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2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: The "Democratic" Party has lost its soul. [View all]VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)31. Yes. Yes it has.
Hillary's rap sheet:
Foreign Policy
Iraq
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/hillarys-pro-iraq-war-vot_b_9112232.html"Hillary has now apologized for her Iraq War vote. But even her apology feels more like political calculation than genuine contrition. A meaningful apology would be directed to the Iraq war vets and Iraqi civilians who lost life or limb, to the American taxpayer for wasting over a trillion dollars, and to the rest of the world for making it less safe.
Hillary Clinton lost the 2008 Democratic nomination to Barack Obama in large part because of her Iraq vote so she must now try to immunize herself with her weak apology in the hopes that 8 years later, Democratic caucus and primary voters have short memories.
Moreover, none of her apologies give any indication of what she learned from her supposedly mistaken vote. Has she learned that using American military power to instigate regime change in the Middle East leads more often than not to chaos, anarchy, increased terrorist threats, refugee crises, and even the destabilization of Europe?"
Syria
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/hillary-clinton-isis-strategy-ground-troops-airstrikes-no-fly-zone-syria"Hillary Clinton distanced herself from Barack Obamas strategy for defeating Islamic State extremists on Thursday in a sweeping foreign policy speech that called for greater use of American ground troops and an intensified air campaign.
Though ruling out deploying the tens of thousands of US troops seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, the former of secretary of state made clear she would take a notably more hawkish approach than the current administration if she is elected president."
Libya
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/hillary-clinton-libya.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-ab-top-region&_r=0"This is the story of how a woman whose Senate vote for the Iraq war may have doomed her first presidential campaign nonetheless doubled down and pushed for military action in another Muslim country. As she once again seeks the White House, campaigning in part on her experience as the nation's chief diplomat, an examination of the intervention she championed shows her at what was arguably her moment of greatest influence as secretary state."
"Libya's descent into chaos began with a rushed decision to go to war, made in what one top official called a "shadow of uncertainty" as to Colonel Qaddafi's intentions. The mission inexorably evolved even as Mrs. Clinton foresaw some of the hazards of toppling another Middle Eastern strongman. She pressed for a secret American program that supplied arms to rebel militias, an effort never before confirmed."
Saudi Arabia [y'know, the people who made ISIS's brand of Islam]
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/01/10/445291/US-Hillary-Clinton-Saudi-Arabia-/Its tough to call her comments anything except the pot calling the kettle black, John Miranda said in an interview with Press TV.
The Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clintons presidential campaign have enjoyed numerous donations from Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabias various corporations and princes that have dealings with the United States, he noted.
For her to say that we need to talk to them [Saudis] about this; she honestly could care less, he added.
Miranda said that Saudi Arabia is committing the same crimes that the American people associate with the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group rather than a long-time US ally in the Middle East.
Everything thats happening with the unrest in northern Iraq and Syria, they are doing the same exact things that happen in Saudi Arabia, he said.
Saudi Arabia is also one of the countries that is funding the terrorists in Syria and northern Iraq, so obviously they are practicing the same type of things, the analyst added.
Hillary Clinton is a complete hypocrite. That is the only way I can describe her, Miranda stressed.
Honduras
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/08/exclusive_hillary_clinton_sold_out_honduras_lanny_davis_corporate_cash_and_the_real_story_about_the_death_of_a_latin_america_democracy/Though its less sexy than Benghazi, the crisis following a coup in Honduras in 2009 has Hillary Clintons fingerprints all over it, and her alleged cooperation with oligarchic elites during the affair does much to expose Clintons newfound, campaign-season progressive rhetoric as hollow. Moreover, the Honduran coup is something of a radioactive issue with fallout that touches many on Team Clinton, including husband Bill, once put into a full context.
Colombia
http://www.ibtimes.com/hillary-clinton-pushes-colombia-free-trade-agreement-latest-email-dump-2326068"One of the 2011 emails from Clinton to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Clinton aide Robert Hormats has a subject line Sandy Levin a reference to the Democratic congressman who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees U.S. trade policy. In the email detailing her call with Levin, she said the Michigan lawmaker appreciates the changes that have been made, the national security arguments and Santos's reforms -- the latter presumably a reference to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. She concludes the message about the call with Levin by saying, I told him that at the rate we were going, Columbian [sic] workers were going to end up w the same or better rights than workers in Wisconsin and Indiana and, maybe even, Michigan.
