In the 2020 race it’s the reflexive corporate media spin against the candidate, writes Norman Solomon.
By Norman Solomon
NormanSolomon.com
Some people are attached to the idea that the Democratic National Committee will “rig” the presidential nomination against Bernie Sanders. The meme encourages the belief that the Bernie 2020 campaign is futile because of powerful corporate Democrats. But such fatalism should be discarded.
As Frederick Douglass said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Of course, top Democratic Party officials don’t intend to give up control. It has to be taken from them. And the conditions for doing that are now more favorable than ever.
The effects of mobilized demands for change in the Democratic presidential nominating process have been major — not out of the goodness of any power broker’s heart, but because progressives have organized effectively ,during the last two years.
“I think I will not shock anybody to suggest that the DNC was not quite evenhanded” during the 2016 race, Sanders said last week on CNN. “I think we have come a long way since then, and I fully expect to be treated quite as well as anybody else.”
One big factor: This time, no candidate can gain frontrunner leverage with superdelegates the way Hillary Clinton did early in the race. Last August, under grassroots pressure, the DNC voted to abolish superdelegates’ votes at the Democratic National Convention for the first ballot of the nominating process. There hasn’t been a second ballot since 1952.
When timeworn polemics insist that what’s now underway can’t really happen, it is time to revise the polemics. For many years, we heard that genuinely progressive Democrats couldn’t make meaningful inroads in Congress. Now, with impacts that far exceed their growing numbers, recently arrived House members are doing a lot to help reshape the political discourse — notably Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.
While ill-founded, the line that “the DNC will rig 2020” is apt to have perverse impacts. No doubt sincerely believed by some, the outdated notion serves to demoralize and de-energize.
Is the Bernie 2020 campaign facing a steep uphill climb? Of course it is. Are powerful forces arrayed to crush it? Absolutely.
But let’s be clear. The huge obstacle ahead is not the DNC — it’s the mass media. The corporate-owned and corporate-advertiser-funded media of this country are the biggest barriers between Bernie Sanders and the Oval Office.
Amplification System
Often functioning as propaganda outlets, the major news media serve as an amplification system for corporate power that has long shielded the Democratic Party from the combined “threats” of social movements and progressive populist candidates. The synergies of momentum from the left — outside and inside of electoral arenas — are continuing to accelerate.
Chelsea Clinton introducing her mother Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic convention. (Lorie Shaull on Flickr)
It’s crucial that progressives develop more effective challenges to the media serving the predatory big-money system. More than any other force, reflexive spin from corporate media stands between us and a Bernie Sanders presidency.
In sharp contrast to campaigns with enormous budgets for Astroturf, the first Sanders presidential campaign was able to effectively defy the conventional wisdom and overall power structure by inspiring and mobilizing at the grassroots. His campaign was – and is — antithetical to the politics of corporate media.
Two examples of news coverage, exactly three years apart, indicate what the Bernie 2020 campaign will be up against. In early March 2016, at a pivotal moment during the primary campaign, FAIR analyst Adam Johnson documented that the Washington Post “ran 16 negative stories on Bernie Sanders in 16 hours . . . a window that includes the crucial Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan, and the next morning’s spin.”
Days ago, when Sanders launched his campaign with a big rally in Brooklyn, the MSNBC coverage was so slanted that an assessment from Glenn Greenwald appeared under the headline “MSNBC Yet Again Broadcasts Blatant Lies, This Time About Bernie Sanders’ Opening Speech, and Refuses to Correct Them.”
Greenwald’s critique of MSNBC focused on flagrantly inaccurate anti-Sanders commentary from a former Hillary Clinton aide that immediately followed the senator’s Brooklyn speech. No Sanders supporter was included in the discussion. The coverage prompted an email from FAIR founder (and my colleague) Jeff Cohen to an MSNBC vice president: “You have no trouble finding hardcore Clintonite Bernie-bashers; please offer some balance in your analysts. In today’s Democratic Party, there’s clearly more sympathy for Bernie than the Clintons — but not on MSNBC.”
It’s worth noting that the Post is owned by the world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, while MSNBC is owned by Comcast, “the world’s largest entertainment company.”
To counteract the media propaganda arsenal now in place, we should fully recognize that arsenal as the main weaponry that corporate power will deploy against the Bernie 2020 campaign. We must confront those corporate media forces while vastly strengthening independent progressive media work of all kinds.
Norman Solomon is cofounder and national coordinator of RootsAction.org. He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2016 Democratic National Convention and is currently a coordinator of the relaunched Bernie Delegates Network. Solomon is the author of a dozen books, including “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” He is the executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.
I’d say the true obstacle is the rigged system. Democrats already stated they’d never allow another Trump mistake again. When did they gain such a royalty state that any of our politicians have the authority to decide the outcome of our elections. Roll over and die Bernie isn’t the answer. He gave up on his campaign and will do the same to the American people. The system has to be done over from scratch.
The link of racism to socialism is clearly shown in Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States. From Wikipedia:
“Chapter 2, “Drawing the Color Line” addresses the African slave trade and servitude of poor British people in the Thirteen Colonies. Zinn writes of the methods by which he says racism was created artificially in order to enforce the economic system. He argues that racism is not natural because there are recorded instances of camaraderie and cooperation between black slaves and white servants in escaping from and in opposing their subjugation.”
The idea of racism, brilliant in its scope, was to effectively divide native American Indians, Black slaves, and poor Whites. Using now well known tools of propaganda, the elites created divisions and hatreds among the three groups that would challenge elite power if they were united.
Bernie can’t be counted on to stand for progressive policies. He’s, already, caved on important issues.
Real Progressives need to attack the Republicans back, when called “Pinko” etc. There are plenty of names to call those selfish Republicans.
Pointedly, he lacks a strong refutation of American militarism and imperialistic foreign policy, such as support for the F-35 and lackluster support for Venezuela.
”the truth will set you free”
1) In 3 or 4 years, the Arctic will no longer have an ice cap in the summer months – this will drastically accelerate climate destruction.
2) There’s already 130-feet of sea level rise baked into the climate crisis no matter what the rulers do or don’t do [”The End of Ice” by Dahr Jamail].
3) Item 1 & 2 = the eventual collapse of civilization.
In order words, civilization is on the ”Titanic.”
In the long run, only Mother Nature can defeat corporate capitalism for the sake of the planet.
I wouldn’t count the DNC corporate shills out just yet. That “only vote in the second round” thing is just as easy to manipulate as anything else. All they have to do is prevent Sanders from getting the minimum number of votes on the first ballot, and based on the shenanigans at the ’18 convention that isn’t an impossible scenario. Then they call for the second vote, the Superdelegates do their thing and Beto or Kamala or Cory or, God forbid, Hillary is nominated as a “compromise candidate.”
