Good Morning!!
After 24 hours of discussion of Bernie Sanders’ attacks on Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the the Human Rights Campaign, we have a response from the Bernie bro camp at MSNBC. Rachel Maddow addressed what he had said on her show on Tuesday night. She invited Bernie himself to come on the show again, but he declined.
So Maddow did her best to clean up Bernie’s horrendous remarks. She Bernie-splained that there is that there Hillary herself started the backlash (not true, people were tweeting about it while the show was still going on). Next she quoted the Human Rights Campaigns’ statement that they had been fighting for LGBT rights for more than 30 years and then implied that the fact that they have been around that long indicates they are in fact part of the establishment. Then she argued that in terms of support for reproductive rights and gay rights there is no real difference between Clinton and Sanders.
Maddow went on to claim that this is the first big disagreement in the Democratic campaign for the nomination. Seriously? She hasn’t noticed the vast differences on and arguments about gun control and health care? Did she watch the last debate? Anyway, you can watch the entire 10-minute segment at the above link.
This morning the issue was even addressed on the front page of DailyKos by David Nir:
Sanders camp confirms it thinks Planned Parenthood is part of the establishment out to beat Bernie.
On Tuesday night, Bernie Sanders alarmed many liberals when he appeared to include Planned Parenthood among groups belonging to the “political establishment” that he says he’s “taking on”:
“What we are doing in this campaign—and it just blows my mind every day, because I see it clearly—we’re taking on not only Wall Street and the economic establishment, we’re taking on the political establishment.
“And so I have friends and supporters in the Human Rights Fund, in Planned Parenthood. But you know what, Hillary Clinton has been around there for a very, very long time and some of these groups are, in fact, part of the establishment.”
In response, some Sanders supporters argued that Sanders was not including Planned Parenthood among “establishment” groups, pointing out that he spoke only of “some” groups without specifically naming Planned Parenthood.
However, in an interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd Wednesday afternoon, Sanders’ top strategist, Tad Devine, confirmed that the campaign does indeed view Planned Parenthood as part of a Democratic establishment that’s actively opposing Sanders:
Todd: Do you believe that Planned Parenthood and Human Rights Campaign—that these are part of the Democratic establishment that’s trying to defeat you?
Devine: I do, Chuck. I think the leadership of Washington-based groups—and it’s not just those two—are part of a political establishment here in Washington.
Don’t bother reading the comments. They’re filled with Bernie bros shrieking that the leadership of DailyKos, which supports Hillary Clinton, is also part of the “establishment.”
The other news the Bernie bros were pushing yesterday was a poll by CNN and WMUR that found Clinton trailing Sanders in New Hampshire 60% to 33%. Sorry, but that has to be an outlier. I don’t doubt that Bernie is leading in New Hampshire, but the folks up there have a tendency to switch back and forth and makes up their minds at the last minute–sometimes as they arrive at their polling places. WBUR Boston poll independent New Hampshire voters:
WBUR Poll: Large Share Of N.H.’s Undeclared Voters Yet To Settle On A Candidate Or A Party.
A new WBUR poll out Thursday (topline, crosstabs) finds that with less than three weeks before primary day, a large share of New Hampshire’s undeclared voters have yet to make up their minds about who to vote for — or even which party to support.
New Hampshire’s undeclared voters — those who aren’t registered as Democrats or Republicans and can choose either ballot on Election Day — represent over 44 percent of the state’s voters, more than either political party. They are notoriously independent and play a crucial role in picking the winners.
“And a lot of them, about a third, still haven’t made up their mind,” said Steve Koczela, president of The MassINC Polling Group, which conducted our survey. “That to me is the thing that could still cause the biggest change.”
So 44% of the states’ voters could still affect the outcome of the primary.
Sadly for the Bernie bros, there’s a new Iowa poll out today showing Clinton leading Sanders 9 points. From TPM:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a nine-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) among Iowa Democrats, according to a Monmouth/KBUR poll released Thursday.
The poll showed support for Clinton at 48 percent, compared to 39 percent for Sanders. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley also registered an unusually high level of support at 7 percent.
Though substantial, Clinton’s lead is narrower than in the previous iteration of the Monmouth/KBUR Iowa poll, which showed her leading Sanders 46 percent to 32 percent.
Several major polls lately have shown Sanders leading in Iowa, and some others have put Clinton’s lead within the margin of error, suggesting a collapse in support for Clinton in a state where she previously had been in a strong position. This poll contradicts that narrative.
The Monmouth/KBUR poll, conducted by Douglas Fulmer & Associates from Jan. 18-19, surveyed 570 Democratic voters in Iowa by phone. It had a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.
