You can tell Bernie has no chance of getting the nomination because folks
haven't even bothered to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 3:12 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Bernie Sanders Removes the Gloves
Bernie Sanders Removes the Gloves
Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a
rally in Warren, Mich., this month. (Paul Sancya / AP)
On Saturday, the Center for American Progress (CAP), one of the country's
leading liberal think tanks, received a letter from the current favorite for
the Democratic nomination in 2020. "Dear members of the Board," it began. "I
write to express my deep concern and disappointment with the role that the
Center for American Progress and its affiliated Action Fund arm are playing in
the critical mission to defeat Donald Trump."
The letter's author was none other than Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who
blistered CAP's affiliate site ThinkProgress for a recent op-ed that disparaged
his physical appearance, as well as a separate video that suggested that his
calls for economic redistribution were fundamentally hypocritical-this because
his book royalties have made him a millionaire.
Sanders also took aim at the organization's president, Neera Tanden, for
preaching solidarity while "belittling progressive ideas," openly speculating
that "corporate money . is inordinately and inappropriately influencing the
role [CAP] is playing in the progressive movement."
Sanders' letter was likely years in the writing. As the New York Times'
Kenneth P. Vogel and Sydney Ember observe:
"
Mr. Sanders's criticism of the Center for American Progress, delivered on
Saturday in a letter obtained by The New York Times, reflects a simmering
ideological battle within the Democratic Party and threatens to reopen wounds
from the 2016 primary between him and Hillary Clinton's allies. The letter airs
criticisms shared among his supporters: that the think tank, which has close
ties to Mrs. Clinton and the Democratic Party establishment, is beholden to
corporate donors and has worked to quash a leftward shift in the party led
partly by Mr. Sanders.
CAP has been an inextricable part of Democratic politics since Hillary
Clinton's future campaign chairman, John Podesta, founded the organization in
2003. As the Times' Vogel and Ember reveal, the think tank helped draft policy
proposals that Barack Obama would ultimately use for his 2008 campaign, and
later served as a feeder of sorts for his administration. The think tank was
expected to serve the same function for Clinton had she prevailed in the 2016
election; Podesta and Tanden were among her top choices for White House chief
of staff.
Last year, CAP partnered with the American Enterprise Institute on a project
titled "Defending Democracy and Underwriting the Transatlantic Project,"
ostensibly to study how we can preserve free and open societies amid a rising
tide of authoritarianism. In the process, the think tank donated
$200,000 to an organization whose most prominent members include
neoconservative Bill Kristol and racial eugenicist Charles Murray, leading some
in progressive circles to wonder "why is the Center for American Progress
betraying the left?"
In a 2013 investigation for The Nation, Ken Silverstein revealed that CAP has
accepted contributions from the likes of Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola,
Citigroup, BlueCross BlueShield and weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman, not
to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars from the United Arab Emirates-among
the world's most brutal and oppressive regimes. Tanden, who regularly rails
against Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "proto-fascist," has herself come
under criticism online for cozying up to such strongmen as Israel's Benjamin
Netanyahu and India's Narendra Modi.
ThinkProgress claims to enjoy editorial independence from CAP, and
Editor-in-Chief Jodi Enda asserted as much in a statement to the Times,
insisting that the group and its action funds "had nothing to do with the
article or video about Senator Sanders or articles related to any other
political leader." She also added that the site "will not take sides in the
Democratic primary." Tanden, for her part, has called the matter "unfortunate,"
claiming that "we share the goal of unity." Still, it's not difficult to
imagine the think tank has a vested interest in preventing Sanders from
becoming the party's nominee. The self-proclaimed democratic socialist is
unlikely to rely on CAP as Obama and Clinton have before him, and so the threat
he poses to Tanden and her ilk is existential: their grip on power, within the
party and the country, is at stake.
Last December, as rumors swirled about Beto O'Rourke's possible run for
president, Tanden accused several prominent Sanders backers of coordinating
attacks against the moderate Texas official. Responding to an op-ed from the
Washington Post's Elizabeth Bruenig, she tweeted: "Feels a bit orchestrated and
clearly they are worried." But as Sanders cements his frontrunner status, her
words increasingly look like projection. And after watching Democrats lose the
White House in grotesque fashion to a glorified game show host, he refuses to
let bad-faith criticism from purportedly liberal media go unanswered.
Sanders' supporters have not forgotten 2016's contentious primary, with ample
evidence that Democratic elites helped seal his defeat. While his campaign says
he will honor his pledge not to go negative in ads for 2020, the Vermont
senator nonetheless appears determined to prevent history from repeating itself.
Update: Tanden has since issued the following statement:
"
The orientation of CAP is to positively engage with all political leaders about
the country's future.
ThinkProgress is editorially independent of CAP and CAP Action, which is what
has made it valuable as a news outlet. Similarly, we at CAP can form our own
opinions of their work. We believe the content of the ThinkProgress video
critiquing Sen. Sanders is overly harsh and does not reflect our approach to a
constructive debate of the issues.
Jacob Sugarman
Managing Editor
Jacob Sugarman is the acting managing editor at Truthdig. He is a graduate of
the Arthur L. Carter Institute of Journalism whose writing has appeared in
Salon, AlterNet and Tablet, among other.
Jacob Sugarman
