2020 Presidential Election

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www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/02/07/george-stephanopoulous-asks-candidates-if-theyre-uncomfortable-with-democratic-socialist-nominee-bernie-sanders/

ABC News moderator George Stephanopoulos asked every other candidate in the Democrat debate in New Hampshire on Friday evening — other than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — if they would be comfortable having a “democratic socialist” at the top of the party’s ticket in November.

It was a rare instance of a member of the mainstream media pinning Sanders down about his far-left ideology. But it also singled out Sanders alone.




Stephanopoulus, who once led communications for President Bill Clinton, began by asking former Vice President Joe Biden about his recent comments warning that President Donald Trump would love to run against a “democratic socialist.”

Sanders replied that it did not matter what his personal label was, because President Trump would give any candidate a label because he “lies” all of the time, regardless.

But the moderator then turned to all of the other candidates, asking whether they shared Biden’s concern about having a “democratic socialist” running against Trump in the fall. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was the only one who raised her hand. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said he did not worry about labels, but said that the party could not nominate someone who said “my way or the highway.”

When Stephanopolos asked whether he was referring to Sanders, Buttigieg said he was. ”

“Needless to say, I have never said that,” Sanders retorted, adding that the party needed a candidate who did not work for the “billionaire class” — a shot at Buttigieg, whom the Sanders campaign has criticized for his fundraising among the elite.

Sanders supporters have long suspected that the Democratic National Committee and the mainstream media moderators are determined to keep him from winning the nomination.

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thefederalist.com/2020/02/07/sanders-rejects-trumps-booming-economy-message-in-new-hampshire/

Sanders Rejects Trump’s Booming Economy Message In New Hampshire
FEBRUARY 7, 2020 By Erielle Davidson
Since 1996, the New England Council and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics & Political Library at Saint Anselm College have teamed up to offer breakfast sessions for local New Hampshire business leaders to meet presidential candidates. Friday morning, as part of the “Politics and Eggs” series, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont spoke to a packed room of well-clad listeners from both New Hampshire and surrounding states, offering what many would likely interpret as a response to President Trump’s economically optimistic State of the Union address.

In the same way President Trump opened his State of the Union address with a discussion of the booming Trump economy, Sanders thundered back his own narrative of what he saw to be entirely failing economic system.


Primary events serve as de facto laboratories, allowing arguments to be tested before the party nominee assumes the mantle, and today was no exception. Arguments made by candidates make now may reveal talking points likely to be lodged in the general election.

“If you are the average American worker, despite huge increases in technology and productivity over the last 45 years, today you are not earning a nickel more in real inflation-accounted-for dollars than you did 45 years ago. Why is that?” asked Sanders with his classic arms up exasperatedly move.

Repeating this refrain several times to a somber audience, the Vermont senator failed to articulate that what has arguably remained stagnant is not precisely wages, but rather purchasing power. And even then, as economist Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute notes, the farther back you go, the more imperfect this metric becomes.

Making apples-to-apples comparisons of the purchasing power of wages becomes much more difficult the further back you go. How do you compare the price of a car in 2019 with one in 1973, given the significant improvements in automobiles? How do you compare the price of a laptop in 2019 with one in 1973, given that none existed in the 1970s?

But time isn’t the only variable that may significantly impact such statistics. When accounting for inflation, whether one uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, they can produce dramatically different results. The PCE accounts for the ability of individuals to substitute different goods and services in response to changes in prices and thus, may actually tell a more nuanced story than the CPI. As Strain notes, “Using the PCE, the wages of a typical worker have increased by 32% over the past three decades. That’s a significant increase in purchasing power.” (emphasis added)

In addition to going after wages, Sanders’ other tack was to take up the usual banner of attacking economic inequality, declaring righteously, “We have more income and wealth inequality than we’ve had in 100 years.” Though economic inequality remains the original sin of the left, disparities in income are not inherently evil – in fact, you can have a society with virtually no income inequality and high levels of destitution. What many economists will tell you is that absolute growth is more important than relative growth.

The income inequality refrain, combined with the narrative of stagnant wages, will be used to detract from Trump’s argument that the economy is doing great, but it may not be enough. According to recent polling performed by Gallup, nearly six in 10 Americans say that they are better off financially than they were just a year prior, a value matching the rate of economic satisfaction experienced during the dot-com boom.

Similarly, economic optimism is up, with nearly three in four U.S. adults reporting that they predict they will be better off financially in the coming year, the highest value since 1977. The unemployment rate has reached all-time lows since unemployment rates were first recorded. Coincidentally, at the precise time Sanders railed against the economy, the Labor Department reported Friday morning that job growth in January exceeded expectations by nearly 70,000 jobs. That’s nothing to shrug at, and Democrats are making a misstep by purposely ignoring the good.

None of this is to say that the economy is in perfect shape. Yet, given the economic trends as of late, Democrats will have their work cut out for them in the 2020 election, especially if they opt to run an anti-capitalist on the ticket. But Bernie’s latest speech seems to offer a glimpse as to what we might expect the Democrats’ talking points to be in the 2020 election, as they go head-to-head against an economy that’s riding a wave of approval it hasn’t seen in decades.

Admittedly, to suggest to your voters that their prosperity isn’t so great is a strange argument to make, and may not hold its weight in the general. If Democrats are serious about winning, they’re going to have to devise a better argument than, “Don’t believe your lying eyes.”

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thefederalist.com/2020/02/07/joe-walsh-drops-out-of-gop-primary-backs-socialism/

Joe Walsh Drops Out Of GOP Primary, Backs Socialism
FEBRUARY 7, 2020 By Tristan Justice
Former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh ended his longshot presidential bid Friday after only receiving a mere 348 votes in the Iowa Republican caucuses Monday.

“So you’re going to try to help elect the Democratic nominee, is that what you’re saying?” CNN’s Josh Berman asked Walsh.


“Any Democrat,” Walsh said without hesitation. “John, Donald Trump is a dictator. He’s a king… Any Democrat would be better than Trump in the White House.”

Walsh didn’t say which candidate he would be most likely to support this fall, but argued many former Republicans would likely follow Walsh to support the Democratic candidate even if it were self-identifying socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

“Would you support Bernie Sanders?” Berman asked. “You’re a former Tea Party Republican and you’re saying to me you would support Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren?”

“I would rather have, John Berman, a socialist in the White House than a dictator, than a king, than Donald Trump,” Walsh reaffirmed.

Walsh, a former one-term congressman, launched a primary challenge against Trump in August. One month later, Walsh called his own party a “cult” while seeking its presidential nomination.

“I’ve given up on the Republican Party. The Republican Party is a cult,” Walsh said on CNN. “They no longer stand for ideals. The Republican Party right now is all about washing their leaders’ feet every day, that’s what they do.”

Walsh lost his seat in the House by 10 percent to Democrat Tammy Duckworth in 2012 who is now a U.S. senator. After leaving Congress, Walsh worked as a conservative radio host.

Two other Republican candidates mounted primary challenges against Trump this cycle including former moderate Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, who ran for vice president on the Libertarian ticket in 2016 and former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford who dropped out in November.

A new Gallup poll out this week shows Trump with the highest approval rating of his presidency at 49 percent and a 94 percent approval rating among Republicans.

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8:50 PM: On Soleimani, Buttigieg says there is no evidence that killing Soleimani made American safer. He also says Iraq taught us that killing a bad guy does nothing if you have no idea what you are doing next. Buttigieg, when pressed if he would order such a strike, says this is not an episode of 24 and implies Trump doesn’t even read the intelligence that is needed to figure out if such a strike is justified.

Biden says he wouldn’t have ordered the strike because there is “no evidence” there was an imminent threat. He rips Trump’s “America alone” foreign policy.

