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:
–Sanders has never been a Democrat. Instead, Sanders recently admitted joining the Democratic Party primaries for “media coverage” and cash.
–When his staffers were caught inappropriately viewing and downloading Clinton’s voter data and one had to be fired for the misdeed, Sanders sued the Democratic Party when it temporarily suspended the Sanders campaign’s access to Democratic National Committee’s voter database while it investigated the theft.
–Attacking Clinton using insinuation and innuendo, often not mentioning her by name, like the writers of a “Seinfeld” episode trying to sneak objectionable material past the censors. For example, at a debate in February, Sanders said: “One of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate.” Likewise, in Sanders’ television ads (where, by the way, he is spending much more than Clinton in Wisconsin), he implicitly attacks Clinton without mentioning her name.
—Falsely claiming “endorsements” by newspapers like the Des Moines Register, as well as Latino and Latina DREAMers like Brenda Romero, when in fact they endorsed Clinton.
—Using logos of groups like the American Legion and League of Conservation Voters in Sanders campaign materials, when those groups have not endorsed the Sanders campaign (and, in the case of LCV, has endorsed Hillary Clinton).
–Calling for a “political revolution,” yet, as of the end of 2015, has given no donations to down-ticket Democratic candidates whose elections, at minimum, would be necessary to pass any of Sanders’ proposed socialist agenda. In contrast, Clinton earmarked $18 million of her donations for use by the Democratic Party in the fourth quarter of 2015 alone.
—Accused of funneling campaign and nonprofit money to family members and friends.
—Cynically flip-flopping on “superdelegates,” from saying they were an undemocratic tool of the Democratic Party to saying he’s going to try to get Democratic superdelegates to switch their endorsement from Hillary Clinton to Sanders even if Clinton has beaten Sanders in pledged delegates.
–Rails against money in campaigns, but spent 53 times more than his opponent in his 2012 Senate campaign and is spending almost as much as Clinton in the current primary campaign.
—Physically shoved his wife away at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, saying “don’t stand there” next to him.
—Making misleading statements, or as Clinton says, “lies” about Clinton receiving donations from “the fossil fuel industry,” by counting donations from individuals who happen to work for oil and gas companies. Under this standard, Sanders of course receives donations from many different “industries.” For example, those nurses who support Sanders in their Super PAC are part of the massive healthcare industry.
—Trying retroactively to poach delegates in Nevada after Clinton won the caucus on February 20.
—Refusing to release more than one year of taxes. Sanders says “my wife does our tax returns,” as if that has anything to do with releasing them. Sanders also says “we have been a little bit busy lately.” Newsflash: so are all the other candidates, yet they’ve released their tax returns for prior years, other than Donald Trump, who has also rightfully taken flack for not releasing his yet.
On March 31, Hillary Clinton finally got so fed up with the Sanders campaign’s behavior that she said: “I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about me.” Many Democratic voters no doubt feel the same way. Perhaps this is also why, of Sanders’ U.S. Senate colleagues, those who know him best, zero have endorsed him for the Democratic Party nomination.
Photo by Marc Nozell, used under Creative Commons license. http://is.gd/LRM1dS
