2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Mainstream media drops lobbying bomb on Hillary [View all]BainsBane
(53,035 posts)The fallacy with pretending campaign finance is about personal ethics as opposed to the system is that it ignores this very thing. Sanders has benefited from more Super PAC and dark money spending than any other candidate in this election, of either party.
No one "has" Super Pacs. His repetition of that plays on the public's lack of knowledge about campaign finance law. In addition to GOP ratfucking the Dem primary through spending by Rove and others, there are Super Pacs explicitly formed to promote his candidacy. Since they, like the Nurse's super Pacs, take dark money, there is no way to know where the money comes from.
Clinton is not corrupt for following the law. The system is corrupt, and that same system is benefiting Bernie enormously.
As the debate last night made clear, Bernie picks and chooses when it comes to campaign funding. He could have used the public system but chose to go outside it because it benefits him. It benefits him to make grand declarations about super Pacs as a campaign slogan, even while he benefits them more from them than anyone else in the race.