Politico's Gabriel Debenedetti posted this old Yale Daily News ad for George McGovern for the factoid that Ben Carson was a McGovern supporter back in the day. But what I think is really interesting about it is the light it sheds on Bernie Sanders:
Yale Daily News, Nov 19, 1971: @RealBenCarson '73 signs onto an ad supporting George McGovern pic.twitter.com/iTr2K5r2yR
— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) September 14, 2015
This is a great ad, and it would apply pretty much word for word to Sanders. It's devastating because it simply recasts the candidate's weaknesses as strengths and asks us to imagine a different, better world in which leading public opinion was a good thing and cashing checks from wealthy interests was a bad thing.
Arguments like this powered McGovern to the nomination where he, of course, lost in a landslide — because it turns out that raising money and placating interest groups and trimming your sails to stay in line with public opinion are all useful political skills.
