So they don’t really hold candidates to their records
But sure, occasionally they do.
See? We can both be petty assholes who deliberately misread what the other is writing. Let's not do this.
The "occasionally" point is a big one, and it's not exclusively used on the left. Other candidates were attacked over their records in the primaries, and if you talk to your average Democrat about a candidate's record you're going to get a different response than if you talk to your average Republican. If you talk to a Democrat about Biden's shitty stance on climate change you'll get all sorts of excuses or attempted justifications, but at bottom they'll agree that climate change is a real problem. If you talk to a Republican about any Republican's shitty stance on the same issue, there's a good chance you'll get some denial of the reality of the base issue. Similarly, if you bring up Biden's "racial jungle" quote to a Democrat, they'll acknowledge the reality of the quote even if they try to defend it somehow. If you bring up some Trump quote to a Republican there's a good chance they'll claim he never said that, or that it's fake news, or that it's some Democratic hit job, etc.
If someone acknowledges the basic facts of reality you can educate them or reason with them. You can't do that with people who just write off stuff they don't like as fake.
Ask a Biden supporter about Tara Reade. How is discrediting and denying a story any different than saying “fake news”?
It's not. The difference is between pulling this with some things you don't like, and doing this with everything you don't like. If someone pulls this occasionally, it's frustrating and they're a piece of shit, but you can at least work with them the rest of the time and maybe bring them around. If someone pulls this every time there's something they don't like, how are you supposed to get anywhere with that?
See? We can both be petty assholes who deliberately misread what the other is writing. Let's not do this.
The "occasionally" point is a big one, and it's not exclusively used on the left. Other candidates were attacked over their records in the primaries, and if you talk to your average Democrat about a candidate's record you're going to get a different response than if you talk to your average Republican. If you talk to a Democrat about Biden's shitty stance on climate change you'll get all sorts of excuses or attempted justifications, but at bottom they'll agree that climate change is a real problem. If you talk to a Republican about any Republican's shitty stance on the same issue, there's a good chance you'll get some denial of the reality of the base issue. Similarly, if you bring up Biden's "racial jungle" quote to a Democrat, they'll acknowledge the reality of the quote even if they try to defend it somehow. If you bring up some Trump quote to a Republican there's a good chance they'll claim he never said that, or that it's fake news, or that it's some Democratic hit job, etc.
If someone acknowledges the basic facts of reality you can educate them or reason with them. You can't do that with people who just write off stuff they don't like as fake.
It's not. The difference is between pulling this with some things you don't like, and doing this with everything you don't like. If someone pulls this occasionally, it's frustrating and they're a piece of shit, but you can at least work with them the rest of the time and maybe bring them around. If someone pulls this every time there's something they don't like, how are you supposed to get anywhere with that?