Josh Marshall suggests yes.
"The scuffle got more intense and more cynical later this morning when Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver came on MSNBC and now explicitly doubled down, actually doublydouble-down. He says the Post was right. Clinton did say Sanders was unqualified. So they'll say it about her. So there!"
"Now, as I've watched this campaign unfold, I've increasingly had the sense that Weaver is a, maybe the key source of toxicity and cynicism in the Sanders camp, and I suspect doesn't care terribly about the November election if Sanders isn't the standard bearer. Obviously Sanders is responsible for his own campaign. And it's difficult to overestimate the mix of exhaustion, frustration and intensity that gets churned up in a hotly contested race like this. People get mad. On both sides. No crying in baseball, of course. Campaigns can and do do what they feel they need to do. But the consequences are ones all should understand and absorb."
"This is cynical. It's a lie. And it's playing with fire."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/not-good-not-good-at-all--2#
You have to love Josh Marshall. He has been shrewd enough not to let himself get overrun by the Berners like Huffington Post has. Of course, this must be because he's a: yep, a corporate shill.
"For Sandersphere, is there anyone who disagrees w Bernie about anything who isn't a "corrupt" "corporate hack"?
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/718147361084686336
If there is, I've never seen it.
Note that Weaver is also the one who has suggested that Hillary is 'too ambitious' and that the reason she won the South in a landslide is her time as Arkansas First Lady.
So maybe this is the case. No surprise, President Obama disagrees that she isn't qualified:
"White House: Obama thinks Clinton is qualified for president."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/obama-clinton-qualified-president-221685#ixzz45B0bXIuV
It's pretty awkward as Bernie certainly wouldn't want to be on the record as saying Obama' unqualified. Yet:
"All of Sanders' reasons why Clinton isn't qualified -- except for the Iraq war vote -- are true for Pres Obama, too"
https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/717917979917336576
"The scuffle got more intense and more cynical later this morning when Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver came on MSNBC and now explicitly doubled down, actually doublydouble-down. He says the Post was right. Clinton did say Sanders was unqualified. So they'll say it about her. So there!"
"Now, as I've watched this campaign unfold, I've increasingly had the sense that Weaver is a, maybe the key source of toxicity and cynicism in the Sanders camp, and I suspect doesn't care terribly about the November election if Sanders isn't the standard bearer. Obviously Sanders is responsible for his own campaign. And it's difficult to overestimate the mix of exhaustion, frustration and intensity that gets churned up in a hotly contested race like this. People get mad. On both sides. No crying in baseball, of course. Campaigns can and do do what they feel they need to do. But the consequences are ones all should understand and absorb."
"This is cynical. It's a lie. And it's playing with fire."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/not-good-not-good-at-all--2#
You have to love Josh Marshall. He has been shrewd enough not to let himself get overrun by the Berners like Huffington Post has. Of course, this must be because he's a: yep, a corporate shill.
"For Sandersphere, is there anyone who disagrees w Bernie about anything who isn't a "corrupt" "corporate hack"?
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/718147361084686336
If there is, I've never seen it.
Note that Weaver is also the one who has suggested that Hillary is 'too ambitious' and that the reason she won the South in a landslide is her time as Arkansas First Lady.
So maybe this is the case. No surprise, President Obama disagrees that she isn't qualified:
"White House: Obama thinks Clinton is qualified for president."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/obama-clinton-qualified-president-221685#ixzz45B0bXIuV
It's pretty awkward as Bernie certainly wouldn't want to be on the record as saying Obama' unqualified. Yet:
"All of Sanders' reasons why Clinton isn't qualified -- except for the Iraq war vote -- are true for Pres Obama, too"
https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/717917979917336576
Yeah I hate the direction this whole primary is turning to be honest.
ReplyDeleteI want Bernies ideas to be fully articulated and would like many incorporated into the next platform for our democratic candidate, who ever that is, but I hate the way our country does election coverage. Everything is posed as a contest of only two ideas and someone has to pick one and ardently defend it....... or they are "weak" and "compromising". The candidates must be fighters or they are dismissed.
In my view that whole interview was not even the forum for articulating a how to on financial reform and any answer was going to be incomplete by definition and therefore ripe for criticism and questioning.
I am glad to see Bill Black now advising Bernie as he is a foremost authority on how large banks fraudulently operate in the modern financial environment....... and they do. Its just a matter of understanding how. But the whole problem, for all of us really, is that calls of fraud are often misdirected and misunderstood. Most bank people are honest guys doing 9-5 work and trying to raise a family and most bank activity is pretty bland stuff that just keeps the wheels of commerce greased. Its not until you get into the highly speculative and stuff that deals with other currencies and the sort that you find the truly bad stuff. Seeing this requires a knowledge not just of banking operations but also of politics internationally. This won't necessarily get Bernie nominated but it will hopefully get some of Bill Blacks stuff out there for people to digest.
When the average guy hears banking fraud they think of people lying on loan documents to get mortgages or banks manipulating rates between each other (like the Libor scandal) or they think of CBs printing money to kick the can down the road. None of these, except the Libor to some degree, are even on the radar of a guy like Bill Black. He's more focused on how the debt rating companies, big banks, institutional economists (Mankiw for one) and different national CBs work together to create an environment where our pensions are at risk, our social programs are underfunded and average guys everywhere are all convinced of the whole austerity mantra that has taken over the world. Its austerity for us and windfalls for the chosen few.
I am so tired of hearing all the "bring back Glass Steagall" talk. Glass Steagall was for an environment decades old. Today requires a different approach. Breaking up banks is a joke. Its not the size of individual banks its the overall size of the banking system that matters and that aint shrinking.
Sorry to get off your topic some
No, I appreciate it Greg as it's a good conversation. I know that we've had some differences in how we've seen this primary.
ReplyDeleteI think there are some good ideas that are being given a hearing now. The $15 MW is an idea whose time seems to have come with my home state of NY as well as California picking it up.
My reason for supporting HRC is not because I'm against the $15 MW. She is calling for $`12 at the federal level when its currently at $7.25-and whoever the Dem President in 2017 is, this won't happen overnight.
But her buddy Cuomo did $15 here in NY so, if in time this proves to be a good level we can get there.
On bank reform, my only complaint has been Bernie has been very one dimensional in how he's presented bank reform.
It's just 'Wall St is fraud and let's break up the big banks.'
As you say, this obsession with Glass-Steagall is besides the point. But Bernie makes is sound like the sine qua none of reform. You either want to 'break up the big banks' or you are not remotely serious.
In some ways, this focus on a very simple message may have helped him. But for me it seems like making things a lot more simple than they really are.
Simplicity is good, but simplistic isn't.
In the vein you speak of, it seems that Hillary has some decent ideas about what bank reform of today might look like. She-and Krugman-seems to agree with you on Glass-Steagall.
Speaking of advisers, she has some very respected people in terms of bank reform working for her, too. Her staff also is in regular contact with Elizabeth Warren's staff.
The idea that her policies will be the same as her husband's in the late 90s is just wrong. It comes from refusing to admit that a lot of politics is evolution-the 90s were a much more conservative era, and Bill did the best a Democrat could in that time.
Again, to be honest: if Bernie is a protest candidate-to raise profile for certain issues that are very important to him- he's done a very good job. If he is a real candidate to be the next POTUS, there is plenty to be desired.