"Hillary's a solid debater. That doesn't make her right or honest on the substance."

[marmar]

from Salon:


This is still Bernie Sanders’ moment: He’s right on the big issues, now he must communicate it
Hillary's a solid debater. That doesn't make her right or honest on the substance. That's Sanders' opening

BILL CURRY


You don’t need me to tell you who won the Democratic debate. You can make up your own mind and probably have by now.

If you missed it, the press will gladly pick a winner for you. Don’t let them.

In 2000 Al Gore outshone George Bush in every debate but the press thought otherwise. To our emotionally arrested, intellectually undernourished reporters, politics is high school. We didn’t want to have a beer with Bush, they did. Gore struck them as a teacher’s pet and for that they were merciless to him. When he sighed audibly during one of Bush’s myriad lies, it got replayed a million times on TV. If you saw just that video, you thought Bush won. It helped him — not enough to win the election, but enough to steal it.

.....(snip).....

1. Bernie’s campaign model is spot-on; his debate strategy isn’t. His reluctance to go on the attack speaks well of him but drawing out real differences isn’t negative politics; it’s why we have debates. Clinton sure isn’t shy about it. On guns, the one issue where she’s to his left, she fileted him. But when she said things that are patently untrue, he never once corrected her. It goes partly to preparation. Hillary would pull an all-nighter to prepare for a debate. Bernie would rather chill. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the two best debaters I’ve ever seen, submit to grueling debate prep. Bernie should too, not just to expose her record but to defend his own.

2. Due partly to modern advertising and partly to our polarized politics, no one running for office ever explains anything anymore. In primaries, candidates do nothing but name-check issues they’re sure the base already agrees on. The few who want to explain issues find it hard to do. In a 30-second ad you can manipulate people’s hopes or manipulate their fears, but all the same it’s manipulation. Since reformers sell new ideas and new ideas take longer to explain, this tilts the field in favor of the status quo,

Sanders is really into policy, but less into explaining it. The heart of his campaign is a very big, very good idea. Maybe he thinks an idea so good is self-explanatory. It isn’t. He must explain it because it’s what separates him from Clinton and from every other candidate in the race. Sanders and Clinton agree on nearly every social program and cultural issue. Their major disagreement is whether such initiatives in themselves are enough to redress income inequality, wage stagnation and the slow, agonizing death of the American middle class. ..................(more)

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/18/this_is_still_bernie_sanders_moment_hes_right_on_the_big_issues_now_he_must_communicate_it/

[tblue37]

1. K&R for visibility--and to the greatest page for you. nt

[RiverLover]

2. Rec! Thanks for posting this, marmar. Its a good read.

And true. Hill is used to giving 30 sec sound bites that sound good but are ultimately meaningless. Bernie will improve, AND mean what he says.

[artislife]

3. In the other threads, there are a few h supporters

who actually support this argument. They don't say much about the issues but at the perception.

It is still issues v other vapid sh*t.

That is why I support Bernie.

[Faux pas]

4. K N R

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. It is my dispassionate opinion...

It is my dispassionate opinion that all our stellar candidates acquitted themselves admirably and provided a stark contrast with their Republican opponents.

[Hortensis]

6. Well, if Biden gets in the race, you'll be able to double down

on this stuff, or just do two-fers on one post.

[Ed Suspicious]

7. This is really just me thinking out loud, and maybe it isn't quite apropos, but . . .

On the surface I actually agree Bernie needs to do a better job explaining the "why" of his policy prescriptions. There are times when I really wish he would step away from the stump speech and really tell the people why income inequality is bad. I want him to tell people why socialism as a bogeyman is really just a tool of those who seek to enhance their bottom line.

I LOVE Bernie's positions. Bernie has my vote and my dedication to work for him, this is not me seeking to torpedo the man, it's just me saying that the author makes a fair point. To that point, the other night when Bernie was on Bill Maher's show - I think Bernie missed an opportunity to actually educate and to really connect on a broad scale.

But when I think about it further, I think that while to those who have been here with Bernie since the beginning of his presidential campaign it can feel like the stump speech is a safety blanket, but I think his tendency to fall back to it is simply a commitment to not allowing anything to distract from those important points. Does the Bernie campaign feel that every opportunity like Maher's show, is an opportunity for broad national exposure and a chance to repeat the main talking points to a new audience? I think it probably is the case. I think that's the case. Bernie has developed his bite sized talking points in order for the message to be easily appropriated by a public who feels that something is wrong but are not quite sure where to point the finger of blame.

Now that I think about it, perhaps it is a problem that I have heard it all before. I'm looking for a conversation that evolves and goes further, but when he's on Maher he isn't speaking to the converted. A campaign like Bernie's, that of an unfamiliar politician seeking to mobilize millions of new voters across party lines by imploring them to accept and then act upon his unfamiliar frame in order to enact large scale changes to the system, is doing this just right. I'm not his audience there. It is those who are unfamiliar with Bernie, and those who have never really had a chance to see the issues of our day framed within Bernie's egalitarian perspective. Those are the people who are his target audience.

I think it's just that. Bernie needs to get his most basic message out to new audiences. I guess I need to watch some Bernie on Thom Hartmann in order to get that more robust conversation.

[bbgrunt]

11. I agree with your initial perceptions. I'm hoping that as

people stop asking "Bernie who?", and as the conversation becomes more detailed, he will begin to deepen the explanation. He has shown his remarkable ability to focus and control the conversation in the media....but those sound-bites will only suffice for so long. I too, wish he had listened and responded better to Mahr's offer to help him bury the "socialism" bugaboo, but I guess we're just going to have to trust him to do that at the right time.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[uponit7771]

9. We were told Sanders would be wiping the floor with Hillary's pant suites and such so... yeah it's

... important that Clinton be a good debater.

Sanders is slightly better on the issues but harder to elect than a woman and has his current immigration votes to contend with

[Ed Suspicious]

12. Miles better on the issues.

[AgingAmerican]

10. It was painful watching her shake her head yes to everything Bernie said

Stuff you know she doesn't agree with, like getting rid of private prisons.