The Sanders, the Clinton's will they ever go away??? Please go.
9
Enough with the dynasties.
11
I guess I’m the odd one who really admired and appreciated that Bernie does not believe in supporting his childrens’ candidacies. This to me is a testament to his principles.
My takeaway is that Bernie wants his son and step daughter to forge their own path, I think that is better for his adult children as well as the people they are asking to support them. If my lay memory serves me right, Bernie had a few failed candidacies to get to where he is today. What’s wrong with letting others do the same?
All of those welping that he won’t support his son just becuase are ignoring the obvious issues with politicians doing so in general. Supporting his son instead of letting him learn and build experience like anyone else seems to me like the same sort of “snowflake” encouraging behavior that Sanders opponents seem so fond of calling out.
17
From the writer's description, the son sounds like he is not very astute to social cues and conventions. He may be very aware of societal inequalities and failings, and work very earnestly to right them, and yet lack sufficient political and social acumen to be a successful politician. His father may be aware of this. This is just the impression I get from the writing.
9
Reporting on a candidate’s (lacklustre) campaign for a house seat in a district where he does not reside is, in my opinion, far from a hit piece. This seems more or less similar to articles by AP and other outlets about Ms Carol Hafner’s bid to represent Alaska in the same chamber.
Almost everything that’s not glowingly positive is now a hit piece. I’m a liberal myself but boy does the unnecessary blowback to this piece frighten me. Are we careening towards a complete rejection of any news that just doesn’t jibe with our worldview ?
4
Reading these comments...
...meanwhile, as all of you self-identified liberals, progressives, democrats, independents and socialists fight amongst yourselves...
...the Republicans (of ALL stripes) band together on a single message - party first, party at all costs! - and work toward maintaining their stranglehold on midterm elections, supreme court appointments...
Pull yourselves together, People! Stop this inter- partisan divide or we will lose yet again. How many times do you need to learn this lesson? If you want to know how to win, take the Republican talking points and make them yours. Then vote for any and all democrats no matter what! Who cares if it's young Sanders or some no-name. Just do it. Seriously.
4
As long as his father is making similar dissociative claims, I'm sure we can all rest easy.
3
Why not, he’s entitled to run, NYT will not object of course, they objected only Egypt ex- president Mubarak when his son hinted that he was running for president, what a hypocrite liberals...
2
Why the snarky tone, NY Times? It's distracting and inappropriate. So snide. Why?
45
@Public School Mom
The NYTimes used a similarly snarky and dismissive tone when writing about Bernie Sanders during the primary campaign - when the Times wrote about him at all.
14
The NYT has built itself a reputation over the past 2+ years for using a consistently snarky, condescending tone when discussing or referring to Senator Sanders -- so it should come as no surprise to its readers that it chose to publish a mean-spirited hit piece on Levi Sanders on its FRONT PAGE.
For God's sake! Does the Gray Lady's antipathy toward Bernie and progressives consume them to such a degree that they prioritize petty political point-scoring over, say, the fact that we blew to smithereens 44 innocent Yemeni children with our own tax-funded missiles?
Pathetic.
63
Senator Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat. He should be barred from any Democratic caucuses and primaries until he becomes a Democrat and commits to the party.
17
Spot on. Thank you.
8
The only thing ‘newsworthy’ about this candidacy is how inappropriate it is to campaign to represent constituents of a district he doesn’t even live in.
There are a number of other qualified candidates who deserve the press. NH was right to support Bernie in 2016 and hopefully will be right to reject his loudmouth attention seeking son come Election Day.
10
What’s his position on soybeans and dairy price supports?!?!
All us liberal New Yorkers are dying to know,
2
If Bernie is not his father, then who is?
1
Well, the New York Times is certainly multi-generational. After your zillion hit pieces on Bernie Sanders in 2016, you follow up with a negative story on his son Levi.
This is also a very superficial story. It tells nothing about the positions of Levi's opponents. Is Levi the only candidate espousing the progressive positions of his father such as Medicare for All? Are the other candidates to his political right or do any share the same views?