You got it Elizabeth. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly the way it will play out. One way or another the Dems will float corporate sponsored war monger from column B. They are as bought as the GOP. But with the Dems, as Gary points out, we’ll get non-gender specific restrooms with our forever war.
The media will also try to paint him as a Pinko, Socialist and Communist whose ideas are un-American and bent upon the destruction of our “democracy” and economy.
Already Donald Trump said as much in Florida a week ago.
” The Republican party is the most dangerous organization in human history.” N. Chomsky—-
…
With Honorable Mention to the corporatist Democratic Party.
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Please remember the DNC lawsuit!! https://observer.com/2017/05/dnc-lawsuit-presidential-primaries-bernie-sanders-supporters/
Later in the hearing, attorneys representing the DNC claim that the Democratic National Committee would be well within their rights to “go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way.” By pushing the argument throughout the proceedings of this class action lawsuit, the Democratic National Committee is telling voters in a court of law that they see no enforceable obligation in having to run a fair and impartial primary election.
THERE ARE NO FAIR ELECTIONS
I still maintain the belief that we’re screwed. Even if Bernie succeeds in winning the election (a long shot to be sure). Even if it leads to a flood of progressives in both houses that flip it, the old curmudgeons in both parties will pull out all the stops to stop them, deny them and thwart them at every turn. The deep state will undermine them any which way they can. And then there’s the state legislatures and governors. The majority of them will still be Repubs and the ones that flip will pull a Wisconsin to undermine the incoming administrations. It’ll take decades to undo all of this damage. We don’t have decades. And that’s assuming the corporate power brokers don’t come up with a way to boot them out. I’m sorry, we’re just screwed. If you’re under 40, move to a country that is more of a social democracy. They’ll weather the oncoming storm better. If you’re over 40, find a quiet area relatively safe from the mobs, it’s your best bet.
Cynicism = defeatism = being defeated
I’m thinking it’s going to be those old curmudgeons who keep Bernie from winning again. It’s the people who are working behind the scenes that are going to sabotage his campaign again. And it’s Hillary’s groups that are the ones behind the scenes. Plus Obama. He made sure that it was Perez who is in charge of the DNC instead of Ellison.
Democrats and republicans have too much invested in keeping the status quo working. This is why we’re seeing the democrats working with republicans on the things that their donors want. There is no Resistance happening with the democrats. This is just a way for them to let their base blow off some steam about Trump. And no… democrats are not going to impeach him. There are already plenty of things that they could go after him for already instead of investigating him for two years before the election. That they aren’t even talking about it is the giveaway.
Thank you Norm, For your tireless work on behalf of good-hearted Americans, who also working tirelessly under the yoke of Citizens United’s corporate heel on the neck of our representative democracy. Bernie’s biggest flaws may be his age, his inability to handle the “how do you finance your dream” convincingly (not that he hasn’t tried), and finally his lack foreign policy experience, particularly with the recent Russian bifurcation about Georgia, Ukraine and Crimea being within their genuine security interests – on their border that we’ve surrounded by NATO’s “Operation Anaconda” and its followup exercises.
OK after reading all of the reviews it seems CN readers are not big Bernie fans.
Its very important that we maintain a good dose of humor, which in fact may be one of our most powerful deterrents to tyranny.
Make fun of them at any opportunity.
On that note, lets lighten this up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AALREbJZEZk
He could blame DNC for the last presidential race defeat, but this time it will be he- Bernie that would be his own obstacle to becoming a president. He proved he was a liar and a sell off. He gave my money to hillary, I had given to support him, when he conceded to her. I will never forget that. Here is the best summary for what I am writing, feeling and thinking. Watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsvNKf-86tg
An annoying and out of touch European woman, who has no concept of class consciousness and just wants to rant without offering anything constructive. Bernie didn’t “give your money” to Hillary. You gave your money to Hillary by donating to Democrats and
Bernie never lied to you about what his intentions are.
You built up this whole alternative persona in your head of a Bernie who would run independent after the primary… let it go. If you live in an open primary state, please vote for Bernie or Marianne. If not, just relax and stop talking trash.
This article assumes Bernie is worth electing; the problem IMO is he has been compromised-as they say in the intelligence field. He sounds great on domestic issues, but is this “sound and fury signifying nothing”? Look at him on the MIC and foreign affairs. On Venezuela and Syria he has been mouthing CIA talking points; he even likes the F35, a mega overpriced and significantly under performing high tech flying machine that when pitted against an F 16 couldn’t touch it. The cost of this dud alone could finance many of his proposals.
It appears the desperate corporados in the Party let him squawk as much as he likes about great sounding programs as long as he toes the line on foreign affairs and the military.
When he stood up before the Democratic Convention and announced, “I am proud to stand beside Hillary Clinton” I almost puked. That was Hillary, the Queen of Chaos who cheated him, and convinced Obama to bomb Libya and attack (via proxies) Syria. He lost all authority and integrity at that point proving himself, at the least, not Presidential or maybe even a complete fraud.
The government has bee throwing away the majority of our tax dollars on military expenditures for decades. Unfortunately, representatives are expected to deliver jobs to their districts/state and imagine Sanders had to get something for his state. Imagine if ask him privately about the F35 program he’s most likely admit it was a boondoggle as almost all military based expenditure is. The government expenditure system has to be completely reworked to benefit the populace (climate change, technological ventures). One reason the government is going after Huawei is because the Chinese government spent heavily on developing 5G technologies and Huawei now has the market without any real competition. Where was our government expenditure on 5G technology?
You’re right, Paul, Bernie is damaged goods! His betrayal was the stuff of legend. His ability to wipe out an entire base of believers was only surpassed by Jim Jones. Only the suckers will go to his rallies this time. They will be fewer in number and the energy will not be there. He will go through the motions of running a campaign, but it will have all the vitality of a dead man walking.
Sanders said he would endorse the Democratic candidate regardless of who it was from the outset. Old news. Try some integrity for a change.
Sanders would’ve BEEN the dem candidate had he not caved to Hillary. Sanders very likely would be prez today had he a pair. I’ll stand with anyone who stands on principle – win or lose. Bernie sat.
This fella is NOT prez material.
Absolutely spot-on. Bernie’s promise to support the democratic nominee should have been predicated on a fair fight. Once wikileaks exposed the DNC treachery, that promise was null and void. He had the power at the convention to deliver an ultimatum, either he get’s the nod from them, or he takes up Jill Stein’s invitation to lead the Green Party. Either way, with a good performance at the debates, he could have been President. I blame him for Trump’s victory.
….
I have to agree it is possible he is a complete fraud. I don’t think his candidacy should be supported by anyone who is looking for solutions to address the underlying rot.
