I thought GMD was supposed to be the “snarky” media, but it appears that Paul Heintz of Seven Days has that one all sewn up.
Mr. Heintz seems to have not enjoyed his one-on-one with Bernie Sanders last week, since his summary of the interview is bristling with frustration and thinly-veiled ridicule.
Knowing the Senator’s dour personality, I suspect that Mr. Heintz has gotten too accustomed to the Governor’s schmoozy intimacy and feels slighted when Bernie doesn’t crack open a beer and show him his tattoos.
Anyhoo…nice work if you can get it.
Mr. Heinz’s roast does touch upon the truly big news coming out of the Senator’s office: that, as the newly appointed chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, he is now poised to bring considerably more clout to his campaign for poorer America.
In this new role, Senator Sanders is uniquely positioned to draw upon his independent status and engage Republicans in a conversation that will serve them well with their hawkish constitutents: the care and feeding of the growing number of service veterans whose fortunes rise and fall in tandem with those other vulnerable populations, the poor and the elderly.
Mr. Heintz seems to find it quirky that, unlike most of his colleagues (who have done so much to move the country forward!), the Senator’s primary focus since stepping onto the Senate floor, has been on the economics of poverty in America.
I find it odd that more members of that august body haven’t demonstrated equal interest in the needs of the fastest growing and least served segment of the nation, the downwardly mobile.
Yes, I do wish the Senator had some collateral to spend on other issues, but I suspect he is a pragmatist even more so than a politician; he’d have to be to have ascended so far in a two party system. He knows his opportunities for impact are limited both by the size of his constituency and the nature of his independence.
In my opinion, he has chosen well what his priority should be.
I don’t need warm and fuzzy from Senator Sanders. I need heat in the winter, food on the table and some assurance that I won’t spend my last days sleeping on a park bench
Carry on, Senator.
… is that the snark seems unconnected to political or policy issues. It’s all personalities and fluff. Two weeks ago, Heintz did a very determined back-and-forth with Gov. Shumlin on the hoary old nonstory about whether he would ever run for President. (In the Bernie interview, Heintz endlessly quizzed him about Rand Paul’s filibuster. No wonder Bernie tried to change the subject.)
There are issues worth badgering our public officials about. (Even Bernie.) But Seven Days seems to be stuck on minutiae. It’s the “look” of alternative media without any of the establishment-shaking substance.
“It’s the “look” of alternative media without any of the establishment-shaking substance.” If you keep saying “Vermont’s Alternative Weekly” people will believe it. Similar to saying “Independent Radio: The Point” every 30 seconds. Maybe it should be “Vermont’s Alternative, weakly”