Commonalities of Bernie and The Donald

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Personally, I wish Elizabeth Warren would call out Bernie Sanders, in addition to her tough talk about Donald Trump.  As far as I know, Liz hasn't been upset over some of Bernie's recent demands. Bernie, the losing candidate for the Democratic nominee position, having been a Democrat for about one year, has claimed the right to appoint members of the Party's platform committee, and he's currently demanding a voice in Hillary Clinton's presidential appointments, even though he's warning her not to declare herself the nominee just yet.

Warren needs to acknowledge that Bernie, her favorite for the nominee position, boasts some very superficial claims to authenticity: uncombed hair, rumpled suit, fist raised, perpetual scowl, etc. And yes Bernie does have some things in common with the Trump, for example, both of these grown men frequently throw temper tantrums when they don't get their way.

In the meantime, I'll give Liz due credit for publicly standing up to Trump:

WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), amplifying her her recent attacks on Donald Trump, admonished the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in a no-holds-barred speech on Tuesday, calling him “a small, insecure money-grubber who doesn’t care who gets hurt.”

Warren recounted the story of a Nevada family whose home was foreclosed at the height of the 2008 economic crisis while accepting an award from the Center for Popular Democracy, an economic justice organization. The story served as a segue into an excoriation of comments Trump made before the crisis, hoping the housing market would crash so he could profit from it.

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Sanders' outrageous demands

 (Tracie Van Auken / European Pressphoto Agency)

Bernie Sanders calls to mind an expression I learned years ago in childhood: "Give him an inch, and he'll take a mile."  The Democratic Party that he has maligned daily, after it embraced him in April 2015, has allowed him to appoint members to its Platform Committee. Having been given an inch, Bernie is now demanding his mile: he wants a say in Hillary Clinton's presidential appointments. The Democratic Party should be on the alert as it looks as if the loser in the election of its 2016 nominee will continue to increase his demands. By the way, Bernie is accusing the party of rigging the election in favor of Hillary Clinton. Talk about sour grapes.

Susan Madrak at the Blue Nation Review writes:

Jonathan Martin, NY Times national political correspondent, told CNN that Bernie won’t be satisfied with symbolic platform committee spots, he wants a say in Hillary’s presidential appointments.

When I heard this, I thought, not for the first time, that Bernie’s actions have become deeply undemocratic. He truly believes his opinions are more important than that of the, what, three million more voters whose support Hillary has earned — so far.

When I voted for Hillary here in Pennsylvania, I was voting for her choices. She’s smart, principled, and good at moving the levers of power. I want her judgment, not his.

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Sanders' problem in facing reality

Bernie's angry face is all over the Internet, photo via the New Yorker.

Credit PHOTOGRAPH BY MANDEL NGAN / AFP / GETTY

Senator Bernie Sanders stepped on the national stage with a halo around his head, proclaiming he was above politics and holding up his flag of idealism for all to see. He roused the college kids with his notions of starting a revolution and leaders on the ultra Left, old enough to know better, were also stirred by Bernie's inflammatory rhetoric. The Democratic Party welcomed Bernie into its fold as he non-idealistically needed its cash and support for his presidential run.

What has Bernie done for the Democratic Party since it embraced him? Well, he sued the DNC for penalizing his team for hacking Hillary Clinton's files. He has repeatedly accused his newfound political home for rigging the election of its nominee in Clinton's favor, and among other things, he's threatened to depose Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC Chair, when he's elected.

Then there was his response to the Nevada episode where his supporters - the Bernie or bust folks - got a little out of hand, as noted by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman who titled his recent post: 'Questions of Character:"

Like a lot of people, I was shocked by the statement Bernie Sanders put out about Nevada. No hint of apology for his supporters’ behavior, lots of accusations about a “rigged” process when the issue in Nevada was whether Clinton should get more delegates in a state where she won the vote. And the general implication that the nomination is somehow being stolen when the reality is that Clinton won because a large majority of voters chose to support her.

But maybe we shouldn’t have been shocked. It has been obvious for quite a while that Sanders — not just his supporters, not even just his surrogates, but the candidate himself — has a problem both in facing reality and in admitting mistakes. The business with claiming that Clinton only won conservative states in the deep South told you that; and even before, there were strong indications that he would not accept defeat gracefully or even rationally.

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Dishonest Bernie vs. truthtelling Hillary

Photo courtesy of CNN.