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As Moon of Alabama indicates, current Establishment Politics suggest Trump will win again. Democrats are evidently incapable of learning from 2016, as shown with current demonizing of Ilhan Omar et al, and do not understand the dire need for CHANGE throbbing in this country. A new Quinnipiac U poll today indicates Sanders beating Harris 2-1, but preferring Biden (who is not yet running) over Sanders. This poll reflects black opinion primarily, with the peculiarity of Biden (Mr. Establishment Himself) ahead of Sanders. Today I was sent a survey from the Republicans, mistaking me as “an activist for the GOP,” utter nonsense, and it showed the same stupidity and blindness as the Dems, saying for example that the Democrats as an entirety have gone over to “European style socialism.” With this continuing flogging of the demonizing tropes–this repugnant, stale repetition–likely an even lower turnout will occur, and Trump will again prevail.
Unless, a new independent party arises and steals the show. If such were possible, and if it could get the 15% required to get into the debates, real change might happen. But I don’t think that would come from the Greens. The Greens are done, I think, just as much as Sanders is. This is unfortunate, but Stein, for example, is too easily dismissed, besides that she has now failed more than once and received only 1% of the vote last time.
A brand new party needs to emerge, with figures as fresh, articulate, and continually emphasizing CHANGE as with Ilhan Omar, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, and Tulsi Gabbard. THAT kind of third party just might do it.
There might be enough time, with nearly two years to go, if such a movement could suddenly rise up. That Sanders received such a quick response in money and volunteers suggests it just might . . .
“As Moon of Alabama indicates, current Establishment Politics suggest Trump will win again.”
Do you remember the Daily Mail – Brit news rag – that upon GW Bushit’s re-election, ran the banner “How Can 48,000,000 American Be So Dumb?” Lol … possibly the tackiest – yet truthful – banner headline in a long while.
And then came Trump.
Stop the Presses’!!
Solomon is basically right, but how to breach the MSM broadcast monopoly and further develop alternative media reach and breadth? And major media spin on ‘wealth care’ (health care) issues is also a big concern of mine. We need to hear alternative commentary and news coverage on many things, like the absence of mention of psychiatric drugs as a persistent and primary issue in America’s plague of school shootings and the continuing fraud and misrepresentation of the highly unsuccessful campaign of mass vaccination.
It seems that most media, including alternative, have yet to match up American childrens’ declining health with the increased and poorly scrutinized vaccinations, but which recent science is now showing very clearly–have a negative effect, a very bad trade-off between acute disease protection but with a consequent increase in long-term chronic illness AND increased neurodevelopmental disorders with vaccination.
In the latest and very notable study, a 77% increase in all chronic illness occurred with vaccination (Mawson et al, 2017) as well as a 370% rise in both autism and ADHD (among vaccinated kids vs. unvaccinated children) in this same study. The issue of exposing and really changing much of what is going on in the ‘wealth care system’ is of the utmost essence, but is not even being approached by mainstream Dems or even folks like Bernie Sanders or other Dems I know, who are beholden to the health care establishment overall and its disease, doctor, drug, and dollar-denominated and delimited disposition.
Would you please share links or the information to locate some of the studies you have mentioned regarding vaccines? I would really like to read them.
https://www.collective-evolution.com/2019/03/06/unvaccinated-children-pose-no-risk-to-anyone-says-harvard-immunologist/
The Corporate media works for the DNC as they proved last time.MSNBC fired Ed Schultz for wanting to cover Sanders and played Trump’s speeches in full while they ignored Sanders who beat all of Obama’s records for crowds and donations.The Clinton camp is already out on the airwaves lying about Sanders not bringing up race etc……
Clintons are going after Sanders…..
Hillary Clinton Staffers Whine About Bernie
https://youtu.be/7Fp2GqGRHPE
How Corporatists Cynically Weaponized Reparations To Try To Kneecap Bernie
https://youtu.be/jzNsLt8HSMI
Wasserman Schultz Threatens Kicking Bernie Out Of Party Over Venezuela
Greg Palast
https://youtu.be/EnlEVf7oaVQ
With all due respect, the Corporate Media works for the Corporatocracy.
The Corporatocracy controls both the DNC and RNC.
Jesus there’s a lot of whining going on in these comments. And Bernie’s campaign has only just started. We live in an imperfect system and all candidates will have flaws. Gotta get over that, review our principles, see what the worst problems are, and get behind the candidate that best represents us.
Bernie has name recognition this time around and it has improved his polling among the black community. In a current poll he has a 2-1 favorable standing among blacks over Kamala Harris.
Exactly!
They lived through Obama and know a black face isnt enough.
Bernie caved. Sanders would be prez had he not given Killary a pass. For a summer home, allegedly. What will he cave in on next?
Sanders is NOT prez material.
The very few folks who qualify for the job – those folks who can actually find Afghanistan on a globe – are not permitted to rise to the top. As they rise, Military-Industrial profits fall.
“The very few folks who qualify for the job – those folks who can actually find Afghanistan on a globe – are not permitted to rise to the top” —- exactly! Though they may technically not be prohibited from running, they are quickly ‘filtered-out’ (Chomsky & Herman’s cogent term from ‘Manufacturing Consent’) by the paradox of access — they need LOTS of money to run in POTUS elections especially, and normally the only way to get that money is to heavily compromise with the MIC —- especially in this age when the MSM has been ‘maximally profitized’ and is now an integral part of the MIC —- which of course destroys any non-profit ideas where most progressive policies reside. The already-rich (ie; the Trumps, Clintons, Bushes, Kennedy’s, etc) are by-and-large already neck-deep in the MIC since it has served them very well, so they’re seldom going to make any significant changes unless politically forced-to by the zeitgeist.
I find all the Bernie-bashing here surprising, annoying, and even dismaying. I expect this sort of stuff on “lesser” sites, but not here.
Bernie is not a true Socialist. So what? He calls himself a “Democratic Socialist,” whatever that might mean. On other sites you’ll see him criticized for not being a real Democrat. Why care about labels? It’s policy and record that matter.
Bernie is a sheepdog, a Judas. That’s arguable, but even if true, so what? He promised to support the eventual Democratic candidate if he lost the Democratic nomination. He did what he promised. He did the only thing possible. You wanted him to do something different? The outcome, had he done so, would have been much worse, not only for him, but for everyone even remotely progressive — and especially for progressive third parties. Such parties would be now be completely discredited had Bernie lost as a third party candidate (and he would have lost had he run as one).
Bernie is an imperialist warmonger. Again, that’s arguable. But here’s the kicker. Even if it’s true, he’s still the right choice if ending war is your foremost priority. Why? Two reasons.