Froman a former Citigroup executive who as trade representative was lobbying for passage of the deal responded by thanking Clinton for her "help and support. Hormats, a former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs who subsequently was hired by Clinton at the State Department, later chimed in, telling her terrific job and GREAT line on Columbian [sic] workers!!!!!
Social Policy
TPP Support
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160129/23451533466/hillary-clinton-flip-flopped-tpp-before-so-big-business-lobbyists-are-confident-shell-really-flip-back-after-election.shtmlIsn't politics just great? Politicians aren't exactly known for their honesty on things, often saying things to voters just to get elected. But Hillary Clinton's views on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement have received quite a lot of scrutiny. After all, while she was at the State Department, she was a strong supporter of the TPP, and so it was a bit of a surprise last October when she came out against it. Of course, the fact that the deal is fairly unpopular with the Democratic Party base probably contributed quite a lot to that decision -- and Clinton's weak attempt at revisionist history to pretend she never really supported it.
But, of course, when you do a pandering flip flop like that just to get votes, you have to remember that plenty of people will see right through it, and some of those people might reveal the strategy. Like, for instance, the head of the US Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest lobbying organization, who is leading the charge in support of the TPP. Its top lobbyist, Tom Donohue, flat out admitted recently that he knows that if she actually got elected, she'll revert back to supporting the TPP, because of course she will:
The Chamber president said he expected Hillary Clinton would ultimately support the TPP if she becomes the Democratic nominee for president and is elected. He argued that she has publicly opposed the deal chiefly because her main challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has also done so. "If she were to get nominated, if she were to be elected, I have a hunch that what runs in the family is you get a little practical if you ever get the job," he said.
Destruction of internet freedom
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/09/hillary_clinton_and_internet_freedom/What Hillary Clinton is condemning here is exactly that which not only the administration in which she serves, but also she herself, has done in one of the most important Internet freedom cases of the last decade: WikiLeaks. And beyond that case, both Clinton specifically and the Obama administration generally have waged a multi-front war on Internet freedom.
First, let us recall that many of WikiLeaks disclosures over the last 18 months have directly involved improprieties, bad acts and even illegalities on the part of Clintons own State Department. As part of WikiLeaks disclosures, she was caught ordering her diplomats at the U.N. to engage in extensive espionage on other diplomats and U.N. officials; in a classified memo, she demanded forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications as well as credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for a whole slew of diplomats, actions previously condemned by the U.S. as illegal. WikiLeaks also revealed that the State Department very early on in the Obama administration oversaw a joint effort between its diplomats and GOP officials to pressure and coerce Spain to block independent judicial investigations into the torture policies of Bush officials: a direct violation of then-candidate Obamas pledge to allow investigations to proceed as well being at odds with the White Houses dismissal of questions about the Spanish investigation as merely hypothetical. WikiLeaks disclosures also revealed that public denials from Clintons State Department about the U.S. role in Yemen were at best deeply misleading. And, of course, those disclosures revealed a litany of other truly bad acts by the U.S. Government generally.
Manhattan Project against encryption
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/hillary-clinton-wants-manhattan-like-project-to-break-encryption/Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has called for a "Manhattan-like project" to help law enforcement break into encrypted communications. This is in reference to the Manhattan Project, the top-secret concentrated research effort which resulted in the US developing nuclear weapons during World War II.
At Saturday's Democratic debate (transcript here), moderator Martha Raddatz asked Clinton about Apple CEO Tim Cook's statements that any effort to break encryption would harm law-abiding citizens.
PATRIOT Act support
https://ballotpedia.org/Hillary_ClintonClinton voted in support of HR 3162 - USA Patriot Act of 2001. The bill passed on October 25, 2001, by a vote of 98-1. The bill allowed law enforcement more authority in searching homes, tapping phone lines and tracking internet information while searching for suspected terrorists.
Secure Fence Act
https://ballotpedia.org/Hillary_ClintonClinton voted in support of HR 6061 - Secure Fence Act of 2006. The bill passed on September 29, 2006, by a vote of 80-19. The bill authorized the construction of 700 miles of additional fencing along the United States-Mexico border. The Democratic Party split on the vote.
H-1B Visa support
This is the so called pre-ordained candidate for the Democratic Party. And when candidates like this are being fielded, an an Independent who is more democratic than the whole DNC put together has to come in and save the fuckin' party, the establishment has some serious soul searching to engage in, that is, if they still have souls to search.
