Discussion for article #244791
This is the wrong strategy for her. Attacking Bernie not only doesnāt endear her to Bernieās base-the young and more progressive voters, it also makes her look scared and desperate. I would prefer she reestablish her progressive bonafides with Democratic voters, which shouldnāt be hard for her to do.
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I donāt think that sort of talk is helpful, especially with a 25 point or so lead in the polls. Why alienate Sanders supporters? What would have cost her to say she was glad he āchanged his mindā?
In fact, this whole āflip-flopā business is childish, whoever employs it, and even more so coming from someone who changed her mind on her Iraq vote. One of the many things Iāve appreciated about Obama in these last seven years is that he elevated political discourse in our country, or at least tried to.
To be sure, Iāll vote for Hillary in November (or Sanders, if he pulls off a miracle), but Iām going to miss Obama big-time.
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So Saint Bernie is just another politician? Who would have guessed?
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Dem voters donāt want to see her differentiate herself from Bernis, they want her to be more like Bernie. She should position herself as a more electable and experienced Bernie, in my opinion.
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Someone posted this link at Political Wire. Written by a guy nam,ed Shamus Cooke. Considered to be hard left
http://jfmxl.sdf.org/USA/20160105-does-bernie-sander-s-imperialism-matter.html
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I spoke to a friend yesterday, a fellow liberal, and asked him if heās been paying attention to all thatās going on with the primaries, and Hillary upping the attacks on Bernie. He gave a genius answer, and Iām seriously contemplating taking his tact on all of this, because Hillary is starting to annoy me like she did versus Obama, and I donāt want to hate her again. He said:
āIām a Democrat voting for the Democrat. So, Iām not going to watch one second of anything for my own mental health and well being. Just wake me up on election day, and Iāll push the button next to āDemocratā.ā
Heās a genius.
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I feel the same way really. I actually hate negative back and forth - which is why I donāt ever watch Fox News, CNN or the republican debates. I may not even watch the debate tonight.
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Agreed. I will not watch one second tonight. Strange, I badmouth ignorant people all the time, over the course of my adult life, and take pride in trying to stay as informed as possible. Not this time. I will gladly take blissful ignorance over this. Problem is, Iām a glutton for punishment. Will I be able to stay away? 
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Well, I for one would not look forward to seeing two antiquated ideologies clashing for the 21st century presidencyā18th century free market capitalism versus 19th century socialismāneither of which really have the capacity to face our society and our world as it is today.
My vote is for the pragmatists like Obama (and I think Clinton is on board with this) who are non ideological but look to the future, and to what needs to be done nowā¦ Sorry, guys, Iām bored with both the above ideological alternatives. New thinking has got to be done, and when you have dogmatists who havenāt changed their ideas in forty yearsā¦ wellā¦
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Thereās no doubt in my mind that Hillaryās criticisms of Bernie on this gun manufacturer liability thing have been helpful to her with many Democratic primary voters.
However, the āflip-flopā framing is problematic for her, to say the least. If she uses that line in the debate, she creates a very easy opening for Bernie to point out her many, many policy āflip-flops,ā including some that are pretty important to Democrats, like the Iraq war, the TPP, and same-sex marriage.
Still, you play the cards youāre dealt, and obviously sheās got to try to continue to get some mileage from their past differences on gun control, even though those differences were never all that significant, and are even less so now.
But it will be a delicate balance. Highlighting differences on gun control is to her benefit, but highlighting consistency vs lack of consistency is to her detriment. So her challenge it to get as much of the benefit of the former as possible, without triggering too much scrutiny in the latter case.
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And how is this āattackingā him exactly?
Sanders supporters had better wake up and smell the coffee. Their guy has been getting a mostly free pass, and now that Hillary is upping the ante a bit, all we hear is screams about how unfair it is that sheās āattackingā him. Well. let me tell you - if your guy gets the nomination, you aināt seen nothinā yet!
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Likewise on Hillaryās side, as in her campaignās (faux?) outrage about his (really quite tame) Wall Street ad.
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And using her daughter as an attack dog is really VILE!
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She!s not āupping the anteā, sheās in a flat out panic!
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So calling him a flip-flipper is s compliment? Please. The question is does this strategy help Hillary? I would argue it doesnāt. Please explain how it helps her if you disagree.
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Too be fair, Chelsea has long been an adult and ought to be able make up her own mind on whether to act as attack dog or not. Maybe she was pressured or at least felt pressured, to participate in this attack, or maybe she was plenty happy to do so, we just donāt know. I will say, though, that she was clearly out of her depth.
Bernie was pretty gracious about it in his Face the Nation interview today, called it ājust an unfortunate statement.ā He strongly refuted the whole Clinton camp attack on his approach to health care, but he pretty much let Chelsea off the hook. Which seems wise, as it really wouldnāt look great to be browbeating the hell out of Chelsea, who was obviously just parroting (or maybe poorly rendering) the talking points she was given by the Clinton campaign.
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sheās both already.
A compliment? See, this is the basis of what I am having a big problem with Sanders supporters. He is competing with her for the party (a party he isnāt officially part of, mind you) nomination. And yet, somehow, Sanders supporters seem to think Hillary she just bow down and praise him at every turnā¦anything less is met with cries of victimization and catcalls against Hillary. Meanwhile, when ever Sanders or someone from his campaign takes a shot at Hillaryā¦oh man, thatās the coolest thing since sliced bread.
Your candidate is in the big game now. He is not going to be paid compliments from the people he is running against. Thatās not how it works, nor is it ever how its worked.
As far as the actual issueā¦yes, he is a flip flopper. He voted in favor of giving the gun manufacturers an unheard of immunity,he has been blasted by both Hillary and OāMalley for taking that position, all the while he repeatedly and continually defended it. Now the polls show it hurts him. Soā¦tada!..he is trying to change up and flip his position.
Does the strategy help her? I believe it doesā¦because, after you blow through the smoke screen that the Sanders crowd throws up at every criticism of him, what she is actually saying is āGood. I am glad Bernie has admitted he was wrong and has joined Martin and myself in fighting against this immunityā Thatās a consistent, clear and well liked position for the Democratic party.
Yeah, it throws a bunch of Sanders supporters,including many on here, in a bit of bind, as they have been arguing that giving immunity to gun manufacturers doesnāt matterā¦its such a minor issue. Now Bernie has figured out that its not a minor issue, and its actually a very necessary step in what will be a decades long battle to bring some sanity back to the guns issue in this country.
But the Hillary campaign is not in this to hoist Bernie up on a pedestal, nor are they in it to make Bernieās vocal supporters feel really good about taking boneheaded positions.
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Yeahā¦cause 25 points is a real nail biter
Or this