Tuesday Reads: New York Primary Day

Good Morning!!

Today is the New York primary, and I’m really hoping New York will send a strong message to the increasingly whiny and desperate Sanders campaign. Bernie Sanders has truly become “the Ralph Nader ” of 2016.

Last night the Sanders campaign sent a letter (pdf) to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) accusing Hillary Clinton of somehow misusing funds from her joint fund-raising agreement with the DNC (The Hillary Victory Fund) to raise funds for Democrats running for Congress and for 32 state Democratic Party organizations.

At Crooks and Liars, Karoli Kuns points out that the

“proper channel for complaints about campaign finance is the FEC, not the DNC. I have found no evidence of a complaint being filed with the FEC on these grounds.”

Since the Sanders campaign hasn’t made such a report to the FEC, I have to assume that this is just another Hail Mary pass from Sanders in his effort to damage Hillary Clinton’s reputation and convince low-information voters that she is corrupt.

At the Election Law Blog, Rick Hasen explains and say’s Sanders’ accusation is “legally weak.”

Here’s the deal. Clinton, like Sanders and other presidential candidates, has set up a joint fundraising committee with her political party. The JFC allows you to raise a huge chunk of change (more now than in past campaigns, thanks to the Supreme Court blowing out the aggregate federal limits in the McCutcheon case). A small bit goes to the candidate’s committee under the federal limits (currently $2,700 for the primary and $2,700 for the general). The next bit goes to the DNC, and the rest so state parties in $10,000 chunks.  Sanders is accusing the joint committee of raising really big donations, and then having the JFC using some of those really big donations to engage in direct mail and internet targeting of small donors.  When those small donors donate small amounts, contributions up to the first $2,700 benefit Clinton under the JFC agreement, and because these are small donors, it means Clinton gets all that small donor money.

The Deutsch letter cites no authority showing that this use of the JFC is not allowed, and it is hard to see what provision of the law it violates when donors give only small amounts that happen to benefit only Clinton. The letter says that maybe this is like an in-kind contribution from the DNC to the Clinton campaign, but I don’t see how it is that if the money is coming from the JFC not from the committee. The letter even says this means that those giving big checks to the DNC might thereby be giving more than the $2,700 to Clinton, which is not literally true—it is what the JFC is doing with the money, over which the donors have no control.

For the past few days, Sanders and his supporters have even been complaining about New York’s election laws and arguing that having a closed primary in which only registered Democrats can vote for a Democratic candidate is unfair to him!

John Cole, who has been largely supportive of Bernie Sanders throughout the primary campaign, calls Sanders out: The Whiniest Revolution Ever.

I really did spend much of this campaign pretty neutral- if anything, I thought I was tougher on the Clinton team most of it than the Sanders campaign. I liked the Sanders camps enthusiasm and I like his positions on many things (who doesn’t!), but eventually I decided it just wasn’t realistic and that we would be better off with Clinton. Having said that, we are now to the point that I am just fed up TO HERE (raises good arm over head)….

…with all the dipshits whining that as Independents they can’t vote in the closed Democratic primary and how closed primaries are a scourge against democracy, etc., ad nauseum, this [the Sanders campaign letter to the DNC] is the kind of shit that wants me to put the collective campaign in a box, weight it down, and throw it in the East River….

A good democrat knows to make sure they are registered and registered for the right party….A good democrat raises money for downticket races. A good democrat doesn’t spend the entire primary creating faux controversies to weaken the party and party structure. A good democrat doesn’t run around tellking half the states they don’t matter or count. A good democrat doesn’t do what the fucking Sanders campaign has done the last couple of months.

So that’s the latest rat-fucking from the Sanders campaign. Whether it will have any effect on votes in the New York primary, I don’t know. My guess is most New Yorkers will be able to see through Bernie’s smokescreen. We’ll find out tonight.

This morning, Politifact called Bernie out for another lie he’s been telling for months: Sanders largely off-base in saying he wins when voter turnout is high and loses when it’s low.