The first reason relies on why we go to war. We do so because it makes some rich people richer. They own or control the media, which instills popular support for going to war, and then politicians (including the President) have the cover of responding to public pressure. How do you stop this? At the source. You need to lessen the hold on our media, economy, and government by the wealthy. That’s precisely Bernie’s agenda. And it’s the only thing that can possibly work. (I see no reason to believe Bernie is insincere in his opposition to the “billionaire class.”)
Second reason: the American public doesn’t care about foreign policy, including war. They care about their lives and jobs. They relate to Bernie’s message about wresting control of the economy from the plutocrats. You can –and Bernie does — get massive support for that agenda. And, again, this time as a byproduct, that policy is the only policy that will lessen the US’s war lust.
Bernie-bashing is not only wrong-headed: it’s destructive. Rather than post about how awful Bernie is, offer something positive instead. Support Tulsi if you can’t support Bernie.
Caitlin Johnstone wrote a recent article explaining the futility of determining who is part of the “controlled opposition.” But if you bash Bernie (or Tulsi) and offer nothing better — you do exactly what such a person would do (and is doing).
Right out of the box, we get “Some people are attached to the idea that the Democratic National Committee will “rig” the presidential nomination against Bernie Sanders. The meme encourages the belief that the Bernie 2020 campaign is futile because of powerful corporate Democrats.” What “MEME” ???? Writer should skip using that word altogether. Apparently, no one knows the definition. (Except Richard Dawkins and I.)
I don’t want him as a candidate so…the big obstable is every candidate as always…
The first words out of Sanders’s mouth was he would support the Democratic Party’s candidate. That’s politician-speak for his continuing role as a sheepdog to corral the gullible into the Democratic wing of the Corporate-War Party.
Howd that work out last time?
Sanders has done more to pull the party to the left than anyone……if they cheat again its another Trump term.
The reflexive corporate big media last time also mostly ignored Bernie, and belittled any time it did mention him. This is more of the same. It hasn’t changed.
The DNC is as much right wing and against Bernie as before, and also strongly against all other progressives. It wants another Republican-Lite, which is what it calls a moderate.
Here are some observations regarding Bernie that I think are worth at least some consideration. Keep in mind this article was written in 2015 and deftly predicts (i.e., IMHO) the outcome of the 2016 primaries (and also provides a little historical context).
https://blackagendareport.com/bernie-sanders-sheepdog-4-hillary
…and here’s a recent satire piece in a similar vein that I’ll put here just for fun.
https://consentfactory.org/2019/02/25/the-magic-socialist/
So, I’m left wondering if we’re expected to believe that it will all be different this time?
“Now Everett, you know this is treason. We’re nigh on the voting this season.
I’ve got no objection to a fair free election,
Please tell Nixon to listen to reason!
“I could jump in and bust the convention. But that would require pretension.
I don’t have the guts, and Goldwater’s nuts,
So I’m praying for Hubert’s ascension!
He championed more civil rights. It kept him awake lots of nights.
Great Society dreams were just one of his themes,
Without courage he lost all those fights!
Debbie Wasserman rigged the primary. The tale should remain cautionary.
Bernie is old, not contentious or bold,
He gave up to a flawed adversary.
Mark Twain said that “history rhymes”. It doesn’t repeat but it chimes.
With that primary scam, Bernie failed the exam,
He endorsed all of Hillary’s crimes.
In the end, he’s a corporate man. He’s on board with the empire’s plan.
He helped Boeing score and he voted for war,
He leans center right when he can.
Both Lyndon and Bernie seemed candid. Neither one looked underhanded.
Whether Brooklyn or Dallas, they’re folksy, not callous,
They both toed the line when commanded.
Great Society dreams were expounded. And socialist memes have abounded.
When it comes to real change, there’s not much they’d arrange,
Fuggeddaboudit, you’re gonna be less than astounded!
Another great one F.G.
It’s hardly worth debating what democracy-loving institution will MOST interfere with
Sanders’s candidacy.
While Solomon here covers the media side, the DNC has spent the three years since
the Hillary “I ‘heart’ neo-cons” Clinton fiasco of 2016 making its nomination process
even more Bernie proof.
This is explained in the article by Nick Brana, a 2016 Sanders’s campaign insider:
“Link”
Of course, there is always the DNC/Media working in concert to consider.
Silly man. This author presumes there is a difference in purpose and agenda between MSNBC (and other Lame stream media) and the DNC. Intelligent people make no such error. Furthermore, candidate Bernie2016 is far different to the current Bernie Sheepdog of the 2020 campaign. You can call him also the Russiarussiarussia Bernie or the Venezuela-voters-don’t-count Democrat candidate. All would be accurate. Who wants that mind set in office? I do not!
Here’s a question for you about this situation with the media:
http://opensociet.org/2019/02/24/why-do-you-think-bernie-sanders-has-difficulty-getting-the-support-of-african-americans
Anybody out there have a better handle on this issue? Can’t quite figure it out…
Yes. Most Black constituencies vote reliably Democratic, and because many Black people are poor, are more dependent on government services and less troubled by taxes. As a result, they are wide open to machine politics. The machine works by doing things for people; the people then support the machine, and continue it in office. By imparting some largesse at a local level, especially to local leaders, businesspeople, clergy, and other VIPs, higher-level party leaders can make the constituency politically reliable. On higher-level issues, which do not affect the constituency directly, the party leaders can do as they please, which in the case of the major parties is to serve the rich and powerful, extractive capitalism, and imperial war. People like the Clintons, Biden, the DNC in general, can reach down to the local level, even to individuals, through the machine. For the poor, especially the Black poor, the machine is reasonably seen as a way to obtain some consideration in a world which is largely indifferent or hostile to Black people. If the machine leaders ask for electoral support, then, they tend to get it, as long as they have paid their dues. It’s a kind of democracy: compelling the great leaders to take notice of the poor.
It’s wishful thinking to separate the conglomerate that is the media, duopoly, military-industrial complex, intelligence services, and plutocrats who own or control most of the centralized power structures that keep the status quo in place.
The problem for the bottom-up grassroots movements against the ruling elite class is that these movement’s leader like Sanders and Pelosi are either in bed with or bought off by those same small circle of shadow government ruling this country. Can anyone really think any candidate in their 70s can effectively and competitively run this largest economy in the world without further contributing to its declining standing in the world? It is already appalling to see a young president in his 50s to pass the control of the Oval Office to an old capitalist in his 70s. Now we will only expect another 70 year old Democrat to replace that old capitalist. Alzheimer’s disease do not discriminate. If you are rich you can live comfortable and longer, if you are poor, you live a short and miserable life, but no any cure for that disease, yet.
Sanders is not bought off and if he is, he’s doing a poor job of it. He is one of the poorest Senators in the Senate, where most are millionaires 10 to 100 times over. And then you follow with an ageist rant. pffft. I’m not taking your advice.
