The media’s lying to you about Bernie Sanders

[n2doc]

I spent days with Sanders fans across red states. They watch Fox, live in the heartland, and are voting for Bernie
RICK PERLSTEIN,

Nate Silver has the Bernie Sanders campaign figured out. Ignore what happens in Iowa and New Hampshire, the “data-driven” prognostication wizard wrote back in July, when Sanders was polling a healthy 30 percent to Clinton’s 46 percent in both contests. That’s only, Silver says, because “Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa and Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire are liberal and white, and that’s the core of Sanders’ support.”

Silver has a chart. It shows that when you multiply the number of liberals and whites among state electorates, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Iowa rank first, second, and third. Texas is near the bottom—a place where Bernie Sanders should feel about as welcome as a La Raza convention at the Alamo, right?

I have a new friend who begs to differ.

It’s July 20, and my airplane seat mate asks what brought me to Texas. He is a construction company sales executive from Houston. He’s watching Fox News on his cell phone. He tells me he considers himself a conservative. I tell him I’m a political reporter covering the Bernie Sanders campaign. He perks up: “I like what I’ve heard from him. Kind of middle of the road.”

Eleven days later, I’m at a Bernie Sanders house party in the depressed steel town of Griffith, Indiana, in a state that places in the bottom quartile on Silver’s chart. I approach a young man in his twenties wearing a thrift store T-shirt. I ask him what brings him here tonight.

“I’m just helping out my friends because they asked me to help out,” he tells me. He adds that he’s a conservative: “But I approve of some of the stuff that Bernie stands for. Like appealing to more than just the one percent and just trying to give everybody a leg up who’s needing it these days.” Data-driven analysis is only as good as the categories by which you sift the information. If you’ve already decided that “liberals” are the people who prefer locally sourced arugula to eating at McDonald’s, or are the people who don’t watch Fox News, it is a reasonable conclusion that there aren’t enough “liberals” out there to elect Bernie Sanders. Yet political categories shift. One of the things the best politicians do is work to shift them.


more

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/12/the_medias_lying_to_you_about_bernie_sanders_this_is_why_a_socialist_can_win_the_fox_loving_red_states/

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. That's great news for the general.

But I hope some of these folks might consider registering Democratic for the primary, or else they might never get to vote for him in the general. Or that they're talking to their Dem friends about Bernie.

[thesquanderer]

5. Yes, I think the general will be a piece of cake for BS

compared to winning the nomination. That's where the real struggle will be.

For the general, he will have all the resources of the Dem party on his side, instead of so many of them fighting him.

When looking at the electoral college, the fundamentals inherently favor the Dem in the 2016 general.

And yes, as this OP indicates yet again, I think he can have significant crossover appeal. As I have mentioned elsewhere, there's a big anti-establishment fever on the right, all the people supporting Trump/Carson/Fiorina. Assuming that the Republicans ultimately put up someone more mainstream (like Bush or Rubio), I think a lot of these voters are up for grabs, and BS has an obvious appeal. And feelings about many issues can cross party lines... not just the ones the OP spoke about, but also things like NAFTA/TPP, IWR, Patriot Act, where many conservatives are more aligned with BS. But sure, for many, regardless of party, a vote for BS is a vote in their own economic interest, if they are the least bit willing to see it that way.

[Dustlawyer]

17. Many of the big Hillary Donors will go Republican rather than support Bernie.

[sabrina 1]

19. And Bernie can use that against them. IF he is the nominee he will have a big microphone

which he can use to get more donations but not from Corporations.

Polls show that across the board people want the money out of politics.

He is a smart man, and a smart politician.

I bet he will repeat and repeat the message that Money in Politics is destroying our electoral system and the donations to him will pour in while his Repub Opponents will be on the defensive regarding the Corporate money that is attempting to BUY them.

I think this may be the first election where this has become a major issue.

And it is one of the issues many Repubs say they agree with Bernie on.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

37. Like I have said before.

Now is the time for a real progressive populist movement, but the message needs to be clear and not overly complex and it needs to be repeated over and over to drive it home into the minds of the people.

Then Bernie will win.

[Dustlawyer]

40. Then Bernie will win!!!

[bjobotts]

43. if Bernie wins nomination he wil be president

[cantbeserious]

3. When We Stand Together - No Citizen Need Settle For The Lesser Of Two Corporate Evils - Go Bernie Go

eom

[JDPriestly]

4. OK. California here. Liberal state.

But I have never seen anything like the way people like Bernie. They just light up when you mention his name.


And I have done a log of grass-roots campaigning.

[thesquanderer]

6. Heck in CA, it doesn't take much to get them to light up. ;-) (n/t)

[Marty McGraw]

30. Big State

There are a load of hick areas to be had there as well. Believe me, I am in one of them.

