BradCast on Hillary Clinton's Dark Money Attack on Bernie Sanders

[portlander23]

Smearing Bernie: 'BradCast' 9/18/2015

After a week talking (mostly) about sleazy Republicans, we switch to sleazy Democrats today for a bit on The BradCast.

"There's no chance that it's not coordinated," progressive blogger Howie Klein tells me, while admitting he has no hard evidence. "They'll deny it. It's illegal. If they admitted it, they would all go to jail. But the Clinton campaign, just like the Republican campaigns of Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz and Scott Walker --- they're all coordinating with their SuperPACs."

Also, we discuss the absurd fiction of these so-called "SuperPACs", the failure of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to do anything about blatant violations of campaign finance laws, and the remarkable hypocrisy of the DNC and the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) in the wake of the GOP's latest threat to shut down the government, this time over a pretend Planned Parenthood "controversy".

Video: Mrs. Clinton wouldn't have said the dishonest Sanders smear her Super PAC said on her behalf

[Thinkingabout]

1. So we go from a RW source to a Green Party source for our links?

[99th_Monkey]

3. BradBlog and Chris Hayes are not RW or Green

What are you talking about? oh -- kill the messenger -- got it.

[Thinkingabout]

4. Research it, bradblog thinks they are green

[99th_Monkey]

5. Oh, you mean those Greens who are busily re-registering as Democrats.

OK. yes. They're feeing the Bern, like many other voters who would NOT
be voting Democrat if it weren't for Bernie having the courage of his convictions,
and running a serious campaign for POTUS via a political revolution.

And you have a problem with that?

[Thinkingabout]

6. Revolution, huh.

[BradBlog]

25. WTF?...

...are you talking about? We are a NEWS source. Period.

But feel free to slime away. Seems you could use some practice at it.

[Ichingcarpenter]

28. Thanks BRAD for stepping into this pile

She will never respond to you or apologize its what
does when proven wrong so many times.

[Thinkingabout]

32. Did I ever respond to you in this manner, no, I have said what I said,

It does not deserve this attack.

[BradBlog]

33. You lied...

You pretended "research" revealed something it didn't.

You should apologize for being wrong and for making shit up.

You won't. But you should.

[Thinkingabout]

34. Here, read it for yourself

http://www.bradblog.com/?cat=407

[BradBlog]

35. Are you insane?

Thanks, but I don't need to "read it for (my)self". I wrote it! You are linking to our Green News Report page, which lists our 600+ radio features on environmental news from over the past 7 years.

You began this nonsense by charging in Comment #1 above, that we are a "Green Party source" (emphasis added). While there would be nothing wrong with that, of course, we are simply not that. You are completely and entirely wrong and, seemingly, too dumb or embarrassed to simply admit that and move on.

If you had apologized for the "mistake", I'd have forgiven you. But you'd rather dig in, for some bizarre reason.

Whatever. You've left a good "paper trail" here for why folks should NEVER take anything you have to say seriously ever again.

Best of luck!

[Thinkingabout]

43. Why are you getting so upset about the Gree News Report? Is it offensive to you?

And you have also left a paper trail, I did not believe it before and nothing said has changed my mind. Getting defensive and asking someone if they are insane, wow, nice paper trail.

[BradBlog]

46. I kinda don't like liars. You are one of them.

See ya.

[Thinkingabout]

47. I don't like liars, I think the same of you.

[beam me up scottie]

48. Okay that's enough. You made a false claim about his blog in your VERY FIRST POST:

Thinkingabout (16,306 posts)

1. So we go from a RW source to a Green Party source for our links?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=605155

You don't get to act all outraged when you started this and refused to apologize when you found out you were wrong.

[delrem]

8. I don't get it.

How can Chris Hayes possibly demonstrate more clearly that he's in the tank for Hillary, and is totally onside with Jennifer Granholm and David Brock? The guy used David Brock's exact words to PROMOTE David Brock's argument, and he went along entirely positively with Granholm's weird "yah, I'm a leading figure in these Hillary superpacs, just so this'll be the last election where sleazeball superpac politics plays a central role" argument.

Hayes could not possibly have been more onside with Hillary's campaign, in that segment.

[Thinkingabout]

9. The link was to bradblog, a green source.

[pinebox]

10. Oh scary

A Green source! Oh no.

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. bradblog is a du member twice as long as you

You don't know the great work he has done for your voting rights
he is an honored member of DU



http://www.democraticunderground.com/~BradBlog

[Thinkingabout]

18. Research found bradblog is a green source, this is a fact, there are RW members of DU also.

[marym625]

20. Wow.

Prove it. All of it. That is other than yourself.

[Thinkingabout]

21. here you go:

http://bradblog.com/?p=11363

[marym625]

22. Huh?

The Green News Report proves that the Brad blog is a green party source?

