Tag: Bernie Sanders

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President Obama Congratulates Clinton & Sanders On “Inspiring Campaigns”

The White House released this statement last night as the Democratic primary season draws to a close.

Make note of that last paragraph.

Tonight, President Obama called both Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders. The President congratulated both candidates for running inspiring campaigns that have energized Democrats, brought a new generation of Americans into the political process, and shined a spotlight on important policy ideas aimed at making sure our economy and our politics work for everybody, not just those with wealth and power.

The President congratulated Secretary Clinton for securing the delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic Nomination for President. Her historic campaign inspired millions and is an extension of her lifelong fight for middle-class families and children.

The President thanked Senator Sanders for energizing millions of Americans with his commitment to issues like fighting economic inequality and special interests’ influence on our politics.

In addition, at Senator Sanders’ request, the President and Senator Sanders will meet at the White House on Thursday to continue their conversation about the significant issues at stake in this election that matter most to America’s working families. The President looks forward to continuing the conversation with Senator Sanders about how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters, and to build on that enthusiasm in the weeks and months ahead.

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Bernie Sanders Predicts Contested Democratic Convention

Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking in Los Angeles this week, announced that after the California Democratic primary former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not have enough “pledged delegates” to clinch the nomination for president, and thus, there will be a contested convention for the Dems this summer.

Noting that she leads in pledged delegates and superdelegates, what Sanders appears to be arguing is that you need 2,326 pledged delegates to cross the finish line. However, the process for Democrats combines pledged delegates AND superdelegates. Those are the rules.

Eight years ago, when then-Senator Obama won the nomination it was also with a mix of pledged and superdelegates. Sanders says this is unfair, but it’s how the rules work today.

If you don’t like the rules, change them for next time. But the rules today utilize superdelegates.

Plus, I should add, Sanders also like to insinuate that without superdelegates he might be in the lead. He would not.

The above graphic was being shared around the interwebs a couple of weeks ago.

If you strip out superdelegates, Sanders still trails Clinton by more than 200 delegates. If you were to assign all delegates proportionally from all contests, Clinton would still have a healthy lead.

The rhetoric on superdelegates doesn’t add up to any kind of Sanders win at this point.

Just keeping that straight here, ok?

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Sen. Bernie Sanders Sidesteps Question Whether He Would Consider VP Spot

Sen. Bernie Sanders talks to Meet The Press host Chuck Todd about his path to the Democratic nomination, and whether he would consider being Hillary Clinton’s running-mate if she were to ask.

“I’m knocking my brains out to win the Democratic nomination,” Sanders said. “That’s where I am right now. What happens afterwards, we will see. But right now, my focus is on winning the nomination.”

Folks are calling that a “side-step,” but in truth, what other answer could he really give at this point?

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Creator Of Bernie Sanders/DMX Video: It Was “A Social Experiment”

After a lot of folks (including me) were fooled by a faked video of Sen. Bernie Sanders entering a campaign rally to the strains of a homophobic rap song by DMX, Matt Rettenmund at Boy Culture received the following statement from Edwin Acuna, who copped to creating the video:

So long story short, this was a social experiment, and everyone seem to fall for it. Im a Bernie supporter but one of the main things that I set to prove is the medias ability to rewrite headlines and make everything seem twisted. The video was a joke at first, I imagined a 70 year old man walking out to a song that has a hard intro (subtract the homophobic lyrics, which is why it isn’t in the video) but as i thought about it, i knew everyone would go nuts, i just want to give a major shout out to boy culture for keeping a level head about the situation. The video was faked, if you’re going to support a candidate dont do it cause of a viral video, and if it sparks you’re interest, let the flame burn a lot longer than just voting and walking away, we as american citizens have more power than we think, and to all those people thinking they got a 1up on Bernie….I say this:

(image via Edwin Acuna)

Salon received a similar statement from Acuna:

“To make a long story short, It started off as a goof, and turned into a social experiment. Literally everyone and their mothers went nuts, using it for their own agendas to prove that some how Bernie Sanders was anti gay all along, I chose that song because I knew it would shake up both ends of the spectrum. So I want to ask everyone, The younger folks out there, I really do appreciate the immense love everyone gave Bernie Sanders, but please think more about the political process and get involved instead of having to have a viral video to motivate you to make a move and vote. To those Hilary supporters, I hope you feel at a lose for words and I say that with all due respect, I respect your stance but Id like to ask you how it feels to believe you almost had a 1up on Bernie and a reason to shame him only to come up short? Just like you all accused the Bernie supporters of being senseless for following this man coming out to a DMX you too are a victim of blindly believing everything you see on the internet. With that said, I hope everyone remembers what memorial day is all about and RIP to all my dead soldiers, its more than just a 3 day weekend. God bless america.”

