The DNC's big mistake

[Gregorian]

Eight years ago, then-Senator Barack Obama took the noble step of banning contributions to the Democratic National Committee from lobbyists.

He said, "They will not fund my party. They will not run our White House. And they will not drown out the voice of the American people when I’m president of the United States of America."

This week, the DNC reversed that ban and will again get large contributions from these interests. Bernie thinks that’s an unfortunate step backward. Sign our petition if you agree:

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/DNC-ban?source=em160214full

One of the many messages our campaign has effectively sent to the political establishment of this country is that the American people have had ENOUGH of the billionaire class buying elections.

Poll after poll tells us that citizens no longer have confidence in our political institutions. If we are to restore a vibrant democracy in this country, it is long past time to break the link between money and special interest favors in politics.

In 2008 and 2012, Democrats won with President Obama’s ban on lobbyist money in place. We can do the same in 2016, and the DNC should continue to follow the president’s leadership and keep the ban in place.


Tell the Democratic National Committee you support the restrictions put in place by President Obama that ban special interest contributions.

Excerpts from an email I just got.

[Lucinda]

1. Nope. I'm all for us collecting what we can in THIS election.

As long as the Republicans are going to spend a bajillion dollars to defeat the Dem nominee, I do not want us to be underfunded.

The Republicans spent 80 million in ads in the NH primary alone. Around 6 million more than Bernie had collected all last year, and apx half of what Hillary did.

We can kill Citizens United and sort out dark money AFTER this election. Too much is at stake.


editing to add NH numbers

[JackRiddler]

3. Short term thinking is what created the (failed) Third Way Democratic Party

[orpupilofnature57]

5. + 1000000000000 !!!!!!!!!!!

[Lucinda]

7. Not having enough funds for the GE gets us a Rep POTUS, ACA overturned

PP in trouble and a host of other bad bad things. No thanks.

[orpupilofnature57]

19. Fear is what got us here .

[Cassiopeia]

32. So you've gotten what you need

there's no reason to fight for the needs of others because you're afraid.

[Lucinda]

36. That doesn't make any sense to me. How can you protect anything if you lose? n/t

[Cassiopeia]

40. How do we get anything if we refuse to fight for it?

What happens in 4 or 8 years? Should we pass the buck again and soak up all that money to just barely hold on?

If we just try to cling to what we have and do nothing to fight for change all we'll end up doing is watching the things we have slip right through our fingers as we desperately clutch at them.

[rhett o rick]

67. The money is tainted. Don't sell your soul for a piece of gold. nm

[Got it]

22. Exactly

I would venture to say that, as well as hidden ulterior and self motives.

[jfern]

23. DWS doesn't even pretend to not be 3rd way

[Ed Suspicious]

33. Fitting that the third way logo looks like an orange asshole. How neat is that? That's pretty neat.

[Docreed2003]

56. I wouldn't suggest trying the scratch and sniff version...

[cui bono]

74. I didn't know Boehner was a model!

.

[JRLeft]

42. HRC supporters have told me the Third Way is myth.

[Enthusiast]

59. Hardly a myth when they even have a website.

http://www.thirdway.org/

[JRLeft]

61. I know I was being sarcastic.

[Populist_Prole]

28. Bingo

Screw the third-way. They're pernicious traitors and I don't want them to win against ANYbody.

I WILL NOT settle, much less aim for, being just slightly to the left of the republicans.

Phooey!!!

[Ed Suspicious]

31. Yup. They fear principles.

[Betty Karlson]

70. And continued short-term thinking will be the undoing of the Democratic Party.

Debbie and her ilk are on the road to irrelevance, and they shouldn't be allowed to take the entire party with them.

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Part of the problem is rationalizing what is wrong .

[Lucinda]

8. What makes you think we could possibly win without the cash to counter the Reps?

Seriously. How?

There is a huge problem that needs to be fixed, but I don't understand the thinking of anyone that feels that we can win if we cant counter the Rep machine.

[Fawke Em]

11. They said Bernie would never get very far without SuperPAC money.

And look where he is now.

That's what makes me think we can do it without the cash of corrupt lobbyists.

[Rocky the Leprechaun]

63. Bernie can raise more than one billion dollars alone.

No help of SuperPACs and can tap the same voters over and over again, and the individual donors grows every day. Last I heard, it is over 1.7 million individual donors.

Assuming all of us max out at the GE, it'll be over 4.6 billion dollars in donors.

[TTUBatfan2008]

13. You counter with the TRUTH

Bernie has a compelling message about corporate corruption in politics. He can tell the people that the Republican Party is 100% owned by corporations and billionaires. It is a very strong message and the people appreciate integrity. I think they want it badly in our system.

