April 7, 2016

TICK-TOCK: How Shoddy Reporting Contributed to Bernie’s Inexcusable Attack on Hillary

http://bluenationreview.com/how-shoddy-reporting-contributed-to-bernies-unqualified-attack/

Bernie’s excuse for calling Hillary “unqualified” to be president doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Here is a timeline of how the personal attack developed and the shoddy reporting that Bernie and his campaign relied on to rationalize it.

It began with Bernie’s interview with the New York Daily News Editorial Board, where he struggled to provide specifics on how he would break up big banks and enact his agenda.

Before Hillary ever responded to the interview, the media were raising concerns about Bernie’s answers to questions on issues that have been centerpieces of his campaign.

When asked whether or not the Fed has the power to regulate Wall Street, for example, Bernie’s response was, “Well, I don’t know.”

These are just a few of the headlines that circulated after the interview:

Jonathan Capehart at the Washington Post: “9 Things Bernie Sanders Should’ve Known About but Didn’t in That Daily News Interview.”

Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post: “This New York Daily News Interview Was Pretty Close to a Disaster for Bernie Sanders.”

David A. Graham at The Atlantic: “How Much Does Bernie Sanders Know About Policy?“

Caitlin Cruz at Talking Points Memo: “Bernie Sanders Struggles to Explain How He Would Break up the Banks.”

When MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough asked Hillary about the interview on Morning Joe, Hillary pointedly refused to say Bernie was unqualified. Instead she focused on his apparent unpreparedness in light of the Daily News interview.

“I think he hadn’t done his homework and he’d been talking for more than a year about doing things that he obviously hadn’t really studied or understood,” Hillary said, “and that does raise a lot of questions.”

According to Scarborough:

I tried to get Hillary Clinton four times — three or four times to say that Bernie Sanders was unqualified to be president of the United States and just like my interview with Rick Santorum, I start asking a question, I keep going being I get an answer or give up and after three or four attempts with Secretary Clinton I gave up because she was not going to say the words he is unqualified to be president of the United States.

(More in link)

April 7, 2016

Dear Senator Sanders: Today, I am Sick to My Stomach

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/7/1511877/-Dear-Senator-Sanders-Today-I-am-Sick-to-My-Stomach

By MBJ



An Open Letter to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Dear Senator Sanders,

Waking up this morning to the news that you have labelled Hillary Clinton “Unqualified” to be President of the United States has literally left me sick to my stomach.

You know, not the “Oh, I had bad guacamole last night” feeling, or the “I shouldn’t have eaten the entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s,” but the, “We’re going to lose to Ted Cruz and everything we’ve worked so hard for over the last thirty years is going to go to hell,” feeling.

Senator, I am a supporter of Secretary Clinton. I have made no secret of that, and have been for decades. In 2008, I was a vocal supporter of hers in the primary, and gladly unified behind Barack Obama when he won the nomination. Part of a primary process is debating positions, debating issues and ultimately coming together behind the nominee.

I appreciate you, Senator. I agree with almost all of your positions, with the major exception (and it’s a major one) of gun control. I am a supporter of Secretary Clinton because I believe in incremental progressive change and the need to build political infrastructure to get anything done. You can read my earlier blog about that, “Hoping for Followthrough” here on Daily Kos. At the end of the day, it’s my practical approach that has separated me from you, not your positions. I have applauded as you have moved the needle and the conversation to the left, staking out critical territory on income inequality and helping to bring these issues to the forefront of the conversation. I’ve even named my large suitcase “Bernie Sanders” because it’s blue and pulls to the left.

But yesterday, you infuriated me. And yet, I will still support you if you are the nominee of the Democratic Party, because the differences between Left and Right are still so deep and clear, and at the end of the day, we need to keep a leftist, a liberal, a progressive, whatever word you choose to use, in the White House.

Today, though, I am nauseous. I am furious. I am scared of the possibility of President Ted Cruz because of your assertions that Hillary Clinton is “unqualified” to be president.

