Oops!  The current darling of the American left committed a Thought Crime in 1972.  There is probably no hot button hotter among the feminist left than the contention that women all secretly want to be raped.  And what with rape on campus being the latest craze animating the “war on women” crowd, the timing of the Media Research Center’s release of a 1972 essay Sanders wrote for an underground newspaper could not be more awkward.

In an article entitled "Men-And-Women," published in an alternative newspaper called the "Vermont Freeman" Sanders shared his thoughts on male and female sexuality in ways that would cause a media firestorm if it had been penned by any current GOP candidate.  Even one with as little chance at grabbing his party's nomination as Sanders currently has.

"A man goes home and masturbates his typical fantasy," wrote Sanders. "A woman on her knees.  A woman tied up.  A woman abused."

Sanders didn't specify as to how he had gained such a  deep understanding of the male psyche.

In terms of his understanding of female sexual fantasies, Sanders provided similar insight.

"A woman enjoys intercourse with her man--as she fantasizes about being raped by 3 men simultaneously." 

It is unclear where Sanders acquired his early expertise  on male and female sexual desires.  But what is clear is that had Ted Cruz or Rick Santorum wrote something along these lines--even 40 years ago--the media wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks.

The obvious question for Hillary Clinton (and us) is: to Mau-Mau or not to Mau-Mau?  After all, as the MRC points out, no GOP candidate would get away with dismissing these words as a youthful indiscretion.  But Charles C. Cooke of National Review argues:

A society in which people are drummed out of politics for things they wrote 43 years ago is an ugly society indeed. Sometimes the best way to address hypocrisy is to take the high road. This is America: land of second chances. This is a place of redemption and of reinvention and of continual learning. Nobody honestly believes that Bernie Sanders is a sexual pervert or that he is a misogynist or that he intends to do women any harm. Nobody suspects that he harbors a secret desire to pass intrusive legislation or to cut gang rapists a break. Really, there is only one reason that anyone would make hay of this story, and that is to damage the man politically. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned. Perhaps I’m hopelessly idealistic. But until I see any sign of actual wrongdoing I’d much prefer to slam Sanders for his dangerous and ridiculous politics than to delve back into his past and embarrass him with a long-forgotten opinion. I certainly hope that my fellow conservatives will feel the same way, even if they do not enjoy the same courtesy from their adversaries.

This is the we’re better than they are, so let’s just wait until the public recognizes our superior virtue argument.  Unfortunately, in the real world, this approach doesn’t work, at least in the short to medium term.  Ace at Ace of Spades HQ provides a strong  counter-argument:

As a tactical matter, there is no way to get the left to stop with its incessant Censorship Crusades except to visit equal pain upon them. (snip)

…the right way to bring about a more open, permissive, and adult tone in civic culture is to treat the left according to its own obscene rules, while always making it clear: We are prepared to abandon these darkly stupid rules you've constructed the minute you agree to do the same, Genius.

You may wonder why I am still so opposed to demagoging ordinary civilians: Well, because they're ordinary civilians. Bernie Sanders is not an ordinary civilian, he is a politician, and a well-compensated and donor-cash-rich avatar for Social Justice. He also has a Big Microphone, unlike your average everyday citizen caught up in a Social Justice Lyniching.

As I've said before -- I support political tactics, such as whipping up public opinion against someone, in actual political circumstances, with respect to actual political actors (including the undisclosed lobbyists of the media) -- but not in everyday life.

I am with Ace on this one.  We can’t fight an MMA scrapper using the Marquess of Queensbury rules ourselves.  And actually, Hillary Clinton herself provides some guidance in the matter.  She wrote her graduation thesis at Wellesley on Saul Alinksy, whose rule #4 is “Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.” 

The left, and especially Hillary Clinton, is counting on ginning up a phony “war on women” meme as a way of driving female turnout for the Democrat candidate.  This requires debunking at every possible moment.