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This Revolt Has Been Building For Years - The DWS, DNC, DLC, Third-Way Has Only Themselves To Blame
cantbeserious
Feb 2016
#1
Yes - There Are Effectively Six Parties In America - The Oligarchs, Corporations And Banks Own Three
cantbeserious
Feb 2016
#109
Your last sentence would be ironic if she were in fact a feminist in more than just words. n/t
A Simple Game
Feb 2016
#170
Please stop impugning the good name of FDR by attaching Sanders' handle to it
jmowreader
Feb 2016
#115
except that "other guy" is the one they are browbeating to vote the party in the GE
bbgrunt
Feb 2016
#90
Giving up on a health-care system driven by people in favor of profit for a few
AllyCat
Feb 2016
#167
The record of 3rd-Way conservative Republicrats will cost my kids 50 years of republicon rule.
Kip Humphrey
Feb 2016
#3
We??? Sorry, but your lauded 3rd-Way conservicrats are responsible for letting this happen.
Kip Humphrey
Feb 2016
#192
Tell that to Bernie. Blaming his opponent seems to be his campaign strategy now. nt
SunSeeker
Feb 2016
#78
I am talking about the DNC and our losses overall..not about Clinton and Bernie.
Jefferson23
Feb 2016
#85
They're not going to do that and they're well placed to continue to do so if
Jefferson23
Feb 2016
#105
The DNC is not doing their job for GOTV, the losses across the states have been massive and
Jefferson23
Feb 2016
#139
Huh? Again, the party is suppose to increase voter turn out, as I said earlier, it is low.
Jefferson23
Feb 2016
#147
Those words were nowhere in that video. Her message is about expanding opportunity.
SunSeeker
Feb 2016
#197
On the contrary, pragmatic progressive means she wants to get things done. nt
SunSeeker
Feb 2016
#202
No. No portion of the current Republican Party is equivalent to the current Democratic Party.
SunSeeker
Feb 2016
#133
You are correct that's why there are no longer any moderate Republicans (now extinct in the R party)
Dragonfli
Feb 2016
#144
If you mean the OP referred to in the post, I would ask the public here if I should post it in GDP
Dragonfli
Feb 2016
#204
Psst! Do some research on the Democratic Business Council... a half decade before the DLC
wyldwolf
Feb 2016
#32
It was not so long ago that the Democratic Party was competitive in Florida.
Enthusiast
Feb 2016
#91
Think middle class, middle age suicides are bad now, wait until Hillary ships another million jobs
whereisjustice
Feb 2016
#22
I think Elizabeth Warren needs to come out now for Bernie. It's the county's last chance IMO
litlbilly
Feb 2016
#24
And, we need to triple the ground game for Bernie, it's just us and no one else who can get it done
litlbilly
Feb 2016
#25
Maybe he could use some of his hedge fund money to pay for a reform movement?
brooklynite
Feb 2016
#28
Maybe he could use some of his hedge fund money to pay for a reform movement?
AlbertCat
Feb 2016
#49
Hillary winning with a 12% turnout, just like winning a baseball game because the other
litlbilly
Feb 2016
#36
Good, let's ask HRC to demand that superdelegates votes not count as it's undemocratic to the voters
EndElectoral
Feb 2016
#38
It's not like they keep the date and time of the primary/caucus a secret. They were announced
4lbs
Feb 2016
#65
The Iowa Caucus was done from 5:00pm to 9:00pm local time. The Nevada Caucus was on a
4lbs
Feb 2016
#92
Hillary couldn't win in Iowa and Nevada if the party wasn't putting the thumb on the scales
AZ Progressive
Feb 2016
#48
This Democratic campaign is about the big bad evil DNC. It is a conspiracy.
Enthusiast
Feb 2016
#100
Really? I remember seeing earlier in the week before the SC primary, how Sanders was
4lbs
Feb 2016
#103
and they're only running on "we're the only faction that can win in the GE"--it's their STRONGEST
MisterP
Feb 2016
#46
I'm only in it to vote for Bernie, even though I've been a member for forty-six years.
highprincipleswork
Feb 2016
#77
Ironic accusation coming from a guy who abandoned the mother of his 5 kids to live on welfare. nt
SunSeeker
Feb 2016
#81
think the Democratic party is gonna split between ahem the conservatives and the Liberals
PatrynXX
Feb 2016
#149
"Including the biggest wipeout for the Democratic Party in more than 100 years."
Major Hogwash
Feb 2016
#171