Salon: Fear of a Bernie Sanders presidency

[portlander23]

Fear of a Bernie Sanders presidency: How the silly elite media creates phony stories to dodge real issues

As if Joe Biden weren’t enough for them, the establishment media has found a new distraction to keep them from talking about Bernie Sanders and his surging issue-based campaign, which now has an army of 200,000 volunteers. The distraction is California’s Gov. Jerry Brown, who has given absolutely no sign of interest in running—in fact, he ruled it out in January 2014.

So, it’s clear that this is not about Jerry Brown actually contemplating a presidential run. It’s about the idea of him doing so, and how that idea functions in the establishment media world.

The most obvious way it functions I’ve already mentioned: as a distraction from covering Bernie Sanders, who actually is running for president, and raising issues the establishment media would rather ignore, with a degree of specificity they’re particularly uncomfortable with. The fact that he’s proving wildly popular only makes their antipathy even worse.

Sanders knows that any Democratic president fighting for fundamental change is going to need an organized army of citizen allies, and he’s actively working to build that army, as his campaign has enrolled 200,000 volunteers, as he told Rachel Maddow on Sept. 17. This is a far, far cry from the lone figure above it all that Jerry Brown cuts. Which is, ultimately, the most significant reason why Jerry Brown is not the candidate Democrats need to make their party stronger. Bernie Sanders is.

The media does seem insistent on inventing any other two-person Democratic race to distract from the actual two-person Democratic race.

[cantbeserious]

1. "I Believe In The Good Things Coming" - Go Bernie Go

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. The media are puzzled on what to do

they haven't had anything like this to contend with.

[HereSince1628]

3. I don't think they are puzzled. I suspect they aren't paid on behalf of Sanders

and don't expect to get paid, in kind or in cash, anytime down the road.

I suppose that they really do expect some sort of consideration for the trouble and cost of their investment and I don't think Sanders is playing in that game.

On the otherhand. You can't really explain Trump coverage in any other way.

[sabrina 1]

4. They are doing what they are paid to do. Ignore candidates who are not Status Quo, and make sure if

possible, that the people never hear about them.

But they are puzzled as Bernie continues to rise in the polls, Chuck Todd eg, just can't understand it.

They are so full of themselves, thinking that they are the 'messengers' the people listen to, that it's inconceivable to them to even think, they have become, not just irrelevant, but in the eyes of the people, a huge part of the problem.

[kenfrequed]

5. The reasons

They don't like Sanders because he makes them report on policy. They like horse races, not policy. He generally doesn't take the bait when they try to play the "bash your opponent game."

[oberliner]

6. In 2013 Bernie said he was 99 percent sure he was not running for president

So people do change their minds.

[senz]

9. Quite likely he wasn't, in 2013.

[oberliner]

10. Here is the exchange from the interview

Many of your hardcore supporters are urging you to run for president in 2016. Are you considering it?
Well, the answer is that to run a serious campaign, you need to raise hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s number one, and I don’t think——

Barack Obama proved candidates can raise money.
Obama went to his friends on Wall Street the first time around.

That’s true, but he still raised a fair amount of money in small donations.
Yeah, but I’m not Barack Obama. That’s the point. I do not take corporate money. I think people are hungering for a voice out there. It would be tempting to try to raise issues and demand discussion on issues that are not being talked about: inequality in wealth and trade policy, protecting the social safety net, moving aggressively on global warming. Those issues are not being talked about, and it would be tempting, but….

Hillary Clinton will probably be the Democratic nominee. Does that offer an alternative to the country?
No, it does not.

Are you absolutely ruling out running for president, 100 percent?
Absolutely? 100 percent? Cross my heart? Is there a stack of Bibles somewhere? Look, maybe it’s only 99 percent. I care a lot about working families. I care a lot about the collapse of the American middle class. I care a lot about the enormous wealth and income disparity in our country. I care a lot that poverty in America is near an all-time high but hardly anyone talks about it. I realize running for president would be a way to shine a spotlight on these issues that are too often in the shadows today. [pauses] But I am at least 99 percent sure I won’t.

http://www.playboy.com/articles/bernie-sanders-playboy-interview

[senz]

11. Yes, that's right, he wasn't running in 2013.

He was almost 100% sure he never would.

For many years every Friday, on the Thom Hartmann radio program, Bernie has been Thom's guest, taking phone calls from listeners. Throughout 2014, more and more people were encouraging him to run. You could hear the inner struggle as he weighed the immensity of such an effort against his alarm over where our country has been going in recent decades. He agonized over it, because he is not a young man, he is not wealthy, he had nothing in the way of an organization, and he liked representing his constituents in Vermont. If Elizabeth Warren had decided to run, I am sure Bernie would have thrown all his support behind her.

As 2014 wore on, one could see him relenting, seriously considering a run. Then the contention was whether to launch a third party run or run on the Democratic Party ticket. I held my breath over that one, remembering Ralph Nader and the 2000 election (something I now think of as "political trauma" in my own life.) Finally, he said that he could not risk wrecking the Democratic front-runner's chances if it were Hillary or some other Dem. He would not be a spoiler.

It also took him a while to work up to the position that he was actually in it to win; he would often say that even if he couldn't win, he could at least pull Hillary to the left. But I think his immense popularity, once he was out on the stump, just amazed him and made him realize that yes, it was within the realm of possibility that he could win the nomination. And he knew (and I agree) that he would do the right things for this country.

Having watched it unfold, I worry about him all the time. But I have seen that he is very intelligent, realistic, thick-skinned and experienced; he knows exactly what he is doing.

[oberliner]

12. The article indicates that Jerry Brown said in January 2014 that he wasn't going to run

Can't he change his mind as well and jump in?

I am just saying that just because a person says they aren't going to run, doesn't mean they won't if circumstances change.

[senz]

13. It's extremely unlikely that Brown will ever run again for president.

For one thing, he's 77 years old. That's really old. People slow down, get tired, wear out. The presidency is a huge job. For another, he has given no hints whatsoever that he's interested in running for president. He might run for reelection in California, but nothing is clear on that.

Sure, anything can happen, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that he won't be running for president.

[99th_Monkey]

7. K & R nt

[senz]

8. K&R -- been seeing more and more of this kind of talk

all over the Internet. The Dem establishment just can't bring themselves to accept what's happening right now. They see Hillary slipping in the polls and mutter, "Gee, we need a candidate besides Hillary. Just in case." So they look at Biden, Gore, Kerry, even Jerry Brown.

Meanwhile the Bernie crowds keep growing and growing all over the country...