1. Byron Dorgnan suggested campaign tv… I believe a fed funded return2 former FCC fairness doctrine.
Meanwhile ALEC has done its anti Blue scheming quite successfully.
2. Rip Ed Schultz
Given Sanders extensive back peddling, it appears that Sanders may have made a deal with the devil, aka, the Clintons. The Clintons own the DNC, so in that sense, perhaps Mr. Solomon is correct that the DNC will not be the problem. The press, however, is beholden to Wall Street, who does not want a socialist, real or imagined, anywhere near the White House.
Perhaps Mr. Solomon is just conveying the terms of the deal.
Where did Bernie back peddle?
He supports: Medicare for all, free college, $15/hr minimum wage, breaking up the TBTF banks, the green new deal, cutting the military budget.
He’s been tepid on Venezuela though he does not support over throwing the government.
Hard to say where Bernie is today versus 2016. But he has been consist with his policies.
I just cannot stomach Wolf Blitzer.
It’s not about media. It’s also not about Russia, or Israel, or any other boogeyman. The issue remains pretty basic. Most votes come down to economic issues. Democrats split apart their voting base in the 1990s, middle class vs. poor, and the Obama years confirmed that this split is permanent. Sen. Sanders used to claim support for democratic socialism, and as such, he advocated for legitimate poverty relief programs. By 2016, he had leaned to the Dem Party right, and stopped acknowledging anyone worse off than minimum wage workers (I heard that he did mention poverty at some point, but had no agenda to address it). In real life, not everyone can work (health, etc.), and there aren’t jobs available for all. US job losses of recent decades have well-surpassed job gains — and so many of those new jobs are part time/short term. Our policies against the poor have taken a heavy toll. We have a poverty crisis — but you won’t hear those words from any Democrat. Or from Sen. Sanders today.
So you’re a troll.
From 2016, Why Bernie Sanders Is Talking About Poverty
http://time.com/4291699/bernie-sanders-poverty-poor-rhetoric/
After hearing Sanders talk about his position, on Syria if I’m not mistaken, I cannot in all honesty back him or any other US Presidential candidate who shares his ideas for trampling over other countries sovereignty.
Until a US President honours the rights of other countries, they will not get my support.
His domestic policies sound reasonable, perhaps an improvement over many others. However, the world is looking for fairness and justice from a supposedly democratic country, and until the US takes such a position, it has no moral standing to call itself even worthy of being a leader in anything, that is unless they want to be known for their bullying, lying cheating ways which they have made their speciality.
Exactly. He is not at all against the wars the USA insists on pushing-he continues the anti-Venezuela tirade, as do all the other Dems now and at the time of Obama, so despite the good domestic plans, his foreign policy would be much the same as before, under either Party (as Pres.Putin noted before 2016: “the policies don’t really change much with change in US administrations”.)
Yes. He is such a fraud overall, that I find it impossible to consider him a candidate for any role requiring integrity.
He does not have the courage, or strength, to go against what the Dems want. (And who knows: he may not want to go against anything the Dems want…., since he is such a war monger himself.
What about Tulsi Gubbard?
Colin Mansell, haven’t heard it said better and in fewer words. I heartily concur.
And why would anyone care whether Bernie makes it to the Oval Office?
Despite his attractive rhetoric, he would be a terribly ineffective President.
His dealings with Hillary Clinton conclusively proved that he does not have the capacity to deal appropriately with a truly hard-nosed member of the power establishment.
She literally cheated him out of the nomination, he said virtually nothing and went away with his tail between his legs… to campaign for her.
His own record shows no serious opposition to American militarism and imperial wars. He just makes little noises around the edge.
Then there are domestic proposals – never mind the Republicans, a major portion of his own party would not support what he calls “socialist” proposals.
They are not of course really socialist, but in America, they stand zero chance.
So, what would be the point of electing him?
Just to listen to nice speeches?
Why do you think it is that Gore, Kerry and Bernie all caved prematurely? It makes no sense to me. I still wonder.
Exactly. A look at the guy should suffice.
Just read your comprehensive article ( http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51223-c.htm ) on American/Russian relations published on the ICH website, John. It is a real tour de force. A complete treatment of the history in a most objective and analytical manner. It checks all the boxes, getting every bit of reportage precise down to a scintilla, just as Robert Parry would have done.
For those who came here to read about Bernie, continue to expand your mind by reading John’s article about Russia’s transformation under Putin, who genuinely cares about his country, compared to America’s decline under a recent parade of clowns who’ve basically been in the “leadership” game for self-aggrandisement and personal gain, while sadly allowing the neocons to run roughshod to the detriment of the entire world.
I read the same piece a few hours ago, and I agree completely. It is an excellently put together article.
Yes. It is an excellent article by John. I am sending that article to some die-hard Hillary and Obama fans.
As for Bernie, John’s comments are spot-on.
…
Trump defied big media in 2016, so it is possible. As negative and unrelenting as the Bernie bashing was in 2016, the Trump bashing was far more intense.
I think the big question now is what kind of candidate is Bernie Sanders at this point? Is he an outsider or an insider? He apparently believes in Russia Gate, and he also fell in line behind Clinton in 2016. So, exactly who is this guy?
He may be just another fake change agent, like Obama and Beto and Howard Dean and all the rest of them.
….
Well, I continue to give Obama credit for one thing: He restored the disability benefits that had been slashed by the Clinton administration, undoubted saving some lives. This should matter.
Yup definitely a troll. So expanding us to 7 wars and running out of bombs in the process is ok because he restored disability benefits? How many lives were lost in those wars? How’s Libya now? No Obama doesn’t get credit.
Good grief.
Defied big media?????He had billions of free publicity just by his antics and being already a household name in the USA!!
….
It was amazing to watch the hatchet job on Trump during the election. I couldn’t believe it. This was one of the contributing factors in my (sadly recent) revelation that the mainstream media is hopelessly compromised.
The Trump bashing was incredible. I don’t think it was done with the intent to help him by keeping his name in the headlines, even if that was the outcome.
…
>He may be just another fake change agent, like Obama and Beto and Howard Dean and all the rest of them.<
I doubt if it makes any difference if he's "sincere" about his political statements, or not. The deep state (bureaucracy) and the overlying toxic cloud (top bankers, industrialists, security/intelligence/global planners) know how handle political change agents – it's not a big problem.
Bribes, coercion, blackmail, lone crazied gunman (although that's a bit passe'), assassination via terrorist organizations, heart attacks…. whatever…
Mr. Solomon wrote:
“that the Washington Post ‘ran 16 negative stories on Bernie Sanders in 16 hours . . .’ ”
I remember at one point during the campaign Business Insider ran nine straight anti-Sanders articles in a row. I, as well as a lot of other people, commented on that fact in the “reader comment” section. All through the campaigns Sanders supporters and Trump supporters posted comments opposing Business Insider’s obvious promotion of the Clinton campaign. Eventually, the Business Insider responded to this by eliminating the “reader comment” section entirely.
