Debates primary
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">disambig? premature see main DEBATE-gate</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">this includes general election debates
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">when <b>Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/14/1092916451/republicans-say-theyre-quitting-the-biased-commission-on-presidential-debates" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">announced</a> in April that the GOP would no longer participate in debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, she said that her party was committed to identifying “newer, better debate platforms” to replace “the biased CPD.”</b> For a glimpse of what they may be after, look no further than the motley collection of right-wing election deniers, anti-vaxxers, and conspiracy theorists selected to moderate recent Republican primary debates.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing commentators <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/why-conservatives-love-trumps-attacks-journalists" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spend a lot of time</a> complaining about purported liberal media bias, using regular salvos to work the refs and make excuses for their failures. Those complaints <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/02/politics/2020-presidential-election-debates-moderators-trump/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">typically</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/17/candy-crowley-republicans-benghazi-interjection" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">crescendoed</a> every four years with the <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-reacts-to-first-debate-performance-228766" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">presidential</a> debates. Republican politicians and conservative media figures would rage about the purported unfairness of the CPD-selected moderators, even as the party’s Fox News <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-republican-party-here-are-over-400-examples-proving-it" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">propaganda arm</a> maintained a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/chris-wallace/chris-wallace-repeatedly-coddles-trump-debate-youll-be-happy-next-question" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">slot</a> in the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/what-expect-fox-news-chris-wallace-tonights-presidential-debate" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">moderator rotation</a>. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Debates for down-ballot races are generally more sedate affairs, typically moderated by anchors or reporters from local television affiliates, public radio stations, or print outlets. But this year, GOP primary candidates have also turned to national right-wing outlets, talk radio hosts, and fringe pundits.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Newsmax,</b> a far-right cable network which <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-newsmax-supports-trumps-false-voter-fraud-claims" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">infamously</a> tried to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22187529/fox-news-post-trump-identity-crisis-matt-gertz-oan-newsmax-media-matters" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">seize market share</a> from Fox by going all-in on then-President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election had been stolen from him and currently faces lawsuits from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/03/business/media/smartmatic-newsmax-oan.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">multiple</a> election technology <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026509404/dominion-sues-conservative-media-oan-newsmax-2020-election" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">companies</a> in connection with that fraudulent reporting, has already hosted at least two high-profile Republican primary debates this cycle. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Eric Bolling <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/21/nyregion/republican-debate-newsmax-governor.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">moderated</a> a New York gubernatorial primary debate for the network in June.</b> Bolling, a former host for Fox and Sinclair Media Group, is a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-nation/fox-news-promotes-eric-bolling-noted-bigot-conspiracy-theorist-and-muppet-hater" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">notorious bigot</a> who <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/eric-bolling-fired-from-fox-news-after/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">lost his Fox gig</a> after reportedly sending an unsolicited and unwanted photo of male genitalia to at least three female colleagues. He emerged in recent years as a key vector of conspiracy theories about <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sinclair-broadcast-group/sinclairs-eric-bolling-has-promoted-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">COVID-19 vaccines</a> who also regularly spread lies about <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sinclair-broadcast-group/sinclairs-final-america-week-episode-will-spread-big-lie-led-january-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">purported fraud</a> in the 2020 election. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Greta Van Susteren, who previously hosted shows at MSNBC, Fox, and CNN before <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/05/greta-van-susteren-joins-newsmax-nightly-program-debuts-in-june-1235031390/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">joining</a> Newsmax in May, also <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/politics/mehmet-oz-pennsylvania-senate-debate/2022/05/04/id/1068548/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">moderated</a> a Pennsylvania GOP Senate debate that month. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mark Levin, who hosts a weekly TV show for Fox, a streaming show for BlazeTV, and one of the right’s most popular syndicated talk radio broadcasts, will <a href="https://barrettsportsmedia.com/2022/06/22/mark-levin-will-moderate-two-congressional-debates-in-florida/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">moderate</a> two congressional primary debates in Florida this month</span>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Levin, who was selected by the Republican Party of Florida, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-host-who-apparently-helped-mastermind-john-eastmans-coup-plot-was-only-one-talking" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">apparently helped mastermind</a> the Trump plot to illegally reject electors from key states that supported Joe Biden and thus subvert the election to keep Trump in office and has a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/short-guide-mark-levin-trumps-likely-source-his-wiretapping-lie" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">long record</a> of bigoted commentary.