POLITICO running a smear stating Sanders ran as Dem "for media coverage"

[Triana]

When Sanders entered the race I remember why he said he would run on the Dem ticket. It's right here - and it was NOT FOR THE MEDIA COVERAGE.

Here's the REAL reason Sanders said he'd run as a Dem:

“The dilemma is that, if you run outside of the Democratic Party … you’re not just running a race for president, you’re really running to build an entire political movement. In doing that, you would be taking votes away from the Democratic candidate and making it easier for some right-wing Republican to get elected—the [Ralph] Nader dilemma.

See there. NOTHING about "media coverage".

LINK:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/04/30/bernie_sanders_joins_2016_field_--_as_a_democrat_126448.html

[Aerows]

1. Politico quit being a credible

outfit somewhere in 2010, if not earlier.

[Triana]

4. Damn Donna Brazile tweeting their trash. n/t

[riversedge]

33. I hope you are not saying Sanders words

are trash?????

“We concluded — and I think it was absolutely the right decision, that … in terms of media coverage — you have to run within the Democratic party,” Sanders said...............

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/273000-sanders-ran-as-a-democrat-for-more-media-coverage

[kennetha]

2. Sanders himself explain to a voter who asked

That he ran as a Dem, partly because of the issue of getting the attention of the national press.

A rare moment of candor from your man.

[Fawke Em]

5. And, if he'd run as a third-party candidate, HRC fans would be apoplectic.

[Triana]

9. Exactly. n/t

[JonLeibowitz]

19. Well of course. What they are actually opposed to is progressivism, but cannot say so openly.

[bvf]

20. Yup.

Of course, there's always much to be apopleptic about anyway, if one is so inclined.

[JackRiddler]

29. Only option was not to run and let the coronation proceed.

All else is totally unscrupulous. Democracy works by giving the best-known establishment politician who has waited patiently to have her turn without opposition.

[kcr]

28. Because no other candidate seeks media coverage, right?

Or hire professionals solely for that purpose.

[SunSeeker]

3. Then why did Bernie say this:

Bernie Sanders on Monday told NBC’s Chuck Todd that he ran as a Democrat to get more media coverage.
During a town hall-style event in Columbus, Ohio, the independent Vermont senator said, “In terms of media coverage, you have to run within the Democratic Party.” He then took a dig at MNSBC, telling Todd, the network “would not have me on his program” if he ran as an independent.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/bernie-sanders-independent-media-coverage-220747#ixzz42w0Qbi52
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

[Aerows]

6. Hmm. I'm not seeing the controversy there.

Could you elaborate?

[HooptieWagon]

7. If he did it for the media coverage, it didn't work.

But this 40 year registered Democrat is damn glad he's running. Maybe we can finally rid the party of the stench of corrupt corporatism.

[Triana]

12. Of course not. No matter what label he used, media wouldn't cover him

at least not positively (when they bother) because the Establishment (including the corporations that own and control the media and 100% of the US government with the exception of Sanders), do not favor him. He knows that.

Like you, I'm glad he's running as a Dem because ideologically, he's an FDR New Deal style Dem and he is EXACTLY what we need right now. He's our LAST chance to get government working for US again.

[Paka]

11. What do you not understand about...

...primary, secondary, and tertiary. Media falls under the latter category. Primarily he felt his message needed to be out there, while secondarily he didn't want to split the vote. What more noble reasons do you want?

[Triana]

17. Good answer. And one, of course, that smarmy Politico didn't bother

to explain or mention in their hit piece. They just ran with the incendiary headline and leave the REST of the story and context out.

[xloadiex]

27. He also said

He always caucused with the Dems and agreed with more of their ideas.

[mythology]

30. When he wasn't calling the party ideologically bankrupt

And that he'd be a hypocrite for running as a Democrat.

[Salviati]

8. Lol

Yup, Bernie is using the democratic party because he wants to be president soooo much.

This is what is called projection.

[Triana]

10. He said he ran as a Dem to avoid splitting the Dem vote

and ending up with a Republican.

Can't read?

[Salviati]

13. Oh, I agree.

Bernie is not the one who has clearly had the presidency in their sights for a long, long time...

[Kalidurga]

14. I sincerely hope he wants publicity.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Jill Stein got Trump like coverage?

[Renew Deal]

16. She would still be a nobody

[Renew Deal]

15. Sanders said it tonight in the forum.

[flamingdem]

18. The way he worded it - he's not using the party as the media wanrs to imply nt

[JFKDem62]

21. Don't you want to vote for a person who has good judgment and political acumen?

He knew running third party would be a mistake on many levels.

[Triana]

23. I think he did the right thing running on the Dem ticket. n/t

[JFKDem62]

25. Yes, totally. Those criticizing him for being smart are not making a good argument.

Bernie made an excellent strategy decision.

[ibegurpard]

22. for media coverage for what?

His run as a Dem?
What an idiotic circular argument.

