Monthly Archives: April 2016

Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders: the endgame appears

Bernie Sanders speaking in South Bronx, NY

Bernie Sanders speaking in South Bronx, NY

Last night’s Democratic Party primary results in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island were clarifying for a couple of reasons. First, Hillary Clinton‘s wins over Bernie Sanders in four out of the five states other than tiny Rhode Island, especially her healthy and wide margins of victory, respectively, in delegate-rich Pennsylvania and Maryland, all but assured that Clinton will clinch the Democratic Party nomination for president. The other clarifying element of last night’s results was that the endgame for Clinton, Sanders and the Democratic Party finally started to emerge. Here’s what that endgame looked like:

Bernie Sanders vs. Hillary Clinton: time to de-escalate

Hillary Clinton speaking in Durham, NC

Hillary Clinton speaking in Durham, NC

Last night’s New York Democratic Party primary was a defining moment in the sometimes nasty presidential nomination contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Clinton won a decisive victory, with a margin as of this writing of some 16 percent and a net gain of about 33 pledged delegates. [Note: these results are subject to updates]. Coming at a time when Sanders needs to win virtually every state left by a landslide, his loss to Clinton in New York turns his nomination chances from “nearly impossible” to “pretty much unimaginable.” Perhaps knowing this, Sanders spent yesterday in Pennsylvania instead of New York, supposedly to campaign for next Tuesday’s primaries, but then reportedly left his press corps in Pennsylvania last night and exited back home to Vermont. So the question becomes, what happens now?

The Bernie Sanders tax fiasco

Presumably a pro-tax protester, 2010

Presumably a pro-tax protester, 2010

Why hasn’t Bernie Sanders released his tax returns for prior years? That’s the question an increasing number of people are asking. First, Sanders answered, “My wife does our tax returns. We have been a little busy lately.” Then, Sanders falsely claimed that “Of course, we have released them in the past.” On Monday, Bernie’s wife Jane gave an interview with Mark Halperin of Bloomberg TV‘s “With All Due Respect” that was beyond embarrassing on the Sanders’ taxes issue. Jane Sanders said, in response to various questions by Halperin: “I have to go back and find them,” “We haven’t been home for a month,” “When they’re due, I would expect them to come out,” “They’ve [the Clintons] been in office all these years, they have done it,” etc. In reaction to all of these delays and excuses by the Sanders, folks are starting to say the following things:

Bernie’s big mistake

Bernie Sanders campaigning in Franklin, NH

Bernie Sanders campaigning in Franklin, NH

Bernie Sanders is having a tough week. Instead of trying to capitalize on his Wisconsin primary win on Tuesday, Sanders has had to contend with the fallout from a New York Daily News editorial board interview last Friday that has been described as “pretty close to a disaster,” in which Sanders appeared not to know the substance or process of numerous issues, including his own pet issue, free college. Then, yesterday, Sanders added to his image as a candidate who may have lost his bearings when he said of Hillary Clinton, “I don’t believe that she is qualified” to be president of the United States. Sanders latest remarks were actually three mistakes in one:

What happened to Bernie Sanders?

Bernie Sanders in Franklin, NH

Bernie Sanders in Franklin, NH

Bernie Sanders said at the outset of his presidential campaign that “I’ve never run a negative ad in my life,” and that he would not do so against Hillary Clinton or other candidates competing with Sanders for the Democratic Party nomination. Since beginning his presidential campaign, however, Sanders and his staff have turned deceitful, cynical and hypocritical, resorting to tactics that would make even a Republican blush. Sanders’ run for the nomination is a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with much more of the latter. Here’s a partial list of Bernie Sanders’ campaign actions: