Democratic Primary Voters Decisively Rejected the Media's Favorite Candidates
The pundits and newspapers pushed Warren, Klobuchar, and Buttigieg, but Super Tuesday voters just wanted boring old Biden and Bernie.
As Super Tuesday finally transfigures the Democratic presidential nomination process into a binary choice between two old, occasionally problematic white men whose enduring popularity is consistently underrated by a baffled mainstream press, it's worth reflecting on just how poorly the media's preferred candidates performed in the 2020 race.
In the end, The New York Times' dual Democratic presidential endorsements—bestowed upon both Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D–Minn.)—were like the points on Whose Line Is It Anyway?: They just didn't matter.
Nor did the media's fawning over South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, early flirtation with Beto O'Rourke, and absolute worship of Sen. Kamala Harris (D–Calif.) resonate with the millions of Americans living outside the Acela corridor.
Instead, Democratic voters indicated over and over again that they were most interested in the popular former vice president and the iconoclastic but well-respected runner-up from the 2016 Democratic race. Before the actual primaries, Biden consistently led in polls and Sanders performed well—and then the eventual voting followed this pattern, with early wins for Sanders and a comeback surge from Biden. The idea that any other candidate had a particularly likely shot at the nomination was always pundit-driven misdirection from a class of commentators demanding more interesting, intersectional characters, because the commentators themselves are more interested in identity-based diversity than the rest of the country.
Indeed, the media stumped for Warren so hard that Vox's Matt Yglesias recently had to write a post explaining to people why she was losing "even if all your friends love her." By your friends, he meant friends of people like you, a reader of Vox. Yglesias famously described Vox's audience as "a graduate of or student at a selective college (which also describes the staff and our social peers)" and lamented that "if you assigned me the job of serving a less-educated audience [I'd] probably need to think about how to change things up." He's right; outside the Vox bubble, there was little interest in the kind of cultural progressivism represented by Warren.
At present, Biden and Sanders are locked in a battle for delegates. Both men have a good shot at the nomination. But this was true a year ago as well. They were both better-known and better-liked than many in the media seemed to grasp, and an endless series of magazine covers, fluff pieces, and editorial board endorsements aimed at other candidates couldn't make any difference whatsoever.
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Will it be a battle to the death?
As old as they all are, it might be.
Lol
Yep, as they fight over Stacey Abrams for running mate.
Biden doesnt need Abrams. He is getting plenty of Black Democrat votes.
Biden might pick her as VP which would effectively make her the Democrat Presidential candidate because Bernie is definitely having another heart attack.
He’s going to have to pick a veep whose young, non-white and female and Is competent enough to take over once his dementia incapacitates him. That’s a pretty tall order.
How is this for a nightmare scenario? Biden picks Harris as his veep, wins, and then dies of old age a month after being sworn in.
twenty seconds after his first bowl of cream-o-wheat … (D) doesn’t wait
This is my dream scenario…except with Bernie.
…and I don’t want anyone to die.
Why would Harris be a “nightmare scenario”? She seems like a reasonable human being. Not exactly aligned with me on all political fronts, but I don’t think she’s a raging ideologue and I think she has a clue about rule of law.
How about being honest: you know nothing about her. She opposed releasing prisoners because the state needed the labor. (All leftists are pro-slavery provided the state is the owner, but that makes it explicit.) She protected prosecutors who misbehaved.
“…but I don’t think she’s a raging ideologue and I think she has a clue about rule of law.”
So you don’t know anything about her.
Tulsi sorta fills that requirement list… but she’s tougher than he is and would definitely end up wearing the pants in the relationship.
Plus, they’ve kinda gone “all-in” on the intersectionality thing, so they’ll need to come up with either a lesbian or trans candidate who is also a minority if they want to balance out Joe’s old, white, establishment maleness.
So…Abrams it is!
Nah, who needs competence when you’ve got the minority card?
Michelle Obama?
Sounds like a job for the vainglorious AOC to me…
LOL! Almost choked on my water reading that one!
Burisma Biden establishes a National Unity ticket by picking Corn Pop for his VP.
can’t wait to participation
Weld won one delegate.
The walls are closing in!
