#Feel The Bern: Hillary Clinton

Showing posts with label Hillary Clinton. Show all posts

Friday, November 6, 2015

Bernie Sanders Weekly Roundup News and Commentary: Friday 6, 2015

Sanders Hitting Hard on Differences With Clinton

“I disagree with Hillary Clinton on virtually everything,” said Sanders during a meeting with the Boston Globe’s editorial board. “What is important is to look at is the record, the track record that Hillary Clinton has had for her long and distinguished career as a public figure.”

Sanders said he was “delighted” that Clinton, the former secretary of state, recently said she opposes the mammoth trans-pacific trade deal. But he noted that she remained silent earlier this year when liberals were trying to find the votes needed to help block legislation that limited Congress’s input to a yes or no vote.

Boston Globe, Washington Post Plum Line, Business Insider, Union Leader Interview Video

Sanders Files Paperwork to be on New Hampshire Ballot

Sen. Bernie Sanders filed his paperwork without issue in New Hampshire Thursday to appear on the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary ballot.

The longtime Vermont independent senator faced no challenges at Secretary of State Bill Gardner’s office, despite earlier concerns about whether he legally qualified as a Democrat. Sanders declared himself a Democrat Thursday, and he said he will run as a Democrat in future elections. That was good enough for Garnder.

“I’m a Democrat and should be on the ballot, I don’t think I need to say too much more,” Sanders said.

The chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, Ray Buckley, accompanied Sanders and vowed to fight any challenges. Sanders brought a lawyer and a statement from the Vermont Democratic Party chair vouching for him as well, just in case. The precautions were unnecessary, however, as the senator signed the proper paperwork and delivered his fee to applause, joking that he felt like the president signing a bill.

MSNBC, Video of Speech at Rally,

Sanders Co-Sponsors Legislation to Keep Fossil Fuel in the Ground on Federal Land

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have just introduced the Keep It In the Ground Act, a short but potent bit of legislation that would effectively lock up fossil fuel reserves on US public land.

Vox, WTHR, Video,

Newsweek: Sanders Reacts to Obama's Rejection of Keystone Pipeline

Sanders Introduces Legislation to Legalize Marijuana Use

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has now moved forward with his support for cannabis, filing a bill to decriminalize pot and nix it from the government’s list of most dangerous drugs.

He submitted the bill, entitled Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015, to the Senate on Wednesday, seeking to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. The legislation would let all 50 states decide for themselves whether they want to legalize pot for recreational or medical use without federal intervention.

RT, CNBC

New York Times: The Push for Legal Marijuana Spreads

New York: Why Hillary Should Support Bernie Sanders Marijuana Bill

Sanders Affirms Support for FBI Investigation into Clinton Emails

Sen. Sanders of Vermont, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, also said the federal investigation of the security surrounding Mrs. Clinton’s private email account is appropriate.

In the Democratic debate last month, Mr. Sanders said voters were “sick and tired” of the focus on Mrs. Clinton’s “damn emails.” Afterward, many Democrats and political analysts said that he had appeared to dismiss her use of a private email account and server in her four years as secretary of state.

Mr. Sanders rejected that assessment on Wednesday. If her email practices foiled public-records requests or compromised classified information, those are “valid questions,” Mr. Sanders said.

Wall Street Journal,

Huffington Post: Sanders Should Address ALL of Clinton's Scandals

New York Times: Obama's Comments on Clintons Email Irks FBI Investigators

Canada Free Press: Hillary Signed NDA Outlining Penalties for Mishandling Classified Material

The Hill: No Basis for Withholding Obama-Clinton Emails from Congress

Bernie Sanders Cares More About Women's Issues Than Hillary Clinton

Despite what Hillary Clinton and many of her supporters would have you believe, she is not the only feminist running for president in 2016. In fact, her opponent Senator Bernie Sanders has a far better record of fighting for women’s rights.

“I do understand there is a desire on the part of many women—perfectly understandable—to see a woman being elected president. And we all want to see that. We want to see women hold more political offices,” said Mr. Sanders in aninterview with The Washington Post in September. “But I also would hope that, in these enormously difficult times, where it is absolutely imperative that we stand up to the billionaire class, bring our people together, to fight for a progressive agenda, that all people—women—look at that candidate who has the record to do that.”

