Ex- Clinton Staffers Slam Sanders Over Private Jets

[DonViejo]

February 25, 2019 at 6:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard

“In his campaign launch video last week, Bernie Sanders singled out the fossil fuel industry for criticism, listing it among the special interests he planned to take on. But in the final months of the 2016 campaign, Sanders repeatedly requested and received the use of a carbon-spewing private jet for himself and his traveling staff when he served as a surrogate campaigner for Hillary Clinton,” Politico reports.

“In 2016, after Sanders endorsed Clinton and agreed to campaign on her behalf, the Sanders campaign’s preferred mode of travel quickly emerged as a point of tension, according to six former Clinton campaign staffers and another source familiar with the travel. … The senator ended up flying private on three separate multi-day trips in the last two months of the campaign. Sanders’ flights — usually on a Gulfstream plane — cost the Clinton-Kaine campaign at least $100,000 in total, according to three people familiar with the cost of the air travel.”

###

https://politicalwire.com/2019/02/25/ex-clinton-staffers-slam-sanders-over-private-jets/

[Yosemito]

1. He speaks against fossil fuels

He’s traveling patterns are inconsistent with his position.

[honest.abe]

2. Do as I say.. not as a I do.

[NurseJackie]

3. I suspect that many people will reject politicians with that philosophy.

Do as I say.. not as a I do.

I suspect that many people will reject politicians with that philosophy. And they would be correct in doing so. I can't say that I'd blame them.

[irresistable]

7. He should have campaigned in a covered wagon for those " three separate multi-day trips" for Hillary

[NurseJackie]

18. If only.

[workinclasszero]

24. IKR?

Like all these other hypocrite candidates ragging on Bernie were on horse back throughout the campaign in 2016! LOLOLOLOLOL!

What petty horseshit!

Is that all you got on Bernie folks?

[Power 2 the People]

46. +1000

[thesquanderer]

35. So would your vote be affected by how fuel efficient Kamala Harris' car is? Or...

...whether she has put solar panels on her roof?

[thesquanderer]

48. I was asking a supporter of Kamala Harris. But...

...Sander's "whole platform" wasn't based on climate change... if you had to pick one thing, I'd say it was based on structural economic inequality.

As for the rest, calling a candidate for the Dem nomination a "trump level hypocrite" sounds like it breaks the TOS. And what is with your last two sentences? Not my job. I wasn't accusing Harris of anything. My point was about how easy I think it is to find something "inexcusable" when it's not your own candidate.

[NurseJackie]

40. She doesn't live in a glass-house.

[cwydro]

79. Bingo. nt

[namahage]

78. Oh, there's a large group of people who support politicians with that philosophy.

They tend to be called Republicans.

[bobGandolf]

86. Don't they all say that? nt

[crazytown]

4. The same was said of Al Gore.

Cheap Hit.

[irresistable]

5. What a disgusting attack.

" three separate multi-day trips" and they think that Bernie should have flown coach.

[crazytown]

8. "Al Gore Busted About Private Jet Use"

https://dcstatesman.com/al-gore-busted-private-jet-use/

RW shit.

[irresistable]

11. Pretty low for Democrats to use that kind of attack.

You have to become Amish, or you are a hypocrite.

[WordsMatter]

12. +1

[workinclasszero]

28. No shit

Boy some people must be scared out of their minds to stoop to garbage like this!

Pathetic....

[MrsCoffee]

13. No. They think he is a hypocrite.

[irresistable]

15. Hillary cares about climate change, too. She flew exclusively on private jets.

That doesn't make her a hypocrite, either.

[MrsCoffee]

19. No it doesn't.

But I seem to remember #SandersOnAPlane being part of his rallying against the 1%.

[NurseJackie]

47. You are correct. It's the hypocrisy of it all.

[secondwind]

55. I think that Bernievdid his best to help Hillary.

He wanted to get where he was going as fast as possible, despite his position on fossil fuels. The home stretch is usually a little chaotic and frantic.

Just my two cents.

[whathehell]

27. Yep, people in glass houses, and all..

[workinclasszero]

31. Bingo!

But that's okay for some reason.

