Biden refusing to talk about his Social Security Record

[booley]

If Biden can't handle Sanders on his record, what is going to happen when Biden has to face trump?

Link to tweet

?s=20


There is 40 years of videos and congressional records and news articles where Biden says he wants to cut Social Security.

[W_HAMILTON]

1. David Sirota? LOL

[booley]

3. Is looking slightly down that difficult?

Just do it.

Look slightly down. And click on the video.

Maybe it's not just Biden's denial we should be concerned with.

[W_HAMILTON]

5. Should I look also delve into James O'Keefe's videos as well?

Sirota has shown to be a manipulative liar and I dismiss him the same way I would other liars.

If there is a legitimate point to be made, surely it can be made through a more trustworthy source.

[boomer_wv]

25. Sirota and O'Keefe

are equals.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

69. The truth hurts I guess.

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together & can't be bought!!
Jump on the Bernie Bandwagon & join the revolution!!

[beastie boy]

23. The clip in the tweet shows Sanders, not Biden refusing to talk to reporters.

Is Sirota fucking blind AND deaf?

[lapucelle]

33. ...

[George II]

40. No, but truth doesn't matter to him. Funny thing, he works for a campaign that brags about....

....having the most money, yet he posts a video taken off his television with his freaking cell phone!

[George II]

2. If there are 40 years of videos and records, give us a few. And more than 19 seconds from Sirota.

[booley]

4. You mean again?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287432060

For the videos, just skip to 2:13 in. Don't' even have to listen to the host.

&feature=emb_logo

Seriously, how are you unaware of this? Should you know the history of the candidate you think should be President? I know mine.

[George II]

9. Didn't hear him saying he was going to cut Social Security. Not once!

[lapucelle]

38. Neither did I, and that video is based on something Greenwald slapped together for the Intercept.

Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
The Humanist Report
David Sirota...

...and an MSNBC video that shows not Joe Biden, but BS refusing to talk to a reporter.

[DownriverDem]

30. Oh please

Do you honestly think that your post will win voters for Bernie?

[Butterflylady]

56. Yeah, right LOL

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. David Sirota? Stein-voter Sirota?

Among other things. Sanders' campaign doctored a video to make it look like Biden had agreed with Paul Ryan's position on SS, which was a flat lie. I am wondering how Sanders will respond if asked about his affiliation with the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, his essay about women's rape fantasies, his voting against the Brady Bill, and many more things. He's got more baggage than any other candidate, and he's got a lot of 'splainin' to do on a lot of topics. So does Sirota. https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287432611

[Sloumeau]

7. This is more garbage from Bernie Sanders'

hatchet man David Sirota.

[booley]

10. Not sure you know what David Sirota looks like

That's not him in the video.

[beastie boy]

36. It's Sirota's tweet, isn't it?

It's him going "WOW — MSNBC just reported that @JoeBiden is now refusing to answer reporters’ questions about all the times he has openly bragged about trying to cut Social Security.", isn't it? Even though he is talking about ONE reporter and NOTHING about Biden refusing to answer that ONE reporter's question, right? If I heard correctly, Biden's response to that ONE reporter was, "we will have plenty of time to talk about SS". Not "I am refusing to answer reporters' questions about SS".

And it was Nina Turner going "Oh my" in response to Sirota's bullshit, wasn't it?

[Sloumeau]

37. David Sirota is the one who pasted it on his Facebook account.

I never said David Sirota was in the video.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

73. LMFAO!! Good one!!

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together & can't be bought!!
Jump on the Bernie Bandwagon & join the revolution!!

[beastie boy]

79. The joke is on you, pal. Formally it's called "a masked man fallacy".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked-man_fallacy

Live and learn.

[JoeOtterbein]

8. WOW...

...he needs to answer before Iowa. A clear answer we can trust. I depend on SS to live. So do others.

[George II]

11. Answer what? Sirota makes up a lie and Biden has to answer it?

[booley]

14. I imagine he will do what he tried to with his Iraq vote

Rewrite history and hope people forget.

