April 27, 2016

Liberal Host Cenk Uygur Hangs All of Bernie’s Hopes on ‘Probable’ FBI Indictment of Hillary

http://www.mediaite.com/online/liberal-host-cenk-uygur-hangs-all-of-bernies-hopes-on-probable-fbi-indictment-of-hillary/

by Tommy Christopher

One leading bellwether of the currents in the Bernie Sanders movement is the goings on at liberal online behemoth The Young Turks, which has long been a Bernie bunker headed by relative realist Cenk Uygur and a team that’s closer to Susan Sarandon on the #BernieOrBust spectrum. After the New York primary, Uygur predicted that if Sanders lost in Pennsylvania, it would be all over for Sanders, and after Tuesday night’s near-sweep by Hillary Clinton, he soberly told his viewers that their last vestige of hope for a Sanders victory rests in the hands of the FBI. According to Cenk, an indictment of Hillary Clinton related to the email “scandal” is “probable,” the only questions being whether it’s a felony indictment, and if it occurs before the Democratic National Convention:



As Cenk might say, he’s at a twelve when he really ought to be at a five. For a variety of reasons, this “scandal” will amount to nothing, and if what he says about FBI director James Comey possibly playing anti-Hillary politics with this “investigation” is true, it will be by holding off on concluding it, and allowing Republicans to continue sliding their big fat leaks into the eager mouths of uncritical journalists. In point of fact, there are not “dozens” of FBI agents working on this, there are maybe one dozen, and the review they’re conducting is something that reporters are only pretending not to understand. On any other day and any other topic, they will be the first to tell you that the government is ridiculous with its redaction pen.

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April 27, 2016

Liberal Host Cenk Uygur Hangs All of Bernie’s Hopes on ‘Probable’ FBI Indictment of Hillary

http://www.mediaite.com/online/liberal-host-cenk-uygur-hangs-all-of-bernies-hopes-on-probable-fbi-indictment-of-hillary/

by Tommy Christopher

One leading bellwether of the currents in the Bernie Sanders movement is the goings on at liberal online behemoth The Young Turks, which has long been a Bernie bunker headed by relative realist Cenk Uygur and a team that’s closer to Susan Sarandon on the #BernieOrBust spectrum. After the New York primary, Uygur predicted that if Sanders lost in Pennsylvania, it would be all over for Sanders, and after Tuesday night’s near-sweep by Hillary Clinton, he soberly told his viewers that their last vestige of hope for a Sanders victory rests in the hands of the FBI. According to Cenk, an indictment of Hillary Clinton related to the email “scandal” is “probable,” the only questions being whether it’s a felony indictment, and if it occurs before the Democratic National Convention:



As Cenk might say, he’s at a twelve when he really ought to be at a five. For a variety of reasons, this “scandal” will amount to nothing, and if what he says about FBI director James Comey possibly playing anti-Hillary politics with this “investigation” is true, it will be by holding off on concluding it, and allowing Republicans to continue sliding their big fat leaks into the eager mouths of uncritical journalists. In point of fact, there are not “dozens” of FBI agents working on this, there are maybe one dozen, and the review they’re conducting is something that reporters are only pretending not to understand. On any other day and any other topic, they will be the first to tell you that the government is ridiculous with its redaction pen.

(More in link)

April 27, 2016

Hillary News & Views 4.27: Victory Speech and State of the Primary Race

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/27/1520543/-Hillary-News-Views-4-27-Victory-Speech-and-State-of-the-Primary-Race

By Lysis



Today’s Hillary News & Views covers Clinton’s decisive victories in yesterday’s series of primaries.

Here is the transcript of her victory speech, via Blog 4 President:

Wow. Thank you, Pennsylvania! What a night. I want to thank everyone – I want to thank everyone.

Thank you all so much. Wow. I just want to thank all of you, everyone who came out to vote here in Pennsylvania and across Maryland and Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island. I am so grateful to all our volunteers, our organizers, our community leaders. Everyone who worked their hearts out.

And I want to thank the leaders here in Pennsylvania. Thank you, Governor Wolf. Thank you, Senator Casey. Thank you, Congressman Cartwright. And thank you so much, Mayor Kenney, for your great help. And of course, I want to thank the 42nd President of the United States, my husband.

Now, with your help, we’re going to come back to Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention with the most votes and the most pledged delegates and we will unify our party to win this election and build an America where we can all rise together – an America where we lift each other up instead of tearing each other down.

