We want progressive goals accomplished, not "THINGS done."

When Bill Clinton gutted the safety net for the most vulnerable Americans on welfare, he got THINGS done.

When Bill Clinton set back the fight for an equal right to marriage by signing DOMA, he got THINGS done.

When Bill Clinton took away judicial discretion by requiring harsh sentences for minor drug possession, he got THINGS done.

When Bill Clinton crippled labor by passing NAFTA, he got THINGS done.

When Bill Clinton boosted his support with Southern whites by shaming Sista Souljah and Joycelyn Elders, he got THINGS done.

When Bill Clinton deregulated Wall Street, he got THINGS done.

Contrast this failure of the progressive agenda under the Clintons with the sort of accomplishment that Hillary Clinton would say will never, ever happen; for example, contrast Clinton with Richard Nixon:

When Richard Nixon founded the Environmental Protection Agency, that was a progressive goal accomplished.

When Richard Nixon founded the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, that was a progressive goal accomplished.

When Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act, that was a progressive goal accomplished.

When Richard Nixon signed the Clean Water Act, that was a progressive goal accomplished.

When Richard Nixon laid the groundwork for the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, that was a progressive goal accomplished.

When Richard Nixon ended the draft, that was a progressive goal accomplished.

When Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law, that was a progressive goal accomplished.

When Richard Nixon fought to get the 26th Amendment passed, that was a progressive goal accomplished.

AND RICHARD NIXON WAS A REPUBLICAN ASSHOLE!

Ask yourself, why did asshole Republican Richard Nixon accomplish more of the progressive agenda than Democrat Bill Clinton who actually rolled back progressive gains?

No one doubts that Hillary Clinton will get THINGS done; we just doubt that they will be progressive things.

Here is some great analysis from Georgia Public Radio: link.

NPR — For more than two decades, New Hampshire has been a place of redemption for the Clintons. That could come to an end Tuesday night.... Hillary Clinton's 2008 ... victory helped her become the new "Comeback Kid" the same moniker her husband Bill Clinton proclaimed after his second-place finish in the state in 1992 jumpstarted his road to the nomination.

But now it's Clinton's rival, Bernie Sanders, who has the momentum going into Election Day. ... Donna Manion of Bow represents that. She came to Clinton's nearby Concord rally still trying to make up her mind. Even though she likes Clinton and voted for her in the 2008 primary, she said there's just something special about the 74-year-old Sanders that even reminds her of a young John F. Kennedy.

"I can, in my mind, think I'm pro-Hillary all the way," Manion said, "and then Bernie Sanders's ideas that he exposes me to really cause me to think in ways I hadn't thought before. I think in terms of 'us' a lot when I listen to Bernie talk. Whereas, when I listen to Hillary, even though I respect so much of what she has done, and the person that she is, I hear the word 'I,I, I' a lot."... "He has tapped into something that is fundamentally wrong and concerning about this country," Patrick Manion said, "and that is why so many people are feeling the fervor, are embracing the movement and understand that it's time to take the country back." ... Diane Meagher of Keane said Sanders represents the type of change from politics as usual that she's looking for something she just doesn't see in Clinton.

"If Hillary is the nominee, I won't vote for her," said Meager, an independent. "It's a trust factor. I'm actually excited about the Bernie campaign. It's a grassroots movement. It feels like this is who individuals want as a candidate, not just people who have money and corporations."

Interesting analysis at Bloomberg news: here.

There are some great quotes in the article:

“Hillary Clinton is not the Hillary Clinton of 2008. New Hampshire is not the New Hampshire of 2008,” said Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

{snip}

Exit polls from the 2008 primary in New Hampshire showed that Clinton had 46 percent support among women compared with 34 percent for Obama, and she also had the advantage over Obama among those earning less than $50,000 a year, 47 percent to 32 percent. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll of likely Democratic primary voters released Thursday showed Sanders winning 50 percent of women and 61 percent of those earning $50,000 or less.

Smith said the gender gap is particularly noticeable by age, with women 35 and younger backing Sanders and women older than 65 more inclined to support Clinton. That's attributable in part to generational differences and Sanders's overall appeal to younger voters, Smith said.

Laura LaBranche, 24, a computer technician from Somersworth, said she relates better with Sanders ... “I’m not sure if she’s just running for the sake of being the first female president, I’m not sure how sincere she is with this,” LaBranche said after a Sanders rally in Portsmouth. “Bernie seems more connectable to me.”

Liz Frescoln said while she backed Clinton in 2008, she thinks Sanders is the more effective advocate for issues such as universal health care and lowering medical costs. “I originally backed Hillary because she’s a woman, but I think there’s a lot more at stake here that I think Bernie’s focusing on,” Frescoln, 62, a psychotherapist from Canterbury, said after the same rally. “He seems to have a lot more energy.”

Dianne Day, a 55-year-old unemployed woman from Rindge, voted for Clinton in 2008 and is backing Sanders now. While she liked Clinton and her issues eight years ago, Sanders is a better choice now, Day said ... “I don’t trust her,” Day said after a Sanders rally on Saturday in Rindge. “I liked that she was the first woman running, but I don’t think that that’s as important as getting the best person in the job now.”