After all that word salad, I still don’t see how fooling folks with a fake video would somehow be a help to Sanders.

I think the guy meant to fool folks and got busted, and then tried to spin it as a “social experiment.”

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UPDATE: Sanders Campaign Says Anti-Gay “Rap” Intro Video Is Faked

UPDATE: Looks like I, and many major LGBT bloggers got punked. And I have to say, my first instinct was to ignore the story. But major sources I trust posted it, so I jumped. My bad.

The Sanders campaign, speaking to Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade says the video is a fake.

Warren Gill, a Sanders spokesperson, said when asked by the Washington Blade to comment on whether the candidate would condemn the music the video “has been doctored.”

“Someone ripped the music from this video and placed it over Sanders’ entrance,” Gill said.

The campaign shared footage with the Blade of a video it says is from the same rally in which no homophobic music is played, but the same two individuals who introduce Sanders are dressed in the same clothes as they greet the candidate on the stage.

First, Sen. Bernie Sanders got in hot water with the LGBT community over misrepresenting his meeting with HIV/AIDS activists.

Now, he has further inflamed LGBT activists over video footage showing him entering a campaign rally this week to the strains of DMX’s “Where The Hood At?”

Why the fury? Isn’t rap cool?

Mmm, maybe not so much when it’s a homophobic/transphobic track that calls out “homo thugs” and more.

Check the lyrics to the song:

Man, cats don’t know what it’s gonna be
Fuckin with a nigga like me, D-to-the-M-to-the-X
Last I heard, y’all niggaz was havin sex, with the SAME sex
I show no love, to homo thugs
Empty out, reloaded and throw more slugs
How you gonna explain fuckin a man?
Even if we squashed the beef, I ain’t touchin ya hand
I don’t buck with chumps, for those to been to jail
That’s the cat with the Kool-Aid on his lips and pumps
I don’t fuck with niggaz that think they broads
Only know how to be ONE WAY, that’s the dog
I know how to get down, know how to BITE
Bark very little, but I know HOW TO FIGHT
I know how to chase a cat up in the tree
MAN, I GIVE Y’ALL NIGGAZ THE B’INESS FOR FUCKIN WIT ME, IS YOU CRAZY?!?

The clip below shows Sanders entering the rally accompanied by the song. The clip cuts out before the homophobic lyrics.

(h/t Aaron Baldwin)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders Calls Out #ChickenTrump Over Debate Snub

On last night’s edition of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Sen. Bernie Sanders was feeling a different kind of “burn” after the possibility of a debate with presumptive GOP White House nominee Donald Trump fizzled.

“First he said he would do it,” Sanders said. “Then he said he wouldn’t do it. Then he said he would do it. Then he said he wouldn’t do it. So I would hope that if he changed his mind four times in two days, [he’d] change it a fifth time. You know, Trump claims to be a real tough guy, pushes people around. Hey, Donald, come on up. Let’s have a debate about the future of America.”

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HIV/AIDS Activists Angry Over Bernie Sanders “Misrepresenting” Meeting

HIV/AIDS activists are royally pissed off at Sen. Bernie Sanders after the Sanders team issued a press release suggesting a meeting held between the activists and Sanders focused on his endorsement of a California ballot initiative that could lower prices for tax-payer supported HIV/AIDS treatment and drugs.

Via Sanders’ press release:

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday met with national HIV/AIDS advocates to discuss the epidemic and his support for a California ballot initiative to lower prices for taxpayer-supported AIDS treatments.

“Let me thank you for the work you do,” Sanders said at the conclusion of the meeting. “The issues you have raised are enormously important and effect millions of people in this country and more around the world.

“I look forward to continuing to work with you,” the senator added at the meeting hosted by Danny Glover, the activist and actor.

The ballot proposition Sanders supports – the California Drug Price Relief Act – is supported by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and National Nurses United, both headquartered in Oakland, California. The measure would prohibit the state from paying more for a prescription drug than the lowest price paid for the same drug by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It would make sure that state taxpayers will no longer be ripped off by pharmaceutical companies that charge exorbitant prices for AIDS treatments and other prescription drugs. “We think it’s a great start and we applaud the people of California for standing up to the pharmaceutical industry,” Sanders said afterward.