Hi friends of Katalusis,

I'm on edge this morning thinking about the NY primary today and hoping that Hillary's win will prove that Americans are better than the reprehensible behavior of Bernie Sanders and his followers indicates. This letter from Hillary's campaign hit my inbox this morning, and it reveals how low Sanders is willing to stoop in order to get what he wants, never mind what he deserves:

Virginia --

I want to let you know about a development that just occurred, because it matters. The tone of this primary matters, and the condition of our party at the end of it will matter as we prepare to face Donald Trump or Ted Cruz this fall.

Earlier today, the Sanders campaign wrote a letter to the Democratic National Committee, falsely accusing us of violating campaign finance law.

You won’t be surprised by what happened next: 26 minutes after the letter was sent, his campaign sent a fundraising email attempting to capitalize on the phony charges.

(Before you read any further, let's get one thing straight: this accusation is false. They're questioning our joint fundraising agreement with the DNC, which allows us to support Democrats running up and down the ticket -- the same fundraising structure used by President Obama in 2008 and 2012.)

This latest incident is part of a troubling pattern of behavior -- occurring just as Bernie’s mathematical odds of winning the nomination dwindle toward zero -- in which Sanders and his team are not just debating us on issues (which we all agree is perfectly fair), but rather attacking Hillary Clinton’s character, integrity, and motivations.

The fact that they include the Democratic Party in these charges -- an organization we want future generations of progressives to trust and support -- further confirms that the Sanders campaign has let things get out of hand in its waning days. To wit:

• Over the weekend, they had protesters outside one of our fundraising events -- one whose proceeds went not just to Hillary for America, but to the Democratic National Committee and 32 state Democratic Parties -- throwing dollar bills at Hillary’s motorcade, as if they were at, shall we say, an adult entertainment venue. This was just days after someone introducing Bernie at a rally called Hillary a “Democratic whore.”
• In last week’s debate, Bernie questioned Hillary’s commitment to fighting climate change because a whopping 0.2% of the money given to our campaign has come from employees of oil and gas companies. Not even 2%, mind you: 0.2%.
• And of course, Sanders spent several days calling Hillary unqualified for the presidency, based on an entirely false claim that Hillary had said the same about him. She hadn’t (and still hasn’t, even after what he said).

To be clear, we welcome a debate on the important issues facing Americans, like how to prevent gun violence, encourage tolerance, and do more to level the playing field for Americans who are counting on us.

But it’s hard to see how anyone -- other than Donald Trump and Ted Cruz -- benefits from this downward spiral of irresponsible and baseless attacks. Right about now is when we ought to be talking about coming together as a progressive movement, not undermining a generation of voters’ faith in the Democratic Party and in the woman who is almost certain to be its nominee.

Thank you for everything you do to support our campaign.

Robby

Robby Mook
Campaign Manager
Hillary for America

Bernie shoots off his mouth on behalf of gun manufacturers

The revolutionary Bernie Sanders should stop shooting off his mouth and smile more. More than anything else, it's that shooting off his mouth in support of gun manufacturers that's getting Bernie into trouble lately - pointing his finger and waving his arms around like an out of control windmill doesn't help his case.

Oh, and Bernie seemed a bit insensitive in his response to the lawsuit recently filed by parents of children murdered at Sandy Hook. Mark and Jackie Barden, plaintiffs in the case, poured some cold water on "feel the Bern" Sanders and his supporters. The Bardens' op-ed at the Washington Post should make Sanders and company more careful in their response to families who have lost loved ones to weapons like Remington’s Bushmaster AR-15.

Mark and Jackie Barden are plaintiffs in the case Soto et. al v. Bushmaster. 

 

Our son, our sweet little Daniel, was just 7 when he was murdered in his first-grade classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. We are among the 10 families suing the manufacturer, distributor and retail seller of the assault rifle that took 26 lives in less than five minutes on that terrible day.

We write in response to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s comments about our lawsuit at the recent Democratic presidential debate in Michigan. Sanders suggested that the “point” of our case is to hold Remington Arms Co. liable simply because one of its guns was used to commit mass murder. With all due respect, this is simplistic and wrong. 

This case is about a particular weapon, Remington’s Bushmaster AR-15, and its sale to a particular market: civilians. It is not about handguns or hunting rifles, and the success of our lawsuit would not mean the end of firearm manufacturing in this country, as Sanders warned. This case is about the AR-15 because the AR-15 is not an ordinary weapon; it was designed and manufactured for the military to increase casualties in combat. The AR-15 is to guns what a tank is to cars: uniquely deadly and suitable for specialized use only.

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Bernie's alliance with the Tea Party

Say what??!!