8:46 PM: Sanders brushes off Hillary’s comments. He says Democrats should not look back to 2016 and he hope Clinton and other Democrats could come together. Sanders says he passed more amendments on the floor of the House in a bipartisan way than any other member in House to argue that he can bring Republicans and Democrats together to pass legislation.

8:43 PM: Biden says Vindman should have gotten a Medal of Freedom instead of Rush and asks the audience to give Vindman a standing ovation.

Buttigieg says he is not going to let Trump change the subject by talking about Hunter Biden. He says it is “dishonorable” for Trump to try to pit Hunter against Joe.

8:37 PM: On impeachment, Warren says nobody should be above the law. Yang warns about establishing a pattern of throwing presidents in jail. Sanders warns about the precedent Trump set. Sanders says future presidents will withhold highway funds from governors if they don’t support re-election efforts. Sanders says Republicans in the Senate knew Trump is a “crook” and a cheat” and they, except for Romney, didn’t have the guts to vote against him. Steyer mentions he started the “Need to Impeach” movement and rips the “sham trial.”

8:35 PM: Yang says Democrats must stop thinking that Trump is the cause and not the symptom. He also reveals that Democrats may have given up on Ohio, saying it is so red that he is hearing Democrats won’t even campaign there in the fall.


8:33 PM: Buttigieg rips Trump for skipping military service and his “disgraceful” performance that the prayer debate.

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www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/poll-democrat-abby-finkenauer-race-in-dead-heat-after-backing-impeachment/

Freshman swing district Rep. Abby Finkenauer’s (D-IA) campaign has struck a dead heat since backing impeachment against President Donald Trump, according to a poll released Friday.

Harper Polling released a poll that found that Finkenauer is in a dead heat with Republican Ashley Hinson, an Iowa state representative.




Forty-four percent of likely voters in Iowa’s first district would pick Finkenauer, 40 percent would choose Hinson, and 15 percent are not sure whom to vote for in the election. Given that the poll has a 4.9 percent margin of error, the race is in a statistical tie.

The survey found that Hinson already has a substantial 82 percent support from Republicans and 71 percent support from conservatives.

The poll also found that a plurality of voters are less likely to back Finkenauer after learning about her vote to impeach the president.

Fifty-one percent of undecided voters are less likely to vote for the Iowa Democrat after hearint she voted to impeach Trump. Forty-eight percent are less likely to vote for Finkenauer after hearing she voted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) 90 percent of the time.

The Harper Polling survey found that Hinson’s voting record and history resonated with voters.

Sixty-seven percent of voters said that they were more likely to vote for Hinson after hearing that the state representative worked to improve access to rural hospitals, secured funding for women’s health centers, and that she pledged to fight to lower prescription drug costs.

Fifty percent of Iowans said that they were more likely to vote for Hinson after learning that she also served as a news reporter for KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she reported on the rising cost of health care, flooding in Iowa, and other issues facing eastern Iowa.

The survey also found that after hearing about Hinson’s record, the Iowa Republican beats Finkenauer by eight points (48-40 percent), which serves as a 12 percent swing from the initial ballot.

On top of voting to impeach the president, Rep. Finkenauer voted with Democrats on Thursday to reject a Republican amendment that would have banned illegal immigrants from working with labor unions.

One senior House GOP aide told Breitbart News that the Democrats’ rejection of the Republican motion to recommit shows how they fail to put American workers before illegal immigrants.



“It’s appalling that Democrats have once again refused to put American workers first. Their far-left vote today shows their unwillingness to support even commonsense measures to protect American citizens from being undercut by illegal immigration,” the House aide told Breitbart News.

Harper Polling conducted the survey for the Future Leaders Fund by polling 400 likely voters in Iowa’s first district. The poll was completed between January 11 and 12 and has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

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www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/02/07/brennan-trump-relies-on-the-ignorance-of-many-people/

Former CIA Director John Brennan said Friday on MSNBC that President Donald Trump holds on to power by relying on “the ignorance of many people as well as corrupt politicians.”

Brennan said, “I have seen this script play out so many times overseas where you have a power-hungry, narcissistic individual who relies on the ignorance of many people as well as corrupt politicians and ideologues in order to solidify his hold on power. That’s what we see with Donald Trump.”

He added, “He’s not interested in doing what is right for the country or the American people. He’s interested most in doing what is going to advance his personal interest. It so unfortunate what we saw in the impeachment hearings that only a person like Mitt Romney actually called upon his conscience and did the right thing.”

www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/02/07/brennan-hearing-trump-call-comey-a-sleazebag-makes-my-blood-boil/

Former CIA director John Brennan said Friday on MSNBC that President Donald Trump calling former FBI Director a sleazebag made his “blood boil.”

After a clip of the president’s comments yesterday, Brennan said, “Just hearing that makes my blood boil. So I know there are individuals within the FBI who feel the same way. But Donald Trump’s behavior and comments yesterday were despicable, utterly detestable. I don’t see how anybody could, in fact, defend himself performance yesterday.”

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www.dailywire.com/news/watch-bernie-buttigieg-biden-lash-out-at-trump-for-killing-top-terrorist-soleimani

WATCH: Bernie, Buttigieg, Biden Lash Out At Trump For Killing Top Terrorist Soleimani

Three top Democrat presidential candidates – Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, and Bernie Sanders – all hit President Donald Trump on Friday night during ABC News’ Democrat debate over his decision to kill Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani.


“While there is still debate on whether there was an imminent threat, there is no debate on whether Soleimani was a bad actor who was responsible for the deaths of many Americans,” ABC News said. “Given what you know about Soleimani, if your national security team came to you with an opportunity to strike, would Soleimani have been dead or would he still be alive under your presidency?”

“In the situation that we saw with President Trump’s decision, there is no evidence that that made our country safer,” Buttigieg said. “Look, uh, I feel very strongly about the campaign of murder and mayhem that General Soleimani and his units have perpetrated. It’s also the case that if we have learned nothing else from the war in Iraq, it’s that taking out a bad guy is not a good idea if you do not know what you are doing.”

Sanders responded by saying, “You cannot go around saying, ‘You’re a bad guy, we’re going to assassinate you,’ and then you’re going have, if that happens, you’re opening the door to international anarchy that every government in the world will then be subjected to attacks and assassination.”

When Biden was asked if he would have ordered the strike, he responded by saying, “No, and the reason I wouldn’t have ordered the strike, there’s no evidence yet of imminent threat that was going to come from him.

The U.S. State Department released the following fact sheet on Soleimani:

Since 1998, Qassem Soleimani commanded Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the terror arm of the Iranian regime. The IRGC-QF is tasked with planning and executing terror and military operations outside Iran’s borders. Under Soleimani’s command, the IRGC-QF has fueled destabilizing sectarian conflicts throughout the Middle East for decades.
The IRGC-QF continues to wage an illegal campaign of terrorism, assassinations, and violence. At Soleimani’s direction and with his oversight and guidance, the IRGC-QF has planned and conducted terrorist attacks across six continents and inside the United States.
The United States designated IRGC-QF a Foreign Terrorist Organization for its activities, and the United States designated Soleimani as a Specially-Designated Global Terrorist.
As the leader of the IRGC-QF, Qassem Soleimani was directly responsible for arming, funding, and training proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Operations carried out by these proxy groups have led to the death and suffering of tens of thousands, including many hundreds of Americans. These proxies routinely target and kill civilians, intensify sectarian conflicts, and prolong the suffering of innocent men, women, and children.
Soleimani personally directed and provided arms to militias in Iraq for more than a decade. These militias undermine the sovereignty of the Iraqi state, threaten the legitimacy of Iraq’s security forces, and target American citizens and forces. With Soleimani’s support and lethal assistance, proxies of the IRGC-QF targeted and killed over 600 Americans between 2003 and 2011.
We can confirm that in the past several days, General Soleimani had been traveling in the Middle East coordinating further imminent large-scale attacks against U.S. diplomats and service members. These threats were highly credible and the intelligence is sound. General Soleimani’s travel also violated the ban imposed by the United Nations Security Council.
Recent orders given by General Soleimani dramatically escalated Iran’s campaign of violence and terrorism against Americans and American interests in the Middle East. He orchestrated a series of attacks against American forces in Iraq in the past several months, culminating in the rocket attack on December 27, 2019, which resulted in the death of an American citizen, wounded four American service members, and threatened the lives of many more American personnel. General Soleimani also ordered the assault on the American Embassy in Baghdad. General Soleimani continued to command Iranian supported proxies in Iraq, which posed an escalating threat to the lives of Americans.
For his actions, Soleimani had been designated and sanctioned by the United Nations, European Union, and United States and is banned from international travel by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231. In defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions, however, Soleimani continued to travel to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon directing and coordinating lethal actions that pose a threat to regional peace and security.
Some key international and United States designations of Soleimani include:
Designated a Tier I terrorist as part of the Department of State designation of the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2019.
Designated under U.S. Executive Order 13224 as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2011.
Designated under U.S. EO 13572 for human rights abuses in 2011.
Designated under U.S. EO 13882 for providing material support to terrorists in 2007.
Sanctioned by the United Nations under UNSCR 1747 for involvement in Iran’s nuclear program in 2007.
Designated by the European Union in EU 442/2011 for support to the Syrian regime in 2011.

