OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016
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up for his community
while Sheriff Palmer
subverted his
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hen a tough guy loses his composure,
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at the FBI press conference following
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his emotions as he described how the armed
occupation had torn the
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Beneath the national
story of armed occupiers
versus the feds were two
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the stress of feeling incip-
ient violence in the midst
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other subplot was the tale
Steve
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Forrester
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one of the solid, impres-
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rassing, and at worst, an enabler of lawbreakers,
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Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian
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is the sheriff who defends his community from Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward speaks at press conference at the Harney County Community Center in Burns, Jan. 27.
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support to the outsiders, preferring hotheads
Unwittingly, it was
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Unwittingly, it was Palmer’s invitation to
Palmer’s invitation
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to Ammon Bundy
ship core to John Day on the fateful afternoon of
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that drew Bundy
county line, arresting Bundy and seven others
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and Training, they are not hired in the manner
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to assume they have leeway that police chiefs
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to make boneheaded moves, unchecked by a
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refuge occupiers, Sheriff Palmer decided last
September that he would write a natural resource
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Court (its governing body) reminded Palmer
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made sheriff’s deputies of a group of 11 citizens
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In his remarks beckoning the lawbreakers
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and his leadership
core to John Day
on that fateful
afternoon.
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natural resources plan, Palmer acted as though
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that the armed lawbreakers would be welcomed
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bilize the communities’ security and stability for
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enforce and who to enforce them against (Think
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Sheriff Palmer aligns himself with the
so-called “constitutional sheriff” movement,
Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer
in which mainly rural sheriffs and others like
the Bundys designate themselves as the ulti-
ecause they are elected by local people and borhood boss or “shire-reeve” originated, they mate authorities on what is and is not “consti-
thus particularly accountable to them, sher- have long since ceased to be the top elected WXWLRQDO´6HOGRPSRVVHVVLQJDQ\DFWXDOWUDLQLQJ
iffs and the deputies they employ are often the RI¿FLDOV LQ WKHLU FRXQWLHV %RDUGV RI FRXQW\ in constitutional law, they presume to interpret
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This evolution in local government partly
often includes search and rescue, sheriffs are
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ULJKWO\FRQVLGHUHGWREHRQWKHVLGHRIWKHSHRSOH came in response to sheriffs who acted like RQHODZIRUDOO:HFDQ¶WDIIRUGWRUHPDLQVLOHQW
However, unlike a thousand years ago in SRZHUVXQWRWKHPVHOYHV$WZRUVWWKH\EHKDYHG ZKHQORFDORI¿FLDOVDFWRXWVLGHWKLVV\VWHP
$QJOR6D[RQ(QJODQGZKHQWKHUROHRIQHLJK- like gangland bullies, choosing which laws to
— S.A.F.
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Two questions for Sen. Bernie Sanders
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
New York Times News Service
hen Bernie Sanders won
election as mayor of
Burlington, Vermont, in 1981,
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was a story there about a socialist
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I was interning at The
Washington Post (I didn’t mention
the intern part!) and spoke at length
to some assistant who answered the
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I asked about Sanders’ plans, and
the aide kept answering with “we”
— which I thought a nice glimpse
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half an hour, I had enough to check
with my editor, so I asked the aide’s
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Sanders’ lack of political airs
has helped catapult him forward in
the presidential race, overcoming
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across as winningly uncalculated:
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seems to fumble for a baby’s “off”
switch, so he can tell you more about
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I admire Sanders’ passion, his
relentless focus on inequality and his
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as mayor of Burlington, he declared:
“The rich are getting richer, the poor
are getting poorer and the millions
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of families in the middle
remains this open question
are gradually sliding out
of how he could achieve
of the middle class and
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I also wonder if his
remained his mantra across
age may be relevant here:
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Sanders would be 75 when
have two fundamental
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questions for Sanders:
oldest person to become
Can you translate your
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bold vision into reality?
Clinton would be a slightly
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Nicholas
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Kristof
is indefatigable, but
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people often slow
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Can
down in their late 70s
the Committee for a
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Responsible Federal
Sanders
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Budget, a bipartisan
group, found that accomplish for skepticism is
his
congressional
Sanders’ sums come
up short by $3 trillion
his goals, UHFRUG ,Q \HDUV LQ
Congress, Sanders has
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and is he been primary sponsor
Likewise, Sanders
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says he would prod
that became law, and
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two were simply to
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Yes, but how? The United States has GLGEHWWHUZLWKDPHQGPHQWV&OLQWRQ
already been trying unsuccessfully to wasn’t particularly effective as a
JHWWKHVHDOOLHVWRGRPRUHDJDLQVW,6,6 legislator, either, but to me Sanders’
record suggests that his strength is as
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The Washington Post last month a passionate advocate, not as a deal-
published a scathing editorial head- PDNHUZKRJHWVUHVXOWV
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lined “Bernie Sanders’s Fiction-Filled
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claims” and added: “Sanders is not a Cruz more likely?
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about how they would vote in a
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I think that’s too harsh, for Sanders general election, Sanders does pretty
panders less than other politicians (a ZHOO)RUH[DPSOHKHEHDWV7HG&UX]
very low bar), and he has often staked in the RealClearPolitics average,
out lonely positions that turned out to ZKLOH &OLQWRQ ORVHV WR &UX] %XW DW
be correct — such as his opposition this stage that’s almost meaningless:
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally in Claremont, N.H., Tuesday.
Sanders’ lack of political airs has helped catapult him forward in the
Democratic presidential primary.
Republicans are blasting Clinton
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year asking voters what kind of person
they would be unwilling to consider
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say they wouldn’t vote for a Cath-
olic, and 7 percent wouldn’t support
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wouldn’t vote for a gay candidate,
and more than a third would refuse to
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would be unwilling to consider voting
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them that a “democratic socialist”
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he could charm some voters into
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in Vermont, a state where he now
wins elections by overwhelming
margins, and skeptics have been
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But if a Democratic nominee starts
off with half the voters unwilling to
consider someone like him, that’s a
huge advantage for the Republican
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So can he accomplish his goals,
and is he electable? Lots of us
admire Sanders and we would like
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STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
• CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
• DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
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