Can't help it. I'm always a little skeptical of self-proclaimed saints, especially the political variety, e.g., Bernie Sanders. My skepticism has been warranted more than once so far during the 2016 Democratic primary. You know the primary, I mean. It's the one that Bernie qualified for when he suddenly decided it was in his best interest to join the Democratic Party: he needed its backing for his presidential run. Yet Bernie, the newest Democratic leader (?) on the block, continues to boast of his superior ethics while aggressively joining the Tea Party's efforts to label Hillary as corrupt.

Peter Daou's article in the Blue Nation Review reveals just who is corrupt, and it's not Hillary:

By Peter Daou

 

The corporate media are busy doing the Sanders campaign’s heavy lifting by trumpeting his desperate call for Hillary Clinton to release speech transcripts, an evidence-free insinuation of corruption that should be beneath Bernie.

And it is dismaying that Bernie’s positive message of 2015 has devolved into a relentless assault on Hillary’s integrity, using innuendo and guilt-by-association to tarnish her image and damage her for the general election should she be the Democratic nominee.

Meanwhile, aside from glancing mentions by Joy Reid and Jake Tapper, there has been complete media silence on Sierra Blanca, a shocking and distressing example of Bernie acting in direct contradiction to the values he espouses.

CounterPunch:

Bernie Sanders made a cold political calculation in 1998 that affected the lives of hundreds of poor, powerless people half a country away. He did it because it would benefit his affluent, politically engaged constituency, and, in turn, benefit him.

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Hillary won the Iowa Caucus

In reporting the results of the Iowa Caucus, Huffpo reminded its readers: "The Iowa Democratic Party doesn't report vote counts. It reports State Delegate Equivalents (SDEs), predictions of who will attend the state-wide party convention." Most reporting sites agree this morning that Hillary Clinton garnered 701 SDEs; whereas, Bernie Sanders emerged with 697 SDEs. That translates into 28 delegates for Clinton and 21 for Sanders.

In other words, although Bernie Sanders claims it was a tie, others disagree:  NBC News said:  "Based on the report from the Iowa Democratic Party Chair, we have marked Hillary Clinton as the apparent winner. The party described the race as a 'historically close caucus."

In the run up to the Iowa Caucus, I kept encountering Bernie's angry face in his online ads - his perpetual scowl with arms waving as he rants and raves at the top of his lungs. Each time, I've been reminded of his attempt to put Hillary Clinton down back in October 2015 by telling her in reference to her position on gun control: “all the shouting in the world” won't fix the issue."

I imagine Bernie is convinced that his ranting and raving and promise to start a revolution will fix not only all of America's problems, but the world's problems as well.  Maybe his inexperienced youthful followers - with all of their enthusiasm - can swallow his pitch, but for the rest of us, Bernie's unrelenting shouting is quickly growing old.
 

The NY Times gets it right once again in endorsing Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton, 2015. Doug Mills/The New York Times

Photo courtesy of the NY Times. 

Well, Katalusis friends, considering Hillary Clinton's widespread sexist treatment by the media during the 2008 Democratic primary, it's a pleasure to read that once again, the NY Times has chosen to endorse her.  The Times editorial begins with this blurb:

Voters have the chance
to choose one of the most
broadly and deeply
qualified presidential
candidates in modern history.

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD JAN. 30, 2016

(Virginia Bergman notes: I object to the Times editorial's insistence on labeling Bill Clinton as her "brilliant and flawed husband." I would ask the Editorial Board to name one so-called brilliant public figure without flaws. A reminder is in order here: all human beings are flawed in one way or another, even the members of the Times editorial board.)

The Times endorsement of Hillary continues:

For the past painful year, the Republican presidential contenders have been bombarding Americans with empty propaganda slogans and competing, bizarrely, to present themselves as the least experienced person for the most important elected job in the world. Democratic primary voters, on the other hand, after a substantive debate over real issues, have the chance to nominate one of the most broadly and deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history.

Hillary Clinton would be the first woman nominated by a major party. She served as a senator from a major state (New York) and as secretary of state — not to mention her experience on the national stage as first lady with her brilliant and flawed husband, President Bill Clinton. The Times editorial board has endorsed her three times for federal office — twice for Senate and once in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary — and is doing so again with confidence and enthusiasm.

Mrs. Clinton’s main opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic Socialist, has proved to be more formidable than most people, including Mrs. Clinton, anticipated. He has brought income inequality and the lingering pain of the middle class to center stage and pushed Mrs. Clinton a bit more to the left than she might have gone on economic issues. Mr. Sanders has also surfaced important foreign policy questions, including the need for greater restraint in the use of military force.

