The media is a much bigger problem than most Democrats realize...
...or understand.
The establishment, the business sector, own the big media conglomerates and are naturally allied and aligned more closely to Republican politics than with liberal Democrats. That is the premise from which we should start.
That means, if a Democratic candidate for office is intensely disliked by a large number of Republicans, they are at a disadvantage from the beginning. If he or she is controversial and seen as a threat to the establishment media, they are at an even bigger disadvantage. The media will use all means at their disposal to destroy that candidate.
In my opinion, this was the environment in which Hillary Clinton ran her campaign. The media portrayed her as someone she wasn't in reality, but she was so disliked by so many Republicans that were willing to believe every rumor and lie that the media reported about her.
It was a battle that could be won by very few politicians. Hillary Clinton was very, very strong and was seen as a dire threat to Republicans and the mainstream media. They used every tactic in their vast arsenal to destroy her. They investigated everything from Benghazi to emails and went back thirty years in her past to find stories that would cast aspersions on her character.
It was not that she was guilty of any of their charges. It was that she was running against the media and it did not matter who her Republican opponent may have been - even if it was a crude, vulgar, lying, cheating businessman like Donald Trump. She fought valiantly but could not overcome the onslaught by the Republican Trump, with the collusion of the mainstream media.
The lesson to be learned is that if a Democrat is very unpopular with Republicans, for whatever reasons, then they are handicapped before they ever begin their race. Hillary had many scars over the years from those that opposed her. They grew to hate her, with the help of the media.
In the future, Democrats will need to understand that the media will create a distorted view of their opposition over many years, and the longer they are in the public eye, the more they are likely to be intensely disliked by Republican voters. That is the reality which Democrats must deal with.
It does not mean that they will not attack, on personal and character grounds, every Democrat that runs against them. But it is an obstacle that can be overcome if they have not been a target for many, many years. In my opinion, this is a reality which we need to understand better.
= new reply since forum marked as read
