Many of Bernie Sanders’ more ardent supporters love to talk about how the Vermont Senator is a straight shooter who tells it like it is and is unafraid of backlash from the political class, even when his positions may be unpopular. That’s nonsense, of course, because he’s basically just another politician running for office who will do and say what he feels he needs to in order to be elected. More proof of this reality showed up on America’s doorstep this morning when Sanders went on the morning shows and executed an Olympic diving level flip flop on protection for gun manufacturers and retailers from nuisance lawsuits. (The Hill)

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Sunday said Sandy Hook victims should be able to sue gun manufacturers for the 2012 shooting, backtracking on previous comments.

“Of course they have a right to sue, anyone has a right to sue,” Sanders said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

This took place on CNN’s State of the Union where Dana Bash was filling in for Jake Tapper. Here’s the video.

The liberals have gotten exactly what they wanted from Bernie Sanders. (What good this does Sanders remains a mystery when he’s still clearly on track to lose the nomination unless Clinton is indicted in the near future.) His one “weak point” among progressives has always been his marginally sane view on Second Amendment rights. His checkered past on the subject includes a number of incidents where he was closer to being right than wrong on gun rights and chief among those was his support for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). Clinton has been absolutely savaging Bernie on this specific vote at pretty much every turn and he’s been getting increasingly squeamish about it as the race comes down to the wire.

He may have left himself some wiggle room today by saying the Sandy Hook families have a right to sue, followed immediately by the comment, anyone has a right to sue. He can always try to claim later that he didn’t want to silence their voices, but that the case was likely without merit. But that wasn’t the intention of the original bill… or at least not the entire point of it. Even when manufacturers win such lawsuits they suck up a tremendous amount of time and resources, while the plaintiffs can have all their bills paid by one of many anti-gun rights groups. And if you find a sympathetic court, they just might hand down a crippling award in the name of political correctness even when the original suit had no merit, as is the case with Sandy Hook. For gun rights opponents, the goal isn’t to deliver “justice” to one family, but to drive gun makers out of business since they have been unable to dismantle the Second Amendment through Congress or the courts.

Bernie sold out his values and it was most likely for nothing. This one flip flop isn’t going to turn around some huge swath of Hillary voters and suddenly put him over the top. And in the meantime, he’s tarnished his independent, outsider credentials by demonstrating that he’s just another craven politician.