"Hillary's a solid debater. That doesn't make her right or honest on the substance." [View all]

[marmar]

from Salon:


This is still Bernie Sanders’ moment: He’s right on the big issues, now he must communicate it
Hillary's a solid debater. That doesn't make her right or honest on the substance. That's Sanders' opening

BILL CURRY


You don’t need me to tell you who won the Democratic debate. You can make up your own mind and probably have by now.

If you missed it, the press will gladly pick a winner for you. Don’t let them.

In 2000 Al Gore outshone George Bush in every debate but the press thought otherwise. To our emotionally arrested, intellectually undernourished reporters, politics is high school. We didn’t want to have a beer with Bush, they did. Gore struck them as a teacher’s pet and for that they were merciless to him. When he sighed audibly during one of Bush’s myriad lies, it got replayed a million times on TV. If you saw just that video, you thought Bush won. It helped him — not enough to win the election, but enough to steal it.

.....(snip).....

1. Bernie’s campaign model is spot-on; his debate strategy isn’t. His reluctance to go on the attack speaks well of him but drawing out real differences isn’t negative politics; it’s why we have debates. Clinton sure isn’t shy about it. On guns, the one issue where she’s to his left, she fileted him. But when she said things that are patently untrue, he never once corrected her. It goes partly to preparation. Hillary would pull an all-nighter to prepare for a debate. Bernie would rather chill. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the two best debaters I’ve ever seen, submit to grueling debate prep. Bernie should too, not just to expose her record but to defend his own.

2. Due partly to modern advertising and partly to our polarized politics, no one running for office ever explains anything anymore. In primaries, candidates do nothing but name-check issues they’re sure the base already agrees on. The few who want to explain issues find it hard to do. In a 30-second ad you can manipulate people’s hopes or manipulate their fears, but all the same it’s manipulation. Since reformers sell new ideas and new ideas take longer to explain, this tilts the field in favor of the status quo,

Sanders is really into policy, but less into explaining it. The heart of his campaign is a very big, very good idea. Maybe he thinks an idea so good is self-explanatory. It isn’t. He must explain it because it’s what separates him from Clinton and from every other candidate in the race. Sanders and Clinton agree on nearly every social program and cultural issue. Their major disagreement is whether such initiatives in themselves are enough to redress income inequality, wage stagnation and the slow, agonizing death of the American middle class. ..................(more)

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/18/this_is_still_bernie_sanders_moment_hes_right_on_the_big_issues_now_he_must_communicate_it/