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I have Mark Levin that's going to moderate those. Obviously, he's a great guy, very smart," Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference about the events. DeSantis <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/ron-desantis-fox-fueled-rise-gop-presidential-contender" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">touted Levin’s support</a> on his campaign website when he first ran for governor in 2018.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Levin and Newsmax have national presences, in other cases, debate organizers have turned to lower-profile right-wing figures from the area. In Wisconsin, three GOP candidates for governor <a href="https://www.wpr.org/rebecca-kleefisch-kevin-nicholson-tim-ramthun-attack-tim-michels-gop-primary-debate" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">participated in a debate</a> moderated by local right-wing radio host Joe Giganti last month. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 102);">These events don’t always accomplish their intent of promoting the candidates without the sinister involvement of the “liberal media.” Lara Logan</span>, a former CBS News correspondent-turned-Fox-personality, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lara-logan/pizzagate-january-6-moron-zelensky-and-aliens-foxs-lara-logan-goes-conspiracy-theory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">toured</a> the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lara-logan/lara-logan-tells-qanon-influencer-she-working-people-establish-press-club-america" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">internet fever swamps</a> this year touting an array of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lara-logan/fox-nation-host-lara-logan-shares-conspiracy-theories-about-putins-purge-rothschild" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">increasingly bonkers</a> conspiracy theories. She also moderated a <a href="https://rumble.com/vulp8w-congressional-debate-for-tx-cd8.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">GOP primary debate</a> for a Texas congressional race in February, and while her questions were firmly embedded in far-right talking points, she <a href="https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1495078907728601097" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">drew criticism</a> from viewers for her rambling, discursive monologues.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here is one of Logan’s questions from that debate:</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">LARA LOGAN (MODERATOR): So speaking of the right to privacy and the Fourth Amendment, it didn't just – it wasn't just written for search and seizure in the Patriot Act. It was written also because what did the British do? They quartered in people's homes and they took everything from them and they prevented them from meeting and they prevented them from organizing and they prevented them from communicating. And what is happening in this country today, if you went to the Capitol on January 6, you can't even have a bank account in certain places in this country. </span><b style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">And what that leads us into very neatly as well is Big Tech, you know?</b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"> You know what happens? Everybody says, “Oh, we don't support Big Tech. We don't support Section 230 liability,” and yet we don't see anything change. Ted Cruz, he goes up there, he makes these grand speeches and they have fabulous. And you know what changes? Nothing. So I want to know how many of you have taken money from Google or Facebook or Twitter or any of them, if you would take money from any of them if they offered it to you? A lot of it because that's how they roll. </span><b style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">And also, what would you do to break up these monopolie</b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">s?</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Strip them of their Section 230 protections</span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"> and <b>stop the people in this audience and all over this country every single day being censored, every single day, </b>because it is happening on a scale that is unimaginable and underreported. And the order for that is a high order crash. Are you sure? Twice in a row. Christian just. He just went first. Morgan, it's you first.</span></font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And sometimes the events fail to materialize. In Pennsylvania, four GOP gubernatorial candidates signed a letter to “the Pennsylvania press” <a href="https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/four-gop-gov-candidates-demand-republican-moderator-no-yes-or-no-qs-for-primary-debates/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">demanding</a> a Republican debate moderator. While they <a href="https://www.witf.org/2022/04/20/gop-gubernatorial-hopefuls-argue-the-issues-agree-on-criticizing-those-who-skipped-debate/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">skipped</a> a debate when such a moderator was not provided, they all ultimately folded and participated in at least one subsequent <a href="https://www.abc27.com/pennsylvania-governor-election-2022/live-at-8-pennsylvania-republican-gubernatorial-debate/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">forum</a>. </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It’s hard to identify where Republicans might draw a line against having total loons moderating their debates. Last week, Jim Hoft published a <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/06/announcement-gateway-pundit-real-americas-voice-host-televised-missouri-gop-senate-debate-july-11-700-pm/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">press release</a> on his Gateway Pundit website inviting the four leading candidates for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in Missouri to participate in a July 11 debate moderated by himself and Real America’s Voice host Gina Loudon. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s difficult to imagine that this will come together. Hoft is a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/donald-trump-trying-subvert-election-here-list-right-wing-media-voices" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">far-right</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/jim-hoft/coronavirus-conspiracy-theorist-jim-hoft-publishes-then-deletes-false-report-about" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conspiracy</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/gateway-pundit/far-right-website-funneling-russian-propaganda-conservative-echo-chamber" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">theorist</a> who is also <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/gateway-pundit/20-plus-times-jim-hoft-and-gateway-pundit-were-absurdly-wrong" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">perhaps</a> the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/gateway-pundit/jim-hoft-dumbest-man-internet" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">dumbest man on the internet</a>, while Loudon is a <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-adviser-gina-loudons-book-claimed-she-has-a-phd-in-psychology-she-doesnt-its-in-human-and-organization-systems" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">charlatan</a> and her outlet has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/website-far-right-broadcaster-real-americas-voice-full-qanon-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">provided a home</a> for QAnon conspiracy theory content. And yet, given the trajectory of the GOP’s moderators, it’s not unthinkable.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s long been an incestuous relationship between the Republican Party and the right-wing media. GOP candidates try to stand out from their peers in hopes of attracting attention from the dominant players in the conservative echo chamber and ride that wave to victory. The most successful candidates were often those who sounded most like right-wing media figures – or those who actually were former right-wing media figures themselves.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now GOP candidates aren’t just preening for the attention of propagandists like Levin and kooks like Logan – those are the people the party wants moderating its debates.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">an 4 22 nl lnx twt</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">'You have nothing to offer': the GOP's Orwellian debate pledge whips up a frenzy on social media</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brandon Gage April 14, 2022</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The Republican National Committee announced on Thursday that it is withdrawing from the Commission on Presidential Debates and that presidential candidates must pledge to only participate in debates that are sanctioned by the party.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Debates are an important part of the democratic process, and the RNC is committed to free and fair debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and common-sense reforms to help ensure fair debates, including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage," RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a press release.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Today, the RNC voted to withdraw from the biased CPD, and we are going to find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make their case to the American people," McDaniel added.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"The GOP is not walking away from debates. We are walking away from the Commission on Presidential Debates," the party tweeted later in the day. "It is biased and does not serve the interest of the American people."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to The Wall Street Journal, "the RNC plans to form a working group to sanction debates based on input from presidential campaigns and criteria that may include timing, frequency, format, media outlet, candidate qualifications and the 'best interest of the Republican Party.'"</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>At face value, the RNC's move is a capitulation to former President Donald Trump's complaints that the debates he participated in with other GOP primary contenders in 2016 – as well as those with Democratic presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden – were unfair and rigged against him.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The bulk of Trump's ire was rooted in the moderators calling him out for outrageously false and provocative statements, such as when he directed the white nationalist Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" during his one-on-one with now-President Biden in 2020.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The RNC's decision thusly adds credence to the possibility of Trump running for president again in 2024. If he does, the GOP is clearly attempting to manipulate its primary processes to favor Trump.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It also puts out an undeniable Orwellian vibe, which the Twitterverse noted in response to the Republican Party's edict</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 920</font></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/the-only-winner-of-last-nights-debate-was-dictatorship-and-oligarchy/" aria-label="The only winner of last night's 'debate' was dictatorship and oligarchy" style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" outline="outline" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" line-height="line-height"> only winner of last night's 'debate' was dictatorship and oligarchy</a></h1><div class="social-author clearfix" style="margin-top: 10px; display: inline-block; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/thom-hartmann" style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Thom Hartmann</a> <a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams" style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Common Dreams</a></div><span style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><div class="social-date" style="margin-top: 8px; display: inline-block; color: rgb(164, 162, 160); font-size: 1.4rem; vertical-align: top; font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <span class="social-datetext" style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(142, 142, 142); top: 3px; position: relative; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; line-height: 1; left: -3px;">September 30, 2020</span></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2647869008" style="margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; font-size: 17px; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); text-overflow: ellipsis; display: -webkit-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 4; overflow: hidden; line-height: 31px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p>What we saw last night was the dictator's playbook.</p><p>Tell violent white supremacist racists to "stand by" and encourage them to s...</p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">220 neglected; amy made big move in nevada? (pinata bloomberg?) by jumping in, aND in so caro, last before super tues aLL tired, thus chaotic turnoff for some voters?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gru russia will use as model to divide later in 2020?