This is what proponents of an honest system are up against.
After Obama and now Trump, it’s foolish to think that these elections amount to much, or lead to any positive change.
It’s kabuki show for dummies. It’s political placebo.
The catch there is that it’s us — the proverbial “masses” — who were split apart, pitted against each other by class, race, etc. There has been no unity to the left of center in decades, and Democrats have much to do with that fact.
It’s about the money.
If you invent a new useful computer component, you still have a long way to go, and need a lot of luck, to turn it into personal riches.
If you have good looks, good social skills, are willing to say whatever the people important to you want to hear, get started in local politics, get into the House, on an important committee, quietly get dirt on important people that can be used when you inevitably get into a tight spot… it’s a lot surer way to get rich than being some science/engineering nerd who actually adds something to the world.
DH Fabian, I agree. The Party would do better as a real workers party instead of one that lives on race and sex issues.
Here moonofalabama points out to where the Dem’s are going wrong.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2019/03/democrats-take-two-more-step-to-clear-the-way-for-trumps-reelection.html#more
Ugh. That’s another tangled mass of yarn. Currently, there are plenty trying to claim that opposition to the right of the sole Jewish nation to exist, really isn’t anti-Jewish. That’s absurd. Jews are indigenous to that bit of land, restored and renamed Israel in 1948. Palestine was the historic name of the Jewish – not Arab – nation. Today, it’s some 1% of the Mideast region, with the remaining 99% owned by the various Arab countries. Look how commonly people portray Israel as a vast militarily mega-power trampling over the “impoverished” Arab oil countries!
People of the Jewish religion are not indigenous to Palestine. The land predates the creation of Judaism. Move along.
No matter the real historical truth, their opinions are their historical truth.
Edmond de Rothschild who had financed a large portion of land in Palestine aimedfor jewish settlement had said (I’m paraphrasing) “you can’t replace the wandering Jew with the wandering Arab” might find today’s Israel guilty of that offense. Maybe it would be better to quote Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt who way back in the 1940’s predicted what would happen if the Zionist thugs took over. (“Thug’ my word not Arendt’s)
https://mondoweiss.net/2019/03/hannah-arendt-would/
Please do not pretend that these tired old arguments mean that the power of the zionists and their supporters in the USA (Joe Biden “You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist”) is fair and deserved. Nobody is allowed to mention any fault of any Israeli leader, of any banker (eg convicted felon Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, whose part in the 2008 losses by US customers was gigantic), of the “IDF” killing thousands of unarmed Palestinians and imprisoning many children, for fear of the dreadful stigma “antisemitic”.
Norman Solomon hits the nail on the head and, it’s the Democratic 1944 convention all over again. Bernie is Henry Wallace and, the MSM plays the part of the Truman backers. Such a fine example of what Twain referred to as rhyme as likened to repetition in history.
It is awful that MSNBC is suppose to represent ‘liberal’ thinking in America. In MSNBC world the only liberal thing is to be found in their appreciation for the minority’s. As admirable as that is the MSNBC liberal is excited at the thought of bombs flying in air. If we Americans are to except this media paradigm as reflective of our society’s political beliefs then forget any fair explanation by these corporate mouth pieces of any socialist values that may aid an American citizen struggling with our unequal economy.
Hats off to Joe Lauria and his team for providing us Consortium readers with great authors with fantastic perspectives to water our tree of current event knowledge.
I’m reminded of this argument in the past intriguing me, and my research led to Al From’s recruiting Bill Clinton to lead the DNC. I would encourage those unaware of that period to reference it again now. The Democratic Party seems to me to be completely bought and paid for by the Corporate Powers That Be. The bigger question is: Is the Party Redeemable at this point?
Why the Democratic Party Acts The Way It Does
A book review of “The New Democrats and the Return to Power” by Al From
https://medium.com/@matthewstoller/its-al-froms-democratic-party-we-just-live-here-5d0de7f89c3e
In the CNN town hall, there was this (Bolton couldn’t have crafted better) statement/question for Bernie on Venezuela.
Speaker: “Good evening. In light of the recent events in Venezuela, you came out against U.S. intervention–a contentious stance, as many in Venezuela are currently suffering at the hands of Maduro through starvation and violence, and it is clear that he will not let humanitarian aid in. Under these circumstances and moving forward, do you have a clear position on U.S. intervention overseas, both economically and militarily, for nations that are under the regimes of these oppressive dictators?”
Bernie starts by saying, “Thank you. Good question.” Then he goes on to make a non-interventionist pitch laced with all the tolerance for sanctions and sticking our nose into sovereign nations yet again. His first obligation to his progressive supporters should have been to deconstruct and put in factual context the set-up question. He can’t blame that on the DNC or MSM. And there in lies his third problem–lost trust from his supporters by his own establishment talking points.
Not only has foreign aid been allowed in–just not from the US, our sanctions have wrecked their economy. We own that and can’t excuse it away by playing at the ‘unintended consequences’ play we continually invoke. As Mark Cook wrote in Thruthdig last week, “The absurdity of $20 million of US food and medicine aid to a country of 30 million, when US authorities have stolen $30 billion from Venezuela in oil revenue, and take $30 million every day, needs no comment.”
Bernie sucks on foreign policy. He is too timid to speak the truth. Whether he has had a “trip to the woodshed” or really believes the crap he spouts is an open question. The MSM narrative needs to be challenged, as you point out. I wonder if he is weighing “access” against truth telling. Ray McGovern has said that the only network that allows him live interviews, and doesn’t have a pre-interview interview is RT. Maybe Bernie is up against the same problem.
This video is very informative on the theft of Venezuelan oil by the Koch Brothers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeNCbXVHrR8&fbclid=IwAR0TXRCzos4VYGCthC3fhJHQiAHEuwb8Y2i_9jxpecZUyXUp3haBAIbLPmw
If a Democrat would surface that would support universal health care financed at least in part by reductions defense spending he or she has my vote. I would add sweeping election reform to take away the power of the most powerful and the application of the old anti-trust idea to our media concentrations. The latter two would point on the road to a lot of needed reforms, notably defanging the one percent in our society.
Beyond taxes and health care, I doubt Bernie is up to any of the other reforms.
You know the New Deal brought a lot of young idealists to Washington. I wonder where they would find young idealists today who had the same mindset? What political aspirant would draw them?
The UN’s UDHR lists the most basic human rights as food, shelter and medical care — even for the jobless poor. America disagrees, and we ended actual welfare aid in the 1990s. Congress knows that anything like universal health care would make no sense in a country that denies food and shelter to its poor. It’s not possible to maintain health without those basic human needs.