It's only bad when Bernie did it.

He must travel the country on horseback or it's bad, reeeeal baaaaadddd!!!!!

[Tom Rinaldo]

52. Sure he could have flown commercial, and likely had to make fewer appearances for Hillary

There is a reason why candidates in the midst of back to back to back appearances fly on private planes. Hillary did the same.

[LongtimeAZDem]

6. My problem with this has nothing to do with fossile fuels

He said he'd do everything he could to help stop Trump, but, apparently, only if he was treated like a rock star.

[Shemp Howard]

9. Three trips! Oh, no!

This sure makes Bernie look bad. Especially since every other candidate hops a freight train to go places. And I wonder what the next great Bernie exposé will be. Maybe he once forgot to cover his mouth while coughing. Thus showing he has no concern for the public's health.

[lapucelle]

14. ...

Last edited Mon Feb 25, 2019, 12:39 PM - Edit history (1)

https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2016/04/17/bernie-sanders-served-dinner-charted-delta-767-meet-pope/

https://vtdigger.org/2016/06/17/as-sanders-campaign-took-off-so-did-spending-on-chartered-jets/

https://theweek.com/articles/619088/bernie-sanders-awkward-vatican-junket

o

[crazytown]

17. Medium links don't work.

None of them. Don’t know why.

[melman]

30. Nothing to see there anyway

Just rehashed garbage from three years ago.

[ehrnst]

42. Here you go:

https://medium.com/KevinDarryl/bernie-sanders-illegally-used-campaign-funds-for-trip-to-italy-fec-filings-fd4a72bb7849

[whathehell]

29. For God's sake, he was staying at Motel 6!

You can't get much more 'thrifty' than that.

[workinclasszero]

34. "Especially since every other candidate hops a freight train to go places."

Boy desperation is thick in the air here at DU this morning isn't it? Whats up?

Could it be this maybe:

Link to tweet

[dchill]

10. I'm sorry, what?

[Nanjeanne]

16. Oh like when he was campaigning in a number

of places for Clinton in Wisconsin and Michigan.

[MrsCoffee]

21. He requested a plane and staff.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2997841-End-Game-2016.html

I don’t see anything wrong with that.

[Nanjeanne]

43. Me either

[Voltaire2]

72. Where it turned out more campaigning

was desperately needed.

[disillusioned73]

20. Huh..

Such a right wing talking point... not even worth the time addressing..

[Gothmog]

22. Ex-Clinton staffers are slamming Bernie Sanders over private jet flights

Link to tweet

[workinclasszero]

36. Ex-Clinton staffers....

Wow that is a low blow from the people I supported 1000% in 2016.

Bernie just put out a message to be respectable to others in the democratic race and this is the thanks he gets!

Wow! RW GOP talking points from OUR side!

[Gothmog]

60. I hate to break it to you but Clinton staffers/supporters are not happy with sanders

sanders did as little as possible to help Clinton against trump. sanders endorsement speech was all about himself as was his speech at the convention. I was there when the sanders delegates booed Congressman John Lewis. I was warned about this stunt 20 to 30 minutes before it happened by the Clinton campaign whip. According to my whip, sanders was asked to stop this stunt and declined.

I was at the Texas delegation breakfast when a group of sanders delegates marched in and demanded that we condemn Clinton and change our votes to sanders.

sanders spoke to the Texas delegation the next morning and his speech was again solely about himself. There was a mini-riot due to his delegates the prior morning and the only thing that sanders talked about was himself. sanders did nothing to deal with the fact that his delegates were out of control.

Finally a group of sanders delegates yelled at my daughter and called her the c-word because she would not try to get me to change my vote. Again sanders was asked to tell his delegates to behave during the convention and sanders refused

Many democrats do not believe that sanders really tried to help Clinton. Many democrats blame sanders for helping trump win Sanders clearly took a large number of actions that were designed to hurt the party and help trump.