In the end, though, Mr. Sanders does not have the breadth of experience or policy ideas that Mrs. Clinton offers. His boldest proposals — to break up the banks and to start all over on health care reform with a Medicare-for-all system — have earned him support among alienated middle-class voters and young people. But his plans for achieving them aren’t realistic, while Mrs. Clinton has very good, and achievable, proposals in both areas.

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"Republican operatives have a strange crush on Bernie Sanders"

Bernie Sanders, AP photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Photo courtesy of The Blaze.

So do Republicans have a better fix than the Democrats on which candidate would be harder for them to defeat in the 2016 general election? It's possible. Maybe that's why the Republicans are giving "unsolicited" support to Bernie Sanders to help him defeat Hillary in the Democratic primary. Take a look at this piece by  Steve Benen at Rachel Maddow's blog:

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was asked last week which Democratic presidential candidate he’d prefer to face in a general election. The RNC chief said Bernie Sanders is probably the tougher candidate.

 

It’s obviously difficult to take Priebus’ assessment at face value – even if he has a firm opinion, the Republican has no incentive to tell the truth – and his comments are all the more curious given what his party has been up to lately.

 

During Sunday’s Democratic debate, for example, reporters received emails from the candidates’ campaigns and their allies, but in a remarkable twist, the Republican National Committee also issued statements – two during the event, two after – defending Sanders against criticisms from Hillary Clinton and endorsing Sanders’ arguments.

 

Bloomberg Politics’ Sahil Kapur reported that Republican operatives have “a strange crush on Bernie Sanders,” and it goes beyond the RNC’s pro-Sanders rapid-response during Sunday night’s debates.

 

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The truth is out about Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders

Photo  by Andrew Burton via Getty image at Huffington Post.

Blogging at the Huffington Post, Peter D. Rosenstein, non-profit consultant, public speaker and political activist, responds to Donald Trump's attacks on Hillary Clinton and in the process, Rosenstein gets the truth out about Hillary Clinton and about the Left's favorite candidate, Bernie Sanders as well. The Dems  - especially the Left - will be better prepared to nominate a winner by reviewing Rosenstein's take on their two leading candidates:

In his maniacal rantings about Hillary playing the woman's card Trump ignores what is right before his eyes; she is a brilliant, experienced and passionate woman whose supporters, male and female, will be working hard to elect her President of the United States of America. Clinton is the most prepared person running for President in decades with the range of experience and knowledge few if any past Presidents have had. Before his ego ran wild Donald Trump agreed. But this campaign has seen whatever common sense and decency he once possessed go out the window. All his recent threats to launch attacks against Bill Clinton are symptoms of candidate out of control and one afraid to face the person who is actually running for President, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Should Republicans nominate Trump the country will see him for the hypocrite he is. The thrice married Trump has always been a wheeler dealer. The Village Voice chronicled some of his deals and political manipulation including those leading to the building of the Grand Hyatt on top of Grand Central Terminal in New York, built with a 40 year $60 million tax abatement paid for by the taxpayers of New York City. He has never done anything for anybody else that didn't benefit him. 

Those who have watched all the Republican debates and the three Democratic ones, Clinton backers now wishing there were more, have seen first-hand Hillary Clinton is far and away the smartest person participating in any of them. By dint of her leadership, experience and intelligence she is able to speak to both domestic issues and foreign affairs with an understanding and passion not evident in any other candidate.

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The déjà vu flavor of the love affair of Democratic Party lefties with Bernie Sanders

 (Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder/Dominick Reuter/Photo montage by Salon) (Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder/Dominick Reuter/Photo montage by Salon)

The current infatuation with Bernie Sanders by the ultra left wing of the Democratic Party has a déjà vu flavor to it. Back in August 2008, I noted here at Katalusis:

Barack Obama gained the rabid support of the Democratic Party’s left wing by promising among other things to first unify the nation and then ride forth to bring peace and harmony to the entire world. He assured his followers that no experience was required to perform this miracle; he would accomplish the feat solely by virtue of his singular personality. As Oprah so eloquently introduced Obama at a rally in South Carolina during the Democratic primary, “He’s the one we’ve been waiting for.”
So far the presumptive nominee, also known as “the one,” has not been able to unify his own party ahead of its national convention this August in Denver – even though his coronation is slated to occur before 75,000 onlookers seated in the Mile High Stadium at Invesco Field.