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10:05 PM: Sanders disagrees with New Hampshire’s Senators on USMCA because it did not include anything on climate change. Klobuchar asked why she voted for it. She wants to defend the NH Senators because there were some major improvements on labor issues. Steyer agrees with Sanders.

9:55 PM: Warren, when asked about Bloomberg, also takes a shot at Buttigieg. She says billionaires should not be able to buy the presidency. And neither should people who “suck up to billionaires.”

9:53 PM: Yang says the median household net worth of African-Americans is expected to be zero in a few decades. He says people of color suffer the most because of automation or if there are natural disasters. Yang says you can’t prevent the tsunami from knocking out the wealth of African-Americans and other workers of all backgrounds if you don’t put “straight cash” in their hands with his Freedom Dividend.

9:51 PM: Steyer says “out of narrative comes policy.” He says there should be a commission on race that deals with race explicitly. He want the commission to retell the story of America the last 400 years of systematic racism against African-Americans and the contributions African-Americans have made and how African-Americans have led. He wants to talk about Jim Crow, MLK, Barbara Lee and then figure out how to repair the damage.

9:50 PM: Biden says voters in South Carolina took issue with Turner’s “letter,” referring to her op-ed.

Turner: I’ll say it again!

9:49 PM: Klobuchar talking about voting rights and how Republicans are “surgically” preventing black voters from voting in places like North Carolina.



9:47 PM: Sanders asked if Biden has betrayed black voters like Nina Turner, his national co-chair, wrote in an op-ed. Sanders says he think she was referring to some of his earlier remarks and does not think Biden has betrayed black people.

9:45 PM: Sanders says America is a racist society “top to bottom.” Steyer wants Biden to disavow comments from one of his top advisers in South Carolina.

9:39 PM: Warren not satisfied with Buttigieg’s answer and says it was the policy of the United States of America to discriminate against people of color for buying homes until 1965. She calls for race-conscious laws to make the country a country for opportunity.

Yang says you can’t regulate away racism with a patchwork of laws that are race-specific. Yang quotes MLK, who also supported a guaranteed income, to back up his arguments for his Freedom Dividend.

Steyer is now bringing up his support reparations and says he has worked to end cash bail and private prisons.

9:38 PM: Buttigieg dodging questions about an increase in marijuana possession for blacks in South Bend while he was mayor. Davis, who won’t let Buttigieg wiggle his way out with his typical nothing-speak, also noted that for all of railing about “systemic racism,” Buttigieg was the “head of the system.”

9:37 PM: Steyer, improving as a candidate and debater, rips the debate for not mentioning race once so far. He says Democrats should be talking more about issues impacting black voters, Latinos, AAPI, Native Americans.

9:36 PM: Sanders says he would have a litmus test, make Roe the law of the land, and increase funding for Planned Parenthood.

9:30 PM: Buttigieg doesn’t want the Supreme Court to be a battlefield. He wants reforms in the makeup of the court and Constitutional amendments to overturn Citizens United.



9:29 PM: Warren wants Roe v. Wade to be national law and says talks about how rich people would still get abortions if abortion were outlawed.



9:25 PM: Debate turns to Supreme Court and litmus tests. Biden asked about litmus tests and abortion. He says he was not quoted fully, insists his test was about “unenumerated rights” in the Constitution.

9:22 PM: Sanders, asked about his shift on gun issues, says he lost a House seat because he wanted an assault weapons ban. He says he comes from a rural state and the world has changed, and that’s why his views have changed.

Biden whacks Sanders for not wanting gun manufacturers to be liable, saying thousands and thousands of people died while Sanders held his views.

Warren says we need to treat gun violence like the “public safety emergency that it is” like the country did with automobile-related deaths.

9:16 PM: Yang says you have to look at the companies that have profited off of “blood money.” He says he will take back the profits and put them back to work in places like New Hampshire for treatment. He says this is a human problem but money cannot be an obstacle. He says the opioid epidemic happened on the government watch and people seeking treatment should know that they will not go to jail.

9:15 PM: Buttigieg, when asked about decriminalization, says incarceration should not a response to drug possession. He rips companies for making the opioid crisis worse with legal drugs.

9:06 PM: Sanders, contrasting himself with Biden, said he too listened to all of the Bush administration’s arguments on Iraq and concluded they were “lying through their teeth.”

9:03 PM: Steyer asked about his qualifications to be Commander-in-Chief. He says we are hearing a very long dissertation on the debate stage about how America should be the world’s policeman. He ways when we are talking about America’s role in the world, Trump has abandoned diplomacy and America’s allies. He brings debate back to climate change, which he says cannot be solved with guns, tanks, and planes. He says we are listening to a discussion on the 20 years of failed foreign/military policies.



9:01 PM: On Iraq, Biden says he made a mistake when he trusted George W. Bush on Iraq.

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dailycaller.com/2020/02/07/elizabeth-warren-democrats-black-vote/

Democratic Massachusetts Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said her fellow Democrats “talk about how important the black community is, at least at election time” during Friday night’s Democratic debates.

WATCH:



“I’m glad to stand on the stage with my fellow Democrats who talk about how important the black community is, at least at election time,” Warren said on Friday. “Year after year after year, and election after election after election, Democrats go to people in the black community and say, ‘Boy, we really care about these issues. Racism is terrible. We all want to do something.'”

Warren contended that “the problem just seems to keep getting worse” before calling for “concrete plans” that will “make a difference in people’s lives.”

Her solutions included a 2 percent wealth tax that could go toward canceling student loan debt, a proposal the Massachusetts senator said will “help close the black-white wealth gap by about 20 points.” (RELATED: Former NAACP Assistant Director Accuses Democrats Of ‘Pandering To Black Voters’ On Reparations)

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“We aren’t making a difference in America,” she said. “We’re saying to the rich folks, ‘you keep your money and the rest of us will talk about racism, but not really do anything.’ I think the time for that is over.”

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dailycaller.com/2020/02/07/bernie-sanders-racist-society/

‘We Have A Racist Society From Top To Bottom’: Sanders Interrupts Candidates Fighting Over Who Has More Of The Black Vote

2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders said Friday that “we have a racist society from top to bottom.”

The Vermont senator spoke Friday evening at ABC’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire, where he discussed racism in the United States as former Vice President Joe Biden and billionaire Tom Steyer argued over who has more support from black voters.


