There’s a clever, and from a leftist perspective devastating, image circulating via Facebook (which I’m not on). It’s called “No, I’m not ‘ready for Hillary.'”
The image, a checklist, itemizes key votes/positions that Bernie Sanders has taken and that Hillary Clinton did not:
Voted AGAINST the Iraq war
Voted AGAINST bailing out Wall Street
Voted AGAINST the 2001 Patriot Act
Supports federal recognition of gay marriage
Voted against the 2001 bankruptcy legislation which would have made it harder for struggling Americans to declare bankruptcy
Supports clemency for Edward Snowden
Introduced legislation to allow medical cannabis
Opposed bombing Syria (aka opposed a new war in the middle east)
Supports Glass-Steagall to protect the economy from risky bank investments
Opposes SOPA and other internet censorship
Opposes the NDAA which gave the military the power to indefinitely detain US citizens with a trial
Voted AGAINST the 2006 legislation to create a border fence between the U.S. and Mexico
Opposes the death penalty
If this were 1968, you couldn’t come up with a list this comprehensive to differentiate Lyndon Johnson and Eugene McCarthy.
The fact that, on some of these issues, Clinton took the position she did for purely political reasons will be no defense as far as leftists are concerned; nor should it be. It just means that non-leftists should also be profoundly “not ready for Hillary.”
Does Hillary have an explanation for these positions that will satisfy the left-wing Democratic base? None that I can think of.
This is why Sanders appears to have substantial support among knowledgeable, activist Democrats. And it’s why Sanders’ challenge to Clinton, as implausible as it may seem at first blush, probably shouldn’t be laughed off.
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