The presidential candidate that would no longer support our wars of intervention and regime change is Tulsi Gabbard. She speaks clearly on this issue and states that the social programs progressives are using for can only be paid for by radically reducing our military spending. Of course, the mainstream media and the DNC give her no notice and thus she will probably not get traction.
Herman,
You would be interested in reading “Let’s Change Europe From the Ground Up” by Yanis Varoufakis in CounterPunch today. The same policies could work in the US. Varoufakis is the most advanced economist in the world today. He’s the guy who should be our president; unfortunately, since he’s Greek, that can’t be. He makes Bernie and Elizabeth look childish by comparison.
She did surface. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is a genuine anti-illegal wars candidate.
The candidate that you are describing is tulsi gabbard.
Unfortunately television is still the only medium with the power to decide the presidency, and I suspect that will still be true in 2020. CNN and MSNBC are major gatekeepers, and their owners will fight all true progressives every step of the way. I think there is only one avenue for a progressive to have a chance in 2020, and it doesn’t lie within the DNC controlled Democratic party. The empire has plenty of tools in their kit besides superdelegates.
A well known progressive needs to make the bold decision at some point to switch to the Green Party, and then they have to make it to the televised debates in the run-up to the general election. For that they need 15 pct. in the polls. That is the only venue I see that could tip the scales enough to win a general election. Once the average voter sees that they have a REAL choice, rather than choosing a “lesser evil”, the progressive candidate could become unstoppable, and the DNC/RNC power structure would crumble. Then our only worry is that the candidate would become a target to be coopted or assassinated.
I agree. I started voting for Green POTUS candidates during Clinton’s 2nd term, did-so in 2016, and plan on doing-so again in 2020. My job as a voter is to vote for the best candidate & platform/policies, NOT to ‘vote for a winner’ — I’m not a racetrack tout handicapping horses to win cash. As long as the Dems can roll enough people with that ‘lesser of two evils’ rationale, we probably won’t see a progressive POTUS. The Greens policies encompass 95% of what most progressives like myself and commentors on this website want, and I for one am not going to wait for the Dems to have some sort of epiphany that won’t happen for 2 or 3 generations, assuming it happens at all. How can we expect our political leaders to be uncompromisingly conscientious if we compromise our voting?
Very true Eddie S, and I wish more people would see it that way. We don’t have 2 or 3 generations to wait for progressive change. We need real change now, before we go the way of the dinosaurs. Recent events have proven that there are as many war whores in the Democratic party as there are in the GOP. We have to stop the DNC/RNC flimflam and get representatives that truly represent the public, not the oligarchy. We have to learn to wage PEACE in a multi-polar world before these evil bastards get us all killed.
I beg to differ. The DNC et al will do everything they can to derail Bernie, Tulsi, and any other true progressive. It may just be more subtle this time around. It’s in their nature.
Hi Zim, I agree. At the moment, Democrats are “carpet bombing” us with one presidential candidate’s declaration after another. What is it, 12 so far? The DNC may have done away with superdelegates on the FIRST ballot, but if none of the many who have declared their candidacy get a obvious majority, (and such dilution may make that happen), it will make a second ballot necessary. And superdelegates will get to weigh in on that second ballot and any other ballots that may be necessary after that. I don’t trust the corrupt and filthy DNC not one whit. That’s why I Demexited after 2016. George Carlin always said the whole thing was one big charade. And it is.
“There hasn’t been a second ballot since 1952.” Hubert Humphrey was the nominee in 1968 and he didn’t run in a single primary; it was still a time of decisions made in smoke-filled rooms (kind of like the Pope). Of course the Democrats have had superdelegates since 1984 (14-20% of the convention votes). The Superdelegates jumped on the winning (or preferred, if close voting between two) candidate and pushed him across the finish line. Under the new rules, without that 15 to 20% boost from Superdelegates and with, possibly, multiple similar candidates, it is very likely that there will be need for multiple ballots, with those seeing little chance offering the likely winner their voters for party “unity” (or maybe for a lake house).
Sanders’ biggest obstacle is that he betrayed his supporters and his delegates. Fooled me once, shame on you; fooled me twice, shame on me. Go Tulsi!
Chris, I agree. Tulsi looks to be the best, so I hope there’s no clay feet to emerge.
(Of course, we could have had Jill Stein. Sigh.)
All of this reeks of the false meme that elections can save us. The corrupt, phony US Fascist Oligarchy will not be reformed by the phony, rigged elections it uses to distract people from their enslavement.
Mike K from Elmerfudzie. I think you’ve got something there. Without true campaign finance reform, without legislation that reads like a flat tax Bill, we as citizens have no use for the upcoming elections, In Their Entirety! !
Wow, Norm. Well, if you’re gonna hallucinate on Pollyanna’s b?r?o?w?n? ? Blue acid, may as well go all the way.
Sanders stabbed his supporters in the heart. Not just once, but over and over. After the DNC stole the Primary, Sanders not only campaigned or Three Names, but went on to go on tour with that execrable toad Tom Perez, and then gave the DNC $100,000 of his own money.
Because, that’s how you deal with your mortal political enemies. /s
For the last year, Sanders has joined the DNC/Deep Strate in blaming HRC’s loss on the Russians. He continues to betray his followers, continues to damage the causes of populism and peace, and still, the True Believers believe.
Exactly Kim. Sanders is the phoniest of the phony. He lies and cheats you in your face, and then asks for another helping of your brainless trust in him.
Hillary now says SCOTUS cheated her out of the 2016 Election because they said the Voting Rights Act was based on 40-year old data that’s no longer relevant and is thus unconstitutional (they said if recent data showed the same thing, then the Act could continue. Of course it is better to whine than work for change). Wonder if Hillary has sees an early version of Mueller’s report?
Yep! Bernie is a died-in-the-wool Dem and a fauxcialist. He once upon a time called himself a socialist, but subsequently has added the modifier “democratic” to distance himself from actual socialism. He betrayed the legacy of Hugo Chavez by referring to him as a “dead communist dictator” and looks to be towing the corporate/Trump/CIA line of regime change in Venezuela by claiming the elections of 2018 were unfair. Hysterical, considering he has been the victim of dictatorial rule (or whatever you call it when the DNC decides the outcome of an election and not the electorate). He took his lumps from Crooked Shillary (who continues to throw him under the bus at every turn) and stumped for her like a cuck. His fucking mealy-mouthed critique of being robbed of the Democratic nomination is that “…the DNC was not quite evenhanded.” What a firebrand. What a schnook.
My sentiments exactly! Anyone who still has faith in Bernie has lost all their critical thinking skills. It’s pathetic really.
Norman Solomon is the new version of Clinton hack Robert Reich for liberals. So earnest, so blind. Or maybe just another careerist.
