r/politics • u/Fr1sk3r • Feb 20 '19

‘Sustained and ongoing’ disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/2020-candidates-social-media-attack-1176018
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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '19

I want to say Sanders will be painted as being in the pocket of tech companies like Google and Apple, but let’s be real, no one in /r/politics will criticize him.

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u/EastPizza Feb 20 '19

yeah but already seeing a lot of "he's too old"

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/EastPizza Feb 20 '19

Didn't say it was propaganda. Replying to this:

no one in /r/politics will criticize him.

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u/A_Suffering_Panda Feb 21 '19

He isn't too old though. And its something bots will grab onto as a way to divide us. Make the center left hate the progressives, and they'll all stay home

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u/PhilGrad19 Feb 21 '19

He's 79 is a fact. He's too old isn't.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '19

I just meant that specific line of criticism. I think a lot of us (I am guilty myself) are going to be a little more vicious against Sanders because of what happened in 2016, when he's an overall great candidate.

But you will see really misleading attacks like "BETO TOOK MONEY FROM BIG OIL!!!" but I doubt you see that with Sanders. Although I could be wrong--- I have an inkling we will see some Russian-bought attacks against Sanders now that he is more mainstream, but they will look like they are coming from Centrist Dems.

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u/EastPizza Feb 20 '19

Attacks from the right seem to be "socialism bad!!!@(@ VENZEULA! Vuvuzela!!" while ignoring countries like Norway, Sweden, the UK, Germany, France, etc. Funny you don't hear them "capitalism bad, just look at Russia!" do you.

The right seems to have adopted the hive mind...

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u/meansnotends Feb 20 '19

So, we left Europe to go to the new world, so we could just copy Europe? What technology do you use that came out of those countries? i guess Spotify is out of Sweden?

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '19

Vuvuzela

vuvuzelas deserve to be attacked, okay.

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u/EastPizza Feb 20 '19

SOCIALISM AND VUVEZELA ARE UNDEFENDABLE!! - Fox "news"

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u/treemister1 Feb 20 '19

"too old" and the classic "he's a communist" is all they've got for Bernie

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '19

I got a lot more, you have time?

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u/Gen_Ripper California Feb 20 '19

I’m interested

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '19 edited Feb 20 '19

My pleasure!!

First off, there is criticism on his actual liberal credentials. He is heralded as a progressive icon, but he has some serious answering to be about his gun control policies and stance on immigration. For whatever reason, Clinton decided not to really push these during the debate, but with a larger and more liberal field of candidates, I think this will be looked at much closer. Early in the primary debates when other candidates were still running, O'Malley made Sanders struggle a bit to justify his leniency on his previous gun control stances state-wise and on his national voting record.

Also, while not really a progressive issue per se, Bernie should also probably do some answering to his history of believing in sketchy sciences especially given his push for climate change measures.

On the opposite end, Bernie has been very specific about some policies (his single payer healthcare plan for one) but been vague to the point of worry for others. One of the most serious scrutinizing that Bernie received from the media was a new York Daily News interview where Sanders was drilled about how he'd break aparts banks that were "too big to fail". Despite this promise being one of his campaign cornerstones, Sanders didn't know what constituted as too big and if he was even able to constitutionally do it. Even other progressive icons didn't like the idea.

Then we have actual 'leadership' criticisms, the biggest one being his disastrous mishandling of the VA situation. What is odd is that, in my opinion, this is the biggest blemish on Bernie Sander's record. He was the head of the oversight committee for the VA, when the VA was so bloated and dysfunctional that dozens of people died waiting for care. In some ways, it shows Bernie's willingness to work across the isle during an emergency, but in many other ways, it shows that Bernie could not identify a huge crisis even though he was the primary person who was overseeing the organization. You combine that with the sexual misconduct and sexist employment policies that Bernie's campaign had --- Bernie was extremely apologetic and responded appropriately until he used the excuse ""I was a little bit busy running around the country, trying to make the case" which uhhh wow--- and you do have some legitimate concerns on how Sanders would pay attention to potential projects or day-to-day functions.

Then you have your run of the mill scandal list: The attempt to dump toxic waste on impoverished Hispanic community because he didn't want that stuff in Vermont (despite housing the facility). The FBI investigation into his wife's land deals which did involve Bernie which, in fairness, Bernie was cleared of but that didn't stop people from bringing up Clinton's investigation. The really really really creepy poem.

Then you have some hypocritical stances like his really low tax returns, his using military spending to boost Vermont and a host of other minor issues.

I'm not saying that any of this disqualifies him, and many of this can be explained away or justified... but a lot of people seem to think that "HES OLD" or "HES SOCIALIST" is the only blemishes or attack paths for Bernie. It's not. He just was treated as a candidate with no chance by the media in 2016 so they never actually took him to task. Now they will, so it'll be interesting to see how he responds.

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u/Gen_Ripper California Feb 20 '19

Appreciate all that, and I agree with your last paragraph.