Oddly, the media don’t seem to be reporting on the GOP primary any more than they reported on who the New York Times endorsed in that race. The NYT endorsed somebody, didn’t they? Surely they’re not so partisan that they’d endorse Warren and Klobuchar in the Democratic primary and fail to endorse anybody at all in the Republican. Right?
Trump has 650+ delegates which is about 50% of GOP total.
After Walsh made the statement about Utah being Trump adverse, Trump wins 88+% of the Utah primary votes.
Prolly says something about Welsh’s political acumen.
What kind of weld? TIG, MIG, oxy-acetylene, arc? And how can a weld have a delegate?
Ultrasonic weld, from the high pitched screech from so much crosstalk and feedback from all the hearing aids.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_welding
As a committed diversity advocate, it’s slightly upsetting that the top two remaining Democrats are elderly privileged able-bodied straight white cis-males. But I will gladly support Bernie or Biden in November to bring an end to the illegitimate Russian puppet government that’s been destroying the country for the past 3 years.
#VoteBlueNoMatterWho
Pretty sure at least one of them is a little gay. Maybe touched a wiener or sumthin’.
Well, cheer up, at least there’s some comfort in knowing one of them is a Soviet-American and the other Ukranian-American.
#russianpuppetlivesmatter
Or not.
There’s always a smaller puppet inside.
Pete joke in 3, 2…
Mike joke soon after.
Instead of being a diversity advocate, maybe it’s time to realize that your party still doesn’t really care about diversity.
And the broader message is that diversity for diversity’s sake means you are going to end up with far less experienced people than those that have earned the job based on skills, not their diversity.
Why people like you still haven’t learned this is beyond me.
Another person with a broken sarc detector!
To be fair, this post has more of an air of authenticity than many of his posts. Most of his post are so over the top it’s more obvious.
I mean, the bar is so low for actual progressive insanity that it’s hard to satirise it sometimes.
All diversity except diversity of thought! After all, our views are determined by our superficial characteristics!
OBL was a bit downbeat on this one. The precision is appreciated, though.
“#VoteBlueNoMatterWho” does not sound very diverse to me. Rather monochromatic, no?
Reminds me of that toy from Silicon Valley…Always Blue!
#TrumpWillBeReelectedin2020
“illegitimate Russian puppet government”
??
Trump as executive of another popular uprising has been trying to re-introduce the concept on individual freedom and limited government.
Hardly Russian at all.
And then there is the Mueller Inquisition that came up with nothing.
“if you assigned me the job of serving a less-educated audience [I’d] probably need to think about how to change things up.”
Lol! In all seriousness, Vox is far more “dumbed down” than the 1970s Weekly Reader .
Reason writers seem to be Yglesias fanboys. I cant name any other journalist who is quoted more than he is here. And that says terrible things about Reason.
This article only shows that the ‘elite’ media is just as out of touch with the majority of Democrats as they are Republicans.
Operation chaos is going great!
Democrats in Virginia dont seem to realize that there are republicans voting in the open democrat primary to sow seeds of destruction. The Lefties think that there are suddenly hundreds of thousands of new Democrat voters waiting to vote Trump out of office.
Hahahha. Lefties are so stupid.
I heard in the local NPR news here that as many as 1/3 of Va republicans were planning to vote in the dem primary. Don’t know how many actually turned out but I am at least relieved that a President Bloomberg seems much less likely now.
Gotta get that lever-pulling/ bubble-filling fix somehow. It feels so good to vote! Way better than a good beer or sex even.
Trump is very unpopular, which tends to galvanize people.
Political extremists tend to have little conception of how many people aren’t actually like them.
The number of people isn’t surprising; Trump lost Virginia in 2016, and he’s destroyed all reasonable doubt about what he really is. This is going to be a very ugly, dirty race, because Trump and his cronies have committed numerous felonies and will likely face criminal charges and lose everything after his presidency.
Treatment is available; you should get it soon.
Or, in your case, we can hope TDS is fatal.
Why, it’s almost like people ignore politics and the media until it’s time to actually vote, then do so without really understanding what’s going on!
You guys are all wrong about Global Warming, too!
Is Reason still pro-open borders now that our beloved first-generation Hispanics have shown themselves to be still enamored with people who push heavy-handed socialism?
