[Screenshot from The Ghost of Frederick Douglas, https://twitter.com/lasthopeforusa/status/1226015565132845057?]

It’s a risky thing to me your heroes — what if they’re jerks?

What if they’re ya know, “my way or the highway” kind of people?

Ask Pete Buttigieg — he should know.

That whole highway thing is the way the former Indiana mayor described Bernie Sanders Friday night at the New Hampshire throw-down.

Pete warned against the Vermont senator’s “my way or the highway politics,” but he was singing a different tune 20 years ago.

In fact, Buttigieg won the John F. Kennedy “Profiles in Courage” essay contest with a written extolment of none other than Sanders the Strong.

Take a peek at the Berning baby boy below:

That young whippersnapper had high praise for his future nemesis.

Major point of respect: being a self-described socialist.

“Sanders’s courage is evident in the first word he uses to describe himself: ‘socialist.’ In a country where communism is still the dirtiest of ideological dirty words, in a climate where even liberalism is considered radical, and socialism is immediately and perhaps willfully confused with communism, a politician dares to call himself a socialist? He does indeed.”

He does.

Indeed.

Sometimes you peek into the essence of your being, and you realize you should dedicate your life to taking away the right of every American to own their own business:

“Here is someone who has ‘looked into his own soul’ and expressed an ideology, the endorsement of which, in today’s political atmosphere, is analogous to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Even though he has lived through a time in which an admitted socialist could not act in a film, let alone hold a congressional seat, Sanders is not afraid to be candid about his political persuasion.”

And nothing brings Democrats and Republicans together like the Nazis’ favored economic system:

“It is the second half of Sanders’s political role that puts the first half into perspective: He is a powerful force for conciliation and bi-partisanship on Capitol Hill. In Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy wrote that ‘we should not be too hasty in condemning all compromise as bad morals. For politics and legislation are not matters for inflexible principles or unattainable ideals.’ It may seem strange that someone so steadfast in his principles has a reputation as a peacemaker between divided forces in Washington, but this is what makes Sanders truly remarkable. He represents President Kennedy’s ideal of ‘compromises of issues, not of principles.’”

Well, compromise about what?

I’m not sure Bern and Jack were on exactly the same page.

Here’s Sanders from Friday night:

“We have a racist society, from top to bottom — impacting healthcare, housing, criminal justice, education, you name it. And clearly, this is an issue that must be dealt with. But in terms of criminal justice, what we have got to do is understand the system is broken, is racist. We invest in our young people, in jobs and education. Not more jails and incarceration. We end the war on drugs, which has disproportionately impacted African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. We end private prisons and detention centers in America.”

And this was JFK in 1963:

“I don’t think — I don’t think that is the generally held view, at least as I understand it, of the Negro community, that there is some compensation due for the lost years, particularly in the field of education. … “I don’t think quotas are a good idea. I think it is a mistake to begin to assign quotas on the basis of religion or race or color, or nationality. “I think we get into a good deal of trouble. Our whole view of ourselves is a sort of one society. That has not been true. At least that is where we are trying to go. I think that we ought not to begin the quota system. On the other hand, I do think that we ought to make an effort to give a fair chance to everyone who is qualified, not through a quota, but just look over our employment rolls, look over our areas where we are hiring people, and at least make sure we are giving everyone a fair chance, but not hard and fast quotas. We are too mixed, this society of ours, to begin to divide ourselves on the basis of race or color.”

If I’m not mistaken, Bernie sounds far more woke. I guess he should — it’s 60 years later.

Back to Pete, he and former hero Bernie are neckin’ the lead, as per The Daily Caller:

The two frontrunners — Buttigieg leads the delegate count after last week’s disastrous Iowa caucuses, but Sanders holds the lead in raw vote counts — have clashed on several occasions, particularly with regard to health care. Sanders favors Medicare for All, while Buttigieg stresses the need to leave the people a choice and favors a plan he’s dubbed “Medicare for All Who Want It.”

It’s a risky thing to me your heroes — what if they’re socialists?

But in the case of teenaged Pete Buttigieg…BONUS.

-ALEX

See 3 more pieces from me:

Clinton Guru James Carville Blows Up on the Democratic Party: It’s Leaving Relevance and Becoming an ‘Ideological Cult’

What We Desperately Need: Chris Pratt Launches a Production Company to Create Entertainment for ‘One Nation, Under God, Indivisible’

Drowning in Politics: Cosmo Cans Its Covergirl Over a Sea of Racism, and There’s No Way She Can Definned Herself

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