PBS Alcindor: Sources near Sanders said path became impossible when Biden didn't implode in debate

[highplainsdem]

Tweet from PBS's Yamiche Alcindor, minutes ago:

Link to tweet

Bernie Sanders is ending his campaign. Sources close to him have told me the path was essentially impossible without Joe Biden imploding during the last debate.

That actually WAS the general expectation among Sanders supporters on Twitter -- most of them assumed Biden would NOT be able to handle a one-on-one debate with Sanders, that the debate would end with Biden discredited and Sanders resurgent.

And even after the debate, when it was clear Biden had done very well and most people saw he'd won the debate, I saw Sanders supporters on Twitter trying to convince themselves and others than Sanders had destroyed Biden.

[PunkinPi]

1. There's a second tweet now...

Link to tweet

Mike Casca from Sanders campaign says: "The tweet about an Axios "report" is wrong. He's not suspending. Nothing has changed since this morning's statement."

[highplainsdem]

2. Thanks! But that doesn't change what Alcindor said about what sources close to Sanders told her, so

I'm leaving the OP. I don't think Alcindor would have made that up.

[PunkinPi]

13. I highly doubt Yamiche would make stuff up. No worries, both statements can be accurate. nt

[Demguy81]

31. I've tried

Many times to explain this to people. It doesn't mean that any journalist "got it wrong". What it does suggest is that Bernie likely has his advisors attempting to pull him in both directions. I think he wants out.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. Campaigns, winning or losing, want to control their own messaging

No campaign spokesperson can get out ahead of what the candidate himself is ready to officially state under circumstances, time and place, of that candidate's choosing. I'm sure the media is burning up the phone lines into the Sanders campaign seeking confirmation. The reply they are getting here is expected. Nothing will change from the last statement until the next one is ready, period. A campaign only officially suspends when a candidate officially suspends it, and any candidate deserves the right to present that decision to the public in a setting and context that feels right to them. No surprise here. Patience, and stay tuned.

[Me.]

3. So Their Strategy Was To Depend On A Candidate's Debate Implosion?

Thank God that he and his team will not be in charge.

[USALiberal]

4. Lol, ok! Nt

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. No

This regarded an assessment call, not to be confused with any strategy. After years of effort by both the candidate and millions of his supporters, there was no sane reason not to continue for ten more days after Super Tuesday until the first one on one debate with Biden was held. The fact that some of the millions of people who supported Bernie believed that Biden would implode during that debate does not mean that Bernie did. It was extremely unlikely, but not absolutely inconceivable, that it could happen. Sanders understood that Biden would really have to fuck up big time to change to course of the race at this point. Biden didn't, hence that remote possibility was extinguished. It all makes sense to me.

[Me.]

16. I'm Going To Disagree With You

THey were placing their hopes on JB doing badly. It amazes me how he keeps getting a pass from the workings of his very own campaign.

[Celerity]

19. [phone]

it is gaslighting to say otherwise (and I do not often use that term)

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. I said it wasn't their strategy. It might well have been their acknowledged final chance

In that regard any hope they quasi realistically had to somehow win the nomination was dependent on Biden self destructing in a one on one debate. I doubt the Sanders inner circle was ever seriously counting on it. However it wasn't impossible. No one has seen Biden in a one on one debate in eight years, and he was less then impressive in many of the group debates that had been held earlier this year. Even when the odds are slim that one will draw an inside straight flush on the final card dealt to you, once you have stayed in the game until that point, if the added cost to stay in for that final card is minimal, few would choose to fold their cards before that last card was dealt.

Some Sanders supporters deluded themselves into thinking that it was likely Biden would self destruct, but it never was.

[Me.]

25. Again I Must Disagree

because of the lengths they went to, to insist he was challenged mentally. It was an insistent meme from MSNBC shows to twitter to CNN and so forth

[Tom Rinaldo]

29. If you are correct it could only buy them a week of time

and they had to know that also. The high profile live debate was going to be the defining moment in that regard. Either that would refute rumors being spread, which was always by far the most likely outcome, or conversely it theoretically could have supported them, which was as I said always a very remote possibility. But any rumor phase at most had a natural shelf life of about a week before it would be superseded by actual evidence either way.

It is conceivable that buying one week or so of time could have mattered to the Sanders campaign because they needed to maintain a high degree of public interest in the primary process heading into the primaries that were soon to be held. As has been reported, the only path forward for Sanders was dependent on Biden possibly collapsing. As long as that was still theoretically possible it was possible to motivate volunteers to work hard getting the vote out for Bernie in the immediately upcoming contests. Ultimately it was a self cancelling fallacy once the debate showed Biden to be agile and adept. And now there is no path forward. I would be greatly upset with any Sanders surrogates who raised any semblance of doubt about Biden's mental capacity henceforth, after their debate.

[Me.]

