Who's next?

[BrotherIvan]

So far, there have been three surrogate attacks from the Clinton campaign by well-known politicians. If I have missed any, please comment below.

I myself could not have predicted this very creative choice of surrogates. Nor could I have predicted their line of attack at this stage.

Here is a recap in case anyone has forgotten:

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) - “We’ve got the socialist, uh I can’t remember his name. Bernie Sanders,” Gutierrez said. “I don’t know if he likes immigrants because he doesn’t seem to talk about immigrants. But sooner or later, he’ll tell us. I hope he likes immigrants. I haven’t heard him say anything. He’s been kind of quiet and silent."

Sen. Claire McCaskill - “I think the media is giving Bernie a pass right now. I very rarely read in any coverage of Bernie that he’s a socialist.” “He’s against a whole lot of things that are unrealistic in this day and age.”

Anthony Weiner - "Still, I have one major question for Bernie. What exactly does he think he’s doing in a Democratic presidential primary?" "There’s no question Bernie’s leftist agitating is filling a void in this primary process." "And his battle cry on behalf of working Americans is almost as good as Hillary Clinton’s."

So who's next? And what will the message be? Place your votes and we'll see who guesses correctly.

[ann---]

1. Who cares

what a pig like Weiner says? Not me.

McCaskill is Demo-lite.

[Live and Learn]

2. The attacks that have so far happened have just helped get Bernies name out.

So far so good. Bernie is well equipped to handle any real attacks with his knowledge and teaching skills.

[merrily]

3. I think Rehm may have been acting on a tip, at the least.

She's been in broadcasting since the Nixon Era, with her own show since 1984, but two people impressed her most and those two share a surname.

Rehm has interviewed many political and cultural figures, including John McCain, Barack Obama, Madeleine Albright, and others. She has said that her most touching interview was with Fred Rogers of the PBS program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, conducted just before his death.[4] Rehm considers her interviews with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton to have been "amazing experiences."[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Rehm

Will anyone ever be able to prove she didn't just stumble on the "list from Facebook" or whatever authoritative source this very experienced journalist claimed to be going by when she put it out there that Bernie Sanders has dual citizenship, American and Israel?

Probably not, but I heard dog whistles during the 2008 primary and I'm hearing them again during this primary.

BTW, as we all know, Weiner may not exactly be an objective critic.* At that, saying Bernie's "leftist agitating," which btw, was once Weiner's specialty, fills a void in this primary is not such a bad thing to say. If anything, it implies that Weiner thinks Hillary may not really be as left as she is currently portraying herself as being.

In addition to Weiner, McCaskill, and many, many other campaign surrogates, mainstream media has been functioning, in effect, as a campaign surrogates for Hillary. Few, if any, are doing anything but dismissing Sanders, Even if they marvel at the crowds he draws and say Hillary has "an enthusiasm problem," they hasten to add that she will be the nominee. And that very much effects how people vote. Some like to root for the underdog, yes, but many like to be on the winning side and no one likes to be "wrong." Voting for the candidate that ultimately loses can be seen as having been "wrong."


* Currently, Weiner's wife seems to be the family breadwinner, at least as far as a steady paycheck goes.

Huma Mahmood Abedin (born July 28, 1976)[1] is an American political staffer. She has been a long-time aide to Hillary Clinton, and was U.S. Secretary of State Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff at the State Department, and before that, traveling chief of staff and "body woman" during Clinton's campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election.[2][3][4] She currently serves as vice chairwoman of Clinton's 2016 campaign for President.[5] She is married to former Democratic Congressman and 2013 New York City mayoral candidate, Anthony Weiner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huma_Abedin

[historylovr]

5. Very hard to suspend disbelief on Rehm's "mistake."

I confess I don't know much of her, but I'd think any journalist outside Faux or some other right wing operation would have known not to use a questionable source. Unless of course, one has an agenda.

I'm with you on the mainstream media. They seem as determined as they were in 2008 to have Hillary as the nominee. Let's hope Bernie makes it impossible for them to ignore and undercut him.

