The election for the nomination and the presidency is over. Clinton won. So why do you see so many anti Bernie posts on this page if he can’t win? Remember folks, I am not a Democrat. I believe in rational analysis, and intelligent, effective policy, and electing those people best equipped to move a progressive…
Category: Election 2016
Why Bernie Sanders’ “Political Revolution” Doesn’t Have a Chance
Hillary Clinton and Sanders need to give plans for executive branch action, given gridlock in Congress. In response, on Twitter, some Sanders supporters said this was wrong: That Sanders—with a long career in lawmaking—could win Republican support; that Sanders would use the bully pulpit to rally voters; and that a Sanders win would necessarily bring…
Why Precisely Is Bernie Sanders Against Reparations?
Last week Bernie Sanders was asked whether he was in favor of “reparations for slavery.” It is worth considering Sanders’s response in full: No, I don’t think so. First of all, its likelihood of getting through Congress is nil. Second of all, I think it would be very divisive. The real issue is when we…
On Hillary and Bernie
I am a progressive. I want the things Bernie promises for this country. I want universal health care, and free higher education, and reduced incarceration, and an end to the artificial redistribution of wealth into the pockets of the filthy rich. But I also understand basic civics, and I read the news, so I know that…
The Case Against Bernie Sanders
Sanders’s core argument is that the problems of the American economy require far more drastic remedies than anything the Obama administration has done, or that Clinton proposes to build on. Clinton has put little pressure on Sanders’s fatalistic assessment, but the evidence for it is far weaker than he assumes. Sanders has grudgingly credited what…
Clinton vs Sanders: A Handy Chart
The primary is all about distinguishing who you think the best candidate is to compete in the general election to become president. Below is a handy chart where you can see some data we thought relevant in a convenient side by side format. By the metrics used for the issues meter in the chart, -10…
Feeling Berned
Some have been trying to warn Bernie and his crew for months. The tea bagger behavior will not fly with hardcore progressives and Dems. We see nothing wrong with pragmatism and adaptability. We see nothing wrong with incremental progress. But no, the Bernie Bots drink the tea morning, noon, and night. They refuse to…
Saying nice things about Hillary Clinton has become a subversive act.
Hillary Clinton is the impossible woman. The pressures she lives under, every moment of her life, are all-encompassing. She doesn’t have an inch of leeway, a single safe option; there is no version of Hillary Clinton that won’t be attacked. So the version of Hillary Clinton we get—this conflicted, conflict-inspiring candidate, the woman who has…
Hillary Clinton tells Bernie Sanders backers: ‘When this nomination is wrapped up,’ join me
Among supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, suspicions that the game is rigged against their candidate went into overdrive this past week — no thanks to the public endorsement of that theory from Sanders himself. On Tuesday in Iowa, Clinton’s comments directed toward Sanders supporters are not likely to change that perception. Asked by an…
Who are Bernie’s Supporters?
There has been a lot of talk about righties masquerading as supporters of various candidates to influence outcomes in the Dem nomination process. We know that it is true, but it is difficult to gauge the actual level. Lately I have received some criticism for resorting to a ‘snarky’ tone and over-zealous criticism of Bernie…
Ben Carson Lied. Meh.
So apparently Ben Carson lied. Really, I don’t care much for this kind of story whether it is about a Republican or Hillary Clinton. If you can’t tell that this person should never get anywhere NEAR the White House by listening to him for five minutes – ANY five minutes – then the lies will…
Benghazi Biopsy: A Comprehensive Guide to One of America’s Worst Political Outrages
Despite the repeated claims by Gowdy that he is objective, the conclusions he will reach are already clear; he publicly stated them before the committee was formed in May 2014. In November 2012, Gowdy released a statement proclaiming as fact that the Obama administration “intentionally misled the American people” about the Benghazi attack. About a…
New Poll: Clinton Takes Lead in N.H., Won Debate
After a commanding performance in this week’s Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Clinton reclaimed some of the ground she’d lost to Senator Bernie Sanders over the summer, leaving the two candidates in a statistical dead heat in New Hampshire, a Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll found. The survey, conducted Wednesday and Thursday, showed Clinton pulling ahead of…
2016 Democratic debate: A victory for Clinton
Clinton was the clear winner of the first Democratic presidential debate, according to the assessment of both Democrats and Republicans in this week’s POLITICO Caucus, our bipartisan survey of the top activists, operatives and strategists in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Seventy-nine percent of Democratic insiders surveyed said she dominated her four opponents…
TRP News – Progressive News & Information – September 21, 2015
TRP News with James Andre. This week – New numbers for the budget deficit and the same old story with Republicans and the federal budget. Europe struggles with the record flow of migrants. The Left is adopting the destructive and divisive tactics of the Right, and what does it mean to be ‘progressive’? 0:30 Budget…
TRP News – Progressive News & Information – September 14, 2015
TRP News with James Andre. This week – Kim Davis is back to work, Congress is back to work, and both are refusing to do their jobs. Dem primary features more of the same, migrant news, and an update on the situation in Gaza. 0:30 Kim Davis 6:14 Dem Primary 22:55 Congress 35:20 Migrants 46:39…
TRP News – Progressive News & Information – August 31, 2015 – The Rational Progressive
TRP News with James Andre. This week – The Democratic primary, The DNC summer meeting and that DNC Iran resolution, Planned Parenthood and another government shutdown, The killing of Deputy Goforth and the racist response, an update on ISIL, and migrant news 0:27 Dem Primary 7:50 DNC Iran resolution 14:03 Government Shutdown 17:08 Deputy Goforth…
TRP News – Progressive News & Information – August 24, 2015 – The Rational Progressive
TRP News with James Andre. This week – can Sanders win the Democratic primary? Do Clinton’s emails really matter? What do you know about the Senate elections? Two states fail to draw legal voting district maps, migrants storm the Macedonian border, and the Koreas exchange artillery fire in the middle of a joint U.S. –…
TRP News – Progressive News & Information – August 17, 2015
TRP News with James Andre. This week – presidential hopefuls visit the Iowa state fair, Sanders distances himself from an apology and his African American outreach director, the Federal Reserve may be raising rates and progressives are pushing back, Warren and McCain want to bring back Glass-Steagall, several states cut off federal funds for Planned…
Can Bernie Sanders Win the Love of a Party He Scorns?
He has never before chosen to run in a Democratic primary, but here he is, challenging Hillary Clinton—and doing it as an independent, technically permissible but highly unusual. How he’s trying to do this is how he always has—a calculated alchemy of outsider edge and insider smarts, provocation plus pragmatism, all learned and honed over…