Many people still don't believe that the news media is biased against Sanders. MSNBC is the most-watched news network es, Fox gets more traffic, but they're not news), with almost twice the average viewership of CNN. They had a post-debate panel consisting of Joy Reid (MSNBC), Jason Johnson (the Root), A.B. Stoddard (Real Clear Politics), Brian Williams (MSNBC), and David Plouffe (Obama surrogate, and board member of ACRONYM). Two hours of post-debate commentary was an unending attack against Sanders, strategizing about how to stop him, and laments that he might be the nominee. Joy Reid, on her daily show, has been making arguments supporting Bloomberg, saying that the Democrats need their own Trump to beat Trump.
As it was two solid hours of nearly exclusive Bernie-bashing, I can't provide a full transcript, but here are some very representative quotes:
Williams: "Well, I thought it was a great night for Bernie Sanders. I thought it was a great night for Donald Trump. I thought it was a terrible night for the Democrats....Tonight was the night to knock down Bernie and the Democrats didn't do it. Buttigieg tried a few minutes but not effectively enough."
Johnson: "You know, it’s amazing America’s biggest socialist is a millionaire."
Johnson: [Sanders showed] “some of his weaknesses in communicating his message which we've seen before,” such as “[h]is inability to do anything other than gaslight America about some of the behavior of his own supporters when it comes to unions and organizations that don't fall in line with what he wants.”
Plouffe: “nobody laid a glove on Sanders” (Warren landed some solid hits)
Williams: “[t]he rap on the Democrats often is they're trying to punish success.”
Stoddard: "It's a very pure, far left-wing of the Democratic Party argument to sit on this campaign finance argument that Elizabeth and Bernie are so obsessed with. I think Democrats just want to win and that's why it was a strong moment for Bloomberg in an otherwise sad debate... Nevada is really important in terms of tonight's attack on Bernie. Tonight was the night to do it. Next week could be too late. He — they did not go after him. The moderators questioned him on his medical records and his transparency... They did not say this is an existential election in which we're letting a socialist lead our party while Trump is trampling the rule of law. There's plenty of recent examples from today, last several hours and the previous two weeks since he was acquitted. No one had their pants on fire. No one declared this an emergency. I think Nevada is really critical, and if Bernie is allowed to win it, I think they’re going to find they're in more trouble than they thought they were in."
Stoddard: "Health care is the most unifying issue in the Democratic Party. Well, it was until Bernie Sanders prominence as a potential soon-to-be nominee, delegate leader because of the argument of Medicare for All. Donald Trump has no health care argument. It’s the biggest liability for the Republicans and Donald Trump. Their health care plan is a Medicare for All nominee. If the Democrats nominate someone who has this ridiculous plan, and — and — and can be characterized as leading us into Venezuela, breaking the economy and taking — and ruining our health care system, then Donald Trump has a health care plan. So none of the — these are all gimme points that I just expected people to be making tonight in this very important moment because I believe that Nevada counts despite the early voting and I just don't think that this electability issue is being made enough effectively by them."
Plouffe: Sanders’s opponents haven’t made clear they want to defeat him with a “moment” that paints the socialist as “a liability.”
There is a very real corporate media assault against Sanders. There is a very real Democratic establishment assault against Sanders. There is a very real assault against Sanders from the pharma, insurance, and military industrial lobbies. There is a very real assault against Sanders from Republicans. Even in the face of such strong opposition, he has no billionaire donors, and is winning because he's backed by the most diverse coalition of supporters in the race, who understand that this is an existential fight, and that Sanders is the best chance for salvaging our future.
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