[hifiguy]

25. MN is pretty blue as well,

but I have heard and seen genuine enthusiasm for Bernie in very unexpected quarters as well. Some rough beast is awakening out there.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

44. Yup. In the purple suburbs as well. N/t

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, n2doc.

[padfun]

8. I think what this and other articles pass over

is just how many young people like Bernie and are registering for the first time to vote for him. So we have conservatives, libertarians, and the youth vote that aren't usually considered when talking about his campaign. He is a get out the vote type of candidate.

Yes the media is lying.

[padfun]

9. After reading the entire article, it does mention

how the young are getting out. It covers it pretty good.

my bad...

[99th_Monkey]

10. And the youth voters are the ones with all the cell phones

who don't get polled, or barely do.

Which is great, because it gives Hillary people something to gloat about, while Bernie
quietly surges, barely noticed by the M$M.

[cprise]

24. Also causes youth to not notice the midterms

apparently.

[99th_Monkey]

27. Sadly true.

I believe that's part of what Bernie is getting at, with his talk about a "political revolution";
i.e. re-engaging huge numbers of younger voters in a sustained way, that Obama talked
about doing, but that somehow -- for whatever reasons -- didn't ever take shape.

[LovingA2andMI]

11. The Media is Lying....

Because that's what they do. Plus it's "time" to cue up the Debate for CNN so they need Hillary to be "Blowing Out" Bernie Sanders in South Carolina while totally sitting on the shelf Bernie either leading or tied in New Hampshire and Iowa -- as most people that follow politics know -- the first two states to vote in the primary -- which is key factor to predict how the other states might actually vote.

[LiberalArkie]

12. There is something be said for a politician having to do an encore !!!

[peacebird]

14. :)

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. FANTASTIC article! Be sure to read the entire thing! It's great!

He is spot on too! It's palpable out here in the real world. You just feel the Bernie movement growing and growing and growing at an unstoppable speed. He-has-hit-a-nerve. He's going to win.

[Live and Learn]

15. K&R nt

[cpompilo]

16. I've been saying this all along. Living in the belly of the beast, Houston, I'm seeing

conservatives and teapartiers liking Bernie and his message. IMO, any repulicon nominee stands no chance against Bernie. Just as in Vermont, conservatives and teapartiers here see Bernie as authentic and committed to looking out for them and not the 1%. They like that he has been an Independent his whole career (and not a dreaded Democrat!) and they ignore his socialist label because they agree with him on most of the issues they care about. Hillary, on the other hand, carries no weight with them - no more than Jeb, who is universally hated here.

Bernie's biggest challenge is with the Democratic leadership who, under their 3rd Way delusion, in concert with corporations and the 1% will do whatever they can to stop Bernie from winning the nomination. Furthermore, I think Bernie will get few additional political Democratic endorsements because Dem politicians know full well they will get no quid pro quo from him unlike from Hillary.

That said, Bernie is getting and will get increasing support (money & votes) from the rank-and-file as he spreads his campaign and message across the country. People are fed up with the bought-and-paid-for government we have. The teaparty rank-and-file (and here I do not mean the Teaparty Express which is bullshit) and Occupy Wall Street supporters are both indicative of broad dissatisfaction and disgust with the status quo. Both sides are beginning to see Bernie as the answer to their anger.

The DNC and the Democratic political elite had better wake up to this situation fast because, if Hillary wins the nomination, she will almost certainly lose the general election and the country will plunge into the darkness of total republicon control of government. Sure, many OWSers will hold their noses and vote for Hillary (if they vote at all), as will most of my good DUers. But Nixon's "silent majority" will most definitely not.

One final note: Debbie Wassermann-Schultz, in dictatorial fashion and reminiscent of Katherine Harris in 2000, is intent on handing the Democratic nomination to her chosen candidate, Hillary. She is employing repubicon thuggery at its worst, ignoring Democratic principals and values for her own purposes. If she succeeds in crowning Hillary by such means, mark my words: there will be grave and lasting damage to the Democratic Party.

Wake up, smell the coffee (its Bernie bean blend), and feel the Bern before this opportunity afforded all of us passes us by.

[hifiguy]

26. i saw self-described moderates and conservatives vote twice for Paul Wellstone

for simple reasons - they knew he was being straight with them, knew he wouldn't bullshit them, and accepted the fact that they wouldn't always agree with him on everything. They respected his complete honesty and truthfulness.

That sound familiar?

[cpompilo]

28. Absolutely! I mourn our loss of Paul. I rejoice the opportunity Bernie provides - last chance in my

lifetime to set this country straight, IMO. For my children and grandchildren, to continue down the road we are on as represented by Hillary Clinton would be...