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April 26, 2016

Susan Sarandon Lies To Bernie Sanders Crowd About Obama Quote Attacking Hillary

http://www.mediaite.com/online/susan-sarandon-lies-to-bernie-sanders-crowd-about-obama-quote-attacking-hillary/



To quote Ronald Reagan, there you go again, Susan Sarandon. Competing for the title of Bernie Sanders‘ most deranged Hillary Clinton attack dog, Sarandon has already suggested that a Donald Trump presidency might be preferable to Hillary winning the White House, called her a liar, and even come out against a Chelsea Clinton presidency. At a rally in Philadelphia Monday night, Sarandon was at it again, attacking Hillary with a vicious quote that carried special power because of the identity of the person she claimed to be quoting:

This is such an important election, I just wanted to read you this, a little something about Hillary Rodham Clinton. “HRC is driven by politics, not conviction. From the war, to NAFTA, to Social Security, to her choice of baseball teams, Clinton is constantly shifting, dodging and changing positions to satisfy the politics of the moment. Her penchant for secrecy and non-disclosure reflect an underlying disdain for the ‘invisible’ people for whom she claims to speak.”

This was spoken by Barack Obama in 2008. So as we can see, the only thing consistent about Hillary Clinton is her inconsistency.

The quote is real, and Sarandon quotes it accurately, but it wasn’t from 2008, it was from 2007, but more importantly, it wasn’t “spoken by Barack Obama.”

(More with Video in link)

April 26, 2016

Susan Sarandon Lies To Bernie Sanders Crowd About Obama Quote Attacking Hillary

http://www.mediaite.com/online/susan-sarandon-lies-to-bernie-sanders-crowd-about-obama-quote-attacking-hillary/



To quote Ronald Reagan, there you go again, Susan Sarandon. Competing for the title of Bernie Sanders‘ most deranged Hillary Clinton attack dog, Sarandon has already suggested that a Donald Trump presidency might be preferable to Hillary winning the White House, called her a liar, and even come out against a Chelsea Clinton presidency. At a rally in Philadelphia Monday night, Sarandon was at it again, attacking Hillary with a vicious quote that carried special power because of the identity of the person she claimed to be quoting:

This is such an important election, I just wanted to read you this, a little something about Hillary Rodham Clinton. “HRC is driven by politics, not conviction. From the war, to NAFTA, to Social Security, to her choice of baseball teams, Clinton is constantly shifting, dodging and changing positions to satisfy the politics of the moment. Her penchant for secrecy and non-disclosure reflect an underlying disdain for the ‘invisible’ people for whom she claims to speak.”

This was spoken by Barack Obama in 2008. So as we can see, the only thing consistent about Hillary Clinton is her inconsistency.

The quote is real, and Sarandon quotes it accurately, but it wasn’t from 2008, it was from 2007, but more importantly, it wasn’t “spoken by Barack Obama.”

(More with Video in link)

April 26, 2016

Twenty-Dollar Tubman | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS

April 26, 2016

Sam Bee Blasts Fox Anchor For Harriet Tubman Analysis: ‘I Hate to Break It to You, Sparky…’

http://www.mediaite.com/online/sam-bee-blasts-fox-anchor-for-harriet-tubman-analysis-i-hate-to-break-it-to-you-sparky/

by J.D. Durkin

Former Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee continues to deliver knock-out after knock-out this election season with her new weekly show Full Frontal, and last night the comedian vet took on Fox News’s outrage regarding the Tubman-over-Jackson non-troversy.

“Yes! Finally a black woman making a white man move to the back,” Bee joked, referring to the fact that abolitionist Harriet Tubman has bumped President Andrew Jackson to the back of the new $20 bills.



“When we make such a dramatic change to something no one ever looks at, we have to consider the fragile feelings of white men who tragically appear on only seven out of seven bills currently in production,” Bee joked.

But she saved her best punches for Brian Kilmeade of the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends. Kilmeade decried the currency swap as “an unbelievable sign of disrespect” towards President Jackson. Kilmeade further hilariously continued to defend the slave-owning President, saying he had “done so much in the founding of our country.”

“I hate to break it to you sparky, but Jackson wasn’t involved in the founding of our country, because the Revolutionary War happened before Old Hickory’s pubes came in. He was not a founding father. He was a genocidal prick who forced the relocation of non-whites and fomented populist rebellion.”

She then proceeded to pick apart the cacophony of Fox News pundits who argued for alternative solutions instead of giving Tubman space on the $20. “You’re right,” she mocked, “this is so much simpler than just putting a black woman on the fucking $20. Any other stupid ideas?”

Watch the above segment from TBS’ Full Frontal.

April 21, 2016

Charles M. Blow: What is Sanders's Endgame?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/campaign-stops/what-is-sanderss-endgame.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1

By Charles M. Blow



Hillary Clinton’s commanding victory in New York on Tuesday put yet another nail in the coffin of Bernie Sanders’s candidacy.

As The Upshot’s Nate Cohn put it:

“New York, like every contest at this stage, was a state he needed to win. The result confirms that he is on track to lose the pledged delegate race and therefore the nomination.”

