I have heard over and over again from Sanders supporters online that he has been subjected to a disgustingly dirty campaign, which has viciously attacked him in addition to being blasted by the media. I have no idea what these people are talking about, and frankly neither do people who pay attention to the media for a living.
the media is biased toward Sanders is that, in my experience, a lot of journalists simply like and believe Sanders. That doesn't mean they support him, but when Sanders says something, the broad view is that he means it — he's not positioning himself, he's not following the polls, he's not just trying to win votes. Sanders receives an assumption of good faith that most politicians simply don't. If he gets something wrong, it tends to get covered as him not having enough information or perhaps making a mistake, not as a lie. This gets talked about in terms of "authenticity," but it's actually a more fundamental form of trust — and it's a form of trust that is not routinely extended to, say, Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz. — Ezra Klien
Compare that to how Clinton is covered in the media. Night and Day.
As far as attacks go? What are the dirty attacks? As far as I can tell here are the main ones Clinton has leveraged against him. Please feel free to comment if I missed any major ones.
- 1. Sanders plans are unrealistic and he will have trouble legislating them.
- 2. Sanders has supported pro-gun legislation in the past.
- 3. Sanders proposals will raise many people’s taxes.
- 4. Sanders online supporters have a propensity to be jerks.
- 5. Sanders is an independent at heart and not a “real” Democrat.
- 6. Sanders has been the recipient of money from corporate donors and SuperPACs.
Regardless of how you feel about the legitimacy of these attacks, they don’t even register on the richter scale of dirty attacks in an election year. Let’s look at a few examples.
Now that is a dirty attack. How about this next one, which Rove leveled on McCain in a primary.
Two weeks before the election, pamphlets began appearing under windshields at candidate debates that used a picture of McCain with his adopted Bangladeshi daughter to allege that McCain had an illegitimate African-American daughter, a charge that could cost him votes in a state that had not entirely left behind its ugly history of segregation.
I’ll let the next one speak for itself.
No. Bernie has not been on the receiving end of a historically dirty or devious string of attacks. In the history of campaigns, this year’s attacks have been more like dainty slaps to the face with a glove rather than the rusty knife fights above. Our candidates have kept it fairly clean, and I hope they continue to do so.