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 920 post 1st </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">C</font><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/cnns-jake-tapper-trump-biden-debate-was-a-hot-mess-inside-a-dumpster-fire-inside-a-train-wreck/" aria-label="CNN's Jake Tapper: Trump-Biden debate was 'a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck'" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; word-break: break-word; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 25px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">NN's Jake Tapper: Trump-Biden debate was<b> 'a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck'</b></font></a></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="social-author clearfix" style="margin-top: 10px; display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/elizabeth-preza" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Elizabeth Preza</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><div class="social-date" style="margin-top: 8px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <span class="social-date__text" style="top: 3px; position: relative; line-height: 1; left: -3px;">September 30, 2020</span></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2647863386" style="margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; text-overflow: ellipsis; display: -webkit-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 4; overflow: hidden; line-height: 31px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday offered a succinct analysis of the 2020 presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, calling the spectacle "a hot mess, inside a...</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 920</font></div><div><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title grid-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">f<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/first-presidential-debate-set-to-ignore-humanitys-most-pressing-issue-even-as-the-planet-is-burning/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">irst presidential debate set to ignore humanity’s most pressing issue — even as the planet is burning</a></font></h2><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/jake-johnson/" title="Posts by Jake Johnson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Jake Johnson</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams/" title="Posts by Common Dreams" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Common Dreams</a> </span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">September 23, 2020</span></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even as devastating wildfires across the U.S. West Coast and rapidly shrinking Arctic sea ice offer alarming evidence of the reality and immediacy of the climate crisis, the planetary emergency was apparently deemed not…</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title grid-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">f<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/fox-news-anchor-hosting-first-presidential-debate-picks-trump-campaign-talking-points-as-topics/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">ox News anchor hosting first presidential debate picks Trump campaign talking points as topics</a></font></h2><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/david-badash/" title="Posts by David Badash" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">David Badash</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/the-new-civil-rights-movement/" title="Posts by The New Civil Rights Movement" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The New Civil Rights Movement</a> </span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">September 23, 2020</span></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chris Wallace, the Fox News anchor who will moderate the first presidential debate in one week from today, has decided on the topics. The Commission on Presidential Debates has released the list,…</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wapo grab</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Election 2020 highlights: Democrats jockey for support ahead of S.C. primary</b></div><div>By </div><div>John Wagner, </div><div>Colby Itkowitz and </div><div>Felicia Sonmez </div><div>February 26, 2020 </div><div>
</div><div>The Democratic presidential candidates jockeyed for position in South Carolina on Wednesday after a contentious debate the night before in Charleston in which they sparred over key policy areas including health-care costs, gun control and foreign affairs in a testy debate — and talked over one another a lot.</div><div>
</div><div>Biden picked up a key endorsement the morning after the debate from House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), a kingmaker in Palmetto State politics. The debate came ahead of a key primary this weekend in South Carolina and a rapid acceleration in the race for the nomination next week, on Super Tuesday, when 14 states and two other jurisdictions hold nominating contests.</div><div>
</div><div>Seven Democrats took the stage for the 10th Democratic debate: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); former vice president Joe Biden; former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.); Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.); investor Tom Steyer; and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. Several candidates attacked Sanders for the costs of his health-care proposals, and others squared off with Bloomberg over a range of policy matters, including his massive wealth.</div><div>
</div><div>Rep. Clyburn endorses Biden, offering a boost ahead of S.C. primary</div><div><b>Sanders takes fire in an unruly debate that left no candidate truly enhanced</b></div><div>Bernie Sanders refuses to get bogged down – or pinned down – on specifics during Democratic debate</div><div>Bloomberg improves from his last debate — but is it enough?</div><div>The Democratic Party’s presidential delegate process | What to know about the next Democratic debate | Election calendar</div><div>
</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 9:40 PM EST</div><div>
</div><div>Sanders offers some personal reflection at campaign stop</div><div>GOLDSBORO, N.C. — “Who is Bernie Sanders? Sometimes I wish I knew.”</div><div>
</div><div>That was how the senator from Vermont began his introduction at a church here Wednesday evening, where he touched on a variety of subjects ranging from his family — something he is normally reluctant to discuss — to his grievances with the news media and debate moderators and his exasperation with critics of his views on health care.</div><div>
</div><div>Speaking at an event hosted by the Rev. William Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign, he spoke of growing up in Brooklyn in a family of modest means and recounted the story of his father’s immigrant journey to America. Sanders said that when he was a child, when he read about “the slaughter of the Jewish people,” it reduced him to tears.</div><div>
</div><div>For a candidate who is not usually inclined to share his personal story, it was an unusually detailed and candid retelling.</div><div>
</div><div>“That has left a lasting impact in who I am as a person,” the senator said.</div><div>