What about Chris Hayes? He's linked in the OP as well.

Where's your proof of all the right wing DUers?

[Thinkingabout]

23. I never said Chris Hayes was Green, don't put that one on me.

You wanted the proof, I provided it, I have said what I need to say.

[marym625]

24. you absolutely did not prove anything.

Par for the course

[BradBlog]

26. Seriously, dude?...

That's the Green News Report. As in, ENVIRONMENTAL News. A nationally syndicated, independent environmental news feature that we've been producing on radio twice a week for almost seven years. (See http://GreenNews.BradBlog.com)

Are you THAT daft?

No need to answer. You've done so already.

[Scootaloo]

27. "there are RW members of DU also."

(cough) Are they the ones trying to scare people away from anyone who has environmental news pieces on their blog? 'Cause that sounds like a winger thinger to me.

[Mnpaul]

30. Research found the word "green" on his site

what a lame excuse to avoid responding to the actual content of this post.

Enough renewables to power “every home in America”: Hillary Clinton goes big on green energy.
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/27/enough_renewables_to_power_every_home_in_america_hillary_clinton_goes_big_on_green_energy/

by your silly logic, Hillary is representing the Green party as well.

[Bradical79]

19. So?

I'm not understanding what the problem is.

[TM99]

29. Seriously?!

Brad Freidman is a highly respected progressive journalist/blogger. Democratic politicians love his work especially on election reform and transparency. He is one of the co-founders of the non-partisan Velvet Revolution US for pity's sake!

This is not high school. This is supposed to be somewhat intelligent political discussion on an adult forum.

Perhaps you need to go to a Disney forum or TigerBeat? You really don't belong here with the adults.

[sabrina 1]

37. So we attack the messenger and totally try to avoid the message? Didn't you know that

people ignore that tactic these days? Dark Money used to go after Bernie Sanders with a bunch of distortions and lies, by a Hillary Super Pac, run by that 'paragon of 'blinded by the Right' or was by 'money' virtue, David Brock is the topic of the OP.

Has Hillary condemned that yet btw? Defended Bernie from that attack as he has consistently defended her?

[99th_Monkey]

2. The FEC should Feel the Bern, and add an Independent to make 7 Commissioners -nt-

[davidpdx]

7. It's all a ruse to funnel campaign money

Of course the Clinton supporters are going to come and say that Granholm went on Chis Hayes without any prompting of her own.


She was bored and had nothing better to do, so she called up Hayes and said, "why don't I come on your show?". And of course her talking points were just her own words, nothing to with Hillary Clinton. She's just casually making observations as a former governor and Clinton supporter.

[KoKo]

12. Granholm resigns from pro-Clinton super PAC to Join David Brock's "Correct the Record"

Granholm resigns from pro-Clinton super PAC

By Kenneth P. Vogel

08/14/15, 01:30 PM EDT

Updated 08/14/15, 09:44 PM EDT

In yet another shakeup in Hillary Clinton’s orbit, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has resigned from her leadership position at the pro-Clinton advertising super PAC Priorities USA Action and joined a sometime-rival group: Correct the Record.

The move, announced in a series of tweets Friday afternoon, allows Granholm, a polished communicator who briefly hosted her own television show, to work more closely with Clinton’s campaign as a surrogate. And it potentially could pave the way for her to join the Clinton campaign or perhaps take a leadership post at the Democratic National Committee if Clinton wins her party’s nomination.

That’s because Correct the Record in June registered as a new type of political committee that can work with campaigns and party committees directly on research and messaging — but not big-money advertising. Priorities USA, on the other hand, is a super PAC that can raise unlimited sums for ads supporting Clinton or attacking her rivals, but is barred from coordinating advertising strategy directly with the campaign.

While the two groups fill complementary roles in the pro-Clinton big-money world, there is a tumultuous history between them.

Correct the Record founder David Brock, the conservative hitman-turned-Clinton enforcer, earlier this year abruptly resigned from the board of Priorities USA, accusing its officials of planting “an orchestrated political hit job” against other pro-Clinton groups run by Brock, American Bridge and Media Matters.

Brock later rejoined the board of Priorities USA, and the group recently formed a joint fundraising committee with Correct the Record.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/jennifer-granholm-resigns-from-pro-clinton-super-pac-121366

[KoKo]

13. Interesting Chris Hayes Producer picks Photo of Bernie sweating w/ handkerchief

while showing split screen Hillary's appearances. Granholm pretty much saying she has to do what she has to do as part of David Brock's "Correct the Record" but she hopes in the future she will never have to do it again if we can get a Supreme Court to overturn Citizens' United. She doesn't seem comfortable in her new job.

I think less of Granholm after seeing this and the hit job by Hayes and MSNBC.

