While the DNC is unlikely to exclude all three candidates from future debates, Sanders added that he does not want to commit to an ad hoc schedule of debates set by networks.

“As I have said from day one I want to see debates. I love debates. I think it’s good for the Democratic Party, I think it’s good for the people of this country, but you’ve got to do it in a rational way, you just can’t do it because some network says this and some network says that,” Sanders said. “I would hope that in the very short future we can develop a series of debates, and I think ... Illinois, Ohio, California, New York state are some of the states we might want to be looking at.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-27/ahead-of-white-house-meeting-sanders-says-obama-is-not-taking-sides

The essential points of the interview by Andrea Mitchell with Fallon are:

1. Sanders has not fared well in the spotlight; if you look at the tone he has been taking; quite disturbing, seen a pattern of Senator Sanders saying one thing and doing another; that he would shun the support of a SuperPac, now has one; said he wouldn’t attack Clinton, but now he has said that she was like Dick Cheney and third thing this debate next week, Sen Sanders said he would wanted to debate more, now he is not.

2. Today a new york times report said he bragging about running a negative ad; and now Sanders is weighing running a negative running the same kind of ad as Karl Rove did,

3. That Sanders was having a meeting to decide whether to take the core persona that Sen Sanders has cultivated of the first few months of the campaign and crumpling it in into a ball an throwing it into the trash… I hope he rejects it Andrea…. they, his advisors, are trying to turn Sanders into someone less Simon and Garfunkel and more Karl Rover and it is unfortunate…..

4. Fallon repeated the meme of comparing Sanders to Karl Rove instead of Simon and Garfunkel

Also follow this interview on Andrea Mitchell with none other than Tweety (Chris Matthews):

WATCH VIDEO:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/01/27/clinton_spokesman_sanders_advisors_turning_him_into_someone_who_is_less_simon_garfunkel_and_more_karl_rove.html

UPDATE:

Just to be crystal clear in the midst of all this maneuvering, DWS issued the following, saying that the DNC WOULD NOT SANCTION THE PRE NEW HAMPSHIRE DEBATE:

The Democratic National Committee says it is unlikely to sanction additional debates before the New Hampshire primary, a decision that could strike a blow to MSNBC and the New Hampshire Union Leader as they seek to host an event next week.

"We have no plans to sanction any further debates before the upcoming First in the Nation caucuses and primary, but will reconvene with our campaigns after those two contests to review our schedule," DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

"We have consistently worked with our campaigns to ensure a schedule that is robust and that allows them to engage with voters in a variety of ways, whether through debates, forums, town halls, but also leaving them the flexibility to attend county fairs and living room conversations in states like Iowa and New Hampshire where direct voter contact matters so much."

DNC throws cold water on unsanctioned New Hampshire debate

http://g.thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/267120-dnc-will-not-sanction-additional-debates

PRESS RELEASE


Sanders is ‘Disappointed’ by Clinton Attacks



JANUARY 27TH, 2016



MASON CITY, Iowa – While professing concern about a negative turn in the White House campaign, Hillary Clinton launched a new television commercial on Thursday that distorts Bernie Sanders’ record with not-so-veiled insinuations and fails to offer her own positive vision for the future.

“Clinton has stepped up the attacks on Sanders in the last two weeks,” as CNN said in a report Thursday on her new TV commercial.

“We were disappointed but not surprised that Secretary Clinton has decided to broadcast a television ad in Iowa that completely distorts my record,” Sanders said.

The new Clinton ad insinuates that Sanders’ Medicare-for-all proposal would undo the Affordable Care Act. In fact, Sanders helped write the Affordable Care Act but says more remains to be done to provide better health care at less cost for all Americans, including the 29 million Americans still without health insurance and millions more who are underinsured. Sanders’ proposal would save the typical family more than $5,000 a year.

Her ad claims she would “break through the gridlock, not add to it.” In fact, Sanders has worked with Republicans in Congress to pass major legislation. He worked with Sen. John McCain, for example, to pass a $15 billion bill to improve health care for veterans. McCain praised Sanders’ “record of advocacy for veterans,” but added, “I don’t see how any veteran … could possibly have any good things, nor could support, her quest for being commander in chief.”

Clinton insinuated that Sanders attacked Planned Parenthood. In fact, Sanders has a 100 percent lifetime voting record for Planned Parenthood and defended the group against Republican attempts to cut its budget.

Clinton’s ad says she would “stand up to the gun lobby, not protect it.” Sanders has a D- lifetime rating by the National Rifle Association, supports President Barack Obama’s gun safety initiatives. Sanders’ advocacy for gun safety dates back to his 1988 congressional campaign, which he lost by 3 points after calling for a ban on assault weapons. Clinton has flip-flopped on gun issues throughout her career. Once an advocate for registering handguns, she became a gun-friendly candidate in 2008 when she tried to portray Obama as too hard on gun owners.

In another dig at Sanders, her ad suggests that she would “lead on foreign policy, not ignore it.” On the major foreign policy issue of the era, however, she voted for the war in Iraq. Sanders opposed it. He supported President Obama’s overture to Iran which resulted in an agreement with world powers to stop Iran from developing a nuclear arsenal. She called President Barack Obama “naïve” for even talking to Tehran. She wants a no-fly zone in Syria. He disagrees and instead wants Middle East nations to take the lead in fighting the Islamic State to prevent U.S. forces from being drawn into a perpetual conflict.

Clinton’s new ad does not offer any proposals for the future. She doesn’t say how she would strengthen Social Security. She doesn’t detail a way to combat climate change. She doesn’t say why she won’t support the leading bills by Democrats in Congress to provide paid family and medical leave. She doesn’t detail her own plan to expand health care for Americans.

“Secretary Clinton is spending a lot of time saying what she’s not going to do. Bernie is spending his time telling Iowa voters and people across the country where he intends to lead the nation as president,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager. “Bernie Sanders will build on the achievements President Obama has made and build for the future.”




https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-is-disappointed-by-clinton-attacks/

Please join Bernie Sanders and activist, actress, and humanitarian Susan Sarandon for a town meeting in Mason City to discuss the major issues facing our country.

PRESS RELEASE


Sanders Maintains Lead in Iowa, New Quinnipiac Survey Finds



JANUARY 27, 2016





WASHINGTON – With just days left to go before the first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses, a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Sen. Bernie Sanders maintaining a four-point lead over Secretary Hillary Clinton in Iowa.

Sanders’ lead is built on support from younger voters in the state. Likely caucusgoers surveyed between the ages of 18 and 44 favor Sanders over Clinton 78 percent to 21 percent.

Iowans surveyed listed the economy as their highest priority, followed by health care and climate change — all topics Sanders has worked to inject into the 2016 presidential primary. Likely caucusgoers who say the economy is the most important issue for them favor Sanders 53 percent to 41 percent.

Sanders is spending the morning in Washington meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House. He returns to Iowa tonight for a rally in Mason City.



http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/iowa/release-detail?ReleaseID=2319

“Senator Sanders,


I want to thank you. I want to thank you for exercising sound judgement even when everyone around you was beating the war drums.


See I fought in the streets of Fallujah, Iraq. I saw more blood and death than any 19 year old ever should. The amount of friends I’ve lost to war will likely be surpassed by the amount of friends I’ve since lost to suicide.


I know first hand the moral cost of war. One of the most painful truths that I must go through life with is that I fought in an unjust and unfounded war. While my intentions were good and I fought hard for the men to my left and to my right, and while I thought what I was doing what was right for the people of Iraq- I was wrong.


You knew this. You knew this before we went to war and you fought, and you spoke truth to your peers and though your words largely fell on deaf ears, I am truly heartened to know that I now have a chance to vote for a man who exercised sound and moral judgement when the war drums were beating the loudest.


I have a son. He is only one and a half years old but someday he will be 18 and I fear that if we continue to elect the same establishment politicians, he too will face the same decision that I did, and he too will go off to fight in an endless quagmire and that he too will come home, broken, and never fully returned or worse- never come home at all.


So thank you, Senator Sanders, for being of sound mind and judgement. Thank you for being the only voice in this race that does not want to continue this legacy of warfare. Thank you for being the only voice that is and has been standing up for those of us that fought in these misguided wars. Thank you for giving me hope for a peaceful future.”



Sincerely, A U.S. Marine – 0311 Operation Iraqi Freedom

Ed Henry ?@edhenry 2h2 hours ago
.@HillaryClinton event today at #iowa bowling alley ... didn't @BarackObama have some bowling struggles in '08?

Dan MericaVerified account
?@danmericaCNN
Hillary Clinton at the Family Fun Center in Adel, Iowa.

Patrick Caldwell ✔@patcaldwell
Sadly Hillary didn't try her hand at bowling
1:14 PM - 27 Jan 2016

Alex Seitz-Wald ✔@aseitzwald
Hillary Clinton hits the lanes.
12:26 PM - 27 Jan 2016

Even though the Clinton team has sought to convey that it has built a national operation, the campaign has invested much of its resources in the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa, hoping that a victory there could marginalize Mr. Sanders and set Mrs. Clinton on the path to the nomination. As much as 90 percent of the campaign’s resources are now split between Iowa and the Brooklyn headquarters...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/us/politics/hillary-clinton-readies-for-a-long-slog-against-bernie-sanders.html?_r=1

- About her choice of King Sleazeball, David Brock to be her designated hit man.

- Her decision in the last two years to take millions in speaking fees from the financial and pharma industries and her inability to defend her actions, especially about her three Goldman Sachs speeches.

- About the campaign’s misjudgments and misallocation of resources and putting all their eggs in the Iowa basket.

- Her decision to hold a big ticket fundraiser just days before the Iowa caucus hosted by an investment firm that may be facing federal scrutiny for its shady practices.

- The miscalculations made by her campaign that have brought her to a point where she is being seriously challenged by a 74-year-old, self-described Democratic socialist from a tiny state, including her campaign’s decision to limit debates:

Oh, and about making sure Debbie Wasserman Shultz and the DNC limited debates, and, thus, limited exposure for Hillary’s opponents? (And, yes, the Clinton team pressed DWS and the DNC to limit debates.) That plan has backfired, too: