Moment of Truth: The Decision that Derailed Bernie’s Campaign

[William769]

Hillary Clinton’s legendary perseverance and resilience are on full display in 2016. She is winning the Democratic nomination despite a mile-high wall of personal attacks. It is exactly why she is the best candidate to take on Donald Trump.

Bernie Sanders has done many things right in this race — and one thing very wrong. It is the wrong decision that I believe partially accounts for his poor showing on March 15th.

Let’s start with what’s right about Bernie’s message: he is a passionate purveyor of core progressive principles who has activated and energized millions of young voters. He speaks with conviction about crucial issues and he has helped bring those issues to the fore in 2016.

Here’s what’s wrong, terribly wrong: He caved to the pressure from his campaign manager Jeff Weaver and top aide Tad Devine to ride the ever-present wave of Hillary hate and to go after her character, impugning her honesty and insinuating that she is untrustworthy.

http://bluenationreview.com/decision-that-derailed-bernies-campaign/

[Kittycat]

1. Propoganda. Sorry. Try again.

Eta: Blue Nation Review = David Brock = Clinton Campaign

[dchill]

18. Another cog in the Clinton Lie Machine.

Excellent reference for the self-propagating propaganda posters! Take a break before the onset of severe chafing!

Edit to add: Not you, KittyCat. The OP...

[Kittycat]

25. Lol. I totally got it :)

50 years from now in a polysci class, when discussing Political Propoganda. They're going to have a book as reference on her campaign.

[Jarqui]

80. +1

[Segami]

82. David 'Pizza-Rat' Brock Alert.....BlueNationReview Propaganda Inc.

Hey, that's mine David....

[stevenleser]

84. You probably mean propaganda, and no, it's not. From Howard Dean to Elizabeth Warren

to hundreds of other folks who were on the receiving end.

Sanders and his supporters and surrogates went way negative, and it hurt him.

[Kittycat]

86. Sorry. Still not buying what you're selling.

Blue nation review = Brock = Clinton


Have a great night.

[stevenleser]

88. I'm not selling anything. All you have to do is open your eyes. Tons of people complaining

about the same thing.

[RufusTFirefly]

2. Article on a Brock-owned Web site by a Clinton-owned pundit

Chutzpah is too mild a word for this.

[riversedge]

4. Ignore it at your peril.

[RufusTFirefly]

32. Spoken with the arrogance of undue entitlement and illegitimate ownership

Rigging the system can lead to delusions of grandeur.

[riversedge]

48. No, I spoke with sincerity.

[frylock]

60. Oh, wait..

[ghostsinthemachine]

3. Wow, this is absolute garbage

I thought the battle was very not that. Bernie didn't attack as much as he should have. And that is why I love the guy.

She will not have such an easy time with Donald trump.

[riversedge]

5. Sanders going so very negitive these last few weeks did him in.

[William769]

7. After his pledge not to.

Boy does he need a new campaign staff.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I don't bother wiht propaganda disguised as news

I don't care if this is on Channel 10, or from this site.

[ismnotwasm]

8. I agree

Sander's campaign staff have made a number of blunders-going negative is just one of them. To be honest, I'm not surprised he did it--he almost had to to move forward--I'm more suprised at how he did it. It sounded like a reddit page. Fact free and full of CT woo

[casperthegm]

9. Is it really smearing when you point out facts about Clinton's actions?

There's a BIG difference between smearing (as HRC well knows) and pointing out differences between candidates.

You know, the little things, like the Iraq War, Citizens United, money from Wall Street speeches (anyone seen those pesky transcripts anywhere?), fracking, healthcare for all, college education, and much more. Sorry if contrasting appears to be smearing.

Let me help clarify what smearing is; the auto bailout double down lie, the one issue candidate claim, the Koch brothers insinuation...those are smears.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Where's the "hate" part?

