A Short History of the Media Smugly Dismissing Bernie Sanders’ Campaign at Every Step of the Way

[Octafish]

Despite the fact that Sanders’ campaign has only grown larger and larger, the media always bends over backwards to dismiss him.

BY BRANKO MARCETIC
In These Times, APRIL 5, 2016

Bernie Sanders’ campaign may be one of the best arguments for the pointlessness of predictive punditry. From the day he announced his run to today, for much of the media, no loss was too small a setback for Sanders, no moment too early to call the race for Clinton.

The Hillary Clinton of April 2016—who was walloped by Sanders recently in three states and spent the last week trying to deny him a debate before the New York primary—might be surprised to learn Sanders doesn’t actually represent a threat to her nomination chances at all. That was the media consensus when Sanders announced his campaign back in May 2015, when a rash of articles confidently declared that not only would Sanders lose, he wouldn’t even come close.

In a May 4 article, The Week’s Peter Weber dubbed Sanders the “Ron Paul of 2016,” referring to the libertarian former Texas Representative who excelled at firing up the Republican base but rarely got much traction in the polls. “Bernie Sanders could very well run one hell of a populist barnburner of a campaign, but he won't be the next president,” he asserted.

Similar articles abounded. “He won’t win, so why is Bernie Sanders running?” asked Newsweek. “Bernie Sanders: Why the guy who won’t win matters,” reported the LA Times. Sanders is “unelectable,” said New York Times columnist David Brooks. “Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is almost certainly not going to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2016,” wrote FiveThirtyEight’s Harry Enten, citing polls that put him well behind Clinton in Iowa, New Hampshire and nationally. “It would take a truly special candidate to defeat her,” he explained, “and Sanders … is not the politician for the job.”

SNIP...

Soon after this, as voters began learning more about the Vermont Senator, Sanders began drawing massive crowds at his campaign rallies, receiving record amounts of small dollar donations and climbing in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. Nonetheless, for the media, this was merely a short-lived novelty.

CONTINUED...

http://inthesetimes.com/article/19030/despite-the-medias-constant-dismissal-bernie-sanders-is-still-competing-wit

[Octafish]

1. Rupert Murdoch noticed Trump's free publicity is worth about $2 billion

Donald Trump’s presidential ­campaign has received “free” media coverage worth almost $US2 billion ($2.6bn), a sum that has scrambled the laws of politics, eclipsed his rivals and cemented his status as a master political showman.

-- The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/scum-reporters-give-donald-trump-us2bn-of-free-publicity/news-story/14d2ae5095eaee89a24f968313d9db08

And once it's over, it's over for Trump's support.

For Bernie, people learn about him and like what he has to say and keep on supporting him.