33. You Give Them Far More Credit THan Me

and as I understand it, things have reached such a pass that no matter how many volunteers they recruit, the ship has sailed and there's no catching it. We might be seeing the stages of grief but for that to be effective they have to be honest with themselves.

Imho...they need to pull in Ms. Gray and Mr. Sirota as their interviews are not helping.

[Tom Rinaldo]

37. I agree that the ship has sailed. It left for good during the debate

but since there were primaries just two days later I can understand Sanders letting those first run their course, if nothing else out of respect for all those who poured their hearts into the effort to win them for him.

I haven't seen those interviews, but good chance I would agree with you about Gray and Sirota if I did.

[Me.]

38. I Do Agree (Gasp)

That they should've waited for those primaries, it would be a waste to do so

[brush]

30. Sanders was never particularly outstanding in the debates.

What made his supporters think he's such a great debator?

[treestar]

18. agree! I recall the concepts that Palin or McCain

would meltdown on the debate stage, or the Orange Dotard. The questions are never so tough that somebody does that, whatever it means.

[Me.]

20. I Think They May've Convinced Themselves That Their Made Up Meme

about his mental capacity was real.

[treestar]

21. And Biden was sharp; stating statistics

making good arguments and remembering past Senate negotiations. That had to deflate many of them.

[LiberalBrooke]

32. They did convince themselves

that Biden’s support would fall apart after the debate. It really was their last chance so they talked each other into thinking Joe was slow and their guy would walk all over him. Very cult like indeed.

[Cha]

34. I got that, too.. they should have mentioned it was BS who

actually "imploded... " so they "saw no path forward". pesky detail.

Yes, Thank God!

[Me.]

35. YooHoo Cha

Aloha...and yest it was/is a case of transference.

[highplainsdem]

5. Another tweet from Alcindor about what those sources told her:

Link to tweet

Bernie Sanders's campaign is pushing back on reporting that he is ending his campaign. As I tweeted earlier, sources close to Sanders have told me without Joe Biden imploding on the debate stage or a major gaffe, his path is essentially impossible.

[Me.]

7. Him Is A She

[highplainsdem]

11. Oops. Just corrected. Thanks!

[sop]

8. Now we know who's been pushing the "Joe is senile" thing all over the internet.

[Scurrilous]

15. Yes we do.

A prelude to the debate. Bernie also claimed Biden was afraid to go 'toe-to-toe' with him at the debate. That was accompanied by a torrent of 'bubble wrapped Biden' tweets. Biden was so infirm and shaky that his handlers kept him wrapped in bubble wrap to keep him from harm. I think they did a different version of this for Hillary. Hillary was in the hospital on a respirator and a body double was taking her place. Something like that. Sad. Can't wait for this trash to be kicked to the curb.

[NurseJackie]

10. Ending his campaign? -- Define "campaign".

I do not believe him. I do not trust him... until I hear the words falling from his very own mouth.

Concede. Withdraw. Endorse.

#ConcedeWithdrawEndorse

[NCProgressive]

12. This!!

[msongs]

14. so another twitter blow hard jacking up his own self importance by making up stuff lol nt

[Me.]

17. She Is Not A BlowHard

and took the Menace to task the other day at the presser and was called nasty for her efforts.

[Celerity]

22. Yamiche Alcindor is far from 'another twitter blow hard'. She is a superb major journalist and a

great Haitian-American role model for millions of us PoC. She is fearless and took on the racist scum Trump hard the other day.

Yamiche Alcindor

PBS NewsHour White House correspondent

NBC News and MSNBC contributor

Formerly of the NYTimes and USA TODAY


Trump Dismisses Question from Reporter Asking About Aide’s ‘Kung Flu’ Comment: ‘It Comes From China’

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-dismisses-question-from-reporter-asking-about-aides-kung-flu-comment-it-comes-from-china/

[StarfishSaver]

24. Do you have any idea who Yamiche Alcindor is?

It sounds like you don't. Perhaps you should find out whom you're talking about before posting about them - especially if you're making the kind of accusation that you did.

[brush]

28. So ridiculous. Since when is DU home for such low-info blowards?

Google her or go away, you're making yourself look extremely bad.

[Tennessee Hillbilly]

26. Biden rose to the occasion again

Remember that Biden has had to engage in very important and tough debates against both Palin and Ryan, and he did very well in both of them.
He has a history of rising to the occasion.

[brush]

27. What made Sanders think he's such a great debator?

I haven't see that in the multiple debates he's been in—it's always the one-trick-pony stuff—M4A and stump speech snippets over and over.

Joe bested him handily.

[radius777]

36. Biden has always been good one on one.

He gets bored and tends to fade into the background in the multi-candidate debates, but is focused and folksy in the head to head debates.

Biden is older and has 'senior moments' which imo are due to fatigue at his age; why he should focus on quality over quantity the way Reagan did, and not get baited into an overly demanding campaign schedule. Rest up, pound out a strong message, avoid gaffes, look presidential - and he should win the GE easily.