First, because of the popularity of Senator Sanders on this site, I expect to be banned for life for what I’m about to write.
I’m a Hillary supporter who will gladly vote for Bernie if he wins. I gave him another serious look on Maddow’s show last night and found him to be:
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Angry: Watch the video below
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Disingenuous: Read the transcript below
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And a sorry advocate for down-ballot races: read transcript below
MADDOW: Senator Sanders, I have -- I promise I won't ask you only process questions here, but I do want to ask you about something, uh, that arose this week from your campaign that I, um, I -- I disagree with on factual grounds. And I'll tell you what it is.
Your campaign said this week that Secretary Clinton is leading overall basically because you chose not to compete, um, in eight states -- in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee.
Uh, and the reason I say I take factual issue with that is because, you know, I -- I saw the footage of your rallies in -- in Texas and Virginia, at least.
SANDERS: Right.
MADDOW: We reported you were first on the ground ahead of Clinton...
SANDERS: Right.
MADDOW: -- in Alabama, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee.
Why is your campaign now saying that you...
SANDERS: Well, I don't -- look...
MADDOW: -- simply didn't try in those states?
SANDERS: Rachel, you're talking -- you say you don't want to talk about process, this is exactly what we're talking about. One person said that. I don't know the context of that.
Once we were in Texas. We had great rallies in Dallas, in Houston, uh, and in Austin. Of course we campaigned there.
I think perhaps what Tad meant by that is we did not put a lot of money into TV advertising that we know those states would be difficult states for us and we used our resources elsewhere.
But to be honest with you, we put a lot of money into South Carolina and we did poorly.
So of course we did compete in Mississippi, Alabama, not a whole lot, to be honest with you.
But I think what Tad was meaning is that we did not put a lot of resources into those states.
MADDOW: You told me, uh, in -- in January, you articulated it a few other places, that the Democratic Party really needs to run a 50 state strategy and that people in places like South Carolina...
SANDERS: Absolutely.
MADDOW: -- and Mississippi specifically...
SANDERS: Absolutely.
MADDOW: -- need strong Democratic campaigns there so that their voices get heard.
How do you say that with...
SANDERS: Absolutely.
MADDOW: -- with not running that hard in a place like Mississippi?
Why can’t Bernie just tell the truth that he tried and got shellacked in the South like Hillary got walloped in the West?
He’s being dishonest and I’m glad Rachael “disagreed with [him] on factual grounds.”
In my book, that’s a cousin to a lie.
Rachel also exposed that Bernie offers little to no support for down-ballot races. That line of question went like this:
MADDOW: One last question for you, Senator. I know you're kind of tight today. Uh, and it is about your prodigious fundraising. After those huge wins this weekend in those three caucus states, we know that within something like 24 hours, your state had raised $4 million. Um, you have shown an incredible ability to tap large numbers of people for small amounts of money that really, really add up and you've got, ostensibly, infinite resources to stay in this campaign as long as you want...
SANDERS: Well...
MADDOW: -- no matter what else happens.
I have to ask, though, if you have thought about whether or not you will, at some point, turn your fundraising ability toward helping the Democratic Party more broadly, to helping their campaign committees for the House and the Senate and for other -- for other elections?
SANDERS: Well, right now, Rachel, as you are more than aware, our job is to -- what I'm trying to do is to win the Democratic nomination. And I'll tell you something, I never in a million years, Rachel, would have believed that we could have, uh, received over six million individual campaign contributions averaging 27 bucks apiece, a very different way of raising money than Secretary Clinton has pursued.
So right now, we are enormously appreciative. You're right, without that type of support, we would not be where we are right now. We would not be able to continue this campaign to the Democratic convention. So I am just blown away and very appreciative of all of the kind of support that we have gotten from grassroots America.
MADDOW: Well, obviously your priority is the nomination, but I mean you raised Secretary Clinton there. She has been fundraising both for the nomination and for the Democratic Party. At some point, do you think -- do you foresee a time during this campaign when you'll start doing that?
SANDERS: Well, we'll see. And, I mean right now, again, our focus is on winning the nomination. Secretary Clinton has access, uh, to kinds of money, uh, that we don't, that we're not even interested in. So let's take it one step at a time. And the step that we're in right now is to win the Democratic nomination.
Really Bernie? You’ve raised DNC money for years as the host of several swanky parties here:
“In recent years, Sanders has been billed as one of the hosts for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's retreats for the "Majority Trust" -- an elite group of top donors who give more than $30,000 per year -- at Martha's Vineyard in the summer and Palm Beach, Florida, in the winter. CNN has obtained invitations that listed Sanders as a host for at least one Majority Trust event in each year since 2011.”
So Hillary and Obama supported themselves and the party but Bernie can’t or won’t? Rachel was right to call him on that.
And, to top it all off, Bernie confirmed that he is trying to convince Super Delegates to switch to him even though he’s not raising money for democrats; is behind 2.5 million in raw votes and lagging by 200+ in pledge delegates.
Really.
This interview was a disaster in my opinion.
Expecting to be banned now.