Sanders challenges Clinton to 3 new debates (He/we have the power NOW!)

[leftcoastmountains]

MASON CITY, Iowa — Hours after Hillary Clinton ratcheted up her pressure on him to accept an invitation to an unsanctioned debate on Feb. 4, Bernie Sanders escalated the debate by calling for three new debates.

"From the beginning of this campaign Sen. Sanders has called for more debates. Secretary Clinton has not. Now she is asking to change the rules to schedule a debate next week that is not sanctioned by the DNC. Why is that? The answer is obvious. The dynamics of the race have changed and Sen. Sanders has significant momentum," said Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver in a statement on Wednesday night, while Sanders was speaking to a packed audience here.

"Sen. Sanders is happy to have more debates but we are not going to schedule them on an ad hoc basis at the whim of the Clinton campaign. If Secretary Clinton wants more debates that's great. We propose three additional debates. One in March, April and May and none on a Friday, Saturday or holiday weekend. And all of the three Democratic candidates must be invited. If the Clinton campaign will commit to this schedule, we would ask the DNC to arrange a debate in New Hampshire on Feb. 4."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/democratic-debates-sanders-clinton-218312

[libdem4life]

1. Jeff Weaver is doing a tremendous job. Bernie got a winner there. Good answer!! n/t

[leftcoastmountains]

3. Just found this article on Jeff. I did not know his history.

Weaver met Sanders in 1986, when the then-mayor of Burlington was running for governor as an independent. Weaver had just returned home to Vermont after being suspended from Boston University for unveiling an anti-apartheid banner in his dorm room across from the school president's office. Sanders' unabashedly lefty politics struck a chord, and Weaver volunteered to drive Sanders around the state as he campaigned (unsuccessfully) for governor. A few years later Weaver launched a campaign of his own, running for alderman in his hometown of St. Albans. He lost, conceding the race with a decidedly super-villainish pronouncement: "People haven't seen the last of Jeff Weaver."

After Sanders was elected to the House in 1991, Weaver joined his staff as legislative assistant, eventually working his way up to chief of staff. He managed Sanders' successful 2006 Senate campaign, staying on as the senator's right-hand-man. But after a few more years on the Hill, Weaver decided he needed a break from politics. He'd spent decades building up his own comic-book collection, and during his down time, he'd often travel to conventions to hock his wares and hunt for bargains. In 2009, a few months after leaving Sanders' office, Weaver opened Victory Comics in Falls Church, Virginia. "Sometimes you need to recharge your batteries a little bit," Weaver says. "This was something I always wanted to do."

In May, Weaver took a break from Victory Comics to pursue another old hobby: helping Bernie Sanders win an election. Weaver managed Sanders' first senate campaign, in 2006, which he won by 33 points, and worked on his earlier congressional campaigns, including the 1991 race for a US House seat that gave the ex-mayor his break in Washington. He'll be in familiar company. Sanders adviser Tad Devine was also involved in the 2006 campaign and an earlier congressional run. Field director Phil Fieremonte, a former Burlington city councilman and state director for Sanders' senate office, has worked for the candidate for 16 years. Communications director Michael Briggs has been Sanders' spokesman since he became a senator. In putting together a campaign apparatus, Sanders is sticking with the people who got him where he is.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/bernie-sanders-jeff-weaver-victory-comics

[TBF]

4. That's really cool -

I hadn't heard that story before.

[libdem4life]

5. Thanks for the info ... I really like he is "sticking with the people who got him where he is."

Just more about our solid and trustworthy candidate.

[frylock]

24. And I'm betting he won't ditch them for a 'team of rivals'

[pangaia]

9. Some of it, especially Jeff Weaver, is in Bernie's Book.,,

"Outsider in the (White) House.

[pangaia]

10. "He'd spent decades building up his own comic-book collection..."

Ya gotta love that.

[Gregorian]

13. I was wondering. He's a winner.

Seeing him talk with Chuck Toad was magnificent. Always sharp and on target, unswayed.

[glinda]

2. Very rational proposition. Thoughtful to all.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

6. I agree... Bernie is so politically adept. Can't wait til he puts out the Trumpster fire.

Go Bernie!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2016!!!

[truebluegreen]

16. +1 for "Trumpster fire"

[Fairgo]

7. I'll see your weasel ploy

And raise you 3 sanctioned debates.

[napi21]

8. Well, Bernie seems to have picked someone , in Weaver, who really knows how to get

the job done, and done well. I hope this is an indication of the kind of people he will choose to be in his administration. No more payback jobs for "Big Donors" who are just being thanked but don't know how to do the job.

[SoapBox]

11. We won't play your games Hill!

"...but we are not going to schedule them on an ad hoc basis at the whim of the Clinton campaign."

Hey Hill...NO!

Because Fuck this Shit!

[Bernin4U]

12. Oh Sssnap!

[Gregorian]

14. No matter what, everything that has happened has made Bernie look good.

He's like a positive electrode. He follows the rules, and doesn't have to cover his path.

[Bernin4U]

15. Remember when Opposite World

Was only a GWB/neocon thing?

[CharlotteVale]

17. Proceed, Madame Secretary.

[Divernan]

19. Show respect! That's Madame Sachsretary to you peasants!

Hillary Clinton - always her own worst enemy. Now fund-raising to bring her own special brand of paranoid, militaristic, dysfunctional fund-raising to the Oval Office.

Hey! You thought the Clinton Family Foundation raked in the millions when she was Secretary of State? The cash register would be ringing non-stop if she got to the oval office. Because in Clinton World, as all the corporations know, ya gotta "donate" cough/pay/cough to play. Also non-stop would be the congressional hearings and investigations into the Clinton Family Foundation.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. Oh, come on. Next you'll claim they're renting out the Lincoln bedroom.

[scottie55]

20. Ouch

See your one debate, and raise you two.

[litlbilly]

18. OH Snap:)))

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. I am picturing the committee around her conference table saying in unison, "What?"

[Divernan]

25. More like blaming each other & ducking ownership of the latest FUBAR

It's like her entire campaign has been written as a season of scripts for VEEP. One FUBAR after another, accompanied by finger-pointing and back-stabbing, with the venal and inept Jonah cloned to play multiple roles.

Award winning series, VEEP is one biting one-liner after another. My all time favorite is from Episode 36, when Selina's chief of staff, Ben Cafferty, played by Kevin Dunn, says to Vice-President, Tom James, played brilliantly by Hugh Laurie, “Join the circle-jerk. Grab a dick.”

[Spitfire of ATJ]

26. Right now it seems all eyes are on Debbie as the main jerk.

[frylock]

23. Sanders is just pwning Team Hillary on this!

[Duckfan]

27. Never heard of Jeff Weaver before Bernie announced.

Or even after he announced. But now I know Weaver is running a kick-ass campaign for Bernie. And if Bernie feels Jeff is the man for the job, I will trust his judgement.

But Monday is getting closer. I'm trying not to get

[sabrina 1]

28. Lol, saw that. Bet they didn't expect THAT. Bernie is way too smart for them. He just put them in a

real box.

They made the rules. Bernie either gets what he wanted all along, or they get another terrible week like they had last week as they expose their inability to just run an honest campaign. Bad news again for Hillary.