Nice work!

One could get the impression from this article that CW and all the rest of you Weigantians have totally forgotten that with the exception of Fox News, all media people and organizations are somewhere between left and far -left on the political spectrum.

Wow, CRS, your initials really do suit you quite accurately.

Here, let me help your pathetic and perpetual case of "CRS disease" with additional examples of instances of "media people and organizations" that aren't the least bit "left and far-left":

* One America News Network
* Blaze Media
* INSP
* RT TV... formerly Russia Today
* Newsmax
* Alex Jones
* The American Spectator
* The American Conservative
* The Washington Examiner
* The Weekly Standard
* American Thinker
* New York Post
* The Washington Times
* Drudge Report
* The Blaze
* NewsBusters.org
* The Daily Caller
* The Daily Wire
* The Bulwark
* Independent Journal Review
* LifeZette
* The Gateway Pundit
* PJ Media
* The Federalist
* Right Side Broadcasting Network
* CNSNews
* The Washington Free Beacon
* Rebel Media
* Townhall.com
* Twitchy
* Free Republic
* WorldNetDaily
* Infowars
* Freedom Wire
* Hot Air
* RedState

If you need more examples from someone who Can Remember Shit, let me know. :)

Quite right. In fact, the "socialist" drivel from the right-wing has been trotted out for several decades now; it is nearly matched by their "communist" drivel of prior elections, which "red" bashing we'll not likely hear during the 2020 election because Benedict Donald Treasonous Trump has such a "special relationship" with so many of his fellow Comrades. #Putin'sBitch

So, at first I wasn't going to look into it - who knows if it's true? But it kept spreading and people started reporting the guy who appeared to start the whole thing to twitter police and it has evidently been taken seriously enough that Josh Orton, "Senior Advisor" to Bernie's campaign tweeted to that man that the behavior was inappropriate and did not help Bernie.

Here's one of the many threads about it, fwiw: https://twitter.com/leahmcelrath/status/1100550956536791041

I bring this up for a couple of reasons.

First, Berniers and fake-Berniers did/do harass people online, primarily women. Women who don't like Bernie and get too noticeable are targeted. The guy who started it all claims he didn't mean for this to happen although he left the tweet up for hours - it may still be up.

The difference now is there's a much better understanding than there was in 2016 about it happening and people are much more likely to push back hard. So that's "good".

Second: Josh Orton is smart enough to know this has to be dealt with. Whether he can in any useful way remains to be seen, but kudos for trying.

Third: Bernie has not wanted to have to deal with any of this - and if it had stayed in the past, he might have been able to say it's old news. But because he allowed it to become so prevalent and virulent in 2016 he's got a problem on his hands now that isn't going to go away without some real effort.

As can be imagined, Bernie's Town Hall elicited a range of responses, from his fans high praise to his detractors' criticisms. But to start the day after by having a fan rain hell down on a woman for asking a critical question will do nothing soothe detractors.

No, but I certainly think they contributed to it in 2016, to excess. Some estimates are up to $2 billion dollars worth of free media. And they've never explained it, to my satisfaction. I mean, the moment that Trump did the racist rant should have been when the cameras went dark, right? Are we now giving bigger platforms to white supremacists? I think it's time to answer that.

Mostly in agreement, but it's worth noting that "lavish attention" pretty much meant pointing out that he was at best a marginally competent, morally repugnant misogynist of questionable character. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, except maybe like some Hollywood types say, "All publicity is good".

It's decidedly not a question of advocating for Trump.

The issue here is whether the devolutionary American media - in all of its forms - lack the prerequisite journalistic judgement to understand what is happening around them.

Yes, there are many contributing factors to Trump's election but nothing enabled his rise to power more than the lavish attention heaped on him by the media, hopelessly coupled with their firm belief in the fantasy that Hillary was inevitable.

The general practice of the ADD afflicted media continues. And, that is a worrisome thing.

"The media" (defined as everybody but Fox), play a dual role in the world - that of advocating for their (left-wing) politics, and spreading the current news (defined as whatever sells papers or attracts viewers).

Accordingly, any positive role that they played in Trump's win would fall under the heading of making people aware of Clinton's negatives, of which there was an abundance, and NOT of advocating in favor of Trump.

No offense taken, naturally.

So, do you think the media had no role in Trump's electoral college win in 2018?

This mistake is made nearly every time, because it's easier to follow the ideological crowd than to make the mental shift from 'midterms' to 'general election', as they should.

But it's actually really easy: midterms are won on bread-n-butter issues, general elections are won on enthusiasm.

So no offense, Liz, but Neil has it just about right.

The right message, which will come out via the primaries, and anger at Trump will win the Democrats the house in 2020. I very seldom make predictions and I'm already wanting to hedge because I'm outside my comfort zone, but for God's sake, Trump is a disaster and 2018 was just a way to send him a message - can you imagine the passion when we get to fire his ass?

CW is spot on where certain media is concerned, Trump has been the gift that keeps on giving for three years. I hope traditionally left-leaning media have eaten their fill from the Trump-trough by the time 2020 comes around. Send cameras to Trump rallies, but don't air the nonsense live so you can sit around after and dissect it for your audience, everyone can imagine what Trump demagoguery looks and sounds like. Sure as eggs are eggs, FOX won't be doing full length coverage of Bernie, Biden or Harris political rallies, they wouldn't dare expose their viewership to the real dem message... nothing good can come from sensationalising such drivel, just look back to 2016 if I've missed my mark.

LL&P

Democrats should choose their nominee wisely.