Tag Archives: bernie

Hillary Clinton’s Strange Definition of "Middle Class"

by AlissaDCBftg Posted on November 20, 2015

Mother Jones

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Hillary Clinton’s campaign has spent much of the past week trumpeting her pledge to protect the middle class from tax increases. Clinton has “proposed a bold, aggressive agenda,” campaign press secretary Brian Fallon said in a statement this week, “but when it comes to paying for it, she will make sure the wealthiest Americans finally start paying their fair share, not force the middle class to pay even more than they already do.”

The former senator and secretary of state hasn’t been shy about using that pledge to bludgeon her Democratic opponents, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Gov. Martin O’Malley, as too eager to take money away from the middle class. “If you are truly concerned about raising incomes for middle-class families, the last thing you should do is cut their take-home pay right off the bat by raising their taxes,” Fallon said. “Yet Bernie Sanders has called for a roughly 9-percent tax hike on middle-class families just to cover his health care plan, and simple math dictates he’ll need to tax workers even more to pay for the rest of his at least $18-20 trillion agenda.” Twitter accounts affiliated with Clinton’s campaign have eschewed subtlety to attack Sanders and O’Malley on this point.

There’s a problem with Clinton’s line of attack: She is promising to exempt a lot indisputably rich people from paying more in taxes. Clinton pledged last week that, should she become president, she wouldn’t allow taxes to be raised on households earning less than $250,000 per year—by any measure a very high ceiling for the middle class.

The middle class is one of those nebulous terms with no clear-cut definition. But a glance at the distribution of income across the country makes it hard to argue that that anyone earning close to $250,000 a year could be considered part of the “middle” of the income range.

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Hillary Clinton’s Strange Definition of "Middle Class"

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Hillary Clinton Tells Stephen Colbert: I Would Let Big Banks Fail

by FlorineEarnest Posted on October 28, 2015

Mother Jones

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Hillary Clinton appeared on the Late Show on Tuesday night, where she and host Stephen Colbert started out by discussing watching “bad TV” with husband Bill—House of Cards and the Good Wife are among the couple’s favorites—and whether it’s fun to run for president of the United States.

“Some days it really is fun,” Clinton said. “Some days it’s just very hard work. You do so many events, you do kind of lose track of where you are. But most days something happens during the day that really makes you feel like ‘Yes, I know why I’m doing this, I am so committed.'”

But it wasn’t all softball questions. After weighing in on topics like the middle class and Bernie Sanders—responses Colbert jokingly hit back as a “cheap trick” to say things people like—Clinton was then directly asked how she would handle an economic situation like the 2007 financial crisis and whether she’d let big banks fail.

The Democratic presidential candidate answered emphatically, “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”

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Hillary Clinton Tells Stephen Colbert: I Would Let Big Banks Fail

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Early Polls Suggest Hillary Clinton Did Pretty Well in Tuesday’s Debate

by LorrineBucher Posted on October 16, 2015

Mother Jones

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Now it’s time to take a look at the Democratic side of the presidential race. Obviously nobody cares about Webb, O’Malley, or Chafee, so let’s zero in on Clinton and Sanders. Who won Tuesday’s debate? Andrew Prokop summarizes the early polls in the chart on the right.

Now, these results are fairly consistent with Bernie supporters thinking Bernie won and Hillary supporters thinking Hillary won—plus a few extra for Hillary. We’ll have to wait for the big national polls to see if the debate actually changed support levels much for either of them. At a rough glance, though, it looks as if most of the folks who prefer Joe Biden in the polls ended up choosing Hillary when the choice was limited to just her and Bernie.

This makes sense ideologically, since Biden and Clinton occupy pretty similar niches, and it makes sense from a name recognition standpoint too. But I’d point out one other thing that we political junkies might miss: Bernie Sanders can sometimes come across on TV as loud and angry. We’re all so used to his speaking style that it doesn’t affect us much, but for people tuning in for the first time, it might have been fairly off-putting. I don’t know if likely Democratic voters feel the same way, but they might. Just a thought.

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Early Polls Suggest Hillary Clinton Did Pretty Well in Tuesday’s Debate

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Bernie Sanders Is America’s New Dancing Treasure

by TangelaMullens Posted on October 15, 2015

Mother Jones

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Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, appeared on the Ellen show Thursday morning, where the Democratic presidential hopeful took a break from waving his debate hands to give Americans a rare glimpse into his little-known dancing talent. Here he is, grinning ear-to-ear, with his hands in the air like he just don’t care, “Disco Inferno” on blast:

Just behold how happy, how relaxed he appears:

His sick moves in full below:

See how the senator compares to the rest of our dancing presidential candidates below:

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Bernie Sanders Is America’s New Dancing Treasure

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No, Bernie Sanders’ Domestic Policy Plan Doesn’t Really Cost $18 Trillion

by TahliaTruebridge Posted on September 15, 2015

Mother Jones

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The Wall Street Journal says Bernie Sanders’ domestic policy plan would cost $18 trillion over ten years. Is this true?

