Breaking: Tom Vilsack approved (again) as AG SEC; Sanders votes "No"

[brooklynite]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Wounded Bear]

1. Pretty good pick, IMO...

[CentralMass]

2. He has the unfortunate moniker of "Mr. Monsanto."

[Bigredhunk]

3. -

I've heard Tomsanto.

I loathe Monsanto and how they do business. I did like Vilsack as governor of my crappy state. I wish he'd come back and save us from republican rule as governor or senator. He's well thought of here. He was governor for 8 years. I'd rather have someone younger, but the people we keep running are losers. I think he'd win either seat.

edit: Aside from Bernie, those voting no look like a who's who of jerkoffs positioning themselves to run for president in 2024 ("I voted against everything Biden wanted&quot .

[CentralMass]

4. Well he's in.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. Ick. Let's not forget how he failed Black farmers, and watch what he does with dairy.

[SharonClark]

7. So I guess Obama failed black farmers because he

selected Vilsack.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. One could say that.

https://thecounter.org/usda-black-farmers-discrimination-tom-vilsack-reparations-civil-rights/

Under Vilsack, USDA employees foreclosed on Black farmers with outstanding discrimination complaints, many of which were never resolved. At the same time, USDA staff threw out new complaints and misrepresented their frequency, while continuing to discriminate against farmers. The department sent a lower share of loan dollars to Black farmers than it had under President Bush, then used census data in misleading ways to burnish its record on civil rights. And although numerous media outlets portrayed the Pigford settlement payments as lavish handouts—a narrative that originated with right-wing publisher Andrew Breitbart—USDA actually failed to adequately compensate Black farmers, and many of them lost their farms.

What emerged is the clearest depiction to date of USDA’s civil rights record under the Obama administration, one that makes it clear that—despite changes in rhetoric—Black farmers faced the same challenges under Obama that they did under Bush. Yet Vilsack’s claims, backed by an array of manipulated statistics and pushed by a savvy public relations team, became widely accepted myths. These myths obscured the ways the department continued to discriminate against Black farmers throughout the Obama years. They depicted a renaissance that didn’t exist, making it harder for Black farmers to get the financial help they needed, often with devastating consequences. This made it easier for Vilsack to whitewash the department’s history, promote his own legacy, and deny ongoing problems through the promotion of a false claim: the suggestion that somehow, despite it all, African-American farmers were winning.

[OnDoutside]

6. And they say that the political spectrum is circular, don't they ?

[roamer65]

8. Ok pick.

Not as many from the Obama admin as I thought Joe would do.

I would like to see Tim Geithner as Fed chair next year. Powell can go simply because he’s a Dump appointee.

[JonLP24]

10. I don't mind Sanders voting no

I wasn't in favor of the Vilsack nomination

The Nation

After Vilsack’s nomination was announced, Independent Black Farmers founder Michael Stovall told Politico, “Vilsack is not good for the agriculture industry, period. When it comes to civil rights, the rights of people, he’s not for that. It’s very disappointing they even want to consider him coming back after what he has done to limited resource farmers and what he continues to do to destroy lives.” During Vilsack’s previous tenure at the USDA, the department was six times more likely to foreclose on a Black farmer as on a white one, even doing so when Black farmers had unresolved civil rights cases. Vilsack also notoriously fired Shirley Sherrod, the Black woman who led the department’s rural development efforts in Georgia, after a video of her speaking that was selectively edited by Andrew Breitbart. Vilsack apologized after seeing the full video and offered her her job back, but Sherrod declined. In an MSNBC interview after Vilsack’s nomination, Sherrod encouraged Vilsack to learn from his mistakes and do better for Black farmers, reminding him that Biden “would not be president-elect without Black people.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/tom-vilsack-biden-usda/

[Bettie]

11. In this case, Sen. Sanders is keeping very

very bad company.

What does he have against Vilsack? He's a pretty decent/mainstream choice for Ag.

ETA: Oh, I didn't see the Nation piece on racial disparity at the dept when he was in charge.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. In addition to his poor record on race, Vilsack has been a dairy lobbyist for the past few years.

[CentralMass]

15. Bernie's statement

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/540137-sanders-votes-against-biden-usda-nominee-vilsack
""I opposed his confirmation today because at a time when corporate consolidation of agriculture is rampant and family farms are being decimated, we need a secretary who is prepared to vigorously take on corporate power in the industry," Sanders said in a statement.

"I heard from many family farmers in Vermont and around the country who feel that is not what Tom did when he last served in this job," the senator added.

Sanders fought against a bill Vilsack was behind in 2016, which required the labeling of genetically engineered food but was less strict than a similar state law in Vermont. Obama signed the measure in July 2016, effectively nullifying Vermont's statute."

[Bettie]

16. Ok. He had a good reason

I see the continuing consolidation here in Iowa every day.

But our state government welcomes large foreign agriculture corporations, so it will happen here no matter who is Ag sec. .

[CentralMass]

17. Having to accept realities like that are is unfortunate

I respect Bernie's vote on this one.

[StevieM]

13. Sanders was also very critical toward Vilsack when he was being considered for VP.

Possibly to the point where he cost him the nomination.

I always thought that Vilsack should have been Hillary's running-mate in 2016.

[dsp3000]

19. that would have been even less exciting then tim kaine, if you can even imagine that

nt..

[Ron Green]

18. A horrible choice.

This country desperately needs an enormous push toward biodiversity, decentralization of farming, recruitment of new and younger farmers, de-emphasis of processed foods and the general discorporation of the food supply.

Vilsack is Big Ag all the way. He “knows where the bodies are buried,” all right.

[CentralMass]

20. +1