I get it – everyone in the media wants Hillary to lock this up so bad that they declared her the winner before anyone voted on June 7, 2016. So, while on the surface, it looks like Hillary won something that day; the reality is that the media took the wind out of Bernie Sanders’s sails. Many of his supporters no doubt stayed home thinking there was no point. What a sad day for democracy June 7 was, and it was a terrible day for the American people.
From the very start the media discounted Bernie Sanders’s candidacy. He was an upstart, a renegade, a senator with no background for a nationwide run for office. Despite all the media downplaying (or sometimes simply ignoring) his campaign, Bernie had huge turnouts and enthusiastic supporters. Hillary’s campaign rallies looked like they were held in a morgue compared to his.
Bernie is fire and brimstone when he talks; Hillary sounds as if she’s yelling at Bill. Bernie excites the crowds with talks about a bright and new future, something that promises to shake off the conventional shackles that have been holding people back for generations. Hillary promises more of the same old Washington crap that has alienated voters and made them gravitate to Sanders and someone like Donald Trump.
The problem is that, as Hillary stood there basking in the glory of her supporters as the media on all channels – and I know because I kept switching channels – lavished praise and lauded the historic nature of the moment, Mrs. Clinton was standing on a rickety platform, held together by all the corruption and lies that got her to that point in the process.
Let’s make no mistake – there have been dirty tricks, lies, and attempts to keep Bernie supporters from voting. Mrs. Clinton has repeatedly asked Mr. Sanders to do the right thing – which basically has been to suspend his candidacy. Of course, Mr. Sanders plans to do no such thing. He’s taking this all the way to Philadelphia, and well he should.
Listening to law enforcement experts, former FBI agents, and legal experts on various radio talk shows and on TV, there is a general consensus that Mrs. Clinton should be indicted for the email scandal that she at one time dismissed as nothing of consequence. This doesn’t mean that she will be indicted, but there is a cloud hanging over her head bigger than Chris Christie.
Bernie’s ace in the hole then is “presumptive nominee” Hillary’s Achilles’s heel – a scandal that, even if it goes away, leaves its detritus all around her. No one can underestimate the negativity this email issue has brought to Hillary, and its not going away even if she manages to get it to.
Even if Hillary is not indicted, if she is the one to go up against Donald Trump, the email debacle is one of many things (along with the exorbitant speaking fees, questions around the Clinton Foundation, and old Slick Willie himself to name a few) that Trump will use against her.
Bernie’s appeal as an opponent for Trump is that he is also considered an outsider; the difference is that he isn’t always putting his foot in his mouth. The prospect of Hillary debating Trump should make Democrats extremely nervous, even Debbie Wasserman (I screwed Bernie) Schultz thinks she would be able to beat him. Make no mistake – if Hillary debates Trump, she’s going to need to do more than scream.
On the other hand, Bernie could debate Trump on issues, take apart his limited knowledge of national and world affairs, and challenge him on the economy. Without all the baggage Hillary carries – and she has more than a 747 – Bernie has a remarkably excellent chance to mop the floor with Trump during debates and win by a landslide in November.
Last night they were celebrating Hillary with champagne wishes and caviar dreams (with apologies to Robin Leach), but today Democrats should be waking up with more than a hangover. They should come to a grim realization of be careful what you wish for.
Bernie Sanders has more than a shot to upset the apple cart in Philadelphia in July at the Democratic National Convention. The so-called super delegates may just see that the only way to defeat Donald Trump is the senator from Vermont and not the former Secretary of State who day after day looks like she has more holes in her than a piece of Swiss cheese.
If the process had not been so corrupted by the Clinton machine, Bernie Sanders would have been the presumptive nominee. Now there is a chance that he will still be his party’s nominee; that is if the Democrats want to win in November.
Photo Credits: CNN, FOX News, NBC
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