De-endorsementum!
By 
Cenk Uygur, the Republican turned Independent turned Democrat celebrity with his own media outlet, is running for Congress as the anti-establishment defender of The People who happen to live in CA25. He had a an exciting 24 hours this week.
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday endorsed Cenk Uygur, a controversial candidate in the competitive race to replace Katie Hill in California’s 25th Congressional District.
Uygur — who had already backed Sanders’ bid for president — has built a following around his popular progressive talk show “The Young Turks,” which started as radio program before becoming a well-watched YouTube channel.
But then, a bunch of people mean nasty neoliberal corparate establishment shills who have never been on TV pointed out that this endorsement was troublesome given Uygur has a not-at-all-secret history of being a sexist pinhead.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the endorsements of Bernie Sanders, Ro Khanna, Nina Turner & local progressive groups that gave me their support. Their stance took real courage in the face of the corporate media and Democratic establishment onslaught. I want to be free of any influence other than the voters of CA-25.
I will not be beholden to corporations, lobbyists, or special interest groups and I will not stand by while those groups attack my political allies. That’s why I have decided that I will not be accepting any endorsements.
Because nothing says progressive champion of women’s rights like shouting Help help I’m bein’ repressed by corporation! when individuals say Hey, that guy Sanders endorsed is a slime mold.
To help with Uygur’s attempt to de-endorse himself, Sanders de-endorsed Uygur. Because Sanders understands some of his supporters were frustrated by the endorsement.
But he still thinks Uygur is a really great guy.
But because he doesn’t want the endorsement …
The Democratic presidential candidate had said Thursday that Uygur, founder and co-host of “The Young Turks” online talk show, is “a voice that we desperately need in Congress” to fill the seat of former Rep. Katie Hill of Santa Clarita. A backlash among Democrats offended by Uygur’s inflammatory comments led the congressional candidate to say Friday that he would no longer accept endorsements, prompting Sanders to withdraw his support, even as he continued to praise him.
“As I said yesterday, Cenk has been a longtime fighter against the corrupt forces in our politics and he’s inspired people all across the country,” the Vermont senator said. “However, our movement is bigger than any one person. I hear my grassroots supporters who were frustrated and understand their concerns. Cenk today said he is rejecting all endorsements for his campaign, and I retract my endorsement.”
Vermont man would like to formally announce that he is unstepping on the rake. But only because the rake asked him to do it.
Or something.
Uygur is surprisingly extremely NOT MAD about the whole thing. And his media outlet has lots of viewers, can his opponents say that? Huh? So there.
Over last decade I’ve been attacked non-stop by GOP, establishment Dems & MSM for being too far left. Now that I’m running for office they have set the record for disingenuous attacks by pretending they’re concerned I’m not progressive enough. 50 million viewers a month disagree!
Because those 500 million viewers are all there to see him and his works and they’re all progressive so he must be like, super duper progressive. That’s just how these things work.