[Thekaspervote]

44. Your opinion and that's all it is...an opinion!!

[cwydro]

72. Do you honestly think you're changing peoples' minds here?

I seriously doubt you are.

[The Mouth]

75. But the feelz

Feel the Bern!

[pfeiffer]

21. WOW...

Sanders needs to answer for all his lying before Iowa. A clear answer we can trust as to why he continues lying about both Joe and Elizabeth. Our entire country depends on honesty from our elected officials. Everyone does.

[JoeOtterbein]

28. It is essential we hear from everyone's record on...

...Social Security. Now.

[Thekaspervote]

45. Here ya go... Joe's stance to support and increase SS

Link to tweet

?s=21

[myohmy2]

91. "I depend on SS to live."

...me too...

...this makes me worry...

[evertonfc]

12. Biden don't need Iowa

but Sanders does

[bearsfootball516]

13. Another negative attack from the Sanders campaign.

Campaigns tend to get increasingly negative the more desperate they get.

[booley]

16. Citing Biden's record is an attack?

So I have this correct

Calling Sanders a sexist with no evidence.
Not an attack.

Citing a right wing hit piece full of errors to say Sanders supported Iran's Hostage takers.

Not an attack

Numerous attacks on Sanders's character.

Not an attack.

Showing a report from MSNBC backing up what was said.
That's an attack.

Well then... ok. How is running away from his record going to help when Biden has to face Trump?

[beastie boy]

42. Surely you don't mean a report from MSNBC backed up what Sirota said in his tweet!

Because it didn't.

Now you tell me whether it counts as an attack in your book. Based on the above, it should. But I want to hear it from you.

[sheshe2]

84. ...

[Thekaspervote]

47. Joe stance is to increase SS...where's your REAL evidence..not some doctored video

Link to tweet

?s=21

[Cuthbert Allgood]

90. Politifact said the video wasn't doctored.

You know that, right.

[jalan48]

15. Well, if he's busy saving the soul of the nation maybe he doesn't have time for questions like this.

[booley]

19. Please tell me you are being sarcastic

[jalan48]

24. Yes I am.

[Thekaspervote]

49. See post #47 where's your proof

[jalan48]

53. Joe in 1995.

Link to tweet

[lapucelle]

62. A 19 second user-generated C-Span clip.

[jalan48]

64. Yep, Joe being Joe.

[lapucelle]

66. Wait...what? This is a case of Sirota being Sirota...

From a Bogus Website to Bernie Sanders's Inner Circle

David Sirota got fired from a Philly campaign 20 years ago for a racially charged “dirty trick” before he first went to work for the progressive from Vermont.

Bernie Sanders first hired his new speechwriter, David Sirota, 20 years ago, shortly after Sirota was fired from a mayoral campaign for his connection to a bogus website that promoted a racially charged quotation, taken out of context, of a black opponent.

In 1999, in Philadelphia, there was a crowded Democratic primary for mayor. Three of the candidates were African American: John White, Dwight Evans, and John Street, all of them friends going back years. But the race got intense early, and David Sirota, then working as the deputy campaign manager for Evans, was part of an effort to cut down White’s support: creating a bogus website, purporting to be the official home page of the White campaign, and using it to promote a racially charged quotation, deliberately taken out of context.

The ruse was soon discovered. Evans, who is now a Democratic member of Congress, fired Sirota. He called Sirota “overzealous” at the time. “I do not want this race to be about race,” Evans said in 1999, calling the site in question an example of “dirty tricks.” The website took a comment that White had made in a broader interview with a Spanish-language weekly, Al Día, and presented the line as if it were an anti-white slogan: “The black and the brown, if we unite, we’re going to control this city.” Local reporters in Philadelphia received emails directing them to the site as though it were part of John White’s campaign.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/bernie-sanderss-new-speechwriter-has-controversial-past/585547/

[jalan48]

67. This isn't about Sirota, it's about Biden speaking on the floor of the Senate in 1995. I can see why

he doesn't want to talk about it.