[merrily]

7. In 2008, I didn't think media were so much for Hillary once Obama started picking up steam.

Remember Chris Matthews, with Obama making a tingle go up his leg? All the descriptions of Obama as a "rock star?'

[historylovr]

8. That's true. They did seem to be pushing her early on.

I thought they were really going for a Clinton/McCain match up. But you're right, even they couldn't ignore Obama's momentum.

I try not to remember Chris Matthews and his tingles.

[Scuba]

4. Obama, in the Rose Garden, with the socialist smear.

[BrotherIvan]

14. You get bonus points

[retrowire]

6. reaching

it's kind of funny to see that their only attacks really don't insult him.

Gutierrez: he hasn't said something yet. (even though he does have history with being involved with the issue)

McCaskill: Socialissssst! (hoping that word is still evil when it's actually more approved of than the word capitalism these days)

Weiner: he's not a real democrat, members only! (democrats change bro.)

[KrankyInCal]

9. Jeanne Shaheen or dirty DiFi

Either one. Both are corpo-dems. DiFi's more national, but Shaheen is new Hampshire.

Howard Dean has endorsed HRC, but has been polite towards his fellow Vermonter so far.

[marym625]

10. It will be either a female

A person of color, or both, whoever it is.


They're getting desperate.

[BrotherIvan]

15. Yes, Weiner was an eye opener

I mean, really? They think that's going to work coming from him? The answer is, they just want to fling shit, cut down on the positive press. I makes me go blech.

[marym625]

17. Yeah, it's pretty obvious too.

You would think they would either be more straightforward or better at it.

[sabrina 1]

11. Actually there have been four. DNC member Boyd Brown who stated that Dem Candidates,

other than Bernie Sanders, were not 'Crazy' like the Republicans.

I wonder how much money they spend from the Corporate cash to come up with their lame negative campaign personal attacks? I hope it's a lot, because so far, it's been a total waste of money. Bernie continues to climb in the polls as the out of touch 'experts' continue to scratch their heads, failing to understand why.

[BrotherIvan]

16. I knew I forgot some

I think the red baiting will keep going throughout. I think the fact that he's moving up in the Latino polls, a group she wanted to lock in, means we will hear more of that. She is now the biggest champion of gun control ever since they got that one to stick. Since she is trying to adopt a good portion of his proposals, it won't come from there. But they really are getting creative.

[sabrina 1]

26. People are not stupid. They know about campaign rhetoric as opposed to

someone who has a long record to back up what they are saying.

As for the red baiting, that is falling on deaf ears since we are now in a different era, so we can only conclude that the negative campaigners, no doubt being paid for their 'brilliance' are totally out of touch with the people who live in today's world. I think this is a good thing and hope they stay back in the old McCarthy era as it simply doesn't have much impact in today's world and makes them look like dinosaurs from the past. Not to mention totally ignorant of the difference between Communism and European style Socialism which today's young people are FOR by 7 out of 10 polled on the subject.

And the gun thing, that is probably a mainstream position among Dems and moderate Repubs, so that won't gain anything except for the small, loyal base which has shrunk by about 10% since 2008.

We should be thankful imo, that their 'opposition researches' are not very good at this, but then to be fair, it's hard to find anything negative on Bernie.

[historylovr]

12. That's a good question. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

I'm sure it will be interesting, whoever it is.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. Donna Brazile

African-American, Third-Way Loyalist, political "expert."

[BrotherIvan]

18. Yes, she's already on that

More than a few journalists are being openly biased because they think it's safe. They have already written op eds and repeat talking points. I think the plan was that she would run unopposed and the primary would be a lovefest. Interesting times.

[Le Taz Hot]

20. Donna Brazille is a

DLC insider posing as an "expert." She's closely tied to the Clintons. My disadvantage is that I haven't had a TV service in years so, if it's not in a written format, ala Wiener, I won't see it until someone posts something on DU.

