My interpretation: MSNBC represents the corporate leadership of the
Democratic Party and most of their listeners have been brainwashed.
Miriam
Tensions Between Bernie Sanders and MSNBC Boil Over
By Hanna Trudo, The Daily Beast
24 July 19
The Vermont senators campaign sees the cable news network as part of a
brewing problem that allows vague and unverified claims to go unchecked on
air.
The mounting tension between a leading progressive presidential campaign and
a leading progressive cable news network has reached a new peak.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and MSNBC have always had a complicated
relationship. Sanders, a top-tier contender for the Democratic nomination,
has long questioned the news medias biases, while pundits have taken fresh
shots at the Vermont senator this cycle. But officials in Sanders campaign
contend that leading up to the 2020 election, the network is one of several
cable news outlets directly contributing to a media climate where false
claims go unchecked and requests for progressive voices on-air are
frequently turned down.
More often than not these commentators are injecting their opinion without
any policy discussions, Nina Turner, the national co-chair of Sanders
campaign, told The Daily Beast. Theyre not there to tell the gospel
truth.
The backlash from Sanders-world reached a new high on Sunday, when MSNBC
analyst Mimi Rocah, a former assistant U.S attorney for the Southern
District of New York and occasional contributor to The Daily Beast, launched
a personal critique of Sanders during a segment with host David Gura, saying
that he makes her skin crawl and that hes not a pro-woman candidate.
Bernie Sanders makes my skin crawl, Rocah started when discussing the
lineup for the upcoming Democratic debate in Detroit, where Sanders will
share a stage with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). I cant even identify for
you what exactly it is. But I see him as sort of a not pro-woman candidate,
she continued. "So, having the two of them therelike, I dont understand
young women who support him. And Im hoping having him next to her will help
highlight that.
Rocahs commentswhich multiple campaign officials contended went too
farwere part of a larger issue they see brewing, where the fact-checking
process appears to be largely removed from the day-to-day political
discourse among some commentators and hosts.
It takes a certain kind of woman to ignore that education, healthcare, and
the economy are womens issues too. #privilegedmuch? This is not what
intersectional feminism looks like. Its corporate feminism at its finest.
Full stop, Sanders national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray wrote on
Twitter.
Here we go again.. It is so belittling to constantly tell young women that
they HAVE TO vote for someone JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE A WOMAN. Mam, we have
brains, we're voting on policy and a candidates vision + work, not their
sex. This is #WhiteFeminism at its finest, Belén Sisa, Sanders Latino
press secretary, tweeted.
A senior campaign aide said the campaign believes there are possible biases
in the network, but instead of shunning MSNBC theyve been aggressive in
getting their people booked. Sanders has been on the network at least nine
times this cycle, granting multiple interviews to hosts Chris Hayes, Ali
Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle, and Al Sharpton, among others. He has done at
least the same amount of appearances on the network as he did in the first
six months of the 2016 election.
Still, a separate campaign official said theres only a small handful of
guests closely aligned with Sanders who regularly appear on the network, and
that while theyre hopeful more will be added as the field narrows, their
suggestions thus far have been largely turned down.
To help supplement that, his campaign has taken steps to create new chances
for independent public exposure, including creating a live-streamed show,
The 99, that runs twice per week and a new podcast called Hear the Bern
produced by Gray.
Officials agreed that the more Sanders appears on major news networks, the
better chance he has to make his case to the public. But that increased
exposure also comes with a perceived bias among hosts and commentators,
officials cautioned.
It doesnt even have to be rah rah rah, Bernie Sanders! Turner said,
pointing to Zerlina Maxwell, an MSNBC political analyst and former official
on Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign who shared the segment with Rocah. Just
someone who would push back.
After the segment aired, Turner personally asked women to share stories
detailing why they support Sanders, saying that while she wasnt surprised
in the volume of responses she received, the depth of personal accounts
women chose to divulge connected to Sanders policy platform was compelling.
Their voices matter just as much as Mimis, Turner said. They may not
have a platform on MSNBC, but their voices matter.
A spokesperson for MSNBC seemed to dismiss the campaigns claims, without
mentioning Sanders by name. A presidential campaign complaining about tough
questions and commentary speaks for itself, the spokesperson said. Our
anchors and analysts are doing their jobs: discussing day-to-day
developments that have an impact on the race.
But Sanders campaign argues the incident was not isolated. Theres no
effort to push for fact-based analysis, one campaign official told The
Daily Beast. Cable news allows that sort of spin to exist in the world in a
way that doesnt get checked.
The official said that when contributors on the network engage in more
robust policy discussions, including shortly after Sanders gave a speech on
Medicare-for-all, the campaign reached out to the network to push for
several fact-based corrections, a standard practice among presidential
campaigns.
Its a full-time job, the official said of the back-and-forth dialogue
with the network.
For all the campaigns gripes with the left-leaning news network, theres
early indication that his message is going over better with an ideologically
opposite cable news network. A recent Morning Consult poll found that Fox
News viewers are more likely to support Sanders than those who prefer to
watch MSNBC. According to the survey, 22 percent of Fox News viewers who
identified as possible Democratic primary voters said they would back
Sanders, as opposed to 13 percent of MSNBC viewers. That statistic was
bolstered further by Sanders ratings during his own town hall appearance on
Fox News, where more than 2.5 million viewers tuned in to hear Sanders make
his case, according to Nielsen data.
A source with direct knowledge told The Daily Beast that Sanders recently
called Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to have an
off-the-record talk.
This comes as the top MSNBC hosts said Sanders Democratic socialist
platform would give Trump an upper hand in a possible match-up.
My God if youre afraid to say youre a capitalist, Scarborough, who
recently criticized Sanders general tone and temperament, said. Let me let
you in on a little secret. If that is a crisis for your party, youre gonna
lose in 2020.
Addressing Scarboroughs comments directly, frequent MSNBC guest Donny
Deutsch said he wanted to take it one step further with his own
hypothesis: A socialist candidate is more dangerous to this country as far
as the strength and wellbeing of our country than Donald Trump, he said.
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