(More in link)

April 7, 2016

Bernie Lied! Hillary Clinton Actually Refused to Call Him Unqualified… Three Times

http://www.mediaite.com/online/bernie-lied-hillary-clinton-actually-refused-to-call-him-unqualified-three-times/

by Tommy Christopher

Democratic presidential candidate and independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has initiated a mass fainting spell among the political media by rattling off a list of reasons why he considers rival candidate and current frontrunner Hillary Clinton “not qualified to be president.” The attack has also galvanized Hillary’s supporters, who have responded with the trending hashtag #HillarySoQualified. Unlike a lot of pundits, I’m not that bothered by the charge, I love a smash-mouth campaign, and if it is indeed to be on like Donkey Kong, Hillary Clinton can handle herself.

What is a problem, though, is that Bernie Sanders launched his attack by first telling a big, fat, insane lie about Hillary. Here’s the full context of Bernie’s remarks, but pay close attention to the first part:

(More with videos in link)

April 6, 2016

Thoroughly Unprepared: How Bernie Sanders Flunked the Test of His Own Signature Issues, Banks and Tr

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2016/4/6/thoroughly-unprepared-bernie-sanders-exposes-dogmatic-ignorance-on-trade-banks



By Spandan Chakrabarti

Bernie Sanders had an interview with the New York Daily News.

It went so badly that even the usually fawning main stream media is beginning to notice. And not a moment too soon. When it comes to a multitude of issues - just about any issue, realy - Bernie Sanders fell apart when pushed for details. He seemed to have rehearsed his "revolution" talking point quite well, and he got is campaign stump speech down. But he fell flat on issue after issue when it came to a mastery of the details.

Here at TPV, we will break the wide ranging interview into sections, and cover a part at a time as a series. As Trevor has already written, Bernie Sanders showed the colors of a campaign that was never prepared to elect a president.

For this article, let's discuss two of those issues, international trade and the country's financial system. Sanders has made ardent opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement negotiated by President Obama the centerpiece of his trade agenda, and if there is one issue with which Sanders is identified, it's Wall Street and its follies. It seemed fitting to take a dive into those issues first.

In both cases, Sen. Sanders was quick to trot out talking points to outline what he opposes, but was woefully ignorant of realities and specifics of what he proposes.

(More in link)

April 6, 2016

What If He Wins: Why Bernie Sanders Never Vetted His Own Campaign Platform

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2016/4/6/what-if-he-wins-why-bernie-sanders-never-vetted-his-own-campaign-platform

By Trevor LaFauci

Sometimes a single movie scene can perfectly encapsulate a real world event.

In 1972, Hollywood leading man Robert Redford starred in a Michael Ritchie film, titled The Candidate, which told the fictional story of California senatorial nominee Bill McKay. McKay, the son of a former governor, is recruited by election specialist Marvin Lucas (played by Peter Boyle) to challenge the popular incumbent Republican senator Crocker Jarmon in a race where McKay is expected to be the Democratic Party's sacrificial lamb. Since McKay seemingly has no shot at winning, Lucas gives him free reign to say whatever he wants on the campaign trail as a way to at least allow him the feeling of self-respect after what will assuredly be a landslide defeat. However, a funny thing happens: McKay begins to gain popularity by telling it how it is by bringing up such issues as racial inequality and social injustices. Eventually McKay wins over the state's powerful unions and is even endorsed by his father, an act seen as the tipping point in what had become a neck-and-neck race. McKay ends up winning the race and the last scene has him looking bewildered as he pulls Lucas aside and asks, point blank, "What do we do now?"

Bernie Sanders is a modern day Bill McKay.

Because like McKay, Sanders evidently has no idea what would happen should he be elected president. On April 1st, Sanders gave an interview to the editorial board of The New York Daily News, in what is widely being regarded as an unmitigated disaster for the Sanders campaign. The interview showcased Sanders to be a one-trick pony, stuck on talking points and having no real understanding of essential issues that he would be facing as our country's president and commander-in-chief. Sanders' lackluster performance was widely criticized by such media outlets as Mediate, Slate Magazine, The Atlantic, CNN, and USA Today who all lamented the fact that even with ten months of campaigning under his belt, Sanders was unable to answer even the simplest questions in regard to his very own campaign platform. The interview left many pundits wondering why Sanders had not been challenged this way in any previous debates or one-on-one interviews and how he was able to make it this far without having a basic understanding of how government functions.

