2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumDon't Let Them GASLIGHT The 'Bern'ing for Social Change

Executive director,
National Nurses United (AFL-CIO) and California Nurses Association
Perhaps you've noticed. Some people and institutions are working feverishly to convince us that real social change is not possible. Their target is Bernie Sanders and the growing army of his supporters who are fed up with politics as usual and the grip of Wall Street and corporate America on our political, economic and social system. The theme is to desperately convince us that Sanders can't win. They repeat it over and over, even though Sanders polls as well or better than Hillary Clinton does against every leading Republican candidate. Behind this effort is an alarmed corporate old guard that still runs the Democratic Party establishment and their allies in the corporate think tanks and the media, with a special nod to NBC/MSNBC, which is owned and operated by General Electric and Comcast. There's a term that has seeped into the lexicon. Gas lighting. It dates back to a 1938 play "Gas Light" and a 1944 move, "Angel Street." In which an abusive husband tries to convince his wife she is insane by distorting facts -- dimming the gaslights -- and denying the reality (in this instance the changed lighting) exists.
Skip ahead 70 years and the concept has morphed from the realm of domestic abuse to the political arena. As a Kos columnist wrote a few years ago, "deliberate manipulation to create a false reality that is used to control the victim" or in this case, social control. In the political world, the goal is to consciously mislead those shut out of political and economic power, to make them distrust their ability to challenge those who hold that power, and demobilize them from acting to change an oppressive system. In this case to blunt the Sanders' surge, and what it represents for the millions of people who want to reverse income inequality, guarantee health care to everyone, break up the banks, carry out meaningful environmental justice and criminal justice reform, and all the other far reaching planks of Sanders' campaign and the coalition supporting it. A thrust of their effort is to persuade Sanders supporters that he cannot win, in large part by using all the well-funded mechanisms in their control to retard wider exposure to the message of Sanders and his allies. The power elite form of turning down the gaslights.
Here's a small part of how the manipulation works.
The Democratic National Committee slashes the number of debates and schedules debates on Saturday nights when far fewer people are watching, and pressures its elected officials and convention super delegates for an early endorsement in an effort to lock down a coronation of their preferred candidate. Meanwhile the media, in particular NBC/MSNBC which has the biggest network audience of presumed Democratic Party voters, limits coverage of Sanders while it's parent company, GE, also directs its Hollywood subsidiaries, including Universal Studios (co-owned by Comcast) and its NBC shows, to line up its contracted celebrities to endorse the politics as usual campaign. Other national media, which also has a stake in the status quo, contributes as well. While Sanders has now drawn more than 400,000 people to his rallies - far more than any other candidate - he routinely receives less coverage than most of the other leading candidates. A report, circulated by Media Matters, found that on one network alone Donald Trump has been given 81 minutes of news network coverage compared to less than one minute for Sanders, even though, as the Nation's John Nichols notes, Sanders has broader support among Democratic voters than Trump does among Republicans in the first voting state, Iowa. No, we're not crazy, they just want us to think we are.
cont'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rose-ann-demoro/dont-let-them-gaslight-th_b_8808480.html
Segami
(14,923 posts)And then there's the majority of people who want to see a better world. Many of them are young voters who the polls have been unable to hide are overwhelmingly for Sanders...."
George II
(67,782 posts)Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)And that's the sort of union support that Dame Hillary's garnering. It also shows WHO she'll be beholden to when the scores are settled. Read that - the members interests won't be noticed then either!
George II
(67,782 posts)Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)But there are numerous other unions throwing in with the princess - while raising the ire of their members.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)murielm99
(32,988 posts)Stockholm syndrome!
Damn, we're good! We really hit all the bases here. Thanks for telling us who we are!
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)Doesn't matter what the topic of the thread is, they will find a way to praise Hillary and demagogue Bernie while twisting whatever facts are necessary to do it.
murielm99
(32,988 posts)Even though I see so many threads that have nothing to do with Bernie twisted and hijacked to be about Bernie.
I saw one the other day about a possible brokered convention for the repubbies. It had nothing to do with any one of our potential nominees. Some cult-like Bernista tried to hijack the thread and make it about Bernie. Typical.
