According to Corporate Media and Senator McCaskill

Juan Cole published an article in early June that argued the mainstream media was focused mainly on portraying Bernie Sanders as a "kook," or "out of step with reality", or that his positions are "extreme."  However, Cole then laid out a solid case, with evidence, to show that the positions Bernie Sanders is promoting are "squarely in the mainstream."  In other words, a large majority of Americans actually agree with the positions of Bernie Sanders.

Thus it was no surprise to read Senator Claire McCaskill's response to Bernie in her interview on Morning Joe: "Oh Bernie, Bernie, Bernie... it's not unusual for someone who has an extreme message to have a following."  Right on cue, and as predicted by many, the corporate Democrats and the corporate media are working diligently to paint a false picture of Bernie Sanders, and to try and set the limits of public debate.  In other words, anything that goes outside the narrow margins of their corporate agenda is labeled as "extreme."

Here is Bernie Sanders' positions... 

Thus according to Senator McCaskill and the corporate media, the majority of Americans are extremists for seriously wanting to address the massive inequality of wealth this country is experiencing, which includes support for taxing the rich.

According to Senator McCaskill and the corporate media, the majority of Americans are extremists for wanting to get money out of politics; to overturn Citizens United, and to implement public financing of campaigns.

According to Senator McCaskill and the corporate media, the majority of Americans are extremists for wanting to invest money in American jobs, American infrastructure, and American students.  This includes ending corporate "free trade" agreements that have shuttered over 50,000 U.S. manufacturing factories and displaced millions and millions of good paying middle class jobs; and includes investing in American infrastructure, rather than continuing to waste trillions in foreign wars; and also includes investing in America's youth with tuition-free college, rather than saddling them with heavy amounts of debt, or not getting a higher education at all because it is too expensive.

According to Senator McCaskill and the corporate media, the majority of Americans are extremists for wanting to honestly deal with the threat of global warming.  

According to Senator McCaskill and the corporate media, the majority of Americans are extremists for wanting workers to have livable wages, sick pay and vacation time so that they can take better care of the well-being of their families.  You know, good old family values!

According to Senator McCaskill and the corporate media, the majority of Americans are extremists for wanting to create a medicare-for-all system that would create health care as a right - a right which every single industrialized country already grants its citizens.  

And, finally, according to Senator McCaskill and the corporate media, all of the people who support Bernie Sanders are extremists because they support a politician who tells the truth and has maintained a consistency of position that few could boast.  As Orwell once wrote, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

Bernie is person who helped fight for civil rights with Martin Luther King; who was against NAFTA, CAFTA; who has consistently been against unnecessary wars; who was against DOMA and for gay rights when most Democrats were too afraid to take this position.  My god, how extreme!

So Senator McCaskill... if you believe that the majority of Americans, are extremists for supporting Bernie Sanders' "extreme message," then we have truly entered the world that Orwell warned us about in 1984.  A world where up is down, right is left, black is white, war is peace, ignorance is strength.