(More in link)

April 6, 2016

Hillary Bursts Out Laughing in Response to Attack from Sanders Campaign Manager

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/hillary-bursts-out-laughing-in-response-to-sanders-campaign-manager/

by Josh Feldman



On CNN last night, Bernie Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weave warned Hillary Clinton‘s campaign not to break apart the Democratic party in the name of serving her presidential ambitions.

Clinton responded this afternoon by literally laughing out loud.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo spoke with Clinton and read to her what Weaver said. Clinton burst out laughing and cried, “It’s just ludicrous on the face of it!”

She said she’s been raising money for Democrats for decades while Sanders was unaffiliated with the Democratic party.

(More with video in link)

April 6, 2016

Bernie Sanders Campaign Manager Lies About Hillary to Deflect Gun Control Criticism

http://www.mediaite.com/online/bernie-sanders-campaign-manager-lies-about-hillary-to-deflect-gun-control-criticism/

by Tommy Christopher



Democratic presidential candidate and independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is getting all kinds of fallout from his interview with the New York Daily News editorial board, including harsh attacks from the paper over his support for a law that gave gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits. On MSNBC Tuesday night, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver tried to deflect that heat away from his candidate by misleading, obfuscating, and outright lying to Rachel Maddow:

This issue of guns certainly is an issue that the Secretary’s campaign likes to raise a lot, but the truth of the matter is she’s been all over the map on this over the years. Her current campaign takes money from the gun lobby. You know, a gun lobbyist actually ran a fundraiser for her in DC on the 21st of March. So it’s a little bit disingenuous again. It’s like Wall Street or the fossil fuel industry or what have you, they say one thing, but they’re taking money with the other hand.

Let’s just break that down. On Sanders’ support for the immunity provision, he has said over and over again that he doesn’t think gun manufacturers ought to be liable for legally-purchased guns, even during Monday’s interview. In that NYDN interview, Sanders was asked if he thinks that victims of crimes should be able to sue gun manufacturers, and he replied “No, I don’t.” He muddied the waters later in the interview, though, when he was asked if the Sandy Hook lawsuit is “baseless,” and he said “It’s not baseless. I wouldn’t use that word,” but added that “it’s a backdoor way” of achieving the goal of a legislative assault weapons ban.

(More in link)

April 6, 2016

Bernie Sanders Campaign Manager Lies About Hillary to Deflect Gun Control Criticism

http://www.mediaite.com/online/bernie-sanders-campaign-manager-lies-about-hillary-to-deflect-gun-control-criticism/

by Tommy Christopher



Democratic presidential candidate and independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is getting all kinds of fallout from his interview with the New York Daily News editorial board, including harsh attacks from the paper over his support for a law that gave gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits. On MSNBC Tuesday night, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver tried to deflect that heat away from his candidate by misleading, obfuscating, and outright lying to Rachel Maddow:

This issue of guns certainly is an issue that the Secretary’s campaign likes to raise a lot, but the truth of the matter is she’s been all over the map on this over the years. Her current campaign takes money from the gun lobby. You know, a gun lobbyist actually ran a fundraiser for her in DC on the 21st of March. So it’s a little bit disingenuous again. It’s like Wall Street or the fossil fuel industry or what have you, they say one thing, but they’re taking money with the other hand.

Let’s just break that down. On Sanders’ support for the immunity provision, he has said over and over again that he doesn’t think gun manufacturers ought to be liable for legally-purchased guns, even during Monday’s interview. In that NYDN interview, Sanders was asked if he thinks that victims of crimes should be able to sue gun manufacturers, and he replied “No, I don’t.” He muddied the waters later in the interview, though, when he was asked if the Sandy Hook lawsuit is “baseless,” and he said “It’s not baseless. I wouldn’t use that word,” but added that “it’s a backdoor way” of achieving the goal of a legislative assault weapons ban.

