While Bernie Sanders attacked Amazon, his campaign quietly spent $139,000 on the site.

[Princetonian]

"Do as I say not as I do" appears be the motto for the Sanders campaign. How can we take Bernie's criticism of Amazon seriously after this?

Some of Amazon's harshest critics are spending tens of thousands of dollars on the e-commerce site, according to campaign finance data... Sanders' campaign has spent $139,000... according to an analysis of federal campaign finance data by the Center for Public Integrity.

Sanders' campaign told the Center for Public Integrity: "Senator Sanders has not flinched in taking on Amazon and other large corporate monopolies, and he will continue to take them on when he's in the White House."

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-sanders-and-warren-campaigns-spend-big-on-amazon-2019-8

Talk is cheap but not as cheap as Amazon office supplies!

[Autumn]

1. I use Amazon all the time. And I'm good with him going after them and hope he keeps it up.

“We know that the median salary for Amazon employees is about $28,000,” the Senator told TechCrunch. “And about half the workers who work for Amazon make less than $28,000 a year.”

It’s easy to see why the company has become a prime target for Sanders. A recent SEC filing put the median salary at $28,446 — less than owner Jeff Bezos makes every 10 seconds.

“We have every reason to believe that many, many thousands of Amazon workers in their warehouses throughout the country are earning very low wages,” Sanders explained. “It’s hard to get this information. Amazon has not been very forthcoming. From what information we’ve gathered, one out of three Amazon workers in Arizona, as we understand it, are on public assistance. They are receiving either Medicaid, food stamps or public housing.”

The Senator acknowledges that nothing about what Amazon is doing, on the face of it, is breaking any laws. But the discrepancy between its highest and lowest wage earners is enough for him to call into question why government subsidies are required to buoy those on the bottom rung. This is precisely what the proposed legislation aims to address.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/28/bernie-sanders-problem-with-amazon/

[Princetonian]

3. Of course you are, Autumn. Has Steyer qualified for the September debate yet?

[Autumn]

8. What does Steyer have to do with this? Did you post your article to generate a discussion?

If so you may want to discuss it. Or not. It's really up to you. We are talking about a huge corporation, Amazon that millions of people use daily and the owner makes $28,446 every 10 seconds, more than his employees make in a year? And many of those employees are on public assistance. I think that's wrong. Don't you?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. Yep. And Bernie never called for a boycott.

So “do as I say not as I do” is false made up bullshit.

Bernie shamed them in to paying their employees more. And it worked.

[Autumn]

22. Nope he never did call for a boycott. I find boycotts don't make a difference.

But a Senator can. He uses Amazon, he's not supporting Amazon.

[SouthernProgressive]

25. Yep. Sanders is leading the way showing it's a good company to support.

Excellent point. Sanders never said to boycott them. His actions show they are a corporation worth using. The excellence of the WaPo is just icing on the cake. It's all political bluster.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

45. Wait. What did you say?

[George II]

54. BS didn't shame them into doing anything. He does like to take credit for it, though. Too bad.....

....he isn't doing what Amazon is doing, paying his OWN workers $15 per hour.

[Crowman2009]

6. I only use Amazon when I have to.

Especially when something that I'm looking for is not available at any store, or the stores which have the more common stuff I use to find are out of business.

[Autumn]

9. I'm in a rural area and it's a long drive into town. To go to different stores looking for what

I want or need is not practical.

[SouthernProgressive]

7. I'm glad to hear about all of the support for Amazon.

Good job using them. I do as well. The WP does great work and it all helps in the end.

[Autumn]

46. Odd that you find my post to be supportive for Amazon when I clearly stated why I use them and

why I don't support them. I don't bother with the WP.

[George II]

2. He also sells his books, campaign t-shirts, mugs, etc. on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bernie+sanders&crid=3UVE4SFC2EINH&sprefix=bern%2Caps%2C141&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_6_4

[Princetonian]

4. So Bernie profits off of one of those "large corporate monopolies" while viciously denouncing them?!

Hmmm.... there's a word for that.... now, what is it??? Give me a moment while I

[George II]

10. Yep. He also sells his books via Walmart, too:

https://www.walmart.com/search/?cat_id=0&query=bernie+sanders

[Princetonian]

24. Bernie sure "has not flinched" from making $$$ "on Amazon and other large corporate monopolies"!!

Huh.

Sanders' campaign told the Center for Public Integrity: "Senator Sanders has not flinched in taking on Amazon and other large corporate monopolies, and he will continue to take them on when he's in the White House."

