Bernie Sanders gets support for 'Medicare for All' proposal from Fox News audience

[Power 2 the People]

Bernie is breaking through the bubble! Fox is not happy.

[link:https://www.yahoo.com/news/bernie-sanders-gets-support-for-medicare-for-all-proposal-from-fox-news-audience-000818996.html|]

[Progressive2020]

1. Go Bernie!

He has a lot of guts to go into the lions den and confront the Fox talking heads on their own ground. More power to him! Great that the audience is for Medicare For All. We progressives ARE the majority. Bernie is right that most Americans want these sort of policies. These values ARE mainstream.

[Power 2 the People]

2. Well said Progressive2020!

[Progressive2020]

3. Thanks!

Glad that you started this Thread!

[VarryOn]

4. I watched him this evening...

I thought he did pretty well. While I'm not close to making him my candidate of choice, I did come away with a more favorable impression than before the townhall started.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

6. Precisely!! MFA in fact IS mainstream... and that's because Bernie has MADE IT mainstream!!!

Let's give credit where credit is due... to Bernie!!


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Progressive2020]

14. Dang Right!

Bernie is a smart campaigner. Going on Fox and beating them on their own ground is a brilliant move. I was just on Twitter. He is getting a lot of social media attention for this. He is smart, principled, and a cagey campaigner. I think he would serve a beat-down to Trump in a debate- Because Bernie speaks the truth, all of the time, whereas Trump wouldn't know the truth if it bit him in the ass...

[Progressive2020]

16. Also

Win or Lose, Bernie has changed the national conversation since his run for 2016. There would be no AOC or New Progressive Movement without our elder statesman Bernie. He has taken issues that naysayers scoffed at and made them mainstream. Medicare For All, Free Tuition, $15 Minimum Wage, on and on, all Progressive Positions made mainstream by Bernie. More power to Bernie Sanders!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

19. Brilliant is precisely how I described Bernie's decision to go on Faux News...

Yet, so many were quick to criticize him for that... except, of course, when their favorite candidate, once again, is forced to follow Bernie's lead... then, no doubt, they'll see it as "brilliant"!!

Bernie will not be denied this go round... I like the way he's pulling out all the stops early in the contest and getting most of the good press!!


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Hortensis]

42. Wait until "Harry and Louise" return to talk to their people.

These are THE "I've got mine and others should take care of themselves" folk. We've got too many on the left also, but they're nothing compared to the ones who watch Fox.

A socialist's plot that REQUIRES 160 million Americans to lose insurance through the workplace because it's TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM by an autocratic government fiat isn't going to go over well. As soon as Fox explains it to them.

Now, Medicare for America, which allows those who want to go on an expanded Medicare to do so and those who want to remain with the coverage that they don't want to give up to keep that, is doable. It's also democratic and as respectful of the will of the people as Sanders' extreme plan is not.

[workinclasszero]

20. Bernie ain't afraid

He got the audience on his side!

This is how you win a national election!

[ehrnst]

46. Well yes, the audience was on his side. They were Sanders supporters...

You win a national election by winning over the majority of voters. Getting applause from a bunch of your supporters isn't an indication of how one fares with the rest of the electorate.

Link to tweet

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=72826

[Skya Rhen]

21. Everything on Fox (Faux) News is staged - fact. Am I supposed to believe this is any different?

Fox's sole reason for existing is to ensure Trump's re-election - fact.

What better way than to give Bernie a few minutes of faux support in order to sway public opinion so that he can win the primaries, knowing that he will lose in the battleground states, thus giving Trump the ultimate victory.

As evidenced by all the posts in this thread, Bernie is miraculously now set to win the general election because the plants at the Fox Town Hall gave a cheer. Let's not be so gullible, shall we?

I continue to take anything that comes out of Fox News as fake - always have, always will...

[Progressive2020]

24. Conspiracy Theory

So you are saying that Fox News staged this? Sounds mildly paranoid and delusional. These people are too dumb to organize a tea party, much less some sort of complicated conspiracy.

[ehrnst]

47. FoxNews didn't need to stage anything to get a "town hall" packed with Sanders' supporters

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

5. Only Bernie is fearless enough to go on Faux News and kick their sorry asses.

No wonder they're not happy!!


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[BlueFlorida]

10. He bombed

See post 9

[Progressive2020]

18. What Are You Smoking?

I would like some of it. Watch the video. Bernie gets major applause, over and over, from an audience at an event put on by Fox News! Bernie's Progressive Positions are Mainstream and Populist.

[Doodley]

7. This shows that communication is our biggest problem.

Republicans communicate by lying, playing on people's fears and prejudices, and yelling the loudest. We need to find ways to break through that to communicate that our policies and values are in their best interest.

[Power 2 the People]

8. Well said Doodley.

[BlueFlorida]

9. They hated him

They polled the audience and it showed medicare for all bombed.