It depends on how you look at it. First, there’s a set of proposals that the Journal estimates would cost about $3.4 trillion. That’s not pocket change, but it’s about as much as Jeb Bush’s tax cut. The big difference is that Jeb’s tax cuts mostly benefit the rich, while Bernie’s proposals mostly benefit the poor and the middle class. You can decide for yourself which you prefer.

Then there’s the $15 trillion price tag for universal health care. Is this a fair estimate? It’s probably in the ballpark. Private health insurance accounted for about $1 trillion in spending last year, and assuming reasonable growth that will probably come to around $15 trillion over the course of a decade.

But here’s the thing: this is money we already spend. Right now, employers and workers pay insurance companies $1 trillion for health care. Under Bernie’s plan, we’d instead pay that money to the federal government. Generally speaking, this would be invisible to most of us. Behind the scenes, our dollars would flow to a different place, and that’s about it.

So the Sanders plan wouldn’t actually take money out of our pockets. It’s a wash. It needs to be evaluated instead on all the usual metrics. Would the government do a better job of holding down costs? Would government control distort market signals? Would innovation suffer? Would most of us have more choice in health care providers? Would more people be covered? Etc.

Bottom line: You should think of the Sanders plan as costing about $3.4 trillion. You may or may not like the idea of universal health care, but it wouldn’t have much impact on how much money you actually take home each week.

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No, Bernie Sanders’ Domestic Policy Plan Doesn’t Really Cost $18 Trillion

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James Bond Gives $50,000 to a Sketchy Bernie Sanders Super-PAC

by BerenicPaling Posted on September 10, 2015

Mother Jones

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James Bond’s latest attempt to save the world didn’t involve blowing things up or chasing down bad guys. Instead, Daniel Craig, the Englishman who plays Bond, acted with his wallet, making a healthy donation to support his preferred presidential candidate: Bernie Sanders. But in doing so, he may have played into a villain’s hands.

Over the summer, Craig donated nearly $50,000 to a super-PAC called Americans Socially United, which claims to support the Vermont senator’s dark-horse bid for the Democratic nomination, according to the Center for Public Integrity (CPI). The pro-Sanders super-PAC is run by a self-described lobbyist, Cary Lee Peterson, who “has routinely run afoul of creditors and the law,” with two outstanding warrants in the state of Arizona. The group was initially called “Ready for Bernie Sanders 2016” and “Bet on Bernie 2016,” both illegal uses of the candidate’s name that caused confusion for Sanders supporters who accidentally donated to Peterson’s PAC instead of the campaign. Peterson’s group has not filed the legally required campaign finance disclosures, CPI reports.

Moreover, Sanders, who supports campaign finance reform, doesn’t want super-PACs supporting his campaign and has asked Americans Socially United to stop its efforts on his behalf. His campaign sent Peterson a cease and desist letter in June, which Peterson continues to disregard.

But Peterson contends that he is simply trying to support his favorite candidate. “You don’t need to look back on my past,” Peterson told CPI. “I’m going out there trying to make a difference.”

Thus far, Craig is sticking to his guns, too. “Currently, I have been informed of no evidence to question that my donation has not been used as intended,” he told CPI. “Should that situation occur, then clearly, I will review my position.”

Super-PACs, which are largely unregulated by the Federal Election Commission, can get away with a lot. As attorney Paul Ryan explained to CPI, the people running these super-PACs could legally use the money they raise “to buy a yacht and sail off into the sunset.”

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James Bond Gives $50,000 to a Sketchy Bernie Sanders Super-PAC

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Defiant Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Could Face More Legal Trouble. This Time for Copyright.

by JorgeBrabyn Posted on September 9, 2015

Mother Jones

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Yesterday, Kim Davis—the now-infamous Rowan County clerk who was held in contempt for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky—was released from a five-night stint in jail. Escorted by Mike Huckabee, the GOP presidential hopeful who helped throw the rally for her release, an emotional Davis threw her arms in the air, closed her eyes, and basked in the sounds of “Eye of the Tiger,” Survivor’s 1982 hit about being awesome.

Unfortunately for Davis, the writers of that song don’t think Davis is so awesome—and they never agreed to let her or Huckabee broadcast their song at the rally. Survivor’s Jim Peterik tweeted his disapproval, saying Davis would be receiving a “cease and desist” letter from his publisher:

CNN reports that Peterik was shocked to hear that his song was played at the rally:

“I was gobsmacked,” he said. “We were not asked about this at all. The first time we saw it was on national TV.” Peterik’s co-writer, Frankie Sullivan, was also upset about the use of “Eye of the Tiger” and posted a message on Facebook to vent. “I would not grant her the rights to use Charmin!” he wrote.

