A Reality Check/Dampener for Bernie Fans Regarding the Upcoming Debates.

[retrowire]

Hello everyone!

It's EIGHT days away! Can you believe it?!?!

Finally! Bernie will be unleashed in his true bull dog, take no BS form and show everyone what he can do!

He will finally be able to directly confront his competition and show what he is, side by side with them. No more blackout now, he's getting the same stage as the lady that can pull hundreds of headlines just by telling some jokes on SNL.

However my friends, I wanted to write this OP to remind us all of something here.

This debate is still a staged event and it is controlled by CNN.

We need look no further than the blatantly biased treatment given to the Republican candidates during their debates.

Some were given greater screentime compared to others, some were barely asked any questions.

Now that may be a case of there being so many candidates on stage, which won't be the case with the Democratic debate. But even so, the same kind of catering can be executed in this debate.

A moderator can always cut Bernie short but allow Hillary as much time to pontificate as possible. The cameras can cut to Hillary while Bernie speaks, but stay on Hillary when she speaks.

Be aware of this. Live television events like these are meticulously structured events and while things can definitely become ad-libbed they still very much have a direction to go.

And knowing what the MSM is capable of and what tricks we've already seen them pull during other debates, we can be quite sure that the same will happen here.

That said, get some popcorn, grab some fellow Bernie supporters and sit down for this thing because its going to be a wild ride!

[EdwardBernays]

1. I feel the Bern

and have zero hope that Bernie is going to be treated fairly..

Of course most Americans are willingly oblivious to reality so... I'm not surprised...

[navarth]

10. Welcome! And....

I cannot help noticing you took for your screen name the father of our country, Edward Bernays.

Hopefully more people will learn about that swine.

[Android3.14]

27. Interesting catch

I hadn't heard of this guy until today. Thanks.

[EdwardBernays]

35. indeed

I think knowing Bernays is knowing America... thus my choice...

[djean111]

2. I am sort of conflicted about watching this.

Dirty tricks, as you said. Yes, there will be. Maybe having the debates when not many are watching will turn out to be a good thing, in a way. And then there will be the cherry-picked clips afterwards.

And then - my ADHD means, for me, I really hate watching speeches. I would rather read the transcript. No matter who it is.

And then - I know Bernie speaks from his heart, and I know Hillary speaks from whatever her advisers tell her is the thing to say, the stance to take, the policy to announce - THIS WEEK. For me, there is no point in wasting my time watching her.

And then - no matter what happens, each candidate's supporters will declare a win for their candidate.

Finally, there is absolutely nothing anyone in this debate can say or do that would affect my support for Bernie.

All that being said - my 20 YO grandson and his buddies - all most enthusiastic Bernie supporters, grandson makes sure to talk about Bernie in the break room at work, he is part of the real grass roots - are all really looking forward to the debate. Only because they love watching Bernie, really. And - they are armed with the research on Hillary and Bernie, they will not take anything said at face value. Those days, IMO, are gone forever. No matter what Hillary says, they do not think she really means it. Bottom line.

[daleanime]

3. And the audience is by invitation only......

[NorthCarolina]

4. Who does the "inviting"?

Do the candidates have any say in who is allowed to be in the audience during the debate, or are the attendees chosen solely by the DNC leadership? or CNN?

If DWS I suspect the house will be packed with HRC supporters eager to boo the evil socialist at every opportunity...you know, for effect.

[merrily]

5. People on this thread think the DNC gets to decide who can attend.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/128057892

[ornotna]

12. They do

October 13, 2015 - CNN Democratic Debate in Las Vegas
Statement from the Wynn Las Vegas on ticketing:
"The upcoming debate is an invite-only event. Tickets are not available for purchase. If you would like to request tickets should they become available to the public, please contact the Nevada State Democratic Party at www.nvdems.com or 702-737-8683 to request to be added to their list."
Read more at http://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2016-debate-schedule/how-to-get-2016-presidential-primary-debate-tickets/#xryPuVkA4199lObT.99

[99th_Monkey]

17. The Nevada State Democratic Party isn't the DNC, is it? -nt-

[Android3.14]

29. Isn't it sweet how HRC supporters think this process is fair?

It's the "willing suspension of disbelief" for the manufactured drama of corporate candidates.

[ornotna]

31. Maybe not directly

But don't you think that is splitting hairs?

[99th_Monkey]

32. I don't know if it is or not.

I know nothing about the Nevada State Democratic Party leadership, or how much they're
in lock-step (or not) with the DNC/DWS. OK, perhaps it's naive of me to imagine that DWS
would set the debate up in LV, if it's "select audience" was not to her (and HRC's) liking.

