NYT- Bernie Sanders’s Debate Strategy: Attack Hillary Clinton, if Asked

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is preparing new lines of attack against Hillary Rodham Clinton on trade, gun control, and even the controversy over her State Department email to use on Saturday at their next televised presidential debate, which the Sanders team regards as — if not a do-or-die moment — perhaps his best chance to slow her political momentum this fall

Mr. Sanders prepped into the night on Thursday with a Senate aide playing Mrs. Clinton at mock sessions in Burlington, Vt. Yet Democrats inside and outside his campaign said that Mr. Sanders may be limited — by his own moves and by hers — in stopping a resurgent Mrs. Clinton, who has built double-digit leads over him in many opinion polls. They noted that Mr. Sanders still does not want to go on the attack first against Mrs. Clinton at the debate, potentially depriving him of chances to raise doubts about her judgment of character.

...


In fact, Mr. Sanders believes it is fair game for him to talk at Saturday’s debate about the federal investigation into her use of a private email server as secretary of state, his advisers said. But he plans to discuss the issue only if he is asked about it, the advisers added, a caveat that seemed meant as a signal to the debate moderators, but that also reflected the vise in which Mr. Sanders has put himself by swearing off negative campaigning.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/us/politics/bernie-sanderss-debate-strategy-attack-hillary-clinton-if-asked.html

[mcar]

1. I'm not sure if going on the attack will be a good move

for Sanders. But I'm quite sure that HRC is preparing for it.

[Thinkingabout]

6. Yes, 45 years of preparing, huh.

[Evergreen Emerald]

28. snark

and lies

[upaloopa]

2. Well he needs to watch the Benghazi hearing tapes. Those repub a-holes through every nasty punch

they could at Hillary and it only made her stronger. My guess is if Bernie goes on the offensive it will have a similar result.

Here is a woman who has been attacked for 45 years and now she is running in and leading the race for President. I don't know of a person on earth who could bring her down.

[randys1]

51. I think Bernie will use the emails only to point out how easily Hillary draws

controversy and how that would make it hard for her to get anything done.

I doubt he will talk about it as if it is an actual legitimate controversy.

[upaloopa]

59. Well if he does look for his numbers to drop

people will see it as an extension of what the repubs are doing
People are over the emails

[randys1]

60. We will see tomorrow night but what I dont see happening is him selling out after

all these years.

I truly believe he is that guy from the 60's, which also means he is a dreamer (in a good way, the way MLK was and many of us are) and that is good but not always workable

[Thinkingabout]

3. So the candidate who stated in the last debate he dod not want to hear anymore about the damn

emails is wanting to hear about her damn emails. Another flip flop. Another time Sanders has changed his position, do we have any idea who Sanders is anymore? After eleven hours of testimony and questions from GOP, I don't think Clinton is concerned about any questions or comments which may be made by Sanders. I wonder if he is going to shore up his advocacy for women, it will be interesting.

[mcar]

15. A big danger for him, I'd say

And he's only going to attack if the moderators invite him to?

[1StrongBlackMan]

38. Actually he said ...

The American People are not wanting to hear about the emailsmost

What changed? (Rhetorical Question: the polling numbers, silly!)

[Thinkingabout]

49. I guess I overlooked the poll numbers.

[randys1]

52. He cant pivot to now lending credibility to this Karl Rove controversy, this Mitt Romney and

Karl Rove and NYT controversy that isnt a controversy.

What he will do is use the whole "controversy" that isnt to point out how she draws this kind of negative attention and how that wont work well in governing.

etc

Bernie isnt going to sell his soul, at least not over this. Probably never, but not over this.

[brooklynite]

4. Sanders is going to go after her on emails after saying everyone's sick of it?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. He has no choice but to attack her...

His problem is Hillary is a really good debater...

Dispassionate observers say Hillary, Rubio, and Cruz are the class of the field when it comes to debates and Cruz argued six cases before the Supreme court. BTW, that's an empirical observation and not a normative one.

[Kentonio]

41. Rubio?!

I watched a clip of him in an earlier GOP debate and he was embarrassingly bad. At one point he repeated an entire pre-prepared statement word for word as if he'd forgotten he'd just used it minutes earlier. I'd LOVE to see any of the Dem nominees go head to head against him, they'd tear him to pieces.

