May 31, 2016

If Bernie Wants To Be the Spoiler, Thousands of Progressive Leaders Will Tallk To His Supporters

May 31, 2016/ Anne Enke

Bernie Has To Unite the Party Behind Clinton -- or Someone Will Do It for Him Hillary HQ

Bernie says it's Hillary's job to unite Democrats behind her. There's only one thing wrong with Bernie's assumption that this is a party of two -- with him being the rogue opportunist. He can play the spoiler, dragging Hillary down at every opportunity, denying the math and threatening a floor fight at the convention because he is the real WINNER here. He can promise to overturn the popular vote, overturn the pledged delegates because he's going to win California by a landslide,

Bernie is a big talker and we're on record saying he has balls the size of Texas. Brass ones, too. Hardball.

The first time we saw Bernie take off his jacket and throw it into the crowd of adoring college supporters, we said "Oh no!" The second time, we knew the Cult of Bernie was building, and he was taking his rockstar status very seriously.

However, Sen. Sanders is about to get a reality check, because all these progressive groups AREN'T going to appreciate him willing to throw the nation to Trump and a Republican Congress. Sanders can say that Hillary must fly solo in an attempt to convince his supporters to vote for her.

Hillary Clinton will not be flying solo making her case to Berners.

He will find that even his adoring college women will get the Planned Parenthood message that they are one vote away from having their civil rights declared equal to that of a zygote. They are one vote away from Personhood Bills, and this has nothing to do with corporations and big money. The male majority Bernie Bros don't even know about Personhood bills, because they don't get pregnant and their Trump guy is on record saying men are not culpable in dealing with the legal problems around unplanned zygotes and unplanned pregnancies.

It's not only Planned Parenthood who will go to work on these young women, HWN will be deeply involved in giving them a real life education on what is about to go down.

Note that about 80% of those young women have already said they will vote for Hillary. And this is one result of a Trump victory -- having women's civil rights under the constitution no different than those of a 24-hr. old fertilized egg.

Senator Brass Balls is not the sole cult figure in this debate.

On the subject of unity . . .

"Bernie may think he’s a vital piece of the puzzle, but he’s not as important as he thinks. The number of people backing Bernie who will come to November and look at Hillary’s progressive campaign platform, who will hear the words of Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin, and every other progressive in Congress and in state governments advocating for Hillary and stay home or vote for a third party candidate is an insignificantly tiny sliver of a shred of a fraction of a measly minority. The number of voters who are going to hear organized labor, environmental groups, groups and individuals dedicated to fighting for racial justice, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, disabled rights, voting rights, campaign finance reform all speaking with one voice in favor of Hillary Clinton and still believe that she’s no better than Trump are a meaningless pool of dead end voters who Bernie himself couldn’t have brought along anyways. Bernie is not the only voice in the progressive choir, and he’s not the loveliest voice in that choir either. His options are to be a leader or to let someone else lead."

That person will be President Obama for starters, a leader not willing to sell women down the proverbial toilet -- because he has two daughters, a great wife, and -- unlike Sanders -- this REALLY YUUGE Democrat rockstar would not consider selling women (and unions, and people of color, and voting rights and, and, and . . . ) into a big, black hole because he lost the Democratic primary fair and square.

It's a lot of big talk. But the Rock Star's true character is on the line. And he owns his actions fair and square. We are so over BS intimidation! The rally for Hillary will be breathtaking. ~ Anne writing for HillaryWomen News FB

Do Superdelegates Have A Purpose?

Why We Need Those 'Anti-Democratic' Superdelegates Politico

We're startled that Bernie supporter Jeff Greenfield is making a solid case for the superdelegates. To critics of the process, supporters have a one-word answer: Trump.

We could add the caucus system that is highly discriminatory in favor of passionate people with a lot of time on their hands. The recent non-delegate-awarding major win for Hillary in the popular vote primary in Washington vs Bernie crushing her in the caucus with 25% of the primary turnout. That's not the 'will of the people' in action in Washington state.

Contradictory to how his buddy Bernie frames the issue of 'superdeleates' as the establishment elite over-ruling the people (which they have never done and Hillary wins under every scenario including eliminating the superdelegates), Greenfield sees them as a final brake on a process careening out of control. This is a major evolution for Greenfield -- based on his TV appearances -- in the last two months.

"There are some circumstances where the “will of the voters”—often the will of a plurality of voters—may well put the party on the road to a massive political defeat. Further, it may result in the nomination of a candidate who violates the most fundamental beliefs of that party. Or whose temperament and character might put a dangerous, unfit person into the Oval Office. Under those circumstances, the existence of a bloc of superdelegates means the presence of an “emergency brake,” a last chance to avoid disaster. And while it may be “undemocratic” in the narrowest sense of that term, our political system is replete with “undemocratic” elements that have served us very well."