(More in link)

April 4, 2016

The Revolution that Hillary is Leading - the one mothers are desperate for

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/4/1499183/-The-Revolution-that-Hillary-is-Leading-the-one-mothers-are-desperate-for

By yankeegrl


Stand with Hillary - Fight the NRA!

She’s the only presidential candidate to say that she’s going to fight the NRA, and I’m proud to stand right beside her in this fight. Over 33,000 thousand Americans are dying per year from gun violence — the majority of them children. They have become innocent victims in our inability to regulate an industry that literally profits off the death of these children. Every gun and bullet used to kill a child has an industry of manufacturing and marketing behind it that has funded one of the most powerful lobbyists that currently exists in this country, the NRA. So powerful, in fact, that despite the minority of Americans, and even the minority of gun owners, that are members of the NRA, they somehow wield more power than the majority of American citizens, and the majority of gun owners (myself included), in our country. They use intimidation, money (that is protected by industry immunity), and an arbitrary grading scheme to further their propaganda — and profit driven model — that our country is safer when we have more guns. They forbid us from doing gun violence research and they have lobbied for immunity of their industry, knowing full well how legally vulnerable they are. The NRA, to me, is the exact type of oppressive power that the 2nd Amendment was designed to protect us from — yet they use it against us, and mostly against our children. Just like we vaccinate our children from deadly diseases, it is time to vaccinate our children from the irresponsible, profit-driven goals of the gun industry. And it is also time to vote for candidates that will lead this fight, not cower in the corner with a false sense of security and righteousness on the issue.

(More in link)

April 4, 2016

Yes, I want a woman president

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/4/1509797/-Yes-I-want-a-woman-president

By chloris creator

A major reason that I support Hillary is because she is female, and because she has demonstrated a clear understanding of how important it is for women to have equality and access to education and to reproductive freedom. She has been fighting for women for years, not just starting in 1995 with her talk in Beijing, although that was a risky, exciting example of how she has been committed to this for decades. She showed her commitment in her responses to Trump and other Republican initiatives just last week.

In addition to the moral imperative to stop the global, millennia-long oppression of half the population — and having a woman like Hillary as the leader of the free world will inspire young women around the planet and help deflate the idea that men are superior -- her support of women and our reproductive health and choices can be critical to so many other goals.

Income inequality. Yes, there are many reasons to be against big banks and the top 0.1%, but making sure that women have choices before they give birth is where it all starts. A child who is wanted, who arrives at the right time, is off to a much better start than a child who causes the mother to be ill or who cannot be afforded. And the madness of forcing women to carry to term fetuses that are severely defective — this will hurt incomes and families too. So will having children grow up in places where the water is full of lead.

Climate change. The elephant in the room that few people seem to want to address is that this planet has been overrun by our own species. We have a few alternatives. Colonize space (not practical yet). Better use of resources (we’re working on that but there are problems as we keep making more people and those people want more). Reducing the population seems the best way. We could do this through war and disease, but those are both extremely unpleasant approaches. Birth control makes much more sense.

War. A huge reason for unrest is overpopulation. Take a look at Alan Weisman’s Countdown, and you will see that the Palestinians and at least the Orthodox Israelis have been reproducing at very high rates, which is certainly one reason the area is a powder keg. Some of the young women seem to be rebelling against this but they could use some encouragement.

I understand that protecting women's rights, including reproductive rights, will not guarantee improvements. But they make a difference — a big difference.

These are just a few of the reasons why I want a woman president. But why do I want Hillary specifically?

I want Hillary because she’s brilliant, competent, dedicated, hard-working, and she understands that she needs a team (or a coalition, or a village) which is why she has been supporting the down ballot Democrats. She understands that issues are complex. She has detailed plans, not just rhetoric. She has also been vetted, through decades of right wing persecution. She has shown her taxes for years. She has sat through 11 hours of grilling on Benghazi.

Her good points go on and on and have been diaried elsewhere.