Saturday, August 29, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
Why Do Some Leftists Insist On Repeating Right-Wing Lies?
Before this campaign for president started, progressives were united in their effort to expose right-wing lies. But it seems that has changed. Now some, many of those who support Bernie Sanders, are perfectly willing to accept right-wing lies about Hillary Clinton -- and even pass them on to their friends (and anyone else who will listen).
Understand, I am NOT accusing Bernie Sanders of this. He (and Clinton) have both kept their campaigns on the issues -- and both are to be congratulated for that. It is refreshing to see that.
But while Sanders has taken the high road, that is sadly not true of too many of his supporters. They seem perfectly willing to pass on right-wing lies about Clinton. I am talking specifically about the so-called "e-mail scandal". I can understand why the right wants to spread the lie that somehow Clinton has done something wrong by using a private e-mail server. They know they would have little chance to defeat her in a general election, so they are doing everything they can to smear her (which is the normal way of campaigning for the GOP).
But it is disappointing to see progressives engaging in this same kind of campaigning. I had thought my progressive brothers and sisters were better than that. Could it be that they realize that Clinton and Sanders are very close on most issues, and they now think their candidate cannot win on the issues? Do they think, like the Republicans do, that the only way to beat Clinton is to smear her good name by repeating right-wing lies about her?
Let's make one thing very clear. Hillary Clinton did nothing wrong by using a private e-mail server. She did not break any laws (or even any Obama administration rules). She did not expose classified information on the private server. And she did nothing that Secretaries of State have not done in the past.
The truth is that the Democrats have two great progressive candidates -- and both are to be congratulated for running clean campaigns. It is time for their supporters to do the same. Smearing opponents with lies is not a tactic that any Democrat should engage in. It is a tactic that Democrats (and progressives in general) have always opposed. It is time to live up to our principles -- regardless of which candidate we support.
Gun Violence is Much Bigger Than One TV Killing
Clinton And Trump Maintain Large Leads For President
We are still a little over four months away from the first primaries/caucuses, and things could always change (with several national debates scheduled for both parties). But right now, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the candidates to beat in their respective parties. Both currently have more than double the support of their closest competitor.
Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by 23 points (45% to 22%), and Donald Trump leads Ben Carson by 16 points (28% to 12%). Those are significant gaps, and neither candidate has shown any evidence they will fade -- at least not yet.
These charts were made from the results of a new Quinnipiac University Poll that was done between August 20th and 25th. They queried a random national sample of 666 Republicans and 647 Democrats. The margin of error for Republicans is 3.8 points, and for Democrats is 3.9 points.
Sec. Vilsack Explains Why He Supports Hillary Clinton
On Feb. 1, 2016 I intend to proudly caucus for Hillary Clinton — plain and simple. Hillary Clinton is not new to the fight for middle class families. Throughout her public life she has consistently fought to expand and strengthen the middle class. I have no doubt she will continue that fight as president.
Expanding and strengthening the middle class starts with quality jobs. Too often the discussion of good jobs fails to include the unique challenges faced by rural Americans. Hillary Clinton understands that some of the deepest and most pronounced poverty exists in rural areas of the country. Her strong support for the Renewable Fuel Standard and bio-based manufacturing as important parts of a revitalized rural economy makes clear she will work hard to promote meaningful economic opportunity throughout the country.
Hillary knows the economy of the future depends on a well-educated and trained workforce, and she understands the cost of education — from preschool to college and beyond — increasingly strains family budgets with unprecedented debt. That’s why she’s laid out a specific, workable plan to address these strains and make a good education available to all our children.
However, a secure footing requires more than a good paying job and access to education. It means a foundation that cannot be undone by injury or illness. Hillary will preserve those protections gained under the Affordable Care Act instead of putting insurance companies in the driver’s seat, and will look for ways to expand access to affordable health insurance coverage for all Americans and continue to bend the cost curve of health care.
Every Iowan knows good ideas aren’t enough. We recognize the most successful presidents are those who can both lead and govern, while navigating the toughest job on earth.
In other words: Leadership inspires. Governance delivers.
As President, Hillary Clinton will both inspire and deliver results. I know because I have worked with her and called her a friend for nearly two decades.
She leads by example. Her courage in China as First Lady when she declared “women’s rights are human rights” continues to inspire people all over the world to demand equality and freedom. As a twice-elected Senator, she worked with farmers to improve their prosperity in rural New York. And as Secretary of State, she helped to establish a program that delivers food assistance to over 12.5 million hungry children in some of the poorest countries in the world. This just scratches the surface of her career of inspiring and delivering for people around the country and across the globe.
On a personal note, Hillary Clinton is one of the most loyal people I know and that is rare in politics. My relationship with Hillary goes back a long way. Hillary and Tom Bell, my brother-in-law, became friends in 1972 when they worked together as staff members to the Congressional Watergate Hearings — long before she was a household name. When I was elected governor of Iowa in 1998, I met with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office. In that private meeting, he gave me some very good advice. He encouraged me to stay true and loyal to the ideas I ran on and to the people who had faith in me to govern well. Hillary Clinton is one of those people.
My election that year was a surprise to many — but not Hillary. Despite the fact that I was way behind in the polls, she encouraged people she knew from all over the country to pitch in when I needed help, especially in the last weeks of the campaign. Without her support I may not have won.
Why did she do it? Loyalty.
Many years before I met her and before she was known to Iowans, my brother-in-law told me how much he’d liked and respected Hillary Clinton when they worked together.
Over the past 15 years, I’ve come to like and respect her, too.
That is why I support her.
Hillary Clinton has the right policies to strengthen and expand the middle class, is battle tested, and has the experience and relationships to lead and govern well. For all of those reasons as well as our friendship, I will caucus for Hillary Clinton on Feb. 1, 2016.
Despite Media Assertions, Clinton's Support Remains Strong
From the Daily Kos website:
It's been inescapable for weeks: Beltway hacks have been braying about Hillary Clinton's "falling poll numbers," eager to fan the flames of Democratic discord and generate column-inches about intra-party conflict where none exists. What's most pathetic about this latest anti-Clinton drumbeat, though, is how it's directly contradicted by, well, the polls.
The chart above shows a combined average of every single national poll taken since March 1 of this year that pits Clinton against the 10 leading Republican candidates—197 matchups in all, courtesy of Huffington Post Pollster. The key takeaway, as you can see from the blue and red trendlines, is that the race has been remarkably static.
In fact, at the beginning of March, Clinton led the GOP field by an average of 50.3 to 42.6, or 7.7 percentage points. Now, in late August, she leads 48.7 to 41.2, or 7.5 percent. Clinton's "collapse," in other words, is 0.2 percent! No serious analyst would consider that anything more than a rounding error. (And we're not cherry-picking the start date, either: The picture is the same if you dial it back to Jan. 1.)
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Clinton Still Has Double The Support Of Sanders
This chart was made from the results of a new Rasmussen Poll -- done on August 23rd and 24th of a random national sample of 536 likely Democratic primary voters, and has a margin of error of 4 points. Sanders seems to be having a problem getting more than a quarter of Democrats to support him. That may (or may not) change after the first debate in October. We'll just have to wait and see.
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