I’m a lifelong Democrat (sadly, that may change, we’ll see) and an enthusiastic Bernie Sanders supporter. For the past year I’ve been asked repeatedly, “Will you vote for Hillary Clinton if she’s the Democratic nominee?” And for the past year I’ve answered yes. Over and over and over again. Yes, yes yes.
However…
A year ago, I hadn’t yet encountered the continual onslaught of abuse, baiting, smears, and harassment on social media by Hillary supporters. I hadn’t yet observed the former Secretary of State’s campaign tactics, positions (many have been contradictory, misleading, or obfuscatory). I hadn’t yet watched her debates with Senator Sanders. I hadn’t yet had longtime followers and pals on Twitter abruptly turn on a dime and aggressively challenge my judgment (which until this primary they had openly admired), Bernie’s policies (which until this primary they’d actively supported), and reveal a viciousness and disdain usually reserved for those on the right (not to mention practiced by them).
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: Beating Trump is mandatory. But it’s getting to the point where voting for Hillary is becoming increasingly difficult if not impossible. Luckily, I live in California where she’d likely beat Trump handily, should she become the nominee, so I may not feel the pressure to vote for her if polls show her winning by a huge margin. We’ll see. If it’s close, I’d still stay true to my original stance, hold my nose, drink heavily, and vote for her. But I do not like her, I didn’t vote for her in 2008, and I’m concerned about her policy positions, including this one from the Rachel Maddow Show, November 19, 2015:
Before my friends who are ardent Hillary supporters (and I have many, and I adore them) say what they always feel compelled to say about Bernie fans being monsters, respectfully, that’s not what this post is about. “Both sides are meanies” isn’t the point here, nor is this a contest over whose online bullies are crudest, cruelest, or most prolific. This post is in response to the thousands of tweets I’ve gotten and seen. This post is about professional journalists with whom I’ve had great relationships and admiration who have disappointed and enraged me.
The primary is not over. I repeat, the primary is not over. As I said, I’m in California, and I haven’t voted yet. Even Team Hillary has encouraged Bernie to continue his campaign. That needed to be said, believe it or not. Oh, and not marking my ballot for Bernie in June is not an option. Even if he can’t claim victory, he can claim delegates and exert influence over the Democratic agenda at the convention. Anyone telling me to give up and forfeit my vote doesn’t understand the democratic process and should be ashamed of themselves.
Now on to the print and TV journalists. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and disagreements are fine with me. Lies, misrepresentations, and faulty talking points are not. I won’t be naming names here, by the way, because that would be counterproductive. Generalizing will suffice.
Bernie Sanders was interviewed for a full hour on the Maddow Show last week (transcript here) and during that conversation, this exchange occurred:
MADDOW: What`s the solution to corporate media?
SANDERS: I think we have got to think about ways that the Democratic Party, for a start, starts funding the equivalent of Fox television.
Until this primary season, every liberal and/or Democrat I know was 100% behind this concept. After this interview, more than one prominent “liberal” blogger/columnist/talking head mocked Bernie’s idea. I cannot fathom why. For years the consensus among Democrats is that we have no genuinely liberal media, and over the past couple of years, MSNBC has become more centrist, even right-leaning, and certainly is not a “liberal” TV channel.
Here are more excerpts from that part of the interview:
SANDERS: You tell me, you`re in the media, what percentage of the media discussions in this campaign is about process? Who`s going to win in West Virginia?
How many delegates does Hillary Clinton have? What dumb thing did Donald Trump say yesterday? Rather than why are we the only country in the
industrialized world not to guarantee health care to all people?
How much discussion have you heard on TV about the fact that the top 1/10 of 1 percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
That`s the kind of discussion we need and the American people need to be engaged in that. So we have got to demand of corporate media, and that`s
going to be hard, because this is against their own best interests. NBC is owned by who?
MADDOW: Comcast, our overlords.
SANDERS: All right. Comcast is not one of the most popular corporations in America, right?
MADDOW: Hmmm.
SANDERS: All right. Et cetera. Et cetera. And I think the American people are going to have to say to NBC and ABC and CBS and CNN, you know what, forget the political gossip. Politics is not a soap opera. Talk about the real damn issues facing this country.
High profile commentators slammed Bernie for daring to speak out in favor of a more substantive discussion while criticizing MSNBC and others for covering the most superficial aspects of the presidential race. They suggested that Bernie was being a hypocrite for appearing on MSNBC while criticizing it. Getting an entire hour with Maddow during prime time while running for president? Yeah, I’d appear too. Being critical of a news outlet– or even the very show you’re on– doesn’t preclude one from taking advantage of a free hour of air time.
