Since the major news outlets aren’t covering Bernie Sanders equally as much as they’re covering Hillary Clinton, I will put out a weekly roundup of the things I read that week.
From Politico:
Bernie Sanders accuses Hillary Clinton of ‘cop-out’ on trade
Hillary Clinton’s reluctance to comment on President Barack Obama’s Pacific trade deal is a cop-out, Democratic presidential candidate and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders charged in a “Charlie Rose” interview with Bloomberg’s Al Hunt aired Thursday on PBS.
“I’ve known Hillary Clinton for 25 years and I have a lot of respect for her,” Sanders said, but emphasized the differences between the two presidential hopefuls on several issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“I frankly don’t understand how you could be a major candidate for president of the United States — Hillary Clinton, or anybody else — and not have an opinion on that issue,” he said.
Clinton has outlined a few general principles for what the TPP ought to accomplish, but has declined to say explicitly whether she thinks the trade pact has actually met those conditions.
Asked whether he thought her silence is a “cop-out,” Sanders replied, that, “Yes. It is.”
Read the rest here.
Sure enough, Hillary Clinton gave her economic policy speech in New York on Saturday and… no position on the TPP.
What Hillary Clinton did not say in her big speech
But the breadth of her remarks made the absence of some key issues that excite progressive activists all the more notable. On some battles that divide Democrats from their liberal base, Clinton did not choose a side – at least today.Her campaign promises to roll out a new policy idea every week this summer, so it’s likely we’ll see many of these addressed soon, and potentially very soon, as she tours early primary states in the coming week.But the lack of specifics on issues at the front lines of Democratic ideological fights means progressives will be looking for her to offer more clarity on a plethora of key topics.1) Trade – In the midst of a bitter Democratic civil war over free trade policy, which has pitted President Obama against House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and much of the Democratic base, liberals want the potential future leader of the party to take a stand.
Clinton has so far adopted a strategic silence on the issue. She says she’ll wait to see the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty when it’s finished before making up her mind. But she has also not weighed in on Trade Promotion Authority, which is being voted on right now.
Obama has made Trade Promotion Authority a top-priority, but House Democrats rejected it the day before Clinton’s rally, and will vote again on the matter in the middle of her post-kick off tour of early states next week.
Read the rest on MSNBC.
Bernie Sanders: I want to work with Clinton on trade | Face The Nation
Democrats in Congress dealt a blow to President Obama’s agenda last week when they blocked a bill to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive free-trade deal with Asia he has been negotiating.
But that victory isn’t enough for Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who is running for the Democratic nomination. He also wants his fellow Democratic candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to join the coalition of lawmakers who disagree with the president on trade.
“Corporate America and Wall Street are going to bring that bill back to the House next week. I would hope very much that Secretary Clinton will side with every union in this country, virtually every environmental group, many religious groups, and say that this TPP policy is a disaster, that it must be defeated, and that we need to regroup and come up with a trade policy which demands that corporate America start investing in this country rather than in countries all over the world. So I look forward to working with the secretary on this issue,” Sanders said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
In a separate interview, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook rejected the suggestion that his boss has been on the sidelines of the trade issue.
“There will be no tougher fighter at the negotiating table for every day Americans when these trade agreements are being negotiated, so families can trust her to fight hard for them in any of these agreements but Hillary has been abundantly clear about where she stands on the issue of trade,” Mook said.
Read the rest on CBSNews.com
Hillary Clinton Will Take Clear Position On Trade When Deal Is Done, Her Campaign Says
Laura Bassett, Huffington Post
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders: Media are inept and GOP agenda is hidden
By EVAN HALPER June 11, 2015 What does Bernie Sanders think of the media’s performance so far this campaign? Barely adequate. The huge speaking fees Bill and Hillary Clinton have accepted? Wrong question, he says; you should be asking why anyone pays them. How about primary debates? Sanders says the entire system should be redesigned to bring Republicans on stage with Democrats. As Hillary Clinton stayed out of sight this week, fundraising and preparing what is sure to be a highly produced presidential campaign launch speech in New York on Saturday, Sanders, the senator from Vermont who also is seeking the Democratic nomination, was mixing it up with the media. The contrast was notable. Clinton has yet to put herself in the situation that Sanders eagerly embraced Thursday morning, as he engaged in a frank give-and-take with reporters over breakfast. He delivered some lines it would be hard to imagine Clinton ever uttering — not because they reflected his socialist outlook, but because they were so blunt. “Campaigns are not baseball games,” Sanders scolded. “What did I read in the paper today? Gov. Bush is getting a new campaign manager. You know who cares about that? About eight people in the world. Nobody cares about that.” Sanders went on to express irritation with the way journalists slap the “socialist” label on him, as if his embrace of policies common in the democracies of western Europe makes him a radical outlier. “It is not a radical agenda,” he said. “In virtually every instance, what I am saying is supported by a significant majority of the American people. Yes, it is not supported by the Business Roundtable or the Chamber of Commerce or Wall Street. I maybe old-fashioned enough to believe that Congress might want to be representing a vast majority of our people … and not just the Koch brothers and other campaign contributors.” He suggested that if the media are going to refer to him as a socialist, journalists also should affix the label of “capitalist” with every mention of his rivals. Read the rest on LATimes.com.
As a reminder, I am resharing a link from last week’s roundup, to remind readers that one of Bernie’s greatest achievements as mayor of Burlington lives on to the benefit of residents to this day.
Bernie Sanders Thrills Large Crowd At Iowa Town Hall
The Huffington Post | By Samantha-Jo Roth
DES MOINES, Iowa — While Hillary Clinton makes her way to the Hawkeye State following her first campaign rally in New York City on Saturday, crowds there are lining up to see Vermont senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
A horde of supporters applauded the presidential candidate more than 100 times on Friday night at his town hall, as he laid out his vision for the country at Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium in Des Moines.
“Whoa, got a lot of people here tonight,” Sanders said, as he walked onstage to a standing ovation. Event organizers said there were more than 700 people in attendance.
The longest-serving Independent in Congress focused his speech on income and wealth inequality, climate change and campaign finance reform.
“This campaign is sending a message to the billionaire class, and that message is you can’t have it all,” Sanders said.
Sander’s remarks, which lasted about an hour, were frequently interrupted not only by applause but chants of “Bernie, Bernie” from the audience. Sanders’ topics ranged from student loan debt and President Barack Obama’s trade deal to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Sanders even brought three Iowa college students onstage to shed some light on their struggle with student loan debt.
The crowd went wild when Tyson Manker, a former Marine from central Illinois, stood up during the Q&A portion and asked the senator how he would “convince Democrats and Republicans to do the right thing in supporting veterans.”
Sanders emphasized the importance of making sure Veterans Affairs healthcare is more accessible.
“We have a moral obligation to do everything that we can for those people who have put their lives on the line to defend us and come home wounded in body or in spirit,” he said.
Manker, who now practices law, said the drive to see Sanders was well worth it.
Read the rest on HuffPo
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