There's nothing redeeming or politically valid in Sanders speaking at Falwell's Liberty University

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This isn't even triangulation, it's a blatant bid for the votes of racists and bigots who make it their life's purpose to work against the interests, needs, and concerns of women, minorities, Jewish individuals and anyone else who dares disagree with their religious doctrine of hatred and exclusion.

There's nothing to be gained in enlisting their ultra-conservative support for some economic platform while they actively seek to undermine basic liberties, rights, and values which progressives seek to defend and uphold.

To paraphrase Jeffrey Tayler at Salon speaking out against Jeb Bush cozying-up to Jerry Falwell Jr.'s religious school -where's the decency in giving heed to a university of haters,

""...founded and long administered by someone who had opposed Martin Luther King, the desegregation of public schools, the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion; had wanted the United States to expand, not end, the war in Vietnam; had supported apartheid, fought legislation forbidding discrimination against gays, spouted anti-Semitic rhetoric, and had voiced the opinion that the Anti-Christ walks among us as a Jewish male; had thought Chief Justice John Roberts not conservative enough, and, to top it off, showed de facto sympathy for al-Qaida by blaming Americans – especially gay and feminist Americans – for 9/11?"

"Falwell, said Jeb Bush, “turned his back on no one.” Well, no one except gays, who, Falwell said, had to endure AIDS as “God’s punishment,” as does “the society that tolerates homosexuals.” And at least for part of his too-long career, Falwell surely would also have turned his back on African-Americans. He boasted of having grown up in the “segregated South,” and believed that “The true Negro does not want integration. . . he realizes his potential is far better among his own race.”"

"For those who read the above words and wish to accuse me of being a “hater,” let me say this: you’re right. I hate that religion steals our funds – some $82.5 billion through tax exemptions in 2013 alone, for example – that we could have spent on our great needs, including rebuilding our infrastructure and bettering public education. I hate how its ignorant teachings about sex and reproduction cause unnecessary hardship, fostering underage pregnancies and the prevalence of STDs – all most problematic in the God-fearing red states. I loathe how it yearns for the world’s demise, and even has 49 percent of Americans believing that climate change is just another inevitable sign of the End of Days."

This is a kick in the face of anyone who believed their interest in black lives, LGBT lives, women's lives, or anyone's life which falls outside of the university's (and it's founder and administrator's) narrow box of hate would take exclusive prominence in the Vermont Senator's agenda. Apparently, for Sanders, bigots, homophobes, racists, and demagogues' votes matter in his campaign. What an amazing disconnect from the interests of those he purports to represent; what an amazing betrayal of their lives to give heed to such a hurtful and socially threatening institution.