Bernie Sanders will hold a town hall on Fox News, on April 15, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with a focus on the economy and jobs. Is this a good idea or a bad idea for the candidate?
In its article about the upcoming town hall, Politico reports that Fox hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will be the moderators. Politico also notes that Trump won traditionally-Democratic Pennsylvania in 2016. Not noted is the fact that Trump won by a hair. So clearly, Sanders sees an opportunity there.
Regular readers know I am a big believer in Democrats going on Fox News – but not in going along with any pretense that it’s anything but a political propaganda operation with some news functions. And you can best believe that despite Fox claims that Baier and MacCallum represent “the ultimate journalistic integrity and professionalism,” you can count on plenty of partisan-opposition maneuvers getting thrown into the event one way or another.
You may recall that Sanders and Hillary Clinton participated in a Fox town hall in 2016. In my post about that, I said it was “not as bad as it could have been.” However, Baier was clearly out to damage likely-nominee Clinton. Some excerpts from my post:
Host Bret Baier did ask Clinton eight questions about her emails but none about Benghazi or Bill Clinton’s infidelity.
[…]
During Hillary Clinton’s turn, Baier asked, “Do you think a child should have any legal rights or protections before its born?”
I hope the Sanders campaign had some input into audience members. In 2016, a Trump supporter emerged from the audience to preface his question for Sanders with, “I’ll speak for the American public. You’re much more honest than Hillary.” That just happened to echo a point made by Baier worked into one of his “questions”:
BAIER: One of the most interesting trends to emerge from the exit and entrance polls this year, so far, is which of you is honest and trustworthy. In state after state, for voters who value “honest and trustworthy” as the top priority, there’s a massive gulf between you and Senator Clinton.
Baier listed all the states and just happened to have some graphics ready to display on the screen.
“So do you share the concerns of your supporters that Secretary Clinton is not honest and trustworthy?” Baier “asked.” To his credit, Sanders did not take the bait. “I will let the people of the United States make that decision,” he replied.
Now that Sanders is near the top of the large field, you can bet that there will be plenty of questions designed to undermine him.
As Vice noted, Sanders has the ability to connect with Trump supporters. Watch him get cheers and applause during the 2016 Fox town hall when he explained why health care is a human right in the video below.
So, I think it’s quite possible for him to do well though I hate to see him give undeserved cred to Fox News. My hope is he publicly recognizes the fact that the network is his electoral foe as much as Trump.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in our comments section below.
Last time Bernie did a Fox town hall we got this Top 10 Bernie moment pic.twitter.com/JPcqfMdZUT
— Hamid Bendaas 🌹 (@HBendaas) April 3, 2019
“In its article about the upcoming town hall, Politico reports that Fox hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will be the moderators. Politico also notes that Trump won traditionally-Democratic Pennsylvania in 2016. Not noted is the fact that Trump won by a hair. So clearly, Sanders sees an opportunity there.”
And here’s another fact that Politico also failed to mention: the ONLY reason Trump won PA, MI, WI, FL and AZ (these states total 86 electoral votes) is because of Gary Johnson and Jill Stein TAKING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF VOTES from Hillary Clinton in all of these states. I’m surprised Johnson and Stein haven’t been HANDSOMELY REWARDED yet by the Murdochs with either a contributor contract or a $EVEN FIGURE ADVANCE BOOK DEAL from FoKKKs Spews Channel’s sister company HarperCollins for helping their man Trump get into the White House. Keep this in mind: Ralph Nader’s knees SURE HIT THE FLOOR WITH LIGHTNING SPEED (this is a paraphrase of Nader’s infamous words “The only difference between Democrats and Republicans is the speed at which their knees hit the floor when corporations come knocking on their doors”) the instant right wing media godfather Rupert “Goebbels” Murdoch and his HarperCollins subordinates “knocked on Nader’s door” with “a publishing offer he couldn’t refuse”: Nader’s book “The Good Fight” was published by HarperCollins in the summer of 2004. I STILL REMEMBER Nader’s appearance on FoKKKs Spews Channel in July 2004 to promote this book. That’s when I INSTANTLY LOST ALL RESPECT FOR HIM FOR QUICKLY $ELLING OUT TO THE MURDOCHS!