"Certain segment" my ass. You people are in the majority here and you do anything you please.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)I'm disappointed that you view all Bernie supporters as one conglomerated mass of people on this board. I'm not here to defend anybody, but I will call people out when I see it no matter who they support. What I see right now is some Hillary supporters going into any positive thread about Bernie and immediately posting things like "He can't win" or "Not good enough" even if facts prove otherwise. And it's repeated over and over no matter what arguments are thrown against them. That is Gaslighting, and it's intentional. It's the same technique that campaigns use to create narratives. Why do you think politicians are able to get away with saying outright falsehoods? Carly Fiorina straight up lied on the debate stage, and even though she was called on it it never really hurt her support. Why? She was perpetuating a narrative that exploited people's fears and/or beliefs. What do you think Hillary tried to do when she invoked 9/11 when asked about her campaign contributions? Politics is all about the narrative, and a few Hillary supporters on this board know and they're trying to abuse it.
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)...are here to talk positively about Bernie's ideas and discuss what he's doing; as well as analyzing the issues surrounding the campaign.
A large number of Hillary supporters sit around here throwing cold water on Sanders supporters and mocking them.
They have little to say about their own candidate, but a whole lot of lip-curled snarling, mocking and chuckling at Sanders supporters.
Ever notice that they don't do this to OMalley supporters? They're just hyper-focused on Sander's supporters.
murielm99
(32,988 posts)of name-calling of Hillary supporters and accusing them of bad behavior.
Gaslighting? Oh, you learned a new word.
in_cog_ni_to
(41,600 posts)but most DUers know Bernie is going to win.
HRH supporters are a VERY SMALL (9%) SEGMENT OF DU - many are Paid operatives who make a lot of background noise. They talk amongst themselves....backing up each other's rhetoric. None of it goes anywhere.
PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)Or is that just speculation based on the reddit article posted a couple months ago?
jhart3333
(332 posts)Yet.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)I can't imagine anyone actually paying for that level of quality.
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)...and went public after resigning because he said they were not focused on leveraging Hillary, but instead were wanting him to bash Sanders.
What a demeaning way to make a living...
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)As much as it wouldn't surprise me there are some Hillary folk on here on the payroll, I don't think an anonymous poster on Reddit is smoking gun evidence.
Segami
(14,923 posts)so staging folksy, natural photo-op scenes is something they are quite comfortable with.
Yeah, it's the Daily Mail, but they have the guy on the record. THIS is the type of thing that drives me nuts about her.
************************************************************************
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026512668
EXCLUSIVE: Campaign staff recruited and DROVE 'everyday' Iowans to Hillary's first campaign stop including health care 'lobbyist in training' who was an Obama campaign intern and Biden chauffeur
By David Martosko, Us Politics Editor For Dailymail.com In Des Moines, Iowa Published: 14:40 EST, 15 April 2015 | Updated: 14:46 EST, 15 April 2015
Hillary Clinton's astroturf candidacy is in full swing in Iowa. Her Tuesday morning visit to a coffee shop in LeClaire, Iowa was staged from beginning to end, according to Austin Bird, one of the men pictured sitting at the table with Mrs. Clinton. Bird told Daily Mail Online that campaign staffer Troy Price called and asked him and two other young people to meet him Tuesday morning at a restaurant in Davenport, a nearby city.
Price then drove them to the coffee house to meet Clinton after vetting them for about a half-hour. The three got the lion's share of Mrs. Clinton's time and participated in what breathless news reports described as a 'roundtable' the first of many in her brief Iowa campaign swing.
Bird himself is a frequent participant in Iowa Democratic Party events. He interned with President Obama's 2012 presidential re-election campaign, and was tapped to chauffeur Vice President Joe Biden in October 2014 when he visited Davenport. 'What happened is, we were just asked to be there by Troy,' Bird said Wednesday in a phone interview.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026512668


HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)But I don't want to throw around accusations against people on this board without solid proof.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)appalachiablue
(44,024 posts)retrowire
(10,345 posts)stupidicus
(2,570 posts)those who use such do so because of their awareness that a win might be in peril without it
and the more they put into it serves a good measure of how big they think the threat to be
firebrand80
(2,760 posts)If Bernie were to be the Democratic nominee, he would have my full-throated, unwavering support
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Android3.14
(5,402 posts)We have people doing that here.
I find it significant that many of her supporters behave like abusive spouses and treat people, who advocate for Bernie Sanders, in the fiendish and deceptive fashion that they do.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)i posted the following as a response to a post in another thread earlier today:
Putting the polls together, it looks to me like, if Hillary wins, we will have a president that the majority of the country does not really like, trust or approve of.
