Even though Hillary Clinton’s recent win in New York went a long way towards knocking Bernie Sanders out of the race the Vermont Socialist is still holding on. “But Bernie Sanders is hurting her now. And it's gone on a long time. And it's revealed just how much Democrats don't like Hillary Clinton,” stated Charles Hurt of The Washington Times on Special Report Wednesday evening.
Hurt continued saying that Sanders is forcing Clinton to take very far left positions in order to chip away at his base. And she’s taking positions she might not be able to walk back. “And he is very much pushing her in the -- on substantive issues very far to the left… She’s going to have to stick with that stuff in the general election. The stuff about guns and stuff like that. This stuff is going to hurt her.”
According The Hill’s A.B. Stoddard, Sanders is doing more than making her take those positions. Stoddard argues that he is driving her poll numbers into the ground. “He has got her down nationally. She has lost a 30 point lead. It's down to 2 points in some polling. Her negativity, her disapproval, favorability ratings are absolutely awful. And getting worse with every single group.” This doesn’t spell good news of Clinton.
It looks like the longer her campaign takes to finish Bernie off the more it turns off his base to her. “I think he has got all cards. He’s got incredible power over the party. He has got this movement that is energizing him,” said the National Review Senior editor Jonah Goldberg, “He is living off the land and raising enormous amount of money. He actually is a true believer.”
It seems as though as long as Sanders continues to have the tremendous support from the voters he intends to take the race to the Democratic convention. Hurt did make a good point, in that it has taken Clinton to long already to get rid of Sanders and it could point to a dissatisfaction with her as a candidate. And if past trends are any indication of the future it could mean aid for the Republican candidate in the fall.
Transcript below:
Fox News
Special Report with Bret Baier
April 20, 2016
6:51:53 PM EasternBRET BAIER: We're back with the panel. Charlie, you heard Hillary Clinton saying she can see the end of this race, last night, for the first time kind of projecting wrapping up this nomination.
CHARLES HURT: Yeah. I generally think that, you know, tough primary fight makes better general election candidates. Makes them stronger. It gets through a lot of issues. I think that Hillary Clinton, for example, made Barack Obama a better general election candidate 8 years ago.
But Bernie Sanders is hurting her now. And it's gone on a long time. And it's revealed just how much Democrats don't like Hillary Clinton. He is soaking up massive amounts of money. And he is very much pushing her in the -- on substantive issues very far to the left. And she—she’s going to have to stick with that stuff in the general election.
The stuff about guns and stuff like that. This stuff is going to hurt her. And so I think that she needs to hurry up and put this thing to bed. And you know, obviously she went a long ways with that last night. But Bernie-- But at this point Bernie has no reason to get out. That's a real problem for her.
BAIER: Right. What's interesting, A.B., a lot of people are looking at the words that Bernie Sanders uses in this next week, next few days ahead of the next contest whether he is as pointed as he has been in recent days.
A.B. STODDARD: Look, they know they can talk about the math, the Clinton campaign and how it is over for him. He has got her down nationally. She has lost a 30 point lead. It's down to 2 points in some polling. Her negativity, her disapproval, favorability ratings are absolutely awful. And getting worse with every single group.
And what Bernie is doing by questioning spending by the Hillary victory fund, a joint fundraising committee that she arranged with the DNC and with the state parties this week, that with 14 donors alone, raised 5 million, has raised 33 million since January. And is funneling the most money of all of that back to the Hillary Clinton complain is telling his supporters the system is rigged. If he continues to do that, she is going to have a big problem with the Sanders people in the fall.
…
JONAH GOLDBERG: I think he has got all cards. He’s got incredible power over the party. He has got this movement that is energizing him. He is living off the land and raising enormous amount of money. He actually is a true believer. And so, I think all of those things and there is a bit of a Hail Mary. As long as he is still running and if Hillary Clinton is indicted, which we can all grade on how probable that is, very difficult to put John Kerry or Joe Biden or any of those people in his, place. He gets the nomination if that happens.