</div><div>Sanders, who rarely holds question-and-answer sessions with groups of reporters, also repeatedly alleged that the news media does not ask him questions about how to combat income inequality and problems in the nation’s health-care system. He also seemed to revel in his status as a top target of his rivals at Tuesday night’s debate, a reflection of his standing atop the polls.</div><div>
</div><div>“I had to keep ducking and weaving,” he told the audience. Sanders also rejected the notion that believing health care is a human right should be seen as radical. “What an extremist! Communist! Oh, my God,” he said, mocking his critics’ assessment of his ideas.</div><div>
</div><div>By Sean Sullivan</div><div>
</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 7:45 PM EST</div><div>
</div><div><b>Trump blames stock market dip on Democratic presidential candidates</b></div><div>The coronavirus is not the only reason the stock market dropped this week — it’s also the fault of the Democratic presidential candidates, Trump said during a news conference to update the public on the virus.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump claimed that when investors see the “Democratic candidates standing on that stage making fools of themselves, when they look at the statements made … I think that has a huge effect.”</div><div>
</div><div>Financial experts point to the potential disruption to the global markets due to the coronavirus as the reason stocks are down.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump said that’s true but that “you can add quite a bit of sell-off” to the fear that a Democrat will win the White House.</div><div>
</div><div>“After I win the election the stock market is going to boom like it’s never boomed before,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div>By Colby Itkowitz</div><div>
</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 5:55 PM EST</div><div><b>Warren pitches herself as a ‘fighter’ who took on big banks</b></div><div>Campaigning in South Carolina, Warren continued pitching herself as a “fighter” who would be willing to “dig” into the details and make actual change once in office.</div><div>
</div><div>Though she didn’t call out other candidates by name on a tele-town hall Wednesday, Warren echoed a message she had conveyed on the debate stage the previous night — and that she has increasingly made in recent weeks — when she carefully drew a distinction between herself and Sanders. In essence, she said, Sanders talked a good talk on a progressive agenda; she would walk the walk.</div><div>
</div><div>On the call Wednesday, Warren emphasized her work creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with President Barack Obama.</div><div>
</div><div>“I can get stuff done,” she told an undecided voter on the call. “For example, that consumer agency? Everybody told me, ‘Give up now, girl, because you cannot make this happen.’ And I just refused to give up. I got out there, took on the big banks. They were spending a million dollars a day lobbying against me. … And yet, I got in that fight. I took them on. I built the coalitions … and got that thing passed into law, and I’ve done that again and again.”</div><div>
</div><div>Warren also noted that she got the CEO of Wells Fargo fired and led the charge against cuts to Social Security in 2013.</div><div>
</div><div>“And I’ve done a lot of that with very little power,” Warren said on the call. “You put me in a position where I’m president of the United States, boy, I will use the power I have to make a real difference.”</div><div>
</div><div>By Amy Wang</div><div>AD</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 5:09 PM EST</div><div>Obama demands South Carolina stations pull misleading ad attacking Biden</div><div>Former president Barack Obama is calling on South Carolina television stations to stop running an ad from a pro-Trump super PAC that uses his words out of context in a misleading attack on Biden.</div><div>
</div><div>The Committee to Defend the President reported to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday spending more than $250,000 in South Carolina to oppose Biden.</div><div>
</div><div>The group, which placed a similar amount of anti-Biden advertising in Nevada earlier this month, circulated an ad that falsely suggests that words Obama spoke in the narration of his own book were meant to describe Biden.</div><div>
</div><div>Read more here.</div><div>
</div><div>By Michael Scherer and Anu Narayanswamy</div><div>AD</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 5:00 PM EST</div><div><b>Sanders takes aim at Trump over New York Times lawsuit</b></div><div>Hours after Trump’s campaign announced that it was suing the New York Times, Sanders responded with a statement sharply criticizing the president over the move.</div><div>
</div><div>“Trump has called the press the ‘enemy of the people,’ and now — taking a page from his dictator friends around the world — is trying to dismantle the right to a free press in the First Amendment by suing the New York Times for publishing an opinion column about his dangerous relationship with Russia,” Sanders said.</div><div>
</div><div>He added: “Enough. Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in modern history, and this November we will defeat him, restore the rule of law, and protect our constitutional rights.”</div><div>
</div><div>Sanders has frequently railed against the “corporate media.” In August, the U.S. senator from Vermont took aim at The Washington Post in two separate town halls, accusing the newspaper of being biased against his campaign due to his criticism of Amazon’s labor practices and tax record.</div><div>
</div><div>Sanders did not cite any evidence for his claims at the time; he later clarified that he was speaking about corporate media more broadly. The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, and operates independently of Amazon.</div><div>
</div><div>By Felicia Sonmez</div><div>AD</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 3:48 PM EST</div><div>Democratic Senate candidates endorsed by DSCC are not backing Sanders</div><div>Party establishment-backed candidates in three Senate races crucial to the Democrats’ path to winning control of the Senate are divided over their preferred 2020 presidential candidate.</div><div>
</div><div>MJ Hegar, running as the establishment’s pick to take on incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R) in Texas, announced that she had voted early for Warren.</div><div>
</div><div>Last week, Cal Cunningham in North Carolina said he voted early for Buttigieg. And earlier this month, Theresa Greenfield in Iowa caucused for Klobuchar.</div><div>
</div><div>It’s little surprise that Sanders, the race’s current front-runner, wouldn’t receive support from candidates sanctioned by the national Democrats’ official campaign arms. Despite being in Congress for nearly 30 years, Sanders remains an outsider. He has eight congressional endorsements, but just one is from a senator — fellow Vermonter Patrick J. Leahy (D).</div><div>