[Octafish]

24. Politico started by BFEE chums, the Allbritton family.

From "Democracy Now:

The Pinochet File

EXCERPT...

AMY GOODMAN: And who was Joseph Allbritton? I mean—

PETER KORNBLUH: Well, Joseph Allbritton was one of the big banking corporate moguls of Washington, D.C. He owned the sports team. I forget whether it was the basketball team or the Redskins. At one point he owned a bunch of newspapers and radio stations. He owned Riggs Bank. But fundamentally, he participated in a conspiracy to hide Augusto Pinochet’s money. And he—they evaded the assets—Juan Garcés managed to get Pinochet’s assets frozen, but Riggs Bank violated that court order to freeze his assets by secretly starting to funnel back to him all of his money in $50,000 cashier’s checks. They had a courrier that would bring literally bundles of these checks to Pinochet’s house in Santiago. And the story returns to Juan Garcés, because more than $8 million of this $20-plus million stash of money was given back to Pinochet illegally by Riggs, and Juan Garcés stepped in and said, "That money belongs to the Chilean people and to the victims of Pinochet." And he recovered it.

AMY GOODMAN: Allbritton’s son now runs Politico.

PETER KORNBLUH: Allbritton owned—started Politico, created Politico. And then, when he passed away, his son—

AMY GOODMAN: Robert Allbritton.

PETER KORNBLUH: —took over. So there’s still a presence of the family, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: So, you got, Juan Garcés, millions of dollars of Chile’s money frozen, and then how was it distributed back to the people of Chile?

JUAN GARCÉS: Thanks to an investigation in the U.S. Senate, as Peter was explaining—

PETER KORNBLUH: Which was led by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, a terrific senator.

JUAN GARCÉS: Yeah, their committee on investigations. And they accepted to cooperate with a court of justice that was prosecuting Pinochet. And thanks to this cooperation between the U.S. Senate and the Spanish court, we reached to indict the owners of Riggs Bank. That is something that is without precedent, from their own pocket—

PETER KORNBLUH: Right.

JUAN GARCÉS: —paid the totality of the money that went through the bank channels hiding the Pinochet money. And we distributed that to the victims of Pinochet that were considered such with the institution of the court. It is the only money that related directly to Pinochet has never been distributed to the victims.

AMY GOODMAN: But that money, the millions of dollars, how did you identify the victims, the survivors, and have it distributed?

JUAN GARCÉS: That was—the victims were recognized as such in the court, because thousands of them have been the object of an inquiry inside Chile by an official commission, committee Riggs, that established the list of thousands of people that were murdered, also forcibly disappeared. And we in Spain, with the cooperation of Chileans inside Chile, created a new commission for victims of torture, victims that survived the torture. And we found, through this commission, identified more than 20,000 persons. And then they have their right to receive a part of the indemnities.

CONTINUED...

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/9/10/the_pinochet_file_how_us_politicians_banks_corporations_aided_chilean_coup_dictatorship

That must be some money, to have so much you can still stay rich even after paying off victims of war crimes.

[fredamae]

26. And he couldn't have

appeared on the ballot in at least a dozen states.....Closed Primary's.
I called my SoS...If Sanders did Not register as a Dem...he would NOT be on My Dem Primary ballot.

[Trajan]

31. Politico is a conservative website

Don't believe a fucking word from them ...

[riversedge]

32. Not a smear when Sanders said it......Here in his own words

“We concluded — and I think it was absolutely the right decision, that … in terms of media coverage — you have to run within the Democratic party,” Sanders said...............

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/273000-sanders-ran-as-a-democrat-for-more-media-coverage

[BernieforPres2016]

34. I don't have a problem with what Politico said.

Bernie included it in his reasons last night when he was asked why he ran as a Democrat instead of as an Independent at the Town Hall last night. Had he run as an Independent, he would have no coverage from the media. He would never have had a forum to debate Hillary Clinton. We would have never seen a poll that showed him with even 10% of the vote. There would have never been a chance to show that he could compete versus Hillary Clinton over the course of the primaries. It would have been an all or nothing shot in the general election and he likely would not have rated high enough in national polls to even participate in the Presidential debates during the general election season. His fundraising would have been miniscule compared to what it is now.

As for the "Bernie isn't really a Democrat and he's only running as a Democrat because it's expedient", Bernie is not a modern Third Way Democrat. But he is much closer to being an FDR Democrat than virtually anybody in today's Democratic Party.

[beedle]

36. agreed

There are many reasons to run as a Democratic Party candidate ... media coverage is certainly one of them.

Not sure why anyone would have a problem with a presidential candidate doing all they could to get media coverage ... what do people think all the contributions are for? Pizza?

[livetohike]

35. He would not have been included in any of the debates as an

Independent. He would not have received much, if any notice at all in the media. Has anyone seen the Green Party candidate anywhere?

Sanders is no Nader. People knew who Ralph Nader was before he jumped into the race. Sanders did not have that national recognition. He needed the Democratic Party to give him visibility and legitimacy.