A CNN/WMUR New Hampshire primary poll released Sunday showed that while 7 percent of Democrats won’t vote for Sanders under any circumstances, 21 percent are opposed to Clinton amid questions about her use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state and doubts about her electability and longevity on the political stage.

{snip}

Sanders is also appealing to moderates and blue-collar workers in New Hampshire, which voted for U.S. Senator John Kerry over former Vermont Governor Howard Dean in the 2004 presidential primary, said Dante Scala, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire. “I think Sanders speaks more directly to their concerns than Clinton has been able to do,” Scala said. “Those blue-collar voters are especially willing to listen to a populist ‘us-versus-them’ type of message, and that’s resonating with them in a way that Clinton doesn’t.”

Source: Yahoo

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Many women who showed up at a presidential campaign rally for Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., at Great Bay Community College on Sunday said they were insulted and “offended” by supporters of Hillary Clinton who have suggested it is somehow anti-feminist to back Sanders instead of Clinton’s quest to become the first female president.... Cokie Giles, a registered nurse from Bangor, Maine, who traveled to neighboring New Hampshire for the rally, said she does not appreciate being “herded along just because I’m a woman.”

“Well, I don’t want to think that I have to vote for a woman, being a woman, because there’s a woman running. They have to be who I would look at as … my best choice,” Giles said. “I’m not trashing Hillary. I’m just saying Bernie is the better of the choices. And I will get a chance to vote for a female president. I would like to see a female president, and there’s plenty out there that I would be very happy to do.”... Some of the women who attended the Sanders rally on Sunday had harsh words for Albright and Steinem. Eileen Frazier, an attorney who came to the event from Massachusetts, described Albright’s remark as “unbelievable.” ... Frazier seemed even more incensed about Steinem’s comments, which she deemed “insulting.”

“You mean women don’t have a brain, Gloria? I’m for Bernie because Bernie represents the people, not special interests. I certainly would never vote for Hillary just because she’s a woman. That’s insulting to my intellect,” Frazier explained, adding, “I’m an attorney. … I have a brain and I’m choosing the better candidate. I wasn’t a Playboy bunny.” ... “He supports women. He has not brought the Democratic Party to the right like she has,” Frazier said of Clinton.



Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/politics/women-who-support-bernie-sanders-respond-to-234239662.html

---

Source: NPR

Primary season has officially begun. And as the presidential candidates campaign ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, both Republicans and Democrats are making big arguments in response to some big questions about their party's future. ... On supporting Bernie Sanders

Nicole Castillo: I think it was through my own journey of trying to figure out how to make systems change that I started to experience frustration with the system. Is the system working for my community? And so, as I come to {Clinton's} campaign now, I think about, is the system the only way in which we can make change? And might another narrative, perhaps the narrative of Bernie Sanders be one that would be more empowering to my community?

{Sanders} is driving a people-powered campaign. I think especially if you look at millennials and Latinos, we don't have exactly the best track record for voting. And I think that's often because we see the system isn't for us. And so, his narrative is one that {says} "Yes we are going to make system change, but it's going to take all of us."... Castillo: What people mean by {establishment} is more than having a career in politics. I think specifically they're referring to the amount of corporate money that she's receiving.

On Clinton giving paid speeches to Goldman Sachs ... Omara: There are many candidates who run for public office who've taken money for speeches. ... I could understand why some people would be concerned about that, but she took it to make a speech, as opposed to {Wall Street} donating $645,000 to your campaign so that you can be better on initiatives concerning Wall Street. That's the difference.


Read more: http://www.npr.org/2016/02/07/465774923/clinton-or-sanders-young-democrats-weigh-in

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

Concord, N.H. • With a victory seemingly out of reach in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton is looking ahead to the next round of voting to reposition her campaign to counter the rising primary threat of insurgent Sen. Bernie Sanders.... Part of that strategy means cutting into the double-digit advantage that Sanders has enjoyed in New Hampshire for several months. Her aides fear that a huge win here will help him make headway among women and minority voters, two key blocs of the coalition that twice elected President Barack Obama. Sanders' strength with younger voters only heightens the threat he poses to what was once her decisive national lead.... But while Clinton has vowed to fight for every vote in New Hampshire, at least some of her operation is moving on. ... Clinton herself is planning on leaving the state for a quickly scheduled visit to Flint, Michigan, on Sunday, an unusual step for a candidate trailing in the polls here. ... In recent days, she's been using the state as a testing ground for new campaign messages targeted at specific demographic groups, alluding to her gender with vows to break "the highest and hardest glass ceiling" and promising young voters that she'd "be for them" even if they support Sanders.

On Saturday, Clinton said during a town hall meeting in Henniker that her proposals to address college affordability and to build upon Obama's health care law were superior to Sanders' approach. She also cast her plans as more fiscally responsible. "I think it's important that those of you who are trying to make this decision by Tuesday really look at whether the numbers add up because, you know, it matters," she said.
...
Sanders, too, has been casting ahead, hoping to boost his profile among black voters who make up more than half of the South Carolina electorate. On Saturday night, he left the state for an appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" with comedian Larry David, whose imitations of Sanders on the show have quickly gone viral.

