Yes, Bernie Sanders is a brave man.
His civil rights histories are his John Kerry medals — the strengths the opposition attacked because “nobody expects to be attacked for having done good.” Such an attack has both the element of surprise and the tendency to leave the victim stupefied. Also, the offense grows out of the attacker’s known weakness. But, since any retaliatory act can be refuted as just that, response is problematic.
How to respond? John Kerry made the mistake of trying. The lesson we should take away is that attacks on a person’s virtue are abusive and, lest we become complicit, it behooves us not to remain silent.
That’s the bottom line.