[lapucelle]

70. No it's about Sirota manipulating video...again.

[jalan48]

71. If you've got more from his speech that day that would say something different please post.

[lapucelle]

78. Here you go.

Full Session:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?63039-1/senate-session

Biden (including transcript):
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4847428/user-clip-joe-bidens-full-speech-balanced-budget-amendment

[jalan48]

82. He supported a Constitutional Amendment to balance the budget. A balanced budget was/is a big issue

with Republicans even though they increase the deficit every time they gain control of the government primarily by cutting taxes on the wealthy (it has really blown up under Trump). Republicans have used this strategy of high deficits when they are in control to starve social programs progressives favor (we have to cut social programs because we need to balance the budget!) Joe played right along with them on this, including voting for a war that has now cost the taxpayers $4-$6 trillion dollars since 2003 thus further exacerbating the deficit problem.

After his brief rant about freezing Social Security and Medicare he referred to them as "sacred cows" which I found interesting. Sorry, in the video you posted Joe looks like someone too willing to compromise with Republicans instead of standing up for social programs our citizens need to survive.

From the LA Times Feb 24, 1995

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-24-mn-35754-story.html

"Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Tom Harkin of Iowa, both of whom voted against a similar proposal last year, said they will support the plan when it comes to a vote in the Senate on Tuesday, guaranteeing backers of the amendment at least 64 and perhaps as many as 66 of the 67 votes required for approval.

The defections of Harkin and Biden were a serious blow to opponents of the legislation, said David Certner, an official of the American Assn. of Retired People, which fears that the amendment will erode Social Security benefits. But he said opponents will not give up.

“I have concluded that there is nothing left to try except the balanced-budget amendment,” Biden said after reviewing earlier attempts to end the government’s chronic deficit-spending.

[lapucelle]

83. I guess this means that you couldn't find anything to support Sirota's claims.

"Quick! Look over here!" won't work.

[sheshe2]

85. ;)

[jalan48]

86. LOL-those weren't claims, they were Biden's words. You must have missed the part that AARP

came out against Biden for his support of this amendment.

[lapucelle]

88. Those certainly are the claims made by David Sirota in David Sirota's own words,

and there is no evidence to support either of his claims.

Sirota's claims in the OP are that "MSNBC just reported that Joe Biden is now refusing to answer reporters’ questions".

****************************************************************************************************

Two lies in one tweet! MSNBC wasn't reporting that and Biden didn't refuse to answer reporters' questions.

*****************************************************************************************************

You posted a Sirota tweet claiming that Biden wanted to cut social security:




******************************************************************************************************


David's "evidence" is video that discusses freezing social security.

Sirota not only dissembles once again, but also insults the intelligence of his audience by assuming that they won't notice, understand, or care about the difference between a freeze and a cut.

Anyone claiming that Sirota is telling the truth in either of those tweets is clearly wrong.

And the fact that any senior member of a presidential campaign makes so easy a habit of lying is extremely troubling.

[lapucelle]

68. Hasn't Sirota learned anything from his last attempt at this sort of thing?

[OilemFirchen]

74. I posted a link to the entire video, along with commentary.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=432514

The speech runs 19:08. The video to which you refer represents 1.7% of the speech.

You should be ashamed.

[TwilightZone]

17. Sirota, the guy who lied about Biden and Paul Ryan?

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2020/jan/09/bernie-sanders/did-biden-laud-paul-ryan-proposal-cut-social-secur/

Pardon me if I don't take the guy seriously. You shouldn't, either.

If you want to know what Biden is saying about SS, maybe you should look at his website. He has clearly indicated that he plans to protect SS.

