The Filthy Smear Campaign Being Conducted Against Sanders

[davidthegnome]

15. To be fair

I have seen some despicable attacks against Clinton - attacks that were obviously not factual. I have also, however, seen plenty of genuine criticism from progressives that is full of facts to back it up. It depends on what talking points we are discussing. A few specific points here:

It is not really in question that her campaign receives large contributions from groups and corporations that pretty much all of us consider to be corrupt, inhumane and/or just plain awful. It is not really in question that she supported the IWR, or Nafta, or that she supported Welfare reform. The reasons for why she did these things are certainly open to interpretation and debate. A lot of this is a matter of public record and even National/political history. None of these facts are right wing talking points - they're just facts.

In regards to taking the corporate money - I get why she does it. It's insanely expensive to run for President - and until recently, I would not have believed that any candidate could (with any level of success) rely on the American public for their funding and support. Sanders has proven to be an exception, with campaign contributions averaging 27 dollars, somehow he is shattering records. This isn't easy to match in regards to fund raising and financing for one's campaign, so she is taking money where she can get it. I get that - typically, that's just what politicians do, it doesn't make her more or less corrupt than your average politician.

In regards to the Iraq War vote... many people were fooled into believing the hype of the Bush administration. That Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that they were somehow hiding. There was a great deal of anger and grief over 9/11 as well, and a lot of people were looking for targets upon which to visit their vengeance. However, it should have never been about vengeance. People in such positions of responsibility as to vote on whether or not we authorize acts of war... need to take their due diligence seriously. There was available documentation that was not read. There were weapons inspectors begging for more time - there was a large part of the international community telling us the Iraq war was a really, really bad move. There were millions of Americans protesting. There were protests around the world. The previous gulf war and the sanctions we imposed on Iraq had absolutely devastated that Nation and it's people. Diplomatic and humanitarian efforts were the way to go here... they failed, in such a dramatic, miserable manner that it still shocks me.

As for Nafta, well, the flaws there should be obvious. The loss of American jobs, the closing of American companies, another example of so called "free trade deals" that are so common in any capitalist system... and so terribly destructive to the welfare of the public. Was what we ended up with what the Clintons expected? I don't know. Perhaps they acted in good faith, I don't think their intent was evil, but I also don't think it was terribly well thought out.

As for welfare reform... well, there are millions of people around the Country who can tell you how much that sucks. If we were going to reform welfare, it should have been done in such a manner that it better and further enabled those in poverty to survive. The current social safety net, such as it is... is a band aid over a severed limb. The amount of time you can receive assistance for, the qualifications you must meet, the constant scrutiny and contempt from those who are supposed to oversee these program and care for those who receive it's assistance. People surviving on a few hundred bucks a month and a few hundred dollars worth of food stamps.

Everything in this Country that benefits the poor is under attack, often referred to by both popular democrats and republicans as entitlements - as free stuff. My position on that is the same as it has always been... my house is your house. My tax dollars are your tax dollars. The idea is to help each other out, to keep each other going, to move onward and upward together. We can't fix a broken financial system by taking away what little assistance the poor receive - and it IS little.

Overall, the issues of poverty, of economic inequality... are very much why I support Mr. Sanders. It helps that I am now poor - and have often throughout my life been even more so. It helps that I've struggled for years without health insurance, despite some pretty significant medical problems. That I have worked more than sixty hour weeks in years gone by and still couldn't get by. That I was one of those college students who could never finish an education, due to mountains worth of debt.

What it really comes down to is that I believe everyone deserves to have certain things when we have the ability and the wealth to make them possible. Education. Access to health care. Fairer wages. Workers rights. This is why I stand with Sanders.