[Ed Suspicious]

38. Perfect response. You show that the Democrats are the party of the people and it is only the

Republicans who will sell this country out to the highest bidder. You make it shameful to take big money. Bernie's position provides the perfect conduit for change in this regard.,

[eggman67]

58. This is exactly right

It's hard to be taken seriously calling the Republicans the corporately owned party when you have your snout in the same trough.

[Qutzupalotl]

21. Who says we don't have cash?

Bernie outraised Hillary in January with mostly small contributions, leaving room for more. If those people stay engaged throughout the cycle, we will do well.

I will grant that RW money is essentially unlimited, but there is also the saturation point after which too many attack ads will backfire. We were starting to see that in 2012 with the famous "Bronco Bama" video.

[peggysue2]

57. The Denial of Reality

You're absolutely correct, Lucinda. Pretending that mega bucks will not affect this particular election is spitting in the wind. Every sensible person agrees that Citizens United and the slosh of gazillions of $$ is detrimental to the Republic. But assuming that hard, cold cash on the Republican side can be countered this time out with noble principle is akin to walking on a battlefield and pretending you're bullet proof.

The time to fight is 'after' the election. Democrats must win--as in clobber Republicans--in November. Otherwise, all discussion is moot. People need to get a grip on . . . reality. Sheesh! This is grade school 101.

[Rocky the Leprechaun]

64. So let's work together to elect Bernie.

[rhett o rick]

68. That's like saying we can't win a football game if we don't cheat. If we are fighting for

honesty, we must be honest.

[cui bono]

75. Bernie's campaign!

He's practically matching Hillary's fundraising without big money.

Needing an obscene amount of money these days is a ruse to make corporations rich during the election as well as after it.

I honestly don't know the breakdown of costs, but I would venture to guess that most of the money goes to running TV ads. Bernie's got an army of volunteers getting his message out on social media. The MSM gave him no notice until they were forced to and he's still right on the heels of Hillary's campaign.

Bernie also has an army of volunteers working for him on the ground. People are donating their time and money to him because he has the right message and if he takes corporate money he can just kiss all that enthusiasm and commitment goodbye.

The world has changed. The people are speaking whether the corporate world wishes to allow them or not.

.

[tk2kewl]

6. get while the gettin's good... the ends justify the means

[Lucinda]

9. POTUS ~ SCOTUS ~ PP ~ ACA ~ The Senate

and a host of other things will be lost is we cant counter the Republicans. I don't see how that can possibly be debated. How do you win the GE if you cannot counter the hate machine?

[Marty McGraw]

51. Like a broken Record Player

When it's down to only a couple of candidates stories and records in innumerable fashion are out there and by the way medium is presented today, if someone has an interest in learning more about a candidate they are ever more easier than ever to find - especially from their own website - How hard is that?

Do you personally take a time out to ever hear out a slam ad against any one candidate if that is your take of why this hoard of cash is so important? That is in part of what people bring up about some candidates are running like its the 1990's. It does not take much money anymore to get the information out there and what Bernie has is a lot of energy and spirited individuals backing his campaign that money doesn't even make a scratch.

It can be said that some money is important at the beginning when the field is large and a name has to get out there; but now there is so much momentive with the names dwindled down, a candidate could probably easily ask the networks to pay them to appear for their ratings.

Your attempts to sway ppl to think otherwise is reeking of desperation toward whatever goal, is anyone's guess - I know what mine is.

[Lucinda]

53. I'm not trying to sway anyone. I posted my thoughts and

responded to those who commented. That's sort of what we do here.

[daleanime]

10. Because the best way to change....

is to continue doing the same thing?

[Lucinda]

14. How do you change anything if you lose? You cannot make changes to dark money in politics

if you lose to dark money.

You cant overturn Citizens United
You lose ACA
You lose PP support
There are huge SCOTUS ramifications
We could lose the chance to turn the Senate

And a zillion other programs that we've fought hard for.

How do you win if you cant fight?

[hopemountain]

49. i now send my donations directly to the candidates.

until a few months ago, the percentage actblue asked for to sustain it began at 5% and the actblue % was optional. no longer. actblue began automatically deducting 10% of whatever was donated to the candidate. screw that. i rather spend money for stamps every month to insure my choice of candidate gets all of what i am donating to him/her.

nope, dws is not going get her grimy, greedy fascist hands on my measly donations. under her direction, the dnc no longer represents the best interests of the american worker. they only represent the corporations and the interests of wall street, the big banks, & the war machines. it has been this way for some time now - but their intentions this election year are so blatant i am sure they will do all they can to use the money to defeat bernie and the grassroots in the primary. the dnc needs a good scrubbing or to be decomposed and purged of the 3rd way.

