"Any questions from the media on climate change?" Sanders asked. "Got one on climate change? Not on the last poll?"

If you had a question on climate change, Sanders would take it. If you didn't, he wouldn't.

This is not a single instance of a candidate frustrated by the allegedly relentless horse race coverage of the media. This has become standard-operating procedure for Sanders in the late stages of this campaign. Again, Weigel:

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If the press conference has a theme, he has a candidate's veto on off-theme topics, like whether he can win the Democratic nomination for president. Sanders, who has called the media "incapable" of covering an election seriously, likes to prove it.

A "candidate's veto?" That's a very bad thing — whether you like Sanders or loathe him.

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It's become increasingly in fashion to bash the media's role in the political process. In this campaign, the media has been accused of creating and enabling Donald Trump, covering for Hillary Clinton, overreacting to the Clinton email controversy, ignoring Sanders, not fact-checking Sanders's proposals enough, and a thousand other alleged offenses large and small.

Trump has taken this criticism to new heights — his news conference on Tuesday was a classic of the genre — but Sanders hasn't been far behind, insisting that the "corporate" media (whatever that means) is interested only in talking about polls and process, not policy. Sanders regularly notes how the media badly wants him to go after Clinton, but he won't do it solely to get more attention.

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Here's a clip of Sanders delivering that riff in Iowa in August.

Sanders have every right to hold his views about the (wrong-headed) priorities of the media. And to talk about them whenever he sees fit. That message — against the media and most major institutions — is what has won Sanders so much support in this race and turned his campaign into a genuine movement.

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What Sanders doesn't have the right to do is dictate what sorts of questions get asked of him at news conferences. Sanders is a candidate for president. One of the requirements of that job is to answer tough questions that you may think are irrelevant or dumb. Sanders doesn't have to like the question. He can insist that the question misses the point and pivot back to his preferred talking points. What he can't do is tell reporters they don't get to ask the questions they want to ask.

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This isn't a partisan issue — or one in which Sanders fails while Clinton soars. Clinton is no better and, arguably, worse than Sanders when it comes to interacting with the media. It's now been 182 days since Clinton had any sort of news conference, which is absolutely ridiculous given that she has been embroiled in a competitive primary fight for all of that time.

This is about what role the media should play in the context of a presidential campaign or a presidency. If you care about democracy, you should not support the idea of a candidate deciding which questions can be asked of him. Just like with Trump's outright attempts to intimidate the media, down that road lies real peril for how we hold politicians and our institutions accountable. You don't have to love the media — hell, you can hate us — and still be able to understand why having independent questioners of the people in power is something that can't be lost.