[NCTraveler]

11. K&R nt.

[randome]

12. I think the one thing that hurt him was focusing mainly on 1 issue: inequality.

Inequality is an important issue. The economy in general is an important issue. But there is a hell of a lot more to being a President than that and while he spoke about other issues, he spent much more time on economics and with the same points being made.

"It's the economy, stupid." That was the mantra during Bill Clinton's term. Maybe what worked in the 90s doesn't work so well now.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[SidDithers]

13. DU rec for all kinds of reasons...nt

Sid

[William769]

14. To many to list.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Yup. He also didn't have enough money to contest the Southern states, which has doomed his campaign

For all the vaunted fund-raising, and his supporters' sudden disdain of the "confederate" states after South Carolina, Bernie's campaign is a bit like the confederacy itself. It can inspire some passion, but doesn't have the stamina for the drawn out street-fight when it comes to funds. If Sanders made even a 10% point dent in some of Hillary's southern victories, he might actually be a position to contest the race going forward. But he had no money to compete across the south, so they abandoned the South with fingers crossed and an affected scorn. The Clinton campaign did the right thing: sensing weakness, they doubled down on the South. And Bernie got pummeled - absolutely defeated. It's the Clinton campaign, now, that looks like a cigar-chomping U.S. Grant, while the Sanders campaign is going to revel in noble defeat. Confederacy indeed!

[mcar]

16. K&R

[aikoaiko]

17. I'm pretty sure bluenationreview is full of crap and its owner is hoping for a HRC gig.

[William769]

19. The truth shall set you free!

[aikoaiko]

20. Right back at you.

[William769]

22. Hill yes!

Can't wait to see her name on the ballot in the general election!

[aikoaiko]

26. I'm glad you'll have to feel the Bern for a while longer.

[William769]

27. We saw who got

BURNED last night!

[aikoaiko]

28. I knew the real Bill would reveal himself. Just scratch the surface and ClintonCave emerges.

[ismnotwasm]

29. "The Clinton Cave"?

I love Bill's site.

[opiate69]

37. You would.

[ismnotwasm]

39. Hey you!

How you doin?

[opiate69]

49. I'm doing great, actually. Thanks. And yourself?

[ismnotwasm]

66. Pretty good

Very very busy.

[senz]

41. Ick.

Do you realize that evidence of sadism and schadenfreude in her followers works against Hillary ever being acceptable to Bernie supporters?

Much more importantly: it is not healthy for your character. The reason we are here on earth is to improve our character/ soul/ self. Seriously: it is.

That's all.

[ismnotwasm]

44. Schadenfreude? Quite possibly.

Sadism? Where do you get that?

[senz]

52. They're closely related, ismnotwasm.

Schadenfreude takes pleasure in viewing the suffering of others. Sadism takes pleasure in causing suffering in others.

[ismnotwasm]

67. So if we are here to improve the character of our soul

We should weight our responses in regards to harm and/or hurt it may cause, correct? Who is the arbitrator of what is harmful and what hurts? There are, of course, obvious things, I'm not referring to those.

[senz]

85. It's simpler than that.

It's not what happens at the other end. We all inadvertently cause pain, but that doesn't make us cruel or sadistic. It's the intention that counts.

If your intention is to cause pain, then your intention is cruel.

If you take pleasure in causing pain, then you are sadistic.

[William769]

69. Frankly I don't care.

From what I've seen of Sanders supporters here and them saying they will never vote for Hillary, I'm not even going to try to make nice. I'm just going to wait till Hillary secures the nomination & wait for the mass exodus.

[senz]

71. Some day you should tell us what good you expect from a Hillary presidency.

It could be interesting.

[William769]

74. Well to start off with, it will be better than a Sanders presidency.

Have a nice day.

[snowy owl]

21. He stuck to issues

Anything you can think of he said that was untrue?

[geek tragedy]

23. nah, I'd say it was when he spent way, way, way too much time in Iowa and NH

while punting the entire South. Imagine if he had spent time in black communities in the south instead of meeting every farmer in Iowa.

