the man in the middle:



His name is Mark Penn. When Hillary lost her bid in 2008, some privately said she should have never utilized Mark Penn in her campaign. Some say his specialty is smear campaigns: throwing dirt, employing seedy tactics, dirty tricks -- whatever it takes to win. He goes where other dirty political tricksters are reluctant to go.

I recently read he has started working with her campaign once again. Whenever I see a thread accusing Bernie Sanders of being sexist, exaggerating his civil rights record, lying about this, exaggerating that, I immediately think of Mark Penn. Could his fingerprints possibly be on this, I wonder.

Here is the point. Bernie Sanders is a dignified, intelligent, hard working public servant currently working in the United States Senate. Everyone has the right to disagree with him on the issues, but someone like him who publicly reiterates he doesn't run negative campaign ads and doesn't want to indulge in the soap opera deserves to be treated with more respect.

Seldom do we have the opportunity to conduct an election and side-step all of the unhealthy ingredients we traditionally abhor. Just discuss the issues and debate them openly and honestly. What a dream!

So just remember the next time some slime hits the fan against one of our Democratic Presidential candidates, whether it is Sanders, Clinton or O'Malley, ask yourself this question: is there a Mark Penn or a Mark Penn clone behind this smear?

Sam