If only…
The Speech Bernie Sanders Should Give But Won’t
Fellow Americans,
I want to take this opportunity to announce my candidacy for president of the United States and to explain why I have reached this decision.
Let me start by giving you some background on my political career. Unlike other members of the Senate, I have always run as an independent and as a socialist, a term that I am more than willing to defend in debates with other candidates in the race for president. In 2009 one out of five Americans stated a preference for socialism over capitalism. Given the opportunity to speak to the millions of people who have been victims of unemployment, foreclosure, polluted air and water, and a host of other problems caused by corporate greed, I am sure that we can begin to…
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United States Hypocrisy 
I wonder if Proyect is being too hard on Saunders in saying he would never take a public stance on his core beliefs. Surely that’s the only value in his launching a presidential campaign. I’m sure he already knows he won’t win.
Well, perhaps you’re right. I’d probably vote for Sanders. But the issue I think the author takes here is towing the party line on Israel for one thing, voting for the resolutions condemning Palestinian resistance and voting to keep funding Israel weapons even as they were relentlessly destroying people in Gaza. When questioned about it recently, he yelled at a pro-Palestinian peace activist, “Shut up! You don’t have the mic.”
http://www.mediaite.com/online/excuse-me-shut-up-bernie-sanders-defends-israel-from-town-hall-hecklers/
For me personally Palestine isn’t the sole issue I take into consideration when voting (as if there is much of a choice in American politics), but it is an important one and to some people, especially progressives, it is THE most important issue to them. I think these progressive activists who challenge every candidate on Palestine are absolutely essential, and Sanders’s irritated and rude response to them is rather telling.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/24/why-did-bernie-sanders-get-gaza-so-wrong/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/30/even-left-wing-congressmen-can-t-quit-israel.html