At this pace, Clinton will finish this nomination cycle having won more votes, more states and more pledged delegates than Sanders. Furthermore, Clinton has also won six of the nine general election swing states that The New York Times listed in 2012.

And yet Sanders soldiers on, as is his right.

But Tuesday, Sanders’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, told MSNBC that if Clinton doesn’t clinch the nomination by pledged delegates alone, even if she has won the most popular votes, pledged delegates and states, Sanders will still take his fight to the convention. Sanders will “absolutely” try to turn superdelegates, who overwhelmingly support Clinton, and win the nomination that way.

First, barring something unforeseen and unimaginable, there is no way I can see that this strategy stands a gnat’s chance in hell of coming to fruition. It’s a fairy tale written in pixie dust.

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April 21, 2016

Charles M. Blow: What is Sanders's Endgame?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/campaign-stops/what-is-sanderss-endgame.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1

By Charles M. Blow



Hillary Clinton’s commanding victory in New York on Tuesday put yet another nail in the coffin of Bernie Sanders’s candidacy.

As The Upshot’s Nate Cohn put it:

“New York, like every contest at this stage, was a state he needed to win. The result confirms that he is on track to lose the pledged delegate race and therefore the nomination.”

At this pace, Clinton will finish this nomination cycle having won more votes, more states and more pledged delegates than Sanders. Furthermore, Clinton has also won six of the nine general election swing states that The New York Times listed in 2012.

And yet Sanders soldiers on, as is his right.

But Tuesday, Sanders’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, told MSNBC that if Clinton doesn’t clinch the nomination by pledged delegates alone, even if she has won the most popular votes, pledged delegates and states, Sanders will still take his fight to the convention. Sanders will “absolutely” try to turn superdelegates, who overwhelmingly support Clinton, and win the nomination that way.

First, barring something unforeseen and unimaginable, there is no way I can see that this strategy stands a gnat’s chance in hell of coming to fruition. It’s a fairy tale written in pixie dust.

(More in link)

April 21, 2016

CNN’s Chris Cuomo Torches Bernie Sanders Campaign’s Entire Case Against Hillary

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-chris-cuomo-torches-bernie-sanders-campaigns-entire-case-against-hillary/

by Tommy Christopher

CNN giveth, and CNN taketh away. After Bernie Sanders whiffed at last Thursday’s debate when he was asked to provide a single example of money influencing Hillary Clinton‘s decisions, CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny helpfully provided Sanders with an attack line that he gingerly tried to roll out in subsequent interviews. On Thursday morning’s edition of New Day, however, anchor Chris Cuomo casually knocked the teeth out of that argument as he was interviewing Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver, as evidenced by the fact that Weaver immediately abandoned it.

At issue was former Secretary of State and then-New York Senator Clinton’s support for a 2005 bankruptcy bill, the lone example that has ever been offered to support Sanders’ claim that big donations and/or speaking fees have influenced her:

Cuomo: The senator has chances, not just here on “New Day” but also during the debate, to say, well, what can you point to that gives you this cause for concern with Hillary Clinton when it comes to any money sources? And I’ve got to tell you, the responses have not been great from him. You can’t point to anything other than the bankruptcy bill, and that was a long time ago, and there were a lot of reasons why that went through, with a lot of Democrats. Where’s the there there?

Weaver: There’s a lot of there there. The secretary supported almost every bad trade deal that’s come down the pike. Senator Sanders has opposed almost every one. And the impact of money on politics is not like, I give you ten dollars and then you give me a vote. That would be illegal and no one’s alleging that anybody did anything illegal, but what happens is it colors your view of things, you give access to people to present their case that regular people don’t have in the process, things move your way in terms of regulations, this is the way the process works.

In fact, the first time Bernie Sanders tried to roll out the bankruptcy bill attack, while trying to lay it off on Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton responded with an explanation that sounded a lot like Sanders’ own defense of his vote for the 1994 crime bill, that she leveraged her support in order to add provisions that protected women and children:

The bill she supported didn’t pass, but when it came up for a vote in 2005, Hillary missed the vote, and put out a statement in opposition to the bill.

As for trade, the media and the Sanders campaign have a habit of conflating Hillary’s own voting record and stated political positions with statements of support that she has made while First Lady or Secretary of State, roles in which such statements are more a reflection of the role than anything else. Of course she spoke encouragingly about the Trans Pacific Partnership while she was helping to negotiate it, but when the final deal was made public, years after that, she opposed it. Bernie Sanders loves to talk about his D-minus rating from the NRA, but the libertarian CATO Institute gives Bernie and Hillary the exact same grade on trade based on their respective congressional voting records.

Weaver says he and the Sanders campaign intend to continue the same level of attacks on Hillary Clinton, but if the media will do their jobs the way Chris Cuomo did, they’re more than welcome to try.

(Videos in link)