MSNBC Host Says Bernie Sanders’ Fight to Win the Nomination at the Convention Is ‘Fantastical’
Monday night Rachel Maddow surprised a great many viewers by calling Hillary Clinton’s lead in the Democratic race “insurmountable,” and said Bernie Sanders’ attempt to win at the convention “is honestly, fantastical, which is not the same thing as fantastic.”
She all but called for Sanders to drop out of the race.
“Right now, Hillary Clinton has an 11 percent lead in pledged delegates,” Maddow told her audience near the end of the above segment.
“So no. An eleven percent lead in pledged delegates that is not a big enough Democratic landslide that she is on track to clinch the nomination with pledged delegates alone, not counting any superdelegates, but she is way out ahead by every measure. She is way way way further ahead of Senator Sanders than Barack Obama was in 2008, and Senator Sanders promised yesterday that he is never the less going to contest that nomination. Basically saying that he won’t concede. He won’t drop out of the race. He won’t endorse her, and at that convention, he will still be fighting to get that nomination. Flip the superdelegates to him at the Democratic convention in July in Philadelphia.”
“And the Sanders campaign is increasingly insistent on this point now,” Maddow said, in a surprising tone. “There had been a little confusion I think among the top tier of the Sanders campaign. We hear different things from different top folks in the Sanders campaign, but now the candidate has made it clear in increasingly insistent terms that what they are going to do is fight to win that nomination at the convention in Philadelphia in July no matter how far ahead Hillary Clinton is, and they’re increasingly insistent about it.”
“But it is honestly, fantastical, which is not the same thing as fantastic.”
“And so,” Maddow concluded, “ten more states will vote on the Democratic side, including Indiana tomorrow, and we’ll see what happens when the numbers come in, but barring a wholesale shift in the race, like an earth-shattering shift in the race, Sec. Clinton’s lead, I think by any fair measure should be seen as insurmountable at this point.”
Clearly knowing there would be backlash, Maddow closed stating, “Please send your hate mail to Rachel at MSNBC.com. Your accusations and swear words do hurt my feelings, but they also make me stronger.”
What do you think about Maddow’s comments? Is she correct, and should she have made them?
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Image: Screenshot via MSNBC
Transcript via PolticusUSA
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