[randys1]

53. THANK YOU, Rubio literally doesnt know what he stands for until that night, and he will

check with his handlers, they will tell him.

[restorefreedom]

36. he is not going to do that

this is media baiting hype bullshit to get people watching. they would like nothing more than a carson trump type slugfest. it won't happen.

[brooklynite]

39. So you're saying that the NYT is outright lying...

Mr. Sanders believes it is fair game for him to talk at Saturday’s debate about the federal investigation into her use of a private email server as secretary of state, his advisers said

[restorefreedom]

46. cuz the media never lies.....???

you are serious? they all have been smearing and baiting ALL of the candidates. YES, they lied most likely by omission. they probably asked him if it was fair game...his advisors probably said sure its fair but the senator does not care to discuss it preferring to stick to the issues. and when writing the article they just conveniently leave out the rest of the answer. See how that works? They are desperately trying to set up a slug match on the order of Carson Trump. It's not going to work. None of the Dems are going to go for this media baiting crap.

[brooklynite]

47. Well then, all Sanders has to do is deny the story...

...let us know when that happens.

[restorefreedom]

48. he has nothing to deny

he probably did say it was a fair issue to discuss. in a campaign almost any non personal issue is fair to bring up, that doesn.t mean he thinks it is worthy of discussion. surely you see the difference. again, media baiting. i would highly recommend not falling for it...its exactly what they want. now we are talking about the nyt instead of the issues.

time to double back to the important stuff

[sufrommich]

5. Kind of weird that the Sanders campaign would

telegraph their debate strategy to the NYT a day before the debate. Doesn't seem like a smart move.

[Thinkingabout]

8. Trying to rattle Clinton, won't happen, women has a strong memory of things said and done, she will

be on top of her game.

[sufrommich]

11. "Trying to rattle Clinton"

That 11 hour Benghazi hearing should have convinced them that that is a dumb strategy.

[Thinkingabout]

12. Agree, she has been SOS for four years and was in the business of not getting rattled, any port in a

storm to try and raise the poll numbers, she is good, very good. To attack Clinton or even the appearance will show us who Sanders is, guess this is what was meant when the debates come and people hears Sanders then things will change.

[restorefreedom]

9. i call bullshit

media wants fireworks. i bet this is not what the sanders team is thinking at all. he has always been about issues and still is.

[sufrommich]

17. It's got some direct quotes from Tad Devine in

the article:

“He’s closely studying her past remarks, trying to get a greater understanding of her past and present positions, so he can make the strongest substantive case for their differences on issues and decision-making,” said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders.

“At the last debate, when the Trans-Pacific trade deal came up, Bernie could have said, ‘Wait a minute,’ and really pressed her on once calling it the ‘gold standard’ of deals,” Mr. Devine said. “He could have brought up how she said, about gun control policy during the 2008 presidential race, that what might work in New York isn’t going to work in Montana. Bernie will have a full understanding of her record.”


I also think this probably came from Devine regarding the emails:

But he plans to discuss the issue only if he is asked about it, the advisers added, a caveat that seemed meant as a signal to the debate moderators

[restorefreedom]

20. the top two quotes seem fine

he wants to highlight policy differences, ok.

as to the highlighted part, that is total wishful conjecture by the author. i don't think for a second there was a wink wink there. bernie knows this issue is going nowhere.

[sufrommich]

25. You may be right,we'll find out tomorrow. nt

[restorefreedom]

34. keeping fingers crossed, mostly that the mods don't do anything stupid. nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

44. To your last point ...

It is a smart move. If the question IS asked, "Hey, he was just, reluctantly, responding to a question, asked." (i.e., not a planned attack.)

And, if the topic is NOT raised, "see? The media is in the tank for HRC! " (feeding a narrative.)

Well played, Mr. Devine.

[mcar]

19. He's trying to have it both ways

I'm thinking his team wants the moderator to "ask" him to attack so they are advertising the idea. Bernie will stay above the fray unless he's asked by the moderator. So, his campaign team is asking the moderator to ask via this article.

As if the moderator won't be trying to get the candidates to attack each other anyway.