</div><div>By Colby Itkowitz</div><div>AD</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 3:37 PM EST</div><div>John Legend stumps for Warren in South Carolina</div><div>ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Singer John Legend performed two songs, including one about a slow burn love affair, at Warren’s town hall Wednesday afternoon at a college auditorium here, introducing a new soundtrack for the candidate as she moves into the next phase of the campaign.</div><div>
</div><div>“This ain’t a movie, love. No fairy-tale conclusion, y’all,” Legend sang, sitting at a grand piano on a stage as the audience of largely black women stood and sang along. “It gets more confusing every day.”</div><div>
</div><div>It’s an appropriate choice for a campaign that so far has posted a third-place finish in Iowa and fourth place in New Hampshire and Nevada. But it remains optimistic that it can begin making big inroads in the delegate count after March 3, when 14 states vote, even though the campaign cannot name a state where it is confident Warren will prevail.</div><div>
</div><div>Despite Warren’s poor finishes so far, there is a head-scratching aspect of her campaign: Warren has been raising bucketloads of money online after strong debate performances, which will keep her massive operation going for at least a few more weeks. And she’s attracting thousands of people to events in places like Seattle and Denver.</div><div>
</div><div>The energy suggests that Warren’s campaign can persist, even without wins on the horizon. Warren also now benefits from a well-funded super PAC that’s blasting her message out in states that vote next week.</div><div>
</div><div>Legend, making brief remarks to introduce Warren, stressed that voters should try to tune out the punditry and focus on what Warren says she’d do in the White House.</div><div>
</div><div>“I know that Donald Trump is an existential threat to this nation, and everybody’s hoping and praying we pick the most electable candidate from the Democratic Party,” Legend said.</div><div>
</div><div>“But the fact is, I can’t predict who the most electable nominee is,” Legend said in his remarks. “And you probably can’t, either. So I’m going to vote based on who I think would make the best president.”</div><div>
</div><div>By Annie Linskey</div><div>
</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 3:16 PM EST</div><div><b>Trump campaign sues New York Times over year-old story related to Russia</b></div><div>The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the New York Times over an op-ed published in March that it alleges was defamatory for linking the campaign with Russia.</div><div>
</div><div>The lawsuit, filed in New York State Court, alleges that the newspaper “has engaged in a systematic pattern of bias against the Campaign, designed to maliciously interfere with and damage its reputation and seek to cause the organization to fail.”</div><div>
</div><div>The article was an opinion piece written by former Times executive editor Max Frankel, called “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo,” that said there was a “deal” between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. The campaign claims the article forces it to “expend funds on corrective advertisements” and is seeking damages.</div><div>
</div><div>These lawsuits are very difficult to win, especially in this case, because it involves an opinion piece and not a news article.</div><div>
</div><div>By Colby Itkowitz</div><div>AD</div><div><b>February 26, 2020 at 2:17 PM EST</b></div><div><b>Biden making first ad buys in Super Tuesday states</b></div><div>Biden’s campaign is planning to make its first advertising buys in Super Tuesday states, spending six figures across seven states in an attempt to lay the groundwork beyond South Carolina.</div><div>
</div><div>Biden’s campaign is planning to run an ad featuring then-President Barack Obama giving Biden the Medal of Freedom in several southern states with large African American populations. The ad will air in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.</div><div>
</div><div>Biden is being heavily outspent by his rivals, according to data from the firm Advertising Analytics. All other campaigns have made significant investments throughout the race and have much more planned in coming days.</div><div>
</div><div>Over the next week, Bloomberg is spending $35 million, while businessman Steyer is spending $5.9 million, and Sanders is spending $3.6 million. Klobuchar is at $1.1 million — with another $356,000 from a super PAC backing her — while Warren is spending $628,000, with another $307,000 from the super PAC supporting her. Buttigieg is spending about $25,000, according to the data.</div><div>
</div><div>By Matt Viser</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 1:36 PM EST</div><div><b>Prospect of Sanders as presidential nominee divides Senate Democrats</b></div><div>Senate Democrats, who have worked more closely with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) than anyone else in the past 13 years, split into several factions when considering the increasing likelihood of the self-proclaimed democratic socialist as their standard-bearer against President Trump.</div><div>
</div><div>Some question whether Sanders and his liberal agenda can appeal to suburban swing voters critical to the party’s hopes of claiming GOP Senate seats in Colorado, Maine, Arizona and North Carolina. “I think winning a primary election and winning a general election are two different things,” said Sen. Michael F. Bennet (Colo.), a failed 2020 contender himself.</div><div>
</div><div>Others say the key is forging unity once the presidential primary contest is settled, bringing together all sides to help Democratic chances up and down the ballot. “I’m not in the freakout caucus. I think the main thing is that we need to come together and support the eventual nominee, whoever that nominee is,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), who has previously chaired House and Senate campaign committees.</div><div>
</div><div>Read more here.</div><div>
</div><div>By Paul Kane</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 1:27 PM EST</div><div><b>Sen. Rubio says Sanders is a Marxist, not a democratic socialist</b></div><div>Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) continued to press his argument Wednesday that Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, is actually a Marxist — offering a preview of the kind of Republican attacks the senator from Vermont could face if he becomes the Democratic nominee.</div><div>
</div><div>“Bernie Sanders is actually not a socialist. His sympathies and ideas are Marxist,” Rubio said in a tweet, referring to the ideology named for 19th-century German philosopher Karl Marx.</div><div>
</div><div>Rubio attached a clip of an appearance on Fox News from Tuesday night in which he made that argument.</div><div>
