Last week was a busy one in the world of politics, with two new announced presidential candidates of note and issues about media coverage on one already in the race.
First, is Bernie Sanders getting treated unfairly by the "mainstream media"? In the wake of Columbia Journalism Review, I argue yes. This is of relevance to coverage of third-party candidates, too, whether Green, Libertarian or other.
Second, former GOP governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee jumped in the Democratic race to also challenge Hillary from the left.
Yes, you heard that "from the left" correctly and I defend it here. Yes, Chafee once supported Shrub Bush's idea of a partial (note: partial, not full, but still not excusable) privatization of Social Security. Yes, Hillary Clinton opposed that.
That said, she's not that liberal on Social Security herself. Add in that she's a warhawk, a supporter of the national surveillance state, and arguably to the right of Chafee on big and dark money in politics, bank regulation and other things, and I stand behind the argument that he's to her left.
To the right of both of them, and a bigger grandstander and bloviator, is Rick Perry. As I noted, in a piece with extensive links to old blogging about him, his "Texas miracle" is largely a sand castle, he's still under indictment, and he probably has a snowball's chance in the GOP race, among other things.
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