IMO, if Sanders want to attack HRC, he should just do it and deal with the consequences. What's described here just seems sneaky.

[restorefreedom]

21. its not in quotes

it is bullshit wishful thinking by the article author. just trying to drum up interest. if asked, bernie will say the same thing he has always said...the investigstion is proceeding now lets move on.

this is the exact type of media game playing that bernie hates and is always calling them out on. he is not going to fall for this crap.

[mcar]

22. I hope he doesn't

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. I hope he doesn't, for his sake.

FIXED

[restorefreedom]

30. he won't...this is typical media hype. nt

[mcar]

58. Yes

Good fix

[restorefreedom]

31. he is too smart to their games. nt

[sufrommich]

24. I agree,his campaign seems to be prompting the moderators

on how to get Sanders to attack her on the emails.

[BlueCheese]

61. "a caveat that seemed meant as a signal to the debate moderators..."

It's possible that they're hoping to goad the moderators into asking about it.

[restorefreedom]

7. discussing policy differences is not attacking

media loves to put it that way to increase the drama. i don't think for a second bernie would engage in personal attacks. criticising policy does not count. thats what the debate is for.

[Thinkingabout]

10. What is the policy difference on the damn emails he doesn't want to hear anymore about?

[restorefreedom]

13. none. the article is bullshit imo

and if he is asked, will give the same answer he has always given...the investigation is proceeding on its own course, now lets talk about issues.

even if he had a negative campaign bone in his body which he doesn't, he is smart enough to know the email issue is a loser all around. banking, isis, syria, income inequality, he needs to stay on point and i believe he will. this is "drum up ratings" hype.

[Thinkingabout]

40. Yes, it will not serve him well after his last debate to bring it up again.

[restorefreedom]

43. the issue has been put to bed and he was seen as a good guy

for saying so. no need to revisit it. its just media baiting. i am not at all worried about it.

[BootinUp]

14. Telegraphing his desired questions. Doesn't meet the Berniebro Sainthood standard. nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. I noticed that. Seems disingenuous, doesn't it ?

He is no better or worse than any other pol, including Hillary.

[Rose Siding]

23. He said Iowa is a "must-win"?

One reason the debate is so important to Mr. Sanders is that he has described the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses as must-win — yet Mrs. Clinton is leading in Iowa by as much as 30 percentage points in some polls.

Well, then.

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-iowa-presidential-democratic-primary

I guess we'll see if he means what he says.

[riversedge]

26. I think there will be a lot of angry Democrats if mods bring up emails (not that Sanders has given

them his blessing to do so). Not a good move on Sanders part.

[restorefreedom]

33. as a sanders supporter, i will be angry if they bring up emails

and i don't think bernie wants to discuss it either. this is the kind of media baiting that he hates and he will call them out on it again if he has to.

[livetohike]

29. Bring it on. Most voters don't like angry. He seems to have a short temper. If Hillary

Attacks him, what will be his response?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. Hillary's entire career shows she's best when counterpunching.

She fights best out of a defensive position. She will not attack Bernie.

[livetohike]

35. Attack wasn't the right word. I think I meant his response to her counter.

[Thinkingabout]

50. Probably the same thing which happened at the town hall meeting, he has a short temper.

[Armstead]

37. An actual DEBATE? How awful

I hope in terms of content Bernie goes after her, and I hope she does likewise.

I'm not talking about Klown Kar style dramatics -- or distractions about gender and "fragile flowers" -- but actual substantial back and forth on the issues and their differences.

I won't try to predict who might "win" in the SportsCentral, Reality TV sense. But it would certainly be illuminating, and give some substance.

[brooklynite]

42. no objection to a real "debate"...

...Sanders should bring up any policy difference he wants to discuss. But rehashing the email story would be a tactical mistake.

[Armstead]

45. I basically agree with you on that, but Sanders hasn't asked me for advice

[Historic NY]

54. I think Trey Gowdy just got her warmed up.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

55. The VT independent has a Hobson's Choice

He can be passive and lose or can be aggressive and lose. Hillary Clinton is a most adroit verbal combatant.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

56. Good. He's got a lot to work with even if she's a moving (evolving) target.

[HassleCat]

57. Can't do it

Sanders would abandon the notion he's a different kind of candidate.