The Clinton campaign's dubious decision to start attacking Bernie with misrepresentations of his agenda is perhaps a very ominous sign for the many members of the Dailykos family who have invested their 2016 hopes in her candidacy.  It has indeed moved me to feelings of sympathy for them.

From where I’m standing, it doesn’t look very good for Hillary at all.  

Yes, the new polling data was not encouraging and yes, it did suggest that the Clinton campaign needed to do something to reverse the trend.  And yes, going negative is usually a surefire way to drive down your opponent's numbers, but the way they ultimately decided to attack Senator Sanders was not very well thought out at all.

Hillary has all the high-power political/campaign advice that money can buy.  So how is it that these high-rep geniuses were not able to anticipate that their attacks could give Bernie an opportunity to define (1) Hillary as Rovian manipulator, and (2) himself as a victim of their candidate’s perfidious claims?  

In chess, you’re supposed to think a few moves ahead, right?  You can’t just think about how your attack could affect those who hear it; you also have to think about how the person you’re attacking might be able to use it to hurt you back, perhaps with even greater effect.

What this misguided stratagem ultimately did was provide undecided Democrats with a still active perception (thanks to Bernie’s future ads) of Hillary as a Typical Manipulative Politician Who Will Misrepresent The Truth To Voters To Get Elected.  An image that the Sanders campaign can repeatedly place in the minds of caucus-goers and primary voters in the coming weeks.

Hillary ends up defining herself negatively with merely an assist from Bernie Sanders.

It is true that the man has never had an appetite for gratuitously launching withering attacks on his political opponents that are based solely on innuendo and misrepresentations of the truth.  BUT, he does know how to play defense (in chess, sometimes the best offense is tricking your adversary into attacking positions that you are well-prepared to defend, setting up your devastating counterattack).  

Bernie is well aware that when he is attacked---especially on false grounds---it gives him a special opportunity to define his attackers [negatively] at the same time that he is defending himself [creating a sympathetic image of himself in the eyes of voters].

That is, indeed, the gift that Clinton strategists have given to Senator Sanders at a crucial time in the campaign.  

Maybe these political strategy geniuses, who are constantly presenting themselves to Democratic Party insiders, really can’t be relied on to provide sage advice when you need it.  Yes, they are well-connected, but do they really know how to play the political game outside of their own organizational infrastructures?

This, then, is the reason why I think Hillary’s supporters are deserving of some pity.  There is, after all, nothing wrong with feeling a lot of enthusiasm for an individual who has achieved much, who has been able over the years to polish her presentation of herself in a way that inspires others.

She has always seemed as worthy as any woman could ever be of achieving the ultimate political prize.  A moment of opportunity arose, once again, and it seemed so certain that this time the promise would be fulfilled.  

But now, for those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear, we could very well be seeing the beginning of the end of Hillary’s Dance with Destiny at the highest level of achievement.  Quite simply, her advisers gave her the wrong advice at a crucial time in the campaign.  For those at Dailykos who really wanted to see her pull this one off, the next several weeks could be truly devastating.

---------------------------------------------------—

UPDATE:  Due to the many responses made by loyal Hillary supporters in the comments which accuse me of dishonesty, I feel obliged to provide this addendum…

My intention all along in this diary was to portray Hillary’s supporters here at Dailykos in a sympathetic way to Bernie Sanders supporters in the hopes that it might discourage some of them from yielding to any urges they might feel to demonize Hillary Clinton’s supporters after this last misstep.

My goal is for us to all end up getting along after the dust settles and nothing in my diary runs contrary to that goal.  To see a nefarious purpose in it requires that one assume that my sympathetic words were disingenuous, but they absolutely were not.

Yes, my basic assumption is that Bernie Sanders will win the nomination---largely because of this last big blunder---so my words are probably not going to be welcomed by any of Hillary’s supporters.

But however undesirable you might find my thinking, do not complicate your perception of reality with the mistaken assumption that my words of sympathy are not sincere.  They absolutely are and there is no desire within me to gloat and/or anger Hillary supporters with a fatuous oh-so-clever snark.  This is a different kind of diary that actually has some substance/analysis.

Economic Fact: Heavily Taxing Rich People DOES NOT HARM THEM