Kim Dixon – Spot on comments. Thank you. Though to be fair to Bernie his most ardent supporters are now suggesting that the only reason Bernie repeated all those fake CIA regime-change talking points about Venezuela is because, you guessed it, “Putin made him do it!” Damn that Putin – he’s diabolical! I should have known!
The notion that Bernie, a life-long supporter of American empire somehow offers a “progressive choice” as president is obviously patently ludicrous. However, it does pull the curtain back on just what our traditional choices are between the Democrats and Republicans. Those “choices” are encapsulated in this simple question: “do you prefer your illegal regime-change wars, invasions, torture, assassinations, immoral support for Israeli apartheid, and neoliberal economic austerity, “WITH” or “WITHOUT” gender specific bathrooms here at home?
His biggest problem is that people looked far closer at him after the 2016 election and realized he would be a disaster as president.
I would have voted for him 2016, but nowadays I know things about him, that would even make Hillary the better choice.
Why would anyone care what you “know” without evidence or argument?
I definitely care what we know now about good old Bernie, the chickenshit senator. You cannot expect someone to become president who advocates such bad foreign policy, and who is basically a warmonger for Israel. In case you still don’t “know” what Bernie is like: read the comments here. Hopefully you will end up knowing what MBeaver knows already!
You have no idea what I know, Fredericke, and nothing is learned from those who merely express conclusions. Debate requires evidence and argument; opinion is without value.
Solomon seems a little naive here, though I enjoyed much of this. I can see that the idea that the DNC will again rob Sanders might have some “perverse” impact–that of discouraging his followers. Sadly, that does not make the idea untrue.
Solomon claims that the main obstacle is the corporate media, but proceeds as though this somehow means that it is not the DNC. Yet, as of 2016, that media was taking direct dictation from Debbie Wasserman Schultz. This sort of thing has become quite widespread among commercial media in this century, and does not uniquely involve the Democratic Party. But of course that is no reason to imagine that corrupt media will not involve itself with the DNC once again in 2020, as it mostly has in recent years.
The Democratic Party has had epoch-making motive since 2016 to clean house. But despite the efforts of a few Democrats working outside of the party machinery–including, let us add, one Norman Solomon–it has failed almost completely to do so. Solomon points out that the superdelegates are now not to chime in until a second vote and that a second vote has not happened until 1952. But he thereby glosses over a more realistic appraisal of probability: with the superdelegates in the first vote, a second vote could hardly every be necessary for the corporatist conservative elements to dictate the candidacy: that is, a second vote did not happen because there was no motive for people rigging a nomination to undergo one.
It’s fine that Solomon himself believes that the DNC will not rig the 2020 nomination. It might be nice were he to address what beyond the convenience that he notes here gives him that impression. Just labeling the idea “ill-founded” hardly constitutes an observation, let alone an argument. The fact that the DNC rigged its nomination in the very recent past, defended its “right” to do so, and has not undergone any other large changes in personnel and procedure makes the opinion that it will rig its upcoming nomination well founded indeed. It need not mean that it is necessarily correct, but the burden of proof even for a claim of a reasonable assessment is over on Solomon’s side of the court, thoroughly ignored here.
I certainly wish Solomon luck with Sanders’ campaign. It is hard to imagine anything better coming out of either major party at this point in history, and it is possible that the DNC and the major corporate media cannot collude to stuff Sanders back into a box again.
Sanders only real political strength against MIC/WallSt oligarchy is his zionist oligarchy connection. Those who think he will change US Mideast policy are being careless. Not surprising that it is almost exclusively these Jewish pundits who keep promoting him over others. There are many thousands of better alternatives who don’t have money under the table, or sympathizers in our zionist mass media. Ask yourselves why you don’t hear of them? He deserves no vote from progressives: who do his supporters really serve? He is another tribal puppet like those of the MIC, WallSt, and other interest groups.
And the main reason why Hilary declined to run this time around. “no candidate can gain front runner leverage with super delegates. She never had a chance last time around except for this fact. Thankful she is gone.
Amen
She might not be running as a candidate, but she’s stepping into the mix to, “unite the party.” Figure that she’ll be continuing to work with the spooks behind the scenes to make sure Sanders’ followers* don’t get near power.
* While Sanders has his flaws, don’t toss everything out with him. There are a lot of folks following him that are capable of cleaning out the swamp.
“And the main reason why Hilary declined to run this time around … Thankful she is gone.”
You done spoke a parable there! This is without doubt the single wisest political decision Hillary ever made.
The stacked CNN TV panels packed with opponents of Bernie Sanders remind me of the BBC Question Time anti-Corbyn propaganda as well as the fact that the top 10 Google News results for Sanders, like Corbyn, are now consistently negative. In for a bumpy ride….
in other but related news, the dems are still determined to act like weak tea:https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/read-resolution-omar-anti-semitism-dems-plan-vote-this-week
And, this is nothing compared to what third parties of the left face in America.
He has 4 obstacles, all of them potentially fatal.
1. The DNC, (a.k.a The Clinton’s wholly owned subsidiary) and his humiliating public capitulation to them.
2. Wall Street, and its instrument, The Main Stream Media
3. His voting record on Foreign Policy & Israel
4. Black Racism. The black vote crushed Sanders in the primaries, what has changed?
Otherwise, as a candidate, Trump is an unpopular and failed presidency. His pinnacle achievement, tax reform failed to bring in any tax revenue and only served to line CEOs pockets. Harris will undoubtedly, eventually dissapear from the stage.
The black racism thing puzzles me. How was this supposed to have manifested?
It’s not “black racism.” If a phrase like “black tokenism” were used, that might more get at it. The black establishment (Cong. Black Caucus, etc., wants to stay in the main lane). Remember how they were relatively slow to declare for Obama in 2008. And in 2016, Hillary Clinton had the help of black MSM columnists (Capehart the most notorious) in exploiting this.
Also, on things like gay rights, blacks in America, including blacks in the Democratic party, are more conservative than whites.
I agree with your assessment. It is always dangerous to generalize, or over-generalize, but it seems to me that “the black community” is quite conservative and timid, and understandably so. The aging demographic of that community remembers well how hard and brutal a struggle it was just to get to where we are today (as incomplete and unsatisfactory as that may be.) Simply put, they are reluctant to get behind anything that doesn’t seem like a sure bet or looks like a long shot, which to their perspective, Bernie was in 2016. It mattered little what Cornell West said, as many in that community were probably thinking “just stfu before someone notices you.”
Unfortunately, racism is ubiquitous, read history, travel, I challenge you to come up with one culture in history where it was eradicated. If you spend time with the black community, while they can be truelly great people, they are just as human as everyone else. This is a big blind spot for progressives, and could very well be Sanders undoing, just as it was in the 2016 primaries.