Bernie Sanders, at least in the past, would have accepted Super Pac Money

[boston bean]

I guess he is the practical sort of guy...

But in a sign of the times, even Sanders says he couldn’t rule out accepting help from a super PAC if push came to shove. In an interview in his Burlington office earlier this week, Vermont’s junior senator told Fair Game that if faced with a super-PAC-financed opponent this fall, a Sanders-supported super PAC is “something we would look at. But I hope we’re not going to have to.”

Sanders is up for reelection in November. So far, he’s running unopposed. But he’s amassed a war chest of close to $4 million, he says, in the event a well-financed challenger emerges.

“There is no member of the United States Senate that Wall Street, the oil companies, the coal companies, the military-industrial complex would like to defeat more than me,” Sanders says, before adding, “I think it’s not going to happen. So I think that’s kind of a hypothetical question that I’m not going to have to deal with. But we can chat about it if, six months from now, many, many millions of dollars are coming in attacking me.”

Sanders says he and other anti-super-PAC politicians face the same dilemma as Obama.

snip....

“What [Obama] is saying is, ‘Fine, I dislike the idea of a super PAC. But what do you really want me to do? You want me to allow billionaires and corporate leaders to spend huge sums of money against me and I don’t have the ability to respond?’” Sanders says. “You could say that holding up the correct moral position would generate a lot of public support. Politically it might be good for him. On the other hand, he will argue that he doesn’t want to be in a position where he’s outspent two or three to one.”

http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-bernie-sanders-super-pac/Content?oid=2183600

[OKNancy]

1. Smart man. You can't move your agenda if you don't win

and you can't win if faced with an onslaught of Republican PAC money.

[boston bean]

2. He is willing to sell out his principles... but will his supporters forgive him?

He is in quite a quandary with this.

I love Bernie Sanders... but he is not the most perfect candidate either. No candidate is.

I wish his supporters luck with their quest. It will be interesting to see if this bothers any of them...

[merrily]

15. "We discuss issues. They discuss us."

[boston bean]

16. Discussing Bernie Sanders and his record is discussing the issues.

[merrily]

17. Yes, but discussing his supporters is not.

[boston bean]

18. Discussing how is supporters may respond to this is off limits?

Ok, if you say so.....

[merrily]

21. That's not what I said. I repeated an observation. I did not make a prohibition, nor could I.

[think]

3. Let me know when he takes millions in income for giving speeches to Wallstreet banksters

that were at the heart of America's economic meltdown.

Banks that took worthless mortgages, bundled them, and sold them as AAA investments while on the other side betting against those same worthless investments.

How would a candidate that takes that kind of money be in any position to make sure those entities don't screw Americans again?

Why are these banks still allowed to exist if they practice such deceitful and immoral behavior?

What candidate in good faith could take millions in income and millions in donations from those banks that acted in such unscrupulous ways?

[boston bean]

4. I guess Bernie Sanders thought he could, if needed.

Do you disagree that he could?

[think]

6. Let's discuss who actually does and did rather than speculate and play games shall we?

[boston bean]

7. When he himself states he would if needed, and then his criticisms of those who do,

it becomes newsworthy and fairgame....

[think]

9. Hillary has taken millions in donations AND income from the banksters. Bernie has not.

Bernie is working to get these entities under control but here you play games with possible scenarios that don't exist.

HAVE FUN with that.

[Sherman A1]

11. One might also ask

what legislation each introduced or supported to promote both campaign reform and or financial reform while in the Senate?

Granted bills do not always become law, yet making efforts at reform seems to me to be a place to make judgements about how candidates view issues and the importance of those issues to them.

[think]

14. That is most certainly worth asking. What legislation have the two candidates introduced to

support campaign and finance reform? (Stated rhetorically. Not as a direct question to the you. Sorry.)

[Vinca]

8. Hillary has been talking campaign finance reform, but I don't see her rejecting $$$$.

It's billion dollar politics and Bernie is the poor church mouse. If it takes super PAC money for him to have a chance, I say take it.

[MannyGoldstein]

10. And there are pictures of him masticating.

Right on the Internet.

BTW, you and I have a different understanding of the phrase "look at".

[geek tragedy]

12. This makes me more confident in him.

That he's not someone willing to lose over maintaining purity points.

[think]

13. Still equating all super pac money as equal to what Goldman Sachs did is ludicrous at best.

There are degrees of corporate influence and malfeasance....

[cherokeeprogressive]

19. "would have" are weasel words meaning I have no fucking clue.

[Bonobo]

20. Do you think you could be any more bratter?

I mean, to me, a brat is someone that acts out and stamps their feet.

Do you think you are being mature?