Bloomberg is vetting Sanders with his attacks

[Rorey]

This is just a trial run for what Sanders would face in the GE.

[Demsrule86]

1. And Sanders won't withstand this sort of thing in the General which is why he should not be our

nominee... K&R

[Pachamama]

16. +100000

Sanders and his supporters will wither and be dismayed when they see what will come at them from Trump and Russians should he be the nominee.

And when voters across the US realize that their taxes across the middle class will go up.

[notinkansas]

2. It doesn't matter.

No matter who the nominee is, they will face merciless attacks and probably even lies.

[uponit7771]

5. Yes it does, Sanders historic swing state numbers against Trump suck. That's our warning

... that he's going to lose when he's not outside MOE with Trump in those states

[Moderateguy]

25. That's Great! This is a good trail run for the GE then

[uponit7771]

3. Thing Sanders wrote about kids would disqualify anyone. That's not just being "weird" with children

[patricia92243]

39. What did he write? Or where can I find it?

[democrattotheend]

4. I'm glad he's doing it

I remember reading Kurt Eichenwald's piece four years ago about the opposition research Republicans would have unleashed on Bernie, and I honestly don't know whether the things he mentioned will be disqualifying to most voters. A lot of them are things he said 20 or 30 years ago, but some of them might still matter today, like the stuff he said about Fidel Castro. Either way, I'd rather it all come out now. If it sinks his chances at the nomination that means he probably wouldn't have won the general election, and if nobody cares and he gets the nomination anyway, he's in a stronger position because it will be old news by November.

FWIW, I would like to see the same for all the candidates. If there are any skeletons for any of them I hope they come out now and not in October.

[Rorey]

10. I completely agree

We shouldn't be insulating our favorites from attacks in the primaries. There will be no insulation in the GE.

They need to be tested and ready, or they'll get pummeled. I want the strongest candidate, not just my own personal favorite.

[The Mouth]

13. Completely agree

I like Bernie and *LOATHE* Bloomberg, but the primaries are about 'last person standing', because whoever wins is going to have to face a shitstorm of lies, hacking, and attacks.

And then *that* lucky winner gets to go play with seriously smart evil bastards like Putin or Xi.

I wouldn't piss on Bloomberg if he was on fire, as much as I would like the option, but like maggots and viruses, he'f fulfilling a vital function here.

[democrattotheend]

19. I'm torn, though, on whether I want to see any attacks on the Hunter/Ukraine nonsense

On the one hand, you know Trump will make a big deal of it if Biden gets the nomination. On the other hand, it's total BS and I don't want any Democrats validating it. Which I am proud that so far nobody has.

I wouldn't mind seeing some push polling/message testing on it, but I will be very upset if I hear another Democratic candidate go there. That would probably be disqualifying for me.

[Scurrilous]

22. That's why his statement yesterday was so flabbergasting.

He said similar things years ago about Castro that could be weathered now because it was long ago and maybe Bernie not so radical now. Not in Florida. He was fucked there already. Castro + Ortega + Chavez praise meant the main three groups all angry. Outside Florida though not much damage. But nope. Rebooted then doubled down. Insane. There was no reason to say that. No pro-Castro voting blocs out there that needed massaging. The mother of all self inflicted.

[democrattotheend]

28. Personally, I didn't think he sounded so radical the other day when he talked about Castro

But my views on this are pretty far left, so I acknowledge I may not be the best judge. I pretty much agree with Bernie - Castro's human rights record needs to be condemned, but he has done some good things in Cuba. I also think US policy has been hypocritical in that such a big deal has been made of Castro's treatment of dissidents and other human rights violations - as it should - but at the same time the US government has propped up right-wing dictators with similar practices. It's only because Castro is a dictator and leftist that he's gotten so much attention for his inhumane practices.

[Scurrilous]

45. Well, he ruled for almost 50 years. Longest serving fucker on the planet save for random royals.

I'd hope he'd accomplish something beside keeping the entire populace permanently impoverished (not him of course) and turning Cuba into a crumbling shithole police state. We'll go with literacy. Opened a lot of classrooms. Staffed them w/ teachers. Easy to do when you hardly bother to pay them. I think basic pay today is around $20 a month. Everybody learned to read. Now if there was only something to read. If you like to peruse long speeches there's the newspaper Granma. If you're of fan of Russian language anti-imperialist polemics or locally penned odes to the revolution, there are the libraries. Everything officially approved and censored of course. RIF. Reading Is Fucked. The best way to put it is defending Castro is like defending the Catholic Church (I went as a kid). You can say 'but they do some good.' Then you think about it for a few seconds and it's 'fuck it, there's no defending that.' 60 years after the revolution and tap water is still shit. No defending that.

[beachbumbob]

6. lol, Bloomberg not going where RNC and trump will go at, wait until the

non-stop RNC/trump ads of sanders walking with the socialist worker party's in the parades are running non-stop. Of course sanders alliance with the Marxist party in early 1980's. There goes every battle ground state, the US Senate and the House.

of course RNC is doing all they can to help sanders for all the obvious reasons

[Squinch]

15. This. Bloomberg has to do it with kid gloves so as not to alienate too many Democrats.

If we think Bloomberg is tough on him, republicans will be a hundred times more damaging.

[Johonny]

7. All these things Sanders weathered in 2016 from the Hillary campaign

Much like her emails, Democratic half-truth dirt seems to linger forever and a day. Sanders voters heard it all before, and don't care. If anything Bloomberg's attacks will only motivate them to vote and vote early for Sanders.

Bllombergs path, if he has one, is stripping votes from the middle. He's hitting Sanders to attract middle voters weary of Sanders. It worked in 2016, but Sanders wasn't the front runner then. Now he's a vetted front runner, I'm not sure wasting time on this BS helps at all. We will see on Super Tuesday. If anything, Bloomberg has made Super Tuesday very interesting and possibly decisive.

