Lot of respect for this thread and the analysis therein, but once again, when it comes to Beto, analysts just can't seem to help lumping him with the truly problematic (white) male candidates in the field, which explains why the media was so successful in destroying his campaign.
As we know, Beto's collapse did not happen "out of the blue." It can only appear sudden to those who were not paying attention or who want to further a simplistic narrative about race relating to the media's treatment of candidates. The truth is a lot more nuanced and nefarious.
We should begin by saying that Beto's campaign did not actually "collapse". It was, from the moment he launched till the moment he dropped out, death by a thousand cuts. Other Beto supporters have chronicled the hit pieces, and the receipts are nothing short of damning.
Kamala's campaign only recently started to be hit with the doom and gloom articles from the national media, and those are at least based in part on legitimate campaign upheaval stories/staffing issues. The media's now singular focus on her failings *is* worth critiquing...
But spare a thought for the treatment Beto received, which had *nothing* to do with any kind of campaign infighting or grouses, and instead aimed a malevolent beam on the candidate himself, assigning to him all kinds of negative attributes and accusations of toxic entitlement.
If surrogates & supporters of other campaigns had stopped to reflect on what was happening to Beto, they may have found themselves in a much better position today. Instead, the media was given free rein to recklessly promote Pete at Beto's expense through lies and misinformation.
If the media is successful at driving Kamala from the race, it's only because they had such great practice with Beto first. His mistreatment paved the way for Kamala's, and Pete is where he is in Iowa/NH because of that early and consistently biased coverage in his favor.
Seeing what happened to Beto doesn't even require a deep dive. Any cursory search of WAPO, Daily Beast, NYT or Politico tells the sorry tale. And unlike others, he wasn't even fortunate to have one pundit on cable news who was willing to speak to his value in the race.
And if you think hit pieces from legacy media are bad? Try adding to that widespread snark, mockery, and vicious trolling involving bot farms, NeverTrumpers, and liberals on anything from a haircut at his immigrant barber to his reaction to over 20 people killed in his hometown.
I could go on and on. And all this happened to a good and decent man, with moral convictions and a firm commitment to an ethical brand of politics. It happened to a candidate who was genuine about reaching out to communities of color and having our voices be part of the solution.
I'm glad people are speaking up for Kamala about the media's unfairness. I believe her candidacy needs to succeed because I'm sincerely worried about what it says about the state of American democracy and its institutions when candidates like her and Beto are torn apart...
While others like Mayor Pete and Donald Trump are allowed to thrive and even make it to the WH. The media's shenanigans have already helped to make Trump's re-election easier. Calling them out is essential, but that accountability has to include what they did to Beto O'Rourke.//
