July 19, 2019

Steyer puts his money where his mouth is.

I am glad he is in the race. He is in the race to have a say in the platform and to air his very strong views on impeachment (he formed a group dedicated to it) and environmental conservation (another group). He also poured millions during the 2018 midterm cycle to form a GOTV group to help Democrats. In 2018, a record 60 million voters voted for Democrats.

I admire him for his advocacy and support to the party. He is also quite unapologetically liberal.

July 19, 2019

Good post. Intellectual honesty is so refreshing.

Sanders pays more than any other campaign and the issue appears to be the calculation is not by the hour. It’s that instead of a 35 or 40 work week - they are calculating on 60 hours. Now they may work 60 hours and if that’s so, they probably should get an additional pay for the hours they are working. But as it calculates to $13/hour for 60 hours or $780 a week - if they worked 40 hours their breakdown would be a generous $19.50/hour.

When I was an Event Producer I was paid an annual salary and many many weeks put in more than a 40 hr work week. I was salaried and not hourly and earned nothing more. On an event, when I had hired staff, we paid an hourly wage and they earned whatever they worked for the two or three weeks they were on the project. They were hourly staff. There’s always been a difference in the workplace.

Since this is a unionized shop now my guess is they will negotiate something - possibly a regular work week of 40 hours - or perhaps they will reduce their wage to $15/hr and on weeks when they only work 30 hours they will get less and on some weeks when they work 60 hours they will get more.

Either way to me this is a no story like Bernie’s a millionaire to create some bad press. Since the other candidates staffs do not receive anything as generous as Sanders staff - it isn’t a fight I would think other candidates want to get into.

I can attest to the latter.

July 19, 2019

Splitting hairs. The difference between connotation and denotation...

From the article I quoted: "As Sanders himself has pointed out, Medicare for All would replace the current program with more comprehensive benefits, but as Biden and even supporters of the plan like Senator Kamala Harris have pointed out, would entail a significant transition."

It is the fear that during the haitus period there would be no safety net McIntosh is referring to. She clearly was not quoting Biden but giving her opinion of the connotation of his words. If you have a problem with how she characterized Biden's words, why don't you write to her at CNN?

July 19, 2019

A former Hillary Clinton senior advisor echoed Bernie's words on CNN on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, former Hillary Clinton senior adviser and current CNN analyst Jess McIntosh made an observation that was nearly identical to Sanders’ attack on Biden.

McIntosh told the hosts of New Day that Biden was coming “dangerously close to using Republican talking points when talking about Medicare for All.”

“There was a lot of ‘Medicare as you know it will go away, seniors will be left with nothing,’ that sounds suspiciously like Donald Trump,” she said.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/bernie-sanders-says-biden-is-sounding-like-donald-trump-on-medicare-for-all/

I support Joe but I will not be disingenuous nor do I suffer from Bernie Derangement Syndrome.

July 19, 2019

"former Hillary Clinton senior advisor made an observation... nearly identical to Sanders' attack"

https://www.mediaite.com/news/bernie-sanders-says-biden-is-sounding-like-donald-trump-on-medicare-for-all/

On Tuesday, former Hillary Clinton senior adviser and current CNN analyst Jess McIntosh made an observation that was nearly identical to Sanders’ attack on Biden.

McIntosh told the hosts of New Day that Biden was coming “dangerously close to using Republican talking points when talking about Medicare for All.”

“There was a lot of ‘Medicare as you know it will go away, seniors will be left with nothing,’ that sounds suspiciously like Donald Trump,” she said.

Thank you for refreshing my memory of what intellectual honesty looks like. I happen to agree.

July 18, 2019

Interesting. Pete is really going on a hiring spree. I wonder what Warren thinks of Dina Powell.

That would be good to know.

July 18, 2019

Bad photo. No photo-op here. Elhan Omar seems relaxed while Bernie engages her with deep interest.

She clearly enjoyed listening to him. I am glad he went out of his way to lend her his support. In asking for splitting donations, Bernie is giving her his voter list, so to speak.

July 18, 2019

You make good points.

"Biden's attacks on Medicare for all do echo the insurance industry claims.

Biden claims that 300 million people would be added in an instant, the current bill has a four year roll out. That is not an instant.

Biden claims you will lose your doctor. That's the same claim made against the ACA.

This is a Biden problem not a Sanders problem. Biden needs to stop attacking from the right."

Though I agree with Biden that I would not want to eliminate ObamaCare. I do not see a way we could pass Medicare For All in the current political climate. Democrats will need to retain the House and take the Senate in 2020 which does not seem likely.

July 18, 2019

Good for him.

I anticipated this happening. He is nothing if not a man of principle.

July 18, 2019

A bit of hyperbole from Bernie but at least he didn't cynically infer Biden is racist for media hype

I credit Bernie with driving the Democratic Party out of the clutches of the DLC in 2016 by evangelizing the youth vote to join the party and become engaged as liberal Democrats so I am inclined to give him a pass. Medicare for All is his baby so he is naturally protective of it.