On the eve of the New York Democratic primary — where he needs a strong showing to have any hope of winning the presidential nomination contest — Bernie Sanders has repeatedly emphasized the importance of a large turnout.

In an April 12 speech in Syracuse, Sanders told supporters, “A week from today there’s going to be an enormously important Democratic primary in New York state. What we have found is we win when voter turnout is high, we lose when it is low. Next Tuesday, let us come out in large numbers. Let us have the highest voter turnout in Democratic primary history in New York.”

The verdict:

Sanders said, “We win when voter turnout is high, we lose when it is low.”

Sanders did notch a few notable victories in high-turnout primaries, but it would be cherry-picking to focus only on primaries. Sanders has mostly won caucuses, which have produced the lowest turnout rates of 2016 across the board. And while Sanders did win the handful of states where Democratic turnout increased over 2008, these increases were tiny, casting doubt on how significant an accomplishment this is.

The statement contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it Mostly False.

Read the whole discussion at the link. Basically, most of Sanders’ wins have been in caucuses, with low turnout–but you knew that already. Mr. Holier-Than-Thou is a bald-faced liar, folks.

Here’s a little comic relief for you from Jenna Johnson at The Washington Post: Oops, Donald Trump accidentally says 7-Eleven instead of 9/11.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — At a campaign rally on the eve of the New York primary, Donald Trump read aloud an emotional testimonial on what he considers “New York values” and mistakenly said 7-Eleven instead of 9/11.

“I wrote this out, and it’s very close to my heart — because I was down there, and I watched our police and our firemen down on 7-Eleven, down at the World Trade Center, right after it came down, and I saw the greatest people I’ve ever seen in action,” Trump said at a rally near the Buffalo waterfront on Monday evening, without stopping to correct himself. “I saw the bravest people I’ve ever seen, including the construction workers, including every person down there. That’s what New York values is about.”

Is it really worth it for Bernie to keep hammering Hillary and possibly put this asshole in the White House?

The Trump campaign has been looking pretty disorganized lately, and now they’ve had a big staff shakeup. Politico: Trump orders new campaign hierarchy, spending plan.

In a shakeup that’s roiling Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the GOP front-runner told senior staffers at a Saturday meeting that he wants his recent hires Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley to take the reins in upcoming states, giving them a $20 million budget for key contests in May and June, according to three sources with knowledge of the meeting.

The spending authorization, which covers most of the month of May, is far more than the campaign has spent in any prior month, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The cash infusion — which the sources said is intended to fund an aggressive advertising push, as well as more staff at Trump’s New York headquarters and in upcoming states — is part of an effort by the billionaire to expand and professionalize a shoestring operation that had mostly gotten by on the strength of free media exposure and a small core team.

But sources inside the Trump campaign said the moves are increasingly alienating staff loyal to the original team, headed by campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, which had guided Trump from the political fringe to the precipice of the GOP presidential nomination with relatively little campaign infrastructure or spending.

One key Lewandowski loyalist, national field director Stuart Jolly, on Monday submitted a letter of resignation, according to the sources, who characterized Jolly as displeased with the reorganization. Under the new structure, Jolly would have reported to Wiley, who was hired last week by Manafort as political director. In turn, Wiley, who previously ran Scott Walker’s disappointing presidential campaign, will report to Manafort, who was hired late last month and quickly boasted “I work directly for the boss.”

One operative who has worked with the campaign and was briefed on the changes said “Stuart will not work with Rick Wiley. It just wasn’t going to happen.” The operative added that the change had sparked particular concern among the campaign’s field staff, many of whom were hired by Jolly and maintained close contact with him — a rarity on a campaign with a reputation for top-down communication.

Read much more at the link. David Graham has more details at The Atlantic.

I’ll end with a mostly feel-good story from Quartz about Hillary’s campaign: Hillary Clinton assembled a dream team of women to campaign for her in New York.

“Hillary, Hillary,” chanted a crowd of women, and some men, in a chandeliered ballroom at the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan as Hillary Clinton’s team of powerhouse women took the stage April 18. The presidential candidate was joined by New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords, the head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America Cecile Richards, the city’s First Lady Chirlane McCray, among others.