Any primary campaign that writes off Texas and Florida is doomed.

[MaggieD]

24. That was a bad decision, but so was....

"I'm only running as a Dem for the media and money."

I don't know how much impact that has had so far, but if he doesn't get out of the race that statement will impact him in future races.

And while we are talking about bad decisions on his part, I would also say his debate performances that featured him attacking the Democratic party instead of just the GOP also sunk him. I actually witnessed people cringe while watching that in debates.

Stupid strategy, IMO.

[ismnotwasm]

38. There is a list of strategy mistakes that's for sure

Since I want Hillary to win, I only care to the point of harm to Hillary's campaign, and all ways to neutralize any harm done.

Early on, a number of people pointed out this or that strategy fails in Sanders campaign, they were, thankfully ignored. Still are for that matter.

[firebrand80]

30. I think it was when they decided that Black voters would support him

"once they got to know him." That's not a strategy to win black votes, that's arrogance and burying your head in the sand.

If Bernie could have gotten ~40% of the black vote, he may well be winning this race right now.

[CorkySt.Clair]

33. Watch out, the Killer Mike endorsement will be kicking in anytime now

[CalvinballPro]

56. Bernie got very little from Killer Mike's endorsement. Killer Mike, tho, probably made BANK from it

All those gullible twenty-somethings, buying up his songs just because he supports Bernie? His tax bracket is probably different now. LOL

[malletgirl02]

75. Why is it ok to insult 20 somethings?

Hillary supporter claim Bernie supporters were insulting people of color, but it is apparently fine to insult young people. People complain that young people are not political engaged.However when young people become engaged, you still insult them, because they don't support your candidate.

[Ned_Devine]

78. Because most of these people are a-holes. It's that simple

[bravenak]

79. They do not vote as much, that is not an insult

I wonder where all of these defenders were when people were coming after us black folks? I guess they did not notice or care about that. No wonder we vote Hillary.

[seabeyond]

31. Lots derailed the campaign, that being just one. The adults having the room,

I think, was the major reason he lost and will continue to lose.

[ucrdem]

34. That's a very generous reading.

It's hard to see this as a decision as bashing Dems has always been part of Bernie's discourse and part of his appeal. A very big part. Did they have to run those really wretched anti-NAFTA ads in MI? No, but he won, so I don't think he'd change anything if he had a chance to do Tuesday night over. Still it's an olive branch and a gentle hint so K'n'R for that . . .

[Vinca]

35. I think Bernie has stayed pretty positive re Hillary, only pointing out their differences.

It's not wrong to point out that a candidate was for something before she was against it. That's not saying she's dishonest. If you think this is an attack on Hillary, you've got some fun days in store for you with Trump.

[TTUBatfan2008]

40. How about this?

He started out around 5% in the polls and received very little media attention due to the media obsession with Donald Trump. I think this derailed him more than anything.

[guillaumeb]

42. The Clinton name has "brand recognition" and THAT is a huge factor in her success.

The Clinton name is well known, for reasons good and bad. The Clinton positions are not so well known, and that is also a huge factor in her success.

[Impedimentus]

43. The only problem with the post is the Sanders's campaign hasn't been derailed.

Just another redundant propaganda post to try and make Bernie's followers fall in line. So transparent, so silly.

[JoePhilly]

45. He lost back in 2011, if not before. Here's why.

Shortly after Obama took office, a segment of the left became very angry. No matter what he did, it was not good enough. It should have been done faster, been bigger, or smaller, on and on and on.

By 2011, the perpetually disgruntled started to demand a primary opponent for Obama. It was never going to happen. But they demanded it. They didn't even have a viable candidate. But they were sure it was going to happen. Bernie even staggered into that nonsense. Of course that effort went nowhere.

