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2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Eichenwald: The Myths Democrats Swallowed that Cost Them the Presidential Election [View all]pnwmom
(108,976 posts)3. Eichenwald demolishes a key myth: that Bernie would have done better than Hillary.
He himself saw a 2-foot thick pile of opposition research that the RNC had prepared, ready to use if Bernie were the nominee. They must have been licking their chops.
So what would have happened when Sanders hit a real opponent, someone who did not care about alienating the young college voters in his base? I have seen the opposition book assembled by Republicans for Sanders, and it was brutal. The Republicans would have torn him apart. And while Sanders supporters might delude themselves into believing that they could have defended him against all of this, there is a name for politicians who play defense all the time: losers.
Here are a few tastes of what was in store for Sanders, straight out of the Republican playbook: He thinks rape is A-OK. In 1972, when he was 31, Sanders wrote a fictitious essay in which he described a woman enjoying being raped by three men. Yes, there is an explanation for ita long, complicated one, just like the one that would make clear why the Clinton emails story was nonsense. And we all know how well that worked out.
Then theres the fact that Sanders was on unemployment until his mid-30s, and that he stole electricity from a neighbor after failing to pay his bills, and that he co-sponsored a bill to ship Vermonts nuclear waste to a poor Hispanic community in Texas, where it could be dumped. You can just see the words environmental racist on Republican billboards. And if you cant, I already did. They were in the Republican opposition research book as a proposal on how to frame the nuclear waste issue.
Also on the list: Sanders violated campaign finance laws, criticized Clinton for supporting the 1994 crime bill that he voted for, and he voted against the Amber Alert system. His pitch for universal health care would have been used against him too, since it was tried in his home state of Vermont and collapsed due to excessive costs. Worst of all, the Republicans also had video of Sanders at a 1985 rally thrown by the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua where half a million people chanted, Here, there, everywhere/the Yankee will die, while President Daniel Ortega condemned state terrorism by America. Sanders said, on camera, supporting the Sandinistas was patriotic.
Here are a few tastes of what was in store for Sanders, straight out of the Republican playbook: He thinks rape is A-OK. In 1972, when he was 31, Sanders wrote a fictitious essay in which he described a woman enjoying being raped by three men. Yes, there is an explanation for ita long, complicated one, just like the one that would make clear why the Clinton emails story was nonsense. And we all know how well that worked out.
Then theres the fact that Sanders was on unemployment until his mid-30s, and that he stole electricity from a neighbor after failing to pay his bills, and that he co-sponsored a bill to ship Vermonts nuclear waste to a poor Hispanic community in Texas, where it could be dumped. You can just see the words environmental racist on Republican billboards. And if you cant, I already did. They were in the Republican opposition research book as a proposal on how to frame the nuclear waste issue.
Also on the list: Sanders violated campaign finance laws, criticized Clinton for supporting the 1994 crime bill that he voted for, and he voted against the Amber Alert system. His pitch for universal health care would have been used against him too, since it was tried in his home state of Vermont and collapsed due to excessive costs. Worst of all, the Republicans also had video of Sanders at a 1985 rally thrown by the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua where half a million people chanted, Here, there, everywhere/the Yankee will die, while President Daniel Ortega condemned state terrorism by America. Sanders said, on camera, supporting the Sandinistas was patriotic.
And he voted AGAINST the Amber Alert system (yes, he had reasons, but who cares?) and on and on and on.
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Eichenwald: The Myths Democrats Swallowed that Cost Them the Presidential Election [View all]
Hekate
Nov 2016
OP
Excellent! Every word of it describes how I feel about 3rd Party voters and those who stayed home
Lil Missy
Nov 2016
#2
Didn't the "start your own 3rd part and get out of ours" nonsense really alienate people
Feeling the Bern
Nov 2016
#10
In response to Berners who stated the "lock her up" crap- yes. They have to go.
bettyellen
Nov 2016
#25
First of all, drop the pretense that I was talking to you/about you personally.
Lil Missy
Nov 2016
#42
Eichenwald demolishes a key myth: that Bernie would have done better than Hillary.
pnwmom
Nov 2016
#3
Yes - I'd been thinking of you in the off days, and looking forward to getting back together.
NBachers
Nov 2016
#7
Yeah, I kept trying & trying, but never got the "Reset my Password" email. I had to contact Earl too
NBachers
Nov 2016
#17
Apparently polls that take all that into account aren't very accurate either. Nt
LostOne4Ever
Nov 2016
#36
Blaming that sliver of Green voters- and there's always a sliver- isn't gonna work this time.
Warren DeMontague
Nov 2016
#11
Absolutely. The polls were so far off, I've never seen anything like it.
Warren DeMontague
Nov 2016
#16
I don't know. I knew a lot of Berners that ended up voting for her but we're spreading misconception
bettyellen
Nov 2016
#30
The fact that Donna Brazile gave Hillary a debate question in advance... probably didn't help.
Warren DeMontague
Nov 2016
#66
It was way before that- they salivated over Guccifer and Wikileaks and all sorts of stupid shit....
bettyellen
Nov 2016
#80
the tone of his campaign may have been more in tune with the mood of the electorate, than hers.
Warren DeMontague
Nov 2016
#82
They don't want to take responsibility for running a flaw candidate at the worse time.
Cobalt Violet
Nov 2016
#40
Hillary won the popular vote and they're still counting. Polls had Hillary winning too.
grossproffit
Nov 2016
#23
Your last sentence is not true. See the Cook Political Report website. More people voted in 2016
spooky3
Nov 2016
#54
After a run that never happened? You can't ask someone who didn't see them run what they'd do after
bettyellen
Nov 2016
#29
Oh bullshit. He was barely vetted in the first place and would have fallen apert like a cheap suit
Lil Missy
Nov 2016
#43
Well any perceived or real negative could be hauled out as a reason for the loss.
Wilms
Nov 2016
#72
This is why people who that GOPr voters would lay down and vote for Bernie...
MrScorpio
Nov 2016
#45
So why did she WIN by a million plus votes? Those were cast by real people everywhere.
Hekate
Nov 2016
#57
getting rid of the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment.
Warren DeMontague
Nov 2016
#65
I agree. But if people want to reflexively blame this fuckup on "berniebros" or some shit
Warren DeMontague
Nov 2016
#84
other people have noted that Hillary's negatives were already baked in with a large segment of
Warren DeMontague
Nov 2016
#81
The Clinton Campaign Was Undone By Its Own Neglect And A Touch Of Arrogance, Staffers Say
Warren DeMontague
Nov 2016
#83