[daleanime]

65. You do realize that you're saying 'we can't win....

Last edited Sun Feb 14, 2016, 11:37 PM - Edit history (1)

so there's no sense in fighting?'


I would rather to at it as 'we've only really lost when we've given up.'

[Gregorian]

12. I totally understand that thinking.

Until you said it, I hadn't thought there was another way to look at this. After thinking about it, what if we do get a boatload of money, and lose.

But here's the reason why I know we don't need it. We can actually raise more money from individuals. Bernie has three million supporters. That's a small number. Three hundred bucks each, and we're at a billion bucks.

The people. This is a bottom-up solution, and that's the best way when it comes to elections, for now.

[Lucinda]

16. Like I said...in New Hampshire primary alone the Republicans

spent 80 million dollars.
Which is more than Bernie raised all last year.
And they spent it on ads for just one primary for their candidates, and against ours.

The NYT had a piece claiming the Koch brother have budgeted almost 900 MILLION on the election. And that is just them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/us/politics/kochs-plan-to-spend-900-million-on-2016-campaign.html?_r=0

I respect your opinion, I really do, and if the other side had restrictions, i'd be all for it. But they don't. And I don't see any way small donors can match that kind of money.

[geologic]

24. Bernie won the most votes ever in a New Hampshire Primary...

That's not just for the Democratic Primary in New Hampshire.
He won more votes than any candidate in any Republican New Hampshire Primary too.

Sanders got 31% more votes than the previous record-setter, John McCain in 2000. He also got more votes than Hillary Clinton in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. It is worth pointing out that all those candidates didn't become President.

--------------------------------------------------

Top New Hampshire Primary Votes
2016: Bernie Sanders: 151,584
2000: John McCain: 115,490
2008: Hillary Clinton: 112,404
2016: Donald Trump: 100,406
2012: Mitt Romney: 95,669

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-orlin/bernie-sanders-won-the-mo_b_9228324.html

[Lucinda]

30. He did and it's awesome. But

it wasn't record turnout, and it was a smaller field than in previous elections.

[sarge43]

29. Yeah and how well did that go for Republicans?

Among the Republicans Trump got the majority of votes, 34% and he doesn't have his snout in the bucket.

Sanders got 60% to Clinton's 30%.

The deep pockets expect and will demand a return for their money. They won't drop a nickel for anyone or any party that won't deliver.
So yeah the money could help the Democrats win, but at what cost? What will we have to pay?

[Lucinda]

34. I dunno. But I do know the price if we lose. Definitely the ACA, PP, likely SCOTUS

replacements, no overturn of Citizens United, and much more. There would be no veto to override whatever congress comes up with. I understand that many of you don't feel the way I do, every election people tell us "but this one is really critical!!" but I really do feel that this one is really critical. And I don't see how we win if we cant fight.

[sarge43]

47. If you don't know, then you haven't been paying much attention

to where "money is speech" has brought government. It's become a cash cow for mega corporations and big banks. If it isn't stopped, it won't matter who is camping out in the WH.

[Lucinda]

48. Nope. I don't assume either of our candidates would in any way

be compromised, as many here seem to do. That is perhaps the difference.
I don't know what, if any problems might arise, no one does.
I do know what happens if the Republicans take the WH.

[Cassiopeia]

37. And the winner of the Republican side spent almost nothing

while Bush was on the bottom having spent the most.

Money does not equal victory.

[loyalsister]

15. What about the high stakes re-election in 2020?

It's time for Clinton to walk the talk or just own up to being as much a 1% defender and ally of Wall St. as her reputation suggests.

She either sincerely wants to make it right, or she is a happy participant in the ruthlessness that economically oppressed people try to face down every single day.

[Lucinda]

17. I'm not sure what you mean?

Hillary has said she is for overturning CU, if that is what you mean.
But if we lose the WH there will be no buffer to veto the ACA repeal, no chance to kill Citizen United etc.

[loyalsister]

18. I mean she can either reject the current system or embrace it

If she embraces it, she gives credence to her opponents who say she's part of a corrupt system. I'd love to see her surprise us all, but I am not holding my breath.

[Agony]

20. What you are suggesting is what we HAVE been doing

and it has not been working. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

[Lucinda]

39. So they will have unlimited funding this GE and we should hope we get by?

Sorry, we will just have to disagree on this. I want CU gone as much as anyone, but that can't happen with a republican WH and Congress.