“We have a racist society from top to bottom,” Sanders said, adding that this “racist society” is “impacting health care, housing, criminal justice, education — you name it.” (RELATED: Buttigieg Says There Is ‘No Evidence’ That Killing Soleimani Made America Safer)

“And clearly this is an issue that must be dealt with,” he added. “But in terms of criminal justice, what we have got to do is understand the system is broken, is racist.”

“We invest in our young people, in jobs, in education, not more jails, and incarceration. We end the war on drugs, which has disproportionately impacted African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. We end private prisons and detention centers in America.”

WATCH:

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dailycaller.com/2020/02/07/joe-biden-donald-trump-rush-limbaugh-medal-of-freedom-alexander-vindman/

Former Vice President Joe Biden ripped President Donald Trump’s decision to give conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom during Friday’s Democratic debate, saying the award should have gone to Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman instead.

Biden attacked Trump for his constant quips at Democratic candidates, noting that the president thinks “he has free reign.” The former vice president went on to dismiss Trump’s decision to give Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom during Tuesday’s 2020 State of the Union, claiming the honor should have gone to Vindman, who was fired from the White House earlier Friday.


“He [Trump] thinks he has free reign right now,” Biden began. “One of the things that I think is really important is we have to be authentic with the American people about what we’re gonna do and how we’re gonna do it. And by the way, Col. Vindman got thrown out of the White House today, walked out.”

“I think we should – and at the same time – he should be pinning a medal on Vindman and not on Rush Limbaugh.”



Biden continued his speech by telling the New Hampshire crowd to give Vindman a standing ovation. Those attending the Democratic debate stood up and cheered for the lieutenant colonel, who was formally the Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council (NSC). He was escorted from the White House Friday.

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Vindman previously testified before the House Intelligence Committee that the president had appeared to “subvert” U.S. foreign policy. (RELATED: Vindman Was ‘Deeply Troubled’ By Trump’s Effort To ‘Subvert’ US Foreign Policy. Brit Hume Points Out His ‘Huge Fallacy’)

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10:45 PM: ABC’s Terry Moran: Joe Biden mistook ” decibel levels for eloquence.”

10:15: Final question deals with child poverty as the debate experiences technical difficulties.

Yang: Answer for child poverty is to put money directly in the hands of Americans, especially single parents. He says we have fallen into the trap of letting the market tells us how much we are worth…coaches, caregivers, stay-at-home moms are worth zero. He says the mission of his campaign is to disentangle economic value and human value and say they are not the same thing.

Buttigieg: He says America has been counting the wrong things (Dow Jones). He wants to measure economic progress by the growth of the 90 percent.

Warren says she learned early on about the worth of every human being and the best investment a nation can make “is to invest in our children.” She says it’s time to come up with real plans to make that happen like her two-cent wealth tax.

Biden: “These aren’t someone else’s children.” He says they are “all our children” and wonders if the country wants to walk away from Latinos students by not funding childhood programs.

Sanders: He says the reason America has the highest levels of childhood poverty is the same reason the country doesn’t have universal health care and gives massive trillion-dollar breaks to rich corporations and the fossil-fuel industry. He says it’s because the country’s priorities are determined by those who want the rich to get richer. He says what’s different about his campaign is his campaign is raising money from working-class people and not billionaires.

Klobuchar talks about her plan to reduce and eventually eradicate childhood poverty. She says to get that done, Democrats have to reach voters they have lost in previous elections. She rips Trump for his lack of “empathy.” Bizarre argument given how terribly she has reportedly treated her staffers.

Steyer talks about corporations who pollute and try to break unions. He says Democrats are not going to win by criticizing Trump. He says there is a better America out there that understands that when a kid succeeds in Columbia, South Carolina, and Las Vegas, Nevada, it is a success for the whole country. He says Trump doesn’t understand what economic success looks like across the country.

10:05 PM: Sanders disagrees with New Hampshire’s Senators on USMCA because it did not include anything on climate change. Klobuchar asked why she voted for it. She wants to defend the NH Senators because there were some major improvements on labor issues. Steyer agrees with Sanders.

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www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/02/07/abcs-jonathan-karl-it-was-a-breakthrough-night-for-amy-klobuchar/

ABC’s News political reporter Jonathan Karl said Friday night after the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates debated in Manchester, NH that Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) had a “breakthrough night.”

Karl said, “I have to say, I think it was a breakthrough night for Amy Klobuchar. This was by far her best debate. She took on her opponents, especially Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, but she also made a coherent and forceful case for her candidacy as a Democrat who has won among democrats but has also won among the voters the democrats failed to win in 2016. So I thought a very big night for Amy Klobuchar.”

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www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/tom-steyer-takes-aim-at-democrat-field-were-in-trouble/

Democrat presidential candidate and billionaire Tom Steyer took aim at those alongside him on stage at the Democrat presidential debate in New Hampshire on Friday and said his party is “in trouble” ahead of the election.

Steyer said:


Look, what we saw Mitch McConnell do, not just in the Supreme Court with Merrick Garland, but across the board with federal judges, was refuse to allow President Obama’s picks to be considered. That’s why Mr. Trump has appointed so many federal judges, because in fact, Republicans have refused to allow President Obama to get his due.

Everybody on this row feels the same way about a woman’s right to choose. Everybody on this row feels exactly the same way on gun control.

Tom Steyer: "These Republicans are in control. They're stacking the court for a generation with young, rightwing radicals…The question is what are we going to do about it?" t.co/Rhy9aOaDTU #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/J01co5jqxX

— ABC News (@abc) February 8, 2020

Steyer went on:

There’s something else going on. These Republicans are in control. They’re stacking the court for a generation with young, rightwing radicals and we’ve watched it happen. The question is what are we going to do about it? That’s where we are in the United States.

Steyer also stated that the Democrat Party is “in trouble” ahead of the 2020 presidential election.



“Joe Biden is right,” Steyer claimed. “We have to go win a huge victory this year and we’re in trouble. Look at these people. Who can pull together the Democratic Party?”

Earlier in the debate, Steyer also confronted his rivals on economic issues, saying, “We’re going to have to take Mr. Trump down on the economy…” He added:

Everybody on this stage is better on economic justice and healthcare than anybody in the Republican Party and a million times better than Donald Trump. That is not the question in front of us today. The question in front of us today is how we’re going to beat Donald Trump.

Tom Steyer: “We’re going to have to take Mr. Trump down on the economy because if you listen to him, he’s crowing about it every single day and he’s going to beat us unless we can take him down on the economy, stupid.” t.co/Rhy9aOaDTU #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/FuSJPRyqrY

— ABC News (@abc) February 8, 2020

Steyer said:

I trust these people a million times more, but we’re going to have to take Mr. Trump down on the economy because if you listen to him, he’s crowing about it every single day and he’s going to beat us unless we can take him down on the economy, stupid. And that’s the issue here.

It’s not about who has the best healthcare plan. All the healthcare plans are better. The question is who can go toe-to-toe with Mr. Trump? Who can take down Mr. Trump, because he’s the real threat to the country.

Steyer also took direct aim at Pete Buttigieg, saying he’s worried that he does not have “experience.”

[soonernvolved]

www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/joe-biden-kicks-up-the-yelling-at-eighth-democrat-debate/

Former Vice President Joe Biden kicked up the volume at the eighth Democrat debate on Friday.

The former vice president, dubbed by President Donald Trump “Sleepy Joe,” frequently yelled his answers to basic debate questions.




Biden suffered a fourth-place finish in Iowa, putting the squeeze on the vice president to perform better in the debates.

During the debate, Biden also seized a fountain pen on the podium and clenched it in his fist, waving it around to emphasize his points.

It was a sudden change for Biden, who frequently suffered gaffes and brain freezes on the stage during his responses in past debates, at times stumbling over statistics.

The yelling frequently took place when Biden was emphasizing his record as a Senator, which has been criticized by his fellow candidates in past debates.