Clinton was joined by a number of her congressional friends long her stalwart supporters. “A vote for Hillary is a vote for yourself, for your city, for your country,” said one of New York’s US representatives Carolyn Maloney. Some of the women onstage were returning a favor to Clinton, who had helped them in their careers. “My strongest and best mentor has been Hillary Rodham Clinton,” said Gillibrand.

Letitia James, New York’s public advocate and the first woman of color to hold a citywide public office in New York, warmed up the crowd with a fiery speech. “I am of the firm belief that when you want anything done you should give it to a woman,” she said.

The crowd listened attentively as it was Giffords’ turn to speak. “In the White House she will stand up to the gun lobby, that’s why I’m voting for Hillary,” she said. Giffords had been shot in the head during an assassination attempt in 2011. “Speaking is hard for me but [in January] I want to say these two words ‘Madam President,’ ” she said, interrupted seconds later by a crying baby.

Of course the author felt obligated to note that there weren’t many millennials in the audience (someone was young enough to have a baby anyway). Here’s what I have to say about the endless “millennial” meme. So fucking what?!

What stories are you following today? Let us know in the comments, and check back later tonight for a live blog on the NY primary results!

Thursday Reads: Democratic Whores of the World, Unite!

Bernie and Jane: Fighting all those “Corporate Democratic Whores”

Good Morning!!

So . . . tonight’s debate should be interesting. In the past few weeks, Bernie Sanders has been attacking Hillary Clinton in the most insulting, sexist, and damaging ways most decent people could possibly imagine.

He has implied again and again that she is corrupt, while providing no evidence. He has denigrated her as “the establishment” candidate and attacked anyone who endorses her as “the establishment”–even groups that provide support and services to women, like Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and Emily’s List. Last week, Sanders even baldly stated that Clinton is “unqualified” to be president.

Here’s the latest from a Sanders rally in NYC last night.

https://twitter.com/AlanKestrel750/status/720466028870922241

Here is the transcript, courtesy of Peter Daou:

Dr. Paul Song: Now Secretary Clinton has said that Medicare for all will never happen. [boos] Well, I agree with Secretary Clinton that Medicare for all will never happen if we have a president who never aspires for something greater than the status quo. [cheers] Medicare for all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores[cheers] who are beholden to big pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us.”

The next speaker, Rosario Dawson, said that Clinton is responsible for the hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Middle East and elsewhere. Finally, Sanders arrived at the podium and thanked the previous speakers for their “great introductions.”

Twitter exploded. Dr. Song eventually provided a non-apology.

https://twitter.com/paulysong/status/720416305699024898

This morning, Bernie Sanders campaign sent another non-apology.

Not good enough. Too little, too late. Sen. Sanders and Dr. Song should apologize to Hillary Clinton and to Democrats generally. And let’s not forget that President Obama is among the “Democratic whores” too, since he failed to get single payer health care.

This kind of behavior from a presidential campaign is simply unacceptable. Sanders is no better than Trump, IMO.

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 13: Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during the Bernie Sanders rally at Washington Square Park on April 13, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Mireya Acierto/FilmMagic)

According to CNN, Sanders said the following about Hillary Clinton the day after he first said she was “unqualified” and after it was explained to him that Hillary had never called him “unqualified.”

“When you voted for the war in Iraq, the most disastrous foreign policy blunder in the history of America, you might want to question your qualifications. When you voted for trade agreements that cost millions of Americans decent paying jobs, and the American people might want to wonder about your qualifications. When you’re spending an enormous amount of time raising money for your super PAC from some of the wealthiest people in this country, and from some of the most outrageous special interests … Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you’re raising millions of dollars from Wall Street whose greed and recklessness helped destroy our economy?”

This has been the theme of Sanders’ attacks on Clinton from the beginning. He has implied again and again that she is corrupt and that any campaign contributions she receives or speeches she makes involve some kind of quid pro quo. He never provides any evidence for these accusations.