Observer News,

Bustle: 7 Fantastic Times Sanders Stood Up for Women and Their Rights

And.....

Sanders Released a Spanish Language Radio Ad in Nevada

He was interviewed on NPR

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Four Must-Read Articles About Bernie Sanders (and 1 about Hillary Clinton)

Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
November 3, 2015

The Case for Bernie Sanders

Sanders is a clear outlier in a generation that has forgotten what it means to be a public servant. The Times remarks upon his "grumpy demeanor." But Bernie is grumpy because he's thinking about vets who need surgeries, guest workers who've had their wages ripped off, kids without access to dentists or some other godforsaken problem that most of us normal people can care about for maybe a few minutes on a good day, but Bernie worries about more or less all the time.

Read More Here

Brent Budowsky, Observer
November 3, 2015

How Bernie Sanders Can Save The Democrats

The problem with the Hillary Clinton candidacy, to put it in terms that are brutally blunt, is that she appears to be endlessly engaging in almost hourly political calculations and maneuvers. While Bernie Sanders is the ultimate conviction politician, taking stands of principle that he has long championed and deeply believed in, Hillary Clinton is the ultimate calculating politician, taking stands that shift with political winds which lead to abnormally high levels of public distrust of her.

Read More Here

Lauren Holter, Bustle
November 3, 2015

Seven Fantastic Times Bernie Sanders Stood Up For Women and Their Rights

Bernie Sanders has made it abundantly clear that he cares about tackling more than corporate greed, and he has proven that Hillary Clinton isn't the only feminist running for the Democratic presidential nomination. He's not only pro-choice, but also believes women should have complete control over their bodies, should make the same amount of money as men for equal work, and shouldn't have to worry about domestic or sexual violence.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Todays Headlines: Thursday October 29, 2015 New Format

Bernie Sanders Praised By Sen. John McCain, Gets Things Done in a Bi-Partisan Way

John McCain: “I will say Bernie Sanders worked very hard when he was chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, he, he and I had many disagrements, but we were able to come together, finally, after very spirited discussions—I think my reward will be in heaven, not here on earth for that exercise,” he said. “But the fact is we were able to come together and come and pass legislation that was nearly unanimous in both House and Senate. So he does have a record of advocacy for our veterans.” Read More Here. LINK. LINK, LINK

Hillary Clinton Hasn't Learned a Thing From the War In Iraq

Clinton, it seems, failed to learn anything after supporting the disastrous Iraq War, which plunged a huge swath of the Middle East into chaos and cost her the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Instead of embracing diplomacy, she continued to champion ill-conceived military interventions as secretary of state. Read More Here. Link

Clinton Denial of VA Problems Makes Her Unfit to Be Presidential Candidate According to McCain, story by Military.com

McCain, R-Arizona, said he was reluctant to offer a favorite to be the Democratic nominee next year but offered that "Bernie worked very hard when he chaired the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee … He does have a record of advocacy for our veterans. I don't know of any legislative activity Hillary engaged in as a Senator." Read More Here. Link

Bernie Sanders Meets With Vice-President Joe Biden

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders met with Vice President Joe Biden at his Naval Observatory residence for an hour Thursday, discussing issues related to campaign finance reform and education, according to a statement released through the Vermont senator's campaign.

The meeting comes more than a week after Biden announced that he would not seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Read More Here. LINK, LINK,

Senator Sanders Calls for End to Death Penalty

“We are all shocked and disgusted by some of the horrific murders that we see in this country, seemingly every week,” said Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont. “And that is precisely why we should abolish the death penalty. At a time of rampant violence and murder, the state should not be part of that process.” Read More Here. LINK, LINK, VIDEO

Senator Sanders Calls for Decriminalization of Marijuana Use

"In my view, the time is long overdue for us to remove the federal prohibition on marijuana," Sanders said in a speech Wednesday at George Mason University in Virginia that was streamed live to 250 student meetings around the country. "In my view, states should have the right to regulate marijuana the same way state and local laws now govern the sale of alcohol and tobacco." Read More Here. LINK, LINK, VIDEO

Bernie Sanders Stands With Muslims

“Let me be very personal if I might. I’m Jewish. My father’s family died in concentration camps,” Sanders said. “I will do everything that I can to rid this country of the ugly stain of racism which has existed for far too many years.”