Joe Biden on U.S. service members who suffered traumatic brain injuries following Iranian missile attack: "What'd the president say? He said, headaches…that's all they are. This guy doesn't deserve to be commander-in-chief for one more day!" t.co/Rhy9aOaDTU #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/Y5i3GdZ4Jy

— ABC News (@abc) February 8, 2020

Joe Biden: "Col. Vindman got thrown out of the White House today…[Pres. Trump] should have been pinning a medal on Vindman and not on Rush Limbaugh."

Joe Biden called for the crowd to stand and applaud Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. t.co/Rhy9aOaDTU #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/aWoLr6u10V

— ABC News (@abc) February 8, 2020

Joe Biden on Medicare for All: "Bernie says he wrote the damn thing—but he's unwilling to tell us what the damn thing is going to cost." t.co/Rhy9aOaDTU #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/dU6GXSkhjZ

— ABC News (@abc) February 8, 2020

The change was also noted by several debate viewers on Twitter.

BIDEN: I'm the only guy who beat the NRA twice! I set up drug courts! I put in a billion dollars to fight opioid addiction! Am I on a roll? Is the partial-yelling working? Did I solve a problem? Where am I?! WHERE AM I?!#DemDebate

— Paul Walter Hauser (@paulwhauser) February 8, 2020



Biden has 150% more energy in this debate than he has in any others, is basically constantly in a state of yelling. Fourth place has lit a fire under his bum.

— Laura Bassett (@lebassett) February 8, 2020

Biden literally yelling to get due credit for setting up drug courts is…….something

— Akela Lacy (@akela_lacy) February 8, 2020

I wish Biden would stop yelling at me

— AG (@andyglockner) February 8, 2020

i feel like this has been two hours of biden yelling?

— rat king (@mikeisaac) February 8, 2020

Biden just reminded himself mid health care answer that he has to start yelling to convince voters he has the energy for this. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/8AO7liTyQE

— Chris Stigall (@chrisstigall) February 8, 2020

Biden is yelling. And mad.

— Jessica Taylor (@jessicataylor) February 8, 2020

Why am I still watching Joe Biden on my television shaking his fist and yelling I WAS THERE at anyone who challenges him on anything

— andi zeisler (@andizeisler) February 8, 2020

Whenever I see Biden on the debate stage I can’t help but think that he sounds like he’s never been on a debate stage before. The yelling, the rushed answers, ect. How is he not better at this?

— MichaelStarr Hopkins (@theonlyhonest) February 8, 2020

[soonernvolved]

www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/fact-check-liz-warren-falsely-claims-3-of-4-americans-believe-roe-v-wade-should-be-law/

Fact Check: Liz Warren Falsely Claims ‘3 of 4’ Americans Believe Roe v. Wade Should Be Law

CLAIM: Elizabeth Warren claimed the vast majority of Americans believe Roe v. Wade should be codified into law.

VERDICT: FALSE. Most polling, including the results of a Marist poll released just two weeks ago, finds most Americans reject the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.




Elizabeth Warren said during the Democrat debate in New Hampshire Friday evening that “three out of every four people in America believe right now that the rule of Roe v. Wade should be the law.”

Sen. Warren on if there should be a litmus test on abortions: "It is time to have a national law to protect the right of a woman's choice." t.co/8EYJNMry9k #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/PmXwfims6a

— ABC News (@abc) February 8, 2020

However, according to the Marist poll released two weeks ago, 62 percent of Americans say that if the Supreme Court revisits Roe v. Wade, it should rule to allow states to determine abortion restrictions (46 percent) or make abortion illegal (16 percent). This outcome includes 39 percent of those who identify as Democrat and 40 percent of those who consider themselves “pro-choice.”

According to the poll, only 33 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal at any time without restriction.

The poll found 41 percent of those who identify as pro-choice are more likely to vote for candidates who support abortion restrictions, as are more than nine in ten, or 96 percent, of those who identify as pro-life.

Additionally, 65 percent of Americans, and the same percentage of registered voters, say they “are more likely to vote for” candidates who would limit abortion to, at most, the first three months of pregnancy. This outcome includes 88 percent of Republicans, 62 percent of independents, and 44 percent of Democrats.

Democrat rival Amy Klobuchar made a false claim similar to that of Warren during the Democrat debate in Georgia in November.

In January 2019, another Marist poll found 75 percent of Americans want substantial restrictions on abortion, including 60 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of those who identify as “pro-choice.”

According to that poll, 75 percent of Americans said abortion should be limited to — at most — the first three months of pregnancy. Among those who identified as Republicans, 92 percent wanted that restriction, as did 78 percent of independents and 60 percent of Democrats. Perhaps most significantly, that view was shared by 61 percent of those who identified as “pro-choice.”



In addition, that survey found 65 percent of Americans say if the Supreme Court revisits Roe v. Wade, the high court should either return the issue of the legality of abortion to the states (49 percent) or outlaw the procedure altogether (16 percent). Only 30 percent of those surveyed in the 2019 poll said they would prefer that the Supreme Court rule in favor of unrestricted abortion.


Regarding taxpayer funding of the procedure, 54 percent opposed any taxpayer funding of abortion, while 39 percent supported it.

On the issue of overseas abortions, the poll found 75 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding abroad, through non-governmental organizations such as International Planned Parenthood, with only 19 percent in favor of such funding. When political affiliation is a factor, 94 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of independents, and 56 percent of Democrats, oppose taxpayer funding of abortion overseas.

Since some Democrat-led states have passed legislation that would allow abortion up until the time of birth, public opinion has shifted on abortion.

In February 2019, another Marist poll, released after New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that made abortion a fundamental right, found a 17-point shift toward the pro-life position.

The poll found a double-digit shift, with Americans now as likely to identify as pro-life (47 percent) as pro-choice (47 percent) since the Marist poll conducted one month earlier in January. In addition, pro-life Democrats alone shifted from 20 to 34 percent, an outcome that showed more than one-third of Democrats now identify as pro-life.

“Current proposals that promote late-term abortion have reset the landscape and language on abortion in a pronounced – and very measurable – way,” Marist Poll Director Barbara Carvalho said in a press release, adding:

The recent legal changes to late-term abortion and the debate which followed have not gone unnoticed by the general public … there has been a significant increase in the proportion of Americans who see themselves as pro-life and an equally notable decline in those who describe themselves as pro-choice.



A YouGov survey, also in February 2019, found most Americans who identify as “pro-choice” oppose late-term abortions.

The Associated Press reported as well that 66 percent of adults who identify as pro-choice opposed third-trimester abortions, while 68 percent opposed abortions the day before a baby is born.

Among all adults surveyed, 79 percent rejected late-term abortion, and 80 percent opposed day-before-birth abortion.

Furthermore, 82 percent of all those surveyed disagreed with withholding medical care for a viable newborn, including 77 percent of pro-choice adults.

Warren also said during the debate Friday evening:

If we are going to protect the people of the United States of America and we are going to protect our right to have dominion over our own bodies, then it’s going to mean we can’t simply rely on the courts … That means we should be pushing for a congressional solution as well. It is time to have a national law to protect the right of a woman’s choice.

There is some indication Warren and other Democrats will make an attempt to codify Roe v. Wade into law. The House may take up a resolution (H.J. Res. 79) to erase the deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and use that to enshrine abortion in the Constitution.

Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins, whose organization has spearheaded a nationwide campaign to contact House members to urge a “no” vote on this resolution, said in a statement sent to Breitbart News:

If the resolution is passed by the House, the stage will be set to … enshrine abortion in the Constitution. The ERA isn’t about equality; it isn’t about women’s rights, and it doesn’t deserve to be an amendment to the Constitution. H.J. Res. 79 is a Trojan horse designed, constructed, and deployed by the left to wreak havoc on our Constitution by inserting language that will be a tax-payer funded hook for abortion.

“This is not speculation, as state courts have found state ERAs to require taxpayer funding of abortion,” Hawkins stated.