HIllary Clinton Headlines May 31, 2016

Dreamers face nightmare of Trump's deportation force Politico

Bernie Sanders moves toward a fight over Israel, forcing Hillary Clinton to navigate a . . . LA Times

The pragmatic rogressive: what sets Obama apart from Bernie Sanders The Guardian

What Aryans See in Donald Trump Slate

Bernie Sanders's 'Scorched Earth' Strategy Seems to Be Working NY Magazine

She Shouldn't Have to Navigate This Toxic Stew, But I'm Damn Appreciative That She Does Shakesville

Bernie Sanders is Going to Town on the Democratic Convention. That's Fine Mother Jones

May 30, 2016

Hillary Hater Blogger H.A. Goodman Gets Blistering Politico Takedown

May 30, 2016/ Anne Enke

The Fall of Salon.com & HA Goodman Politico

Nothing gives us more pleasure than reading about the fall of Salon.com. Thank goodness Joan Walsh got away from that site.

If there is one BernieBro blogger who has really gotten under my skin, it's H.A. Goodman. Bloggers are writing from their own pov, but it's been a long time since I saw an individual purport to be a serious writer, and dispense with the facts or contradictory research info more than H.A. Goodman. Unfortunately, he's also over at HuffPo -- and the Jerusalem Post. I fully expect him to go work for Trump after Bernie loses the Democratic nomination. After that, Breitbart.

Because the Hillary haters just inhale his despicable writing about Hillary, his articles often showed up in first place in Google News. Yes -- Google News is driven primarily by page views, not truth or quality of writing.

H.A. Goodman is taking it on the chin in this Politico article. And I'm really happy about his downfall. ~ Anne

"The site’s early bias in favor of Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign showed the site’s willingness to strike out against neoliberalism in favor of progressive causes. But in the end Salon always circled the wagons.

In recent months Salon has refused to do that. It has developed a reputation for being not just sympathetic to Bernie Sanders, but overtly hostile to Hillary Clinton, unable to distinguish her from Donald Trump in the same way Ralph Nader saw no difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000. Salon contributor H.A. Goodman has written several columns for the publication with titles like “I wouldn’t vote for Dick Cheney, so I won’t vote for Hillary Clinton: An unrepentant only-Sanders voter fires back at critics” and “Please, FBI — you’re our last hope: The Democratic Party’s future rests upon your probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails.” (The columns spurred a debate in Salon’s newsroom after a staffer sent an email to colleagues saying Goodman’s articles reflected badly on the company.)

{ . . . }

Actually, Salon isn’t uniformly pro-Sanders. Editor in chief David Daley told POLITICO that he aims to cover all of the intellectual arguments surrounding the Democratic Party, and that Goodman’s viewpoint is one of “a wide range of voices assessing the Clinton and Sanders campaigns” on Salon. Late last year, the site faced allegations of bias against Sanders when Daley hired feminist writer Amanda Marcotte, who got to work writing negative stories about “Bernie Bros.”

The more stinging critique is about the quality of what Salon publishes – and Goodman’s pieces in particular have reignited lamentations about the site’s downward spiral. Walsh and Miller have been outspoken on Twitter about some of the stories from the site, as have many others. Two guys even created a vicious parody account, @salondotcom, to mock Salon’s increasingly strident brand of leftism, with fake tweets like “Ten signs your cat might be racist” and “Should GMOs come with trigger warnings?” '

Hillary Clinton Supporters Aren't Just Voting for Her 'Because She's A Woman' Vogue

We're still fighting against this worn trope from those on the right and, increasingly, those on the left. Why the left? Several theories, but I subscribe to the one with the most experience behind it from nearly every leftist perspective: women are often still viewed as caricatures that can't possibly understand the complexities of politics! ~ Laura at HillaryWomen News FB

Not only is it baseless, but suggesting that women are only supporting Hillary because they view her as a sworn member of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is also an insult to women voters, their values, and their credibility. It’s rich for men in particular to blast women as shallow voters who support Hillary based on gender alone, when data shows that women are more dutiful voters than men. They prove it at the polls: In every presidential election since 1980, the proportion of eligible women who showed up to vote has exceeded the proportion of men. In the 2008 presidential election, nearly 10 million more women than men voted. This, with nary a major female contender on the final ballot. At 53 percent of the electorate in 2012, women have the power to decide elections. But they’re not going to decide this one or any other out of blind loyalty, or sheer feminism alone (though it may be a perk).

Clinton Beats Trump with Middle-Income Rust Belt Voters Bloomberg

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 7% among middle-income voters in the Rust Belt. Likely voters with annual family incomes of $30,000 to $75,000 in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- the core of his base -- prefer Clinton.

By an even larger margin -- 42% of voters for Clinton vs 34% for Trump, voters believe Hillary will win the election. 18% are not sure, and 45% said they would consider a third-party candidate.

Asked to describe their state of mind about the candidates, 31% said they were 'Afraid'. The next answer was 'Disallusioned' at 19%.

Voters were asked to answer if certain concerns about Trump bothered them. The women's issue was the top answer at 60%:

Concern: Trump has called women names like “pigs,” “dogs,” “slobs,” and “disgusting.” He’s called Fox News’ Megyn Kelley a “bimbo” and a “lightweight,” insulted Carly Forina’s and Heidi Cruz’s appearance, and has made lewd comments

The top concern for Hillary was 51% saying that she lied about the cause of the Benghazi attacks, after failing to protect the US Ambassador and other embassy workers. Onlt 42% cared about the emails and 27% cared about how she handled her husband's infidelity. 49% said her decisions as Secy of State helped ISIS to form and grow out of control. Only 30% said they saw her as part of the Washington establishment.