Lots can happen between now and the vote counting in Iowa and New Hampshire. In fact, CNN announced yesterday that they will hold a town hall for Democratic candidates on Monday night.
The Democratic presidential hopefuls will face voters in a CNN town hall on Monday in Des Moines — one week before the highly anticipated Iowa caucuses.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will field questions from Iowa Democrats in this prime-time event hosted by the Iowa Democratic Party and Drake University.
“We are honored to partner with CNN on their town hall with our three fantastic Democratic candidates,” said Dr. Andy McGuire, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. “With this event airing just one week before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, it’s an incredible opportunity for Iowans to see our candidates detail their plans to move our country forward and their vision for Iowa and the nation.”
The town hall, which will be moderated by CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, will air from 9 p.m.-11 p.m. ET, the network announced. A CNN spokesperson added that it will make the town hall available to its Iowa affiliates to air live.
That should be really interesting! Of course we’ll be posting a live blog to discuss what happens.
Simon and Garfunkel at a benefit for George McGovern in 1972
Today the Bernie bros are all talking about Sanders’ new ad set to Simon and Garfunkle’s 1972 classic “America.” To me that’s a reminder that if Sanders were to get the nomination he’d go the way of George McGovern. But what do I know. I’m just a clueless old fogy who doesn’t wan history to repeat itself this year. I only voted for George McGovern in 1972 and felt my heart break when he lost to Richard Nixon in a landslide. The networks called the election before 7PM.
Greg Sargent is one of the younger journalists who is thrilled with the new ad.
Bernie Sanders wants to be this year’s hope and change candidate.
As Iowa comes down to the wire, the parallels to the 2008 battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are striking. Clinton has reverted to a hard-boiled message about the need for experience and toughness to confront a dangerous, complicated world.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is increasingly sounding an optimistic, inspirational message that promises a bright, progressive future that can, and will, be secured through mobilizing the masses, particularly younger voters, a vision that Clinton surely sees (just as she saw Barack Obama’s vision) as vague, airy, and naive.
Sanders is up with this remarkable new ad in Iowa whose tagline — “a future you can believe in” — conspicuously echoes Obama’s 2008 “change you can believe in” formulation.
In a way, this ad perfectly captures Bernie Sanders’ theory of change, or at least, a version of it that has had its more pessimistic or even apocalyptic edges airbrushed away to make it easier on the eyes and ears. Hence the dulcet tones of Simon and Garfunkel’s “America,” which tells a tale of young lovers on a road trip, suffusing this ad with an odd mix of nostalgia (this song was recorded in the late 1960s, when Sanders and Clinton were both in their twenties) and idealism about the future.
The Sanders argument, to put it simply, has essentially been that America is in deep, deep trouble — it faces structural challenges so pressing and urgent, from climate change to soaring inequality, that the failure to meet them with proportionately outsize solutions risks a slow motion slide into disaster that could prove irreversible. Sanders’ message has been that the version of progressive change that we’ve seen during the Obama years — from Dodd Frank to Obamacare to the global climate deal — is basically small beer compared to the epic problems we face. That’s what makes this new ad so striking: it doesn’t detail these challenges, instead suggesting vaguely that inspiration and mobilization can secure America’s future.
That sounds kind of negative to me. He’s essentially running against Obama’s legacy. How will that go over with Iowa Democrats who overwhelming support President Obama.
Here’s something from an older and wiser journalist, Gene Lyons: In That Old Volkswagen Bus With Bernie, Rolling Toward 1972.
Unpack your old tie-dyed T-shirts, roll yourself a fat doobie, and warm up the ancient VW bus. We’re going to do Woodstock and the 1972 presidential election all over again. And this time, the hippies are going to win! Four years of peace, love, and single-payer health care.
But do take care to clear the path for Bernie Sanders. Because if he steps in something the dog left behind, he’s going to blame Wall Street and start yelling and waving his arms around.
And you know how much that upsets Republican congressmen who are otherwise so eager to oblige his plans to soak the rich and give everybody free college, free health care, free bubble-up and rainbow stew—as the old Merle Haggard song had it.
OK, so I’m being a smart-aleck. I was moved to satire by a couple of moments from last week’s Democratic and Republican presidential debates. First, Sen. Sanders, boasting about a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that shows him beating Donald Trump by 15 points—54 to 39. Hillary Clinton tops Trump only 51-41.
Both would be huge landslides. In 1972, Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern 61-38. The Democrat won only Massachusetts.
The part Sanders left out and that Hillary was also wise enough to leave unmentioned is that the same poll shows her leading him 59 to 34 percent in the Democratic primary contest nationally. Twenty-five points.
There’s lots of other news, and I’ll add some links in the comments. What stories are you following today?