Can any intelligent observer really doubt that terms like “corporate Democratic whores” come from the Sanders campaign itself? If they will say the kinds of things they have been saying in public, what must they be saying behind closed doors when the media isn’t listening? Sometimes those sneering private epithets slip out when the rest of us can hear them. That is likely what happened last night. And it was ugly.

For months, Sanders has allowed his supporters to boo and hiss Hillary’s name at his rallies and he has done nothing to stop them from trolling people on social media and even harassing superdelegates in their homes. Where will it end? Will Sanders be proud of himself when excerpts from his speeches and his surrogates’ speeches turn up in Republican campaign ads in the Fall?

Dr. Paul Y. Song

#DemocraticWhores is currently trending on Twitter, and my guess is this will continue to be a story in the build-up to tonight’s debate. After the debate, Jane and Bernie Sanders will travel to Rome where Bernie will give a 10-minute presentation at an academic conference.

Interestingly, Dr. Paul Song is married to journalist Lisa Ling, who supports Clinton. Ling’s sister Laura Ling was released from captivity in North Korea with help from former President Bill Clinton.

A couple of media links to this story:

NBC News: Sanders Under Fire for Supporter’s ‘Whores’ Remarks.

Slate: Bernie’s Latest Bro Headache Involves a Supporter’s Remarks About “Corporate Democratic Whores.”

I expect there will be more as the day goes on.

The Daily Mail reports that Jane Sanders declined to address the situation in an appearance on CNN this morning.

Jane Sanders, wife of Sen. Bernie Sanders, didn’t apologize when asked about comments a surrogate made from the stage of the presidential hopeful’s New York City rally last night.

Healthcare activist Paul Song labeled those who chose to keep the current private healthcare system intact, like Hillary Clinton, instead of advocating for a Medicare-for-all plan, like Sanders, ‘Democratic whores.’

When Jane Sanders was asked about it by CNN’s Chris Cuomo she seemed miffed.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t hear it at all,’ Sanders said. ‘It’s a strange choice of words and I can’t imagine anybody was speaking about Secretary Clinton that way.’

Really? It’s difficult to believe that Jane is not aware of the behavior of her husband’s supporters on social media. She certainly has to have heard the catcalls when Clinton is mentioned at her husband’s rallies. How could she not?

Asked about whether the campaign should own the comments and react, Sanders said yes, but also went on the attack.

‘Well, I think all campaigns really need to take some responsibility for what surrogates said,’ Jane Sanders replied. ‘A mischoice of words is not as important as trying to carry out a strategy of trying to disqualify people or try to make them feel less-than.’

Here Jane Sanders seemed to be bringing back up a tiff between the two Democratic camps that began when Clinton refused to say whether Sanders was qualified to be president during an interview on Morning Joe….

Jane Sanders indicated she would not soon forgive those digs from Clinton in her comments this morning.

‘I think there’s a lot of that to go around,’ she said.

It might be time to stop using Jane as a surrogate. She had a very bad day yesterday too. Yesterday the New York Daily News endorsed Hillary Clinton. Jane whined to CNN yesterday that the Daily News interview that Bernie flubbed so badly was “odd” and “more of an inquisition.” The newspaper then wrote up her remarks in a prominent article.

Jane Sanders told CNN that she and her husband discussed his performance after the April 1 meeting. She attributed the Vermont senator’s curt responses, which were considered vague by a number of critics, to the meeting’s quick pace and said a reading of the transcript alone wouldn’t lend itself to a fair assessment.

“I was in that interview, listening, and it was a conversation,” Jane Sanders told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin. “When you see only words down, it doesn’t quite give the flavor of it.

How embarrassing. Maybe her time would be better spent going back to Vermont to find Bernie’s tax returns so he can release them–as Hillary did with hers long ago. But first the Sanders’ will have their Roman Holiday, which reportedly will not include any meeting with the Pope, according to Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi (NYT).

Jane also appeared on Morning Joe this today, where she complained about the rules for the New York primary. TPM: Jane Sanders Expresses Concern Over Closed New York Primary: It’s ‘Silly.’