[soonernvolved]

www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/watch-pete-buttigieg-vows-to-free-74k-drug-traffickers-from-federal-prison/

During ABC News’s 2020 Democrat Debate, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, vowed to free all drug dealers and drug traffickers from federal prison in the midst of the opioid crisis.

“What I’ve called for is that incarceration should no longer be the response to drug possession,” Buttigieg said when asked about his stance on dealing with the nation’s opioid crisis.




“Again, what I’m calling for is that we end the use of incarceration as a response … this does not mean that it would be lawful to produce or distribute those kinds of harmful drugs,” Buttigieg continued.

Currently, there are nearly 74,000 drug offenders in federal prison — more than 99 percent of which are convicted drug traffickers and drug dealers. Those accused of drug trafficking often plead down to drug possession to secure lesser sentences.

Buttigieg on his drug policy: "What I've called for is that incarceration should no longer be the response to drug possession." t.co/0GxKJz7e8Y #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/odQNSYNQOu

— ABC News (@abc) February 8, 2020

Buttigieg’s plan would ensure that all of these nearly 74,000 drug traffickers are released from federal prison and that drug traffickers convicted in the future are never sent to prison for their crimes of getting Americans addicted to drugs and opioids.

Drug overdoses in 2017 killed an unprecedented 72,287 U.S. residents, nearly three times the number of individuals killed by global terrorism and 10,000 more than the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. Nearly 50,000 of those deadly overdoses were caused by either heroin or fentanyl.

[soonernvolved]

www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/02/07/ffact-check-joe-biden-claims-he-got-involved-in-politics-through-civil-rights/

CLAIM: Former Vice President Joe Biden asserted that he got involved in politics through the Civil Rights Movement at the eight Democrat presidential primary debate in New Hampshire on Friday.

VERDICT: False.


The claim, which Biden has made repeatedly over the span of his more than 40-year political career, is not accurate. Biden, who served as a public defender and local elected official before being elected to the Senate in 1972, was never a full-time activist, let alone a leader within the civil rights movement.

Although Biden took part in a few desegregation protests as a teenager, no record exists that he took part in any of the defining episodes of the civil rights movement throughout the 1960s. Despite there being no evidence, Biden has often inflated his civil rights activism while campaigning for public office.



As Breitbart News previously reported, Biden claimed to have “marched” in the civil rights movement during his first presidential bid.

“When I marched in the Civil Rights movement, I did not march with a 12-point program,” Biden told a group of school children in during a visit to New Hampshire in 1987. “I marched with tens of thousands of others to change attitudes, and we changed attitudes.”

The claim, however, turned out to be a lie, according to a report in June by the New York Times’ Matt Flegenheimer:

More than once, advisers had gently reminded Mr. Biden of the problem with this formulation: He had not actually marched during the civil rights movement. And more than once, Mr. Biden assured them he understood — and kept telling the story anyway.

The exaggeration, along with Biden’s propensity for plagiarism, would eventually force him to abandon his bid for the 1988 Democrat nomination before a single vote was cast.

[soonernvolved]

www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/bernie-sanders-in-nh-admits-assault-weapons-ban-is-just-the-start/

During the New Hampshire Democrat debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) again voiced support for banning “assault weapons” and admitted that such a ban is just the start.

He said he will “make certain that we end the sale and distribution of ‘assault weapons’ in this country.'” And as the audience applauded he added, “And we go further, we go further, but the bottom line is that I will not be intimidated by the NRA.”




Sen. Sanders on his proposed gun policy: "Under my administration, it will be the American people doing gun policy not dictated by the NRA….we need universal background checks." t.co/0GxKJz7e8Y #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/Q7huLTNuPa

— ABC News (@abc) February 8, 2020

Sanders also called for universal background checks. Such checks criminalize private gun sales, turning a neighbor into a criminal for selling a gun to a lifelong neighbor and turning a company employee into a criminal for selling a gun to a decades-old co-worker. But they do nothing to alleviate crime or the mass shootings Sanders referenced in a bid to justify his gun controls.

California has had universal background checks since the early 1990s, yet Americans have been glued to their televisions multiple times in recent years to watch news reports of mass shootings in the Golden State.

Sanders also called for ending the so-called “gun show loophole.” This has been a Democrat Party mantra for decades, as they see a ban on private gun sales at gun shows as a way to ban private gun sales in every situation.

On January 15, 2019, Breitbart News reported the Department of Justice figures drawn from interviews with 300,000 prisoners. Those figures showed only 0.8 percent of prisoners acquired their guns at a gun show.

[soonernvolved]

www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/fact-check-pete-buttigieg-dismisses-border-walls-as-outdated-17th-century-tech/

CLAIM: Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, claims that a border wall at the United States-Mexico border to protect Americans is a “17th Century” solution that only President Trump wants to use.

VERDICT: False. Border walls have regularly been built, constructed, and deployed to protect the borders and citizens of nations around the globe — including on the U.S. southern border to end illegal immigration.




“President Trump’s imagination of a national security strategy is a big wall and a moat full of alligators. It’s a 17th century approach to keeping a place safe,” Buttigieg said.

In fact, border walls are not and have never been considered an archaic solution to national security. As Breitbart News has chronicled, nations like Bulgaria, Slovenia, Israel, and Hungary have constructed border walls within the last decade and proven their effectiveness in protecting their nations’ citizens.

Likewise, Democrats once supported building a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2006, for example, then-Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Barbara Boxer all supported constructing a barrier at the southern border to protect Americans.

[soonernvolved]

www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/fact-check-bernie-sanders-claims-medicare-for-all-will-save-americans-substantial-sums-of-money/

CLAIM: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said his Medicare for All plan will save Americans “substantial sums of money.”

VERDICT: FALSE. Sanders has admitted that his Medicare for All plan will result in tax hikes for middle class Americans.
“What Medicare for All will do is save the average American substantial sums of money. Substantial. It’d be much less expensive than your plan,” Sanders said to Joe Biden (D), who criticized Sanders’ plan. “And we will expand Medicare to include dental care, eyeglasses, hearing aids, and home healthcare as well”:


What Medicare for All will do is save the average American substantial sums of money while expanding coverage. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/KH8oMSgYkD

— Bernie Sanders (@berniesanders) February 8, 2020



Sanders has admitted on numerous occasions that his Medicare for All plan, which could cost over $60 trillion over the next decade, would result in tax hikes for Americans making $29,000 per year and more.

“Is health care free? No, it is not,” he told late-night host Stephen Colbert in September. “So what we do is exempt the first $29,000 of a person’s income. You make less than $29,000, you pay nothing in taxes.”

“Above that, in a progressive way, with the wealthiest people paying the largest percentage, people do pay more in taxes,” Sanders said, contending that the absence of premiums will balance the tax hikes.

During July’s debate, Sanders again stated that people will “pay more in taxes” but claimed that it would result in “less” spent on health care.

Sanders recently admitted, during an appearance on CBS Evening News this month, that he does not know how much his Medicare for All plan will cost.

“You don’t know. Nobody knows. This is impossible to predict,” Sanders said of the cost of his plan.

“You’re going to propose a plan to the American people, and you’re not going to tell them how much it costs?” host Norah O’Donnell asked.

“Of course I will. Do you know exactly what healthcare costs will be…in the next ten years if we do nothing? It will be a lot more expensive than a Medicare-for-all single-payer system,” he said.

[soonernvolved]

Pulling a page out of the Clinton playbook I see:

www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/report-michael-bloomberg-paying-social-media-influencers-to-make-him-seem-cool/

The presidential campaign of former New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg has begun an initiative to pay social media users to promote his work and agenda ahead of the 2020 election.

The startup, seen by the Daily Beast as an attempt for Bloomberg to “seem cool,” comes a few days after Bloomberg’s campaign announced its plans to double the amount he spends on advertising amid several problems with the Iowa caucus.




