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In a masterful take down, Sen. Bernie Sanders took apart the 2012 GOP presidential field and called them the fringe of American society.

On HBO’s Real Time, host Bill Maher asked about a question about the Republican primary and Sen. Sanders went off,

One of the problems that I see in the Republican primaries is that these guys are so out of touch with the reality that the American people are going through that it is really quite amazing. We are seeing a middle class collapsing. We are seeing poverty increasing. We’re seeing a nation in which the rich are getting richer and we have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country. Do they have one word to say about this issue? We have 50 million people without any health insurance. We are the only country, major country on earth that does not guarantee healthcare to every man, woman, and child as a right. Do you know what their solution is? Cut Medicare cut Medicaid. You got Social Security, the most successful government program in the history of our country. A program which has not resulted in one penny of deficit for this country, and you know what they want to do? They want to cut Medicaid. They want to cut Social Security. They want to privatize these important programs. These guys are way, way out of touch from where the American people are, and I think when you look at them issue by issue, tax breaks for the rich, cut Social Security, more money on defense spending, they are literally a fringe element in American society. Last but not least, you’ve got virtually every scientist in this world who studies the issue who tells us global warming is a huge, huge problem. We’ve got to move in a very aggressive way to break our dependence on fossil fuel, move to sustainable energy, energy efficiency. These guys don’t even acknowledge the reality of global warming.

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Bernie Sanders delivered Barack Obama’s reelection campaign stump speech for him. Sen. Sanders was correct. These Republican candidates aren’t just conservative. They are the far right fringe. As Mitt Romney has discovered, a moderate can’t win the 2012 Republican nomination. It doesn’t matter if the Republican establishment understands that they have to move to the middle. Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul represent the fringe.

The list of positions that Sen. Sanders listed are the dreams of the fringe. The far right has been dreaming about ending Social Security since the day it was signed into law. The same is true on Medicare. All the American people need to know about the Republican candidates for president is that in none of the 15 or so debates that they have held have any of them seriously discussed a plan for job creation.

The poor are never discussed. The Americans without health insurance don’t merit a mention, except to be told that they are on their own. Sen. Sanders was right. These candidates don’t just represent the fringe of American politics. They are the fringe of American society, and the path to victory for Democrats and progressives is by making sure that they spread the message of Bernie Sanders to every American voter to make them understand just how extreme these Republican candidates are.