Bernie Bits: Did Sanders Really Lose the Democratic Debate?

[leftcoastmountains]

-snip-
Clinton's highest praise appeared to emanate from Democratic insiders who've always seen her as the heir apparent — and from Acela corridor reporters so obsessed with her campaign's purported death spiral that they were overwhelmed to find she had a pulse. In their race to set expectations, the latter seemed to forget that Clinton is a master debater who went toe-to-toe with President Obama more than two dozen times during the 2008 campaign season — and that Sanders' experience amounts to debating Peter Diamondstone.

Vermont's junior senator wasn't talking to political reporters last night. He was introducing himself to the many Americans just tuning in to the race — who don't follow politics closely and may well have never heard of the guy. There were an awful lot of them: According to Nielson, more than 15 million people watched the debate, making it the highest-rated Democratic debate in history.

Those viewers seemed to want to learn more. Data collected by Google Trends shows that Sanders' name was the one most searched throughout the debate. According to Vox, Crowdtangle found that he gained 35,000 Facebook followers during the debate, compared to the 18,000 Clinton racked up. Twitter said he scored the top moment of the event with his email quip. Notably, three focus groups — conducted by Fox News, CNN and Fusion — agreed that Sanders prevailed.

http://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2015/10/14/bernie-bits-did-sanders-really-lose-the-democratic-debate

[bkkyosemite]

1. And yet the corporate fix is in.

We need to stand up to the corporations, the elite, the royalty and demand our democracy back.

[Kalidurga]

2. He won the debate before he even got on the stage.

The conversation has shifted and more people want to talk to Bernie.

[global1]

3. Bernie Won Because He Was Able To Introduce Himself To Millions Of American People That Weren't....

familiar with him based on the MSM blackout of anything Bernie up until the point of the debate. He'll pick up a great deal of support because of this debate and that will exponentially multiply.

Hillary on the other hand might have been a better debater - mouthing all those talking points her campaign learned from their focus groups - but Hillary has a major problem. Those that like Hillary - will still like Hillary. Those that don't like Hillary will still dislike her. She's been in the public spotlight for too long and she has her friends and her enemies.

As such - Bernie will pick up support in numbers - but - Hillary's support or lack thereof - will remain static.

I would call that a win for Bernie. And I know that he'll do much better in the next debate.

[HassleCat]

4. Win the battle and lose the war

I feel Sanders did very well. He certainly did not "lose" the debate. But we can see what's going to happen. The media stampeded to the conclusion that Clinton won by a mile, doing a sensational job, making everybody fall love with her, and so on, and so on. Simply by not being her usual, irritable self, Clinton vastly exceeded expectations and gave the pundits the reason they needed to proclaim her the winner. She reflected back to them their own conventional wisdom, setting off another conventional wisdom tidal wave, which will roll over the land and engulf Democratic voters everywhere.

I'm not being sarcastic. This is exactly what will happen. The focus groups show a different result because they are comprised of voters who are interested in the debates themselves, who listen carefully and consider substance as much as style. It doesn't surprise me that these people prefer Sanders by a slight margin. They are exactly the sort of people Sanders has been addressing all along. But the vast majority of Democratic voters are not so interested and attentive, and they will believe what the big media outlets tell them, and we know what the message is from that sector. Clinton probably put a lock on the nomination with her debate performance, and plenty of help from the media. All she has to do now is keep appearing friendly and affable, and avoid losing her temper in public.

But Sanders soldiers on, just as he should. We always knew this was a contest of substance over style, and our guy was at a disadvantage. He continues to make big inroads among social media users, and among those who are interested by progressive ideas. Sanders offers voters a real alternative to politics as usual, giving him genuine appeal to independents and moderate Republicans. If he can make it past the primary, he will thump the Republicans like a rusty wash tub, something Clinton may not be able to do.

[TDale313]

5. In no way did he "lose" the debate.

He had a good, solid debate and accomplished what he needed to (which was introduce himself and his ideas to a wider audience) He had a good night.

Probably the worst you could argue would be so did Hillary, so advantage front runner.

[Enthusiast]

6. Cut it out!

[Warpy]

7. People whose livelihood relies on seeing her as the front runner

will always see her as the front runner. We'll have another stupid PUMA movement to deal with if she blows it again.

[Demeter]

8. If you ask a question in a headline, the answer is always NO

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." It is named after Ian Betteridge, a British technology journalist, although the principle is much older...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

"...my maxim that any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word "no." The reason why journalists use that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bullshit, and don’t actually have the sources and facts to back it up, but still want to run it."

[NCjack]

9. The DEM leadership and non-Bernie DEM politicians are invested in

HRC winning. If Bernie takes off like a rocket, he may bring forth true progressive candidates for all offices, down to animal control. The establishment doesn't want that.