[Agony]

46. Sanders is demonstrating that people respond when principled politicians stand up.

I am gonna stand with people
You can stand with corruption and big money til the cows come home and change nothing.

good luck with that.

Cheers

Bernie may be killing CU on the hoof making other action unnecessary.

[Lucky Luciano]

35. Bear in my be that money spent by Bernie goes as much as 7X further than superpac money.

Apparently, money straight from a campaign gets a huge discount on ad spending while superpacs have to pay full price.


Ie $1B raised by the Kochsuckers is the same as Betnie raising $143 million if 7X is accurate (read this in a Bloomberg article recently).

[Volaris]

50. Bullshit. If corporate money won elections instead of votes,

Hillary would have crushed in iowa and ended this primary in NH.

Put bernie onstage next to any of their bought and paid for idiots and he will destroy them. They may as well light those corporate 'donations' on fire for all the good it will do them against an awakened and pissed off Democratic electorate.

[Rocky the Leprechaun]

62. As long as Clinton is abusing CU to her benefit

the purpose of CU will be defeated by just one person - Bernie Sanders.

People powered campaign is working if you want it.

[orpupilofnature57]

2. I wonder what Debbie's boss thinks about this idea, which is Great by the way .

[Paulie]

41. Here's a hint, they didn't remove ALL the restrictions

A few restrictions remain in place, however: No lobbyists or PAC representatives can attend DNC events that feature Obama, Vice President Biden or their wives

[orpupilofnature57]

72. Not much of a restriction is it ?

[Dragonfli]

73. I don't know, but it sure appears that Debbie agrees with Republicans that because this is his last

quarter of his term, He should not be making any decisions because his decisions no longer matter. They think he has no power to appoint a SCJ and she is just ignoring his wishes. They are like peas in a pod regarding his last year in office and she disgusts me over it just as they do.

Neither of them respect the office that he STILL holds regardless of the fact that that will change a whole fucking year from now.
Disgusting
Just disgusting.

[Uncle Joe]

25. Schultz can't be primaried fast enough for me.

Thanks for the thread, Gregorian.

[Helen Borg]

26. Hillary is supertoast now!

...

[WillyT]

27. K & R !!!

[chervilant]

43. k & r

Even though I am VERY poor (I hope to receive a final assist from my GoFundMe site to pay my doctor and vet), I have contributed $5 to Bernie AND I've signed this petition.

DWS must go.

Also, I've been talking about Bernie, and a LOT of people in this deeply Republican state are voting for BERNIE!!!

[NurseJackie]

44. I have no problem with the DNC getting as much money as they possibly can. We'll need it to ...

... compete with the well-funded GOP attack machine. Why would any reasonable person want to intentionally do anything that would put us at a disadvantage with the GOP? This makes no sense to me.

I get the "personal pride" aspect of it ... but is that MORE important than doing our best to even out the playing field? ("Yeah, we lost... they out-spent us... but at least we only use money from small donors... so there's that!&quot Meanwhile...


It's not at all realistic for anyone to believe that just because Democrats "set a good example" that the GOP will follow suit. It's absurd! They want to WIN and they'll REJOICE at the notion that the DNC would willingly CRIPPLE itself.

Good lord! Let's play to WIN!!

[Babel_17]

45. Not really a big fan of online petitions, but I had to sign this one

Our party is stooping to a new low in this attempt to keep the Sanders campaign at bay. What next, seeing if the Koch brothers can be hit up for donations? (No strings attached donations, of course)

[EdwardBernays]

52. Kinda red herring

As their candidate of choice has been just taking the money from lobbyists instead of the DNC.

And considering that Obama had the owner of one of the biggest lobbying firms in DC as a personal advisor its kinda hard to be tooooo impressed by his bluster.

[noretreatnosurrender]

54. Count Me In

Signed.

[kgnu_fan]

55. K＆R for Democracy

[Enthusiast]

60. Kicked and recommended!

[pat_k]

66. k & r !

[Unknown Beatle]

69. Once you're a crook, as DWS has shown herself to be,

nothing is going to matter to her and the DNC. Once a crook, always a crook. The petition, which I signed, BTW, isn't going to matter to them as money is more important.

By letting lobbyists money into the DNC, DWS couldn't be more obvious that money does indeed have influence. She's out there naked and yelling at the top of her lungs, "Look at me, I'm a crook", for those of us that can see. DWS is a crooked as they come.

[AgingAmerican]

71. The DNC is corrupt

The Democratic party is corrupt

[stopbush]

76. An outright lie from the Sanders campaign.

The rule change was made last summer, not last week.

Do your research.