[BrotherIvan]

21. Me too

And anytime I watch a video that's been posted, my eyes cross at the level of stupidity the news or news-like shows have gotten to. Yeesh, it's embarrassing. I said in another thread that it looks like people who do get their news from television vs the internet is going to be the break in who votes for whom. TV and newspapers are so easily manipulated, it's so transparent.

But wasn't Donna Brazile for Obama last time?

[Le Taz Hot]

23. That I'm not sure of.

I've never seen her posit anything but the Corporate Elite Policy line in her interviews so given a choice between Sanders and Clinton I've no doubt where she will land.

[SoapBox]

19. Weiner?

Mr. Selfie?

Ya got no cred Weiner Dude.

It's really amazing how they are salivating over The Annointed One....but we've got something that is bigger on our side, I think...the voters.

[BrotherIvan]

22. Can you imagine that meeting?

Yeah, let's get him to do it! All that money and all those highly paid advisors and this is what they come up with? Or maybe they have a list and are starting at the bottom (the sub bottom). No one in the comments of the article was buying it. Why doesn't she just sell her own platform and quit going negative.

[Enthusiast]

24. McCaskill's barb took the cake. Claiming the media rarely mentioned Bernie's Socialism.

I would like to see a single article that didn't mention Bernie's Socialism. Fundamental dishonesty.

Weiner and Gutiérrez are equally pathetic.

[BrotherIvan]

25. Whoever is writing the script is not good

Seriously, there are a lot of talented screenwriters here in Hollywood who would love to get a fat paycheck.

[sabrina 1]

28. Sshh, don't give them any ideas, I'm thrilled with their highly paid 'opposition researchers' so

far! Talk about a waste of money!

As someone said, maybe it was you, BrotherIvan, above, 'why doesn't she just sell herself on the issues or spend some of that money attacking Republicans (who I heard, she plans to 'work with') rather than another Democratic candidate?

Right there is a good thing for Bernie's supporters when campaigning for him, to point out how his Dem opponents are not talking about issues, don't want to debate, but are spending their time and their corporate dollars attempting to stop him from running on behalf of the people.

We can then point out that Bernie has never run a negative ad, doesn't need to smear and personally attack his opponents, won't be spending any Corporate dollars, since he doesn't take them anyhow, digging up dirt on them rather than talking about the issues.

People are sick to death of these campaigns where no one is talking about issues but are busy attacking each other.

[BrotherIvan]

30. It wasn't me that said that, but it is interesting

She is falling into a trap with this negativity. Either they are trying to bait him to go negative, or they are clueless to how this looks when he repeatedly says he won't attack her. Talk about bad optics. But they should keep going because it's BRILLIANT!! Best campaign evar.

[Enthusiast]

32. I'm glad the script writers lack talent. We recognize them for what they are.

[BrotherIvan]

33. Yes

I often look at political ads created by political media firms and think, are these film school dropouts or something? They are so bad and heavy handed. When you hear how much they pay for them, you just want to laugh. It's such an insulated world, they don't dare produce anything good. The Clinton youth outreach attempt at hipness is startling. I think my continuous expression is this face.



C'mon! There are so many talented people! The Obama campaign totally got this part right.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

27. "wealth redistribution"

I'd say it's a toss up as to which gets mentioned more often now.

[swilton]

29. 26 Members of the Progressive Caucus

have pledged for Clinton - I'm keeping track.

It shows you what the definition of progressive is - many, I feel associate with that group out of opportunism, i.e., it looks good on resumes.


AND on that subject - just found that the Washington State Progressive Caucus is supporting Bernie!!

http://washingtonforberniesanders.com/washington-state-democratic-party-progressive-caucus-endorses-bernie-sanders

[BrotherIvan]

31. I think that pretty much endorsements, especially from DC are going to go

to Clinton. They are just too powerful and have been laying the groundwork for a long time. That WA state one was interesting though.

[restorefreedom]

34. lets not forget joan walsh, lanny davis, and ed rendell

joan has already said bernie is not a "serious" candidate and lanny has lobbed a few insults as well. i have not heard rendell yet go neg. on bernie but it is possible.