Politico often embodies the worst of American political journalism, but this is bad even by those standards . "The socialist surge," the headline reads, continuing with the subhed "The rise of Bernie Sanders is proving awkward for the Democratic Party." What's awkward for Politico and the four reporters who contributed to the piece is that not one actual Democrat is quoted saying that they feel awkward about the rise of Bernie Sanders.

The closest the article comes to a Democrat saying that Sanders' success is awkward is Joe Trippi saying that it makes establishment Democrats nervous. Yeah, Joe Trippi. Pardon me if I don't take this as definitive. Nor are the quotes from Ralph Nader indicative of a whole hell of a lot.

If Joe Trippi's assessment of the mindset of establishment Democrats is a flimsy hook for an article, other claims are equally flimsy. According to the article, Sanders' comments lauding the Greek vote against extreme austerity politics "are a reminder of just how far the second-place Democratic presidential candidate stands from the American mainstream on some issues, and the looming reckoning Democrats face with their party’s leftward drift."

Uhh ... the American mainstream has a position on Greek austerity? Oh! I get it. The Politico reporters aren't talking about what American voters think, they're talking about what the "mainstream" of establishment Democrats, Republicans (especially Republicans), and pundits think. And while that point comes in the third paragraph of the piece, you're 20 paragraphs in before it briefly allows Sanders to point out "high approval numbers for a higher minimum wage, pay equity for women and other issues." You know, issues that a majority of Americans actually do have opinions on.

As reporting, this piece is trash. As an effort to take the obsessions of the center-right establishment and use them to package Bernie Sanders as an existential threat to the Democratic Party, I guess it succeeds?