Bernie Sanders just went on the Rachel Maddow show and totally bombed
Some cable news hosts are afraid to ask their guests tough questions, for fear they won’t come back again. Rachel Maddow doesn’t seem to care about this. She’s always congenial in her interviews, but she asks tough questions – and she doesn’t hesitate to tell her interview subjects that their answers are factually incorrect.
This brings us to Bernie Sanders’ decision to sit down with Rachel Maddow last night, fresh off his tough Super Tuesday outing. It’s pretty clear why Sanders had to subject himself to the interview. If he had done well, he could have used it to try to turn things around. Unfortunately for Sanders, he was derailed by either his ignorance or his ego.
Maddow pointed out to Sanders that he’s definitely not driving youth voter turnout in the primary race so far. He insisted this wasn’t the case. But Maddow wouldn’t let him off the hook. She pointed out that overall, in the dozen-plus states that have voted, he’s not driving turnout. Sanders couldn’t accept this fact, so he harped on the turnout in Iowa, which wasn’t really up either.
Maddow also pointed out to Sanders that he’s been losing the African American vote badly thus far. Sanders again insisted this wasn’t the case. Maddow again had to correct him. Sanders then doubled down on it, saying he’d seen unspecified polling data that said he was very popular with black voters (remind you of anyone?). Maddow then asked Sanders about why he’s using President Obama in his latest TV ads, even as he accuses everyone atop the Democratic Party of conspiring against him. Sanders couldn’t give an answer as to whether he thinks Obama is part of the establishment.
There are answers that Bernie Sanders could have given that could have helped him. All he had to do was show an ounce of humility when Maddow pointed out how poorly he’s doing in the voting thus far, and try to explain how he plans to win over more voters going forward. Instead he either truly thinks his turnout numbers thus far are far better than they are, or he’s just lying. Either way, he hurt himself by doing this interview – and did Joe Biden a big favor in the process.