MSNBC...Gone to the Dark Side in Partiality

[sabrina 1]

38. Do they really think we are stupid or something? So by her standards to way to stop a

crime, in this bribery, is to participate in it? I know we are probably not all geniuses but even a five year old would have a problem with that logic.

[KoKo]

42. Indeed...Even a Five-Year Old..would have a problem with that logic...

Logic went out the window decades ago...I'm beginning to think.

[Tom Rinaldo]

14. Jennifer is so good at what she does

I mean that sincerely. It's hard to do better as a spokesperson than she did there with the cards she had dealt her. I noticed in particular how deftly she pivoted at the end. Rather than comment on the future role that Super PACs like the one she is associated with which issued that Sanders/Chavez "linkage" talking point, she talked about the need to eliminate Super PACs from future elections. That is called a deflection, but it was so well played because it was a substantive deflection related to the question asked her that she chose not to directly answer. All Democrats should be glad that she is part of our overall team once primary season is over. But I would still prefer direct answers from our politicians.

[sabrina 1]

39. The problem with her attempt to 'rationalize' is the way for her to do what she says she wants to

do is to RESIGN for that Supser Pac expressing her disgust with the fact that it was funded and only legal BECAUSE of what she claims to abhor.

We are not so stupid as to see the ridiculousness of her triangulation. If you see a crime in motion, lies being told, the undermining of our electoral system the thing ti do is what Sanders is doing REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE!

Unbelievable that they actually think people don't see through her deception. How much is SHE taking for her 'work' with that despicable Super Pac?

[KoKo]

15. Here's what "BradCast" has to say:

BRAD CAST:
http://bradblog.com/?p=11366

After a week talking (mostly) about sleazy Republicans, we switch to sleazy Democrats today for a bit on The BradCast.

I'm joined by great progressive blogger Howie Klein of DownWithTyranny.com, who is also co-founder of the Blue America PAC, to discuss the recent smear of Bernie Sanders by a Hillary Clinton-supporting Super PAC, which is not supposed to be coordinating with the Clinton campaign or vice versa. But are they?

"There's no chance that it's not coordinated," Klein tells me, while admitting he has no hard evidence. "They'll deny it. It's illegal. If they admitted it, they would all go to jail. But the Clinton campaign, just like the Republican campaigns of Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz and Scott Walker --- they're all coordinating with their SuperPACs."

Klein details his assertions and his thoughts on the $1.2 million raised by Sanders in response to the smear, in the 48 hours after it!

Also, we discuss the absurd fiction of these so-called "SuperPACs", the failure of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to do anything about blatant violations of campaign finance laws, and the remarkable hypocrisy of the DNC and the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) in the wake of the GOP's latest threat to shut down the government, this time over a pretend Planned Parenthood "controversy".

http://bradblog.com/?p=11366

[portlander23]

16. Through the looking glass

It seems like this keeps getting worse. The Tilman act made it illegal for corporations to contribute money to politicians, and it was illegal to bribe politicians. Through a collection of truly awful Supreme Court decisions that created doctrines of corporate personhood and money as speech we have today's situation. It's disturbing that we've accepted Super PACs as a part of American elections. It's even more disturbing that Republicans and Mrs. Clinton have officially dropped the pretense of not coordinating with these groups.

This particular instance of Mrs. Clinton attacking Mr. Sanders is particularly egregious because not only does it embrace Super PACs, the substance of the attack was completely unsubstantiated. This is GOP style smear tactics and she should be ashamed.

The only upside beyond Mr. Sanders raising over a million dollars in response, is that regardless of what Mrs. Clinton or the media claim, the Clinton campaign is very worried about Mr. Sanders.

[KoKo]

17. ...!

[RBInMaine]

31. THIS IS CRAZY PROPAGANDA. Hillary is NOT attacking Bernie. Enough of this SHIT!

[NCTraveler]

36. Pull up the soundtrack from the Twilight Zone.

"blogger Howie Klein tells me, while admitting he has no hard evidence."

[sabrina 1]

40. Did Hillary condemn that vile attack by one of this country's most vile human beings yet?

I know O'Malley distanced himself from a Super Pac in his name that also attacked Bernie Sanders, rendering it useless. By not condemning it, that is all the evidence we need. That old saying 'Silence is Consent' is a wise saying and based on centuries of observation by some pretty smart people.

[portlander23]

41. Sorta

Mrs. Clinton and her surrogates have kinda sorta apologized for smears like this:

Mediaite: Hillary Clinton Surrogate Sorta Answers for Obama ‘Muslim Garb’ Photo

Hillary Clinton Has 'No Interest' In Running Negative Ads Against Bernie Sanders

I think that's as close as we're gonna get.

[Capn Sunshine]

45. please tell me who you are calling vile?

just to clear things up? I'm kinda lost here.

[Capn Sunshine]

44. That's pretty weak , all right

It's not a lot different than DU, where what is desired often becomes what is true. On the same post