2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I know the DU is only a petri dish in the big picture but [View all]Prism
(5,815 posts)Granted, I live in the Bay Area, and it tends to be more liberal than most areas. But even my parents (retired working class union Dems) are all about Bernie.
And I don't proselytize. In person, politics rates somewhere around colonoscopy on the list of things I want to discuss. But everyone around me is all about Sanders and wants to talk about him.
And yet, these poll numbers . . .
There's just a mass of people out there who are only tangentially informed and engaged. Hillary Clinton is HILLARY CLINTON, and the 6 o'clock news only talks about her. I was glancing at a newscast just yesterday, and the theme was Hillary vs the Republicans. Bernie who? He may as well not exist. He does not exist in the mainstream media. This has an effect.
The media is very, very good about shaping American opinion.
The media wants Hillary. They know her. And I mean, they know her. They hobknob with her and go to the same parties and chill out together in Washington. They love talking about her, good or bad. She's it for the Democrats as far as they're concerned.
We don't live in a democracy strictly. We live in a Republic whose government is determined by whether or not the media gives a damn. Trump isn't at 41% on his own. He's at 41% because every fucking morning at the gym, this asshole's face is on four of the eight tv screens.
And then we all bewail, "Whhhhhhhhhy?" Why? Because we never hold the media accountable ever. That's why.