And as for Bernie, I find it horrible that he would not even put in a good word for his son, even if he does not officially endorse him. What kind of a father is he?
10
He looks uniquely unhappy. I suppose you would be if you spent your life constantly complaining about horrible our country is.
4
Reminds me of John McCain in 2008. I am NOT George Bush!
2
If Bernie wasn’t your dad you would be nowhere politically.
5
If Hillary wasn't married to Bill, she would be nowhere politically.
6
@RLS From all I've read about both of them, I think you have that backwards.
5
This describes a politics of manners, current customs and traditions, hidden in the meme of public service. It is still far from a politics of common sense: of course, you endorse your son!
2
Sadly, the NY Times continues to show an antipathy toward Sanders type progressives.
One thing Bernie accomplished in 2016 is to demonstrate the feasibility of a small donor candidacy not beholden to big bucks interests.
49
How is this not weird, though?!
1
It's nice if one of your parents is prominent/famous/celebrity etc., but be aware that if you want to follow in that parent's footsteps you really, really, need to be able to make a case for yourself.
Otherwise, you're much better off trying to make your own name in another field of endeavor.
9
If a prominent father does not publicly and enthusiastically endorse the candidacy of his son why would a stranger vote for that individual?
10
When I visited NH some time ago this comment was related to me by a decades long resident who attended a town hall meeting when he spoke.
“Not a Native. Never will be.”
10
@wp-spectator there are bumper stickers here on Colorado that say native. To which I shake my head. Unless they’re Arapaho or Cheyenne or a bison, they’re delusional.
5
Bernie Sanders: “In our family, however, we do not believe in dynastic politics. Levi is running his own campaign in his own way.”
Hm. Well, maybe not dynastic politics, but certainly nepotism. One of Jane Sanders' daughters was paid $500,000 over just three years for "woodworking materials and classes" at the now bankrupt and defunct Burlington College. Her son, whose background is apparently in snowboards, was given one of only three paid positions on the newest Sanders political think tank.
And there's this regarding Levi's background: "He worked for his father’s campaign, but in terms of non-familial political experience, he has none."
21
Like his father he hasn’t figured out how to pay for his pie in the sky campaign promises.....
17
Bernie has figured it out. Medicare for All is LESS expensive than for profit health care which is the most expensive health care in the world. How come every other first world nation invests in the health and education of its citizens but in the US, the richest nation the world has ever known, it’s “pie in the sky. “. Another trillion dollars for jet fighter planes?
No problem.
32
@Zejee No, he simply has not. Even liberal Democrats know this which is why he lost the Primary.
Even his own supporters aren't willing to pay for his plans.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/4/14/11421744/bernie-sander...
The country doesn't need any more dynasties. We need people interested in making our existing political reality work for everybody. The Sander's family business of pushing agenda driven political issues is no more helpful in advancing America's interests than is Trump's family business of making obscene amounts of money.
12
Bernie Sanders is such an odd duck. How do you NOT endorse your kids?
12
@Simon DelMonte And why does The New York Times give a failed candidate for President’s son free advertising? I guess the reader’s mentions of some of the more repulsively corrupt practices of the Sanders’ family business are a lagniappe to those of us who see why a maximum age on politicians running for office might deter rank nepotism.
1
If one lesson from the Trump debacle should be overwhelmingly apparent, it is the degree of bad faith and corruption which nepotism allows for.
“Excuse me! Excuse me!” he thundered. “I’m here to talk, O.K.?”
I must admit though, he sounds more like Larry David playing Bernie Sanders than he does his father.
17
@ubique reminds me of the time Ronald Reagan thundered, "I paid for this microphone"! The audience loved it!
2
As a voter in the NH district in question, I can't see why anybody is considering voting for Mr. Sanders in the primary. There are 7 other candidates, many of them quite well qualified, and ALL of them actually live in the district. I get that an open seat always causes a feeding frenzy, but this looks like pure political opportunism.
27
@Roy because it is that smelly duck!
2