I guess we'll be finding out soon, just how seriously "rigged" the debates are, beyond the
minuscule number and them being on weekends when no one watches.

[NorthCarolina]

22. Thanks

[merrily]

13. Please see Reply 12

[NorthCarolina]

23. Thanks

[merrily]

24. You're welcome. ornotna did all the work, though.

[NorthCarolina]

25. Yes

I thanked ornota as well.

[mhatrw]

14. The League of Hillary Voters n/t

[merrily]

6. We've been "dampened" plenty.

The only thing that works, IMO, is to keep donating and volunteering and keeping up each other's enthusiasm. We do our best; Bernie does his best; and we ignore the rest.

[retrowire]

7. this OP may be more for myself than anyone else

I'm extremely excited about it, but I'm also trying to prepare myself for watching the first presidential debate that I feel I have some stock in you know?

djean also brought up a point I forgot to make, that we should ignore the fact that afterwards, everyone will declare their preferred candidate the winner. Add that with the media that will probably parade clips of Hillary, touting how funny that joke she made was and how cold and mean Bernie was.

ugh. I'm nervous, I'm excited, I'm everything that I could possibly feel.

[merrily]

11. Your emotions are all over because you want to control, or at least impact, things you cannot

possibly control or impact. It's a natural desire, but you have to let it go.

This is a marathon, not a sprint. Again:

"The only thing that works, IMO, is to keep donating and volunteering and keeping up each other's enthusiasm. We do our best; Bernie does his best; and we ignore the rest."

[retrowire]

19. i am learning this lesson about my emotions alot lately... n/t

[merrily]

26. I prescribe good nutrition and stress management, including exercise.

More and more I realize everything boils down to those things.

[jwirr]

20. I think you are correct. But there is one thing we can do.

If this debate seems to be fixed as we are all expecting it to be then we can immediately donate some more to Bernie. Let them see our support for him where it counts.

Set up a "Vote for Fairness in Politics" vote. Knock them right out of the box.

[merrily]

21. thanks. My post did say donate and volunteer. I did forget social media blitz, though.

Reddit, facebook, instagram should be splattered with what the DNC is doing with these debates.

[tularetom]

8. It was easy to sort of freeze out candidates in the republican "debate"

There were so many of them there they could ignore or cut off one or two without anybody really taking notice.

If they attempt the same thing with Sanders at the Democratic debate, it will be as plain as the nose on your face that the whole thing is rigged and it will unleash a shit storm of biblical proportions. Because if they try to marginalize him, they will screw it up just like they have screwed up the entire process so far. They just don't do subtlety very well.

Bernie won't just allow it slide by, he'll have to say something. But even if he doesn't, his supporters will. And the end result will not be pleasant for Clinton, Debbie WS, the DNC, or the party as a whole.

Its quite plain they will try to force a business-as-usual, establishment candidate with no ideas and no charisma on us. Just like they tried to do 48 years ago in the streets of Chicago. And we all know what that led to - President Richard Nixon.

[retrowire]

9. yeah it will be harder to freeze them out when there are so few in this one

but I have no doubt that they'd have the audacity to try it, no matter how obvious it is. :/

[oldandhappy]

15. so much for democracy, eh?

[Glaisne]

16. Then we must act!

We must call out such biased behavior on social media, message boards, and editorials as much as possible and not be quiet. We fight to spread the Bern! Feel the Bern!

[SheilaT]

18. Well, there are only going to be five

Dems on stage, not the twenty-seven or so Republicans, so it will be a lot harder for the moderator to rig it so Clinton has a lot more air time. I suspect Chaffee and Webb will be slighted, O'Malley will get less than he should, and Clinton and Sanders will share just about equally. And it will be very obvious to those watching that Clinton will be speaking almost entirely in vague platitudes, while Bernie will be honest and strongly committed in everything he says.

I also expect that Chaffee and Webb will be out not much later than the second or third debate, but O'Malley will hang in throughout the season, garnering a handful of delegates, although not enough to influence the outcome. He'll probably go to the Convention hoping to influence the party platform, possibly to get the VP slot.

[Uncle Joe]

28. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, retrowire.

[peacebird]

30. Prepare to tweet the debate! The post updates to Reddit!

[cascadiance]

33. We need some huge twitter activity to judge the questioners...

... to make sure that the right questions are being asked, and to let America know how many people agree or disagree with the way they put the questions to candidates and whether they are asking them the ones most important to us all!

[dreamnightwind]

34. Excellent point

The game, as always, even more so this time with the DWS/DNC control, is rigged. And the MSM will have their usual suspects lined up to tell us how well Hillary did. Bernie will do well within the limits of the situation, he's been fighting in unfair contexts all of his political life.