I am still in contact with my whip and other Clinton staffer types. There are some real hard feelings about sanders among Clinton staffers. From the Politico article
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/25/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-private-jet-flights-1182793

But he also faces another hurdle: hard feelings that remain to this day after the contentious 2016 Democratic primary. Many in the party continue to believe the Vermont senator played a role in contributing to Clinton’s defeat in November because of his criticisms of her prior to the general election, and his refusal to concede earlier when it appeared he had little mathematical chance of securing the party nomination.

And they are eager to point out Sanders’ flaws and examples of what they perceive to be examples of hypocrisy now that the one-time underdog rates as one of the front-runners in the crowded Democratic field......

The travel details weren’t the only point of tension with Sanders. At his rallies for Clinton, Sanders sometimes only wanted people who had endorsed him in the primaries to speak when he would appear, a request which frustrated the Clinton campaign, according to a former Clinton staffer and another person familiar with the matter.

“Sure you can have your supporters there, but you can’t exclude the congressman who endorsed Hillary Clinton in the city you are going to,” said the former staffer. “You’re campaigning for us. That was always a battle every single time.”

I am willing to predict that there will be some fun ads coming out about the booing of Congressman John Lewis at the national convention. My whip was working for the DNC during the midterms but I suspect that he would be available for some ads if asked.

[workinclasszero]

61. Oh and no one in Hillary's camp did anything bad

to Bernie right?

So how long are we gonna fight over the 2016 campaign anyway?

Long enough to insure a victory for fu**ing Trump and the damn GOP?

[Gothmog]

62. sanders is the reason why trump won in 2016 and we do not want to see a 2020 repeat

sanders supporters helped to elect trump in 2016 and now we are being threatened again http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-trump-2016-election-654320

Bernie Sanders supporters switched their allegiance to Donald Trump in large enough numbers last November to sway the election for the real estate billionaire, according to an analysis of voter data released Tuesday by the blog Political Wire. Since Trump’s shock victory over Hillary Clinton, much discussion has focused on the degree to which passionate Sanders supporters’ refusal to embrace Clinton led to the Republican winding up in the White House.

Here is some more https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/24/16194086/bernie-trump-voters-study

About 12 percent of Bernie Sanders supporters from the Democratic primary crossed party lines and voted for Donald Trump in the general election, a new analysis says.

In several key states — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan — the number of Sanders to Trump defectors were greater than Trump’s margin of victory, according to new numbers released Wednesday by UMass professor Brian Schaffner.

Link to tweet

There are a large number of real democrats with long memories. We do not forgive or forget.

[workinclasszero]

63. But you forgave the PUMA's right?

SMH

[Gothmog]

64. The PUMAs did not keep President Obama from winning in 2008

I was an Obama supporter in 2008 and worked on his voter protection team both in 2008 and 2012. You do not want to compare how Hillary Clinton handled 2008 vs. what sanders did in 2016. Clinton worked hard to help elect President Obama and sanders only gave speeches where he only talked about himself. I was in the Texas delegation to the National Convention and heard sanders speak to our delegation after his delegates caused a near riot. As is normal, sanders only talked about himself.

The facts show that Clinton helped Obama win in 2008. The same cannot be said about sanders and 2016

Do not be surprised to find out that a large number of real democrats have long memories. I will support the nominee of the party but I will work hard to make sure that someone other than sanders is the nominee. There are a large number of real hard core democrats who have long memories and we will not forgive or forget.

[workinclasszero]

66. "real democrats"

What was that warning the other day about Russia sowing division into the democratic party?

Possible Foreign Disinformation Campaign Against 2020 Dem Candidates Already Under Way: Politico

A disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 presidential candidates has already begun, Politico reports, and there are signs that foreign state actors are behind some of the attacks. Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, and Sen. Bernie Sanders are reportedly the four candidates taking the brunt of the social-media attacks so far. The campaign is made up of memes, hashtags, misinformation, and distortions aimed at undermining their campaigns in their earliest stages.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/possible-foreign-disinformation-campaign-against-2020-dem-candidates-already-under-way-politico

[Gothmog]

69. sander was the beneficiary of these efforts in 2016

Putin and Russia flooded sites like JPR and other sanders sites with fake news to hurt Clinton https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-fake-news-russia_us_58c34d97e4b0ed71826cdb36

Last June, John Mattes started noticing something coursing like a virus through the Facebook page he helped administer for Bernie Sanders fans in San Diego. People with no apparent ties to California were friending the page and sharing links from unfamiliar sites full of anti-Hillary Clinton propaganda.