Bernie’s right, of course. Presenting policy arguments in depth, digging deeper into how candidates think and feel take precedence over poll numbers and infotainment. News for profit, focusing on ratings– commercializing the news– can be detrimental to democracy. Expressing views about that very topic is not.
Demanding that Bernie Sanders prematurely drop out of the race, red baiting (Bernie’s a crazy pinko commie!), engaging in ageism, calling him a fraud (of all people!), lying about his platform, accusing Bernie (should he lose) of refusing to fight against Trump when he pledged to do everything in his power to stop him, pretending that corporate power vis-à-vis Wall Street, Big Insurance, and Big Pharma is suddenly acceptable and that single payer isn’t, that fracking now gets a pass, that being a war hawk is okay when it wasn’t in 2008 vs. Barack Obama, that obscenely huge donations and unruly superPACs and are now hunky dory when they used to be questionable, that hope and change should be ridiculed (!), that free public colleges are laughable when they were once the norm in California: All of these attitudes are self-defeating and contrary to what my allies used to espouse.
Why should the vile attacks by Clinton voters persist if they’re so confident that she’s won the nomination? Is this how they think they’ll win over their rivals? Is this their definition of “unifying the party”? If so, they’re deluded.
Okay, so what happened? Why the about-face on policy positions? What can we do to fix this? Why must former cohorts be this offensive and seemingly hypocritical?
I can only speak for myself, and myself will continue to defend what Sen. Sanders, his supporters, and I have consistently defended: genuinely progressive plans and ideas. And I’ll do that while striving to maintain a sense of respect and decency for the duration of the insane Opposite World we call Election 2016. I’ve never sought anyone out to insult Hillary Clinton. It’s divisive and plain old rude.
In the meantime, if you seek me out to bash my guy (or me for standing up for my guy), please think again.
Will I get banned or blocked, not invited to lunch, or whatever you kids are doing these days if someone says something mildly critical? Let’s see. . . As someone who isn’t as politically invested in 2016 as I was in 2008, can I just say that a sizable percentage of supporters for both Clinton and Sanders exist inside epistemic bubbles that result in weird feedback loops in which neither clearly sees reality any more. I see some of that happening here. Sure, you touch on this, but you completely discount that the Clinton crazies who slam you with vitriol are in part reacting to Sanders nuts who are invading their spaces with equal vigor and disgust. They’re trying to venture outside their bubbles and are getting their feathers all ruffled, because how dare someone not see the world the exact way they do.
You say a lot here, but the one that stands out to me as most problematic is this one: “All of these attitudes are self-defeating and contrary to what my allies used to espouse.” While it’s likely that you’re referencing specific individuals that you’ve already decided you’re not going to name, it seems like most of these are just laundry list items that aren’t tethered to specific individuals. They seem much more like a Sanders supporter’s manic mis-representation of what it means to be a Clinton supporter . . . while also grossly mis-characterizing why they would support her.
This year, I’ve engaged both Clinton and Sanders supporters on their aspersions about the other. Neither gets a pass on being jackwads, believe me. It’s nuts out there. Perhaps you’re just more sensitive about the ones directed at your guy.
Laffy, I remember following you and Paddy back on TPC back in 2008. There were lots of calls for “party unity” back then, and while my memory is admittedly fuzzy, you didn’t seem to mind Obama’s supporters demanding it back then (pre-California). I also see a lot of parallels between Clinton’s 2008 PUMA contingent and some Sanders supporters now. What everyone needs is thicker skin and some patience. Both sides should let little barbs and asides go. It’s also crucial to remember that the loudest, most obnoxious supporters of either candidate actually represents the candidate. It’s rather moronic to let these whack-a-doodles influence your decision to vote for the other one come November. Clinton’s supporters in particular need to just be patient and let nature take its course. Sanders has fought hard and truly inspired millions. It’s not easy to let that go just because the end is in sight and outcome is fairly obvious. I suspect that within 24-48 hours of the California primary, there will be a big kumbaya within the party, starting with Sanders and Clinton (just like with Clinton and Obama in 2008). By the time the convention rolls around, things will be alright and we can all have lunch with our friends again.
To be upfront, I’m not completely neutral in this fight, but I am hardly invested in Clinton (whom I voted for in the primary, I have my reasons, but they’re hardly important or germane to this discussion). You may not remember, but I was hardly kind to Clinton’s 2008 campaign and am deeply suspicious of familial political dynasties. However, none of the candidates were that appealing to me. All of them were deeply flawed. Clinton and Sanders were clearly the best choices, which is why so many people flocked to support them. In the end, I judged them based on who they were, their experience, their policy proposals, and how effective I thought they would be as a general election candidate and president. I would have been happy to vote for either of them come November.