</div><div>“This is Marxism, and Marxism is based on the belief that no person has any value as an individual, that your value is that you’re a member of a class,” Rubio told host Sean Hannity. “Second, Marxism is based on the belief that an employer and an employee, a worker and an owner, can’t both help each other and both be better off.”</div><div>
</div><div>By John Wagner</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 1:17 PM EST</div><div>Sanders attacks Biden’s record, says it makes it harder to compete against Trump</div><div>NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Sanders attacked Biden on Wednesday, arguing that the former vice president’s policy record will impede his ability to marshal an effective movement against President Trump.</div><div>
</div><div>“I say to my good friend Joe Biden: Joe, you can’t do it when you have voted for terrible trade policies,” said Sanders, who went on to assail Biden’s vote for a bankruptcy bill and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.</div><div>
</div><div>His comments reflected the state of the race ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina primary. Polls here show that Biden and Sanders are the two leading candidates.</div><div>
</div><div>Sanders spoke to a predominantly white audience here. He spent the morning at a breakfast hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, where multiple candidates spoke. The audience there was mostly African American.</div><div>
</div><div>By Sean Sullivan</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 12:52 PM EST</div><div>Bloomberg debuts ad focused on coronavirus</div><div>Bloomberg on Wednesday unveiled a new television ad, slated to run in Super Tuesday states, suggesting that he is well equipped to manage the spread of coronavirus.</div><div>
</div><div>The 30-second spot, the latest in a barrage that the former mayor of New York is funding with his own money, opens with news footage about the arrival of coronavirus cases in the United States and the effect on financial markets.</div><div>
</div><div>“Managing a crisis is what Mike Bloomberg does,” a narrator says. “In the aftermath of 9/11, he steadied and rebuilt America’s largest city, oversaw emergency response to natural disasters, upgraded hospital preparedness to manage health crises, and he’s funding cutting-edge research to contain epidemics.”</div><div>
</div><div>The ad comes as the coronavirus crisis increasingly becomes a focus for the Democratic contenders — and demands more of President Trump’s time. In response to the epidemic, Warren has released an infectious-diseases plan.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump, meanwhile, has announced a 6 p.m. news conference Wednesday with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others to discuss the spread of the virus. His planned appearance comes as Democratic congressional leaders accuse him of not moving swiftly enough.</div><div>
</div><div>In morning tweets, Trump accused the media of stoking panic about financial markets.</div><div>
</div><div>By John Wagner</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 12:22 PM EST</div><div>Trump sends a perplexing tweet about Buttigieg</div><div>President Trump sent a perplexing tweet Wednesday that left open to interpretation how he views the candidacy of Buttigieg.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump shared an assessment of the former South Bend, Ind., mayor by conservative political commentator Eric Bolling, which noted that Bolling remains with Trump “all the way.”</div><div>
</div><div>“But … if I had to live in an America with one of the Dems as Potus at this point I believe it would be @PeteButtigieg,” Bolling wrote. “He seems smart, even tempered and as moderate as any on the stage. Holds his own with career pols.”</div><div>
</div><div>In his own words, Trump added: “Eric, I can live with that!”</div><div>
</div><div>It was unclear whether Trump was suggesting he could live with a Buttigieg presidency or that he was merely saying he could live with Bolling’s assessment.</div><div>
</div><div>A Trump campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for elaboration.</div><div>
</div><div>By John Wagner</div><div>February 26, 2020 at 11:20 AM EST</div><div>Democrats make starkly different pitches to audience of black voters</div><div>NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Six of the seven Democrats competing in South Carolina’s primary spent Wednesday morning with Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, making markedly different pitches to an audience of around 200 black voters.</div><div>
</div><div>Biden spoke first, and most briefly, praising House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) shortly before he would accept Clyburn’s endorsement at a separate event.</div><div>
</div><div>“Jim, you better hope I don’t win, because you’re going to be the busiest man in the world,” Biden said.</div><div>
</div><div>The audience sat with rapt attention for Biden, some shouting “yes!” or “come on!” when the candidate criticized President Trump and said that he sometimes didn’t know if it was 1920 or 2020.</div><div>
</div><div>The other five candidates who made it to the breakfast got generally quieter receptions. Some of them seemed to seek it; Warren told a personal story about her days as a Sunday school teacher, and how she saw the “divine” in every person, before making a familiar pitch for her wealth tax.</div><div>
</div><div>Some seemed to seek a bigger reaction than they got, with Klobuchar quickly running through her agenda.</div><div>
</div><div>“Yes, I'm a former prosecutor,” she said. “That was the job I did before I got to the Senate. And I think actually having someone that knows the system, the bad parts, the good parts, what needs to be changed.”</div><div>
</div><div>Sharpton took time to introduce each candidate, noting that he had not heard of Buttigieg before his campaign began, and saying that Warren had “faced gender bias more than anyone.”</div><div>
</div><div>Sharpton also gave some commentary on the candidates’ odds. He described Warren as a candidate who was making a difference “whether or not she becomes president,” but as she left the stage, he introduced Sanders as “the front-runner,” and warned against “red-baiting” by pointing out that Nelson Mandela, too, had once given praise to Fidel Castro.</div><div>
</div><div>Sanders, who trails Biden in polls here, described the president as a “racist” and argued that attempts to turn democratic socialism into a liability would fail.</div><div>
</div><div>“Dr. King talked about socialism during his life and what he said back then resonates today,” Sanders said. “This is what he said, and I quote: This country has socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.”</div><div>
</div><div>Steyer, whose free spending and constant campaigning has made him a factor in South Carolina, was the only candidate who criticized socialism by name.</div><div>
</div><div>“I want to put black people in charge of their economic destiny,” Steyer said, discussing his campaign to give loans to black businesses. The billionaire investor told the audience that he “grew up in the civil rights movement,” that he was the only candidate who supported reparations for the descendants of slaves, and that he had taken on the president only after black members of Congress set the tone.</div><div>