Sanders’ proposal to provide Medicare-for-all universal health care would also benefit the 1.2 million Americans with HIV/AIDS.

At the meeting, Sanders noted that he has introduced a plan to lower costs for HIV/AIDS drugs. His measure would establish a prize fund to provide incentives for drug makers to develop new treatments. Unlike the current system that lets drug makers charge the highest prices in the world for medicine sold in the United States, medical breakthroughs made under the prize fund system would make the new drugs available to the public at affordable prices.

Sanders also agreed to set a national goal of ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. by the year 2025 so that HIV is no longer a public health threat to any community in the U.S. and that people with HIV are able to live long, healthy lives.

Sanders also has called for expansion of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program which provides HIV-related services. The senator also promised to push for stronger civil rights protections for people living with the disease.

Longtime HIV/AIDS Activist Peter Staley issued this angry statement after the press release from Sanders:

Feeling used and abused by the Sanders campaign right now. They just issued a press release making it sound like our meeting was about his endorsement of AHF’s drug pricing ballot initiative in CA.

Senator Sanders never brought the issue up during our meeting. WE brought it up near the end, only to tell him that we had been flooded with messages from all the leading AIDS organizations in CA with deep concerns about AHF’s initiative — they are worried it could actually negatively impact access to AIDS drugs.

Those groups have tried to reach the campaign with these concerns but had hit a brick wall. We asked Sanders to designate someone in his campaign to talk with these groups, and he agreed to this.

WE DID NOT ENDORSE AHF’S INITIATIVE.

His campaign should not have issued a press release implying this was a major topic of discussion at the meeting, and that there was general agreement on the Senator’s position on this. Anything but.

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Senate Democrats Growing Weary Over Bernie Sanders’ Trump Debate

Some Senate Democrats are groaning over Sen. Bernie Sanders recent attempt to debate presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in advance of the California primary on June 7th.

Via Politico:

“Bullshit,” said Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. “That confirms what we’ve been saying. Why would you expect Bernie should be considerate or be nice or be working to bring everyone together? Why? He’s not a Democrat.”

The party’s frustrations are boiling over with Sanders as the primary season winds down: Namely that Sanders seems unwilling or unable to admit that Hillary Clinton is on course for the nomination. The ire toward Sanders began earlier this year among the loudest Democratic cheerleaders for Clinton — and now it’s seeping into nearly the entire Senate Democratic caucus.

Lawmakers reacted with puzzlement, sarcasm and barely veiled anger as Sanders’ campaign and Trump himself played up an event that would exclude Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

“I don’t know why he would do that. I think it’s time to start to winding down the primary,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). “It’s time to move on.”

“It’s peculiar,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “It’s all about Bernie trying to get the advantage in California. It’s not going to work.”

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Bernie Sanders Accepts Donald Trump’s Offer To Debate

During an appearance by Donald Trump on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, the subject of a final Democratic debate came up.

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign wants a one more debate with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before the June 7th California primary. Clinton has declined.

So, Sanders sent a message via Kimmel to invite the Trumpster to a one-on-one debate before the California primary.

The Donald’s answer? “Yes.”

“If he paid a sum toward charity I would love to do that,” Trump said. “If I debated him, we would have such high ratings and I think I should take that money and give it to some worthy charity.”

Sanders immediately tweeted that he accepted the invitation, and today his campaign peeps are looking into moving ahead with trying to make it happen.

From The Hill:

Bernie Sanders’s campaign manager says “back-channel conversations” are underway with Donald Trump’s staff about setting up a bipartisan debate between the two presidential candidates.

“I think it would benefit voters from across the country and I have to believe it would be one of the most-watched debates in presidential politics,” Jeff Weaver said Thursday on MSNBC.

“Let’s see if he has the courage to go one-on-one with Bernie Sanders,” he added.

The Sanders campaign is seeking to ramp up pressure on Trump to follow through on his Wednesday night remarks to late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel.

“The senator wants to do it,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told The Hill. “We’ll see if Trump meant what he said.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

A Trump official earlier Thursday characterized the mogul’s remarks as “tongue-in-cheek.”

It’s not clear to me if the DNC might have an issue with such a debate between candidates of the two parties when the Democratic candidate hasn’t been officially chosen yet.

Update: Donald Trump told reporters today he would be willing to debate Sanders for $10 million for charity.