And the 2016 Ralph Nader Award Goes to Bernie Sanders - Time.com

[Gothmog]

162. Sanders does not have a good record at all and would have been destroyed

Ignoring the facts presented will not make them go away. Sanders was soundly rejected by Jewish, African American and Latino voters and was effectively eliminated on Super Tuesday. Why did these groups overwhelmingly reject sanders? They looked at his so-called records and laughed. In the real world facts matter and in the real world Sanders was a very weak candidate who was too weak for the press to vet and too weak for Clinton to go negative on.

Why do you think the GOP ran ads for Sanders? Karl Rove is running the standard attack ads against Clinton but other GOP types are trying to help Sanders also. The ad mentioned in the OP is really designed to help Sanders and not hurt him. http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gops-anti-sanders-attack-ad-intended-help-not-hurt-sanders

About a month ago, a Republican super PAC launched a $600,000 ad buy that, on the surface, might have looked like an attack ad targeting Bernie Sanders. A closer look, however, made clear it was the opposite – the commercial, backed by a prominent Republican mega-donor, was actually trying to boost Sanders, not hurt him.

The ad called Sanders a “liberal” who supports tuition-free college, single-payer health care, and higher taxes on the “super-rich.” The intention was to boost Sanders in the Iowa caucuses, since Republicans see the Vermont senator as an easy target in the general election.

This week, it’s happening again. A group called Future 45 is running ads that, at first blush, seem critical. But the spots actually tout some of Sanders’ ideas that are popular with Democratic primary voters: an increase in the minimum wage, higher taxes on banks and corporations, tuition-free college, and universal health care.

And who’s Future 45? The Intercept reported yesterday:

Future 45 is [a super PAC] run by Brian O. Walsh, a longtime Republican operative who has in the past served as political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Most recently, he was president of the American Action Network, a dark money group that was the second-largest outside spender in 2010.

Over the last year, Future 45 has been funded primarily by hedge fund managers. Two billionaire Rubio-backers – Paul Singer, who runs Elliott Management, and Ken Griffin, who runs Citadel – have each contributed $250,000.

The overarching point is effectively the same as it was a month ago: Republicans are running anti-Sanders “attack” ads that are actually intended to help him, not hurt him.

As we discussed in the first go-around, this is part of a larger strategy in which Republican mega-donors try to manipulate Democratic voters because they see Sanders as a sure loser in November.

Karl Rove and the GOP mega donors know that Sanders is the weakest possible general election candidate and are running ads to help Sanders. The fact that some think that these ads are to hurt Sanders is sad but funny.