"The Biden Plan will protect Social Security for the millions of Americans who depend on the program. With Social Security’s Trust Fund already in deficit and expected to be exhausted in 2035, we urgently need action to make the program solvent and prevent cuts to American retirees."

https://joebiden.com/older-americans/

[booley]

22. Don't have to take Sirota at his word

I am beginning to wonder if there is such a thing as selective blindness

[lapucelle]

65. This Sirota...

From a Bogus Website to Bernie Sanders's Inner Circle

David Sirota got fired from a Philly campaign 20 years ago for a racially charged “dirty trick” before he first went to work for the progressive from Vermont.

Bernie Sanders first hired his new speechwriter, David Sirota, 20 years ago, shortly after Sirota was fired from a mayoral campaign for his connection to a bogus website that promoted a racially charged quotation, taken out of context, of a black opponent.

In 1999, in Philadelphia, there was a crowded Democratic primary for mayor. Three of the candidates were African American: John White, Dwight Evans, and John Street, all of them friends going back years. But the race got intense early, and David Sirota, then working as the deputy campaign manager for Evans, was part of an effort to cut down White’s support: creating a bogus website, purporting to be the official home page of the White campaign, and using it to promote a racially charged quotation, deliberately taken out of context.

The ruse was soon discovered. Evans, who is now a Democratic member of Congress, fired Sirota. He called Sirota “overzealous” at the time. “I do not want this race to be about race,” Evans said in 1999, calling the site in question an example of “dirty tricks.” The website took a comment that White had made in a broader interview with a Spanish-language weekly, Al Día, and presented the line as if it were an anti-white slogan: “The black and the brown, if we unite, we’re going to control this city.” Local reporters in Philadelphia received emails directing them to the site as though it were part of John White’s campaign.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/bernie-sanderss-new-speechwriter-has-controversial-past/585547/

[RandySF]

76. +1

[lapucelle]

18. I heard the part about the decontextualized video that the BS campaign used

in an effort to damage Biden -- a claim deemed "false" by Politifact.

Biden wisely didn't answer an on-the-fly question about the BS campaign's other "concerns" about his previous statements on Social Security and responded, "We'll have plenty of time to talk about social security".

So where's the part about "Biden refuses to talk about his Social Security Record"?

[George II]

35. Why should he talk about lies being spread about him? It's all coming out on its own.

[TomCADem]

20. Politifact on Bernie Sanders Claim - FALSE

Bernie Sanders's Claim Is FALSE - "In 2018, Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare."

Once again, BS is going scorched earth and pushing demonstrably false claims:

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2020/jan/09/bernie-sanders/did-biden-laud-paul-ryan-proposal-cut-social-secur/

Sen. Bernie Sanders argues that former Vice President Joe Biden sided with a Republican effort to cut Social Security.

"In 2018, Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare," wrote the Sanders campaign in a Jan. 7 newsletter. The night before on CNN, Sanders had attacked Biden’s record on Social Security and Medicare.

Ryan is a former Republican House speaker who proposed sweeping changes to Social Security that were never enacted.

We found that the Sanders campaign newsletter distorts what Biden said about Ryan’s plan.

[booley]

26. Thats no the only time though is it.

Seriously.

If you truly have no idea there are videos going back over 40 years of Biden saying he wanted to cut Social Security, you might need to do some due diligence if you want to keep supporting Biden.

If Biden cant' handle this, he will be toast if he ever gets to Trump.

[Thekaspervote]

50. Your opinion...and that's all it is...an opinion

[lapucelle]

31. Isn't it funny how Biden's reticence about giving an on-the-fly answer to the BS campaign claims

was spun as a refusal to talk about his social security record?



Other politicians would be wise to follow Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden's lead on answering questions concerning such matters.

Link to tweet

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/1287433002

[George II]

27. As the negative attacks increase, Sanders' standing in the Iowa polls decreases:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-d/iowa/

Jan 16

Sanders 20.1 (+0.6)
Biden 19.5

Jan 17

Sanders 20.3 (+0.3)
Biden 20

Jan 18

Sanders 20.3 (+0.3)
Biden 20

Jan 19

Sanders 18.3 (-2.3)
Biden 20.6

[bearsfootball516]

29. Yep. As I mentioned above...

For decades, negative attacks are directly linked to fading campaigns. When a campaign is going more and more negative instead of focusing on their own positives, it’s because things are falling apart.

