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Bernie Sanders Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 21, 2015 13 Comments
In early October 2015 we wrote about an academic study showing Democrats Moving Left Faster Than Republicans Moving Right:
The meme we’ve been hearing for years is that radical right-wing “hard liners” are hijacking the Republican party and forcing it to the right; however, an interesting new study argues that Democrats are moving more quickly to the left than Republicans are moving to the right. It also indicates that the Democrats’ move leftward has had the unintended consequence of moving state legislatures to the right.
A Gallup survey released today confirms that Democrats are moving left
Democrats' desire for a "liberal" or "very liberal" candidate has grown, from 30% in 2007 to 36% now. However, the largest share of Democrats and Democratic leaners -- 40% -- still mostly prefer a moderate candidate. This desire has shrunk somewhat from 48% in 2007. Because of these shifts, Democrats are now about as likely to say they prefer a liberal nominee (36%) as a moderate nominee (40%), while in 2007, they had a clearer preference for a moderate (48%) than for a liberal (30%)....

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 18, 2015 9 Comments
There is not enough popcorn in the world for this one. This is going to be one heckuva show. Politico reported this evening:
Bernie Sanders' campaign on Friday sued the Democratic National Committee for suspending its access to the national voter database, saying the move threatens to undermine the Vermont senator's presidential run. Even as the campaign admitted its staffers had inappropriately reviewed and saved Hillary Clinton campaign data made available as a result of a software error, it emphatically accused the DNC of sabotage and of blatantly favoring Clinton.
This afternoon, Sanders' campaign threatened to sue. Shortly thereafter, they made good on that threat:

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 09, 2015 10 Comments
It's safe to say foreign policy and national security aren't Bernie Sanders' strong points. He doesn't want to talk about ISIS and terrorism, he wants to tell you how millionaires and billionaires are stealing money from the poor. As liberal Washington Post writer Chris Cillizza notes, that's a big problem:
Bernie Sanders doesn’t want to take questions about ISIS. That’s not good. Right on cue, a Sanders spokeswoman on Tuesday morning informed reporters that they shouldn't even ask questions about the Islamic State. We are re-upping this post from Monday, as it is now even more apropos.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 24, 2015 3 Comments
The Bernie Sanders campaign has launched a pointless attack on Hillary Clinton by calling her tax plans Republican Lite. This brings two thoughts to mind. First, the Sanders camp should have thought of this before he surrendered the nomination to Hillary by saying no one cares about her damn emails. Second, if you're so far left that Bernie Sanders seems reasonable, everyone is going to look like a Republican to you. John Wagner reported at the Washington Post:
Sanders camp calls Clinton tax proposals ‘Republican lite’ SAVANNAH, Ga. — A senior aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday characterized Hillary Clinton’s latest tax plans as “tentative half-steps that sound Republican-lite,” escalating the sparring between the Democratic presidential campaigns over their respective commitments to helping the middle class.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 05, 2015 10 Comments
Bernie Sanders handed the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton on a silver platter when he said people were sick of hearing about her "damn" emails at the first Democratic Party debate. Hillary knew it then but Bernie is just figuring it out now. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published yesterday, Bernie got tough with Hillary Clinton, four weeks too late. Peter Nicholas reports:
Bernie Sanders Takes Gloves Off Against Hillary Clinton in Interview Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is drawing sharper distinctions with front-runner Hillary Clinton, casting her policy reversals over the years as a character issue that voters should take into account when they evaluate the Democratic field. 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.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 25, 2015 8 Comments
Watching Bernie Sanders declare that he's about to say something that "may not be great politics" and then announce that "people are sick of hearing about Clinton emails," many people wondered why on earth Sanders would hand such a major victory to Hillary during the first (and so far only) Democrat debate.  It made no sense. She'd had a horrible horrible spring and summer, and her campaign was looking like it was about to implode—so much so that Joe Biden gave serious consideration to jumping into the race.  Sanders handed her a life-line that helped not only jump-start her campaign but set the stage for a cool, confident, cackling Hillary to face the Benghazi committee.   Not great politics?  Understatement of the year. Watch as the significance of the moment slowly dawns on a bobble-headed Hillary: She's grim-faced and readying herself for battle as Sanders begins speaking, but by the end, she's positively giddy as what he has said—and done—sinks in, and she breaks debate protocol by spontaneously reaching out to Sanders and shaking his hand in unconcealed euphoria.  Poor Sanders didn't get it at the time.  But she did.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 19, 2015 11 Comments
According to a new CNN/ORC poll, most Democrats who tuned in for the first Democratic primary debate thought Hillary Clinton won the night---but that "win" didn't translate into boosted poll numbers. Clinton has remained steady at 45%; Bernie Sanders is still in at a respectable 29%...and Joe Biden rounds out the top three with 18%---and he hasn't even declared yet. Clinton hasn't moved the needle much since before this month's debate, but Sanders has managed to gain 5 points since mid-September---the only candidate to do so. More from CNN:
Overall, 31% of registered Democrats say they watched all or most of the CNN/Facebook debate, held October 13 in Las Vegas. More than 6-in-10 Democrats who watched say Clinton did the best job, almost doubling the 35% who thought Sanders had the best performance. On the other side of the coin, 43% of those who watched said Chafee had the worst night, 31% thought Webb did, 12% O'Malley.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 17, 2015 19 Comments
Every once in a while, Bill Maher tip toes out of the progressive box and makes statements or asks questions that stun his audience and the media. Reacting to Bernie Sanders' agenda and its estimated $18 trillion price tag, Maher challenged him by asking how America will pay for his radical agenda. Watch: After beginning the interview by stating that he doesn't think "most Americans realize that they’re already socialists," Maher challenges Sanders' the top 1% can pay for everything under the sun premise.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 16, 2015 7 Comments
How about a little disco inferno to kick off the weekend? Forget primaries. Those are long, boring, and costly. We're proposing a new means of DNC candidate selection -- a dance off. First, Bernie (well, sort of):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 14, 2015 12 Comments
The challengers to Hillary Clinton in the debate last night made Republican undercard competitors seem downright impressive. Martin O'Malley has the vocal quality of elevator music. It reminds me of another voice, I just can't place it. But there's not much there there. Jim Webb seemed off-kilter, complaining endlessly about not getting enough time, and not really scoring any points with Democrats by invoking concepts like love of country and a strong military -- that will not fly in today's Democratic Party. What can we say about Linc Chafee? I thought he had the potential to be aggressive. Those of us who know him from Rhode Island know that while he comes across as a doofus, he can be quite nasty and acerbic. I thought we might get that from him when his opening statement emphasized that he's never had a scandal and is honest -- but he didn't take the shot directly at Hillary and seemed lost on stage. In short, none of the three lower-tiered Democrats scored any points and all seemed afraid to confront Hillary. Hillary was, as Mark Steyn puts it, The Alpha Female of a Beta-Male Debate:

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 13, 2015 76 Comments
Despite the crowds of devoted followers who show up at his campaign events, not everyone on the left is convinced that Bernie Sanders could close the deal with America, should he somehow beat the Clinton machine. Bernie's biggest problem, according to Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post, is the way Sanders describes himself in political terms:
Why Bernie Sanders isn’t going to be president, in five words Here's an exchange from Bernie Sanders's appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday: And, in those five words, Sanders showed why — no matter how much energy there is for him on the liberal left — he isn't getting elected president.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 13, 2015 12 Comments
On the eve of their first presidential primary debate, the Democratic primary drama rages on. According to Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) vice chair of the DNC, she was disinvited from Tuesday's Democratic primary debate after publicly calling for more primary debates. The number of primary debates has been a contentious issue for Democrats this election cycle. DNC Chair, Debbie Wasserman Shultz struggled to gain control of an auditorium of delegates chanting "we want debates!" in New Hampshire last month. Morgan Chalfant of the Washington Free Beacon reported Monday that Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders' campaign has invited the supposedly dejected Gabbard to Tuesday's debate.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 08, 2015 18 Comments
When CNN hosted the Republican primary candidates, the candidates got 3 hours in which to make (or sink) their case for the White House. It was a long affair, but some good came from it---Marco Rubio distinguished himself on foreign policy (whether you agree with his approach is a different story entirely,) Carly Fiorina shifted from "dark horse" to budding household name, and Ted Cruz was afforded more of an opportunity to get in on the conversation. The Democrats won't be afforded that same luxury. Next week's CNN debate---this time, hosting the Democratic primary contenders---will afford the Dems' 5* candidates just two hours to make their initial splash in the primetime media pond. *Will Joe Biden debate? We're still not sure:

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 02, 2015 4 Comments
The progressive base of the Democratic Party is voting with their wallets and has pushed fundraising for Bernie Sanders up to the level of the Clinton machine. Over the last three months, Sanders has come within $2 million of Hillary's grand total. James Hohmann and Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post:
So much for the Clinton juggernaut Clinton raised $28 million from July 1 to Sept. 30. Bernie Sanders raised $26 million. Hillary personally headlined 58 fundraisers during that time period, the same number as she did during the previous quarter. Sanders only appeared at seven finance events! Almost all of his money came from online. The disclosures come with fresh evidence that the base of the Democratic Party is not ready for Hillary. Yesterday alone, the Sanders campaign raised more than $2 million online. About $500,000 of that came in from 10:30 p.m. until midnight, according to my colleagues Matea Gold and John Wagner. Sanders has received 1.3 million donations from about 650,000 different donors. That puts him across the threshold of 1 million contributions earlier than Barack Obama in both his presidential campaigns.

Posted by Amy Miller on September 15, 2015 11 Comments
If you're running for president, sooner or later you're going to have to get used to the idea of the ambush interview---especially if you're spending any time at all in either chamber of Congress. At this point in the cycle, many candidates are jockeying for media attention wherever and whenever they can get it, even if it means dipping a toe into unfriendly waters. A hostile interview can be intimidating, but the payoff is worth the pain if you keep it together and "win the debate." Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly is known for interviews that get a little hairy---which may be why Dem presidential candidate and US Senator Bernie Sanders has been avoiding invitations to come on the O'Reilly Factor like the plague. Bill finally got tired of being ignored, and sent ambush journalist Jesse Watters to track down the Senator for a pickup interview. It didn't go so well. Give it a watch:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 11, 2015 11 Comments
James Bond is a socialist sympathizer? Who knew? Current James Bond leading man Daniel Craig gave almost $50,000 to a shady pro-Bernie Sanders SuperPAC. The English actor is a U.S. resident, so his political donations to American candidates and PACs are perfectly legal. According to a report from the Center for Public Integrity, Craig confirmed he, "donated nearly $50,000 this summer to Americans Socially United, an organization purporting to support Sanders’ upstart presidential campaign."
What Craig apparently didn’t know: The super PAC’s founder, Cary Lee Peterson, has routinely run afoul of creditors and the law — including stiffing one of the nation’s largest news companies out of a six-figure sum. Sanders himself has disavowed super PACs, which have no contribution limits, and his campaign has demanded that Peterson curtail his operation. But there is little the U.S. senator from Vermont can actually do to stop passionate supporters — or opportunists — from launching such groups.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 06, 2015 7 Comments
As Hillary lags in the polls and her unfavorables soar, Draft Biden makes significant moves in Iowa. The Hill reports:
The group urging Vice President Joe Biden to launch a 2016 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination announced Friday that two longtime backers of Biden have signed on as co-chairs in the early-voting state of Iowa. . . . .  Draft Biden also announced on Friday that around a dozen Iowa elected officials have signed on to the effort as committee members, as well as a pair of political operatives, to direct organizing efforts in the state. The staff moves lend new credibility to the budding effort to convince the vice president to run against former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the party’s front-runner. . . . .  The Draft Biden announcement on Friday also came on the same day that news emerged that Clinton's campaign would spend $4 million in ads in Iowa and New Hampshire over the next two months.
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