The stories they posted weren’t the normal complaints he was used to seeing as the Vermont senator and the former secretary of state fought out the Democratic presidential primary. These stories alleged that Clinton had murdered her political opponents and used body doubles.

Mattes, 66, had been a television reporter and Senate investigator in previous lives. He put his expertise in unmasking fraudsters to work. At first, he suspected that the sites were created by the old Clinton haters from the ‘90s ― what Hillary Clinton had dubbed “the vast right-wing conspiracy.”

But when Mattes started tracking down the sites’ domain registrations, the trail led to Macedonia and Albania. In mid-September, he emailed a few of his private investigator friends with a list of the sites. “Very creepy and i do not think Koch brothers,” he wrote.

At one point, JPR had a half dozen threads on the greatest page of that website pushing the pizzagate story. After being laughed at on DU, the JPR site eventually ban pizzagate stories which were replaced by numerous other stories from Russia including some claiming that Clinton was dying

See also Russia Duped Bernie Fans via Facebook, San Diego Dems Toldhttps://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2017/03/23/russia-duped-bernie-fans-via-facebook-san-diego-dems-told/

Oliver Mitov was dispatched by the Kremlin to get Bernie Sanders fans to vote third-party in the November election, write in the Democratic primary loser for president — or not vote at all.

John Mattes speaks to San Diego Democrats for Equality, the the predominantly gay club in Hillcrest. Photo by Ken Stone
But investigative journalist John Mattes, describing how fake stories on Facebook helped defeat Hillary Clinton, isn’t sure who Mitov is.

“He may be a bot. He may be a person [or four]. He may be living in Macedonia, laughing,” Mattes told a rapt audience of 90 Thursday night in Hillcrest.
But Mitov’s thousands of posts — and similar ones from Albania and elsewhere — duped just enough of the 13 million Sanders supporters to hand the election to Donald Trump and prove Russia could hack American democracy, said the 66-year-old resident of Pacific Beach.
A major Sanders organizer in Southern California himself, Mattes admitted that “we were played.”

Again, Mueller has documented the support that Russia gave to Sanders. I trust Mueller on this.

Again, many voters will want to know why Putin and Russia put some much effort into promoting sanders if sanders runs again. If sanders runs in 2020 he will need to provide a better answer to this question than he has so far sanders will be asked about this in the debates

[Gothmog]

76. Why did Putin support sanders?

Link to tweet

?s=20

[AncientGeezer]

67. You left a VERY important paragraph in your choice of what to C&P..

From your linked article...
" More voters went from Hillary Clinton to John McCain in 2008 than went from Sanders to Trump in 2016; about 13 percent of Trump’s 2016 voters also voted for Barack Obama in 2012."

[irresistable]

75. the real question is whose staffers they are NOW?

Just like the former Klobuchar staffers... who do they work for today?

[MrsCoffee]

23. The only thing that bugs was the whole

implication that he was better than the “ 1% “ cuz he flew coach. I’ve always just assumed use of a plane made more sense if you are traveling rally to rally.

[whathehell]

32. For the most part, he did -- He stayed in Motel 6's!

Can you imagine the Clinton Campaign going THAT route?

[MrsCoffee]

38. Pretty sure that was before he was assigned secret service.

[whathehell]

41. I'm not sure of that, but if true, so what?

It seems like responsibility would then accrue to the Secret Service..

[MrsCoffee]

49. The so what is to your snark about Clinton.

There is no way you are gonna see a major political figure with secret service staying at a Motel 6.

But you go ahead with your whataboutisms.

[whathehell]

56. My "snark" is the hypocrisy of complaining about Bernie..

when you and your boss had no problem going First Class All the Way.
As for Motel 6 and the Secret Service, I believe I've already responded to that point -- Have a nice day.