I hope you will not be banned or blocked. For me, the dilemma of this season has been to have a candidate that was campaigning on the right stuff (and I agree campaign finance reform has to be front and center) but would not be an easy target for the Republican attack machine. I know everybody loves those head-to-head polls of Bernie vs. Trump but people, bear in mind, in the summer of 1980, Carter was cleaning Reagan’s clock by 20 points. That faded fast. I *DO* like Bernie a lot but I think his fans don’t realize how vulnerable he would be to the Republican oppo machine in the Fall. Sure, I don’t give a shit he honeymooned in the Soviet Union or showed some love for the Sandinistas. But let’s remember what country we live in. I *wish* he could win, but those head-to-head matchups are mostly the result of his (deserved rep for) honesty and integrity but also that I think as far as the general electorate, people not knowing his actual ideas and positions. Look, if they called New Dem-centrist Obama a Marxist socialist, what are they going to do to an actual socialist?
I found the difference split in O’Malley. Strong stance on campaign finance reform, sound liberal positions, and neither the scandals nor weaknesses of Hillary or Bernie. But oh well. This was not a year for anything but extremes. People wanted either the establishment, or something that would burn it down. O’Malley never cracked 5% in the polls, and faded fast. He also would have faced problems with the BLM movement … although nobody in the race was perfect on their issues, and I thought he like Sanders was “evolving” properly on addressing their concerns. When I told folks in the chat room here I was supporting O’Malley, it was like I announced that I wanted the Earth taken over by a three-headed being from Mars. Nicole practically yelled at me on air. Kudos to Laffy, BTW, for standing up for me, even when she didn’t agree with me, and that’s what I love about her.
So BTW I voted for Sanders in our (Fla) primary. I even went to one of his rallies at Miami-Dade college. I really do like his positions, and I’m all for moving this country toward social democracy. I just wish the rest of the country was there with me, and the one thing I find about enthusiastic political types is their definite tendency not to want to be aware how much of the rest of the country is with them. Anyway, for now, I intend to keep Donald Trump out of the WH, and I intend to support the Dem nominee. We both know what that probably will mean after July or so. But no, I will not apologize for it. I am not going to be a Buster and what I really can’t stand is any Buster who says they’ll vote for Trump “just to teach the country a lesson” or “start the real revolution”. What utter BULLSHIT. Bernie HIMSELF has told people his MISSION is to KEEP Trump out of the Whitehouse.
I am, we are, feeling this Bern with you Laffy. We are on vacay this week, and have sworn off tv news for the week, in the hopes we can disconnect from this schizophrenic media debacle. I can’t read anything either…but will always keep up with you. It’s nuts out there. They aren’t getting what they’re doing. It’s a feeding frenzy free-for-all and I’m done with it, and feel EXACTLY as you have outlined here.
=^..^=~~
We’re going away next week. Cannot WAIT.
All I see here is the truth. This is what I’ve been trying to say for months, just put in a more eloquent way.
Thanks!
You nailed it!
Thank you Scott!
This is almost precisely how I feel. Thanks for posting it!
Many thanks for reading it. So happy I could help!
You’ve perfectly and incisively conveyed my own feelings and experiences
I’m glad I could do that. It’s been building up for months, and honestly, I’m fed up to here.
“They suggested that Bernie was being a hypocrite for appearing on MSNBC while criticizing it.”
Protest in the gutter like a proper peasant.
Sincerely, The Liberal Media
Someone unfollowed me because of this post. They claimed I was Bernie or Bust, which I’m not, which I made pretty clear in this very post. Sigh.
There seems to be a psychological phenomenon with Hillary Clinton that she can do no wrong and any position that isn’t 100% support must be the work of the anti-christ. It’s probably an evolution of the 3-dimensional chess defence of Obama’s pre-emptive capitulation to the Republicans (and that was an exhausting sentence).
It’s easy to chalk it up to defending the first female candidate for President – “first”, since everyone in the Democratic in-crowd dismisses Jill Stein out of hand – but none of them defended Carly Fiorina against the horrendously sexist attacks she suffered. Many were actually thrown by Democrats.
Maybe there’s just an ingrained deference to the Clinton’s after 3 consecutive Republican terms, that would explain why it doesn’t seem to exist in younger voters.