[Demsrule86]

37. Hillary did not need to vet Sanders...and she didn't. This is all new shit that will bring him down

should he be our nominee.

[Butterflylady]

8. He won't even come close.

Sanders is not his main goal.

[DanTex]

9. I'm glad the "Bernie isn't vetted" talking point is gone now.

[Rorey]

11. This vetting is like throwing marshmallows

Compared to the boulders that are going to be pummeled at him if he gets the nomination.

We can't be naive.

[Demsrule86]

38. This is just a mild taste of the vetting Sanders will receive at the hands of the GOP.

[ripcord]

12. So if Bernie survives the Bloomberg vetting I guess that will prove him a worthy candidate

[Rorey]

21. Hardly

Very shortsighted to assume that.

[Pachamama]

14. Sanders will not be the nominee if he is properly vetted

As soon as the facts about Sanders come out and the pipe dream he is selling that cannot and will not be able to be paid for without raising massive taxes across the middle class and that without the House and Senate nothing can change and him as nomination will risk losing any chances of winning the Senate and losing seats in House.

America wake the fuck up now.

Feeling the “Bern”? Just wait and see what that “Burn” really will be that you feel when Trump has another 4 years and worse to come.

Or if Sanders by some miracle from the heavens he wins as we go into a massive world economic recession and Sanders wants to raise taxes on middle class.

And there is nothing passing in Senate. And you think he can cut military spending to pay your kids pre-school and childcare and your college and college debt?

Sanders the new “FDR”?



We will all need what they are all smoking in that pipe and hopefully it will make us not able to feel the burn that will be coming.

[dalton99a]

18. Bernie will not cut military spending. He LOVES the F-35

That $1.5 trillion boondoggle is near and dear to his heart

[democrattotheend]

20. Or maybe he will, and he'll be stronger for it

This is a test of whether he can survive the kind of attacks that Trump will throw his way. I would like to see every candidate similarly tested in the next couple months. That way it's all old news in November and we minimize the chance of an October surprise. We know there's probably going to be no October surprise with Trump, because everyone already knows how corrupt and crazy he is, so I don't think there's anything that could really shock people now enough to make them change their vote. None of our candidates have that advantage.

[Rorey]

24. Agree

And that would be just fine with me, IF we didn't need to worry about the down ballot.

[Mike 03]

17. It will be fascinating to see how far Bloomberg goes, keeping

in mind he's not hitting Bernie with anything he won't be hit with by Trump's campaign in the GE.

Hillary wasn't willing to go there in 2016.

[Tom Rinaldo]

42. A lot of Democrats never forgave Bernie for going as far as he did

in the way of vetting a prior presidential candidate. And I don't remember any talk back then along the lines of "destroying our way of life".

[BusyBeingBest]

23. Better now than later.

[Bettie]

27. While I am cringing at some of the things

that Sanders has said over the years, I suspect that Bloomberg will attack anyone who stands between him and the White House, just as viciously.

I do not believe he has good intentions.

I do believe that all of the others running, including Sanders, have the good of our nation and citizens at heart, for all their disagreements about how to do it.

So, ultimately, wait...your favorite will get the Bloomberg treatment before long.

And yet, even if Bloomberg buys the nomination, I'll vote for him, because I've nowhere else to go.

[guillaumeb]

29. And how many times will the GOP repeat the Biden/Ukraine meme in the election

if Biden is the nominee?

[Rorey]

30. Of course

ALL candidates should go through rigorous vetting. Including Biden. Including Sanders.

Whataboutism doesn't apply.

[guillaumeb]

31. Noting the reality of GOP attack politics is not whataboutism.

It is simply stating the obvious. We all know that the eventual nominee will be attacked with lies.

[Rorey]

33. Lies, yes..... And unfavorable truths

Gotta be ready

[guillaumeb]

34. Agreed.

And they have billions to spend.

[HarlanPepper]

32. Good.

[booley]

35. you mean the gun thing?

That was already answered years ago back in the last election.

It didn't seem to do much damage.

Nor do I think telling midwesterners and southern states that Bernie is ok with guns is going to hurt him much.
But anyway, thanks for the warning but we already knew there would be an onslaught of negative stories about Sanders as he won more and more. We still remember WaPo putting out 16 negative stories in 16 hours. We haven't forgotten prominent Democrats meeting to discuss how to stop Sanders before he even announced he was running. We still recall all the other examples. we are all aware of the media overall and the Democratic establishment are no friends of Bernie Sanders

Seriously, you all say Bernie never got vetted as if the last 5 years never happened.

[Rorey]

36. I don't think the surface has even been touched

It would be dangerous to believe that.....with ANY candidate.

[honest.abe]

40. Yes, the Sanders campaign should be thankful.

Great prep for the general.

[Perseus]

41. How naive, take that sample and place it on anyone who gets to the top of the race

If it was Biden then Bloomberg would be doing the same to him, this is an effort to bring down the one on top.

Do you have any idea how much information the GOP has on Biden? or any of the other candidates. If that were the measure of who we should elect then lets place all our efforts to make sure Warren is the nominee, she is the purest of them all, and maybe Buttigieg, but we know how they will attack him.

Stop this Bernie bashing please.

[Rorey]

44. They should ALL be thoroughly vetted.

Really, it's the only way to be ready for the GE.

It's like a witness being prepped for a court appearance. You gotta expect the worst to be thrown at you and learn how to effectively deal with it or you're going to lose.

This shortsightedness is just astounding.

[TomVilmer]

43. I like those people in the United States...

... but do not like that leader, they have elected, and neither his politic and general behavior - and more generally not the abuse of power. Does it smear ones name then, to praise stuff in that country anyway?