They would be doing their own fact checking as part of due diligence, while providing the source material they draw from.
At some point reality actually exists, there are not separate realities with separate facts, as much as Republican strategists wish otherwise.
Not a lot of fresh blood in the list…
Yes, as a senator of a small and left leaning state.
I’m sure they did, but do you really think that the majority of the general public outside Vermont even knew who Sanders was prior to 2016?
You don’t think that the game is played differently between a senate seat for a small state vs the president of the country?
What would be the point of doing so before?
IIRC he ran for president, twice, and was a credible candidate both times.
Maybe Clinton and Biden were just super nice opponents.
And why do you think a senate race in a left leaning state is somehow special and nice? Do you think only presidential races get mean?
Or maybe Clinton and Biden figured that they would win the primaries without airing the red-baiting oppo and it would be better for their chance in the general if they kept a lid on the worst and most blatant hippie-punching.
In a left-leaning state, you might well be able to pick up as many votes as you lose by running as a self-described Democratic Socialist. Not necessarily true of the country as a whole. Thus, the attacks you use in different contexts change.
Yes, he doesn’t have the experience of running a large and politically divided state that Joe Biden got while being senator of… (checks notes) …Delaware.