MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Tuesday denied the existence of a vast liberal media as she anchored live coverage of the New Hampshire primary results. Just after socialist Bernie Sanders declared victory, Maddow seriously insisted, “People talk about the liberal media and they say the whole media is liberal and the whole establishment is liberal, it's not true.”
She complained, “If you really are a liberal, it's been a long time in this country when you felt like mainstream politics hand nothing to say to you and mainstream politics just was not about you.” Finding the Democratic Party too conservative, she flashed back to the 1992 presidential election: “And as a gay person watching that in 1992, I didn't feel like Bill Clinton had my back. I didn’t feel like the Democratic Party had my back.”
Maddow continued, “He was talking about agreeing with Ronald Reagan that government was the problem. If you are a liberal, you are not a majority in this country and you know it.”
See below for a transcript:
Place for Politics
2/9/16
9:54RACHEL MADDOW: As a self-proclaimed liberal —
BRIAN WILLIAMS: You can say anything you wish.
MADDOW: You know— People talk about the liberal media and they say the whole media is liberal and the whole establishment is liberal, it's not true. If you really are a liberal, it's been a long time in this country when you felt like mainstream politics hand nothing to say to you and that mainstream politics just was not about you. And I look at all the young people, in particular, at this Bernie Sanders event. I was 19 in 1992 when Bill Clinton was running on the Democratic side and at the 1992 Republican convention, Pat Buchanan got up there and gave his culture war speech where he basically declared a crusade against minorities and particularly against gay people.
And as a gay person watching that in 1992, I didn't feel like Bill Clinton had my back. Right? I didn’t feel like the Democratic Party had my back. He was talking about agreeing with Ronald Reagan that government was the problem. If you are a liberal, you are not a majority in this country and you know it and it always feels this way. This Democratic race with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigning this way against each other, that happened because Bernie Sanders got into this race and all these kids who are enthused about this race, whether or not they're supporting Bernie Sanders directly, are never going to feel like mainstream politics is not about them.
