(November 30, 2016 at 6:50 pm)Tiberius Wrote:(November 30, 2016 at 6:30 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Did you bother to read the entirety of what they had on him?
Do try to remember that Sanders couldn't even beat Clinton and, as they said, she had to go easy on him.
Yes I did. I don't see anything particularly outrageous that even comes close to what Trump and Clinton had to deal with.
I remember that Sanders won 23 states, as both an underdog from the start, and against a person who was thought to have been the "presumptive nominee" well before the first primary even voted. He did that whilst fighting the DNC the entire way, as the leaked emails show they were less than fair in their treatment of him versus Clinton.
Besides, the election isn't about winning Democrats, it's about winning independents and potentially trying to flip some Republicans too.
I have no doubt that Sanders would have been more successful at peeling away both "change" voters and frustrated independents (and there is surely an overlap therein) -- and at the same time been free of a current scandal that invited the FBI to influence the outcome as it did in the last week with Comey's actions.
Clinton didn't take it easy on Bernie out of niceness -- she did so in a (failed) attempt to woo his supporters in her primary bid. And as matters stand, she ended up fighting the last week of the campaign on ground that Trump chose, which is never good strategy in any campaign. I don't doubt Bernie would have been better able to frame the issues, given that he was lugging less baggage.
