Sanders Not Sure He’s Made His Tolerance For Terrorism Clear Enough

“Have we been consistently on message in that respect?”

Burlington, May 24 – Senator Bernie Sanders told campaign staff last night that he still has concerns that he had not made his acceptance of Islamic terrorism sufficiently plain to the electorate, campaign sources reported this morning.

At a late-night strategy meeting at his campaign headquarters, the senator discussed the difficulties plaguing his continuing effort to secure the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency. Front-runner Hillary Clinton as all but guaranteed victory in that fight, but Sanders and his supporters have vowed to keep campaigning until the party’s national convention, where the official choice will be made by the delegates. In analyzing the yawning gap between Clinton’s delegate count and his own, Sanders wondered aloud whether he should take a less equivocal stand on his tolerance for Muslims who attack civilians in the name of Islam.

“Appointing apologists for terrorism to this campaign is all well and good, but how many Americans – especially registered Democrats – know or care that those people have defended or dismissed such attacks?” asked the candidate. “I want everyone to make sure my position on terrorism is crystal clear: it’s fine if directed at Jews, Israel, American interests, and Westerners in general, provided it can be contextualized to make the attacker out as a victim. Have we been consistently on message in that respect?”

The presidential hopeful then cataloged the various personnel he had selected for campaign posts, and invited campaign staffers to weigh in on whether the individuals in question measured up to the proper anti-Israel, antidemocratic, or post-colonialist standards. “I need your honest opinion on whether we could have done better,” he adjured his staff. “Tolerance for BDS advocacy and simmering hatred of Israel aren’t good enough – we need people who actively call for a boycott of the Jewish State. Accusing Israel of war crimes and disproportionate military responses to violence are a decent starting point, but what we really need to set us apart from our rival is an unequivocal stance of defending Hamas and Hezbollah, even glorifying them as noble freedom fighters. Have we been sufficiently diligent about forging ties with such people and embracing them in our campaign hiring and rhetoric? I have my suspicions.”

He then listened to the ideas his staff offered for augmented expression of tolerance for terrorism. The most promising one, according to campaign staffers, included his appearing on the podium at campaign events wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt and a khaffiyeh.