This reaction is not completely uncommon when it comes to musicians and political events. When Donald Trump played Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” at an event at Trump Tower in June to announce his candidacy, Young’s longtime manager Elliot Roberts told Mother Jones that the use of the song was unauthorized. “Mr. Young is a longtime supporter of Bernie Sanders,” he said.

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Defiant Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Could Face More Legal Trouble. This Time for Copyright.

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Why Bernie Sanders Was Talking About "Fifty Shades of Grey" on "Meet the Press"

by coolmathgamesK Posted on June 1, 2015

Mother Jones

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This wasn’t the way Bernie Sanders expected to conclude the first week of his presidential campaign—comparing a 1972 essay he wrote for the Vermont Freeman to E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey. But the article, first reported in Mother Jones, quickly caught fire because of its description of a woman who “fantasizes being raped,” and by the weekend, Sanders had taken steps to renounce it.

Per Bloomberg:

“This is a piece of fiction that I wrote in 1972, I think,” the Vermont Senator said, appearing on Meet the Press. “That was 43 years ago. It was very poorly written and if you read it, what it was dealing with was gender stereotypes, why some men like to oppress women, why other women like to be submissive, you know, something like Fifty Shades of Grey.”

But if the 1972 essay ruined his media tour, it didn’t do anything to suppress the enthusiasm of the progressive activists Sanders aims to make his base. Sanders spent his first week of the campaign speaking to overflow crowds across the Midwest (3,000 people in Minneapolis) and New Hampshire. And, evidently, he’s turned some heads. Here’s the New York Times:

DES MOINES — A mere 240 people live in the rural northeast Iowa town of Kensett, so when more than 300 crowded into the community center on Saturday night to hear Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, many driving 50 miles, the cellphones of Democratic leaders statewide began to buzz.

Kurt Meyer, the county party chairman who organized the event, sent a text message to Troy Price, the Iowa political director for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mr. Price called back immediately.

“Objects in your rearview mirror are closer than they appear,” Mr. Meyer said he had told Mr. Price about Mr. Sanders. “Mrs. Clinton had better get out here.”

Clinton’s strategy, to this point, has been to act as if her other prospective Democratic primary opponents don’t exist. Sanders might have just changed that calculus.

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Why Bernie Sanders Was Talking About "Fifty Shades of Grey" on "Meet the Press"

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How Bernie Sanders Learned to Be a Real Politician

by JoanneLininger Posted on May 26, 2015

Mother Jones

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Sometime in the late 1970s, after he’d had a kid, divorced his college sweetheart, lost four elections for statewide offices, and been evicted from his home on Maple Street in Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders moved in with a friend named Richard Sugarman. Sanders, a restless political activist and armchair psychologist with a penchant for arguing his theories late into the night, found a sounding board in the young scholar, who taught philosophy at the nearby University of Vermont. At the time, Sanders was struggling to square his revolutionary zeal with his overwhelming rejection at the polls—and this was reflected in a regular ritual. Many mornings, Sanders would greet his roommate with a simple statement: “We’re not crazy.”

“I’d say, ‘Bernard, maybe the first thing you should say is ‘Good morning’ or something,'” Sugarman recalls. “But he’d say, ‘We’re. Not. Crazy.'”

Sanders eventually got a place of his own, found his way, and in 1981 was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city—the start of an improbable political career that led him to Congress, and soon, he hopes, the White House. On Tuesday, after more than three decades as a self-described independent socialist, the septuagenarian senator launched his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in the Vermont city where this long, strange trip began. But it was during Sanders’ first turbulent decade in Vermont that he discovered it wasn’t enough to hold lofty ideas and wait for the world to fall in line; in the Green Mountains, he learned how to be a politician.

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How Bernie Sanders Learned to Be a Real Politician

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Bernie Sanders Has the Most Glorious 404 Error Page Ever

by AlfonzoIRKZ Posted on May 26, 2015

Mother Jones

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Think you’ve landed on the wrong page of Bernie Sanders’ campaign site? Fear not. In order to help guide you back to the page you were trying to reach, Sanders, who just announced his presidential bid, created the most terrific error page of any 2016 candidate. Just take a look:

Follow his directions: “Just scoot down to the bottom of the page and you’ll find your way back home to where you should be!” The site is further enhanced by the perfect URL: berniesanders.com/wtf.

Bravo, Bernie. The broken links may have turned into your first big win.

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Bernie Sanders Has the Most Glorious 404 Error Page Ever

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