Tribe, a “branded content marketplace” that connects social-media users and influencers with brands they would like to promote, can now be used to show support for Bloomberg’s campaign while receiving payment.

For a fee of $150, Bloomberg’s campaign is reaching out to micro-influencers, someone with 1,000 to 100,000 followers, to establish content “that tells us why Mike Bloomberg is the electable candidate who can rise above the fray, work across the aisle so ALL Americans feel heard & respected.”

“Are you sick of the chaos & infighting overshadowing the issues that matter most to us? Please express your thoughts verbally or for still image posts please overlay text about why you support Mike,” the campaign stated in its pitch under the headline “Content We’d Love From You.”

The campaign also wants influencers to “Show+Tell why Mike is the candidate who can change our country for the better, state why YOU think he’s a great candidate.”

The Daily Beast noted:

The Bloomberg content campaign appears geared toward collecting content that can later be shared by the campaign, essentially creating a stock-image library of well-crafted, ‘organic’ – seeming still images and videos custom-made for the campaign. The relatively low $150 cost per post also makes the investment comparatively cheap—some influencers can command fees in the five or even six figures for a brand campaign, and that’s not even including celebrity accounts, who can earn enough money per post to make even billionaire Bloomberg blush.

In order to participate in the process, one must be a U.S. resident and is forbidden to use profanity, nudity, or “overtly negative content.”

Since he announced his candidacy, Bloomberg has amped up his social media use with comments and advertisements that target the Trump presidency.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg’s campaign released an advertisement on television and social media which suggested that President Donald Trump is to blame for the deadly nightclub shooting that occurred at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016 – months before Trump took office.

[soonernvolved]

thefederalist.com/2020/02/07/democrats-continuously-claim-killing-terrorist-qasem-soleimani-was-wrong/

If These Three 2020 Democrats Were President, Terrorist Qasem Soleimani Would Still Be Alive
FEBRUARY 7, 2020 By Chrissy Clark
Three 2020 Democratic candidates said killing Iranian terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani was the wrong call by President Donald Trump during the eighth round of Democratic debates. Pete Buttigeig, Joe Biden, and Bernie Sanders all said if they were president, they would not have ordered the strike on Quds Force leader Soleimani.

“Given what you know about Soleimani, if your national security team came to you with an opportunity to strike, would Soleimani have been dead, or would he still be alive under your presidency?” ABC anchor and debate moderator David Muir asked Buttigieg.


“In the situation that we saw with President Trump’s decision, there is no evidence that that made our country safer,” Buttigieg said.

In contrast, Sanders called the killing of a brutal terrorist leader an “assassination.” Sanders also said killing Soleimani or other terrorists the U.S. doesn’t like leads to world anarchy.

“You cannot go around saying, ‘You’re a bad guy, we’re gonna assassinate you.’ And then you’re gonna have, if that happens, you’re opening the door to internationally anarchy,” Sanders said.

Finally, Muir posed the question to Biden, who said he would not have ordered the strike on Soleimani because the terrorist leader was not an imminent threat.

“The Obama administration was aware of the threat Soleimani posed, so was the Bush administration before. I’m asking tonight, as commander in chief, though, would you have ordered the strike?” Muir asked Biden.

“No, and the reason I wouldn’t have ordered the strike — there’s no evidence yet of imminent threat that was going to come from him,” Biden said.

[soonernvolved]

thefederalist.com/2020/02/07/this-democratic-debate-was-utterly-hopeless/

This Democratic Debate Was Utterly Hopeless
The Democrats have realized that things are pretty good. It's a tough spot.

FEBRUARY 7, 2020 By David Marcus

We entered Friday night’s Democratic presidential debate in an interesting place. Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders emerged from Iowa as winners as the results finally dripped out. Joe Biden on the other hand has a candidacy that seems to be on life support. Four years ago, this debate night sunk Robot Marco Rubio as Chris Christie KOed him. Would there be any death blows Friday night?

Buttigieg came in very much the man in form, having bested Iowa expectations. The murmurs are already murmuring about him, not Joe Biden, being the moderate Democrats’ antidote to socialist Bernie Sanders and socialism. Would Uncle Joe pick a fight to get back in it?


Biden came up swinging. He kind of tried to jibe at Sanders and Buttigieg, but it didn’t land. Bernie took offense and used a minute or so to make a pretty effective argument for old-school neoliberalism. Then Andrew Yang promised us all $1,000.

Mayor Pete sees himself as the moderate main man. He took on Sanders early. And Sanders came right back. Linking Mayor Pete to crony capitalism. Boom. Pete got his chance to reply. He offered a dull laundry list of this, that, and the other.

Now Biden wants to fight. He goes after Sanders on the cost of his plans. Biden busted his neck getting Obamacare passed, apparently, so he’s gonna fight this. But this was fantastic television — old, white men yelling at each other.

This debate was the Thanksgiving dinner where you and your cousins “take a walk” and smoke a special cigarette. It is dull as donuts. Even Mayor Pete admits he has no experience and no business being president. So what are we even doing?

Joe Biden did not do well. Set one on one against Buttigieg, Biden kind of crumbled. It was not a good look. Somewhere a smile was growing on Mike Bloomberg’s face, as his window got wider.

Sanders has his mojo. He lectured the drug companies with aplomb and fury, and it was magic. Then Tom Steyer took the microphone, and everything went downhill. His Scottish kilt tie didn’t help.

Mayor Pete thinks we are exhausted as voters. We are ready to walk away from civic life. But now we are the answer. Yang shoots back, saying Trump is a symptom not a cause. The hockey pucks are flying fast and hard.

Elizabeth Warren says nobody in the United States is above the law, including the president. After waiting for a minimal laugh, Warren went on to schoolmarm her first big moment of the debate.

The winner of the debate? Meh…

But somehow Bernie Sanders took over the night. The angry, old man is in fighting form. Nobody really seems to be on his level. Though maybe Buttigieg just has a different angle.

Mayor Pete got a super softball question about Hunter Biden, and he hit the predictable home run. Good job? Biden turned it around into a pro-Vindman moment. Crazy times.

Pete Buttigieg should scare the GOP. He won this debate; it wasn’t close. He is a powerful speaker who can take his party to the top. Forget the noise about Trump being afraid of Biden or Bloomberg; the one he never mentions is the most dangerous. And he knows it.

On Tuesday, we will find out. If Pete Buttigieg wins the nomination, it will be one hell of a race. On Friday night, he brought himself closer to his goal. It’s kind of amazing; he’s close to the most boring guy in the world. But here we go. It’s time to vote. Let’s get after it, people.

Also, everything is racist.

[soonernvolved]

Democrats claim to be the party of the middle class and the little guy, but in case you haven’t noticed, that’s simply not true. Their next debate is in Charleston, South Carolina and if you want to attend, it’s going to cost you a lot of cash.

Tickets are going to sponsors. The cost? Thousands of dollars.

WCSC News reports:

www.live5news.com/2020/02/06/charleston-voters-express-confusion-frustration-over-presidential-debate-accessibility/

Want a guaranteed seat at the Democratic debate in Charleston? It’ll cost a lot of cash.

Voters hoping to attend the Democratic presidential debate in Charleston this month will be hard-pressed to find guaranteed tickets unless they pay thousands of dollars as a sponsor.

The last presidential debate before the South Carolina Democratic primary will be on Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. at the Gaillard Center.

Voters Emily Kiley and Peter Davis have been volunteering and supporting Bernie Sanders’s campaign for months.

“We watch every debate that goes on so now that one’s coming to Charleston that’s insanely exciting,” Kiley said. “Of course the first thing we do is look for tickets.”

The couple has signed up to be a part of more than 800 volunteers to help set up or work the debate.

“But there’s no access to tickets on any Democratic site that we could see,” Kiley said.

That’s because tickets aren’t readily available. The Charleston County Democratic Party website says “The only guaranteed way to get a ticket is to become a sponsor of the debate.”

