Bernie Sanders claims his Sister Souljah moment

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Think of Sanders and the Sister Souljah moment as if you were a Hollywood executive. Conflict creates drama, and drama equals good television – this is what Fox and Sanders offered up to the audience. The Vermont senator was the protaganist, walking into unfamiliar territory, facing the unknown. It was, in the classic story-telling sense, a test of character.

Viewers responded because, until Sander’s move, the parade of Democratic candidates doing town halls had become like a TV show that’s stayed on the schedule too long — the episodes are predictable, the conflict recycled, the star never in genuine danger. In fact, in a throwback to the pre-Trump political style, that seemed to be the whole idea: Avoid any controversy that could damage a campaign in the early going.

The audience caught on. After Harris and Sanders each appeared on CNN, town hall numbers began to slide. Yes, some of the later candidates are simply not as scintillating – Democrat John Hickenlooper of Colorado (750,000 viewers for his town hall) could never carry a show in primetime, even in a treasured timeslot with “This Is Us” as his lead-in. But none of them came to play, either; none dove into the arena the way Sanders did on Fox.

(snip)

But that’s not how it works – only one person gets to be the hero and break the mold the first time. Maybe other Democrats also went after Sister Souljah later, but history has no record of them. It was Clinton who made the moment.

(snip)

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/439988-bernie-sanders-claims-his-sister-souljah-moment

[NurseJackie]

1. ...

Bernie Sanders claims his Sister Souljah moment

Oh, please! BS did not walk into the lion's den. Everyone knows that these were not typical fox viewers or Trump supporters. It was a hand-picked crowd by invitation.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Of course because Trump said so and Bernie must have known this before the fact.

That begs the question though, why couldn't Trump supporters get into a FOX town hall?

They would surely be motivated to see Bernie (a self-proclaimed democratic socialist) get his comeuppance on the most conservative network in the nation.

It wasn't a secret that this would be taking place in Pennsylvania, a state which Trump carried in the G.E. one would think his supporters outnumbered Bernie's, not to mention it was going be held on the Donald's favorite network.

[NurseJackie]

11. ...

[BlueFlorida]

18. Spin Spin Spin

[MrsCoffee]

2. And then the waters parted.

[NurseJackie]

3. LOL!

[Uncle Joe]

7. No but there was some parting between Trump and FOX.

[MrsCoffee]

9. You forgot the "y" in partying.

At least Fox will live to broadcast another day and not go broke, right?

[Uncle Joe]

14. They were never in danger of going broke even before the town hall and

more to the point Bernie spoke unfiltered to Trump's core audience.

Which is most important to you FOX getting a bump in their ratings or Trump being defeated in 2020?

[MrsCoffee]

15. Trump being defeated in 2020.

Which is exactly why I was opposed to Sanders entering the race again. I think he hurts our chances with his divisive politics.

[BlueFlorida]

19. lol nt

[Gothmog]

42. LOL

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. Yep and Bernie kicked ass against a stacked Fox audience.

Regardless of all the teeth gnashing and obfuscating regarding the crowd makeup, the first question was from a republican student activist. So this bizarre need to claim the audience was “100% Bernie supporters” is just pathetic.

[BlueFlorida]

21. 95% of the audience was Bernie supporters nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

24. Lol. No. Well at least we are up to 5 percent.

The other day is was only one non Bernie supporter.

[BlueFlorida]

36. Please don't get me wrong

the others were Fox camera crew and staffers.

[Uncle Joe]

38. 95% do you have a link to verify those figures?

Did Trump supporters not get the memo that the town hall would be taking place on his favorite network?

[Go Vols]

41. Doubt you will get a link.

[LanternWaste]

29. There is then objective evidence to support that allegation?

"a stacked Fox audience."

There is then objective evidence to support that allegation? Or simply an additional allegation to support its truthiness?

[WeekiWater]

6. This really isn't funny. It's an offensive and a completely blind mindset, at best.

And that really is "at best."

[Uncle Joe]

8. It wasn't meant to be funny, it was an analogy. n/t

[WeekiWater]

12. It's something. NT

[Demit]

10. This writer wants us to think of presidential candidates the way Hollywood executives do?

What a horrible idea. It might be all about image & drama for him, he's a "former executive vice president of programming for CBS Television Distribution," but encouraging voters AND candidates to be so shallow-minded as to think of a presidential campaign—especially THIS one—as entertainment is a terrible, awful, no-good idea. The Hill shouldn't encourage this kind of thinking by publishing it. Bah.

[Uncle Joe]

16. He knows marketing and mass psychology, after all T.V. has spent billions of dollars

since its' inception in the 1950s to understand what moves people, drama, risk and courage.

[Demit]

43. No kidding.

[Buzz cook]

13. You do know the Sister Soulja moment was not a good thing?

Clinton condemned a black entertainer for making an ironic statement about the Los Angeles riots. He did it to increase his cred with white people not because Sister Soulja had said anything worthy of being condemned for.

Claiming such a moment in context is pretty darned tone deaf for Sanders and his people.

Besides a true Siter Soulja moment in Sanders case would be to condemn young people and leftists. It was Clinton's rejection of a large part of his base, or the appearance of it, that he was lauded for. Bernie hasn't done that.

[Uncle Joe]

20. That depends on what your view of "extremism" is?

When a government becomes dysfunctional in caring for the most critical needs of its people all in sacrifice to and dependence upon the almighty dollar and the wealthiest among us while the least among us become cannon fodder, destitute, homeless or are subjugated to a 21st century version of slavery, then "moderation" in supporting such a system is de-facto extremism.

[Buzz cook]

23. And what does that

have to do with my post?