The day before, his campaign scheduled a press conference to tout the endorsement of former NAACP president Ben Jealous. ... Jealous told reporters on a conference call that Sanders "has the courage to confront the institutionalized bias that stains our nation." ... Sanders backers believe that as African-Americans learn more about the Vermont senator, they will warm to his liberal message. ... "Before a few weeks ago, I never gave Bernie Sanders the time of day," said state Rep. Justin Bamberg, who recently switched his backing from Clinton. "But if you look at Sanders he has been solid as concrete with regards to his passion for racial, social and economic justice."

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/home/3510760-155/story.html

Sanders on her left and she has Webb and Chafee on her right.

If she and her supporters and her campaign and the DNC had not been so arrogant and so hellbent on a coronation, she could have treated the debates as events that looked like the other candidates interviewing for running-mate and cabinet positions.

She could have positioned herself as the center of the pack. Instead of freezing Webb and O'Malley etc. out of the national conversation, she could have listened to Webb and Chafee and then explained to the party about why her more progressive ideas were better. She could have listened to Sanders and O'Malley advocate for their platforms, and then she could have explained why her more moderate platform was better for America.

This would have been a campaign that would have played to her strengths and she would have had Webb and Chafee agreeing with her argument that the progressive wing of the party was too liberal.

Instead, she pushed all of the other candidates away (except Sanders who was able to rewrite her script to accommodate the progressive base of the party), and now she is in a two-vision race where she's not at the center of a 5 point debate but on the rightwing of a polar debate.

Clinton is blowing (had already blown?) a sure thing, but the debate between the progressive wing of the party and the third-way wing of the party is overdue and I'm glad Clinton's poor campaign choices and strategies has brought this debate to the forefront!

Clinton is on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, and Stephanopoulos keeps lobbing her softballs and she is badly losing a debate where her and Stephanopoulos are both on her side! Stephanopoulos gave her every chance to explain this Elizabeth Warren clip where Warren explains that Clinton's flip-flop on the bankruptcy bill was a payback for her friends on Wall Street:

https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x3qx2yb

Clinton's squirming was painful to watch.

https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x3qx42z

CLINTON: When I got to the Senate in 2001, one of the first big votes there was on a version of the bankruptcy bill ... And I got that bill changed. And in return, it had nothing to do with any money whatsoever — and I resent deeply any effort by the Sanders campaign to so imply. It had to do with trying to get a deal…

STEPHANOPOULOS: But that’s not what…

CLINTON: — that would protect women. But now let me finish, George, because this has been bandied about and I just want to set the record straight. .... I faced a tough decision and ... I went to the Senate floor, said that was exactly what I was doing. Then the bill did not pass. It never became law. ... But they have been quite artful in raising questions and trying to cast doubts about my record.

And I really am not going to sit and take it anymore —

STEPHANOPOULOS: But Senator —

CLINTON: I have a public record. I have never, ever been influenced in a view or a vote by anyone who has given me any kind of money. So I’m just going to keep setting the record straight.

The most recent polling by Quinnipiac shows that Sanders has an extremely favorable rating (+41 for godssake!) in the African American community and that it is slightly lower than Clinton's favorability poll number in that community only because 31% of the African American community does not know Sanders well enough yet. Among those African Americans who know him, Sanders actually has an even more favorable rating in that community than his way-better-than-Clinton's favorable rating among white voters:

Sanders

Favorable...............white 39%.....black 55%
Unfavorable............white 43%.....black 14%

Clinton

Favorable...............white 31%.....black 73%
Unfavorable............white 66%.....black 20%

We need to stop this perpetual flow of racist snark that PoC are not liberal or not progressive or not Sanders supporters now. We are Democrats and we are better than that!

In the CNN town forum this week, Clinton had the following exchange with Anderson Cooper:

"You were paid $675,000 for three speeches. Was that a mistake? I mean was that a bad error in judgment?" Cooper asked.
"Look. I made speeches to lots of groups. I told them what I thought. I answered questions," Clinton said Wednesday night at a Democratic forum moderated by CNN.
"But did you have to be paid $675,000?" Cooper pressed the Democratic presidential hopeful.
"Well, I don't know. That's what they offered," Clinton responded.
Attempting to explain away the Wall Street speeches, Clinton said she didn't know whether she was running for president again.
"To be honest I wasn't -- I wasn't committed to running," Clinton said about the circumstances and timing of the speeches. "I didn't know whether I would or not."
"You didn't think you were going to run for president again?" Cooper asked.
"I didn't," Clinton said. "You know when I was secretary of State several times I said you know I think I'm done. And you know, so many people came to me, started talking to me."

The quote underlined above has received so much negative attention that is drawn focus away from the whopper in bold, which I am curious about.

Is there even one single person on the planet who believes that Hillary didn't anticipate running for president in 2013? Really? Anyone?