There are, of course, obvious differences between 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama and 2016 candidate Bernie Sanders, a registered independent and self-described socialist, currently seeking the Democratic Party nomination. Age and political experience, for one thing – in those respects, Sanders far outweighs the One in his 2008 heyday. But it must be said that Sanders may even surpass Obama in the promises the Vermont senator makes to score big on major Democratic Party issues on foreign policy, environment, same sex marriage, health care, and the economy.

Adding to the déjà vu experience, Sanders, like his predecessor, is taking aim at frontrunner Hillary Clinton. In an attempt to bring giddy left wing Democrats back to earth, a reminder is in order: as soon as Obama secured the Democratic Party nomination, the candidate who presented himself as above politics, suddenly lunged to the center. Obama’s supporters explained their idol’s about face was necessary in order for him to defeat John McCain in the general election.

Does anyone reading this now care that soon after he took office, President Obama, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his good intentions, ordered drone invasions of other nations. Keep in mind that our president has seemed unconcerned that innocents, who were not on his secret “kill list,” often died at his behest; they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

All of the above is to suggest that if he succeeds in winning the Democratic Party’s nomination, Socialist Bernie Sanders may have to do as Obama did in the summer of ’08. Can’t you just see it? Sanders planting his feet firmly on centrist ground and disavowing his long history as a Socialist. “Well,"  his supporters will justifiably ask, “How else can Bernie win the general election?”

Let me suggest here that the Democratic Party might well stick with Hillary Clinton this time around. With Hillary, what you see is what you get, and no about faces will be required in order for her to win the GE. See, folks? What Hillary has got in full measure is authenticity and unlike Obama and Sanders, she doesn’t claim to be above politics.

Outlier candidate Walker and mainstream candidate Sanders

Gov. Walker, photoCourtesy of USNews.com.

Photo of Sanders courtesy of fyar.com.

I had the disconcerting experience this afternoon of first reading yet another offensive quote by the not so mainstream Wisc. Gov. Scott Walker and then renewing my faith in humanity by reading  Juan Cole’s Informed Comment advising us on How Mainstream is Bernie Sanders. Turns out Walker is the outlier and Sanders is mainstream. And gosh, it would seem that the American people know the difference.

Back to Gov. Walker's quote: yes, Wisconsin's pride and joy outdid himself once again:

In an interview with conservative talk show host Dana Loesch, when asked about legislation he signed in Wisconsin in 2013 requiring women to submit to a mandatory ultrasound -- in some cases, meaning an invasive transvaginal ultrasound -- before getting an abortion, Walker said women should be forced to have ultrasounds because he thinks they are "just a cool thing."

After reading Walker's quote, I returned to Cole’s How Mainstream is Bernie Sanders with a huge sense of relief. Now you may have been under the impression, as the media would have it, that Sanders is kind of an odd ball, one of those kinky politicians who got elected by a weird twist of fate or whatever. Cole has news for you:

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination, has trouble being taken seriously by the corporate media, what with him being a democratic socialist and all.

If you go to Google News and put in his name, you get headlines about him being nothing more than a protest candidate, or having “odd views,” or promoting “dark age economics.”

But Sanders’s positions are quite mainstream from the point of view of the stances of the American public in general. Of course, the 1%, for whom and by whom most mainstream media report, are appalled and would like to depict him as an outlier.

Sanders is scathing on the increasing wealth gap, whereby the rich have scooped up most of the increase in our national wealth in the past twenty years. The average wage of the average worker in real terms is only a little better than in 1970; the poor are actually poorer; but the wealth of the top earners has increased several times over.

Some 63% of Americans agree that the current distribution of wealth is unfair. And in a Gallup poll done earlier this month, a majority, 52%, think that government taxation on the rich should be used to reduce the wealth gap. This percentage is historically high, having been only 45% in 1998. But there seems to be a shift going on, because Gallup got the 52% proportion in answer to the question on taxing the rich both in April and again in May of this year.

Bernie Sanders’ position is that of a majority of Americans in the most recent polling!

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Sen. Bernie Sanders wants the richest Americans to help fix the deficit

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent, VT

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, VT, has the solution to the deficit:

The rich are getting richer. The middle class and poor are getting poorer. What is the Republican solution to the deficit crisis? More tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. Savage cuts in programs that are desperately needed by working families.

There is another approach, which is why I've just introduced legislation imposing a surtax on those households earning a million dollars or more and the elimination of tax loopholes which the big oil companies take advantage of.

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