Like Trump's Tax Returns, Bernie's MFA Excuse for Still Running Is Bogus

[TomCADem]

One of the talking points pushed by BS's campaign for continuing to run is that he needs to run in order to push Medicare for All. This is bogus. There is nothing that prevents BS from advocating for single payer without running for President. Elizabeth Warren understood that.

Indeed, by continuing to run and make character attacks on Biden that have nothing to do with MFA, BS confirm the falsity of his claim that he is running to advance MFA. By focusing his attacks on Biden, and damaging Democrats generally, this increases the chance that Trump and Republicans win in November.

We need only to look at 2016 to see that BS's continued attacks on Hillary and Democrats did not help progressives or the working class. Instead, Trump weakened labor rules, environmental protections and the ACA. That is why BS cannot reasonably argue that his continued campaign against Biden will help the working class unless he wants to argue that the working class is better off under Trump.

So, the question then is why is BS continuing to run even though the math is not there? There are two logical reasons:

1. BS agrees with his surrogates efforts to undermine the Democratic party who think that worsening conditions for the people under Trump will help bring about "revolution," as explained by Susan Sarandon:

https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/politics/susan-sarandon-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/index.html

Likewise, Bernie surrogate Cornell West has actively advocated that people "dump the Democratic Party":

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/cornel-west-activists-immigrants-lets-dump-democratic-party

2. BS is personally benefited by the continued personal attention he also receives a financial benefit because he employs his various family members on his campaign and his private foundation. Jane Sanders and Levi Sanders are and have been on his campaign staff as senior advisors even though Jeff Weaver has admitted that Levi really do much. Likewise, BS's son-in-law, David Driscoll is paid $100K/year to run his private charitable foundation even though David has no experience running such foundations.

You also have millions in campaign dollars once again going to a new mystery firm with ties to Bernie. In 2016, you had the mystery firm Old Towne Media:

https://vtdigger.org/2016/07/15/sanders-campaign-millions-go-to-mystery-firm/

Old Towne’s income from the Sanders campaign has not been disclosed, but the industry standard for ad buy commissions is 15 percent. Based on that formula, the firm could have made $12 million.

The ad agency, established in 2014, has almost exclusively served the Sanders campaign, and the company keeps a low profile. It has no website and no listed phone number. A full list of principals isn’t publicly available.

Old Towne Media has another connection to Sanders: The two principal buyers for the company worked in the past with his wife, Jane. Jane Sanders, Shelli Hutton-Hartig and Barbara Abar Bougie were media buyers during Bernie Sanders’ 2006 Senate race.

In the 2006 Senate campaign, his Republican opponent suggested Sanders’ wife improperly profited from campaign ad buys. Richard Tarrant leveled the accusation a few months after news media reported that Jane Sanders had received $30,000 from 2002 to 2004 for work on her husband’s congressional campaigns, which is allowed under federal rules. In response to Tarrant’s criticism at the time, Jeff Weaver, Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager, said Jane made the 2006 buys as a volunteer and gave her commission to the firm, Abar Hutton Media, which was run by Hutton-Hartig and Bougie.

This year, according to Open Secrets, BS purchased millions in ads from a company that was recently formed by Bernie's Fundraising Director, Tim Tegaris, who formed Aisle 519:

https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/expenditures?id=N00000528

In short, Bernie, his family and associates have profited greatly by pushing Bernie, Inc. This is why BS will run to the very end, draw attention himself by continuing to attack Biden and the Democratic party, before making a lukewarm endorsement of Biden just prior to the convention in an effort to undermine Democratic efforts in November 2020.

[William769]

1. It's all about #2. Pun intended.

[Happy Hoosier]

2. Can you imagine a Trump-run M4A?

Ya think treatment and testing would be covered? I sure don't.

[TomCADem]

5. BS's Misinformation That M4A Would Stop COVID-19 Is Harmful

I agree. Trump would run M4A to fail like he did the ACA.

On top of that, BS promotes misinformation about the causes of the current COVID-19 crisis.

First, a lot of developed countries with single payer are getting overrun with COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 is all about crisis management. The idea that single payer is some sort of cure all is just wrong.

Second, the argument about people harmed by healthcare costs related to COVID-19 could be addressed through direct legislation focused on this harm. Like the sick pay and direct payments, Congress can pass laws making COVID-19 related treatment free. Testing is free. However, going to back to crisis preparation and management, it is not about the cost of the tests, it is the fact that the Trump administration delayed the development and acquisition of adequate tests.

[SheltieLover]

3. Seems to me he is just another grifter with a progressive message but full of bs

Putin's answer to those on left of center who are inclined to follow all that yelling, screaming, & NOT doing his job as a Senator.

No offense to anyone intended.

He just doesn't have the "it" factor & seems to be trying to bs his way to the top.

[The Magistrate]

4. As the Little Girl In Taco Advertisement Said, Sir

"Why not both?"





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[empedocles]

6. Provocative, all angry, arbitrary, deceptive, base rallying, party splitting,

abusive, refuse to release medical records, - who are we talking about?

[TomCADem]

7. Agree. BS Needs to Stop Attacking Democrats and Pushing a False Equivalency

When BS pushes talking points like the following:

Link to tweet

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1231021453270769664&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2F%3Fcom%3Dview_post%26forum%3D1287%26pid%3D690542

It not only hurts Democrats by promoting a false equivalency between Republicans and Democrats, but it has also contributed to his recent losses.

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/4/21164091/sanders-biden-super-tuesday-endorsements-primary-2020

Sanders can’t lead the Democrats if his campaign treats them like the enemy

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have been running very different kinds of campaigns, built on very different ambitions. Biden’s been running to lead the Democratic Party more or less as it exists today. Sanders, by contrast, has sought to lead a political revolution that will upend not just the Democratic Party but American politics more broadly.

On Super Tuesday, Sanders’s political revolution didn’t turn out, but the Democratic Party did.

“A big problem for the Sanders theory of this race is that when turnout is high, he wins,” writes Dave Weigel, a political reporter at the Washington Post. “Turnout is way up, but the most reliable new voters are Biden-curious suburbanites.” As election analyst Dave Wasserman noted, the new voters Sanders promised to pull into the party didn’t emerge, and as a result, he’s lost ground from 2016.

[George II]

8. They seem to delight in working with LLCs, not outright corporations....

Much less financial information, including ownership and personnel, is required to be released publicly. Ten of their top 15 recipients are LLCs, more than $113M of their $201M expenditures (56%)

I see also that Aisle 518 Strategies, LLC has received more than $23M. Curious that Old Towne Media isn't on their list of recipients this year. In 2016 they got $83M.

[LizBeth]

9. Just envision the better look of Sanders 100% behind Biden, giving people reasons to accept Biden

and be untied as a force against Trump.

Ego and $.