Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Biden isn't Progressive? Say it ain't so Joe!

Senators Warren and Sanders are for re-instituting Glass-Steagall; while Hillary Clinton is not because it was her husband who passed the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act that deregulated the banks and gutted Glass-Steagall in 1999 (with Joe Biden on board) — which contributed to the Great Recession.

Hillary also waffled on the Keystone pipeline — but as Obama's Vice President, Biden remains "mum" for now.

And we also know that Obama and Joe Biden support the TPP trade agreement (like most Republicans) — while Hillary is too afraid to say. And what could Joe Biden say on the campaign trail (or during primary debates) while he is still Obama's Vice President? (Awkward!!!)

Whereas Senator Elizabeth Warren, the major labor unions (like the AFL-CIO), and Senator Bernie Sanders have stated long and loud that they are firmly against it.

BELOW: Two progressives — Sanders and Warren — joined forces to drive opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade proposal, arguing it would ship more jobs overseas.
Sanders joined with Warren

And speaking of labor unions: The Daily Caller writes: "The president of the National Education Association has declared that the public school teachers strike in Seattle is a wonderful development for tens of thousands of students who cannot attend school." Their New Hampshire chapter just announced its endorsement of Hillary Clinton — even though it is Senator Bernie Sanders who actually walks on picket lines. The unions had better side with Bernie or their membership could revolt.

The Democratic Party Machine — the "moderates" — have been very busy in their effort to hold onto power and defeat Senator Bernie Sanders (a Progressive). Joe Biden (as a "moderate") is one possible "choice in a Plan B" for The Democratic Party Machine. They are even considering Senator Elizabeth Warren — the "radical" who's against the TPP trade deal, wants to reform Wall Street and expand Social Security. That's very odd, because that's exactly what Senator Bernie Sanders wants to do. But the DNC, who favors Hillary, is now also thinking about Warren rather than Sanders. Why?

Unlike Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders doesn't have his own personally endorsed SuperPAC, because he pushes for campaign finance reform. Whereas Bloomberg reported that Joe Biden secretly met with a top Obama bundler:

The bundler in question was Robert Wolf: the former chairman and CEO of UBS Americas, a prodigious buck-raker on behalf of Barack Obama in two successive campaigns, a four-time appointee to economic panels in the Obama administration, and perhaps the only person in the American business community—and certainly the sole Wall Street potentate—with whom Obama during his time in office has developed a deep and genuine friendship. (The two are frequent golf partners, most recently last month on Martha's Vineyard, where they were part of a foursome with Larry David and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett's cousin Cyrus Walker.)

The New York Times reports that the Democrats are laying the groundwork for an ambitious reorganization of their struggling network of Super PACs that would exploit the loopholes and legal gray areas that Republicans have already used to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the 2016 campaign through such groups.

Now a pro-Clinton SuperPAC is going negative on Bernie Sanders. The group links Sanders to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Bernie's spokesman wrote an email to The Huffington Post that Hillary's SuperPAC was "distorting the record." The Sanders campaign has argued that attacks from Clinton supporters are inspired by anxiety over Bernie's leads in polls of Democratic voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. "It is disappointing that Secretary Clinton's super PAC is spreading disinformation about Bernie. This is exactly the kind of politics that Bernie is trying to change" — and said the SuperPAC was being "dishonest."

Bernie sent an email of his own to supporters saying: "It was the kind of onslaught I expected to see from the Koch Brothers or Sheldon Adelson, and it’s the second time a billionaire Super PAC has tried to stop the momentum of the political revolution we’re building together."

If Uncle Joe runs, we can probably expect him to attack Bernie as well — because as a "moderate", Joe Biden advocates for "moderate" issues when it come to the economy, workers and big business. From the International Business Times, regarding Biden when he backed bills to make it harder for Americans to reduce their student debt and file for bankruptcy:

As a senator from Delaware — a corporate tax haven where the financial industry is one of the state’s largest employers — Biden [and Hillary Clinton] was one of the key proponents of the 2005 legislation that is now bearing down on students ... That bill effectively prevents the $150 billion worth of private student debt from being discharged, rescheduled or renegotiated as other debt can be in bankruptcy court.

It should also be noted that most of those student loans have to be paid back or their Social Security benefits face the threat of garnishment. (Thanks Joe! Thanks Hillary!)

So a vote for Hillary Clinton is effectively a vote for Joe Biden (and vice versa) because they are one and the same — "moderate" Democrats. A new national Washington Post/ABC poll (Sept. 7-10, 2015) shows Clinton at 42%, Sanders at 24% and Biden at 21%. But the poll also asked Biden supporters that if Joe doesn't run, "Who would your second choice be?" Hillary Clinton got 56% of Biden's supporters and Bernie Sanders only got 28%.