Sponsorship ranges from $1,750 to $3,200 each for attendance to multiple “First in the South” events.

[soonernvolved]

www.dailywire.com/news/outright-lying-pete-buttigieg-grilled-for-false-statements-about-his-record-on-black-arrests

‘OUTRIGHT LYING’: Pete Buttigieg Grilled For False Statements About His Record On Black Arrests

Far-left Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was grilled by ABC News during and after the network’s primary debate on Friday for appearing to lie about his record as mayor of South Bend, Indiana.




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Specifically, Buttigieg was grilled for falsely claiming that the overall rate of black arrests and marijuana arrests were lower while he was mayor, when in fact, under his leadership, a black person was four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than a white person.

Buttigieg initially dodged the question and talked around it before ABC News pressed him hard on the issue:

ABC NEWS: Right, want to go back to the original question though. How do you explain the increase in black arrests in South Bend under your leadership for marijuana possession?

BUTTIGIEG: And again, the overall rate was lower–

ABC NEWS: No, there was an increase. The year before you were in office it was lower. Once you [came] in office in 2012, that number went up. In 2018, the last number year that we have a record for, that number was still up.

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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie blasted Buttigieg for lying after the debate, saying, “I think the moment that could be a foreshadowing for the future is when Mayor Pete was up there outright lying about his record on African American arrests on marijuana, and Lindsay Davis of ABC challenged him more than any candidate on that stage challenged him tonight.”



“And you saw the look on his face. He looked like a deer in the headlights, and let me tell you, he thinks Lindsay Davis is hard? If he ever gets on the same stage with Donald Trump, it’s gonna be a whole different story, who will call him on those things,” Christie continued. “And I think these other candidates better get serious about calling Mayor Pete on the record in South Bend, and so I think it was a missed opportunity for the other candidates. Elizabeth Warren [gave] him a little bit of a shot on that, but not nearly enough time spent on it.”

Christie concluded, “But what I saw more than anything else is, as someone who’s been a candidate on that stage, that look in his eyes when she came back at him and didn’t take his first line of boloney was very telling about what kind of candidate he may be able to be.”


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Transcript of the exchange during the debate:

ABC NEWS: I want to turn now to criminal justice. Mayor Buttigieg, under your leadership as mayor a black resident in South Bend, Indiana, was four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white resident. Now, that racial disparity is higher than the rest of the state, in fact it’s higher than the rest of the nation, and that disparity increased in South Bend after you took office. When talking about the problem on national terms you’ve called it ‘evidence of systemic racism.’ But you were mayor for eight years, so weren’t you in effect the head of the system? And how do you explain that increase in black arrests under your leadership?

BUTTIGIEG: Well the reality is on my watch drug arrests in South Bend were lower than the national average and specifically to marijuana, lower than in Indiana, but there is no question that systemic racism has penetrated to every level of our system and my city was not immune. I took a lot of heat for discussing systemic racism with my own police department, but we’ve got to confront the fact that there is no escaping how this is part of all of our policies. Earlier we were talking about opioids and thankfully America has come to a better understanding about the fact that opioid addiction is best understood as a medical problem, but there were a lot of people, including a lot of African American activists in my community who have made the very good point: it’s great that everybody’s so enlightened about drug policy now when it comes to opioids, but where were you when it came to marijuana? Where were you when it came to the crack epidemic in the 1990s? That is one of the reasons why I am calling for us as a country to take up those reforms that end incarceration as a response to possession and make sure that we legalize marijuana and when we do it, do it retro actively with expungements to correct the harm done in so many cases of incarceration disproportionately of black and brown Americans, where the incarceration did far more harm.

ABC NEWS: Right, let me go back to the original question though. How do you explain the increase in black arrests in South Bend under your leadership for marijuana possession?

BUTTIGIEG: And again, the overall rate was lower–

ABC NEWS: No, there was an increase, the year before you were in office it was lower. Once you became in office in 2012 that number went up. In 2018, the last number year that we have a record for that number was still up.

BUTTIGIEG: Yep and one of the strategies that our community adopted was to target when there were cases where there was gun violence and gang violence, which was slaughtering so many in our community, burying teenagers, disproportionately black teenagers, we adopted a strategy that said that drug enforcement would be targeted in cases where there was a connection to the most violent group or gang connected to a murder. These things are all connected, but that’s the point, so are all of the things that need to change in order for us to prevent violence and remove the effects of systemic racism not just from criminal justice but from our economy from health from housing and from our democracy itself.

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www.dailywire.com/news/msnbcs-chris-matthews-explodes-on-democrats-over-socialism-it-doesnt-frickin-work

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Explodes On Democrats Over Socialism: ‘It Doesn’t Frickin Work!’

Left-wing MSNBC host Chris Matthews exploded on the Democratic presidential candidates following Friday night’s primary debate for embracing socialism, saying, “it doesn’t frickin work!”

“…the issue of this campaign, it is that word ‘socialism,'” Matthews said. “Some people like it, younger people like it, those of us like me, who grew up in the Cold War and saw some aspects of it, if there visiting places like Vietnam, like I have, [and seeing countries] like Cuba, being there, I’ve seen what socialism’s like, I don’t like it, OK?” Matthews said. “It’s not only not free, it doesn’t frickin work!”

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“I think the Democratic Party has to figure out its ideology,” Matthews continued. “A lot us will be sorting things out if the Democratic Party runs a socialist candidate. That’s a change from the Democratic Party. The Democrat Party has been to the left of the Republican Party on the issue of mixed capitalism, more social programs, they push social security, Medicare, Medicaid, enormously popular programs.”

“I have my views on the word ‘socialist,’ and I’ll be glad to share them with you in private and they go back to the early 1950s. I have an attitude about them, I remember the Cold War, I have an attitude toward Castro,” Matthews contined. “I believe if Castro and the reds had won the Cold War there would have been executions in Central Park and I might have been one of the ones getting executed and certain other people would be there cheering, OK?”

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“So I have a problem with people who took the other side,” Matthews continued. “I don’t know who Bernie supports over these years. I don’t know what he means by ‘socialism.’”

“One week, it’s Denmark, we’re going to be like Denmark,” Matthews said in a voice mocking Sanders. “Okay, that’s harmless. That’s basically a capitalist country with a lot of good social welfare programs. Denmark’s harmless.”


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www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/02/07/cnns-van-jones-buttigieg-sounds-like-scooby-doo-when-pressed-on-racial-issues/

CNN political commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones said during his network’s post-Democratic presidential debate analysis that when asked about racial issues, Pete Buttigieg sounded like the cartoon dog Scooby-Doo avoiding an answer.

Jones said, “He doesn’t have the feel of it. When asked tough questions, why the heck are they putting more black people in jail the minute you walk in office he sounds like Scooby-Doo. You know, ‘rarr, rarr, rarr, rarr.’ That doesn’t work. You have to answer the question. I did that because I was scared of black kids killing each other. I was doing the best I could. Come out with it, man. He can’t deal with those questions.”

[soonernvolved]

www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/02/07/abcs-karl-no-dem-has-the-trump-campaign-quaking-in-their-boots/

ABC’s Karl: Based on Tonight, No Dem ‘Has the Trump Campaign Quaking in Their Boots’

During Friday’s coverage of the ABC News Democratic presidential debate, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl said that, based on that night’s debate, there isn’t a single 2020 Democratic candidate “that has the Trump campaign quaking in their boots.” Karl also stated that while Trump feared 2020 Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden the most at the beginning, “That is not the case anymore.”

ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz asked, “Who do you think stood out in terms of going after Donald Trump?”


Karl responded, “First of all, obviously, the candidate that he feared most early on was Joe Biden. That is not the case anymore. And I don’t think there was anybody, based on tonight’s performance, that has the Trump campaign quaking in their boots.”