[Blue_true]

81. No, you tried to say that Hillary would not stay in a Motel 6.

When it was pointed out to you that a person under Secret Service protection most likely CAN'T stay in a Motel 6 class hotel, you used what I view as a dodge. Hillary, as the wife of an ex-President has had Secret Service protection EVERY day since her husband became President, hence she most likely have no choice but to stay in certain levels of hotels and if she stays in people's homes, those people would have to be highly vetted ahead of her visit. She simply DID NOT have the choice that Bernie did about where she stayed.

[whathehell]

85. Are you suggesting that Hillary,

had she the choice, might have stayed in a Motel 6, or anything like it?... Seriously?

[Blue_true]

89. Are you suggesting that she would not?

Neither of us know her personally, so both of us could be talking out of our asses.

[whathehell]

91. Lol..Yes I certainly am,

as would anyone who knew anything about the intersection of wealth and the hospitality industry.

[Blue_true]

95. This is becoming juvenile, I'm out. nt

[whathehell]

96. That works for me..

[MrsCoffee]

90. With all of the charitable work she and her husband contribute, who gives a fuck where she stays?

Seriously.

[whathehell]

92. I "give a fuck"

when her staffers have the gall to snipe at Bernie Sanders for
tequesting a private plane while he was out campaigning for HER.

[MrsCoffee]

93. Oh well.

[whathehell]

94. Uh huh.

[Tom Rinaldo]

25. Impossible. My DU sources informed me that Sanders didn't campaign for Clinton n/t

[Blue_true]

82. He did a handful of trips. I think 3-4 total.

Some were multi-day trips. In balance, his campaigning for Hillary was nothing like what Hillary and her husband did for President Obama in 2008 and what her husband did for President Obama in 2012.

[Tom Rinaldo]

87. Yes. What Hillary did was extraordinary

I am reposting below something I once wrote on another thread:

Hillary in 2008 set the gold standard for efforts to unify our party after the primaries. Or maybe I should say the platinum standard. She deserves great praise for that; in defeat it was one of her truly finest (among many fine) hours. But there is a built in limitation to using the platinum standard as the pass/fail mark. It is almost never achieved. Of course is is to be honored and acknowledged, but a lot of good to decent efforts fall short of that. Hillary did the best by far.

In 2004 Kerry chose the runner up for the Democratic nomination as his running mate, so that year is not informative. Gore obviously lost a very close election though in 2000. Bill Bradley was the Democratic Party nomination runner up, and he didn't particularly knock himself out helping Gore in the General. Jerry Brown came in second to Bill Clinton in 1992, and there wasn't a whole lot of help flowing to Clinton from Brown in 1992's General election. Relations between the two remained fairly chilly. And a Clinton win that year was far from a forgone conclusion.

Jackson and Gore came in second and third to Dukakis in 1988, and, if my memory serves me right, they of course endorsed Dukakis but were not major national surrogates for him. Gary Hart was second to Mondale in 1984, but he self destructed so no info gleaned from that example. And that brings us to 1980:

"1980 Democratic National Convention was one of the nastiest on record. On the penultimate day, Kennedy conceded the nomination and called for a more liberal party platform in what many saw as the best speech of his career. On the stage on the final day, Kennedy for the most part ignored Carter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries

Sanders endorsed Clinton before the Democratic Convention. He held a unity rally with her not that long after she was the nominee. He asked his supporters to vote for Clinton. He did some (yes limited) campaigning for her. Agreed that he did not do nearly as much for Clinton as Clinton did for Obama. But he did a hell of a lot more than Brown did for Bill Clinton, or than Kennedy did for Jimmy Carter for example. And essentially at least as much as the likes of Bradley and Gore and Jackson did in support of Democratic nominees in the years when they were the winner's major competitors. Democratic unity was also pretty thin in both 1968 and 1972.

I don't think Sanders earned great praise for his efforts on behalf of Clinton in 2016, but neither did he earn great scorn.

[whathehell]

26. How many private jets did they take?

Screw the hypocrites.