</div><div>“I saw a president who I thought was evil, who I thought was a racist,” Steyer said.</div><div>
</div><div>“Say that, Tom!” shouted one attendee.</div><div>
</div><div>Buttigieg, who was scrapping the rest of his Wednesday schedule after catching a cold, gave the most traditional stump speech of the day, describing how a “diverse and low-income city” took a chance on him. He got rousing applause, but on the way out, the mostly black audience had been most impressed by the candidate they’d known the longest.</div><div>
</div><div>“I respect them, but my mind is already made up,” said Tomi Greene, 70. “I’m for Biden.”</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/democratic-debate-2019-climate-crisis-2641657807.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/democratic-debate-2019-climate-crisis-2641657807.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">better on agw!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">words "poor poverty homeless" almost absent in debates so far 8? seen as a losing strategy? dn 12/20 AGW raised, not so much climate justice?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">potential cat: zinger. oh no he di'ent</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">history: RR inexperience of my opponent; where's the beef?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">whoo/applause line for seeming bravery to speak truth to power? // djt rally as andrew dice clay standup?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ej forum had warren, nj aa, tom</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/broadcast-networks/just-6-questions-asked-during-msnbcwashington-post-debate-were-about-climate"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/broadcast-networks/just-6-questions-asked-during-msnbcwashington-post-debate-were-about-climate</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/medicare-for-alls-biggest-critics-are-just-playing-dumb/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/medicare-for-alls-biggest-critics-are-just-playing-dumb/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Medicare for All’s biggest critics are just playing dumb</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Amanda Marcotte / Salon October 22, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After four Democratic primary debates in which the first hour was dominated by pundits — as well as centrist candidates — raising the alarm about how to pay for the widely popular Medicare for All proposal, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has finally agreed to release a funding proposal. In a sense this is odd, since, as Sen. Bernie Sanders repeatedly reminds voters, he is the one who “wrote the damn bill.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Warren feels obligated to do this because she, rather than Sanders, is increasingly the main or even sole target of opponents like South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is sending out missives declaring: “Elizabeth Warren Just Dodged Questions on Middle Class Taxes Again.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But there’s a problem with Buttigieg’s approach, as well as with all the pundit concern over potential about tax increases to pay for Medicare for All: This framing is painfully, incredibly, mind-bogglingly stupid. As Warren and Sanders keep pointing out — and as journalists and centrist politicians keep pretending not to hear — those tax raises will at least be offset by the end of private insurance, most likely leading to an overall decrease in health care costs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is so obvious, in fact, that we can safely assume that when Buttigieg or debate moderators or journalists keep asking<b> concern-troll questions </b>about Medicare for All and higher taxes, they are deliberately playing dumb, for the sole purpose of baiting the two progressive candidates near the top of the polls. The entire exercise is despicable. It confuses the issue, to the great shame of journalists who are supposed to be clarifying issues for voters. It feeds Republican talking points, to the great shame of Democrats who should not be eager to give Donald Trump ammunition he can use against the eventual nominee in 2020.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“New study: Full-scale ‘Medicare for All’ costs $32 trillion over 10 years,” screams a typically alarmist headline at The Hill.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Buried, however, multiple paragraphs into the article — well past where most people read — the piece admits that Americans “would no longer have to pay premiums or deductibles for their care, resulting in <b>$886 billion in savings for people over 10 years,</b>” and that the plan would <b>make sure the 32 million currently uninsured Americans would be covered.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">This is in line with other studies, even the one conducted by the conservative Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which have found that the $32 trillion government price tag would represent a significant savings for the country on health care spending.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There’s a recurring problem in the way this issue is framed by mainstream media and “moderate” Democratic framing of this issue: The nonsensical assumption that people hate paying taxes so much they’d rather let insurance companies gouge them than pay slightly higher taxes while overall health care spending goes down. </b>This is like claiming that an $100-a-month public transit pass is somehow more expensive than paying hundreds of dollars a month on car payments, insurance and gas. It’s flat-out asinine.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet, time and again, pundits and journalists and politicians act like they’re too dense to understand that two dollars is more than one dollar, even if that one dollar is taxes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Note that, for some unexplained reason, there is little or no debate about the funding of other health care proposals. Other candidates’ “Medicare for some” policies aren’t free, but the fact that no one asks how they’ll be paid for shows the extreme bad faith that is shaping this entire discussion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Obviously, the real point of constantly asking Warren about funding Medicare for All is to get her on the record saying that she plans to raise taxes. That’s a genuinely puzzling goal, because the only possible purpose of such a video clip is to give Trump fodder for a 2020 campaign ad.</b> Why Buttigieg and the Democratic debate moderators seem to think they are obliged to be Trump’s unpaid opposition researchers is truly a mystery....</font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div>