As Bernie talks about the corruptive nature of money in politics and how establishment politics rigs the process for establishment candidates, Hillary, her family, her surrogates and campaign officials all complain about the so called artful smear, it currently tops their list of talking points. Bernie was talking about all of these same problems with the system and how they have corrupted our government since long before this campaign running against Hillary. It’s not an artful smear to talk about these problems being at the core of our nation’s problems and that how we can't fix other problems until we first change the way we elect our leaders. Who they represent once in office means everything.
Where this gets personal is that Hillary is the poster child for these institutional problems. She is the ultimate establishment insider, the Clinton political machine reaches deep into the power brokers all over government, advocacy groups, corporations and the billionaire class. People who have grown up having an association with the the Clintons, working on campaigns, fundraising together or having access to or pandered to by Bill and/or Hillary for decades. One of the ways we have seen this manifest is that whenever any of the groups, unions or publications went to their members or readers to ask about endorsements they were directed to endorse Bernie, in contrast whenever those insiders on executive committees or atop these organizations went out on their own without asking for input on who to endorse they went with Hillary. This speaks volumes. It speaks to why actual change is impossible with an establishment which circles the wagons around each other to maintain the status quo, keep the power structures in place and cozy up to big money.
The flow of money between Wall Street and other corporate interests and politicians is an institutional problem. When Bernie talks about it, he isn’t specifically saying she is selling her votes, but he is saying that there is a connection between big money and the kind of government we have. For some their industries are deregulated or favored legislation is pushed for and passed by the very people who are given campaign donations, speaker fees or foundation donations. So the question has to be asked how exactly is the rig in? Is the support and votes being bought or are those corporate interests enriching the candidates they think are already with them and thus stack the deck with people who will help them. Which ever direction this is going in, its the number one reason why nothing that helps the people and evens the playing field on a meaningful way has any chance of becoming law until we first change the corruptive influence of money in our politics.
Thom Hartmann: How the Supreme Court stole our Democracy
Thom Hartmann: Let me be clear about my Obama critique
Bill Moyer: The Time Hillary let money influence her vote
The Young Turks: Hillary Clinton on why she says she is not part of the establishment
The Young Turks: Hillary on Bankster Bribes
Bernie has shined a big spotlight on these institutional problems. He has been doing it for decades but only now he has a national platform to do it and is running against the ultimate democratic establishment insiders making the message infinitely more powerful and palatable to the electorate.
In contrast the Clintons while playing victim have unleashed many of the same dirty politicking strategies they unleashed on Obama in 08. This is the actual artful smear. Let’s break down the smears, lies and false narratives that has been pushed by Hillary, her surrogates, campaign and staff.
1) Lies about guns and gun records
First false narrative out the gate were the lies about gun policies and their respective records... a narrative that the mainstream media was all too happy to help her push. Although her record on guns is quite different from what she currently advocates, you won’t hear that from the media, only the two smears from the Hillary campaign with half turths about Bernie’s record. They love to talk about how Bernie voted against the Brady Bill. That's half the truth. the other half they don't talk about is how he consistently voted in favor of instant background checks. They also don't talk about how the Brady Bill which gave us background checks with waiting periods also wrote the gun show loophole and the straw man purchase loopholes into law and have been near impossible to get rid of since.
Next she hammers him on what she calls to gun immunity law. But again only tells part of the story. Sure there are protections for gun makers and sellers not getting sued if a weapon they make or sell is used in a crime, but only if they follow all the laws and background checks in selling the gun. Also this is not something that is exclusive to guns. We don't sue car makers or dealers who legally sell a car and that car is later used in a crime or gets in an accident, even if there is a DUI involved. The problem was with the user, not the dealer. Also missing from the argument are all of the other protections written into the law. Rarely do legislators vote on perfect bills. They have to compromise, accepting things the other side wants in exchange for what they want.
So that brings us to what the NRA thinks about them... Clinton gets an F rating and Sanders a D- rating. In other words the NRA doesn’t like the record of either who have fought for common sense legislation that acknowledges the difference between how guns are used and viewed by rural areas vs. cities. But you wouldn’t know how similar their records are listening to her, but a quick look at her record shows her attacking Obama from the right in 08, while she attempts to attack Sanders from the left after her latest flip.
Clinton flip flops on guns
2) Bernie is Unelectable
This was a strategy recycled from the 08 race against Obama. The Clinton campaign and their surrogates say it and the media runs with it. How did that work out in 08? Not only did he prove to be electable, but the same argument was made then by Obama that is being made now by Bernie that he would expand the electorate bringing younger voters into the process. Obama did and won by a landslide, while down ticket races also went for the democrats.