Don’t you think the cautious and reasonable thing do do now would be to slow things down a little on that front? At least until some assimilation occurs? Or is the freedom of international movement of people so precious to you that it’s worth sacrifying all other freedoms we have?
OMG, so this rag has the same open-borders/pro-amnesty support of illegals as the Wall Street Journal? They clearly do not believe that this is your country. Follow the(ir) money…
Hispanics in the US are pro bigger government for multiple generations after immigration. It’s nothing new. The following data came out in 2012, and I’m sure it’s hardly the first. I’ve been posting it here for years.
There’s a reason why Latin America isn’t as free, prosperous, and secure as Anglo America, and it’s not magic dirt.
https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2012/04/04/v-politics-values-and-religion/
Hispanics Want Bigger Government Providing More Services over 3 to 1
Man, this is a massacre for Warren. She’s solidly in third place in her home state, Massachusettes, and looks like she won’t even get 15% in California (where you’d expect identity politics to be play more favorably), locking her out of any delegates.
Her strategy of being a shrieking harpy seems not to have worked out well. If only there was someone’s example she could have followed.
Warren = a grown-up version of Lisa Simpson
Not grown up, just old and bitter.
“Shrieking harpy” is a good descriptor for that unlikable scold. Wonder if Bernie will ever stop preaching and shouting at us on what to believe. I am relieved by the fact that this unsmiling, obstinate, old communist will never be the president.
“I am relieved by the fact that this unsmiling, obstinate, old communist will never be the president.”
A WaPo commenter today called him “an angry unlikeable old coot.”
Meanwhile in the real world where stats are more important than rhetoric; the MSM’s fav won – Joe Biden
He’s the only contender who can defeat Richard Nixon in the fall.
+1
I bet I’d prefer McGovern over any of the Dems who ran this year.
Joe Biden will beat Joe Biden, hands down.
With a winnowed debate field, Biden gets more and more time to display his mental infirmity to the country.
Southern heavy Super Tuesday totally favored Biden.
Bernie didn’t win any of the South against Hillary. Looking at the map, Bernie won west of the Texas panhandle, and looking at the 2016 map, he probably wins everything west of the Missippi but Texas, which was close anyway.
All the talking heads are mistaking regional timing with national momentum. I’m surprised Bernie didn’t win Wisconsin, but by winning CA big, I think he’s well ahead of his run against Hillary in 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2020_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries#Super_Tuesday
HAHAHA. Elizabeth Warren didn’t win her home state of Massachusetts.
Klobuchar didnt win her home state of Minnesota.
Biden won his home state of dementia!
Super Thursday was great for Joe.
Klobuchar handed Minnesota to Joe Biden. She just didn’t want Bernie to win. She won her objective.
Klobuchar dropped out of the race. Warren persisted.
It is to the Inane and the Inept for the Democrats.
I do think a Trump Vs Biden matchup will be interesting in November. Trump will probably try to frame it as a repeat of the impeachment. Then we can see what people really think instead of what the media wants us to think.
Wait, the most diverse field evah has now been whittled down to 2 old white guys?
Re: systemic racism… didn’t some long haired hippie once say something bout planks and motes and eyes?
Or perhaps the underlying assumption that everyone is racist is wrong.
Nah… can’t be that.
Well, a cafeteria Catholic and a self-hating Jew, so there isv5hat.
Not really surprising. Sanders has the support of Putin and the socialists, and Biden has been consolidating the support of everyone else.
It is now down to this: Bolshevik Bernie vs. Burisma Biden. Either of these clowns will display serious deficiencies and flaws when faced off against our MAGA POTUS. But for now, we get the Communist vs. The Criminal. Oh vey!
Donald Trump will change up Pence to Nikki Haley and he’ll win in a landslide.
After Pence dies of coronavirus Trump will need a new VP anyway.
Fixed
Though we really didn’t need it, further proof that we’re not buyin’ what the media’s sellin’. When the candidates speak for themselves, when Bernie speaks admiringly about Castro’s Cuba for example, people listen. When Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity tell us what to think we see through their bias and either become offended by their insults to our intelligence or just laugh it off.
Since when is Sanders a “white man”?