The reality is that the angry left spent most of Obama's first 7 years complaining, and really doing nothing during that time to create an array of "acceptably progressive" alternatives to Clinton. As we got closer to 2015, they looked around and finally said, "Hey, we need a progressive alternative to Hillary", and so they started an effort to draft Warren. Which failed.

So Bernie took up their cause. And over the last year, he somehow became, for the angry left, the only person on the face of the earth who could save America.

Here on DU, anti-Hillary tirades have out numbered pro Bernie OPs by at least 5X. Why would anyone expect the media to spend time talking about Bernie when many of his loudest supporters spend almost no time talking about him, and the vast majority talking about (trashing) Clinton.

All of that time spent complaining about Obama, and now Hillary, has been a waste of time.

Bernie lost because the perpetually disgruntled have not gone out and created a set of viable alternatives. One guy (even Bernie) does not a movement make.

The "movement" was never about Bernie. The "movement" was primarily an "anti-Obama", and then "anti-Hillary" rant, with Bernie trying desperately to have his own (usually positive) message drowned out.

[randome]

51. Wow. Nice overview.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[JoePhilly]

53. Welll ...

... I spent my "winter vacation" thinking about this.

Skinner released me and all the other political prisoners a little earlier today (I had 2 days left).

[msanthrope]

63. Nice having you back. nt

[JoePhilly]

72. Good to be back ...

... it was like the old old days when I just lurked.

[redstateblues]

81. Insightful

[oasis]

46. Devine and Weaver were always looking out for themselves.

I don't see a future for them on any cable news political panel. They blew it, big time.

[Dawson Leery]

55. Weaver is a smart ass. He though using right wing talking points

would bring Hillary down. Weaves is going to be unemployed for a long time.

[CalvinballPro]

58. Tad Devine's resume: 5 failed campaigns to get someone elected president.

Carter's re-election, Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry, and now Sanders.

[oasis]

62. Yup, Bernie found Devine in the bargain basement campaign manager's bin.

You get what you pay for on a shoestring budget.

[reformist2]

47. It's not over yet.... but please keep thinking it is!

[riversedge]

50. REC

[DemonGoddess]

54. K&R!

[George II]

57. Before the campaign began, Sanders was sensible and decent, and had some good ideas......

.....I suspect his seeming change in character was prompted by Weaver's and Devine's influence on him.

They were nobodies before the campaign began, and once it's over they'll go back to being nobodies. That's why they want to drag this on as long as they can, to remain in the limelight for just a few more weeks.

[mindem]

59. What drivel.

Heaven forbid anyone questions her majesty's integrity. Whine, whine, pout, pout.

[frylock]

61. Hillary's propaganda organ weighs in

[amborin]

64. total opposite of the truth; actually, Bernie has been too gentle on her; he could have gone in for

the kill

[BreakfastClub]

65. I agree. At some point, Bernie's message seemed to

become about hating Hillary rather than offering concrete ways in which to change what he perceives as broken. In short, his campaign went negative and those types of campaigns never end well.

[brooklynite]

68. For those who dismissed the article because of it's source...

...Sanders is losing; what's your explanation?

[Number23]

70. I still think his reaction to the BLM protests kind of did him in

And his "ghetto" comments just corroborated what alot of black people and other POC already suspected.

[Tarc]

73. Oh the "ghetto" comment

I winced at that, that was just completely tone-deaf.

[bravenak]

77. YEP

I think so too.

[bravenak]

76. I think it was that...

And the way his camp interacted with Black People too. I think it was lost long ago, in July.

[stevenleser]

83. This has been a problem from day one among Sanders' supporters and surrogates.

It may very well have cost them the nomination. If they had concentrated on why Sanders is so good instead of making it about attacking Hillary, I think they would have had a shot.

Attacking Hillary, who enjoys well over 80% favorability with Democrats, was a fatal mistake.

[Octafish]

87. Where did Bernie or his surrogates attack Hillary?

Please, show.