Hamilton Nolan: I thought Bernie Sanders said the most true and important things last night.

 Did Hillary Clinton "Win" the Debate? -Hamilton Nolan * |  That’s funny, because I also watched the whole debate, and I thought Bernie Sanders was by far the best candidate on stage.  .. I thought Bernie Sanders said the most true and important things last night.


..amounts to a bit of opinioneering by me, in an effort to convince you that the candidate I believe is most correct won. There is nothing wrong with this. That is what opinion writing is for. But that is not what the mainstream political press would have you believe they are doing. They would have you believe that they are not just stating their opinions; they are giving you valuable informed analysis about what is objectively happening.
So where is evidence Clinton won? .. There were several large online polls, which are a fairly degraded form of data that can end up measuring enthusiasm of a candidate’s base more than actual total voter preference. But to the extent those online polls have any value, Bernie Sanders won 68% in the MSNBC.com poll; Bernie Sanders won 55% in the Daily Kos poll; Bernie Sanders won 54% in the Time.com poll; and Bernie Sanders overwhelmingly won CNN’s own Facebook poll, not that you would know it from what the pundits were saying on CNN itself. CNN’s own focus group also said that Bernie Sanders won, and Fusion’s focus group said that Bernie Sanders won, and Fox News’ focus group said that Bernie Sanders won.    ...



comments 
int:
-Women’s issues will certainly take the back burner in a Sanders administration. He may say he's a feminist, he may have a history of liking gays.... But HRC is chiefly known for her work with human rights. Women need her more than ever.

 -I agree.  ..she has pissed me off with some of her votes, including the Iraq War, but ** I would like to have someone in office who is ON FIRE for women’s rights, especially abortion rights.**  The right has been steadily chipping away at abortion rights because male Democrats are too passive and believe Roe v Wade is enough. It’s not. The Bernie Sanders supporters give lip service to women’s rights, but it’s all back burner to whatever the hell they think Bernie can deliver on regulating Wall Street.  /c.//



& good cmmt: 
-MrsChoatePFLAGnanna:  Bernie surprised a lot of people by essentially granting Hillary absolution from her scandals in the democrat camp. Once she realized she was going to be treated fairly gently by Anderson Cooper and her opponents she seemed to relax and be as much herself as is possible. If she “won,” Bernie Sanders handed her the win. His statement about the emails makes the deme look much more unified than the Republicans right now. /y./
As for reality, Hillary and Bernie did a lot of one-upmanship in the freebie promising department. Open the borders! Free college! Once in a while I would like a politician to let me know what my U.S. passport and six decades of Federal income tax gets me. /huh. a lot, really?  thinking of wh jaime said: we are white citizens of united states
--the ability to earn a remarkable comfortable living doing work that isn’t physically taxing? general safety and stability in a world where even western countries are either far more isolated (australia) or at a higher risk of terrorism or state-sponsored violence? being in america is fucking sweet. some immigrants being treated humanely, or kids being able to get a college education, isn’t a threat to that. it’s not a zero-sum game.





-The Dems *are* much more unified than the Republicans right now.  --Yes, and I think it is due to Bernie Sanders choosing to be a statesman last night instead of a politician.  /nice./



-Bernie Sanders isn’t offering “freebies.” He outlines how all of his plans will be paid for, and so far, nobody has been able to poke any holes in his math. I haven’t, for example, seen anybody meaningfully question the assertion that he would be able to pay for tuition-free public higher ed with a Wall Street speculation tax. And you know Clinton would have been tearing him apart on the math if she could have.  /huh./
--MrsChoatePFLAGnanna:  If I thought he, or anyone, could succeed in passing those tax policies, then I wouldn’t worry so much.