BELOW: Three "moderate" peas in a pod (So no, Uncle Joe is not a progressive.)
Joe Biden, President Obama and Hillary Clinton

Joe Biden (who could benefit from Obama's $$$ making campaign machine, and would be competing with Hillary's $$$ making campaign machine) will head to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation convention in D.C. in another test of the waters for a presidential bid.

In an effort to court African-American support for his presidential campaign, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders also held a meeting this week with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, but only 6 members showed up — even though Black Caucus Chairman G.K. Butterfield, pointing to commonality on issues like justice reform and the economy, said: "Senator Sanders speaks our language.”

But (so far) the Congressional Black Caucus has been highly supportive of Clinton’s candidacy. To date, more than a dozen members have publicly thrown their support behind her and that number is said to be growing. Clinton hired a former Congressional Black Caucus executive director to lead black outreach for her campaign. (Maybe they'll back the "moderate" Joe Biden if he runs for president if the "moderate" Hillary is ever indicted by the "moderate" Obama administration.)

Earlier Cornel West campaigned with Sanders in South Carolina. The prominent African-American author praised “brother Bernie” before a racially-mixed crowd at historically-black Benedict University. But a PPP poll shows that in South Carolina, Bernie Sanders gets only 3% of the black vote — well behind Clinton's 59% (and Biden's 27%) — and in a state where a majority of Democratic voters are black.

But why? Don't black voters realize by now that Hillary Clinton has always just condescendingly pandered to them for votes to satisfy her own personal ambitions? Bernie Sanders is only running for President now out of a moral sense of duty (and maybe because Elizabeth Warren didn't run).

So I'm just wondering: What has Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and President Obama ever done (or can ever do better) for African-Americans (after 7 whole years in the White House already) that Bernie Sanders couldn't also do or do much better? I'm stumped by the black support Clinton and Biden still get. Is this another classic example of uninformed people voting against their own best interests — like poor white voters do (especially in the South) when they vote for GOP candidates?

Or do African-Americans really believe Hillary Clinton (or Joe Biden) will suddenly show them the promised land? Even Dr. Ben Carson (a Republican black man) might do better than Hillary or Joe (sarcasm). Speaking of which, what is Ben Carson's stance on the issues? This is Bernie Sanders on the racial issues (link and link).

The documentary film maker Michael Moore believes there are a lot of women today who could change America in a positive way, one of them being the "progressive" Senator Elizabeth Warren (not the "moderate" Hillary Clinton) — who is losing the women's vote. Moore said of Warren: "I wish she was running for president." But Warren's supporters are now backing Senator Bernie Sanders. But yet, some of the teachers think Hillary will do more for them. But what will Hillary give them, besides just more lip service?

Cornell West, a supporter of #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) and civil rights activist, introduces Senator Bernie Sanders in South Carolina:

3 comments:

  1. Katrina vanden Heuvel of "The Nation" magazine appeared on Ed Schultz’s podcast to discuss Joe Biden’s viability and Bernie Sanders’s continued surge in the polls.

    Starting at about the 15-minute mark of the podcast, there's an audio clip played where Senator Elizabeth Warren was asked about her recent meeting with Joe Biden:

    "Was there any talk with the Vice President about a joint ticket, even jokingly?

    Warren: [Laughs] "It was ah ... ah ...it was a long conversation."

    Then Ed Schultz introduces Katrina vanden Heuvel for the interview. (Listen very carefully...this will blow you away.)

    http://www.thenation.com/article/is-there-room-for-biden-in-the-democratic-field/

    https://youtu.be/6B9ved--TJI?t=984

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  2. Maybe when Elizabeth Warren secretly met with Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, she was just getting the "inside skinny" on the Clinton and Biden camps before running with Bernie Sanders as his VP.

    But if Warren endorses Hillary or Joe Biden, it means she's NOT "progressive", but is just another "moderate".

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  3. Hillary Clinton is doubling down on a strategy laid out months ago. The prospectus is a detailed month-by-month, state-by-state strategy to roll out serious policy proposals, raise a prohibitive amount of money, lock up Democratic delegates and woo members of her party’s disaffected left.

    It was designed to win what had been presumed to be a somewhat dull primary without looking too presumptuous. Now Clinton has a full-on fight on her hands against a surging Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and faces the possibility that Vice President Biden will make a late entrance. Biden sits at roughly 20 percent in recent polls, and most of that support appears to come from erstwhile Clinton voters.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-worries-rise-hillary-clinton-camp-says-stick-to-the-plan/2015/09/15/8c5ada86-5bde-11e5-8e9e-dce8a2a2a679_story.html

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