[Thekaspervote]

52. And there in lies the truth of it

Desperation....his internal polls must be dismal

[George II]

57. According to RCP, Sanders was up on Biden by 4% a week ago, now he trails by 0.4, a shift....

...of 4.4%. That's a huge change. I'm tempted, but will not say that Biden is surging!

[RandySF]

32. The same Dave Sirota who called me 'motherfucker' in 2008

and threatened to kick my ass?

[Thekaspervote]

54. Whoa... really nice guy.. I'd really want him on my campaign team!!

[George II]

34. RealClear Politics averages for Iowa as the attack increased:

Jan 11

Sanders 21.3 (+3.6)
Biden 17.7

Jan 12

Sanders 21.5 (+2.5)
Biden19.0

Jan 13

Sanders 20.3 (-0.4)
Biden 20.7

[Squinch]

39. I will happily vote for Bernie if he is our nominee, but his followers are so dishonest that

they are hard to distinguish from the Trump cult. It doesn't matter how often one of their smears is debunked, they just keep trotting it out, knowing full well they are lying through their teeth.

They do a lot of harm to their candidate.

[TexasTowelie]

46. +1

[sheshe2]

87. +++

[vercetti2021]

41. I'm so sick of this crap

Time to start trashing these

[Iamaartist]

43. I put this out the other day ...Joe's Plans

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287427893

[TexasTowelie]

48. Discredited sources.

[NYMinute]

51. Fake news. Debunked. Snoped. Fact checker deemed FALSE. #SirotaLies #DirtyTricks #Desperation

[greatauntoftriplets]

58. The same guy who tried to unseat Jan Schakowsky in IL-9 back in 1998?

Sirota at age 24 was "research director" to Howie Carroll, an IL state senator who thought he could beat Jan Schakowsky (one of the House's most liberal members)??? Happily, Jan beat Howie by 10 points. That was back when I lived in the 9th and voted for the incumbent.

[The Valley Below]

59. More lies and dirty-tricks from the king of dirty-tricks, David Sirota.

Scorched earth 2.0

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

60. He's turning into Bernie's Roger Stone.

[The Valley Below]

63. Bird's of a feather, for sure.

[Skidmore]

61. That is such a lie. Dirty tricks and lies.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-demands-apology-sanders-over-doctored-video-social-security-n1118481

[Historic NY]

77. Some claims

[link:https://www.politifact.com/personalities/bernie-sanders/|

[oasis]

80. Biden doesn't owe anyone an explanation about this bullshit. Period.

[Progressive dog]

81. Biden is sick of defending himself against lies.

The video was doctored to eliminate the context. Other altered videos accuse Joe of racist comments and god knows what else. Of course he should refuse to answer questions about accusations that have already been shown to be false.
I'm sure Putin and others will continue to make up lies about Biden and reporters should spend their time investigating the source of the lies, not questioning the victim.

[Scurrilous]

89. Bernie Sanders cannot answer key question about Medicare for All: How to get it done

Last edited Mon Jan 20, 2020, 12:02 AM - Edit history (1)

<snip>

"South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who wants to start with a public option as a "glide path" to a single-payer system, said it's not clear to him how else to get to Medicare for All.

"Everybody who says Medicare for All, every person in politics who allows that phrase to escape their lips, has a responsibility to explain how you're actually supposed to get from here to there," he said.

And this continues to be the big difficulty for Sanders. He was actually asked at the debate how he exactly he would enact Medicare for All.

"I will tell you how we'll do it," Sanders said. "We'll do it the way real change has always taken place, whether it was the labor movement, the civil rights movement, or the women's movement. We will have Medicare for All when tens of millions of people are prepared to stand up and tell the insurance companies and the drug companies that their day is gone, that health care is a human right, not something to make huge profits off of."