“Our job is to build a nation in which we all stand together as one people,” he continued. “And you are right, there is a lot of … hatred being generated against Muslims in this country. ... If we are going to stand for anything, we have got to stand together and end all forms of racism.” LINK, LINK, VIDEO

Bernie Sanders Responds to Hillary Clinton's Accusation That He is Sexist

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said Thursday that some recent comments by his campaign manager about Hillary Rodham Clinton were “inappropriate,” but pushed back against suggestions that he and his team have treated the Democratic front-runner in a sexist fashion.

The Vermont senator appeared Thursday afternoon on MSNBC, where he was asked to respond to concerns raised by the president of Emily’s List, a group that promotes female candidates, after Sanders’s campaign manager joked about vetting Clinton as Sanders’s vice presidential nominee. LINK, VIDEO

In Case You Missed It:

Sanders' National Student Town Hall Meeting

Charlie Rose Hourlong Interview of Bernie Sanders

Feel the Bern 6.0

Monday, October 26, 2015

Andrew Cicchetti My 2 Cents: Sanders and Clinton on DOMA and LGBT Rights

Much has been made of Bernie Sanders strong critique of Hillary Clinton's revisionism of DOMA history. Link For those of you that don't know, the so called Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law in 1996 by Bill Clinton and prevented the Federal Government from recognizing same-sex marriages and from one state needing to recognize the same-sex marriages performed in other states. This was particulary harmful to the gay community and especially hurtful because Bill Clinton ran for election promising to be an ally to the LGBT community. Clearly, he wanted our votes. Thankfully DOMA was overturned in 2013. Link

Why did Clinton support this heinous law? In my opinion, the reason is best explained by Richard Socarides, an openly gay lawyer who was a staffer for Clinton in the 90s. Link The point Socarides makes is that Clinton wanted to avoid any blowback from having vetoed this bill during his reelection campaign. Furthermore, to add salt to the wound, Clinton touted his having signed DOMA into law during his campaign as though he was proud of his actions. Link.

When Hillary Clinton was on the Rachel Maddow show last Friday, October 23, 2015, she told Rachel that both the Defense of Marriage Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell were defensive maneuvers to prevent something much worse. Link This is simply untrue and has been debunked by several prominent gay rights activists who were there and remember. Link It has been said that Clinton was revising history.

The intentional revision of history to cast oneself in a better light is most commonly known as lying. If I am not mistaken it was David Geffen who quite famously pointed out that all politicians lie to some extent but that the Clintons do it with such ease. Link Should this be a problem for Clinton? Yes, it should, but a surprising number of people, gays amongst them, are choosing to give Clinton a pass. Clinton did not want to use any political capital to squelch this and chose instead to sign this law rather than face any blowback during his reelection campaign. This is commonly referred to as throwing people under the bus. We were thrown under the bus, my gay brothers and sisters!

But should Hillary be held responsible for her husbands presidency. Well, yes! Here's why. They sold themselves as a co-presidency. Link She actively lobbied congress to pass some laws and not others. You can be certain this decision on the part of her husband reflected her own position. In fact, in 2004 she asserted that she believed that marriage is in fact a sacred bond between husband and wife. Link

Now, if Hillary had said in the interview with Rachel Maddow, who seems not to know her own gay history, that there was little political will to champion the cause of the gay community in the 90s she would have been accurate. However, this then elevates the importance of Sanders vote. He voted against DOMA. He voted against DADT. He called out the homophobia of his republican colleagues in 1995, most famously in a battle with Duke Cunningham. Link

Why is any of this important? Well I think most importantly it highlights that Sanders leads based on principle and conviction. He does not follow polls or bend with the political wind. The same cannot be said of Hillary Clinton. Yes, I know she now likes to say that she stands her ground and finds common ground, but there are numerous examples of where she acts without regard to principle because it is politically convenient. Elizabeth Warren on Hillary and Working Class Women. Hillary Clinton on Reopening the Door to the TPP After Saying She Was Against It. Robert Scheer on Welfare Reform and Wall Street. On Guns. And of course, let's not forget the War in Iraq vote.

I think Sanders is the right person at this point in time for the country. Wealth and income inequality and the erosion of the middle class are perhaps amongst the greatest threats to the well-being of our great nation. He is a man of conviction. He makes political decisions based on humanistic, progressive values. This is why he has my vote.