While I think Jon has a great point about how we’ve gotten used to the idea of focus-tested and polished politicians, I think he sorta missed the bigger picture, which is the media’s effort to portray Sanders as a “loony” for the purposes of treating the things he has to talk about as “out there.” In the same week as the press was downplaying Sanders and acting like he was the second-coming of Vladimir Lenin, you had David Brooks on air sporting wood over George Pataki joining the race as a “moderate” Republican and calling Scott Walker and Marco Rubio “working class politicians.”

The “liberal media” seems to be settling on a narrative: If you like what Sanders has to say, you’re a socialist nutjob. But if you like what Scott Walker has to say, then you’re a good, well-balanced centrist who’s focused on what matters to the workin’ man.