While if Bernie wins, we will have a president, a Democratic president for sure, that most of the country approves of, trusts, and likes.
That's why Bernie would be our best bet for the candidate in 2016. People like him. People trust him. People approve him. ...... in larger numbers than any other candidate.
And that is without as many people knowing Bernie as well as they do Hillary or Ted Cruz for example.
Bernie is our best bet for not just winning the general election in 2016 but also FOR HAVING A COUNTRY THAT HAS THE PRESIDENT'S BACK AND WILL WORK WITH HIM. BERNIE IS OUR BEST BET FOR HAVING A PRESIDENT WHO CAN BRING US TOGETHER BECAUSE WE TRUST, LIKE AND APPROVE OF HIM IN LARGER NUMBERS THAN ANY OTHER CANDIDATE.
And in addition to his wise views on the issues, that is why I am supporting Bernie Sanders.
As the Hillary supporters like to remind us, a president can only get things done if he gets Congress to work with him. We haven't had that situation for a long time -- 9/11 maybe -- but that was a crisis and did not last long.
One of the reasons that Congress does not back the president is that the people don't back him in large enough numbers, don't trust or like him in large enough numbers, to put pressure on Congress to go along with the president.
That people just simply like Bernie more than the other candidates could help us turn that historical trend around.
Congress and the president will never work together perfectly. They shouldn't. What is the point in checks and balances if the Congress just backs everything the president wants?
But, the candidate who is best known in Congress right now is BERNIE SANDERS. Bernie has been their since the early 1990s. He knows the players in Congress. No other candidate has the experience working within Congress, no other candidate knows the procedures and personalities in Congress, no other candidate can possibly be as effective in working with Congress as Bernie and may I add, his staff and supporters.
Bernie is, based on these polls and his vast experience and long service in Congrress (plus his executive experience as mayor of Burlington, Vt.) THE VERY BEST CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY THAT WE HAVE HAD IN MY LIFETIME.
He has the most relevant experience, the best track record in winning elections, a memorable personality, good character, trustworthiness, determination, a love of the American people, a sense of justice and fairness, a willingness to stick up for the underdog, understanding of the economic crisis we are in as a nation, straightforwardness that we need in dealing with foreign leaders, COMMON SENSE about war and peace (sees beyond the momentary crisis) and just everything we need in a president right now.
Feel the Bern! Cause the Bern is what is best for our country.
I trust Bernie Sanders. I like Bernie Sanders. I approve of Bernie Sanders.
Bernie is best for America.
TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)It couldn't be more obvious, and anyone who denies it is completely full of shit.
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)...and the Bernie blackout is outrageous. I could give you examples that would leave your jaw on the floor. It's bad.
However, do you know what is fascinating and pretty cool? The coveted Iowa Poll from Ann Selzer came out yesterday. Bernie is only behind by 9 points.
Despite the media favoring Hillary to the point that it is ridiculous--and ignoring Bernie--he's doing extremely well. He's barely campaigned here in Oct/Nov/early Dec.
We The People got this.
TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)even with the blackout, he still may win. The corporate media is slitting it's own throat.
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)...even further.
They can black out Bernie all they want, fill the internet with their silly shills and release a bunch of flawed polls. All this demonstrates is how much of a threat we are to the status quo. They know Bernie can win.
Most Bernie supporters turned off the MSM years ago. Who gets their news from NBC/CBS/ABC and CNN anyway?
Every effing day. And they get pissed when we disagree with the BS. WTF?
Thanks Segami.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)People are noticing.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)Plenty of folks who sit around here at all hours of the day--cutting into any Sanders supporter who has positive news or is excited about a positive development.
I call them the "Cold Water Brigade."
DU POSTER: "Wow, look at these great poll numbers for Bernie."
COLD WATER THROWER #4: "Why have hope? He can't win. Just give up!"
COLD WATER THROWER # 7: "OMG Now the Sanders kids like polls! LOL!!!!!!! Too much!"
COLD WATER THROWER #2: You so nailed it. #imwithher and for sure I'm with you too!!!!!
Nimroddery at its finest.
Bang on!......On a more personal note, I would like to add onto your list..."...why do you CAP words in all your heads?.."
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom