November 3, 2015

I couldn't look for it before, but here is another instance of her using "deadbeat" to mean welfare

recipient. It's from an interview.



“Now that we’ve said these people are no longer deadbeats—they’re actually out there being productive—how do we keep them there?”

http://www.buzzfeed.com/christophermassie/hillary-clinton-used-to-talk-about-how-the-people-on-welfare#.uj3yqGydV

On this thread, there is also an "example" she gave of a girl asking her mother, who was on welfare, why she just sat around the house all day doing nothing.

Thing is, in defending and supporting what Bill did with welfare, she said things that were, at the very best, tone deaf, to accomplish her purpose. Or maybe they just showed how she thinks. However, now that income inequality is the zeitgeist and Sanders is even talking about wealth inequality, her political ads are about how a teacher had to give her mother lunch. And this is only one example of why so many do not trust Hillary.

New England likes to call its weather "wait a minute weather," because it changes so quickly. So, the deal is, if you don't like the weather right now, just wait a minute. It will probably change.

That's how I feel about Hillary. If people don't like what she said last week, wait a week. If she thinks changing her rhetoric will get her what she wants, she'll probably change it. But, will Hillary change with her rhetoric?

November 2, 2015

Matthew Yglesias Tells a Whopper about Sen. Sanders?

Here is the link to the story in question: http://www.vox.com/2015/10/31/9650030/denmark-prime-minister-bernie-sanders

Here is the headline, aka the Head Whopper:

Denmark's prime minister says Bernie Sanders is wrong to call his country socialist

Updated by Matthew Yglesias on October 31, 2015, 10:30 a.m. ET @mattyglesias matt@vox.com*

So, we would expect a quote of some kind from the Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, naming Bernie Sanders, right? Does the story contain any such quote, though? You guessed it: no.


Mind you, the Prime Minister of Denmark,was speaking at Harvard. The tape of his talk is embedded in the story linked above. It is almost one hour ten minutes long. Of that, Rasmussen's speech was about 26 minutes. The balance of the time was taken by a Q and A, with students asking the questions. It was a wide ranging discussion: a lot about Denmark, the UN, the influx of immigrants into Europe in general and Denmark in particular.

As part of a longer introduction of the Prime Minister, the Acting Dean mentioned that one Presidential candidate had said favorable things about Denmark, while the other had said the United States is not Denmark. That was it. Even he did not name the candidates.

Some minutes into his speech, the Prime Minister said that, of course, he had no desire to interfere in our Presidential process. (Duh.) However, he loved to share about things close to heart, and Denmark was close to his heart. Then, he began speaking about Denmark and many other things as they related to Denmark. While Yglesias' story makes it seem that the Prime Minister referenced our Presidential debates then immediately set people straight about socialism, that did not happen either. There were unrelated comments in between. So, that is another misleading aspect of this story.

Then the quote that supposedly (snort) "calls out Bernie Sanders" for allegedly mischaracterizing Denmark:

I know that some people in the US associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism," he said, "therefore I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.

That is it, folks. That's all he said on the subject about which this story supposedly is written. No mention whatever of Bernie Sanders. BUT:

The Prime Minister went on to say that Denmark is a welfare state (a description of Denmark he repeated several times throughout the speech) and to detail the many, many benefits Denmark offers its citizens, how prosperous Denmark is, how socially secure its citizens are, etc. He cited a number of ways in which Denmark compared very favorably to the US (much as Sanders often has).

AFAIK, Sanders has never said that Denmark is a socialist planned economy or said that Denmark is not a market economy. He has said we could be more like Denmark or we could learn some things from Denmark. And, very obviously, the Prime Minister never mentioned Sanders's name. (The only mention of Sanders's name on the entire tape comes near the end, as part of a comment a student made.) Further, as the story itself notes, Rasmussen's own description of Denmark's economy matches what Sanders has said about Denmark's economy!

Assuming that the Prime Minister was replying to things said in the Presidential debates at all, instead of simply educating the Harvard students about Denmark, how is he not agreeing with Sanders--that the US could learn a few things from Denmark? Indeed, if the Prime Minister was rebuking anything from the Presidential debates, it was Hillary's summary dismissal of Sanders' compliments to Denmark, suggesting the US was somehow above all that. Very worst case for Sanders, one could say the Prime Minister rebuked both candidates.

So, why did Yglesias assume that the Prime Minister was rebuking Sanders and only Sanders? No clue. None.



Cast of Characters (if you're interested. It's quite telling, IMO).

Author of the misleading story: Matthew Yglesias. Yglesias attended The Dalton School in NY (a private school) and Harvard U, being graduated magna cum laude from the latter. Aka someone who should know better. While still in college, he began blogging, supporting the Iraq War. He also voted for Romney as Governor (2002).

After graduation, he worked for American Prospect, then the Atlantic Monthly. In July of 2008, he left the Atlantic Monthly to work for Center for American Progress, blogging for ThinkProgress. In November, 2011, Yglesias left ThinkProgress for Slate. In 2014, he left Slate to work on Vox.com (owned by Vox Media, which Jim Bankoff heads) with Ezra Klein.** (CAP, of course, was founded by John Podesta who worked for Bill Clinton and Obama and who currently chairs the Presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Yglesias

Publisher of the misleading story: Vox Media. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_Media

Chair and CEO of Vox Media: Jim Bankoff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bankoff

Yglesias colleague at Vox Media: Ezra Klein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Klein

Denmark's Prime Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, is the head of Denmark's Venstre Party. Wiki lists ten Danish political parties that are in the European Parliament and, as best I can tell, Venstre is about the third or fourth most conservative of the ten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Denmark

Rasmussen has been the center of some controversies involving finances, which apparently have cost his party at the polls. He has instituted budget cuts. In 2011, he was defeated by a--wait for it--Social Democrat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_L%C3%B8kke_Rasmussen

*Please note Yglesias's contact info and also note that Vox requests feedback at the end of the story.

**Ezra Klein interviewed Bernie Sanders for Vox, July 28, 2015. At the very beginning of that interview, Klein invited Sanders to say what it meant to him to be a socialist. Sanders immediately corrected Klein, saying "Democratic Socialist." Then Sanders went on to tell Klein what being a Democratic Socialist meant to him (Sanders). Yet the Yglesias's story says:

Bernie Sanders has long referred to himself as a socialist rather than a member of the Democratic Party, which has naturally lead to a lot of questions about what socialism means to him.

Hmm. Yglesias is not familiar with the work of Vox, even though he works for Vox with Klein? He didn't even check the first minute of Klein's interview of Sanders before writing this piece that is allegedly about Sanders?

November 2, 2015

Foreign policy fail by Sanders? Nope. Please see Reply 58. But also see:

Address to the Nation on the Invasion of Iraq (January 16, 1991)



George H. W. Bush


Just 2 hours ago, allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait. These attacks continue as I speak. Ground forces are not engaged.

This conflict started August 2d when the dictator of Iraq invaded a small and helpless neighbor. Kuwait—a member of the Arab League and a member of the United Nations—was crushed; its people, brutalized. Five months ago, Saddam Hussein started this cruel war against Kuwait. Tonight, the battle has been joined.

much more at:

http://www.millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech-3428

transcript: President Clinton explains Iraq strike

CLINTON: Good evening.

Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors.

much more at:

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/16/transcripts/clinton.html






more at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026211673









Senate vote on 2002 AUMF at:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-2002/s237



House vote on 2002 AUMF at:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/107/hjres114

10:16 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.


On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign. More than 35 countries are giving crucial support -- from the use of naval and air bases, to help with intelligence and logistics, to the deployment of combat units. Every nation in this coalition has chosen to bear the duty and share the honor of serving in our common defense.

more at http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-17.html