Joe Biden and Michele Obama are the most popular politicians in America (KOS diary with links)

[karynnj]

78. I am NOT stuck on something hat happened 40 years ago, like you I am speaking of what

happened in 2015/2016 when Bernie's past was disputed by David Brock. Would you say that I was speaking of 1969 if I spoke of what the Swiftboat liars did in 2004? Did you experience even a little bit of a cringe that Brock would question that Bernie had the record he did? Note that Bernie never pushed that as a credential or claimed more than he did - in fact, he almost never referenced it.

Not to mention, it was completely unnecessary as most POC were firm Clinton fans, both HRC and Bill, and had been for decades. Even if Bernie would have made a BIG outreach using his Chicago experience as the centerpiece to POC - which he didn't do - it would not eliminate the decade long allegiances to the Clintons. Obviously, had he become the most unlikely Democratic nominee in history - he then could have had POC use that history and the fact that he was allied in his years in the House with most of the blacks by being in the mostly black progressive caucus. At that point, it would have been useful in generating at least some enthusiasm for a nominee that they did not chose.

To make clear, David Brock and those who joined him, to me reflected on HRC as much as the supposedly independent SBVT reflected on GWB. I was horrified when a Clinton ally, Wolfson comment in 2005 showed that the lesson he got out of the SBVT was that in that time, this type of attacked worked. Before then, CW was that it could backfire badly when easily shown to be false. Obama showed that you do not need to smear your opponent with lies and win - so arguing that all is fair in politics is not true.

In the primaries, Clinton was, because of her record and the huge amount of party support, a candidate who absolutely did not need people around her sinking to that level. I think THEY harmed her by doing so.