That's a really good way to explain how people who support Medicare for All can lobby for it. But it does very little to answer the question of how he'd actually do it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the self-styled grim reaper of liberal policies, is more than likely to be Senate majority leader in 2021. And he's not going to let Medicare for All become law."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/28/politics/bernie-sanders-2020-democratic-debate-medicare-for-all/index.html


Biden won't address smears. Bernie can't address key questions.

"He was actually asked at the debate how he exactly he would enact Medicare for All."

Enact. Make (a bill or other proposal) law.

Bernie's answer:

"We will have Medicare for All when tens of millions of people are prepared to stand up and tell the insurance companies and the drug companies that their day is gone, that health care is a human right, not something to make huge profits off of."

Pure bullshit.

A refresher:

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the self-styled grim reaper of liberal policies, is more than likely to be Senate majority leader in 2021. And he's not going to let Medicare for All become law."

Medicare for All and everything else:

Senate Blocks Green New Deal, But Climate Change Emerges As Key 2020 Issue (3/26/2019)

<snip>

"The Senate failed to move forward with Democrats' "Green New Deal," but the partisan clash over the controversial environmental plan is likely to be a continuing theme ahead of the 2020 election.

The measure needed 60 votes to advance but was blocked when all Senate Republicans and four Senate Democrats opposed it. The rest of the chamber's Democrats voted "present."

<snip>

"All 53 Republicans oppose the Green New Deal. Most Democrats decided on a strategy to vote present led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "I'm for it, but I have no problem voting 'present,' " said Murphy. Schumer wants Democrats to run more aggressively in favor of climate change policies going into 2020, although he conceded in an interview with The New York Times earlier this month that the exact legislative form that will take is still up for debate. "It's going to take us a little while to come up with a consensus that works," he said."

"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/26/705897344/green-new-deal-vote-sets-up-climate-change-as-key-2020-issue


Such is the fate of Bernie's revolution.


Bernie Sanders’s plan to blow up the filibuster and pass Medicare-for-all, explained

<snip>

"The issue, he continued, was that “whether you’re in the majority or the minority, I think you have to protect minority rights. I don’t think you can just simply shove everything through. There’s an argument for that, by the way, but that’s not where I am right now.”

Well, he got there pretty quick.

The problem for Sanders is the filibuster renders his agenda moot. The Medicare-for-all bill he introduced on Wednesday would be the single most ambitious, disruptive piece of social policy ever passed in America. It would abolish the private health insurance industry as we know it and rebuild Medicare from the ground up as a national health system. But that is the beginning of Sanders’s vision, not the end. He also wants to flesh out and pass a Green New Deal, break up the big banks, protect voting rights, and get big money out of American politics, to name just a few things.

Under current Senate rules, all of these bills would need 60 votes to pass. There is no plausible path by which Democrats will have 60 votes in the Senate. Even a simple majority will be hard. As such, Sanders had proposed an agenda whose passage was unthinkable under the current Senate rules.

“It makes zero sense for the Democrats to defend norms like the filibuster at a time when Republicans are shredding far more important norms,” says Ben Rhodes, who served as a top advisor to Obama. “You’re not going to pass your agenda.”

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/11/18306132/bernie-sanders-filibuster-budget-reconciliation-medicare-60-votes


"Sanders had proposed an agenda whose passage was unthinkable under the current Senate rules."


Sanders can't/won't answer the question "How to get it done" because as a Senator he is well aware of the Senate rules and he knows the answer. He can't get it done. Any of it.

But keep focusing on the ratfucking of Biden. Meanwhile your candidate is out there every day making promises he knows he can't keep.

"There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept." - Gaelic Proverb

Fraud. Yeah...I'm going there.

[peggysue2]

92. Biden is not going to get into an open war with Bernie Sanders

He's said it time and time again. He's already defended his position as a supporter of Social Security. Bernie and his pitbulls are trying to deflect from the recent and ill-advised brouhaha with Elizabeth Warren.

We see what you and David Sirota are doing Senator Sanders.

Not working.