And you do know that you're paraphrasing Barry Goldwater don't you?
"Tolerance in the face of tyranny is no virtue. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Moderation in the protection of liberty is no virtue; extremism in the defense of freedom is no vice."

[Uncle Joe]

28. According to Wikipedia which the author cites for the analogy

In United States politics, a Sister Souljah moment is a politician's public repudiation of an extremist person or group, statement, or position perceived to have some association with the politician or the politician's party.[1]

It has been described as "a key moment when the candidate takes what at least appears to be a bold stand against certain extremes in their party"[2] and as "a calculated denunciation of an extremist position or special interest group."[3] Such an act of repudiation is designed to signal to centrist voters that the politician is not beholden to traditional, and sometimes unpopular, interest groups associated with the party,[citation needed] although such a repudiation runs the risk of alienating some of the politician's allies and the party's base voters. The term is named after the hip hop artist Sister Souljah.[3]

(snip)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Souljah_moment

The candidate’s remarks lifted his profile and poll numbers, convincing what were then called “Reagan Democrats” that he was an independent centrist they could support.

Since then, intentionally breaking with party orthodoxy to plant a flag of autonomy has been dubbed a “Sister Souljah moment.” (You can even look it up on Wikipedia.)

That’s what Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) did on April 15, when he went his own way and did a town hall on Fox News. Back in March, Democratic National Committee chief Tony Perez announced that Fox would not host Democratic primary debates. That then evolved into a de facto ban on any kind of special candidate appearances on Fox. Party insiders strongly criticized Sanders for deep-sixing this doctrine when he announced his event.

But then the ratings came in.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/439988-bernie-sanders-claims-his-sister-souljah-moment

[Buzz cook]

31. And which of his supporters

Did Sanders take to task?

Sanders did no such thing. Now if he had condemned things such as the attacks by his supporters on Pete Buttigieg, that would have been a truer Sister Soulja moment in the popular meaning. To attack the usual targets in a different venue is not.

I have no problem with Sanders going on Faux, or with any individual candidate doing the same thing. I do agree that no democratic party debates should be held on Faux for the obvious reasons.

I do have a problem with Sanders and his supporters using a racist trope.

[Uncle Joe]

32. I just bolded the Wikipedia entry as to which supporters Bernie Sanders

ran the risk of alienating, but here it is again.

The candidate’s remarks lifted his profile and poll numbers, convincing what were then called “Reagan Democrats” that he was an independent centrist they could support.

Since then, intentionally breaking with party orthodoxy to plant a flag of autonomy has been dubbed a “Sister Souljah moment.” (You can even look it up on Wikipedia.)

That’s what Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) did on April 15, when he went his own way and did a town hall on Fox News. Back in March, Democratic National Committee chief Tony Perez announced that Fox would not host Democratic primary debates. That then evolved into a de facto ban on any kind of special candidate appearances on Fox. Party insiders strongly criticized Sanders for deep-sixing this doctrine when he announced his event.

But then the ratings came in.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/439988-bernie-sanders-claims-his-sister-souljah-moment

Most of Bernie's support actually comes from Democrats, I believe the last poll that I remember was at about 74%.

[Buzz cook]

33. If that's your case

it is a very weak one. And still no excuse for using a racist trope.

[Uncle Joe]

34. Yes it was so weak no other Democratic Candidate thought about going on

a FOX town hall, until after Bernie lead the way, emerged triumphant and at least two and half million viewers tuned in real time.

[Buzz cook]

35. You're avoiding the point.

I commend you for you loyalty.

[Uncle Joe]

37. You're avoiding the substance of the analogy.

I commend you for your evasiveness.

[Politicub]

40. Did you live through it? Because I lived through that time.

Again, it wasn't a good look for Clinton with African Americans.

The Sister Souljah Moment finds it origins in 1992 when former President Bill Clinton was campaigning and decided he wanted to appeal to blue color voters, independents and soccer moms who seemed to be apprehensive about Clinton’s connection to Black folks, in particular Reverend Jesse Jackson. He figured the best way to reach those voters was to show up at Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition convention and publicly smash on him and create some distance.

Clinton’s people were looking for a good excuse and found it in the form of Sista Souljah who was invited to speak at the same convention.. Souljah in an interview about the Rodney King/ LA Uprisings that occurred earlier that year was quoted as saying ‘If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?’.. her remarks were connected to a much longer response and in full context makes sense, but isolated subjected her to criticism.

Souljah also had a song out called The Final Solution: Slavery’s back in Effect where she said ‘If there are any good white people, I haven’t met them’…

The Clinton team used those two situations to basically embarrass Jackson at his own convention. During his speech Clinton remarked; “If you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black,’ and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech,” referring to Sista Souljah..
http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2012/06/13/20-years-ago-the-infamous-sister-souljah-moment-occured-we-look-back/

The Sister Soljah moment must have taken on a different meaning since that time.

[highplainsdem]

25. Moderation equals de-facto extremism? LOL. And btw, I'm not aware of any Democratic candidates

who are "supporting" the poor becoming cannon fodder, homeless, etc.

It doesn't help Sanders supporters to act as if anyone who isn't a Sanders true-believer is a villain.

[MaryMagdaline]

26. That's the way I remember it

If he wanted to say "breakout moment," that's one thing, but this analogy does not fly.

[Politicub]

39. "A true Sister Soulja moment in Sanders case would be to condemn young people and leftists."

Brilliant!



And I agree... it wasn't Clinton's best hour.

[SidDithers]

17. Well at least the Berners aren't calling it a Queen Latifah moment this time...nt

Sid

[NurseJackie]

27. OMG! You're kidding, right? Just making that up?

[SidDithers]

30. I wish I were...

Noted racist troll WillyT was responsible for that one.




Sid

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. Oy Vey