Will Bernie go negative? We'll see.

[bigtree]

Bernie Sanders has proudly never run a negative political ad during his decades in politics, but he left the door open to changing his ways during this presidential campaign in a new interview with former Obama adviser David Axelrod.

“Well, it’s my hope that I will never run a negative ad,” Sanders replied when Axelrod asked if the senator thought he could make it through the 2016 campaign without going negative. “I surely hope so. I surely hope so.”

“I never have after all these years. But I — we’ll see,” Sanders added in the interview, which was released Tuesday.


read: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/could-bernie-sanders-run-negative-ads-after-all-well-see

[DanTex]

1. Can you imagine the outrage if Hillary said this? And the number of recs it would get?

But when it's Bernie, he's just being astute, keeping doors open.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"

eom

[DanTex]

7. Another personal attack, huh? I think you might be the leader in personal attacks against me.

Congrats, that takes some effort. But you've got a lot of competition, so don't slack off.

[Bonobo]

10. I hate to take 2nd place in a worthy endeavor. nt

[DanTex]

12. And worthy it is! Like I've said, the Bernie movement is mainly about personal animosity.

Towards Hillary and towards Democrats in general. Keep up the good work!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. I would like to mediate your beef and help you two gentlemen find common ground.

eom.

[BlueWaveDem]

13. Stay on topic?

[JackInGreen]

25. It'd be better

Than her surrogates

[pinebox]

2. Well if he does

It would probably be very calculated and make a lot of people think, that's for sure. It would certainly paint him to the left of Hillary on a wide range of issues. I hope he doesn't but if Hillary attacks him during the debates, well all cards are off the table. There's so much ammo to attack with Hillary with, not much for attacks on Bernie.

[leftofcool]

4. Well he can always jump on the emailghazi band wagon.

[pinebox]

19. Not his style

Nope, that would be falling in line with GOP attacks. If Bernie does attack her, it will be in a very cool and collective manner with hitting Hillary over things like income inequality, SSM, supporting things like KXL and TPP, being against a national minimum wage, etc. Issues that truly matter to American's at large.

[leftofcool]

5. It wouldn't be the smart thing for him to do.

[ish of the hammer]

29. a personal attack would be questioning

how the Clinton's went from "flat broke" in 1990 to 45 mil (Hillary's half) in 2016. not smart for him to do.
attacking Clinton's positions or non-position on the TPP, income/wealth inequality, minimum wage, etc, etc,
is totally legit. and smart for him to do.

[morningfog]

8. Of course he will and Hillary already has.

This whole "positive primary" talk is silly. Everyone knows it will get nasty. It is just a question of when.

[portlander23]

9. indeed

[Armstead]

11. He will run negative ads because he's campaigning against something bigger

His campaign is already negative in the sense he is campaigning against the status quo and the outsized power of Big Bidness and the Billionaire Class.

The question is whether they will be issues oriented, or the kind of personalized sniping that characterizes most campaigns.

Time will tell.

[Hortensis]

20. I was thinking that. His message has been both very positive and very negative

all along in a large sense. The excessive and unreasonable negativism expressed by supporters here at DU is merely an amping up of his message that the people he's been working and voting with all along are all corrupt and illiberal.

When Bernie first came to Congress he blamed his Democratic colleagues ignorantly and unreasonably, an ideologue who had to learn by personal experience, on the scene, just how strong and destructive the Republican influence was of good governance. This is an election season, though, and he's back to saying the Democrats could have done far better if only they'd chosen.

Unfairly attacking an entire party that shares almost his entire ideology has been pretty darned negative all along, and could potentially place the entire federal government in the hands of the hard right, but that's his strategy.

I'm just hoping our nation will have shifted left enough by 2016 to embrace the Democratic Party and some of those strong versions of progressive Democratic Party ideas that Bernie supports. This would be a synergy that could propel this nation right back out of the hole conservative and libertarian ideology has dug us into.

[Armstead]

21. I think there's a needle that has to be threaded

There has to be a negative diagnosis, because the problems he has been pointing out have been buriend between distortions and "happy talk" for far too long.

Unfortunately, as in a medical exam, the doctor giving a diagnosis of an illness does not elicit positive emptions.

But he also needs to emphasize the "treatment and cure" with positive goals and instilling a belief that things CAN be changed for the better.

[Hortensis]

23. Agree entirely. Wouldn't you think strategy will require that eventually? People

aren't just angry and demanding change, we're hungry for hope,

[Armstead]

26. Well he already does give a lot of people hope -- but he'll need to do more

The enthusiasm here and in his rallies and in many otehr quarters does indicate that he's giving a lot of people hope (including many who had previously lost their hope along the way).

He's going to need to emphasize that side of his message more as he moves out and tries to expand his base of support

[Motown_Johnny]

15. The most honest response possible. He should be attacked for it!

At least in the minds of those who support Hillary he should.

[Tom Rinaldo]

16. "through the 2016 campaign" includes running in the General against a Republican

I see various pundit spin about the primaries, but the question was not limited to the primaries and Bernie answered the question. Note, Bernie talked about not having run a negative campaign in his entire career, and for most of that time Republicans have been his main opponents. We take it for granted that politicians go negative against candidates of the main opposing party. We expect them to go negative against primary opponents. Sanders is musing about running for President here - and I am sure he hopes he won't be forced to go negative against the likes of a Trump or worse.

[restorefreedom]

17. there are different kinds of negative

he might be thinking of an ad which highlights something for example like her vote on the Iraq war. It's not a personal attack ad, but it highlights something that she did that is not very popular. That could be considered a negative ad even though it's truthful. I guess we'll have to see what the campaign decides.

but under no circumstances do I see Bernie getting personal or doing anything slimy. At most, he would call attention to some of her votes or actions or lack of positions that are not very popular right now with people

[ibegurpard]

18. He doesn't have to

Clinton ' s record speaks for itself.

[Bluenorthwest]

22. I would like to suggest that it is useful to consider the definition of negative campaigning.

A negative campaign style is the fancy term for what is commonly called mudslinging. It specifically involves talking about your rival's faults rather than your own positive attributes.

[bigtree]

24. imo, he's made too much of a fuss about it

...as long as he's focusing on issues, he can't go far wrong.

[Hiraeth]

27. Well, one might not like the answer but, it is more than Hillary can say.

Insert something here about history/past campaigns and past behavior.

[hootinholler]

28. That is a brilliant response to a goading question

Keeps the other campaigns guessing and speculating what a negative ad would look like from Bernie.

[AgingAmerican]

30. Why would he do that?

Going positive is sweeping the nation.