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-sanders-and-warren-campaigns-spend-big-on-amazon-2019-8

Yeah right.

"... and he will continue to take them on when he's in the White House."

Does this mean Bernie will continue eating $195 $teak$ and doing bu$ine$$ with Amazon and Walmart "when he in the White House"? Voters want to know!

[qazplm135]

33. you realize that's kind of the opposite of that word you are looking for right?

Bernie is even lower on my list than Biden is, but using a company and then denouncing them for not paying enough taxes is not hypocritical.

He didn't say we should boycott them, and he hasn't advocated that they no longer exists.

He has gone after them for some of their worker policies and the fact that they often pay no taxes.

This is a weak diary.

[Autumn]

14. Nice! There are tees for almost all the candidates. Silk Road Tees is a Brooklyn company.

[Me.]

27. Is Anyone Truly Surprised?

Seriously, you'll never see that finger of his pointing in his direction while he uses private planes, pays for high power lunches (what was the price tag for that meal...$1000.?) and all the other perks and practices that are just for him not for us. All we get is a cheap meal of his constant whining and whinges.

[Eliot Rosewater]

53. I cant wait for the day when we never have to talk about two certain people ever again, rump

is one of them.

We could accomplish SO much if we had DEMOCRATS in power, completely. People with TRACK records of getting shit done.

THEN and only then we can watch the R party die as it should and a new further LEFT party appear and then we can argue democratic socialism as in how much of it we want instead of arguing now with fascist traitors i.e. GOP.

[SouthernProgressive]

5. $195 Beef Florentine. Mmmmm

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287239508

He is spreading the small dollar donations around.

[George II]

11. He says in his emails that his average contribution this time around is $19, so....

....that's about 10 contributions plus tax and tip.

[R B Garr]

12. $90 pork chops! Wow. I wonder if we'll see the same outrage

exhibited over other candidates catering menus.

[SouthernProgressive]

15. That menu looks amazing.

You just have to become a best selling author.

[R B Garr]

17. Absolutely! That's some high living right there. nt

[George II]

20. You should have seen the menu on that flight to the Vatican a few years ago.

[SouthernProgressive]

23. Are you referencing the trip that he brought nine of his family members on...

The day after taking a drumming in a debate?

[Princetonian]

26. Mmm... I am a foodie like Bernie only I don't have $mall donor$ paying my way.

[Me.]

28. Wasn't There Lobster

and a very fine white wine?

[George II]

31. Here's the menu on that $800,000 flight:

[lunamagica]

35. Who paid for all that?

[George II]

37. To be honest, I don't know. Originally it was charged to the campaign, but the FEC....

....declared that expense impermissible.

[lunamagica]

38. Hummmm...interesting...

[Me.]

39. An $800,000. Flight For A PR Stunt

Still blows my mind. I see it was crab for the "settling in"...unbelievable waste of hard-earned donator's money as was that Hollywood pretentious lunch.

[Princetonian]

60. I am still shocked this really happened. Very disappointed in Bernie.

Do you think all of his small donors know how their money is being spent?

I think HuffPo says Bernie has hauled in more money thus far than any other candidate in the article I posted excerpts of as an OP: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287242447

Bernie needs money for lobster, folks!!!

[Me.]

63. I Don't Know

his people are really keyed into the campaign for the most part but maybe, just like with the traitor in the WH, they know and don't care.

[Princetonian]

13. Hmm...how many hours at $15/hour go into a $195 Beef Florentine?

Bernie should make that a topic filler in his next chat with Cardi B. He could inspire his supporters: "You too can eat like me but you'll have to work 13 hours or 1 and 0.6 workdays to eat what I had last week. Thank you, small donors!"

Iowans might also be interested in Bernie'$ dedication to the ga$tronomic a$pect$ of his "permanent revolution".

to Me.

[SouthernProgressive]

18. This is a work of art.

“dedication to the ga$tronomic a$pect$ of his "permanent revolution"

[Princetonian]

19. Hehe...

Thanks for the tip, Southern Progressive!

[George II]

36. Forget hours at $15/hour, how many $19-$27 contributions is that. Plus the campaign....

....paid for the dinners of the other millionaires who were at that dinner.

[Princetonian]

44. Whaaaaat? "the campaign paid for the dinners of other millionaires who were at that dinner"?

I didn't know he gave fundraisers to get $$ from other millionaires.

How many times have I heard Bernie rail against the influence of "millionaires and billionaires" to say he is only powered by small donors? How many emails have I gotten from Bernie that denounce the influence of money from millionaires and billionaires when exhorting his mailing list of small donors to give him more donations?