Link to tweet

[Power 2 the People]

11. Hmmmm. Very curious post comrade.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

12. More like predictable.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Power 2 the People]

13. Made no sense. The poster attached a Twitter feed and video contradicting his own comment.

Looks like they're out early for 2020.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

15. Ironically, though, it made sense only because it WAS contradictory!!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Power 2 the People]

17. Yep

[Lancero]

22. Um... Did you bother watching your own source?

You just seen 'it backfired' and immedietely ran off taking that as 'yeah, the audience hated it'... The poll certainly did backfire for someone, but given the amount of hands and cheers going off in favor of MFA it wasn't on Sanders.

[Skya Rhen]

23. Knowing Fox, the applause by members of the audience was staged

for the purpose of giving a false sense of support to Bernie in order to influence public opinion, thereby making him the Democratic nominee and ultimately giving Trump the win in the battleground states. They are the masters of manipulation and they had lots of time to plot and prepare for this.

There is no way that Brett Baier would have asked a question that he did not already know the answer to. Everything that Fox hosts have ever done has been strategize and scripted and this is no different. The set-up is glaringly obvious to me.

I will never subscribe to Fox News propaganda - but that's just me...

[Progressive2020]

25. Paranoid

The people at Fox are too stupid to plan some sort of covert scheme to get Bernie the nomination. These are the people who talked about immigrants being from "Three Mexican Countries". The simpler explanation tends to be the true explanation (Occam's Razor)- Fox got duped.

Most people want Medicare For All, including many working class people who might be conservative in other ways. I think Bernie could win by securing the progressive vote and adding to it the white working class voters who voted for Trump last time around and now have buyer's remorse.

Bernie's policies appeal to a wide spectrum of people. Progressive now is in many ways mainstream. Even some Fox viewers might agree with that.

[Skya Rhen]

36. In a post, further down, 70% of the audience were Bernie supporters, according to

one of the town hall participants. Fox News packed the audience with friendly supporters to sway public opinion into believing that "Bernie's policies appeal to a wide spectrum of people" - your exact words.

It was obviously staged, as I had always believed...

[Politicub]

37. Wait...

On edit - the poster is confused.

The audience was enthusiastic about switching to Medicare for all from their plan at work when Baier asked the question. It was a great moment. I’m guessing Bret received a demerit from Fox leadership for his fumble.

[corbettkroehler]

26. Democratic Sanders Haters, Please Opine

I'm not surprised that a viewer of Faux News would stare truth in the face and conclude that the audience's overwhelming response to Medicare For All means that the scenario backfired on Sanders.

What I'd like to see is some of the Sanders haters who are Democrats and love to pick every little nit about his campaign here on DU give the man some credit. April 15, 2019 was a BIG DAY for Bernie!

[Power 2 the People]

27. +1000

[LongtimeAZDem]

28. A right-wing propaganda network puts on a crowd that cheers a socialist, and you don't find that

suspicious?

This is seriously beyond the pale.

[TexasTowelie]

32. See below.

They packed the crowd with Bernie supporters such that it became a Bernie rally rather than a town hall with a mixed audience.

[BlueFlorida]

38. It gets as much credit

as a Christian missionary trying to get converts in Mecca.

An impossible task and a waste of time. However, good for headlines and media coverage.

[TexasTowelie]

29. It turns out that the audience was not primarily Fox News viewers.

Nassar said he voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary, and was open-minded coming into Monday night’s event. He estimated about 70 percent of the audience was supportive of Sanders.

https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2019/04/bernie-sanders-faces-lively-audience-in-bethlehem-town-hall.html

There was also a live blog on PennLive that noted that the audience was mostly Sanders supporters. It definitely was not a typical "Fox News audience."

[Power 2 the People]

30. Thank you for this post. This proves what Bernie supporters have known all along.

Bernie appeals to all Americans,even Fox News viewers. Even though Fox organized and orchestrated the proceedings, Mr. Nassar felt that when the show was over, 70% of the people in the room supported Bernie Sanders. That's great news for Democrats!

[TexasTowelie]

31. No, 70% or more of the people that arrived to the show were already Bernie supporters.

Bernie didn't convince anybody of anything new. Nice attempt to spin it though.

[Power 2 the People]

34. That's even better news!

[TexasTowelie]

35. I wouldn't consider it good news.

It means that the audience already had their minds made up and Bernie didn't convince many new people to agree with him. It shows that the only people that would take the time to see Bernie were his hard core supporters rather than typical Fox News viewers. That isn't much of an accomplishment.

[ehrnst]

45. Even though it disproves the premise of your OP that there was a FoxNews "bubble" there?

And the house was packed with fans, so there was no persuading going on?

I guess that's one way to attempt to convince people that you're still right when you've been shown to be wrong.

Does that work for you other places?

[Skya Rhen]

41. I have always said this was staged... Fox can never be trusted...

[BlueFlorida]

39. They were not Fox News viewers ROFL

[Skidmore]

33. k&r for truth and transparency

Should be a stand alone thread.

[BlueFlorida]

40. The audience was packed with Sanders supporters

The ratings came from Democrats watching.

[ehrnst]

44. Those ratings indeed...

[ehrnst]

43. The audience wasn't exactly a "FoxNews audience."

Link to tweet

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=72826










And I doubt that all those watching were FoxNews viewers...