[passiveporcupine]

38. I don't think this is any more true for Hillary than for Bernie

The DNC and the Democratic political elite had better wake up to this situation fast because, if Hillary wins the nomination, she will almost certainly lose the general election and the country will plunge into the darkness of total republicon control of government.

I just don't see a republican win coming up, no matter what. But I do think that Bernie can win stronger than Hillary would.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

39. Like I have said before.

Now is the time for a real progressive populist movement, but the message needs to be clear and not overly complex and it needs to be repeated over and over to drive it home into the minds of the people.

Then Bernie will win.

[SheilaT]

18. I think a lot of people like to call themselves

conservative because they believe that somehow "conservatives" are more responsible people, and most of us do like to consider ourselves responsible folk.

But they never really think through what the word means, and then they allow themselves to be co-opted and bamboozled by people who are vicious, nasty, selfish jerks who want to take away any semblance of a support network. Of any kind. Willing to let grandma starve in the streets. Happy to see others without even basic medical care.

And their churches don't help at all.

[azmom]

20. K&R

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. The Beltway considers "Liberalism" to be a rare disease that was cured during Reagan....

The DLC was created to offer America the "kinder gentler" knife in the back.

[Luminous Animal]

22. That is a very good article and well worth reading the entire thing. Thank you.

[hifiguy]

23. No one connects the dots any better than Rick Perlstein.

Read his tremendous books* if you don't think so. The guy gets the deep connections like no one else.

*Before The Storm, Nixonland, and The Invisible Bridge.

If you want to understand why we are where we are no one, and I mean NO ONE explains it more completely than Rick Perlstein.

[wezl]

29. Great article!

[cui bono]

31. Who's Bernie Rick Perlstein?

And where can I find his platform?

[mike_c]

32. I'm a sixty-something university prof....

I'm seeing strong support for Senator Sanders from kids who are just coming of voting age all the way up to senior citizens my age and older. Of course, I live near Arcata, CA, which is probably one of the most liberal towns in the U.S.-- I really don't believe I even know any republicans, although there is an almost empty storefront in Eureka that calls itself the county Republican Headquarters. Senator Sanders' support here on the North Coast seems pretty broad.

[WillyT]

33. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[ChiciB1]

34. I Was Going To Post A Thread Yesterday About My Experience Here

in FLORIDA. The state that I feel has the messiest voting record of any state. I started voting absentee because I didn't trust the ESS&S machines. I actually worked several elections as a poll watcher and always tried to get the last hour each time. That's when they dump the votes and put them in a lock box, BUT then there's ALWAYS the votes that the machine rejected or ballots that didn't get counted. They go into different lock boxes and from there I don't know much more. I've asked several times and am always assured that they will be legally counted and anyone can check online to make sure.

BUT, even if what they say is true, and yes you can check online to see if they show you voted, there's NO WAY to get proof that your vote got counted! I have asked this question many times and unless they've devised something new I can't say for sure my vote got counted.

Long prelude into my main point here, just wanted to explain my situation. What I have found this time around is how many, many people who are excited about Bernie. I was invited to FOUR (4) Bernie house parties tomorrow and there will be many Indy's and NPA people attending. We're making sure we have registration forms and dates ready for them if they want to vote in the Primary because they need to re-register to vote.

I live in a very Red County and figured this was going to be the same situation I've dealt with for years. But no, there's real enthusiasm for Bernie and it's seems to be growing more every day.

WOW, National DNC just called for a donation! Weird, but I did have to turn them down.

DON'T count Bernie out, I see something very, very different this time! YEEHAA!

[rhett o rick]

35. k & r. Thanks for posting. nm

[KoKo]

36. Forget the Polls! Look to the Crowds On the Ground and Follow the Message!

We are giving Bernie Money to Continue Our Revolution.

Most of what's out there ...these days...is just Fantasy Polling. We've got to KEEP ON...KEEPING On!

For BERNIE..........!

Working for Bernie is much more important than the latest Polling!

Polls Failed in Latest GB Election, and Scotland, Greece where the Projections Failed.

Let's just keep working and see how it all goes.

POWER to THE PEOPLE! Who Show Up at the Voting Booth is What REALLY MATTERS!

[Babel_17]

41. K&R

That's some really good writing, and with a great narrative being told, in that article. I accidentally reposted it as I missed seeing it before I hit "Post". Glad to see it didn't go unnoticed.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

42. This is a good sampling

of Rick Perlstein's superior writing/journalistic skills. I read Nixonland and The Invisible Bridge, and even though they're very long, I didn't want them to end. Wonderful he's on the case for Bernie.

K&R

[kas125]

46. I met lots of people who were at the house party he mentions.

The one in Griffith. Tonight Martha Harris is co-hosting a debate watching event with of my closest friends and the author of this article, Rick Perlstein, will be moderating our after debate discussion. Should be interesting!