Why Obama will never ever be elected President
When you look at head to head general election polling Sanders outperforms Hillary against all of the republican front runners and beats them all while she loses some of the match ups. Young voters and Independent voters, even those who have left the process because they don't feel as though either party represents them have been coming out for Bernie Sanders. Many of them when polled have been clear, they are coming out to support Bernie and will not come out for Hillary. Bernie has a larger base of voters when you put together the establishment democrats who vote for the D with the new and infrequent voters who have been energized by the Sanders campaign.
Young voter base
http://samuel-warde.com/2015/12/independent-vote-will-put-bernie-sanders-white-house/
Independent voter basehttp://samuel-warde.com/2015/12/independent-vote-will-put-bernie-sanders-white-house/
3) Red baiting
Hillary surrogates every time Bernie had a surge in the polls ran to the media screaming socialism, like it was a bad word and a game changer. This wasn't them acting on their own, it was being choreographed by either the campaign, the super PAC or both. But the establishment doesn't get it. The American people aren't afraid of socialism... the millennials have more disdain for capitalism which has been rigged against them their entire lives. In the meantime Russia, China and Vietnam are all now a capitalist hybrid and not our economic enemies. Besides Democratic Socialism has a long history in America with FDR's New Deal being some of the biggest change for the benefit of the people against the greed and abuse of our corporate masters.
4) Playing Victim
This is a game she has played throughout. Rather than address the issues she complained about labels and semantics. One grassroots group, labor union and progressive publication after the next put their endorsement up for a vote of their members and they endorsed Bernie. She in the meantime got every endorsement from groups or publications in which the leadership dismissed their membership and made the endorsement on their own, often despite their own organizational metrics of who was stronger on their issues. It was as clear an example of establishment decision making vs. populist decision making we have seen. Her take away was fighting the label establishment rather than address the problem of why the people kept choosing him and not her.
Next she found another label to complain about and make the central part of her campaign, progressive vs moderate. Her record says corporatist and moderate, when talking to a moderate audience she called herself a moderate. Even her argument of pragmatist vs realist is wrapping herself in moderate positions. But for a couple weeks she made her entire campaign about the label while Bernie continued to talk about issues.
5) Bernie Bros (still playing victim)
This has been debunked. Its right out of her playbook from the 08 race when they railed against the so called abusive behavior of the Obama Boys. In fact it was the same person that started both narratives and the campaign instantly started trying to make it a scandal.
Bernie Bros narrative a cheap false campaign tactic
6) Pragmatist vs. realist, Progressive that likes to get things done
Yet Bernie has gotten more done. She knows that without changing the congress that no real change is possible, not real change and not incremental change. She is fighting for crumbs, Bernie is fighting for things that will make a difference in people’s lives.
7) Lying about taxes and the viability of Bernie’s Economic agenda
This is particularly shameful since the primary area in which Bernie's agenda raises taxes on the average worker is for Universal healthcare. The numbers have been crunched by numerous economists and bipartisan organizations and they all estimate that the savings in healthcare costs will be thousands more than the tax increase resulting in a net savings to most individuals and families. But talking about the tax without the savings it creates is intentionally misleading. What makes it worse is that prior to going on the receiving end of Insurance and Big Pharma money Hillary was an advocate for Universal Healthcare (one of the truly progressive things in her record). She even attacked Obama for attacking her on Universal Health care proposal. On the rest of the agenda she knows how they are paid for, and it’s not tax increases on the working class. But that doesn't stop the lie that Bernie is going to be reaching for your wallet.
How Bernie pays for all his proposals
Sanders economic plan a big job creator
Hillary scolds Obama for attacking Universal Healthcare, now its her attacking Universal Healthcare
8) Dirty campaigning... push polling, lies, shaming women into voting for her on purely gender reasons, DNC rigging the insider endorsements at the very beginning of the campaign, limiting the number of debates when up big, begging for more when she started losing, Trolling social media are included in the dirty campaign tricks common to the Clintons.
Clinton campaign caught doing Push Polling in Nevada
DNC rigs the endorsements and superdelegates
http://reverbpress.com/politics/battlegrounds/confessions-hillary-shill-people-getting-paid-bash-bernie-sanders/
Hillary Shill confesses about being paid to bash Bernie and disrupt Bernie social media pages
Hillary Shill confesses about being paid to bash Bernie and disrupt Bernie social media pages
Here is a final review of the Clinton flips and lies with timelines and her speaking on both sides of issues depending on when she is speaking, whether she is in office or running for office, what group she is speaking to or what the popularity polling is on the issues at the time.
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