Since he is a white man. Are you a Nazi who thinks Jews are not Caucasian? Most of the Jews in the U.S. are Ashkenazi.
Ashkenzi, so not white. This is accepted by most all of the jewish community. Its usually a point of pride.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jews-have-never-been-and-will-never-be-white/
Jews are white caucasians. This is obvious not only if you look at them, but also if you look at their DNA.
“binary choice between two old, occasionally problematic white men whose enduring popularity is consistently underrated by a baffled mainstream press.:
1. Being old – Is this news media site age discriminatory?
2. “White men” Is this news media site racist?
3. Dirty Dishonest Joe who is a womanizer predictor is the pick of the Democrats. The news media should not pick the candidate. That is the problem!
Vox is basically the Huffington Post for kindergarteners.
Interesting quote in the article by Vox’s Matt Yglesias: if he had to write for less educated people he’d have to rethink his approach. Well I thought, gosh he must have several advanced degrees, perhaps scientific or technical in nature. So I looked him up. Nope. Just one BA degree in philosophy from Harvard. Nice school but not sure what that degree qualifies him to do. Oh… right: Lecture others less qualified than his unremarkable degree qualifies him to instruct. I have several advanced technical degrees from several fine institutions and yet I never talk down to anyone — accepting people as they are.
the weird part is all this sober talk about power-grasping grifters.
the democrat Party has been taken over by criminals who use every issue as a false flag to further their grasping for permanent power.
neither Joe nor Bernie has a single thing to show for their existence except parlaying their ‘public’ service into wealth in Bernie’s case and corruption in Joe’s place. there is nothing zero nada there.
who would take any of the democrat dwarves seriously?
only those greedy for freebies the democrats promise.
democrats. the virus that keeps on spreading.
I see no evidence that the voters rejected Buttigieg and Klobuchar during Super Tuesday. They both withdrew ahead of time and endorsed Biden. Presumably this was in order to stop dividing the “moderate” vote while Bernie cleaned up with pro-socialist voters. And, presumably, the strategy worked.
This article is all over the place. To the extent that Pete Buttigieg could beat Donald Trump, well I drank that Kool-Aid. Could one imagine how badly Donald Trump would perform in a debate vs. someone who is articulate, can think on his feet, and has control of his facts? Trump doesn’t have to worry about that with Biden or Sanders, for different reasons. I didn’t observe Kamala Harris or Amy Klobucher being media darlings…Klobuchar could probably beat Trump, but she could never get nominated. Harris has no charisma. If Biden gets nominated, he probably beats Trump.
Sounds like you’re pretty heavy into the KoolAid yourself. Nominee Biden will have fun defending his record, his son’s record, Hillary’s record, etc. What I’m really looking forward to, is the subsequent investigations into Ukraine, China, and the Atlantic Council. Good times.
are not is.
You came all the way here to show us what an advanced case of TDS looks like?
Fuck off.
Indeed, the media stumped for Warren so hard that Vox’s Matt Yglesias recently had to write a post explaining to people why she was losing “even if all your friends love her.” By your friends, he meant friends of people like you, a reader of Vox. Yglesias famously described Vox’s audience as “a graduate of or student at a selective college (which also describes the staff and our social peers)” and lamented that “if you assigned me the job of serving a less-educated audience [I’d] probably need to think about how to change things up.” He’s right; outside the Vox bubble, there was little interest in the kind of cultural progressivism represented by Warren.
https://arab-rhyme.blogspot.com/
This was an easy story for Robby to write…after the fact. In truth, the primaries can (for both parties) nominate some crazy candidates. If Bernie had lost big, today’s article would have been about how the American people wholeheartedly reject socialism. Or if it was no Beto vs Buttigieg, it would have been about how Americans obviously want a younger generation of leaders. Monday morning quarterbacking.
Stay At Home Mom From New York Shared Her Secret On How She Was Able To Rake In $1500 Weekly From Online Work Just 3 Weeks After Losing Her Old Job…….. Read more
Stay At Home Mom From New York Shared Her Secret On How She Was Able To Rake In $1500 Weekly From Online Work Just 3 Weeks After Losing Her Old Job………… Read more
See? Just because organized looting and subsidized show business occasionally get naked together doesn’t mean they’re an item.