[jalan48]

33. But, he didn't do enough. Some people just like to complain.

[BeyondGeography]

37. Bitterbitterbitter

[KPN]

51. Exactly.

[Trenzalore]

50. Must think he is Ric Flair now nt.

[CentralMass]

53. Now thats scraping the barrel. Of note Hillary's campaign spent over $2 million on private air

Last edited Mon Feb 25, 2019, 02:11 PM - Edit history (2)

travel. Also of note is that he was still under secret service protection and getting to stops on time to campaign for Hillary via commercial travel was not as straight forward.

[elleng]

54. Isn't that nice, staffers, let's slam him; what a good idea.

[bigbrother05]

57. Maybe $200K could have sent him to PA, MI, and WI

If someone has offered to help and you are setting their agenda to be effective, $100K isn't a lot of money an a Presidential campaign. It's likely that 3 multiday trips would not be cheap regardless of the travel mode.

The Clinton Campaign would have coordinated the itinerary and despite grumbles agreed. It wasn't Bernie's responsibility to trim their budget.

Given the timing of this, wonder who those staffers are working for now?

[WeekiWater]

58. Sanders is a big money politician.

That is not in question.

My point of contention is that he should have been touring the country non-stop trying to get Clinton elected. He damn near Nina Turnered Clinton.

[Cha]

71. +1!!

[Blue_true]

83. Exactly. nt

[qazplm135]

59. I'm not remotely a Sanders fan

He's one notch up above Gabbard for me.

But there is nothing sillier than slamming someone for flying on a plane.

If Sanders were king (or any number of Dems), we'd have coast to coast high speed trains.

But we don't, so if you want to get somewhere in this vast country, you are going to have to fly.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

65. Lol this part of the heavy vetting?

More like heavy petting.

[Nanjeanne]

68. If this is the best they can do Sanders is home free.

[Gothmog]

70. I am glad that sanders will be vetted this cycle

Vetting is important https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/28/why-bernie-sanders-has-an-uphill-climb-ahead/?utm_term=.1b4f90c2a717

Finally, what happens when the oppo dump on Sanders comes? We have no idea, because it never happened in 2016. Clinton was so terrified of alienating his supporters and seeing them vote for Jill Stein in the general election (or not vote at all) that she tiptoed around him for pretty much the entirety of the primary campaign. That doesn’t mean that he’ll be destroyed when stories about the more colorful aspects of his history start cropping up, but there’s just no way to know.

Which is what we could say about the Sanders candidacy as a whole: There’s no way to know how it’s going to go. But he’s got his work cut out for him.

See also https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/19/politics/bernie-sanders-2020-campaign-donald-trump/index.html?utm_source=twCNNp&utm_content=2019-02-20T14%3A52%3A07&utm_term=image&utm_medium=social%C2%A0

2. How will he withstand more scrutiny and more attacks?
One of the secrets to Sanders' success in 2016 was that no one -- most especially Clinton -- thought he had any chance of going anywhere in the race. Clinton largely ignored him for the better part of 2015, allowing some problematic parts of Sanders' record for Democrats -- most notably his voting record on guns -- to go unnoticed. (When the race began to tighten, Clinton gently prodded Sanders on guns and health care.) Sanders, too, largely flew under the radar of investigative reporters for major news outlets who were busy looking into Clinton, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and others seen as more viable candidates. (That reality clearly benefited Donald Trump in the early days of the campaign, as well.)

Sanders will get no pass -- from either the media or his fellow candidates -- this time around. He is among the frontrunners -- and will be treated as such. His wife's time as president of Burlington College could well come up. And his opponents will do a deep dive into his nearly 30 years of votes as a member of the House and Senate. This is all very normal stuff in a campaign. But not for Sanders.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

73. Lol. By making up bullshit?

Tell us how you honor this schedule on commercial and figure for sucurity and baggage time?

Here’s Bernie not campaigning for Hillary:

[Gothmog]

74. sanders was treated with kid gloves last cycle

that will not happen this cycle

BTW the only thing that that sanders talked about in those speeches was himself. I am still not clear as to how sanders talking only about himself helped Clinton

BTW, where are sanders tax returns?

[Gothmog]

77. In the two years following the presidential election, Bernie Sanders continued his frequent private

Link to tweet

[Blue_true]

84. Living the life that he had grown accustomed to. nt

[Gothmog]

88. Yep