Helping Sanders Stop Hillary

Democrats have worked hard over the last several presidential cycles to spread division within the Republican Party. Rush Limbaugh has suggested that conservatives return the favor. Why not? The Democratic Party is obviously trying to squeeze out any competition for Hillary, hoping that if she coasts to the nomination without spending money or spilling blood, she will have a decided advantage coming out of the conventions. Bernie Sanders has other ideas. Although his political ideology is dead wrong, at least Sanders calls himself a socialist. His political career has not been pockmarked by the ghastly misconduct of the Clinton gang. The size of the crowds Sanders is drawing strongly suggests that many Democrats are uncomfortable with the coronation of Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton. Conservatives ought to be trying help Sanders stand up to Hillary and her plutocratic friends.

How? One can assume that by February 2016, the Republican field will be narrowed a great deal. Indeed, one of the candidates – Walker, Rubio, Cruz, Carson, for example – will likely be the clear favorite to win the nomination. At that point, Republicans would appear to have little to do until after the Republican Convention. In fact, it is just at this point – when the Republican nomination is largely decided – that Republicans ought to come out in droves to support Bernie Sanders for the Democrat nomination. The first two primaries – New Hampshire and South Carolina – are open. A concerted conservative turnout could actually give Sanders a win in those states. On March 1, voters in ten states will cast ballots in the Democrat presidential primary, and in nine of those ten, the primary is open. Sanders could beat Hillary, with Republican help, in a single day in these states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. Three more open primaries in March in Michigan, Mississippi, and Missouri will grant voters the opportunity to cast ballots for a Democrat. What if Sanders wins most of those presidential primaries in February and March? Hillary will whine, of course, that she is being beaten by crossover Republicans and independents, but so what? These voters could quite rightly say that, between a corrupt, super-rich, power-mad Hillary and a basically honest socialist like Sanders, they would much prefer Sanders as the nominee or even as our president. Moreover, Sanders is perfectly positioned to attack the chumminess of Hillary with the billionaires of Wall Street, her hyper-secretiveness, the myriad flip-flops, and her utterly poll-driven policies, because Sanders to Democrats is as Ron Paul was to Republicans: he says what many in his party really believe but dare not say. Sanders, like Paul, seems incorruptible as well. Conservatives could use Sanders’s candidacy to attack Hillary for her slavish defense of every misogynist misdeed of her despicable spouse. The other morally and legally dubious machinations of the Clinton gang could be raised by Sanders without Hillary having an option of blaming her “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.” Sanders, after all, is the only official Socialist in Congress. Indeed, Hillary would find it very hard to attack Sanders at all. Sanders would be the only Jewish candidate running for the nomination for either party, and he could quickly parry any complaints that he was in bed with racists or “ultra-conservatives.” Sanders would also be the oldest candidate for president from either party. His credentials as a leftist are impeccable. What might happen is that a cranky and irritated Hillary might lash out at Sanders and say the sorts of things that stick in voters’ minds as mean and petty. It is almost inconceivable that Democrats would actually nominate Sanders, but if they did, he would lose by a landslide. The more likely outcome is that Sanders would weaken Hillary. He could force her to fight all the way to the convention. He could earn a spot as a keynote convention speaker, and he could push Hillary so far to the left that she would find it very hard to win the general election. Democrats have long viewed the Republican presidential nomination as fair game for weakening Republicans in the general election. Why not do the same to Democrats in 2016? There is everything to gain and nothing to lose.