Wow. Am I naive or what?

[George II]

47. It was actually a lunch in Hollywood, not a dinner.

(pay site) https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/08/bernie-sanders-playbook-for-winning-the-black-vote

Two weeks before he would appear at the Iowa State Fair, surrounded by a sea of whiteness, Bernie Sanders was at the Italian restaurant Chi Spacca, in Hollywood, trying to shore up another key constituency. The presidential candidate, who remains a serious contender for the Democratic nomination despite having slipped in the polls, was having lunch with 25 or so creatives—writers, musicians, artists and social-media mavens, most of whom were African American or Latino.

....he was at Chi Spacca, where the tomahawk pork chop runs $90, and the beef Florentine is $195. Sanders ordered steak.

The campaign picked up the tab.

[Princetonian]

56. Same difference, I suppose. The philosophical chicanery behind such a move is sad for me to know.

Bernie has always railed against taking money from "millionaires and billionaires" and boasted of his small donor base as the antidote to such money in politics but he doesn't mind wining and dining said "millionaires and billionaires" on his small donors' dime to get campaign donations from them?

The scales have fallen from my eyes. Sigh.

[George II]

57. Figure an average tab of $150 for each of the 25 attendees, with tax and tip that's roughly $4700...

....the equivalent of 245 contributions of $19 each.

[Princetonian]

58. I recall paying $150 for each of my wedding guests. No $195 steak or $90 pork chops either.

Perhaps 245 small donations with an average of $19 each, eh?

Not a good look, Bernie!!

Hmmm.... lemme see:

open bar with high-quality liquor good enough for those millionaires and billionaires to get tipsy enough to write bigger checks than when they are sober;

exquisite appetizers (no pigs in a blanket);

delicate confections and desserts (no Hershey's Kisses or chocolate pudding w/Cool Whip topping).

This OP makes me hungry. Too bad I don't have any small donors.

[George II]

64. I was being conservative, and didn't include anything for alcohol since it was a lunch meeting....

...with drinks and desserts, this could have been over $10K.

[Me.]

40. That Would Be 13

or 1 and .6 workday

[Princetonian]

41. Thanks for the correction, Me.

I'll update my post now.

[Autumn]

48. Mmmmm Roasted.

[R B Garr]

16. Corporations!

Such double standards, again.

[ExciteBike66]

29. Bernie attacked capitalism while buying stuff from capitalists? The hooooorrrroorrororor!

[bluedigger]

30. Biden complains about Amazon and spends campaign funds there as well.

I guess it's okay if it's just a little hypocritical.

[Voltaire2]

32. The difference is that Biden doesn't threaten

the established order, so it’s ok.

[Cha]

62. Whatabout!

[lunamagica]

34. Hypocrite

[Buzz cook]

42. Al Gore has a big house

What a hypocrite. Hillary Clinton talked to Richard Mellon Scaife, what a hypocrite. Barack Obama opposed military intervention in Iraq, but became commander in chief, what a hypocrite.

This is a sad copy of a right wing talking point. If person A supports position X but doesn't also Y, they are a hypocrite.
Usually position X is straw maned as in the OP.

[Cha]

61. You have a deflection.

[Buzz cook]

65. Define that

Put in the form of an argument.

[Cha]

67. No.

[NYMinute]

43. Trumpian hypocrisy

Not cool.

[lapucelle]

52. And there's this from a VT newspaper.

Link to tweet

[jg10003]

49. I am a hypocrite because:

I support a $15 minimum wage but I still eat at McDonald's.

I believe that migrant workers are exploited but I still eat fruits and vegetables.

I oppose nuclear energy but I still pay my electric bill.

I think the income gap is a real problem, but I enjoy a night on the town occasionally.

The energy crisis is real, but I am not turning off my air conditioner (I live in South Florida).

I will vote for whoever will be the most forceful advocate for progressive policies regardless of what he/she has for lunch, how they travel, where they buy their office supplies, or how many books they sell.

[LAS14]

50. Well stated. It's ridiculous to expect people to become...

... hermits in the desert to prove their sincerity in attacking society's ills.

[LongtimeAZDem]

59. If you were running for President of the United States, we would hold you to a higher standard

[nini]

66. Especially if you spend money at your political target

There are other places to spend that money.

[democratisphere]

51. What was that about millionaires and billionaires?

Nothing like supporting them with $139,000.00 worth of business.

[msongs]

55. how do rich people get richer? get someone else to pay for their meals nt