Does This Really Require Explanation?

Yesterday, I wrote a post forcefully denouncing Bernie Sanders.  I put up the same post, verbatim, in a couple of lefty Facebook groups. That post was removed in one of them, presumably because it was considered divisive.  However, the moderator who removed it suggested that it would be good for me to provide some explanation as to why I was denouncing Sanders, and so I shall.

Yesterday, in an interview on MSNBC, Sanders was asked whether he would drop out of the race before the convention if it became clear that he would not be the nominee.  When pressed, he said this:

Some people say that if maybe that system was not rigged against me I would have won the nomination and defeated Donald Trump

I feel like I shouldn't have to explain why this is 100% unacceptable, but I will.  Sanders has had 4 years to come up with a better answer to this question, which is, after all, a fairly standard question to ask candidates during the primaries.  I came up with a better answer in under four minutes.  He could have said, for example:

I intend to fully support the Democractic nominee for president.  It's crucial that anyone who cares about our democracy, the rule of law, freedom of the press and the Constitution supports the Democratic nominee in defeating Donald Trump, and I intend to be that nominee

Something like that probably would have been his best answer.  My second choice would have been literally any other answer which doesn't reinforce and validate GOP attacks that the Democratic party is in some way corrupt.  Even if he's referencing the 2016 race, there is NO REASON to use the word 'rigged' when discussing the nomination process, ESPECIALLY on the very day that the nominating process officially begins.

So I rather forcefully expressed my opinion that I have no intention of supporting Sanders for the nomination.  And in my opinion, no one who's interested in defeating Trump SHOULD support Sanders, considering that Sanders is doing Trump's work for him.

There are PLENTY of other candidates to choose from, all of them younger, most of them as good (or better!) than Sanders on the issues, and none of whom would repeat GOP attacks on the Democratic party, because they're actually Democrats.

I really feel like this should be obvious to an objective observer, especially someone concerned about divisiveness.

NOTE: There is an important coda to all of this, and it's the main reason I took the time to post this at all.  And it is that although Sanders is now my 23rd choice for Democratic nominee, I promise to enthusiastically campaign for him in the event he wins the nomination!  I say this because I promise to enthusiastically campaign for the Democratic nominee no matter who it is!

The importance of this promise should also be obvious to any objective observer, and is something I hope all of Trump's opponents agree on.